Before Sora
(ROUGH DRAFT)
A Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl
Summary: Ventus is such a sweet boy...and yet, the pure darkness that is Vanitas had to come from SOMEWHERE, right? My take on what Ven might have been like as a child, before he was broken and before his heart encountered Sora's.
A/N: I feel like this fic needs some warning labels, but I honestly have no idea what they should be. I personally don't find any of it disturbing, but I think some people might.
I want to take Lulu's magic out of the final draft, since it started making me uncomfortable, but I'm running out of time to post this, so I'll have to put up with it for the rough draft. *wince*
The reason that the main characters for this fic are Ventus & Vanitas is because they're still a complete being at this point, you know? o.O Vani fans, plz don't get upset because he's "never onscreen" or something...
o.o.o
He stared sullenly at his feet, his cheeks hot with humiliation. Yazoo and Loz held his arms and laughed as Kadaj went leisurely through his pockets, inspecting the contents and making fun of everything that was not munny. The rest of their fourth grade class was gathered around watching with great interest, even Lulu and her friends. Ven could not look at her. If he had, he would have seen an expectant, half-disappointed expression on her face.
"You have a cigarette lighter?" Kadaj was now exclaiming in gleeful disbelief. "You were retarded enough to bring a cigarette lighter to school?"
Yes. Because he had been entertaining the thought of using it to set the Jenova triplets' bikes on fire.
"I cannot believe anyone would be so stupid." Kadaj clicked a small flame into life, laughing as it trembled in the sunlight. "Pathetic little thing, isn't it. You two were made for each other." He began to bring the flame close to Ven's face. Ven jerked and struggled, but the boys held him fast, and he watched in terror as it got closer and closer.
"That's enough, Kadaj."
Everyone turned, shocked and awed that anyone other than an adult would dare to interrupt.
Of course it was Lulu. She put one hand on her hip and surveyed them with distaste. "Do you know how much trouble you can get in for hurting someone like that? They won't care if you're just a kid, they'll put you in jail."
"Not if we tell 'em widdle Ven-Ven 'accidentally' burned himself with the freaking cigarette lighter he brought to school," Kadaj said with relish.
"Who do you think they're gonna believe, Kadaj? The straight-A student whose father is on the school board, or the gang of loser delinquents who only show up to graffiti the lockers and shake down other kids for munny?"
Kadaj frowned, and the other kids all gasped in excitement. "You gonna snitch on us?" he murmured, a dangerous glint in his eye.
"Lulu," Ven said weakly, "don't-" Loz punched him in the mouth, silencing him. He hung his head again and watched bloody saliva drooling out of his mouth, clenching his hands into fists. If they hurt Lulu, he would kill them...he would really and truly kill them...
"Aw, look, Lulu," Kadaj was laughing. "The little loser wants to protect you. Isn't that cute?"
"Why don't you let him try, instead of ganging up on him?" she snapped.
Since Ven was not looking at anyone, he missed the gesture Kadaj made at his brothers. They released him so abruptly that Ven fell to his knees, scraping the skin off his palms as he caught himself before he met the pavement face-first. He looked up at Kadaj, who was cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "Well? You gonna take a shot at it, loser?"
Ven stared at him. He glanced warily at the other two, and then with deep hatred at the crowd of watching kids. He could not even face Lulu, the girl he wanted so much to impress and yet who probably thought he was lower than dirt.
Ven slowly go to his feet. This was so stupid. Kadaj was just going to beat him up again, and even if Ven somehow miraculously won, Yazoo and Loz would just take him down in the next minute.
"Well? You gonna fight me or not?" Kadaj taunted.
Ven ran. He heard everyone yelling behind him, and because he did not see Lulu hold up a hand and cause the lighter to burst into flames, he had no idea why the Jenova triplets were not seizing him. All he knew was that he had not been caught yet, that he had been humiliated yet again, that the girl he liked knew what a horrible, horrible coward he was...
The teacher, who had been too busy gabbing on her cell phone to notice the disturbance at the other end of the playground, now snapped at Ven to get back here, where was he going? Ven ignored her. He turned the corner and went straight for the ladder bolted to the back of the cafeteria building, climbing up until he had reached the roof.
It was one of his safe havens, where the air was clear and he could feel the wind. Ven huddled in a corner, eyes closed as he listened to the breeze play through his hair, and wished that he was a different person.
o.o.o.o.o
It was easy enough to slip down among all the other students once they had been dismissed for the day. Ven wove through the crowd, deciding it was not worth going back to retrieve his backpack. He had no friends to wait for, no one to walk home with, he simply ambled down the main road through town, looking in shop windows and stalling. Home was not a place he particularly enjoyed being.
"Oi!" A shopkeeper had come out, shaking his fist as if Ven was a dog to be chased off. "Don't you dare come snooping around my store again, you little thief!"
"I wasn't gonna steal anything this time," Ven mumbled. Honestly, one or two little shoplifting incidents (or maybe more than two...), and everyone got all bent out of shape forever.
"Just get out of here before I call the cops."
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Ven slouched on past, trying to decide if he was angry enough to egg the guy's windows tonight. No, somehow they always knew when it was him, and he would get in so much trouble...again. His mother was acting weird enough these days, and the unpredictability made him nervous.
He finally ended up going down to the beach, which had the usual Friday afternoon crowd. He wanted to go out and swim, to lose himself in the sound of the waves, but he stood out like a sore thumb in his school uniform.
He skulked up by the touristy shops instead, wandering by the surfboard rental, the lifeguards' station, and various refreshment stands.
"Ooh, look, it's that little loser you stuck up for today."
Ven's head shot up. There she was, Lulu looking wonderful in a black and purple swimsuit, sitting at a table with her friends and the parfaits they had bought from the nearby cafe. She was frowning at him. Ven swallowed nervously. "You're right," was all she said.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" the same friend huffed, now addressing Ven. "No one wants to see your loser face. Go bother someone else."
Ven's hands clenched into fists, and his neck felt hot.
"You don't have to be rude, Alyza," Lulu said quietly. "He may be a coward, but that's no reason to stoop to being cheap and petty by insulting him."
He was not worth enough to even warrant an insult from Lulu. Unable to stand it anymore, Ven ran again.
There was a car in the driveway. Recognizing it, Ven groaned and ran around to the back of the house where his room was. He climbed onto the trash can, then jumped to catch the edge of the porch roof and swung himself up on top of it. He started walking over to his window, but tripped and accidentally knocked some of his toys off the roof. By the time he climbed into his bedroom, his mother was standing in the doorway. He froze.
"There you are!" she exclaimed. "I thought I heard a racket. Why didn't you come straight home?"
"..."
"Hurry and change, we have a visitor." She swept out again.
'Yeah, I can tell you were really curious about why I took so long to get home from school.' Ven clambered the rest of the way inside and changed into his rattiest T-shirt and jeans. Then he reluctantly made his way downstairs, kicking the walls as he went.
Sure enough, Mrs. Jenova was sitting in the living room. Ven stared at her beautiful, silken, silvery hair, and had to fight the urge to seize fistfuls of it and yank it out of her stupid head.
"She brought her new baby!" Ven's mother cooed, steering him over to the carrier sitting on the floor.
Ven glanced into it. The infant blinked clear aquamarine eyes at him, almost as if it was studying him. Its head was topped with silver-blue fluff that looked as soft as a cloud. 'You're as ugly as your big brothers,' Ven thought vengefully. He was tempted to say it out loud, but knew that his mother...would not react well.
"Isn't he precious?"
"..."
"It makes you want to have a little brother to look after, too, doesn't it?"
"Not really."
"Oh Ven, you're so silly." Ven's mother squeezed him so tightly that he made a sound like "guh." Then she sat down and started chatting with Mrs. Jenova again. As soon as Ven could tell that they would not notice, he slipped away to the kitchen and sneaked some cookies out of the pantry. It was not like he deliberately meant to 'spoil his appetite,' he just...felt like eating cookies.
That evening, he picked sullenly at his dinner.
"How was school today, Ven?"
"Fine."
"Did you learn anything interesting?"
"No."
"What's the matter, sweetheart? Why aren't you eating?"
"I'm not hungry."
His mother frowned dangerously. "You didn't eat any sweets, did you?"
"Of course not," he scoffed. "I know better."
His father laid a hand on her arm. "Honey, did you and Ven get to have a nice talk today?" he asked meaningfully.
"Oh, well..." Ven's mother took a deep breath. "Ven? Sweetie?"
"I told you, I didn't eat any cookies!"
"That's not what I- Ven, listen to me. Ven!"
He reluctantly brought his eyes to hers, and stopped kicking the table at his father's warning look.
"Ven," his mother continued, "you would like to have a little brother or sister, wouldn't you?"
"Nope."
"...But if you did. You wouldn't mind, right?"
"I'd drown 'em."
His mother gasped and slapped his face. Ven stared at her in shock, trying very hard not to cry.
His father hurriedly came over and knelt down by Ven's chair, taking his hands. "Ventus, your mother is going to have a baby in a few months. We are very, very happy about this, and we know that you will be, too. Babies are wonderful, you know - you'll get to help take care of him, and teach him things-"
Ven pulled free and stormed into the pantry, where he dug out a box of cream cakes and began cramming them into his mouth. His shoulders tensed in anticipation, but neither of his parents came to stop him.
o.o.o.o.o
He was not upset enough to have forgotten his plans for revenge. Ven awakened at 5:00 that Saturday morning. Then he quietly dressed himself all in black, crept down to get a package of Pop-Tarts from the kitchen, and slipped out into the dark, cool morning.
He ate his sugary breakfast as he made his way to the Jenovas' house, creeping along in hiding wherever he could rather than using the main roads.
The boys' bikes were on the back porch. Ven looked hard at the windows, making sure that they were all dark and either covered or showed no sign of movement. Then he tiptoed to the porch and pulled a knife out of his pocket.
o.o.o.o.o
He sat on the beach to watch the sunrise afterwards, feeling more peaceful and more relaxed than he had in days. Barely anyone was here at this hour. The light looked absolutely beautiful playing over the water, seeming to dance in the rippling waves. When the sun's rays were finally shining full on his face, Ven got to his feet and dusted sand off his pants.
He wandered back to town, wondering how to kill time until the ice cream shop opened. There was a stick on the ground...he picked it up and experimentally whacked it against the side of a building. 'I wish this were a real sword.'
As he continued on, he got to an intersection between the main road and a shabby little street that was pretty barren except for a few small, eccentric-looking houses. There was a little girl there, maybe six or seven, crying beside a tall, twisting tree. A man in a worker's uniform was trying to comfort her. "Come on now, honey, stop crying, I've just called the fire department. They have a big ladder, they can reach the top of that tree with no problem. I have to get to work now, but will you promise to be a brave girl and wait for them?"
"Yes, Daddy," she sobbed.
He kissed the top of her head. "It will be okay, sweetie. Be good today."
"I w-wiiiiiiill!"
He patted her on the back sympathetically and then walked away. Ven quickly stepped into the bushes to hide as the man passed, since he had been chased off once or twice before by overprotective parents. Then Ven ambled over to the crying girl and looked up. High in the branches was a little ball of gray fluff, mewing pitifully. "Is that your cat? Did he climb up there and get stuck?"
"Y-e-eeees!"
"What a dumb cat," Ven remarked, gauging the distance and the footholds between ground and target.
"Waaaahh!"
Ignoring her, Ven took a running leap and seized a branch that stretched out just over his head. He braced the soles of his shoes against the bark and scrambled up, aiming for a fork in the trunk where he could rest a second and grip a branch in the next-highest level.
As the girl watched anxiously, Ven made his way up the tree until he had gone as far as he could without braving the smaller branches that would probably not take his weight.
The kitten hissed at him and started to back away.
"Oh, no you don't, you little rat." Before it could get too far out of reach, Ven flung himself on his stomach and managed to seize one of its back legs, clinging tightly to the branch with his legs and his other hand. The kitten squeak-yowled, and Ven cautiously tried to adjust his grip. As soon as he had pried its claws out of the wood, it wriggled frantically and bit him. He yelped, nearly dropping it. "Friggin' monster!"
Using some language that he would not have dared to utter within earshot of his mother, Ven resisted the urge to squeeze the kitten until it popped, instead managing to scoot back along the tree limb and shove the animal in his pocket. Then, hissing in pain and irritation as it dug its claws into his flesh straight through the fabric of his pants, he began the long climb down.
It was a little harder going down than it had been to climb up. He kept having to crane uncomfortably over his shoulder to see where he was putting his feet. At one point, he misjudged the distance, stumbled, lost his grip on the branch he was holding onto, and went plunging.
A sudden strong wind whipped up, and for a second, he had the weirdest sensation of arms catching him. Then he hit the ground, just barely remembering to angle his body so that he wouldn't land on the kitten and end up with a pocket full of gore.
"Ash!" The little girl ran forward and frantically dug the animal out of Ven's pocket. It felt a little like being mugged by Kadaj again, which he resented. "You're okay!"
"You're welcome," Ven said pointedly as he climbed to his feet, but the girl was too busy snuggling and cooing over her precious rat to notice.
Ven looked down at himself, assessing the damage. His hip felt a little sore and he had a scrape on his elbow, but otherwise, he seemed remarkably unscathed. 'Huh. Thought I'd be bruised more, falling out of the tree that high.'
He turned back toward the main road and then froze when he unexpectedly met a pair of appraising black eyes. "L-Lulu," he choked out. She was standing there on the corner, watching him. Shame flooded his body as he remembered their last few encounters; she had to think he was scum. Unable to bear her attention, he plunged out of sight between two houses and began making his way through people's back yards, trying to put distance between himself and the girl who hated him.
It was pretty interesting, seeing the backs of strangers' houses like this. No one was out, they were probably sleeping in at this time of the morning on a weekend, not lounging in their yards. Ven hurriedly snuck past the back doors where people could be seen inside, but at the quieter houses, he paused to explore a bit.
Lots of yards had toys left out. He slipped a cowboy action figure and a water pistol into his pockets, then discarded them later to make room for a little red car with flame designs and a slinky. The pom-poms on a kid's bike caught his fancy, so he pulled off a green one and tied it around his wrist. Someone had also left out a black marker. He used it to draw his gang symbol on every fence he passed, the one he had made up in case his real father, who was a mafia boss or a ninja warlord something cool like that, ever came back to claim him.
His guard was so relaxed by the time he reached an occupied yard that he had actually already drawn his symbol before he turned around and saw the old lady lying on the grass. "Ack!" He jerked back against the fence, the marker dropping from his hand.
The woman smiled at him. "Hello, love."
He stared at her.
"It seems like you've come just in time. I'm having a bit of trouble, you see," she said, her voice sounding a little strained and breathless.
"Why are you lying on the ground?" he asked warily. "You look weird."
"Yes, well, my walker is still packed away, and I thought I could make do with a cane, but I was sadly mistaken." He could now see the stick lying nearby. "Would you be a dear and run down to one of the neighbors to ask them for help?"
"No way! Are you crazy?" He couldn't let people know he was here, he would get ridiculously in trouble.
"Sometimes people say I am," she remarked. "Oh dear, I hope Annie gets back soon..."
Ven slowly approached. "Did you, like, fall down, and now you can't get up?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Well, I might be able to get up, but it hurts a bit, so I'm afraid to try. I'd rather an adult be here, so I'll just stay put until then."
Ven laughed and sat down by her head. "That is really, really pathetic," he told her appreciatively. Finally, he had found someone who was more of a loser than he was.
"The elderly often seem to be," she said regretfully. "What's your name, honey?"
"I'm not your honey. My name's Ventus."
"Ventus," she repeated with a smile. "As difficult to touch as the wind, aren't you."
"What are you talking about?"
"Ah, don't mind me, I'm just rambling..."
It suddenly occurred to Ven that they might not be as alone as he thought. "Are you the only one home?" he asked quickly.
"Yes, unfortunately...my daughter Annie was helping me get moved in, but she ran out for a bit to run some errands. She should be back soon, though."
Ven quickly stood up. "I gotta go."
"Ventus..." For a moment she looked distressed, but then her face cleared. "You know, we'll be able to hear her opening the front door, it's downright squeaky. You'll have plenty of time to run off before she gets to the back."
"I'm not running away!" Ven said hotly, immediately plopping down again.
She reached out and patted his knee. "You're a good boy," she said softly.
"No, I'm bad. Everyone hates me."
"Well, that's not true, Ventus. I like you very much."
"Why would you do that?" he said disbelievingly.
She smiled again. "Well, you are a very good conversationalist. I've found our conversation so far to be very interesting."
He felt hot, and squirmed a bit.
"Do you live nearby, Ventus?"
"Over on Cloud Street," he mumbled. "Call me Ven."
"Oh, I do like that. Whoever nicknamed you has good taste."
"Everyone calls me Ven."
Just then, a woman came around the corner and gasped as soon as she had a good view of the yard. "Mom!"
"Oh, Annie, there you are."
Ven jumped to his feet.
"Mom, what'd he do to you!" Annie cried, running to her mother as Ven backed away.
"No, darling, Ven was just keeping me company while I waited for you-"
"He's a hooligan, Mom!" She turned fierce eyes to him, apparently about to start a tirade. "You!"
Ven ran.
o.o.o.o.o
Ven had learned by this time that people automatically assumed you were guilty when you ran, so when he saw Officer Carlson heading purposefully over to him, he stood his ground. He simply put on a haughty expression as he continued to lick the ice cream bar (that he had bought with actual munny, thank you very much), held the man's eyes steadily, and locked his joints in an effort to hide the fact that he was shaking. "Is there a problem?" he asked when the man was within earshot.
Carlson used his "I'm-nice-so-let's-be-friends voice, which meant that Ven still had a chance to escape if he played his cards right. Unfortunately, he rarely did; Carlson was a lot smarter than him. "Good morning, Ven," the officer said pleasantly. "Out for a walk?"
"Uh huh."
"That's good. Mornings are usually the best time for a stroll."
"Mm hm."
"Say, Ven, did you happen to tell your parents where you were going?"
"...I left a note."
"I see. Well, unfortunately, they must not have seen it, because they're pretty worried about you."
"They're still asleep. They don't even know I'm gone." Wait, that sounded bad. "But they know I like to take walks on Saturday mornings, so they won't be worried."
Carlson sighed. "Ventus, they called me."
Crap. Not a good sign when Carlson started using his full name. "Oh...well, guess I should go see what they want," Ven said nervously, edging away.
"I think that's a good idea. Here, I'll walk home with you, keep you company."
"That's fine, I can make it back on my own," Ven said quickly.
Carlson gave him a long, serious look. "Ventus. I got one or two other phone calls this morning, as well."
Crap, crap, crap. Probably that Annie woman. He was gonna have to go break one of her windows soon. "I...don't...see why that should have anything to do with me," Ven said awkwardly.
Carlson folded his arms sternly. "Ventus. You have a choice here. Is there anything you'd like to tell me, or would you rather discuss things with your parents?"
Ven glared at the ground and took a big, rebellious bite of his ice cream. "Let's go home," he growled through the resulting brain freeze.
Now that Carlson had gotten his way, he was back to his nice voice, keeping up a friendly, one-sided chatter all the way back. Ven shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged along sullenly, taking a tiny bit of pleasure in ignoring the officer and not getting punished for it. Carlson was not one to kick a guy when he was down.
Ven's mother opened the door before they even reached the porch. "Oh, you found him!" she cried in relief. She grabbed Ven and hugged him protectively. "You haven't heard from Jen, have you?" she asked, her tone anxious.
"No," Carlson said seriously. "However, though I haven't committed anything specific to record yet, it would be in your best interest to contact a Miss Anne Wilson on Seagull Lane. She and her neighbors have a situation that I will need to address if you don't."
Ven squirmed uncomfortably as she gripped him harder. "Thank you," she said tightly.
Carlson nodded politely and headed back out.
Immediately, she seized Ven by his collar and one arm and dragged him into the living room, flinging him onto the couch as he screamed, "No! No! Wait, Mom, no!"
"What did you do?" she screamed back. "Where have you been?"
"Nowhere! I-I went and got some ice cream!"
"You were at Jen's house!"
"NO I WASN'T!"
"She SAW YOU!" she shrieked, so close that flecks of spittle landed on his cheek.
Ven covered his face with his left hand to shield himself, since she was still pinning his right arm. "No she didn't!" he cried back, surprised to find himself sobbing.
"She got up to feed the baby and she saw you! What did you think you were doing?"
"I didn't do it," he wailed despairingly. He was finished. All he could do was go down fighting.
"Do you know how much munny it's going to cost to fix those bikes? And I don't even know what you did to those poor people down on Seagull! Are you trying to get picked up by the police again?"
"I didn't do anything...I didn't do anything..."
"Don't give me those puppy eyes, they are not going to work," she growled, flipping him over.
"Nooooo!"
"Honey," Ven's father intervened, "I thought we had decided to sit down and talk with him first."
"That was before I found out what he's been up to this morning," she snarled.
"Honey, just calm down for a minute, I don't think you being so upset is good for the baby..."
She began taking deep breaths, and her hold loosened. Ven instantly wriggled free and tried to make a run for it, but his father caught him, sitting down and wrapping him securely in his arms. "No! No! No!"
"Ventus! Ven, settle down, we're just going to talk."
"I didn't do it!"
Ven's mother opened her mouth heatedly, but stopped at her husband's pleading look.
"Ventus," his father said, "you don't have to lie, we already know that you went to the Jenovas' house this morning to sabotage their bikes. Why did you do that?"
"I didn't!"
"You want me to get the soap?" Ven's mother threatened.
He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head frantically.
"Your father asked you a question, and if you don't answer it with the truth, you're gonna wish you'd ended up in jail!"
"Honey..."
"K-Kadaj stole my munny again yesterday," Ven choked out past the lump in his throat, still straining unsuccessfully to get loose. "H-He and the other two p-pick on me all the time."
"That is ridiculous, the triplets are all very nice, gentlemanly boys."
"They're nice to you!" Ven shouted. "They kiss up to the grown-ups their mom likes and then when no one's watching, they beat up other kids and steal stuff and break stuff and they're more bad than me, they really are! They are!" he screamed desperately, seeing his mother's disbelieving look.
"Honey," his father said reluctantly, "maybe we should talk to Jen-"
"Absolutely not! I'm not going to accuse my best friend's sons of being hooligans with no proof, especially right after she witnessed my own little hooligan vandalizing her property!"
"I...I see what you're saying, but...well, he wouldn't be this upset over nothing, would he?"
They both looked at Ven, who had slumped forward and was sobbing as if heartbroken.
"...Why does our little monster have to have such an adorable face...?" Ven's mother took a deep breath and then reached out, tenderly brushing his spiky bangs out of his eyes and wiping the tears off his cheeks. "Sweetheart, you're really unhappy about Sora coming, aren't you. The baby," she explained in response to his blank look. "We're not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we decided to name it Sora."
Ven stared at her. He had not even thought about the baby since yesterday.
"Sweetie, you're not the only one, there are lots and lots of kids who find out that they're going to have little brothers or sisters. It won't be a bad thing, I promise. You'll love Sora when he comes!"
Ven studied his mother's glowing, hopeful expression. "Am I still in trouble?" he asked cautiously.
His mother sighed. "Well, since you've already lost your allowance for the rest of this year, you're going to have to start doing extra chores to pay us back for fixing the bikes." She frowned. "And I still don't know what kind of havoc you wreaked after stopping by Mrs. Jenova's house."
"..."
"What, did he do something else?" his father asked in confusion.
"Apparently," his mother growled, "Ven didn't stop with the Jenovas. Officer Carlson talked about some people on Seagull Lane who filed complaints."
"Ahhh..."
Ven hunched his shoulders in shame at the hurt sound of his father's sigh.
His mother, her touch no longer gentle, grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her eyes. "What did you do?" she demanded.
"N-Noth...ing..." Lying was so habitual for him by now that he did not even realize he was doing it for a second. "I mean, no, wait," he said quickly, imagining the chalky taste of soap on his tongue, "I-I just went...and...trespassed." That seemed like the safest of his crimes. "I was...wandering around in...people's yards."
Her eyes narrowed. "And what did you do while you were violating strangers' private property rights?"
"I...I...kicked some things...and...a lady came out and yelled at me," he said haltingly.
"His heart is beating pretty fast," his father observed.
She tightened her grip on his chin. "Ventus Caelum King, are you lying to me?" she demanded.
He could not speak, just stared at her with tears starting to drip down his face again.
"Why does he do that?" she shouted. "How can he do such horrible things and then look at me like that and break my heart!"
'It's working?' Ven thought in surprise.
"Honey, I think we should believe him, at least until we have more information. But first...you remember what we were talking about earlier..."
Ven's mother sighed and released his chin. He immediately turned his eyes back to the ground, glaring as he tried again half-heartedly to get loose.
"Ven. Sweetie. Your father and I were thinking."
Ven tried sliding down out of his father's arms, but simply got hauled up again for his trouble. The man was strong, very patient, and very used to this.
"We know that you don't have many...well...that is, you obviously don't get along with the Jenova boys, and there's not really any other...um..."
His mother having trouble expressing herself was so rare that Ven paused, eyeing her with wary curiosity.
"We thought it would be fun for you to have a little friend to take care of," his father explained. "You know, someone to talk to when you get lonely and don't feel comfortable talking to us."
"I told you, only babies have imaginary friends," Ven said quickly, wondering if they'd overheard him talking to Zidane again earlier. He knew Zidane was not real, it was just...nice to pretend that someone actually listened to him sometimes, for a change.
"What? No, I meant..."
"Ven, we're going to let you have a pet," his father said. "We'll let you pick something out, a turtle or a frog or maybe a bird. Nothing big, just someone to keep you company and...help you out a little."
Ven blinked. "How is a turtle going to help me?" Beat up Kadaj and them, was what he meant, though he knew better than to say this aloud.
"Well, the child psychology book said it would," his mother grumbled cryptically under her breath.
"Huh?"
She shook her head. "Never mind." She got to her feet, tiredly running a hand through her hair. "I'd better call that lady and see what the total damage count is..."
Ven went cold, and started to struggle again. "All I did was walk on her lawn, if she tells you anything else, she's a liar, too, I really didn't steal anything, or draw on anything-"
His mother's eyes narrowed. "Who said anything about drawing?"
Ven gulped.
"Don't let him escape," she ordered, and marched into the kitchen where the phone was. "...Hello? Yes, this is Sapphique King, I'm *deep sigh* Ventus King's mother. I heard he was, er, around your neighborhood this morning..."
Ven looked up at his father and opened his eyes wide. "Daddy?"
His father sighed. "Don't even start, Ven."
Eyes. "...Could you please-?"
"Wait until your mother gets off the phone."
Eyes...eyes... "Daddyyyy?"
He hesitated. "...Do you promise not to run off if I let you go?"
Before Ven could answer, his mother's shriek echoed through the house. "HE DID WHAT?"
Ven ditched the puppy eyes approach and fought hard.
"Oh my God! ...Oh my God! ...No, no, he'd never-! ...Oh, God, no, I know he can be a pill but he'd never do that, he wouldn't- Oh- Oh, wait, please, just wait one moment, I have to ask- No, please, don't, the police have already talked to me, we're trying to work something out- Hello? Hello?"
There was a long, long pause.
'I'm dead,' Ven thought. Though it wasn't like trespassing or theft or graffiti were anything new, so he was not quite sure why his mother sounded so horrified.
She came storming back into the living room. "You sent an eighty-seven-year-old woman to the hospital?" she thundered.
Ven gaped at her.
"He did what?" his father exclaimed.
"Apparently this boy assaulted an elderly woman on her own property, and now she's in the hospital!"
His father's arms went slack from shock. Ven himself was too astounded to take advantage of this. "I...di-didn't...do that," he said faintly.
She swooped down and seized his arms, her nails digging into his skin.
"I didn't do it! I didn't do anything!" he shrieked. He had never been more terrified in his life. This was different, somehow, than all the other times he had gotten in trouble. She really did look like she was going to kill him. "I didn't! I swear! I didn't hurt her! I only talked to her! Don't!"
"How could you do something like that?" she hissed.
"I didn't!" It was horrifying, almost suffocating, this utter desperation to be believed when, for once in his life, he was telling the truth.
"What should I do with you?" The rage drained out of her face, and, to Ven's shock, she started to cry. "What are we supposed to do?" she sobbed. "What do they expect me to do about him? Lock him up? Have him committed? Pack him off to some boot camp? I can't handle him anymore! I'm pregnant and I should be enjoying my new baby but instead I'm constantly worrying about this little monster, and I can't do it anymore! Agh! If Sora turns out like him, I'll drown him and then I'll kill myself!"
Ven fell out of her limp hands and stared up at her, trembling and speechless.
"Honey, honey, just calm down, it will be all right, we'll get this straightened out." Her husband gently led her away, sparing a concerned look over his shoulder for his son, but unable to split his attention.
Long after they were gone, though he could still hear her muffled sobs, Ven crept to his room, pulled the quilt off the bed to wrap around his shoulders, and shut himself in his closet, where he tried to dissolve into the darkness.
o.o.o.o.o
He must have fallen asleep. He jerked upright when the closet door opened and stared up at his father, his eyes sore and bleary.
"Ven...you need to come out and get dressed in some nicer clothes. We're going to visit Mrs. Wilson in the hospital and see if we can get to the bottom of this."
Ven pulled the quilt over his head and burrowed deeper into it.
"Ventus..."
Brisk footsteps thumped across the carpet. Ven tensed as he sensed his mother's approaching presence.
"I'm through with this, Ven," she snapped, apparently more or less back to her old self. "If you give us any trouble, I will call the police and have them come and take you away forever. Get up. Get up!"
Sullenly, he crawled out of the closet and mumbled that he didn't want to go.
"Well, I don't want to do a lot of things, but I do them anyway. I don't want to get calls before six o'clock in the morning on a weekend from someone saying that my son is running around slashing bike tires. I don't want to spend my Saturday driving around town trying to keep you out of jail. I don't want to-"
"Okay, okay, I'm going!"
At the hospital, Annie Wilson said angrily that she did not want "that little horror" anywhere near her mother again, but after Mr. King had gone in to introduce himself, the old woman responded in a cheerful, easygoing tone. "Oh! You're Ven's father, then? How lovely! It was so very kind of you all to come visit me. Of course you can let him in, I'd love to see him!"
Ven's mother dragged him into the room and marched him over to the bed, where he stood glaring at his shoes. "This is the boy who attacked you," she said shortly. "I am deeply, deeply sorry for my son's actions, and will do everything in my power to make amends."
"Oh my, no, no, I think there's been a mistake. Annie, what have you been telling people? My goodness, it was all my own fault, being too adventurous! Ven just came over to introduce himself and keep me company while we waited for help to come, isn't that right?"
"I didn't push you over," Ven mumbled. "You fell down yourself."
"Yes, that sounds about right."
His parents were staring at her. "So...Ven didn't hurt you?"
"Mom," Annie protested, "he's not like Raye or the Mendez boys back home. I've seen this kid throw rocks at stray cats before. You just moved here, you don't know anything about him, but I do! I come home and find that he's got you on the ground - don't try to cover up for him!"
"I didn't do anything!" Ven cried in frustration.
"Annie," the old woman said quietly, "maybe I'm a fool like everyone says, but I wouldn't tell the kind of lie you're accusing me of."
"I didn't- It's not that I-!"
The old woman smiled and reached out to take Ven's hand. He flinched. "Thank you for coming, Ven," she said warmly. "It looks like this was a hard thing for you to do, but I truly appreciate it. I'm glad to see you."
He squirmed uncomfortably. "I didn't push you over," he mumbled. "I wasn't lying. I didn't even know you were hurt." She had, however, asked him to go and get help, but he had refused, and she had not insisted. He had been so stupid. His face went hot with shame, and he could not lift his eyes from the floor.
"Oh..."
He tensed as his mother's grip on him tightened, but then he realized that she was only...hugging him?
"Oh!" Mrs. King burst into tears, holding her son tightly. "You don't know...how relieved I am," she sobbed. "I thought...I thought he'd crossed the line for sure...I didn't know what to do...oh, you don't know how horrible it's been...every day it's something, getting in fights at school, shoplifting, breaking things, getting calls from the police two or three times a week, I have Officer Carlson on speed dial, running off to who knows where all the time, everyone in town complaining to me, lying lying lying through his teeth, and he's only in fourth grade, sometimes I can't breathe thinking about what he'll be like when he's older, and I'm so terrified for the baby coming, I don't know what I'm going to do... Sometimes I think...sometimes I wish..."
'She hates me,' Ven thought dully, not for the first time. 'I hate me.'
"Now, now," the old woman said soothingly, patting Sapphique's arm like she was a little girl. "There's something to love in every child, every single one. Why," she chuckled, "I myself was a little hellraiser back in the day...believe me, honey, my own mother, God bless her, could get just as frazzled as you. Don't worry, you have a fine son. He's a very handsome young man." She smiled, and even Ven, trying to look everywhere but at her, could not miss her expression. "Such clear blue eyes. I know he can be very sweet if he wants to."
"Don't let those puppy eyes fool you," Mrs. King grumbled, trying to wipe her tears away. "He may have the face of a cherub, but he's a little monster inside, you have no idea."
The old woman was grinning straight at him. "Ah, but we know better, don't we, Ven?"
"No. I really am a monster," he told her, and did not understand why she laughed.
Mrs. King stayed to work out details with the Wilsons, and Ven's father took him out to one of the waiting rooms. Ven slumped low in a chair and pulled the toy car out of his pocket, running it along the empty seat next to him.
"Well," his father finally said, "that's a relief."
"What is?"
"That you...well... Heh, Mrs. Wilson seemed to like you, didn't she."
"She's real dumb."
"Ventus," his father said reproachfully, "you shouldn't talk about other people like that."
"Well, it's true."
He sighed. "Aren't you glad that she stuck up for you?"
"Yeah."
"She seemed like a very kind person."
"..."
There was a long silence. "Ven," his father finally said, "are the Jenova boys really giving you trouble?"
"..."
"I just...thought that since you were right about Mrs. Wilson, maybe..."
"..."
"So, Ven," his father finally said, giving up and changing the topic, "have you thought about what kind of pet you would like to get?"
"No."
"Oh. Well...I guess you can just look around the store and see what catches your attention."
"Mm." Ven paused. "I want an elephant," he said experimentally. An elephant could step on Kadaj and Yazoo and Loz and squish them.
"Urk...well, we don't really have a place to keep an elephant, right?"
"..."
Ven's mother came out and plopped into the chair next to him, sighing loudly. He snatched the little car out of the way just in time. "Thank God she didn't actually break anything. She'll be able to go back home soon." Then Mrs. King turned sideways in her chair and frowned down at Ven dangerously. "You lied to me. You just said that you trespassed."
"I didn't lie! I did trespass!"
"You also neglected to mention that you drew graffiti on ten houses, and one or two people told Annie that things are missing from their yards or were tampered with."
"I-! I...!" He could not think of anything to say that would get him out of this.
"You will be spending your weekend cleaning all that up, and-" Her eyes zeroed in on the car. "Where did you get that?"
"I've always had it."
"You have not. I've never seen it before."
"I...got it...as a prize. From school."
"You stole it."
"N-!"
"You stole it!"
"I was gonna give it back!" he burst out, though he had had no intention of doing so before this moment.
His father sighed. "I guess that was a bad time to bring up the pet idea gain...it would seem like we're rewarding him for bad behavior."
"Not if we spank him first and then take him to the pet store," she decided. She stood up and seized her son's arm before he was able to bolt. "Let's go get this over with."
"No! No! I don't want a pet, wait, Mom, no, I'll make it up some other way, I'm sorry for being bad and lying and being disrespectful, no, wait, noooo...!"
o.o.o.o.o
He forgot to keep sulking as he looked down into the pen, where little balls of fluff were yipping and wrestling together or sleeping.
One black-and-brown creature came romping over to investigate his lowered hand, sniffing at it and then giving it an enthusiastic lick.
"Ven," his mother said quickly, "you can look, but remember, we did not come here to get a dog." The puppy rose up and set its paws on the side of the pen, gazing up at Ven adoringly.
"Aw, he likes you," a salesgirl laughed as she passed by. She seemed like a college student and her face was unfamiliar, which might explain why she was so friendly and not giving Ven dirty looks like all the older employees were. "Would you like to hold him?"
Ven tore his eyes away from the puppy to stare at her. "You'll...let me?" He had been meaning to ignore the "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH US, WE ARE VERY SENSITIVE!" signs and pick up the animal himself, but it was surprising to hear someone make the offer first.
"Of course! Come over here to the play area." She lifted out the delighted puppy and placed it in Ven's arms. Chocolate, as Ven had already started calling it in his mind, lunged forward and licked him on the nose. "Ha ha! You think you're so cute," he laughed, rubbing the puppy spit off his nose with one hand and cuddling Chocolate closer with the other arm.
He was fully absorbed and did not notice his parents staring at him. "Dear," his mother said faintly, "when was the last time you saw Ven smile like that?"
"...I can't even remember."
"You think you're just adorable," Ven was cooing. "You think you're gonna win me over so that I'll love you and play with you and give you doggie treats forever and ever, but no, it's not gonna work, it's not gonna work," he crooned, obviously already head over heels.
His mother folded her arms and looked away as her husband asked how much it would cost to buy the black-and-brown puppy. The answer made him wince, though that did not stop him from reaching for his wallet.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: Again, I have a feeling this fic needs warning labels, I'm just not sure what they should be. I pretty much work in special education for a living, so I don't know what it's like reading this fic with a different sort of background.
The idea for this fic came when it occurred to me that there's a disconnect between the Ven we all know and love, and the epitome of evil that is Vanitas. We also only get a glimpse and a half of Ven before Sora touched his heart - really just the scene where Vanitas is born. The scene in the Awakening where Ven first met Sora almost doesn't count, since Ven was a (literally) heart-broken space case at the time. So I reasoned out what Ven might have been like when he still had all that darkness in his heart and his behavior wasn't affected by Sora, and I threw in my theory that he and Sora are actually brothers or cousins, and this is what I came up with. I had a hard time trying to balance the Ven-chan and Vanitas aspects of Ven's personality, and I'm not sure I succeeded, but I wanted to at least make the effort.
By the way, I wrote all this at the same time as Christmas at the Castle - that is, I had the idea and wrote the first page, finished drafting CatC from the Disney Town chapters to the end, then returned to this fic with a vengeance until I used up the notebook and had to switch to a new one. After that was when I posted CatC and other fics, but the point is that the puppy eyes thing was still new when I originally wrote this. AND LOL, Mrs. Wilson was originally 86 rather than 87, because again, this was first drafted before AkuSai became my OTP. XD
"Caelum" means "sky" in Latin. This was the fic where I originally came up with Ven's full name for my headcanon (as well as Sora's/Ven's mom's name), so I'm really glad that I got to post this before I used the name for my MUCH more recent "Stepsiblings" series. And that other fic that I've been excited about and hope to post soon.
Among the many things that I'm sure I got wrong, I'm ignoring whatever negative effects Sora might have suffered from developing in the womb of a woman under constant stress from trying to raise a kid like Venitas and then having him go missing... Also the fact that the mother of a missing child probably wouldn't let her second son go gallivanting off unsupervised on the smaller islands.
I'm totally convinced that Jenova is Riku's mama. LOOK AT THE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN HIM AND HER OTHER KIDS (Seph, Kadaj, etc.). Unmistakable!
I always thought it was supposed to be "Yazuu," but then I read somewhere that a "yazoo" is a little stream flowing off a main river, which makes sense.
Ven's "gang symbol" is the Unversed insignia, of course. Ftr, mafia bosses are not cool, that was just Ven's opinion. o.O
