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"Hey, this could be worse, you know."
"Really?" Vanitas looked unimpressed. How he managed to pull a stern frown with all that wind against his face, Ven would never know. "Please, enlighten me. I would love to know just moments before my death."
"Well for one thing, captain killjoy, we don't even know if this place has a bottom." Ven pointed out with a huff. "So we might not be falling to our deaths at all." he said, crossing his arms as Wayward Wind vanished from his grasp. "Second, this could give us the chance to think up a plan, since it doesn't look like this'll be ending any time too soon. We'll just have to wait and keep an eye out for any bottoms at all." Well, he cracked one smile from Vanitas, as juvenile as it was. "Once we do, then we can come up with something before we go 'splat' against the ground."
Vanitas flicked his wrist, wiping Void Gear from reality. "Why are you so optimistic about this?"
Ven shrugged, getting comfy as he sat back and let the wind whip his hair. "Because we haven't died yet."
"Yet ."
"Say, does this place have an echo?" Ven looked around. "I had no idea my echo would sound so snarky and like an asshole."
"Clearly you never heard yourself talk."
Vanitas dodged the kick that was aimed at him. So there was an advantage to falling down a bottomless… wherever they were.
"Alright, maybe it'll be easier to talk this out," Ventus offered, folding his arms behind his head and crossing one leg over. This felt surprisingly comfortable, even with the lack of a bed or chair under him. "You know, get a better idea of what exactly we're dealing with. So, it looked like the heartless was just about ready to fall over once we got a few good hits on it."
"I landed the most and you know it."
"Really?" Ven looked at him, growing further annoyed as he watched Vanitas clean his knuckles on his chest. "You're going to turn it into that?"
"You have your silver lining, sunshine. And I have mine." Vanitas blew on his knuckles before he continued to clean them. Seemed a little pointless since he was wearing his bodysuit but Ven wasn't going to start complaining. At least it stopped Vanitas'.
"Okay," Ven resumed. "After you landed so many great hits on it, the mouth on its stomach started to… swell up, I guess." he said as he tried to find the right words. "We already had some distance between it so I thought we were in the clear. But then you said, 'Watch this nerd, I got this.' and started sprinting towards it."
Vanitas huffed. "I didn't say that."
"Oh yeah, you're right," Ven nodded. "You screamed it. You screamed, 'Watch this nerd, I got this!' and then you ran towards it."
Vanitas blew a raspberry at him. He didn't stop Ven from going on though.
"And when you did, the heartless opened its stomach mouth and this huge wave of blue light came out. It hit you, then me, and now we're here." Ven waved his arms around, gesturing to the swirling tunnel of blue and purple lights they were falling down. "And we've been falling for…"
"Hours." Vanitas guessed.
Ven shook his head. "I think it was a little shorter than that."
"What? Does your keyblade have a watch? Can it tell time, Ventus?"
"Can yours?"
"Shut up."
Ven sighed. "Look, I know this looks pretty bad. But we'll figure something out. We won't be able to do that if we just get mad at each other, though." he reasoned. "So let's just keep calm and try to figure this out. Okay?" When Vanitas crossed his arms in front of his chest and huffed, Ven sat up a little and asked in a softer tone. "Please, Van?"
Visibly, Vanitas grew less aggravated and looked at Ventus. "You know I can't say no when you call me that." he huffed, rolling his eyes playfully when Ven laughed. The little bastard had him wrapped around his finger and he knew it. "Alright, let's try to come up with something."
Surprisingly, it was pretty easy to think and toss around a few ideas as they fell through a never-ending void. They didn't get much figured out and no plans of escape were made, but it wasn't that hard to come up with a few ideas. The lights that swirled around them weren't too bright or glaring, the only sound other than the voices was the wind they made as they fell, and since it was just the two of them, there wasn't anything that could easily distract them. Well, except each other.
"Hey," said Ven, falling upside-down with his arms crossed behind his head. "You should blow out your hair more."
"Blow it out?" asked Vanitas, lounging in the air.
"Yeah," Ven smiled. "I like how your hair looks that way."
"Hmph," Vanitas propped his chin on his hand, smirking with a raised brow. "Oh really?" He ran his fingers through his hair, the wind curling the black locks around his fingers. "I'll think about it."
Ven chuckled. There was the Vanitas he knew. "See? This isn't as bad as it looks."
"We're still falling," said Vanitas. "But I guess you're right. It could have been a lot worse." He agreed, enjoying the smile that bought onto Ven's lips. "In fact," he continued, swimming his way over to Ven and pulling him up by his arms until their faces met. Vanitas had no need to question how they could do this while they fell at the same speed; this was a heartless' doing, after all. Anything was possible. "I think I like this a little better than we were earlier."
"Really?" Ven's eyes glimmered with delight, filled with playfulness. "Hmmm, I guess you're right. We were just fighting a heartless earlier. A really, really tough heartless. Nearly exhausted and low on health." he recalled, gently bumping against his nose against Vanitas' as he spoke. It was hard not to laugh at the way Vanitas tried to close the distance between their lips. "And when it released its attack on us and brought us here, we got a chance to get some rest."
" That ," Vanitas continued, his lips landing on Ven's chin. "and we're together."
"Well, well look at you being the romantic type." Ven couldn't help but laugh, mostly from the ticklish feeling on his chin.
"Have you seen where we are?" asked Vanitas, watching the colorful lights paint shadows across their faces as they fell. "This place, how close we can be with no one watching? Seems a little romantic to me."
Ven laughed again, but he ended it by giving Vanitas what he wanted with a soft kiss. "I guess you're right," he said against his lips. "Its oddly intimate."
Vanitas' own gaze softened for a moment. "Couldn't agree more." He pulled a little back and flicked Ven lightly on the forehead. "Come on, nerd. You're going to get sick if you keep hanging upside-down like that. And we need to find a way out of here, remember?" Although, Vanitas would prefer if they could go on with what they were doing.
Ven whined, "but it's so much fun!" but he conceded and flipped himself right side-up, choosing to lay on his stomach. "Alright, so we know the heartless is weak. We already took out its healers so it isn't going to be recovering anytime soon. If anything, this is probably its last-ditch effort and it's trying to buy some time to find a way to make a comeback."
Vanitas nodded. "Yeah. I'm not sure how much it can get done by doing this." He said, taking a glance down. Nothing but the same swirling lights greeted him, all of them resembling shooting stars that flew right pass them. Vanitas looked back to Ven. "But once we do get out, I'll finish it." he declared with a grin.
"If you can, go ahead," said Ven, spinning onto his back and looking at Vanitas' upside-down once more.
"Hey, what did I say about that?" Vanitas reached, grabbing Ven by the hand and flipping him over. "Since when I did I become your babysitter?" he huffed.
Ven grinned cheekily. "When you agreed to go out with me." he said with a dreamy sigh. "And hey, that should be me saying that!" he laughed. "You're the one who keeps running off without me noticing."
"Then you're a terrible babysitter, sunshine." Vanitas replied.
Ven took his other hand. "Oh shush." he said, threading his fingers along his own. Free-falling this way felt a lot more secure. Besides, his hands were getting cold and Vanitas' were always warm.
"Why?" Vanitas pulled the blonde over to him, bumping their foreheads lightly together. "Make me." he said with a smirk.
Startled and flustered, Ven sputtered for a moment. "H-Hey." he said, thrown off-guard.
"Weren't you going to make me shut up?" asked Vanitas, the two of them falling further and further down the tunnel of light.
Ventus watched the light bounce off Vanitas as they descended, left breathless by the way Vanitas almost seemed ethereal as the winds carried them. Their hands were clasped so tightly together and Ventus could feel the warmth radiating off Vanitas despite the cool wind. He had to agree with his other half; this was a lot better than where they were before. They were together, safe with one another and ready to handle anything that came their way.
Ventus kissed him, closing his hands around Vanitas' as he pulled them towards his chest. His heart was probably thumping hard against it.
"Well," Vanitas murmured as Ventus pulled an inch away. He for sure could feel Ventus' heartbeat, and felt his own as it sent roaring blood through his ears. "I guess you can make me." he chuckled, quieting down when Ven pulled him in for another kiss. Ven had reached with one hand and stroked his thumb over the small peak that was Vanitas' ear. It turned red against his touch.
Ven pulled away again after another minute, opening his eyes to see the lights began to fade. The colors were beginning to dim and he could clearly see what made up the night sky that crowned over Olympus. Billions of stars greeted them and threw them back into the world they were traveling through before the heartless had caught them.
Now they were really falling. Falling back to the battle ground they were once on, plunging down and able to see the weakened heartless as it laid on the ground, panting through its stomach mouth.
"It used an illusion," Ven guessed, able to make out the heartless more and more as they fell. "But it must have tired itself out more by using the illusion. I think from this height, we could land a finishing attack on it." he looked at Vanitas, biting back the urge to grin at the dazed expression he wore. "Hey, still with me?"
"Always," And once Vanitas realized what he said, he snapped out of it. He scowled as Ventus giggled and he pulled one of his hands free to summon Void Gear . "Always ready." he rephrased. The corner of his lips curved as he looked at Ventus one more time before looking at the heartless. "Ready, Ven?"
Ventus summoned Wardward Wind , his hand still holding onto Vanitas' tightly as the two of them nosedived toward the heartless. They raised their keyblades together, a mixture of light and darkness combing as one.
"Always ready."