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Vanitas was alone. He always had been; Master Xehanort hardly counted as company in his eyes, he was more so of a necessary stepping stone to Vanitas' true objective. And he hadn't been bothered by loneliness, actually. He understood it, took it in stride and wore it as a mantle, all a part of the process to finally become whole again. It would all be over once he followed every step Xehanort meticulously calculated for him, he just had to be patient. Besides, he was a being of pure darkness, and negative energy was welcome no matter the origin.
So he felt lonely all the time and embraced it, because it made him feel full, like he was doing something right. The path ahead was clear, and though Ventus could put up a fight, he was no match for the incessant training Vanitas had done throughout the months and Xehanort's wits. For an old crook, he was definitely smarter than Eraqus and those gullible Keyblade wielders. Everything was in place and Vanitas was so close to becoming whole, and that hope alone completed him all the while.
But now, now things were different. Now, Vanitas couldn't cling to that false hope anymore. He couldn't have the future, his future, set in stone for him; in fact, the stone had shattered to bits in front of him, and, despite his efforts, he could neither piece it back together nor read what was supposed to be written in it. Now, Vanitas felt lonely, sure, but he also felt truly and utterly empty.
It seemed almost poetic then, when the world turned against him, that Ventus offered him that. Let's go home. What home? Ventus was his only hope, his only home, and he knew his darkness would taint it. Would taint him and Aqua and Terra and perhaps even Sora. Vanitas had already figured he'd been rejected, he didn't need Ventus' pity to rub it in. He could deal with emptiness, it may be uncharted territory, but was it really, when it was still darkness, still negativity, still lonely?
His body was built for this and this exclusively. How could he have been so naive to believe he even had a chance to be like them? Not even his Keyblade was worthy of being compared to theirs, people of light. It was obvious his entire being wasn't made to take part in their side of this world, cursed to stay forever hidden away in the darkness, merely the shadow they cast when they forget they can't run from it.
It's been too long since he's seen anyone other than his own reflexion and he was getting sick of it. Just one of the many natural bitter reminders that there's nothing he can turn to, not even Ventus had been giving him some leeway these past few months. At first, they were able to communicate through Ventus' shadow and his ache for Vanitas; they were still connected after all, brothers born of the same heart and body couldn't be completely stripped away no matter the effort, not even Sora's decade-long heart protection journey could. However, as of late, Ventus had been absent, training alongside Aqua and Kairi who-knows-where.
He had warned Vanitas of this, of course, but it wasn't like he ever had the opportunity to talk to Ventus for more than ten minutes a month anyway, and thus he thought it wouldn't make much of a difference. Until, well, the emptiness caught up to him more than it had previously intended to.
Vanitas strolled through Traverse Town for days with no end. If he wanted to be completely fine with this void inside him, then he might as well utilize the only place the guardians of light can't even dream to find him and dangle his opportunities in front of him like they're charms. They thought they could rescue him, they thought he needed to be saved from himself because he was a dangerous freak who somehow was still loose and given a third chance after all of the disgrace he brought upon the worlds on the pure basis of Xehanort not being around to control him.
But he didn't need to be rescued, he wasn't a princess in a tower; that title might even be considered offensive toward the poor princesses with hearts made of pure light and innocence. He was dirty, sure, but most of his strength was wiped from him after his last battle against Ventus, and the Unversed were barely having any effect on him because the worlds had such incredible security with the new guardians.
Yet to leave Traverse Town, Vanitas found himself amused by the variety of folks present in a place that, compared to the other worlds he had visited, or invaded, if you will, in his lifespan, was relatively small. Vanitas truthfully got really bored of the traditional royalty people he had to observe when he first spread out the Unversed, they were all peas of a pot, the same tedious worldview of the light dwellers emanated from their every word. These folks, though, seemed balanced. Some were even curious about darkness, and the ones that were feeling brave would come up to him and ask him a few questions about his origins and what he knew about the Heartless or Nobodies. And he actually didn't mind answering them, because they didn't know him and he would leave soon enough that they wouldn't find him again if they wanted to.
Once he grew tired of listening to the same few smooth jazz tunes every night, Vanitas left Traverse Town and returned to the only place he knew for sure would be quiet and peaceful no matter what, the place where he could reminisce and get back to working his Keyblade with no interruptions or distractions, the Keyblade Graveyard.
As he stepped foot on the rocky ground beneath him, decorated with the beautiful sight of tens of thousands of old Keyblades planted in it, Vanitas felt something was off. Not much after, he began hearing footsteps echoing in the open field, and, out of pure instinct, prepared himself for the worst. No one comes to this place besides him anymore, and with the way he couldn't reach Ventus, there was no chance that this was one of the seven lights patrolling the area.
"Who's there?!" The other person asked before Vanitas said anything, and their footsteps quickened immediately. They grew louder as they approached Vanitas' location, but Vanitas didn't want to respond until he was sure who the person in question was.
As they finally came into view, Vanitas realized this person was also a Keyblade wielder, and, for some reason, his heart ached with this faint feeling of familiarity when he looked at them.
"Who are you?" The person asked. They had dark hair like him and blue eyes like Ventus, though their hairstyle bore no resemblance to theirs. Despite only being able to feel it very dimly, Vanitas could tell their heart was also full of light. It barely even really felt like a heart, but nothing else gave him this sort of feeling, so it had to be one.
"Vanitas. A dweller of darkness. You?" He answered coldly. They readied their Keyblade, not attacking quite yet.
"Xion." She said, brows furrowed. After a beat, she continued: "A dweller of darkness… but you look like—"
"Sora?" He let his shoulders relax. A girl this age who was acquainted with Sora and was a Keyblade wielder could only also be familiar with the other lights. Although he wasn't particularly acquainted with her.
"Ah, yes. So, you know him." She seemed more nervous than before, though, and Vanitas was curious as to where this would go.
"How could I not? He and I form a greater whole." Her eyes widened at that.
"But, Roxas is his Nobody, I'm the puppet, and that boy in his heart was Ventus…" She muttered more to herself than to Vanitas, even if he could still hear her. The puppet was a title he hadn't heard before and it intrigued him. "Are you his Heartless?"
"No. I am Ventus' shadow. The darkness inside him that was bound to be freed." Vanitas couldn't help but gesticulate, and the mention of Ventus' name created a weird heat inside him. Her grip was still firm on her Keyblade.
"Are you going to hurt the light?" Vanitas had to admire her boldness and straightforwardness. He wasn't one to lie, and he didn't have any reason to in this moment, but if he was, she probably would have no idea.
"Why do you care? You're not a guardian. But no, I am not going to 'hurt the light'. I have nothing to gain with that." He decided to cover his bases just in case. Finally, she un-tightened her hands around the hilt of her Keyblade, however, her expression remained fierce.
"I'm still a wielder, and if you were to hurt the light Sora worked so hard to provide us, then you would have to go through me."
Vanitas couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?!" She raised her voice and took a step toward him.
"You dwellers of light really are all the same. It's funny how you like to pretend this light binds you all together when, truly, what keeps you connected to Sora is your 'puppet' connection with him." He approached Xion unarmed, pointing his finger at her torso.
"So what? Lea and Isa are still my best friends, and they have no connection to Sora!" She pushed his finger away, putting her hand on her chest instead.
"In the end, they'll leave you. They'll never understand you like Sora does, just like Aqua and Terra can't understand Ventus like I can. Even when he's far away, he still calls to me, and I always answer, because his two 'best friends' just aren't enough for him." Vanitas said, tone growing more aggressive by the second. In spite of that, Xion didn't seem intimidated at all. "You called yourself a puppet, and I notice that your heart isn't quite like the others, so you must know that you're incomplete. People like us can only find trust and friendship amongst ourselves."
"Complete or incomplete, I'm still me, and my friends trust me like they trust anyone else! Roxas and I were born without hearts, but we connected with others regardless!" Xion was definitely angry now, because she was shouting at Vanitas like he had just killed her non-Sora friends in front of her. "Did Ventus ever tell you he didn't trust Terra and Aqua?"
Vanitas went silent. Ventus, in fact, had never told him he found Aqua or Terra untrustworthy. However, he had opened up to Vanitas a few times about how he had some things he could only talk to Vanitas about, purely because he was the only one that could understand. And they were mostly pertaining about subjects Vanitas knew all too well, namely, feeling incomplete and dissatisfied with the current state of his body.
"No, but he told me they couldn't understand him like I can."
"That doesn't mean their friendship isn't worth anything. He counts on them when he needs to, doesn't he? That's already enough." She paused, looking as if she was analyzing something, then said: "Do you feel complete with just Ventus?"
There's no way Vanitas would know. Their relationship had drifted so far apart and they were supposed to be one. A greater whole within each other. But, with how things were now, the last thing Vanitas felt was complete. He knew they could never join, even if they wanted to, because Sora reconstructed Ventus' heart, so there would be no space for him in there. And, as much as he wanted to be able to solve everything by staying near Ventus all the time, he couldn't allow himself to. He was an ugly being of pure darkness that would completely ruin Ventus' life. Vanitas had promised to himself after the Keyblade Graveyard battle that he would not insert himself in the matters of the guardians, no matter how much it hurt to be apart from Ventus.
His body was built for this. The negativity was him. He was darkness. He didn't need the light.
"That's none of your business. Why are you so intent on helping a potential threat to your light like me?" Vanitas stepped back, breaking eye contact and looking at the floor. If only his mask hadn't been destroyed in the battle.
"Because…" She took a deep breath, and her tone shifted to something more quiet. "I was just like you."
"No one other than Ventus can be just like me."
"I used to think that too, back when it was just me and Roxas. But now, I'm different. We're different." She sounded almost sorrowful. Vanitas wanted to flee as quickly as he could.
"Go away. Sora's light is shining way too much." Vanitas kept his eyes locked to the ground.
"Please, you…" Vanitas braced himself. "You were also a vessel, weren't you?"
"What?"
"From the new Organization XIII, right? You were there, weren't you?"
Everything suddenly just clicked. Xion was not only a product of Sora's heart, but also a puppet for a Xehanort vessel. She was the member that kept hiding their identity. How? How was she able to live a life so filled with light while also being a test subject of Xehanort's?
"Xehanort is gone. You should be able to live your life with a little bit of light, too." She said in an almost reaching tone. This was way too much for Vanitas.
"I can't. I don't have Sora's light like you and Ventus and Roxas. I'm not like you." He said, pained. Xion was bound to see that he was broken eventually, she just needed to see his negative energy or the Unversed coming out of his body that she would understand he couldn't leave with no one except Ventus.
Before Xion could respond, Unversed started pooling out of Vanitas' body. She sighed in surprise and summoned her Keyblade again, making quick work of the small Floods that tried to protect Vanitas.
She grimly locked eyes with him, frowning. "Please, consider my offer. Me and my friends live in Twilight Town, if you ever change your mind."
And with that, she teleported away of the Graveyard, presumably back to her hometown.
Vanitas lied down face-up on the rough rocks of the ground, hoping that Ventus would, somehow, connect to him at this moment.