It had taken them far too long to reach the second-to-last floor of the fortress in Sora's mind, but he was too tired to complain.
It felt like hours had passed since they entered Kingdom Hearts and found the sprawling fortress within. To say that the fortress – the Heart of Darkness, some part of him told him – was their biggest challenge yet was an understatement. Every challenge he and his friends had encountered – defeating Riku in Hollow Bastion, destroying Xehanort's Heartless, conquering Castle Oblivion, obliterating Xemnas, and even surviving the Mark of Mastery – seemed like mere nuisances when compared to the newly-discovered Heart.
It wasn't just the physical challenge of scaling the Heart. Every time they had reached a new floor of the fortress, a Seeker of Darkness had already been waiting for them. Every time they clashed in battle, new scars were obtained as knives were stabbed into him, swords sliced into his flesh, and magic seared at his skin and will.
But the physical pain wasn't the worst the worst part. Sora could deal with normal pain – cast a few Cures, and he'd be good for another round. But the steady feeling of being weakened as he traveled higher and higher up? He could barely take it.
Many of the floors contained Seekers that had lives before they were subdued by Xehanort. Even though some of them had been gone for a long time, emotional ties were never broken between them and the ones they used to love.
Lea had to stay behind to make sure Saix wouldn't fall back into darkness. Roxas had left the main group to take care of a small, dark-robed Seeker ("Xion, Xion!" his Other had cried, and the raw emotion he had put into saying those two words nearly kept Sora from continuing on). Aqua refused to go on as she tried to wake up someone who looked suspiciously like a younger Xemnas. When Kairi was wounded in the battle against Xigbar's Somebody and it became evident that Cures wouldn't do the job, Riku stayed behind to make sure they wouldn't lose her. King Mickey was left in the care of Donald and Goofy because of a similar incident that occurred shortly after the battle with what appeared to be Xehanort's Heartless.
Long ago, he had told Xehanort's Heartless that his friends were his power. He never realized that, in the future, his dependency on his friends would make him so weak when he desperately needed their strength.
So when Sora and the remaining Guardian of Light reached the second-to-last floor, he was exhausted physically and emotionally. While he and the last Guardian were climbing all the way to get to where they were now, worry had taken over his mind and wouldn't let him rest.
A hand was suddenly clapped on his shoulder, jolting him out of his reverie. "Stop worrying! They're going to be fine. We're nearly there; if we can defeat Xehanort, we can go back and help them."
That's right. Ventus was practically the only reason why Sora hadn't turned back and raced down the steps to help his friends.
To be honest, Sora was surprised that Ventus hadn't stayed behind with Aqua, even after his explanation. From what he knew about their story, Ven and his now-Seeker friend – Terra, he reminded himself – were the closest of brothers, surpassing Sora and Riku's relationship by a mile. When Sora had asked him why he was continuing on with him, Ven had looked away from him and answered quietly, "He would have wanted me to."
He hadn't spoken for a while after that.
Sora looked over to the boy who looked so similar to Roxas, managing a small smile. "Yeah…It's all be over soon."
Ven matched his smile. It was so clear that he just wanted everything to be done so he could be with Terra and Aqua again. He reminded Sora so much of himself.
Just one more, Sora told himself. Just one more Seeker, then we can find Xehanort and end all of this.
With that, he looked to the Twelfth Seeker.
The Twelfth Seeker was faced away from them, kneeling before the luminous white orb that was the only source of light in the otherwise-dark room. Something about this one struck Sora as…odd. It took him a few moments to realize why.
This one wasn't as familiar to him as all the others. For every other Seeker before this one, Sora could recognize at least one clear trait within them. He had recognized Saix's build before he had lowered his hood. Xigbar's Somebody had the same stance as the Nobody version. That blonde knife-wielding Seeker triggered some memories that Namine had restored. Xehanort's Heartless was easily identified by the Guardian extending from his back.
While he did recognize this Seeker a little, it definitely wasn't as clear as any of the others. One of the only parts he recognized was the Seeker's abnormal muscular build (when compared to the rest of it, anyway). The black coat it was wearing did nothing to hide the muscular bulges on his arms; the coat actually seemed to be a part of the bulges, as if it were part of the Seeker's skin. In fact, the whole coat seemed to cling to the Seeker's frame, with the exception of its legs, wrists, and hands; those parts flared outward, behaving like the coat normally did. The coat wasn't black like the other Seeker's, either; red lines snaked throughout the material, almost like spidery veins, becoming closely concentrated around the Seeker's heart. Even though the lines were probably for decoration, it still unnerved Sora. They were familiar somehow…
This Seeker also wasn't as cleanly kept as the others. The whole coat was a faded black color instead of the normal pure color, and in some places, it appeared more gray than black. The cuffs and the flared bottom of the coat were also frayed and tattered.
In all that time Sora spent analyzing the last Seeker, it should have done something. Spoken to them, attacked them, stood up…something. And yet, this one did nothing. In fact, it almost seemed like the Twelfth Seeker was oblivious to their presence.
Sora waited for a few more seconds for the Seeker to begin talking, like the others had. Maybe this one took a bit of time to think of something to say, or maybe they needed some time to think of the perfect attack. But when nothing came out of the hooded Seeker, he took his chance, stepping forward and summoning the Kingdom Key. "So, you're the last one, huh?"
If the Seeker had heard him, it didn't reply. It didn't even move; Sora couldn't be sure it was even breathing.
"Hey! Are you going to stand and fight us?" Sora called again.
Once again, the Seeker didn't reply.
Sora blinked slowly. "What's wrong with you?"
No response.
A frown made itself known on Sora's face. He turned to Ven for an answer, but all thoughts of the strangeness of the Seeker left his mind.
Ven wasn't moving at all; he wasn't even breathing. The other Guardian was staring straight ahead at the kneeling Seeker, his normally bright eyes dull and dark with fear, confusion, anger. He wasn't even blinking; it was almost as if something about the Seeker had paralyzed him, or the Seeker had managed to put a Stop spell on him.
Numbness flooded through Sora's system. What had happened to Ven? Was this Seeker not as oblivious as he had thought? Slowly, he extended his arm out towards his fellow Guardian, gingerly tapping him on the shoulder. "Ven?"
As soon as Sora had uttered the name, the Twelfth Seeker visibly stiffened. The movement caused Ven to flinch back and shakily gasp for air, refocusing back on their surroundings. He summoned Wayward Wind soon after, glaring daggers at the Seeker's back.
The Seeker rose slowly and shakily from its kneeling position, almost as if it had aged or been weakened. As it rose from its knees, its legs almost seemed to give out under its weight, but the Seeker balanced itself with a hand placed on the luminous orb.
Silently, the Seeker turned to face them, looking them over with hidden eyes.
Something about this Seeker unnerved Sora. The blonde-haired witch from earlier had made Sora uncomfortable after she began speaking in her sadistic voice, but just the action of this Seeker standing up shook him to the core.
Why was that? This one hadn't even done anything to them!
Sora opened his mouth to speak, but the Seeker beat him to it. "Ventus…is that you?"
The Seeker's voice immediately clammed him up. It was dark and dangerous, even more so than any other Seekers'. It spoke of underlying sadistic plans, the rage only a person of darkness could handle, hatred that had been stockpiled up to this very point. The tone of his voice caused a shiver to run through Sora's spine.
But…did he catch a note of fatigue? The hopelessness that followed being broken?
No. Sora shook his head, dispelling the thought. Every Seeker followed Xehanort willingly. Xehanort gave them power in return for obeying him unquestioningly. No Seeker was broken; none of them should sound like they were. After all, Xehanort needed his Seekers to be in prime condition to fight the Guardians, so he wouldn't break them…
Right?
Ven hadn't spoken immediately; just as Sora had, he had clammed up at the sound of the Seeker's voice. And just as Sora had, he had noticed the tone of the Seeker. "Why…why are you here?" His voice was just above a whisper.
"Did you forget about 12 years ago, Ventus?" The Seeker spat the last part of the Guardian's name. "Did you forget what happened when you woke up?"
Sora remembered. He and Aqua had arrived at Castle Oblivion shortly after freeing the Keyblade Master from the Realm of Darkness. Eager to wake her 'little brother' up, they had rushed through the halls of the Castle until they found the entrance to the Chamber of Waking, which Aqua opened using the Master Keeper. Once inside, Sora had used his Keyblade to free Ventus' heart to wake the comatose Guardian. He could never forget the joy on both Keyblade wielder's faces as Ven and Aqua hugged each other tightly with streams running down their faces…
But Xehanort had followed them there. Using Terra's Wayfinder, he bypassed the Castle's security system by following the link between the earth apprentice's and Aqua's charms. Just when Ven had woken up, just after he had thanked Sora for keeping his heart safe all those years…Xehanort struck.
The elderly Keyblade Master split his heart into two, just like he had 16 years before. The light half, like before, had reunited with Ven, ensuring that he wouldn't become a Nobody. But the other half of his heart had become shrouded in dark, swirling energy. The cocoon of energy had shrunken into a human-sized orb, dissipating to reveal an older-looking, muscular boy in black skin-like armor with red veins running through…
It was him!
"Vanitas!"
Vanitas turned his head slightly to look at the brunette that had shouted. An unseen smirk spread across his face. "You didn't recognize me until just now? I'm ashamed of you…both of you."
Sora had heard stories about Ventus' dark side. How he was ruthless in combat, nearly always aiming to kill rather than to just wound. How he could summon and command legions of beings called Unversed. How he was only defeated by a joint effort between Ven and Aqua to shatter the X-blade he wielded.
How, even as only an apprentice to Xehanort, he was one of the worst beings to ever terrorize the worlds.
"Didn't you escape, though? Why are you working for Xehanort?" Ven questioned, anger flickering in his eyes.
That's right. As soon as he had been reborn, Vanitas had fled through a Corridor of Darkness. As far as Sora knew, they could take you most anywhere in the universe. How could Xehanort have found him?
"Don't you know? If Xehanort wants someone…he gets them." The Seeker's tone darkened at the last part.
"Don't you remember what happened to you when you trained under Xehanort?"
Vanitas spat at the ground, narrowing his unseen eyes at the blonde. "Who do you think I am, you? Unlike you, I don't have any memory problems."
"Then why would you go back to him?"
"That's for me to know, and no one else." Was there a slight hesitation in his voice?
"He caught you, didn't he."
The tone of Sora's voice suggested that it wasn't a question. Vanitas shifted his gaze to him, but said nothing.
"He caught you, didn't he," Sora repeated quietly. "He caught you, and forced you to work for him."
"And why would you think that?"
"Don't you realize what you sound like right now? It's creeping on the edge of your voice, but it's as clear as day."
"What do you hear, then?"
Sora hesitated. "Anger, despair, anguish…but most of all, hopelessness."
Vanitas didn't respond.
The hero of the Keyblade kept pressing. "What did he do to you?"
"Do you really want to know?" His smirk reached his voice. "Will you be able to handle it?"
Sora looked to Ven. The blonde's eyes were hard, not revealing any emotion. He nodded, and Sora looked back to the darker half. Steeling himself for whatever might happen, he slowly nodded.
The Seeker reached up to his hood, fingers skimming across something near his jaw for a moment before grasping the frayed fabric. Slowly, as if wanting to cause suspense for some unseen audience, he pulled the hood back.
Whatever Sora had readied himself for didn't help him now. He was expecting a variation of Xehanort's face, a visage of leathery brown skin and a smooth, domed head. But what he saw was something out of his nightmares – something that had been eating at the back of his mind.
For many months now, ever since he remembered that he had turned into a Heartless, he had been worried about meeting some dark, twisted version of him. Maybe it would be his Heartless, or some shadowy replica that stalked the darkest recesses of his mind, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Whatever it would be, it would be a terrifying and dangerous opponent – second only to Xehanort, in that no one knew it well. After all, not even Sora knew his darkness, the potential of it or even how it would act.
What stood before him was perhaps the worst incarnation of his nightmares. If Sora's darkness had a humanoid shape, it would be much like the Vanitas standing before him. Slightly tanned skin, molten eyes of golden flame, and a head hair that was identical in shape to his own. The features they shared shook him to the core; it was really as if he were standing before a corrupted mirror that showed people their darkest reflections.
Except, Vanitas wasn't a mirror image. He was tangible, for one – he could be hurt, but could also hurt in return. He was not trapped behind the pane of glass. He most certainly could rush at them right now and inflict serious damage.
More obvious than those, though, were flaws in his facial features. Unlike Sora, the darker incarnation had a silver, jagged jaw brace that lined the edges of his face, bringing attention to the sharp angles of his cheekbones. The molten eyes seemed as bright as Sora's blues at first, but upon closer inspection, they were slightly duller. The eyes themselves were sunken inwards, almost like an aged man's.
But perhaps the most obvious difference between them was that, while Sora's hair was chocolate brown, Vanitas' was a dark gray-blue…heavily streaked with silver.
Both of the Guardians of Light were speechless as they took his face in. Ven barely kept himself from staggering back from the sudden changes in his dark side's face. The last time both of them had seen him was when Sora was in La Cité de Cloches…
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Vanitas smirked again. "I thought you said you could handle it."
Sora shook his head to clear his thoughts, breathing shakily. "He's turning you into another clone of him?"
"You really are as clueless as I've been told. Pick up with the program, 'hero'! You just noticed all of us Seekers are turning into him?"
"B-But you're farther along than Isa was! And Xigbar!"
"That's because his darkness binds to mine better. The process has been accelerated because of that."
Ven picked up on the anger in his voice, scowling slightly. "I thought you would have wanted his power added to your own."
"Once again, why would I want to go back him when I remember what he did to me?"
"But you said you had your reasons."
"And, by a brilliant observation your 'hero' made, you now know why."
There was a pause while Ven tried to think of a retort. Sora, however, realized this might be the only chance he would get for a long time. "This's gone on for long enough. Willingly or not, we can't let you help Xehanort take Kingdom Hearts." He swung the Kingdom Key around, dropping into a low stance.
Vanitas just stood there, staring at Sora with no expression on his face. The Guardian met his gaze in turn, eyebrows angling downwards as he fiercely glared at the Seeker.
The two held each others' gazes for what felt like an eternity, molten gold burrowing deep into ocean blue. After what was really only a few moments, however, Vanitas averted his gaze and instead looked to the ground beside his feet. Just like when they had first stumbled upon the Seeker, he remained as silent as the grave, his stillness so complete that it didn't seem like he was even breathing.
Except, after a few moments of studying him, Sora realized that he wasn't as still as he originally thought. It was so subtle that when he first noticed it, he tried to pass it off as a figment of his imagination. But when Ven stiffened beside him, he knew that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him this time.
Vanitas was indeed moving. He was shaking…
with laughter.
At first, it was so quiet that Sora barely caught onto it. The Seeker's snickering was almost silent, intending to only be heard by him and him only. Soon, though, it evolved into a full on chuckle, then evolved further into a full-on howl of laughter that sent chills running down Sora's spine.
If it had been a normal villain's laughter, the hero of the Keyblade would have been able to stand his ground and endure it. It was something he heard often, being the prime antagonist to many a villain's evil plans. Most of the time, when the villain would boast about his or her "evil plan" and laugh between every sentence, it was something that Sora could ignore.
However, this laugh was different. Having never heard the sound of his laughter, he assumed it would be similar to every other villain's, or possibly even Xehanort's. But Vanitas' cackle was in a category of its own. Just like his normal voice, it was filled to the brim with sadistic tones, something that could only come from a being of darkness such as him. There was not a speck of kindness or mercy to be found in it.
But, even with the sadistic tone, even with the absence of mercy…if he listened close enough, he could almost hear something akin to humanity in the boy's laugh, as if the boy wasn't as psychotic and inhuman as he seemed.
In that moment, all signs of Vanitas' fatigue vanished. He removed his stabilizing hand from the luminous orb, his legs no longer looking like they were going to collapse underneath him. For the first time since Sora had seen him be reborn, Vanitas stood up straight, confidence and arrogance almost seeming to roll off of him in waves.
Dark voltage extended from his right hand as he brought it up. The red and black Void Gear Keyblade appeared in his grip, looking just as faded and worn out as its master was only a moment ago. Stepping out with his left foot and extending his left arm out in front of him, Vanitas suddenly flashed them a slasher smile.
"Good luck with that!"
With that, the Seeker lunged.