Title: And the Sun will Rise
Chapter: 1/30
Author: zed_azrael
Pairing: Terra/Ven
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Theme: #7. superstar
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over Kingdom Hearts.
Summary: Terra is a student under Ansem the Wise, studying the power of hearts alongside the most prodigious in all of Radiant Garden. His unobtrusive life as a pupil is disrupted when King Mickey shows up one day with an unusual find: a boy.

Notes: To begin with, there are no few official substantial details on wtf happens in Birth by Sleep. All epic!plot and the like have been fabricated…badly. So, don’t use this as some sort of basis for what happens in that game, ‘cause, seriously, I have about as much of an idea as you do. e_e;;
Ack, no matter what the scenario, Ven ends up being semi-bipolar. Seriously, this kid is out of control. ;__;
Ehh… I’m not gonna lie or be modest, this really isn’t my best work. Far from it, to be honest. I’m kinda out of the “serious” loop with fics at the moment, and I couldn’t really fall into the groove required to write this to my satisfaction. I’ll definitely edit it eventually. Key word being “eventually”. <__<;;

( PartI.Terra.Chapter01.Rigel.Begin )

If there were two things that could be said about Terra, they were that he was very serious about what he did and that he always did things seriously. This is why, when he determinedly told his mother, along with half of Radiant Garden, at age four that he would become a pupil of Ansem the Wise, she knew he definitely would. And, some twelve years later, when he finally did achieve the honour to join the most prodigious in the world, nobody was very surprised—least of all Terra.

He liked to consider himself the self-proclaimed prodigy of Ansem. Even if he wasn’t exactly the best at everything, he was generally consistent in both performance and character, and the latter was something the other apprentices tended to lack.

The young King Mickey, who was from some far off place or another, also seemed to favour him a titbit above the others—something that pleased Terra immensely, seeing as both Ansem and the king appeared to be rather tight and took great consideration to each other’s opinions.

Terra was, for lack of a better expression, Number One. He may not have been as athletic as Dilan or as witty as Braig or as well-mannered as Aeleus or as studious as Even or as naturally brilliant as Ienzo, but he was easily the most likable of the six, and therefore the most popular with the citizens of Radiant Garden, and that was all that really mattered. And as it seemed that none of the other apprentices were particularly interested with snatching this title from him, Terra saw no reason to challenge any of them in what the excelled at. He had been deemed the most ‘interesting’—for what reason, he did not know—and that was all he needed to be comfortable.

Until, one day, a good year into his apprenticeship, the king returned with someone that was more fascinating than even he.

Terra had been studying in the library, researching anatomy or something equally mundane, when he saw the familiar shape of King Mickey’s gummi ship gently touch down on the landing pad just outside of the Marketplace. It had been mere chance—destiny?—that he had been tottering atop the spindly ladder he’d leant against a particularly tall bookcase, perusing the thick tomes for a specific edition when the ship silently hovered past the window and toward the town. Had he been at a lower angle, he would have missed the sight completely.

He scuttled down the ladder, book forgotten, and hurried down the stairs to the main hall of the library, where the dark-haired Ienzo sat, pouring over a dusty volume laden with detailed diagrams of human hearts and altogether dead to the outside world.

“Ienzo!” Terra exclaimed as he raced to his classmate, oblivious to the blatant scowl he was receiving. “King Mickey’s come back!” he announced as he slammed his hands on the desk the other was seated at, sending a pen rolling off the table and to the ground.

Ienzo gave Terra a withering look and with slow, deliberate actions, picked up his fallen pen. “I fail to see what is so exciting about this,” Ienzo said flatly, resuming his meticulous note-taking, his jagged bangs falling over his eyes as he bent his head to work. A single pale, silver-coloured eye rose, visible through his parted fringe, and fixed Terra with a particularly bored look. “It’s not as if this is anything new,” Ienzo muttered as he reached for a clean sheet of paper. “The king visits at his own whim.”

Terra winced at the less than enthusiastic response, but chose not to think too deeply on it and simply sprinted out of the library. Ienzo had a penchant for a nonchalance that was ill-suited in such a young child—he was only eleven, albeit an extremely intelligent and composed eleven year old. He and Terra did not often get on too well—Terra was much too excitable and energetic, whereas Ienzo preferred solitude and routine. Braig had once observed that Terra, despite being several years older than Ienzo, was clearly the more youthful at heart. Ienzo had agreed without much qualm.

Having brushed off Ienzo’s chilly response, Terra raced down the passages of the castle and out into the streets, distracting himself by imagining the fantastic stories the king would have to tell him. So distracted was he, that he hadn’t noticed the blond boy walking up the street until he was too late. The two ran into each other with a dull thud and Terra promptly toppled over onto the stranger, sending them both crashing down hard onto the cobblestones.

“Ouch!” the blond hissed as he clapped a hand to his forehead—they had bashed skulls in the collision. Atop him, Terra also gingerly rubbed at his forehead, his sapphire blue eyes squinted slightly in pain. The pair had landed somewhat awkwardly: Terra having all but fallen onto the blond and knocking the wind out of the slighter youth.

“Are…are you all right?” Terra ground out through a clenched jaw as he managed to shift his position such that he was sitting. He wearily opened his eyes and was met with the sight of a furious teenage boy with spiked blond hair and blazing sky-blue eyes. Terra furrowed his brow, and scratched idly at his own dark hair, wondering what had pissed the other off so intensely—it had been an accident, for goodness sake. No need to get in such a huff.

That’s when Terra became acutely aware that his subtle shift of position had all but placed him such that he was essentially straddling the blond.

Cheeks bright red and mortified, the blond roughly shoved Terra away from him. “Get away from me!” he said shrilly, jumping to his feet and fleeing the scene, leaving Terra sprawled out on the ground, a surprised expression plastered across his face.

“Terra?” a deep voice rumbled from the direction the blond had come from. “What on earth are you doing on the ground?”

Terra’s head whipped around and he flushed darkly with embarrassment when he saw the tall, imposing figure of Ansem the Wise towering before him. He quickly jumped to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground. “I tripped,” he replied lamely, chancing a tentative peek up at his teacher.

“Really?” Ansem sounded amused.

“Gosh, Terra,” a rather high-pitched voice trilled as a large black mouse that stood just below Terra’s hips, swathed in royal garb, poked his head out from behind Ansem’s flowing robes and smiled warmly: King Mickey. “I’ve never known you to be clumsy!” The King ambled over to the brunet and hugged Terra around his middle. Terra eagerly reciprocated the hug.

“It’s good to see you, your majesty,” Terra said sincerely, and Mickey let out a bubble of laughter.

“Huh-huh! I could never pass up on an opportunity to visit one of my friends!” he chirped in reply. “Besides, I found someone that might benefit from spending some time studying over here.”

Terra blinked and loosened his hug, staring down at the king, bewildered. “Huh?”

“It appears that my old friend has found me a new student, and you a new classmate.” Ansem’s glowing amber eyes were oddly clouded as he spoke. Then, to Mickey, he said, “Where has the lad gotten to, by the way? He was only with us but a moment ago…”

King Mickey grinned sheepishly. “Golly, I keep forgetting how active Ven is!” he chortled. “You should’ve seen the mayhem he’d put me through along the way! I must’ve lost him a good four or five times—once for each stop!” Mickey laughed. “He’s a very curious one, Ven. Bit of a troublemaker, too…” The King’s face tightened with what could only be weariness. “That kid probably took at least three years off my life with all the fights he got into… I had to fish him out of this particularly ugly scuffle back in the Coliseum before he got hurt. Right temper, he has.”

Ansem looked unbothered by Ven’s alleged waywardness. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean any harm,” he said genially. “Perhaps he is just adjusting to the new worlds.”

Terra perked up at this. “He’s not from Radiant Garden?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“Nope,” King Mickey replied, his large ears twitching slightly. “I picked him up while I was investigating something,” he said cryptically.

What that ‘something’ was, Terra didn’t press. He was still trying to swallow the idea of the foreign student. Aside from the king, Terra had never met someone from one of the Other Worlds. All of the other apprentices and Ansem himself were from Radiant Garden.

“Terra,” the king suddenly piped up. “I hope I’m not asking too much, but d’you think you watch over Ven for me? Help him get settled and all?” He looked troubled. “I’ve got some business that can’t be left alone, but, just the same, Ven needs to be taken care of and educated in the Worlds, and I just can’t juggle both…”

Terra silenced King Mickey with a gentle hand motion, “You don’t need to say another word, your majesty,” he told the mouse resolutely. “There’s no problem at all. Of course I’ll help Ven out.” He paused and cast an unsure look up at his teacher. “Provided Master Ansem lets me,” he added as a slow afterthought.

Ansem the Wise chuckled and nodded his head once, his long blond hair bobbing with the movement. “My pupil has spoken the truth,” he kindly assured King Mickey. “We’ll be honoured to watch over Young Ven, and I am most thankful that you have brought me another…” Ansem paused and pursed his lips. “…student.”

Mickey nodded, looking relieved. “Gee, thanks!” he exclaimed with a wide grin. “It’s so good to know that he’ll be looked after!”

“Of course,” Ansem said with another nod. He turned his attention back up to Terra. “We have instructed Ven to go to the castle,” he told Terra. “He seemed rather famished, so I told him to help himself to the kitchens.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “Perhaps you will find him there.”

However faintly it was stated, Terra knew an order when he heard one, and immediately set off back for the castle.

He headed to the kitchens first, at Ansem’s suggestion, and was unsurprised to see a stressed looking Even storming out of the rooms, dirty lab coat swirling loosely around his legs and tugging fretfully at his long, ashy-brown hair. When Even’s bloodshot green eyes caught sight of Terra, his face pulled into an expression of revulsion. “As if my day couldn’t get any worse!” he sniffed, gliding away from Terra.

Terra was used to these sorts of surly greetings from the young man, and took it easily in stride. “Hullo, Even. What’s got you so pissed?” Terra asked pleasantly, knowing it was always something or the other.

Even’s pallid face darkened and his eyes flickered back towards the kitchen doors for the briefest of moments. “There’s some imbecile gorging himself in there,” he finally answered, nose wrinkling. “Normally, I wouldn’t have said anything, but seeing as this particular specimen is new blood, I felt it my right to request that he eat like a civilised human being.” He let out a contemptuous scoff and began skulking away. “Apparently I asked too much,” he added, barking haughtily over his shoulder as he left.

Slightly bemused, Terra ruffled his spiked dark hair, pushed open the door to the kitchen and glanced inside, only to blanch when he saw the blond he’d crashed into earlier rummaging through the icebox, a clean popsicle stick hanging from his lips. He turned his head just enough to catch a quick glimpse of Terra from the corner of his eyes. His expression immediately turned sour.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered around the popsicle stick. He swivelled around, sapphire eyes cool and narrowed. His hands were at his hips in a decidedly feminine manner and his chin was held high and defiant. “What do you want?” he demanded crossly, as if Terra was the stranger in the castle and not the other way around.

“Uh…” Terra licked his lips anxiously, not wanting to make an even poorer impression on the blond than he had earlier. He took a tentative step forward, hands splayed in a gesture of peace. “Um, hello,” he said awkwardly. “Uh, are you the one the king brought back…?”

The blond tilted his head back a bit, eyes hooding over. “And if I am?” he asked challengingly, plucking the popsicle stick from his mouth and flicking it away into the rubbish bin that lay tucked in the corner of the room.

Terra faltered, baffled by the teen’s rebellious demeanour. “Uh, well, I’m Terra,” he said cautiously, eliciting a raised eyebrow and a curled lip from the blond. “And, um, the king asked that I help you settle in…and stuff,” he finished lamely.

There was a brief moment of silence, in which the blond raised his eyebrows appraisingly. Then he said, “That’s very kind of you to offer.” His tone was carefully neutral, if the slightest bit sarcastic. He inclined his head toward Terra in a small nod of acknowledgement. “I’m Ventus.” He paused, then added as an afterthought, “Well, most people call me Ventus.” He offered up an unenthusiastic handshake, his expression inscrutable. “The king calls me Ven.”

Terra quickly extended a hand to shake Ventus’. “It’s good to meet you, Ventus,” he said, feeling oddly more comfortable with this level of formality. He shook the blond’s hand in a brisk, firm action; the other’s hand was smaller than his own, delicately boned and would have been almost femininely dainty, was it not for the calluses that riddled his palm.

Ventus blinked once before giving Terra a mildly amused look, cocking his head coquettishly to the side. “I said, ‘most people call me Ventus,’” he murmured.

“Huh?”