(Full Summary)
Ven is awake and confused. With no idea where he is, how he got there, or why he woke up with the body of a twenty-five year old, he does the only thing he can do: he starts heading down the endless white staircases. But soon he will discover he is not as alone as he first thought.
Aqua is isolated and lost. She longs to find a way back home, but after so long in the Realm of Darkness it seems she will never find a way out. Will the man wandering the same dark paths as her be able to give her back some of her lost hope or will she lose to the despair?
Roxas is distant and quiet. Returning Ven's heart turned him into a true Nobody and, as everyone knows, Nobodies can't feel. Still, when Axel is close to him he notices a strange sensation in the empty spot in his chest. Maybe if he could just remember anything before waking up on Destiny Islands he would understand what it is and why Axel is always looking at him so sadly.
The third installment of the Dark Seeker Saga will bring our heroes to their limits. With so much darkness circling them, will they find the strength to rise above or will they lose faith in the light? This is a story of internal battles, of memories lost and returned, of friends reunited, and love defying all odds. The road won't be easy, but even the toughest obstacles can be conquered when there is A Hand To Hold.
Welcome one and all to the third installment of The Dark Seeker Saga. All of you who have read the first two fics in the series are probably skipping this bolded author's note completely because you just want to know what happens with the little cliffhanger I left you on last time. That's okay, I'll be talking about the important stuff at the bottom.
For those of you who have no idea what cliffhanger I'm talking about I would highly recommend reading the first two fics in the series before reading this one. Seriously, you will be so lost if you start with this one. However, if you insist on reading them out of order here is the briefest possible summary of Those Seeking Answers. (A summary of MEKA is available in the first chapter of Those Seeking Answers if you would like a refresher on that)
TSA - Sora wants to find Terra, Aqua, Ven, and Master Eraqus. Runs away from his home in Traverse Town on stolen Gummi ship. Learns about his friends from Master Yen Sid where he is joined by Donald and Goofy who are looking for King Mickey. They team up with Zack to find Ven's lost heart.
Ansem Seeker of Darkness attacks Riku and Kairi in Traverse Town, kidnapping Kairi and sending Riku to Hollow Bastion where he also teams up with Zack.
Sora saves Tay from Hades at the Coliseum. Riku and Zack figure out Sora has Ven's heart. Ansem continues to kidnap princesses.
Riku fails to stop Ansem from taking Cinderella and finds out he has the power of darkness in him. Meets up with Sora in Agrabah and tells him about Kairi's kidnapping and Ven's heart.
Kairi and the other princesses attempt a breakout, but are stopped by Ansem who takes their hearts to form the keyblade of heart. Kairi's heart gets away and goes to Sora.
Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Zack sneak into Ansem's castle to save the princesses.
Get separated when Riku and Zack are sucked into the computer there. They fight their way out of Space Paranoids to find Sora, Donald, and Goofy have run off to find Kairi.
Sora faces Ansem alone and loses. Kairi's heart returns to her and Sora disappears. The others save the princesses.
Later, they are confronted by a Behemoth heartless. Kairi hugs heartless and it turns into Sora. Fight and defeat Ansem.
All but Zack return home to Traverse Town.
Meanwhile, Roxas is formed after Sora is turned into a heartless. He is forced to join Organization XIII where he meets Axel, Zexion, and Demyx who are planning to take the Organization down from the inside.
Missions and stuff and musings on if Nobodies can have feelings.
Axel gets sent to Castle Oblivion to search for Ven's body (though he doesn't know that's what he's after at the time). Marluxia, Vexen, Larxene, and Zexion are also sent to C.O. to watch Sora who is lured there by Xemnas along with Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi.
Axel returns. He and Roxas run into Zack who learned from Namine that Roxas is the one who now holds Ven's heart. Zack gives Roxas Ven's old pin and it sparks memories. Later, Roxas passes out on a mission due to the memories and back at the castle Axel touches Roxas' chest to find he does indeed have a heart.
Roxas insists on finding Ven's body and Axel gives in, taking him to the 13th floor at C.O. Roxas breaks the spell there but before he can go to Ven, Rexick appears and they fight.
Same time, Sora and his gang work their way through the first two floors at C.O. and are then met with Vexen who tells them Sora is no longer of interest to the Organization. Fight. Win.
Roxas and Axel defeat Rexick and Roxas goes to save Ven. Thinking he is about to die, Roxas kisses Axel and then stabs himself, releasing Ven's heart.
Roxas, however, doesn't die and Axel takes Roxas through the dark corridor to Destiny Islands as Ven begins to wake up. Just when Ven opens his eyes, the evil authoress (that would be me) ended Those Seeking Answers and made all her lovely and patient readers wait until now to find out what happens next…
Chapter 1 Awakening
Sitting at the center of the stained glass platform of his heart, Ven stares up into the darkness. He isn't sure how long he has been sitting there, waiting, but something is coming now. He is sure of it.
Underneath him, the glass platform tilts and the emptiness around him rumbles ominously. Caught off guard, Ven starts to slide and his hands scramble to find a hold on the smooth glass. The image underneath him flashes past him as he picks up speed - himself and Vanitas facing eachother, eyes closed, keyblades resting uncrossed. Hurtling towards the edge, it's Vanitas' name he shouts into the darkness.
Vanitas had been with him on the platform once, but he'd vanished into Ven long ago. No one is there to help him.
Ven's legs slide off the platform and his torso follows, but he manages to hold onto the edge with his fingertips. Looking down, he tries to see what lies below, but there is just too much darkness.
Another rumble echoes and Ven clenches his already strained fingers harder. The platform tilts again and any grip he once had is gone. The light of his platform disappears and the darkness surrounds him. It moves over his skin like water, dragging him down and making him fall faster. Or is he ascending? And the water is pushing him up?
With the sensation of breaking the surface, white light replaces the dark and the crushing water turns into air.
…
The only word that describes how Ven feels is heavy.
Every part of him feels weighed down.
With a groan, he forces his heavy eyelids open and blinks hard at the bright white room around him. To his right there is a black and red blur, but his eyes still blurry from sleep can't make out what's there. He rubs his eye with a heavy hand, but when he looks again, there is nothing there.
His hand drops back down onto the armrest of the throne like chair he is sitting in and something clinks under his fingers. After a clumsy try or two he manages to pick it up and look at it closer.
For a moment, he doesn't recognize the small, round pin. The bright colors have been rubbed off and the letters have faded, but at the right angle it is still readable. Sexy-D. It's his pin, the one he gave back to Zack as his boyfriend lay half dead after Vanitas' attack.
Ven almost falls trying to get up from his chair so fast.
"Zack?" He calls out tries to call out, but what comes out is a hoarse whisper and holds onto the chair to stay upright as he coughs. Tears gather in the corner of his eyes at pain in his dry throat. Getting his breath back, he tries again. "Zack?" He manages to call out without coughing, but still too hoarse to be heard from more than a few feet away.
Zack isn't in the room he'd woken up in. He's completely alone. But there is an open door leading out to another white room. Maybe Zack's there.
With the pin held tightly in his hand he starts to walk towards the door, a bit unsteady on his feet, but he doesn't care. He's so set on figuring out where Zack had gone that he would have tripped over the keyblade on the ground if he hadn't happened to look down at the last second.
Frowning, Ven stoops down to pick up his own Wayward Wind keyblade and notices the silver charm on the ground close by. He picks up the charm first and runs his thumb along the etching of the Mark of Mastery symbol. It's the keychain from Master Eraqus' keyblade and once again, Ven looks around the room. "Master Eraqus?"
Nothing is making sense. Where is everyone? Why had they left him here all alone? The last thing he remembers is the Keyblade Graveyard and shattering the X-blade. He'd been ready to die to protect Kingdom Hearts and he can't help but ask aloud, "Am I dead?"
The lack of response from the silent room doesn't make him feel any better.
This isn't how he'd envisioned death would be like though. He thought it would be more like sleep. More peaceful, less confusion.
He tucks Master Eraqus keychain in his pocket along with Zack's pin, deciding he just doesn't know. Life, death, or a figment of his imagination, he really can't say. But if he carries on and sees what lies beyond this room, maybe he'll find someone who can tell him if this is real or not.
Reaching out and picking up his keyblade, he finds his shoulders straining against the seams of his jacket. Ven lets his keyblade disappear and straightens up, tensing and relaxing his shoulders to convince himself that the jacket he's been wearing for years now is suddenly too tight.
It's then that he starts to notice other things that are wrong. His hair falls in his eyes and tickles the back of his neck it a way it shouldn't. Brushing it back from his face, Ven feels a soft peach fuzz on his cheek and combs his fingers through it all along his jaw. His jacket's too tight and the sleeves too short and the bottom of his t-shirt barely brushes the top of his pants.
Panic starts to take over as his confusion builds and he knows he has to stay calm. He has to focus and not freak out. Find Zack or Master Eraqus. Somebody. Anybody. Anyone who can tell him what is happening.
Ven pulls his arms free of the uncomfortable jacket and goes to drop it on the ground when a stain on the front catches his eye. It's a brown splotch, ugly and flaking. It's blood and he knows it. He presses a hand to his chest, wondering if it's his, but the realization that it's not makes his hands shake.
It's Zack's blood, from the last moments in the alley. After Vanitas had torn his chest to shreds. Ven had had Zack's blood on his hands, touched his jacket sometime later, and now the ugly stain filled his mind with fear that Zack did not survive. There had been so much blood.
Ven's hand falls to his pocket as he rushes out of the room. Finding the pin Zack had given him, he squeezes it hard. The pin had to mean something. If this is real and he is alive, then Zack had to have brought him this pin. He had to be here somewhere.
The room beyond the chamber Ven had awoken in is huge in comparison. It reminds him of the grand rooms of MEKA that he misses. He remembers Xehanort's darkness storm tearing it all down. This room, too, looks like it has been under attack. The walls and vaulting ceiling are stained with soot that patterns out explosion after explosion.
There had been a fight here once, one with lots of fire, but now it's just another empty room. Ven wonders where the victor and the loser have gone.
Stepping around a large soot mark on the floor, he listens to his footsteps echo. This whole place seems surreal. The silence and the lack of color makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he looks over his shoulder. No one is there, but he can't relax. Too much isn't making sense.
He reaches a staircase leading down. It's not that far down, but he can't make out the bottom. The whiteness blends together and leaves what lies ahead unclear.
Ven looks over his shoulder again. The paranoid feeling won't leave. Nothing is behind him though, and the only way to go is down the stairs.
He tentatively takes the first step down, squinting to see the final steps, but it's impossible to make out. He takes another step and then another and he steps off a curb onto damp pavement.
The world around Ven goes from colorless to vibrant in the blink of an eye and the sudden rush of city sounds make him jump. He spins around, but the white staircase is gone. A stained sidewalk and a dingy alley is all that's behind him with bright graffiti tagging every available surface.
"What the fuck?" Ven whispers stepping backwards into the middle of the street. He summons his keyblade on instinct. His heart is beating fast, his head telling him fight or flight, but there is nothing to fight and he's scared of where he'll end up if he runs.
Had he stepped through a portal and not noticed? How else would he have so suddenly changed worlds and as he looks up to the skyscrapers that fill the sky, there is no doubt he is far away from the white castle he'd woken up in.
One of the skyscrapers catches his eye. He cranes his neck up to read the number on top. 104. He's seen that sign before. "Shibuya?" Ven says to himself.
"Ven!"
Ven whips his head around at the sound of Zack's voice calling his name. The sight of Zack running towards him makes his knees weak with relief. "Za-"
Zack tackles him with enough force to knock them both to the ground, effectively cutting Ven off. His body pins Ven to the ground, but Zack lifts his head so that he can look Ven in the eye.
Something between a sigh and a laugh comes out of Ven in a sob and he presses his hands to Zack's chest, feeling for any sign of the cuts Vanitas had inflicted. "You're okay," Ven says, voice cracking. He pulls Zack against him, burying his face into his shoulder. "You're okay," he repeats, hoping it will convince him this is real. Zack is here and he looks the same as he did before the fight in the alley. He forgets for the moment the white castle and the sudden return to Shibuya. All that matters is Zack alive and uninjured in his arms. For a moment, the elation of their reunion pushes away his confusion, but the red and purple kangaroo standing over them brings it right back.
The large Noise monster stares at him with blank eyes. Its muscles on its hind legs bunch together and the Noise jumps into the air. Hastily, Ven summons his keyblade and he points it at the kangaroo shouting, "Stopaga!"
Halfway through its descent to land right on top of them, the Noise freezes and Ven rolls to his feet, pulling Zack with him. As he does so, he realizes he's an inch or so taller than Zack now. It makes him freeze and look Zack over again. Zack looks exactly the same, it's Ven that has changed.
The stop spell wears off and the kangaroo falls back to the ground. With a sharp turn of its head, its beady eyes lock on to Ven and pushing Zack behind him, Ven points his keyblade at it. "Blizzara," he says and three icicles shoot out of end of his keyblade, hitting the kangaroo straight on. The Noise vanishes and the ground starts to tremble.
Looking up, Ven sees four rhino like Noise barreling toward them, snorting and tossing their heads. "Fire!" Ven shouts and a fire ball hits the first rhino right on the horn. But the spell is just deflected away, doing nothing but anger the Noise.
Ven takes a deep breath and starts a barrage of magic intermixed with ducking around the sharp horns. One by one rhinos fall and when the last one falls, Ven turns from where he'd ended up in the middle of the street to where Zack stands watching him with an odd look on his face. "Zack?" Ven asks, walking towards him and letting his keyblade disappear.
Zack takes his hand off his side and his entire palm is painted red.
"Zack!" Ven lunges forward as Zack stumbles and drops of blood from his side scatter on the street. "Zack! What happened?"
"Rhino... horn," Zack gasps out collapsing forward and his shoulder hits Ven's chest.
Ven lowers them both to the ground, holding Zack half in his lap. "No, no, no," Ven says. "Curaga. Curaga." He lifts his hand from Zack's wound and watches with dismay as the red stain continues to spread. "Zack, I don't... how did this…I'm so sorry."
Zack mutters something, his eyes rolling back in his head.
"Zack!" Ven shakes him hard and his eyes slowly open again. "Stay with me."
Zack moves his hand enough to brush against Ven's. "How did you let this...happen?"
"Wh-what?"
Zack's eyes close and his hand falls limp. With a gasp, Ven presses his fingers against Zack's neck. His other hand taps desperately on Zack's cheek.
"No, no, no, no, no," he cries shaking Zack. "No, you have to wake up. No, Zack, please...no." With a sob, Ven drops his head onto Zack's chest, twisting his hands in Zack's shirt. "This can't be real. This can't…"
He closes his eyes as sobs wrack his body and without warning everything changes.
The weight of Zack disappears from his lap and Ven's head shoots up, eyes open, staring blankly at the white walls that had returned. Shibuya is gone, and more alarmingly, so is Zack.
Ven springs to his feet and turns on the spot. "Zack?" He shouts as best he can, his chest heaving with fear. "Zack!" The room is empty with no signs of Zack and no sign that he'd ever been there. But a moment ago he had been. A moment ago he'd been lifeless in Ven's arms. A moment ago, but worlds away. And now Ven was alone, shouting out to the empty white walls,
"Zack!"
Down to business :)
Disclaimer: I own everything. (Except characters, setting, parts of the plot, and anything else that belong to Disney and Square Enix...)
Warnings: You know me, swears, fighting, blood, the usual. Lots of sadness, occasional happiness. A few instances of drunkenness and its results. Boyxboy (that one should be a given by now) and minor OCs except one OC will have a slightly more major role this time around, but I still thinks he's minor.
This is all unbetaed so feel free to point out my mistakes. Make it a game if you want. Spot ten blatantly obvious grammar mistakes and win a sticker*.
*i don't actually have any stickers
What else did I need to say...oh yeah!
This fic has a theme song! It's I'll Fight by Daughtry. The whole song is awesome but it's the chorus that makes it perfect for this story.
[I'll Fight by Daughtry]
If you ever fall down straight to the bottom
And you can't get back where you started
With no strength to stand
Gonna reach for your hand
When the going gets rough
Right when it's hurting I will be there
To help bear the burden
Any place any time
You gotta know for you I'll fight
*sighs* so perfect…
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P.S. - Laugh at my dumb jokes. It's the law.