Chapter Text
Vanitas loved being in the air. He loved it. There was something about being in the clouds and how the sky looked when you were up in it. He loved looking down at the scenery below too and it didn’t matter what it was. Land, cities, water, Vanitas loved the way it looked. It was so small in the distance, so tiny where people weren’t even distinguishable.
When he was small, he had a little airplane toy. He wasn’t sure where it came from but it was old. He and Ventus got hours of fun and make-believe out of it. At the time, he never imagined it would be more than that.
It was impossible back then to think he’d ever get to travel by air ship. Now though, he had a grandpop and a Valentine and they owned a bunch of airships. A whole fleet of them! During his first take off into the air, he’d been giggling the whole time. The weightlessness of it was just like he imagined but better.
This was shaping up to be a great summer. He not only got to spend a few hours in the air but days and days. He missed Ventus who had decided to go to camp with Xion and Rei but he tried not to let that dampen his fun.
Dad had specifically said it was a normal thing for him and Ventus to want to do different things. Dr. Dottie said that they would grow up doing things together and apart. It wasn’t so different from the days that Ventus decided to stay home instead of going to kickboxing class.
Vanitas like to fly, and Ventus…well he would fly but he didn’t like it as much as Vanitas did.
His first two days on the ship were fun, even sharing a room with Riku, Roxas, and Sora. Grandpop had taken the extra long way to Balamb Garden and dropped them off with grandad. Vanitas got to have nearly three whole weeks on the ship before he’d be taken back to Balamb garden too with the rest of his family.
Three weeks with grandpop and Valentine in the air. The first day without his brothers had led to an upset stomach and sitting with Valentine. He got crackers and other stuff to settle the belly rumbling but Cid promised it was normal. Air sickness happened to everyone.
It made Vanitas smile a little. They all knew it was nerves and not air sickness but they weren’t going to call him out for it. That was something he appreciated. By the following morning he was feeling better.
Valentine showed him all the odd jobs around the ship that papa had done when he was a kid and Cid showed him how parts of the business worked. They did deliveries and other stuff. Some of the ‘other stuff’ was vague but no less thrilling.
The best part was when Cid kept his promise and showed Vanitas how to steer and maneuver the ship. Yes, they were in the air, where there was nothing to hit, going in a straight line, but none of that mattered because Vanitas was the one controlling it! He was driving the whole ass ship!
It was a check off his bucket list, but he wanted to do it a thousand more times. A little over a week and a half into his airship vacation, Cid even set Vanitas right in front of him as they descended in the air to land for a while. It was Cid really doing all the work but Van got to help enough that he pretended he was the one piloting.
It was normal to land every once in a while. They were making deliveries after all, or picking up cargo and sometimes other people for a stop or two. The Highwind wasn’t the kind of ship that took passengers but there were exceptions made for odd reasons every now and then. Sometimes someone required something that couldn’t be done on a regular commercial flight and the Highwind could apparently be bargained with. Vanitas wasn’t a hundred percent sure what that meant but it didn’t really matter anyway.
He’d been behaving, and was mindful of all the safety stuff Valentine had told him about, but at the end of the day…he was the Captain and Co-Captains grandson and he got away with a lot. Apparently papa had set some kind of precedent and members of the crew that had been there long enough to remember Cloud’s day’s living on the ship knew not to fuck up around the Captains kids.
The thought constantly had Vanitas snickering. There was even one old man that worked in the engine room that told him a handful of stories about Cloud and Denzel when they were kids.
“Move yer asses!” Cid called. “We’re on a schedule. I want this ship in the air in five minutes.”
There were lights on around the main deck that Vanitas learned were connected to the doors and such. Check lists were being made before take off, basically making sure things were secured and sealed and letting everyone else know that they were about to ascend.
Take offs were still Vanitas’ favorite.
“Hold on, kid.” Grandpop said, his tone much different when talking to Vantias than it was to his crew. Valentine said it was because Cid was soft with his kids, and Vanitas wasn’t his employee.
There weren’t just any old seats or seat belts on an airship like this, so Vanitas instead planted his feet how Cid had shown him and held onto the nearby rail so he wouldn’t topple over. It was absolutely the most fun.
“Yeah, your papa always liked that too.” Cid commented, glancing at him with amusement. “He got nauseous when descending for years, but going up? Nah. Weird how motion sickness works.”
“Do you just get used to it?” Vanitas asked. “I think that’s what happened. I’ve been better.”
“Oh sure, it’s like being seasick. Need the legs for it.”
“Legs?”
Valentine chuckled softly from his seat. “Balance. Getting your sea legs means you took a little time getting used to the rocking of the ocean. Regaining balance. It’s not so different in the air.
“Oh.” Vanitas hummed. “That makes sense.”
With a gentle pat to his shoulder, Valentine got up and nodded for him to come along. “C’mon, let’s go get dinner.”
“Kay.”
Vanitas wasn’t positive, but he was starting to think his grandparents were thrilled to have a kid on board the ship again. For all grandpop always groaned about it, he smiled when he talked about Cloud and Denzel being kids on the ship.
Were they allowed to have kids on the ship like that? Was it legal? Ah well, that wasn’t Vanitas’ problem.
Everything was interesting on the airship, from eating to sleeping. He even got to sleep in Cloud’s old room that was reserved for him always. In one of the drawers, Vanitas had found a picture of both his dads looking quite a bit younger. It had probably been before they were married or something but he spent part of his nights looking at it.
It wasn’t like they looked particularly unhappy or anything but the way they looked in the picture was something else. It was like their eyes sparkled just cause they were sitting side by side.
Vanitas always ended up putting the picture back where he found it but it was nice to look at. Maybe he’d even ask them if they had more pictures when he got home.
It was after dinner, and dark out by the time Vanitas realized the airship had picked up some guests at the last stop. It wasn’t a big deal, and not something he cared about, but he was outside on the ships balcony to watch the dark cloud’s roll by before he realized there was an old guy out there with a girl who looked to be around his age. Funny, the rare passengers usually stayed in their room from what he’d seen but it wasn’t like he’d been there long. Both were wrapped up in sweaters to battle the chill of the wind but Vanitas liked it. He liked the way his hair whipped around like he was actually the one flying.
“Hello there, young man.” The old guy said, noticing Vanitas after a moment. “I didn’t know there were others traveling along with us.”
Vanitas just shook his head and reached out to hold onto the railing. “My grandpop’s ship.”
“Oh?” It might have been dark but the lights of the airship still made it plenty easy to see. He saw the old man's eyebrows raise in surprise. It wasn’t rude, or mean, or anything like that, but for some reason, the look still annoyed Vanitas. “You’re a Highwind?”
“No, i’m a Strifehart.” Vanitas said, not that there was anything wrong with being a Highwind but he didn’t like the way this guy asked.
“I see.”
That old man didn’t see shit. Vanitas came out to look at the sky, not make small talk.
“I see you’ve met our passengers.” Valentine’s hand landed on his shoulder and Vantias hadn’t even heard him come out onto the balcony. His steps were always so light. “Hello again, Ansem.”
“Mr. Valentine.” The old man, Ansem dipped his head into a nod. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
“Naturally.” Valentine said, and there was something in his tone that told Vanitas he was…bored? Maybe he didn’t care that this old man was on his ship? Maybe it was something else. “Vanitas.”
“Yeah?” Vanitas looked at him.
“Why don’t you take the young lady inside where it’s less windy.” Valentine suggested, nodding back towards the door. Vanitas hummed once, looking up at his grandparent with a small amount of confusion. He often came out onto the balcony at night with Cid or Valentine so being sent back in was…something. Odd, maybe.
Valentine gestured for him to go in again and it clicked in Vanitas’ mind. It wasn’t quite a sense of danger, but Valentine didn’t want Vanitas out there with the old man. He didn’t want Vanitas talking to this Ansem for whatever reason.
“Okay.” Vanitas said without a fight and only minor hesitation. “There are good seats inside.”
The girl turned towards him, and didn’t seek permission or anything before wandering closer. The old man, was torn between looking up at the sky and keeping half of his attention on Valentine.
Vanitas wished Ventus was there, he was better with people then he was. It took him a while to get used to others, even kids their own age. Ventus connected more easily. He wasn’t more trusting but he was learning to try while Vanitas… wasn’t. He'd leave the old man to Valentine.
“C’mon.” he muttered, holding the door open for her to head back inside the airship. Only then did he notice she held a book to her chest and a bag that took him a moment more to realize was a pencil case.
In the light, where he could see her better, she was….she was….he wasn’t sure how she was real. She was all golden and soft looking. Not frail but soft wasn’t a big enough word. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she had angel wings tucked away under her sweater.
“Uh…”
She offered him a weak smile, glancing over her shoulder where Valentine and Ansem were talking.
“So…?”
Vanitas grasped for something to say but his brain had shut off.
“Somewhere to sit?” she asked, watching him with something like concern on her face. He was good at reading faces. Ventus and Riku were too. It was a fun thing to have in common, like their own secret ability, and while this girl was no exception, he felt like there was more he was missing.
“Oh, right.” Vanitas muttered, “Uh, there’s nice windows in the conference room. We can go in there.”
She paused for only a moment. “Is that allowed?”
“Yeah, grandpop won’t mind.” Vanitas said, wandering along and checking the signs that Cid had hung up for his benefit. He still got a little lost sometimes. “So, my name is Vanitas.”
“Oh!” She perked up, shaking her head once as if silently reprimanding herself for forgetting her manners, “Naminé! My name is Naminé. Do you… i mean… your grandpa is the Captain, do you live here?”
“No, just for a couple weeks this summer.” Vanitas said, pushing open the door to the conference room which was empty now. He’d been sure it was since Valentine was usually present when there were people inside. “My papa grew up here though.”
He wandered over to the windows, pulling open the curtains while Naminé dropped into a chair.
“That sounds cool. I really like it up here. The sunset clouds were pretty.” The book she had was a sketchbook, and she opened up to a page of oranges and pinks.
“You draw?” Vanitas smiled faintly. He’d thought at first that he would just show her inside and then leave again but…he missed his brothers and someone his own age was nice to have. He pulled out the chair beside hers to sit.
“Yeah. With crayons mostly.” Her face was pink and Vanitas couldn’t help but… stare. She was… something. Nice. Whatever.
“I like to draw. I like clay too. I make little figures for stories my twin and i make up. They air dry and we paint `em and they…well we have them on a shelf.” He’d started off excited but the more he talked the more embarrassment set in until he trailed off.
“That sounds like fun.” Naminé said, flipping to a different page that was filled with little figures, some of them with cat ears. “I do that too. I don’t have siblings though so my stories are… just for me, i guess?”
“We could do one?” Vanitas offered before he could think better of it. “My brother and i usually make stories about monsters but they’re not really like scary monsters that do bad things.”
The way Naminé looked at him had him back peddling. Did she not like monsters? Was that not a girl thing? Kairi and Xion liked them but they were little. Naminé was older, maybe she liked more mature things…
“That sounds cool!” Naminé giggled. She opened up to a clean page and opened up her pencil case of crayons. “Can you show me?”
“Oh, yeah.” Vanitas muttered, deciding to go for it as he dug around for a navy blue crayon. “You can start the story and we’ll… you know, go from there.”
Naminé hummed her agreement and smiled, watching him draw one of his Floods. He’d drawn the little monsters so many times that it was easy for him to do. “Does it have a name?”
“He’s a Flood.” Vanitas said. “We gave them a whole..background story.”
“Will you tell me?” she asked. It might have been his imagination, but Vanitas thought she was just as thrilled to have someone her age to talk to as he was. To have someone to color with and make things up with.
“Yeah.”
Cid popped in mid story, not bothering them but bringing them snacks because apparently, that’s what grandparents were for. If he patted Vanitas on the shoulder a little harder than usual…well.. Vanitas didn’t know what that meant. Naminé just beamed, thrilled to meet the Captain of the airship. She was only going to be on it for four days, but Vanitas would be there for her whole trip while her grandfather did… whatever.
They’d get to color more and…Her eyes sparkled.
His stomach hurt. His stomach hurt so bad.