Prankwar

It was quiet in the castle. An almost eerily silence hung in the air. One that gave you goosebumps if it lasted too long for your liking. Aqua, however, liked this silence. She thought it was peaceful and there weren't many times that it was this quiet in the castle, what with Ven's hyperness and his personal efforts to fill in any silence that would start to form. Thinking of that made her smile.

The only sound that the blue-haired young woman could hear was the ticking of the clock on her wall, until...

BANG! KRRRG!

A long-suffering sigh unintentionally escaped Aqua's lips for the umpteenth time that day. Of course, she could have known that that peaceful silence wouldn't stay too long...unfortunately. She uncomfortably shifted back and forth in her desk chair, trying to focus on what was so important for her and ignore the pretty hard and annoying banging that seemed to come from Terra's room, which was opposite of hers. Living up to her own words was kinda hard, though. Too hard.

BANG! KRRRG!

One could clearly see the vein that had appeared in her temple if they looked at her close enough. It was a sign of grave danger for the one who had caused her to look this angry, which was also known as the "I-think-I-might-just-slap-someone-expression." And for those who were oblivious to that fact, there were her deep frown and narrowed eyes that strengthened the major "danger-impact."

A little less than ten minutes ago, she had still been able to be completely engrossed in a rather exciting book that she had taken from the library downstairs. (Yes, she was a bookworm, got a problem with that?) The book focused mainly on the theory behind certain useful magical tactics and attacks with the Keyblade. She was reading it, because it could be of good use during her Master qualification exam. Of course, that day still was so far away that it almost looked impossible that that moment would come. One couldn't start early enough with practising, though, because before you knew it, it would be far too late.

Yes, exactly ten minutes ago, everything had been okay, because just ten minutes ago it had still been quiet. A comfortable and relaxing silence. Who knew what on earth Terra was doing right now in his room.

BANG! KRRRG!

Maybe he was doing it on purpose, just to annoy her enough, so she would go and take a look to discover from where the extremely annoying sound came from and he would put up some stupid prank with her. She wouldn't be too surprised if that was what he was up to.

Suspicious, her? Well, she had learned one important thing during the years that she had lived with Terra: if it was about him, one just couldn't be careful enough. He had been acting quite annoying today too. To her great shame, the blue-haired mage had lost a sparring match from him and he kept reminding her of this little fact all day now.

BANG! KRRRG!

She started to wonder how it was even possible that Master Eraqus was not bothered by him. Maybe the Master was sitting a few floors lower and therefore didn't hear this disturbing sound. Or he was finally getting deaf. You never knew it with that man ether. Sometimes it was so unbelievably frustrating to be the only girl who lived with two complete oddballs (since one shouldn't forget about Ven. The Master was the only normal person around, other than her of course).

BOOM!

Hey, that sounded kinda different from the previous ones, she mused, frowning lightly.

A deafening silence followed after the dull thud that had practically made the whole floor tremble slightly. Aqua waited impatiently until another sound, anything, would come from Terra's room...

Nothing happened, though.

She sighed wearily, firmly believing that the world somehow had decided to torture her today. Maybe it was better to check out whatever the heck he was doing, for there was a very small chance that something had happened to him. Something bad. For example, he could have hurt himself badly with his actions.

After a short while, when she couldn't take it anymore, her curiosity and worry made her rose up slowly from the chair she had been sitting on and she tiptoed to the door. After opening it slightly, she saw that the hallway was deserted, which was nothing new. Terra's door was closed, as expected. She fervently hoped that he hadn't locked it. Not because she wouldn't be able to open it (after all, she had a Keyblade), but more because that would feel like she was intruding his privacy.

She stood still in front of his bedroom door, lingering a little. Should she really be doing this? This would be another reason for him to tease her afterwards, if the brunet teen turned out to be fine. Aqua already knew how he would call her then, an over-protective mother, or maybe something even worse.

Slowly and hesitantly, Aqua stretched out her hand and knocked on the door three times. A deafening silence followed, which made her wonder if he had heard her at all or not.

She cleared her throat. "Terra?" Aqua tried not to say it too loudly, just in case Master Eraqus would hear her. Apparently, Terra had decided not to answer her this time, so she tried again. "Terra, are you okay?"

The bluenette put her ear against the door to see if she could make out a sound. A soft groan, barely audible, was heard on the other side of the door. So he still was alive? That was the sign for Aqua to snap into action.

Without warning, she opened the golden-colored barrier between her and Terra and stepped inside. "Terra, what are you-"

The scene she encountered next ensured that her mouth fell open in pure astonishment. She was at a loss of words. The brown-haired teen was laying on the ground, wearing underwear on his head, while firmly holding onto his thumb with his other hand for some unknown reason. His face was twisted into a grimace of pain.

By the looks of it, his whole room was turned upside down and inside out. Clothes, books and other random belongings were scattered in different piles. She couldn't see what exactly they were, because it was so dark in the room; the curtains were closed. The first question that crossed Aqua's mind was: What had happened? Had a hurricane blown in his room? It honestly almost looked as though the Apocalypse had taken place here. Terra looked at her direction as soon as he heard her voice. This sudden movement made his underwear fall off his head, but he did not pay any attention to it. His eyes were blurry and he didn't seem to be embarrassed by her catching him like this at all.

"...Doing?" she uttered bewildered, blinking a couple of times just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

He immediately struggled to get to his feet, swaying back and forth violently. This probably wasn't going to end that well. Aqua quickly jumped up to him, being just in time to catch him and prevent him from falling and breaking some bones. She had to admit that he was pretty heavy. It had to be because of all the muscles. How much would he weigh? Right now, she actually didn't want to know that. Instead, she put all her effort into dragging Terra over to his bed, where he collapsed as soon as he felt the soft surface underneath him, while dragging Aqua with him in the process. She did her best not to topple over him, bracing herself, but without any success. He was too strong for her. Their lips brushed lightly against each other when she fell half on top of him, making her blush furiously, her heart skipping a beat or two. They both panted lightly, while Aqua tried to free herself from the tangle of arms and legs, which was quite a task.

"Hmm, I have to admit that I enjoy the beautiful view from here. I assume that I don't have to mention the sweet and unexpected kiss?" Terra remarked out of the blue. "This makes me wonder... Am I dreaming again?"

Aqua blushed even more at those words, as a weird expression appeared on her face. She narrowed her eyes and quickly got up, away from him, when she realized that he just admitted that he was dreaming more often of her. It was a small wonder that Master Eraqus hadn't walked in on them just to see them in this awkward position. That would give a rather wrong impression to their teacher, not to mention that it would be so embarrassing! At that moment, Terra started humming a random song that Aqua recognized as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Just what was he doing?

"Let's pretend that I just didn't hear that, otherwise I'm afraid I have to smack you. What - what happened here?" Aqua asked, completely stunned.

Terra's brow furrowed slightly. "I lost something... I looked everywhere for it, but I still can't find it anywhere. Maybe it's gone...probably forever. Oh, why does life always have to be so hard for me?"

His face fell.

So that was why the beating had continued undisturbedly. Terra sounded sad and irritated at the same time. Talk about rather scary mood swings...

"But what have you lost then?" the young woman inquired, curiously.

Maybe she could help him finding it, so she could finally go back to read her book that was still waiting for her. She hadn't even finished the first chapter yet, which was quite a shame now that she thought of it.

Terra looked away. "That...that doesn't matter now."

Aqua sighed deeply, something she had been doing a lot around him today. Was he drunk or something? He knew very well that Master Eraqus had forbidden them to drink liquor, unless there was a very special occasion. This would bring him in deep trouble if the Master found out.

"Okay... Why were you lying on the ground? Are you hurt?" she asked, sounding worried again all of a sudden.

A small frown appeared on her forehead, when Terra nodded slowly and slightly reluctantly. "Papercut," was the simple and rapid response.

She gave him a rather puzzled look. "Excuse me?"

"I got a papercut. Look, it's right here," he repeated in exactly the same tone.

He held his thumb in front of her face, a little bit too close. She saw nothing, though. Once again, Aqua gave him a questioning look.

"Look closer," he demanded in a serious voice.

Once again, Aqua sighed deeply. She was getting fed up with his unexplainably childish behavior. That, and she hated it when someone bossed her around like that. Nevertheless, she did what he had asked her anyway. Whe she looked closer at his injured finger, she could spot a tiny mark on his skin, exactly on the place where the skin had been cut by paper.

"So don't I get a kiss now?"

Aqua quirked a thin eyebrow at his sudden impertinence. Was he feeling lucky today or something?

"Pardon me?"

"You heard me. I know you did."

A sly smirk made its way to his lips.

"Why would you get a kiss now?"

The situation was getting stranger and stranger within every second. Despite of that, Aqua secretly wanted to know where this was going to. Terra never had been one to talk about his feelings this freely, so maybe she could make him do so today. The results could be interesting and she was sure that he would reveal some shocking things about himself eventually.

What was that saying again? Children and drunk people were the only honest people in the worlds?

"Hellooo? I'm in miserable pain, remember? My mom always gave me hugs and kisses whenever I would fall and scrape my knee or something when I was little," he said, defending himself.

Oh, how incredibly tough of him. He sounded as though he was explaining something very easy to a four-year old child who just didn't seem to understand anything of what he was saying.

Aqua tried not to roll her eyes at that comment as she ran a hand through her shiny blue hair. "One: there's a big difference between your mother and I: I'm not your mother! And two: you're not a little boy anymore. Toughen up!"

Terra blinked his eyes, probably thinking of a good comeback.

And by the looks of it, he had found one...unfortunately. "True, but I'm still a little boy deep down inside. I thought you already knew that by now. And two: you always behave like my mother. It's almost creepy how similar you're acting like her! Especially your whining makes me think of her sometimes. It's kinda unbearable," he muttered under his breath.

He sure was talking a lot today, Aqua thought. Mostly rubbish.

The brunet male continued, "Man, I had never thought I would miss her so much. And here I mean especially her cooking. Nobody can make better pancakes than her. Not even you."

Aqua narrowed her cerulean-blue eyes dangerously at that. "Oh really?" she asked.

"Yeah, most definitely."

Okay, now he was going a bit too far. Commenting on her cooking was something one shouldn't do if one wanted to keep Aqua as a friend. The dangerous vein in her temple that had been gone temporarily, appeared on its right place again.

It took her the greatest effort to not smack him on the back of his head for acting so stupid. "Are you drunk?" she asked sharply.

To be fair, she didn't want to know, but it sure would explain this weird situation.

Terra infatuatedly shook his head. "Of course not! Liquor isn't allowed here, remember? Jeez, and I thought for an instant that you were smart. Are you having a bad day or something, 'cause you look really tired, you know? You also have these huge bags under your eyes and your hair isn't as shiny as usual," he noted, as he examined her more.

That was the limit for her. "Ugh! You're impossible, Terra!"

"Aaw, thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment!" she sneered.

Terra's face fell again. "Oh... You know, you're not being very nice to me, Aqua. I think you should appologise. That would be the right thing to d-"

Aqua rose up abruptly, looking pretty mad by now.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

She didn't answer and was about to leave his bedroom when she noticed something from the corner of her eyes. She turned her head toward it. Two bottles were standing rather lonely on the desk. Being slightly curious by now, she walked towards it and picked it up. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the bottles contained medicines. In one of the bottles, she found yellow-colored painkillers. The other one was filled with migraine pills. Aqua frowned as she picked up the leaflet and started reading it, having a hunch of what had happened to Terra. And yes, there it was, under the general warning section. Leaflets didn't lie.

"Have you taken these two pills at the same time?" she asked and she sternly looked at him.

Terra thought about it for a short while and then nodded slowly. "Yeah... Why?"

"When?" she asked, tensed.

"Uh, dunno. Perhaps... twenty minutes ago? Or maybe even more. I really have no idea. Sorry."

This explained his peculiar behavior of today.

She sighed, while facepalming. "Oh, you idiot! Don't you know what side effects it can have on you if you take them both at such a short amount of time? You should always read the small letters first. It's for your own safety!"

"Side effects?" he asked, with a puzzled look on his face. He made it almost sound like he had never heard of those two words before. This was of no use. "Joohoo? Spacing out again, you daydreamer? Care to enlighten me?" he asked.

"Never mind. Apparently, you don't."

"But what else was I supposed to do, huh?" he asked defiantly.

He got up from his bed and started walking toward her, a dangerous glint was visible in his cobalt-blue eyes.

"Why didn't you try any potions? Didn't they work?"

It took a while before he replied this time. "Ohw..."

Aqua looked at him again, fearing to hear the worst.

She didn't like the way he had said the word. "Ohw what?"

"I uh... haven't really thought about it... so...yeah," he admitted, scratching the back of his head, sheepishly.

"That is an "ohw," indeed," she retorted.

She ran her hand through her short hair as she thought of what she could do best next. To be honest, there weren't many possibilities left. It wouldn't be an understatement if she said that she was clueless. The main important thing was that he should not go outside like this, so he couldn't make any damage to the furniture or anything else around him... himself included, of course.

"Hey, Aqua?"

"Hmm?" she said, almost absent-mindedly, since she was still racking her brains for a suitable solution.

"Was your father a terrorist?"

She whipped around so quickly this time that she almost twisted her neck. Honestly, where in the world had that suddenly come from?

Imagination surely was a strange thing, but at this point, he had made her curious. "No, why do you ask?"

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards in a tiny half-smirk. It made him almost look cute. She didn't like where her mind was drifting off to now, though.

"'Cause you're da bomb!"

He put his arms in the air, looking happier than ever. Oh gosh, now it was serious. The guy had officially, completely lost his mind. This made Aqua sigh once again. This would be a long and tough day.

"Thanks for... pointing that out. I'm sure it can be of use someday... Now, could you please wait for me here? I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere else, okay?" she said, giving him a warning look to show him that she was being serious.

Because if he got out of the safe sanctuary that was called his bedroom, he would only be a danger to himself.

"Ooh... Having any wild plans for today?"

A small smirk touched his lips. The way he had said that made her blush once again.

"No, I'm afraid I don't have any wild plans, Terra. I'm just going to get something for you, so you can be your old self again in no time. The sooner the better, actually. So if you'll excuse me..."

The sooner he was back to normal, the better it was for everyone. She didn't want to admit it, but he surely was scaring her a little now with his random dialogues. A potion would probably help here.

She was already out the door when he cried after her, "Okay. Just don't let me wait too long, 'cause I hate waiting!"

She'd heard what he had said, though, and she shook her head, smiling. "Believe me, I've already found that out myself," she said to nobody in particular.

Aqua tried not to be seen by anyone, especially the Master, because that could lead to rather awkward questions. When she had found what she wanted, she went back to Terra's bedroom again, where something new had happened. Terra lay in his bed, all curled up into a tiny ball and with his eyes closed. His chest went up and down in a slow and steady rythm. He slept like a baby.

Aqua smiled. That was something she didn't see that often. She put the potion down on the nightstand. Maybe sleep would help him here, too.

She was about to leave the room again to let him have his rest, when an exellent idea struck her mind. Terra wouldn't mind it if she gave him a tiny metamorphosis, right? Just enough to let him see the difference. This was payback for all those times that he had been troublesome to her (which was a lot). She only needed some make up and a photo camera, so she could always blackmail him if she needed to.

Later that day, Terra yawned and stretched, letting his bones creak in a way that probably would've made Aqua wince. The brunet male had to admit that he had slept really well for these past few hours, but he was still feeling tired. That would be because of today's training; it had been killing, as always. Fortunately, his head-ache had subsided, thanks to the useful nap. It had to be the stress or something.

His gaze lazily slid to the clock on the opposite wall. It was almost half past six. Dinner should be ready by now, he thought. And today was Aqua's turn to cook as well, so whatever she was cooking, he knew that it was something promising. He could already smell something delicious, but he could not quite put his finger on what it was yet. He had never been good at guessing stuff.

Scratching the back of his head, he got up, almost knocking away the small bottle of potion. He caught it right in time and looked at it, frowning. Wait a minute, where had this come from? He always kept his potions in his closet... Just great, apparently now he was also suffering from forgetfulness. Could this day get any worse? With his hand, he brought his hair a little in model to make it look more presentable. Sighing lightly, he opened the door and headed to the kitchen downstairs.

As soon as he arrived there, the wonderful smell of macaroni bolognaise greeted him. He truly loved Italian food, especially when it was made by Aqua, the only one here who knew how to cook great meals in a very short amount of time. Inhaling deeply, he realized that he was more hungry than he had thought at first. Then again, who wouldn't be when he smelled something like this? He saw that Aqua was still busy with cooking, while Ven sat on a chair close to her and spoke enthusiastically about some exciting topic. Knowing him, it probably had something to do with fighting and speed.

Silently leaning against the wall, Terra decided not to say anything to announce his presence, but just to listen to their conversation. Who knew, perhaps he would catch something interesting this way. Something that was not meant for his ears.

"You still haven't answered my question though, Aqua," Ven noted, obviously oblivious to Terra's presence.

Aqua said nothing in response and kept doing her work.

Ven unconciously trummed a fast beat with his fingertips on the wooden surface of the table. "You know, I'm really wondering what Terra will think of all this," he started.

Terra perked his ears. He turned his head towards them and looked at the back of their heads. Ven's blond spikes were messier than ever, - maybe he had run his hand through his hair again without being aware of it himself - but Aqua's blue hair looked neat, which was the exact opposite of the enthousiastic boy. The way it shone caught the brunet's attention and soon enough, he found himself wondering how many times a day she would comb her hair to keep it this perfect.

"I'm sure he'll find it very interesting that you've been into his room today, twice! And I'm not even talking about the Master. What will he say if he finds out, huh?"

There was a big silence, again, in which only the sauce pan simmered lightly. Terra quirked a dark brow, seeing how her back had tensed up slightly at that comment. That comfirmed Ven's accusions. So she had been to his room? Twice even? The question was why. As far as he knew, he hadn't borrowed anything from her (or vice versa), so the chance that she wanted something back that was still in his bedroom was nihil. When had all this happened, anyway? How come he hadn't noticed anything at all? Was he really suffering from forgetfulness then or had she been so quiet that she hadn't woken him up at all?

"Aquaaa!" Ven whined dramatically, when she didn't say anything in return.

Any normal person would've smacked Ven by now (or at least he would have), or emptied the contents of the saucepan over his head, but Terra knew that Aqua would never do that. She had always had a soft spot for younger guys like Ven. She had even admitted more than once that she thought that the boy was adorable. The brunet teen personally thought that she was completely nuts, because there was nothing adorable about Ven. He was incredibly annoying, not cute or anything like that. Aqua was really weird sometimes.

"Oh, Ven? Could you please go tell him that dinner's ready? I've got my hands pretty full here, as you can see."

Ven looked at her for a short moment, his head tilted, as if he actually wanted to say 'no' to her, but in the end, he didn't object. Maybe he didn't dare, knowing Aqua.

"Okidoki. I'll be right back!"

He got up and turned around in one quick move, just to see Terra standing there with his arms crossed. Ven's cerulean eyes immediately got as big as saucers and his mouth dropped open in utmost terror, his jaw practically hitting the floor.

Terra quirked an eyebrow at this sight. "Hi," he said dryly, in a very Terra-like way.

Ven, however, didn't seem to be able to say something back to him. He opened his mouth several times, like a fish on the surface, but he closed it again when he couldn't form the words he wanted to use.

Terra decided here to fill in the silence by asking, "Is there something wrong?"

"Y-you... your face!" Ven managed to say, looking quite shell-shocked, while pointing at Terra with a quivering index finger.

Strangely enough, Aqua didn't bother to look at what Ven was talking about. Terra had expected her to immediately turn around to see it herself. He assumed it wasn't that interesting for her. Or maybe she was afraid that their dinner would burn if she did. Either way, he didn't really care at the moment.

Terra quirked his other eyebrow as well. "What's with my face? I mean, I know I'm handsome, but it shouldn't be that mindblowing to you. You should be used to it by now."

"N-no... Mirror..."

Ven was obviously still too shocked to say anything else, let alone form coherent sentences. Wait, was it really that bad? Was he having a bad hair-day? Terra decided to go look for the mirror in the hallway to find out the damage. He walked towards it, half expecting to see something horrible he wouldn't forget quite soon (like a giant spider or something). His suspicions to find something horrible didn't let him down, though.

His mouth dropped open when he saw his reflection in the mirror. No, actually, that wasn't him anymore. This was... so bad! Red lipstick, blue eyeshadow, mascara... heck, it was all smeared on his face! What had he been doing in his sleep?

Wait a second, he couldn't have done that. He had no experience to make everything look so perfect and make straight lines instead of weird squiggles...

He turned again. His face had become red, but not because of the little rouge that was applied so neatly on his cheeks. "Who... did this?" he asked with a soft, but dangerous voice.

First, he looked at Ven (as murderously as he could), who hastilly shook his head. Then there was only one person who had done this, because Master Eraqus still had his morals.

Of course. He should have known that it was her. She was the only one who sometimes used... that stuff. His glance rested on Aqua's back, who had noticed the sudden silence. She slowly turned around to face him. Her face stood neutral, almost innocent. He didn't buy that, though.

"Why," he growled, almost slaughterously.

It wasn't a question, but more of a demand. Ven looked from Terra to Aqua and then back to Terra again, over and over again, as though he was watching a pingpong match.

"Well, maybe if you didn't take two different medicines at the same time, you would have been enough down to earth to notice what rubbish you were saying, so I wouldn't have to take revenge for everything you did to me. And believe me, the flirting wasn't the worst of all. Besides, everyone always thinks you have a girly name, so I thought I might as well show the more feminine features of you," she explained with a sing-song voice, smiling sickingly sweet. "And to be fair with you, I think it suits you. The only thing that's missing though, is a nice, pink dress. Oh, and a better hair style, of course, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you that."

"Why you..."

With great difficulty, he managed to control himself. He made fists of his hands. Even his eyes seemed to change from color for a short moment; they had become a shade of orange-ish blue.

Wait a second, he had flirted with her? Why didn't he remember that? He was partly glad that he didn't, but his cheeks still reddened even more.

"You'd better watch out from now on, 'cause you certainly will pay for this!" he said in a low voice.

Aqua let out an uncharacteristic snort, rolling her clear blue eyes. She was clearly not taking him serious in the least.

"Oh really now? What do you want to do then? Paint my nails?"

He narrowed his eyes until his long eyelashes almost hid the greyish-blue of his eyes. He glared daggers at her, before hurriedly walking off with a huff, taking big steps.

"Terra, where are you going?" Ven cried timidly, not liking the tension in the room at all.

"To wash my face. And my name is NOT girly, thank you very much!"

"That's what you're thinking," Aqua noted quietly.

She waited until he had disappeared and then fell into uncontrollable fits of laughter. The pupil had to hold the table tightly to keep herself from falling over.

"That wasn't funny, you know," Ven remarked, but he looked like he was about to burst out laughter, too. "And I really would sleep with one eye open tonight if I were you. Trust me, he was serious about that."

Aqua just shook her head dismissively. "Terra isn't that dangerous. Besides, he deserved that. Don't be afraid, Ven. I can handle him with one hand tied on my back."

"Yeah, just like today's sparring match you mean?" Ven noted.

Aqua grimaced at that. Why did everyone have to keep reminding her of that little embarrassing incident all the friggin' time? Honestly, how was she supposed to forget about it if nobody would let her? There seemed to be one right way to deal with that: she had to show who was the boss here.

"Do you want to sleep with one eye open tonight?" she threatened.

"Sorry," Ven added hastilly, looking away.

Aqua smiled sweetly again. "That's okay, Ven. You know, I'm wondering how long it will take him to realize that I've used semipermanent mascara on him."

She giggled then, something she hadn't done in quite a while. It was a nice, tinkling voice, like those sweet melodies that one heard when they opened a music box.

"Um... what exactly does that mean?" Ven questioned, a confused frown on his face.

She had almost forgotten that she was the only one here who knew something about make-up, which was good in this case. "It means that it certainly will take a few weeks to get that off of his face. He should be thankful that it only was the mascara that was permanent and not the lipstick and eyeliner. I couldn't do that to him."

Her question was answered when she heard a shrill cry, followed by a furious, "AQUAAAAH!"

It was needless to say that that yell belonged to Terra.

"Uh oh. Too late," she said. "Oh well. Can't change that now, right? Dinner's ready. I think it's the best if you told him that. He probably won't attack you. Master has left early, so we're all alone today."

And with that, she turned around resolutely and started looking for plates in the cabinets, silently wondering what the future had in mind for her.