~*Three Seconds*~

Honestly, she never ceased to surprise him.

~***~

The sun was setting on the Land of Departure.

Heavy, sluggish beams of tawny light recoiled from the deep touch of the darkness as night swept silently in. The horizon gradually shifted from blood red, to pale orange, to a deep black. The moon climbed steadily into the sky and reached translucent fingers down onto the world, probing the recesses of the mountains, the golden chained castle sustained at its height by the peaks, and the surrounding wilderness.

It was all very well and pretty, what with the scattering of stars, glimmering faintly somewhere far, far away.

Frankly, gorgeous as it was, it didn't interest Terra anymore. The muscular, spiky brown haired Keyblade apprentice followed Aqua towards the outlying gardens, connected to the castle via the stone pathways. Usually Ventus, their fellow golden haired apprentice and their close friend, would have accompanied the pair.

Instead, Master Eraqus had requested him for some errand or other that required the swift footed boy to probably run some ridiculous distance and then come back, since only Ven, as he was called, happened to be fast enough to return before it got too dark.

Aqua had a thing for stargazing, and she did so now, staring up at the heavens above, her face tinged to a paler shade by their soft light. Terra stopped a few feet away from her, fumbling nervously with one red strap on his shirt.

Okay. He had been planning this all day. He could do this.

"Aqua," he started casually. "Have you ever heard the Legend of Arcturis?"

She spared him a brief glance—to his annoyance, since the stars apparently interested her more than him, can you imagine?—before lifting her eyes again. There was a silver gleam to her azure orbs as the light bounced off of them. "No."

"Well…There's an old story I read in the library, and I forget the book's name now, that told of a sort of spirit bear that dwelled on the verge of life and death. Like a twilight walker." Terra took a step closer. She didn't notice. "His name was Arcturis, and the people there held him in high esteem. Even though he was powerful, capable of healing wounds that befuddled the minds of everyone else, he was no God. When Arcturis refused to take part in a war, one of the chiefs, infuriated, struck him down with a surprise blow to his throat. He died that very night. It seemed impossible to the people there that the bear could die, since he was able to bring back anyone from the brink of death…so why not himself?"

Terra grinned, seeing he had Aqua's full attention. Her curiosity was piqued, her hand coiled into a fist over her heart, the other relaxed and loose at her side.

"Ashamed of what they had done, the people bowed their heads and prayed to their world's heart and to the stars above, prayed to bring back their benevolent guardian. At first, nothing happened." Another step, her inquisitive gaze didn't flicker even a little at the movement. "Then, the stars fell out of the sky," he said in a hushed voice, just to be dramatic. "One in particular sailed towards the people, like a silver comet, and when it landed, the spectral bear stood strong and proud before them once more, where his body had been buried. There's more to the story," Terra shrugged indifferently. "But I'm going to tell you why I even brought it up. There's a lot of tales in the library that talk about stars, right?"

Aqua nodded slowly. Her face displayed a clear question.

"Well," he gave her a slow, wide grin that took away some of the seriousness in his face. "I know how you love them. And they always say if you wish on the stars, something will come from it. I just remembered that story today because there had been a star chart in the book, and when I looked up just a few minutes ago, Arcturis's star had been in the same position as I had seen it earlier."

"Which one is it?" Aqua's eyes darted from his face to the glistening canopy.

"That one. See?" A large white star, the Wishing Star to some worlds, brilliantly shone down on them. In truth, Terra had partially made up the story about Arcturis. He had heard the name somewhere, but he couldn't remember exactly where. He was fairly certain he had indeed been some kind of spirit bear though.

Aqua was about to ask him another question, but Terra beat her to the punch. "Okay," he nodded at her. "I want you to close your eyes for three seconds and make a wish. Right now, with Arcturis there and all of the stars in alignment." He gave a small chuckle at the last part.

She crossed her arms, leaning back slightly on her armored heels. "Really? Why?"

"Just because. I'll do the same with you, if you want."

"What about Ven?" She frowned slightly, the motion causing the corners of her mouth to pull down.

Terra didn't like to see it.

That was just like her, wanting the youngest protégé included in whatever they were doing. Terra quickly suppressed a sigh, keeping his face smooth. "Don't worry about it. It's just a little fable, but who knows? If there's a kernel of truth in there, you might as well be the one to wish for something worthwhile. You're the only one we'd trust to not ask for something selfishly."

Aqua twirled a strand of blue hair around one finger, her face pensive. "Alright," she agreed at last. She placed her fist over her heart again, something she always did when either deeply thoughtful or emotional, closing her eyes.

Three seconds. That was all he would need.

Terra took two quick steps forward and smirked, leaning in…

A musical chime hummed in the air, accompanied by a pearly light.

"What are you doing, Terra?" Aqua asked without opening her eyes, her Keyblade pointed directly under his chin.

He swallowed, feeling the tip of the weapon against his skin. "Um. What are you doing?" He deadpanned.

She opened one eye. A mischievous twinkle illuminated the azure globe. "Wishing, obviously. You?"

"Attempting to sweep you off your feet?" Terra joked weakly.

"That doesn't work on me," she smiled, opening her remaining lid now.

Terra grinned and suddenly ducked, twisting hard and spinning in the same motion. The action knocked Aqua off of her feet and onto her back, and before she could get up, Terra—gently but firmly—grabbed both of her arms and leaned in close, suspended over her body.

"Looks like you can be swept off your feet," he remarked casually.

Aqua's face was pink, and he laughed a little at how easy it was to get her to blush. She halfheartedly struggled against his hold, but he had always been the strongest, physically, of the apprentices.

Of course she could always blast him with magic. No one beat her in that department.

"What? No clever comeback?" Terra challenged lightly.

Aqua suddenly slipped out from under him, lithe as a whipping snake. Terra turned around but was a bit too slow in his surprise, and the girl succeeded in pinning him down on his back. Her blue hair fell over her eyes, a soft cobalt veil. "Master Eraqus taught me how to handle heavier opponents."

Terra was mortified to feel a faint blush of his own dusting the bridge of his nose. I can't tell if this backfired or not, he thought. He had planned from the start to kiss her of course—surprise, surprise!—but he had once again underestimated her.

Aqua's impish look intensified, and she leaned down so close that her lips brushed his own. He seemed to feel more than hear her words now. "What? No clever comeback?" she echoed his earlier words from just a minute before.

Terra suddenly flexed all of the muscles in his right arm, and instead of pushing her away; he shocked her by grabbing her wrist and pulling her closer. She fell with a small gasp on his chest, and they sat that way, faces less than an inch apart, warm breath touching the other's skin.

An odd sensation was building up in Terra's heart, getting worse…better?...with every beat.

He was suddenly acutely aware of every movement she did, the way her black lashes obscured her blue eyes—always, always reflecting the light, or maybe the light shone through her—the movement of her shirt with each slow inhale, the way her fingers slightly dug into his arm as if willing him not to let go.

Terra thought something might have happened then. But what exactly he never found out.

"Er—should I go now?"

Aqua leaped back with a startled shriek, like a frightened cat, her face, which had been collected and strangely calm a moment ago suddenly bright red again. Terra slowly sat up, drawing one leg to his chest and resting his elbow on his knee, feeling strangely disappointed.

Ven's quick eyes went from Terra, to Aqua, and back to Terra again. Deciding that the male looked more relaxed than the female—her facial expression made it clear that she wanted to vanish into the floor—the boy cleared his throat. "Did I interrupt something?" It was obvious he had, but he sounded guilty nonetheless. "Master Eraqus wants us to come in now."

"I-I-Right!" Aqua hurriedly stepped past Ventus, giving him a hesitant smile before departing with all due haste for the castle.

When she had gone, Terra got to his feet and unhurriedly brushed his clothes off. "Picked a fine time to come in, Ven," he grouched.

"Sorry. I didn't know you were telling her tonight."

~***~
They were eating either a really late dinner or a very early breakfast. It was some kind of night meal regardless.

Ventus pointedly announced, in a very loud voice that had Eraqus staring at him as if his apprentice had grown wings, that he was tired and going to bed, and that no one should be too loud while he's trying to sleep, thank you very much.

After a short while, Eraqus followed suit. He instructed the pair of disciples to please not stay up too late since they still had training to do in the early afternoon. He departed then to his chambers.

Aqua stood up, cleaned off her dishes, and looked straight at him. "I'm going to bed too. Good night, Terra."

"Night," he muttered, giving a halfhearted wave. Now how could he possibly tell her what she meant to him?

Terra had his head lowered, eyes closed, thinking that she had already gone since the kitchen was silent. Instead, he felt something warm and smooth slowly glide over his face. He moved his head slightly to follow the gesture, opening his eyes, stunned, to see Aqua smiling at him, leaving the room with a graceful flourish of her hand, the same one she had just caressed his skin with.

Maybe he didn't need to find the words. Maybe she already knew.

~***~

Well.

Don't hate me, please, for this really random and probably bad one-shot. I got the idea today, strangely, after my friend knocked me over with a huge snowball and exclaimed, "I swept you off your feet!" He has a fondness for bad puns.

…Yes, if I got this plot bunny from being smacked with a ball of cold white powder, there is something wrong with me. Especially since I live in central Texas, and by some miracle, we got lots of snow. Maybe the snow was radioactive or something. Hehe.

Anyway. Drop a review, even if it's a flame, much appreciated, y'know?

Um... Terqua forever! XD