Hello everyone! This is my first one-shot in a while! Anyway, it is actually a speculative excerpt from my KH 3 fic that I have been working on! Hopefully you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix!

Cover art belongs to McAshe on DeviantArt

Kingdom Hearts III

Speculative Chapter 4 or 5: Unversed

Vanitas gripped his keyblade tightly while dodging to the left to avoid his former master's ancient keyblade from slashing his front. He glared at the old man and phased behind him to deliver a series of strikes of his own, but the elder wielder vanished as well. He reappeared a distance away near the rock column on which a dark sigil glowed. Unfazed, the boy zipped to his location and created 2 parallel rows of spikes around Xehanort. "SUFFER!" Vanitas cried as the spikes enclosed around the old man. He stood ready to attack once the smoke cleared, but he was surprised to find Xehanort gone. The man could only teleport once a certain time has passed, and the boy wasted none attacking him when he phased away.

'Where could he be?' he thought. He scented and searched for his dark signature around the plateau. He snapped his head to the left and saw him standing calmly atop the rock wall. He gritted his teeth and jumped to the top of the sigil column, then leaped to the wall. Not letting his momentum go to waste, he lunged at his opponent intent on impaling him. "Gotcha!" he said darkly. Xehanort raised his keyblade to block, but Vanitas phased to strike at his unguarded left side. The old Master smirked and raised his hand just as the white and black clothed boy appeared. Three darkness-infused ice crystals shot from his hands and impacted Vanitas in the chest. The boy recoiled from blast and somersaulted to edge of the wall. He growled as the ice spread across his chest and glared at the man. But his eyes widened when a rock column smashed into his chest knocking him off the wall and shattering the ice spread across his torso. The boy landed on his feet but winced as pain erupted in his legs which caused him to stumble to one knee on the ground.

He inhaled deeply and immediately stood only to see a keyblade coming at him from the side. He dodged but the blade caught enough of his side for the force to knock him into the column. The resulting crash made him loosen his grip on his weapon. It fell to the ground along with him. He reached for it, but a sharp wind blasted it out of his grasp. He grunted as a foot kicked his side and lifted him from the ground. He opened his eyes and gasped as Xehanort rammed his blade against his side. The boy skidded across the ground and groaned into the dirt. He lifted himself onto his hands and knees and shook his head to clear the dizziness. He hurriedly stood as he heard light footsteps approach.

"You've become weak in my absence, Vanitas." Xehanort announced as he strolled over to his former apprentice. "Or maybe you are missing something?" He eyed the boy, specifically the Unversed symbol stamped on his chest. The crimson eyes contrasted greatly with his white spiky hair, and the lack of metal around his face signified much had happened to the boy, no the unversed standing before him.

Vanitas glared which made his eyes gleam in the sunset or maybe they always shined like that due to his origin. He wasn't weak nor was he stupid. He knew the keyblade master was toying with him, fishing for information. "You know what I am." He stated not offering more.

The smirk increased on the man's face. "Indeed, but what would cause such a creature to exist for so long, I wonder. Unversed are fledgling emotions given form as you know. So what has sustained you?"

The glare intensified. "If you stuck around instead of running then you would know." He smiled inwardly as Xehanort's eyes narrowed slightly. 'One for me,' he thought smugly. He immediately frowned as the old man's golden eyes lit with a dangerous light, and Vanitas stiffened slightly at his next words.

"There is another that has resided here for the same time as you. I wonder if you have met." The implied, "…if he has influenced you" went without saying.

"I don't know who you're talking about." Vanitas adopted a neutral expression and relaxed his body while turning his gaze away. He carefully kept his eyes on the ground while searching for Terra's dark signature, making sure he was not around in case he had returned from that garden world he enjoyed so much. 'Good, he's not here that makes this easier. Besides, Xehanort would have sensed him faster than me since he actually took over his body.' The latter fact made Vanitas' voice drip with venom. "What do you want old man?! You're precious X-blade is gone, and I'll be damned if I help you make it again!"

"Really? You would rather stay here then see the outside world? I'm surprised."

"You know well I can't travel freely. I'd rather live then risk ceasing to exist entirely. I'm the only unversed left." Vanitas grudgingly admitted.

A sinister smirk appeared openly on Xehanort's features, and at the sight of it Vanitas stepped back warily. "That is where you are wrong, boy. The unversed are not all gone. They're right here." He pulled the monochrome Void Gear keyblade from behind his back and raised it perpendicular to his body.

"What are you talking about, old man? That's my keyblade!" Vanitas yelled. He tried to summon it back to him, but it stayed within Xehanort's hand. "What?!" Fear crept into his voice. "What did you do?"

The man's smirk grew even bigger, and a manic light entered his golden oculars. "It is nothing I did, but what you are and have lost."

Crimson orbs narrowed, "What do you mean?"

The man carefully examined the blade and trained his eyes on those of the creature before him. "This blade is not yours to bear…" 'How?!' Vanitas' eyes widened. Xehanort continued, "..., the original owner had a pure heart of darkness to command such a blade. It has also been won by another." 'Ventus.' The boy thought. "It also is not a real keyblade. It is a thought, a mere memory of itself, and even that is not its original power, which is why it is the perfect conduit for an unversed. It holds memories, powerful thoughts and emotions that grant you the power to wield it. In truth, this blade itself is an unversed just as you are, feeding from negativity or other emotions that come into contact with it."

His stare intensified and made Vanitas close his eyes to block scrutiny, to stop the dread that was threatening to overwhelm him. He knew he was an unversed, as painful as that realization had been, but he never thought that extended to his keyblade. 'But if it holds the memories, my memories…then…does that make me an extension of it? Am I the weapon or is it?' Vanitas fell to his knees as an unbidden and powerful emotion swept through him. 'What is this? What am I feeling?' It felt like sadness, but it was much deeper, more rooted in the center of his being. He brought a hand to his chest to soften the pain, but it did little to relieve it. He gasped as he felt wetness slide from his eyes down his cheeks; he watched as the small droplets hit the dry, cracked ground and felt the wetness change from single drops to tiny streams on his face. He raised a gloved hand to his cheek and moved it away to see the drops glisten in the sun. 'I'm…crying? How's this possible?'

"What's happening to me?" he whispered to himself.

"It seems that you both have been changing…" Xehanort observed. "…the keyblade growing stronger, you becoming more human. But this is where that must end." He suddenly switched to a more aggressive, dangerous tone.

Ice formed in Vanitas' stomach, but he steeled himself and stood. He knew what Xehanort now sought, what he wanted all along: his demise. "If you want to kill me, you better do it fast." Vanitas said low and dangerous.

The threat was not lost on the man, but he did smile wider and brought out his own blade. The Void Gear was surrounded by a yellow light and floated to a distance halfway between Vanitas and Xehanort. Unexpectedly, Xehanort raised his blade and sliced clean through the memory keyblade. Vanitas yelled as darkness erupted around the blade, and the weapon itself glowed with a blue fiery light. Cracks formed on the blade and handle, even the keychain, and then it exploded in a blast of darkness, that made the boy put a hand to his chest stop the pain from the onrush of memories and emotions. When it was over, darkness formed into a ball with streaks outlined in white streaking about its surface.

Vanitas opened his eyes and gazed at the boy finding himself mesmerized by the streaks. The more he stared at it the easier it was to feel the various emotions in it. Rage, anger, hatred, sadistic happiness, and above all loneliness washed over him in a wave. The sheer amount of negativity made him feel strange. His sight zeroed in on the ball, despite his efforts to look at Xehanort beyond it. He focused on the bands dancing around its surface and unknowingly lowered himself into a crouch. He shook his head a little to rid himself of the fuzziness, but he stopped once his vision turned into a burning red with veins outlining on the edges. Once that happened, a deep growl rumbled from his chest, and he knew no more.

Xehanort's POV

Xehanort watched the boy carefully from the other side of the ball, and he immediately focused on the boy's eyes once they were caught by the negativity. And what he saw made him smile. The crimson orbs lost their luster and grew dull and hazy. The pupils in particular turned to slits like a snake's while the whites reddened to match the crimson oculars. After the boy reopened his eyes from shaking his head, the pupil actually became slimmer until it disappeared entirely. At that moment, they became triangular in shape, and a low growl emitted from him. Suddenly, darkness engulfed him in an orb, but in a few moments it burst in a shockwave. The keyblade master's smirk turned to a full-fledged grin at the creature before him.

Complete red eyes glared from beneath white bangs, and sharp fangs shown from the creature's snarl. Wings extended from his back while a long tail waved behind him, but the deadly talons adoring Vanitas' hands and feet were the weapons that grabbed the man's attention. There were also spikes jutting from his elbows and knees, and small horned ridges for his eyebrows. 'A gargoyle hmm. Interesting, human and monster together. An abomination, how fitting.' The man thought. Yet for all his scrutiny, the complete unversed's attention was on the ball before it. But Xehanort received no warning when it leapt at the ball and swiped it to the ground. The keyblade master phased a good distance from the beast and watched it interact with the orb. It growled loudly and attempted to eat it, but immediately spit it out once it entered its mouth. It clawed at the ball and grinned when it started to crack. 'Clearly more capable of expression than the others.'

It crouched and growled once the ball shattered and more Unversed appeared from it. The little streaks changed into Bruisers, Floods, Scrappers, and even two Wild Bruisers. The other creatures immediately turned to the gargoyle Unversed and attacked him, but they were no match for Vanitas. He roared and swiped at two unlucky Scrappers that got too close and launched himself at a Bruiser. He bit at the neck and tore at the other until it disappeared. The Wild Bruisers charged at him, but he phased behind the two and rapidly clawed one in the back, it burst into darkness. He flew into the air and dived toward the other claws ready. He sped straight into monster and tore a hole through it. Once that Bruiser was gone he turned his attention to the others, but he did not straight out destroy them, instead he proceeded to consume them after he defeated them. One by one until he came to the last tiny Flood. 'A whelp.' Xehanort sneered.

However, the man was surprised when Vanitas did not destroy it. Instead, he seemed to examine the creature.

Vanitas POV

After Vanitas devoured most of the remaining Unversed, he turned his attention to a small Flood. It was practically tiny, but he could not muster an attempt to destroy it, so he sniffed it. It smelled strange: a fruity sort of scent, a sweet taste that lingered on his tongue. The gargoyle Unversed crouched and set out his hand for the Flood to get onto. It squeaked and stared at him imploringly. For a moment, the gargoyle's eyes widened, and he responded with a questioning grunt. The little thing immediately squeaked again and jumped onto the larger creature's shoulder. It nuzzled against his face and immediately froze as Vanitas groaned, fearing his attack. However, the gargoyle only placed a hand to his forehead, so the tiny Flood resumed its nuzzling unknowing that it was helping the boy regain awareness.

A memory wormed its way to the forefront of the beast's mind, and he was aware of the affection that was helping to bring it forward. A young man with a skin tight black shirt with red straps and beige billowy pants turned to smile at him. The smile lit up his navy blue eyes that normally remained narrowed in a serious expression. 'What's up, Van?' Terra asked.

'I told you not to call me that. It sounds too much like Ven.' Vanitas responded.

The older boy's expression dimmed a little and Vanitas felt guilty about it, but he wanted Terra to know where he stood about his blond half. He was not Ventus, so any allusion or name that made him feel that he was was not welcome by him. 'I'm not a replacement.' He grumbled.

Terra heard anyway and sighed. 'I know that, Vanitas. I meant it as we're more than acquaintances now. We're friends, and I don't feel like saying 'Vanitas' all the time.'

Vanitas smirked, 'That's 'cause your lazy like a rock, slow like one, too. No wonder your element is earth. Even Aqua ran circles around you and she's no Ventus.'

Terra glared playfully. 'I may be slow but once I hit its enough. Besides nothing last like the earth. It's always there, a constant, like I am to make things right.' His glare turned to a sad, contemplative look.

Vanitas hated when he moped and immediately frowned. 'A least your name means something. Mine literally means 'emptiness'. At Terra's questioning look, he answered, 'I asked Xehanort once.' He then looked to the ground. 'He treated me like it, too. He never went easy during training, no compliments. Always made me wear my mask, he didn't want to see my face. I guess it made it easier for him to believe I was a weapon, a tool. I was always a monster anyway.' 'An abomination' he thought bitterly.

'He's wrong you know.' Vanitas looked up at Terra to find him staring at him intensely as if willing Vanitas to banish his negative thoughts.

'Huh?'

'He's wrong.' Terra repeated. 'He said the same about you to me once, and I believed him then.' He looked Vanitas directly in the eyes. 'You're nothing like that Vanitas. Sure, at first, you were cruel. You nearly killed Aqua and destroyed Ven…but I forgave you. I have for a while now. You're my friend, a brother in fact, like Ven, but you're you and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides a man that takes others' bodies' for his own has no right to call anyone an abomination.'

'But he…' Terra interrupted him.

'He created you, yes and gave you a purpose, but he is the reason that everything happened, and you owe him nothing. Never forget that, Van.' Terra winked at the use of his nickname.

Vanitas rolled his eyes, but his crimson orbs betrayed him. They shined with happiness and the glow of acceptance. 'Thanks, Terra' he said. Never before had he felt such joy and happiness, it was a feeling that radiated from the inside to the outside, basically filling him with this full complete feeling. 'So that's what this feels like.' He thought. He had only seen reflections of it through Ven, but he never experienced it himself. He felt light and airy, like he could do anything.

That same feeling of joy and acceptance came from the small Unversed perched on his shoulder and currently nuzzling his face. With a gasp, Vanitas came back to himself, and his vision turned from red to normal. He shook his head which unsettled the smaller unversed and made it tumble to the ground. It squeaked in surprise and Vanitas immediately reached for it, noticing the talons adorning his fingers. He brought it up to his face and said, "Thank you." It closed its eyes with a happy squeak and hugged him around the neck, and then it crawled to his chest on the Unversed symbol and fused into it. A light feeling traveled from that spot to the rest of his body, and he let out a sigh of relief.

His eyes moved once more to his hands. The tips had sharpened into razor claws that had torn through the fabric of his organic suit. "What happened to me?" he muttered. He next examined his feet: the heel was stretched so that he stood a few inches taller than normal. He had three talons on each foot and a sort of hind claw that came from his heel. His knees and elbows had spikes that also tore through his suit's fabric. He found his balance helped by the long tail that appeared from beneath the skirt (couldn't find a better word for it) of his outfit. He felt his face and found the skin to be tougher than its normal soft texture, and his brows had become small spiked ridges. His tongue felt the sharper than normal canines, and he winced as he cut his tongue on one. Finally, the obvious wings that extended from his shoulders. They looked similar to an Axe Flapper's but had three-fingered claws on each wing that seemed to hook together when connected. He opened them fully with the intent to test his flying ability when soft steps reached his now pointed ears.

"So you have finally discovered your true nature." observed a sly voice. Vanitas stood to his full height, which in his current form brought him to Xehanort's shoulders. His eyes hardened as the old man examined him. "Yes, you have come along quite nicely. Now let's see if you can harness that rage and anger inside you."

"I'm not working for you, Xehanort. Not after helping you got me to where I am now!" Vanitas turned from him and walked off, hoping to find somewhere to rest. He was starting to feel fatigued from the change and the battle. "So you're not happy about meeting young Terra?"

Vanitas stiffened and Xehanort smirked. He had him. "How do you know about him?" Vanitas asked.

"I have my sources, young one. Now that you have matured into a full unversed, you do not need the full details." Vanitas tensed and bared his fangs. "After all you need the concentration to stay alive." Xehanort disappeared into a corridor of darkness, but a keyblade flew from its depths and would have hit Vanitas if he had not jumped back. His eyes looked at the weapon, and cold fear gripped his insides when he recognized it. The red and black gears, the chains wrapped around the blade, and the two eyes of darkness on its head and the base of the blade.

"The Void Gear! But how-!"

"Too slow." A painfully familiar voice whispered darkly. Vanitas hissed as he felt ice blast against his back. He whipped his tail as he faced his opponent and smirked as he felt it collide with a body. He felt a hot glare on him as he faced his masked opponent. The Void Gear appeared in the other's hand in a flash of blue fire.

"An imposter, huh?" his opponent mocked. He tilted his head: "I've never made an unversed that looked like me before. This is a joke, right?"

"If it is, it's on you!" The white and black clad Vanitas yelled and lunged at his black and red counterpart.

"Hm. Idiot" he muttered. "SUFFER!" He shouted as he launched a dark Crawling Fire at him.

Vanitas dodged the fire and dove into the ground. He pinpointed the other boy and exploded up from underneath him. He grabbed his ankle and threw him into the ground and dove to pin him, but the other rolled away as he hit the ground which stirred dust and left an imprint. He turned to the other and almost got a face full of lightning if he had not ducked away. The other Vanitas surrounded himself in a black orb while shouting, "What's yours is mine!"

The unversed dove into the ground and surfaced behind a rock. 'They can't hit me if they can't find me.' He noted from his experience with using the copies. He waited for a few moments and finally heard the bursting of the orb which signaled his other's exit. Collecting his thoughts, he breathed and listened for his opponents footsteps. Hearing them approach from the direction of the sigil, he growled and opened his wings. He jumped onto the column and climbed digging his talons into the surface, waiting for an opening. He saw the other Vanitas below and immediately dropped onto him. "Darkness waits" he said as he landed on him and opened a dark corridor beneath them. They fell through and landed in the center of the plateau. Winded, Vanitas stood to his feet and glared at the other incarnation. He remained unmoving on the ground. Cautiously, he approached him but saw no movement, except a slight rising and falling of his chest. 'Is he unconscious?' He hoped he was since he had little energy left from his earlier fights and transformation, so he turned and trudged away. However, a freezing sensation engulfed his tail and legs. 'What?!' he looked behind to see the other Vanitas casting a Deep Freeze spell on him.

The other smirked, "Huh that was too easy. The master was right you are going soft and to think you are all that's left of me when I fade. Pathetic." He laughed as he watched his remnant growl and struggle to stop the ice from engulfing him; it was now at his chest and rising. "But you might prove useful, after all. I could use that info to defeat both Terra and Ven, besides the extra strength from you won't be wasted."

"Don't you think of harming, Terra" He snarled. "Touch him and I will destroy you."

"How can you, idiot. Once I absorb you, he will have no one to help him once Xehanort comes for him and his friends. You never stood a chance against me." He brought the Void Gear to the unversed's face. "Time to say goodbye." Vanitas' eyes widened as the blade came down on in line through his front. He screamed in agony and dropped to the ground. Horrified, he watched and felt dark smoke gather about his body. He was becoming weaker quickly and it became harder to breathe. He eyed his original self and listened to his words as his world became dark. "That's it don't fight it. Let go and it will all be over soon." The other Vanitas soothed.

"I refuse to fade so easily. I will not let Xehanort win!" were the unversed's last words as his world faded.

The other carefully absorbed the smoke from the fallen monster and smiled dangerously as great strength incorporated itself into his body. 'That's more like it. I didn't think time travel could take so much from you.' he thought. However, with the strength came thoughts and memories of his unversed's existence and his future. 'What?! What is this?!' Each memory of failure and abuse from his creation flashed through his mind. He held his head with both hands and lowered his knees to the dirt. The pain was immense as images of Aqua, Ventus, and mostly Terra passed through. A flare of rage and despair at discovering he was an unversed, that he had failed, and Xehanort left him to rot in this place. "That's what happens? He abandons me?"

"Yes" his own voice answers fiercely. "There is more." More flashes of hard training and contempt flash through his mind. More mental and physical abuse after losing to Aqua and Ventus. Beatings with the ancient keyblade used as the punishment, and Xehanort watching silently as he kills so many Unversed before collapsing. Getting a face through light shared with Ventus and regaining it once he realizes his demise along with that of the X-blade. A choked scream escapes from his throat as the light engulfs him, and he shatters into pieces of light. The last desperate attempt to save himself by making an unversed with memories and feelings to make the world never forget he existed, to escape his never-ending pain and misery. Finally, an image of the tiny Flood came to mind bringing with it warmth and comfort, happiness and joy. He was accepted by Terra, called a friend and a brother, not an abomination. He saw their various fights, how they changed from brutal battles to friendly sparring and tests of skill. The worlds that they visited, especially Radiant Garden. He remembers guilt and sadness at hearing Terra's story and how his actions helped to destroy his friends. 'Guilt, joy, anger, rage, despair happiness, sadness, and …sorrow? Was that it? The thought of being a tool, a mere weapon brought him tears?' He even remembered laughter from joking with Terra in this place.

With each memory it seemed that he slipped further from himself to another, back to the unversed that he absorbed. The emptiness was being replaced by something else, something full and complete. "What are you doing to me?" He asked.

"You? I am you. You are me. We are the same! My thoughts are your thoughts; your memories are my memories." The voice answered.

"No we are not!" Despite his protest, the red in his suit lightened until it was white in color, and the Unversed symbol formed on his chest. "How are you doing this? You're emotions!"

"Why are you fighting yourself?" was the simple answer.

"Because you are not me! I did not experience these things."

"You will. Yet, you are fighting the one that has a face, an identity. I am you; you do not even have a face to call your own."

"How do you know?"

"Do I need to repeat myself? Besides, I told you I will not fade so easily. I will not let Xehanort win!"

"Why do you fight him, fight me? If we are the same why are you changing me?"

"Because I am you after everything. I will not start over and lose anyone again! I lost Ventus once and myself to Xehanort! I will not lose again! "

"What makes you think you will succeed?"

"This." The tiny Flood appeared again and squeaked with happiness. It scuttled around in the dark looking for something with clear determination. After a while it seemed to lose its energy and lay down exhausted, but it kept its ears twitching, moving, searching. It finally stopped when a brunette young man came near and sat next to it. "Terra." Another, younger blond boy approached and sat beside the older boy and the Flood. "Ventus." Both guarded the flood as it continued searching, and they even helped search until more figures came. These were shapeless and had no discernible features, but they gathered around the three. Then a feeling of completeness and warmth came from the flood that changed into Vanitas. However, this one had black hair and golden eyes that weren't cold and cruel. He smiled at those around and sat between all of them, evening taking a turn to stand guard, to protect them. "Do you know what this is?"

"Not entirely, but it feels familiar. It's a glow, it's…"

"A light in the darkness, relief from the pain." Both voices said together, until there was only one. "It's hope."

With a gasp, Vanitas awoke in the Badlands. 'When did I become unconscious?' He looked over himself and found his suit was once again white and black with the Unversed insignia on his chest visible, but everything was tinted black. With a start he realized his helmet had returned and felt the familiar constraint of the metal on his face. Taking it off, he examined his features in the visor. His eyes remained crimson, but his hair had changed back to its original deep black. He was also back in human form as well. Satisfied with his appearance, he stood up and glanced around. Xehanort had not stuck around to see if he had succeeded in absorbing himself. "Tch, typical."

However, his criticism was cut short as he felt Terra's power surge strongly, but his real worry came from a rise of Xehanort's darkness from the same place. "Terra!" he shouted, knowing he couldn't hear him. He raised his hand hoping against hope that the Void Gear or some keyblade would appear, but it didn't. Suppressing a shout, he readied himself to open a corridor, but stopped when a wave of pain overcame his body. He yelled and fell to hands and knees, and narrowed his eyes as they spotted talons on his hands. The unfamiliar weight of wings and a tail told him he had changed into his Unversed form again. 'So trying to summon my keyblade, changes me then. I could get used to this.' He smirked and readied himself to fly by opening his wings.

He leapt up and instinctually caught a draft that carried him up until he could vaguely see the area where the power was coming from. He narrowed his eyes and flew in that direction. 'Hopefully, I'm fast enough for Terra's sake.'

1st. I know the battle between the two Vanitases (pl?) is confusing, but I couldn't think of a way to distinguish them besides their suit colors. If anyone has suggestions PM or tell me in a review, and I could incorporate it!

2nd. The main Vanitas is the Vanitas remnant that you fight optionally at the end of BBS. Also I had Ventus fight him before these scenes as canon in my story, and he won the Void Gear keyblade (like in the game) as his prize, hence Xehanort saying it was won from Vanitas.

3rd. Like in the title this somewhere around Ch 4,5, or 6, so there is an established relationship between Vanitas and Terra's Lingering Will, that was developed in the chapters before this one. It will be explained once I get the those chapters on here, sometime later this week.
Please review and critiques are welcome so I can improve my writing! If you have quesions, I will also answer in reviews