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Who: Master "Eraqus" and anyone else
What: Doing this intro thing all over again. How obnoxious.
Where: Land of Departure
Warnings: xehanort

Of course, the real Terra would rear his unkempt head before it was time. He'd heard the call go out, and had dropped the disguise to avoid trouble, secreting himself away once more to change his plan. No doubt some suspicion would be raised, but by the time he had completed a new disguise minds would hopefully be elsewhere.

The question was, how else to hide his true nature? Terra had been the best bet, a body he had worn for quite some time. Riku was out as Riku was already there... and of course forms of his Heartless and Nobody were pointless. What else could he do, what other trustworthy heart had touched his own in some form enough that he could wear their skin?

Then the idea hit him. Of course. Terra's heart hadn't been the only one stuck in that particular arrangement... there had been an unexpected interloper. Perfect. It would take more work, and a bit of an alignment shift... something that gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. Still, it would be more authentic. He would simply have to remember how.

With the new crafting finally complete, he set off in search of a very specific world. This time he would call out, as he knew that his brother would, seeking the familiar, his apprentices. He had to be far away from the station of his heart, and where else would Eraqus be but home? Stepping into the courtyard of the Castle of Departure, he cast a gaze around. He'd torn the world to shreds once, and its shape had been altered by magic, but here it was still in its original form.

It took a moment to remember. Those patterns of speaking. Those patterns of behaviour. Keeping himself still once more. Holding his shoulders high. Light, not darkness, hiding just below his skin. Finally, when he was ready, he reached out, calling in a way he would never do.

"What has happened? My apprentices... no, anyone here who can hear me. How can one be in such a place? This is very concerning..."

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Terra's head snapped up, wherever he was. He knew that voice. How could he not? He hadn't called for him, hadn't dared hope.

M-master?

And there was the man of the hour himself! The corner of his lip twitched. This would be oh-so-amusing.

Terra! You're here!

Terra could no more have avoided following that voice to its source than he could have grown wings - actually, that would have been easier. He faltered for a moment at the sight of the Land of Departure, so different from the way he'd seen it last, but he was easily distracted by the figure standing in the courtyard.

"Master! Is it - really you?"

His voice betrayed no real suspicion, only the hesitation natural to facing a gift unhoped-for.

Terra looked rather less like himself than Xehanort did like Eraqus; his hair was shot through with stripes of silver, and his skin had a strange metallic finish to it. Perhaps Xehanort needn't have bothered to change; who would believe that this was the real one?

There is little time to think. Eraqus is more reactions than thinking, and in this situation, there really is only one thing to do.

The gap between is closed easily, and his arms close around the young man, pulling him into a strong hug. The boy had been the son that Eraqus had never had, and such a reunion was destined to be a tearful one.

"Terra..." He managed to breathe, voice shaking slightly. "Terra... you're all right..."

A relative term, really. It seemed that this Terra wasn't entirely all there, if his appearance was any indication. The metallic edge... his armour, the will left behind? Curious... perhaps later he could probe more. Now was time for family triteness.

Terra clung to Eraqus, shaking with emotion. There was so much, so much he hadn't said before, and now - now he could, but he didn't know where to start.

"Master..." His voice shook; he couldn't forget the last time they'd been here, together in this place. How his arms had reached out and felt nothing. The vague pressure he felt now was disconcerting, wrong, but it was better, infinitely better, than that. "I'm sorry, I'm - so sorry!"

It was strange in a way, how only the barest of sensation passed for what should have been a strong embrace. The presence of the physical form was only an illusion, after all... but those bodies seemed real due to everything around them being the same illusion-stuff. They were all just hearts in a sea of hearts tempered in a boy. The mind could not fathom the true nature of that, and thus conceptual images were formed.

His mind could not wander, he had to focus on the emotions in order to get the right show for this occasion. A tear streaked down his cheek as he held on as well as he could, his voice low and gentle. "No, Terra, I am sorry... I didn't see it all this time... the fault is not yours alone."

"Master..." Terra's eyes overflowed with the tears he'd kept back for so long. "You shouldn't blame yourself. It was my fault, for being weak..." Master Eraqus had only done what he'd thought best. If Terra had been smarter, or stronger, it would never have come to that.

"No, Terra," he managed, his voice wavering just so - perfect, really. "Even the strongest can fall when tangled in Xehanort's webs. If only I'd seen it sooner..." Which was an impossibility, given Eraqus' rather large blind spots. Easily exploited, all of them.

Some of the bronze faded from Terra's skin as he embraced Eraqus. His heart open, his emotions were easily read: guilt, shame, grief, but also joy and love. "I didn't - I don't know what to do. Everything's so strange." He sounded younger than his years, as if the presence of his father-in-all-but-blood made him a child again.

"There is nothing about this in any of the Precepts. It is completely unfounded..." Even so, his voice remained strong and steady. Terra was weak, vulnerable... his master would rise to take control and protect him. How amusing, really... "There is nothing to fear. We have everything we need here. It is a matter of finding what we need to use in this situation. You are resourceful, never doubt yourself."

"How can I not? Look at me." Terra was beginning to suspect that the 'strangeness' people observed in his form reflected something deeper, a flaw or worse in him. Still, his master's words steadied him.

"I know...we can, if everyone works together."

Even though touch meant nothing and was only the merest whisper, he gripped Terra by the shoulders, staring at him intently. "Do not forget your teachings, Terra. What we see outside does not always reflect what is inside. It is the heart that matters, not the flesh. What do I see when I look at you? I see my son, one who I have failed in more ways than one."

After all, that was what Terra really craved, wasn't it?

Terra shook his head, saying thickly, "No - Master, you never - you never failed me. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher...or a better father." His sincerity, in this place, was more tangible than what passed for his body. Someone paying close attention might notice one of the streaks of silver in his hair fading back to brown at the love and approval he'd always longed for.

Such a change clearly meant that he was having the intended effect - namely, ensuring that Terra bought the act and that he would keep him in his good graces until the most blatant acts of darkness. Good, good. A little bit at a time...

"You give me too much kindness. I was so focused on the darkness I saw inside of you that I neglected all else. If I hadn't been so blind, maybe..." None of it would have happened? It was hard to say, really...

"I didn't - you weren't wrong." Terra's shoulders slumped inward. "The darkness, my darkness, if it hadn't been for that..." He wouldn't have been so vulnerable to Xehanort at all, or so he believed.

Master Eraqus was the one being too kind, in Terra's opinion. All this...so much suffering, because of his weakness...