⊕ 03 [action]

[erodingearth]

[This takes place on Friday, the last day of the experiment.

Terra's been feeling a strong desire to train today. Pullups and pushups in the clearing, combat training in the battle dome... He's got stamina to spare, but there's no doubt he's pushing himself; usually he has the sense to stop once in awhile.

He can be seen in the forest near house 39 exercising in the morning or over in the battle dome past noon. ...Or maybe even passed out on the grass on his way back to the house, towards midnight.]

Comments

[perplexme]

[He pauses for a moment, giving Terra a curious look.] ...do you really believe that though?

[erodingearth]

[He hesitates before responding. This was something he had learned the hard way.] I believe it more now than I used to.

[perplexme]

If I asked what changed your mind, you wouldn't tell me would you?

[erodingearth]

It's not a big secret or anything. For awhile, I was caught up in my own problems, my own doubts. And somewhere along the way, I lost sight of the fact that my friends are my strength. [And he'd needed the help of a little boy to realize that much.] The situation with Vanitas showed me that there are some things you just can't do alone.

[He still had trouble sticking to that mindset, though. A work in progress.]

[perplexme]

...that happens to a lot of us, doesn't it? Getting caught up, I mean. But at the same time it's hard to let people help you when you don't want them to get hurt. That's not a bad thing, is it?

[erodingearth]

It isn't a bad thing, no. But if everyone wants to help, are you going to turn them all away?

[perplexme]

Honestly? Probably. I can't risk it.

[erodingearth]

[He'd probably laugh if the very idea didn't make his body ache.]

Well, at least you're thorough.

[perplexme]

That's...a good thing, right, Terra?

[erodingearth]

It means you know what you want. And wanting to protect people is a good thing. [He cracks a smile, gazing skyward.] Just don't expect everyone to agree with you that they should stay on the sidelines.

[perplexme]

I think I'm one of the only ones who can protect everybody. But I know my friends won't take it lying down.

...Ven's sort of on my list of people to protect, too. In case you were wondering.

[erodingearth]

I thought as much. [Roxas and Ven would be equally curious in each other.] And I appreciate it. I didn't realize just how bad the situation could get between Ven and Vanitas.

[perplexme]

It happens when you're dealing with somebody who's pure darkness. Vanitas is the main reason I even bother patrolling anymore. If he goes after another one of my friends...

[erodingearth]

And defeating him once sure didn't change things. [Did that mean they'd just have to keep killing him? What would that even do to Ven?]

[perplexme]

You mean the time he was defeated here? Or was there another time?

[erodingearth]

The time he was defeated here. I was searching for him before I showed up in Luceti, but I never fought him. So fighting him like that was ... shocking. [To say the least. Unexpected. Very trying.]

[perplexme]

The good thing is that now we know what it takes to stop him again if we have to. It's kind of like an advantage, right?

Why were you searching for him anyway?

[erodingearth]

Yeah. It's definitely an advantage, and he knows it. Probably why he hasn't backed off from fighting people.

[He sighs, tilting his head further towards the stars before looking back at Roxas.] He was causing trouble back home, disrupting the balance, and I got it into my head that I could handle the problem by myself.

[perplexme]

He just hasn't met his match yet. But he will soon enough.

There's one in every world, isn't there? [A heavy sigh.] You're kind of stubborn.

[erodingearth]

Only kind of stubborn? [He's heard it enough times from Aqua over the years to at least acknowledge it.] We didn't really know what we were dealing with. Our original task was looking for the source of the disruption. Finding out more about it.

[perplexme]

More than kinda, but I didn't want to judge it. [He grins a little. Sorry, Terra, but Roxas still has this weird sense of admiration going on.] Reconnaissance, basically. We did that a lot, too.

[erodingearth]

[He sees that grin. It's good to see Roxas not look so serious.] Sounds like you were kept pretty busy.

[perplexme]

I guess you could say that. There was a lot of work to do when I stayed with the Organization.

[erodingearth]

The Organization? [He's so very, very behind on the times.]

[perplexme]

Yeah...Organization XIII. They're...pretty far into your future. [A pause.] You know what Nobodies are, right?