Here comes another story! Fun fact: this was meant to be a story where Roxas was the main character. Well... You will notice he is not really.
Disclaimer: I don't own KH~*
At first, there was just Ventus.
He wasn't really lonely - first of all, he couldn't exactly feel time flowing here, and loneliness and boredom were strangers here. If anything, he would have said he was conscious, without really being.
He could remember his life, all the steps that led him here, all the names and faces of those he loved, and he knew he longed to get out of here and to find them again, but he didn't have anything against this place, so he just waited.
And then, she came. The place would change according to his host's mood. When she first stepped in, the place was an Island - it was Ventus's favourite place, where he could bathe and enjoy the sun.
"Oh… Hello. May I ask who you are?"
She looked nice, and a bit intimidated. Scared, also, perhaps. He grinned at her.
"My name's Ventus, Ven for short!"
"Nice to meet you, Ven. I'm Kairi. Where exactly are we…?"
"Nice to meet you too! I hope you won't find the truth too weird, but this is Sora's heart."
"Sora's… Heart? Why are you… No, wait, then why am I… Oh."
Ven sat on the sand, still smiling.
"Won't you tell me your story? I'll tell you mine, too!"
She went first, telling a terrible story of a storm, of a door on that very island, of friends coming to save her, and of darkness trying to harm her.
After listening to her, he comforted her. She was quite shaken up. What she needed was some smiles, some jokes, and a lot of good mood. His story could wait a bit.
Time flowed differently here, and she was gone before he ever had the chance to tell her how he ended up in that heart. Her body was calling for her. She was being set free.
"Will I ever see you again?" She asked with a sad voice.
"I hope so! I'm not sure you will remember me, but I hope your heart will. Let's meet again one day!" He grinned as she disappeared.
But as soon as she was gone, he fell on his knees, his chest aching in a whole new pain. It felt as if a part of him was being torn away. The island disappeared, replaced by the Dive to the Heart. But as soon as he stepped on the colourful glass, it cracked, and the cracks leaked of dark fumes. Darkness was surrounding him, trying to absorb him. To destroy the place. To destroy Sora. It took shape of monsters, and he fought them with all his strength, but he knew that wouldn't be enough. Sora needed more Light, or it would be over.
And suddenly, Light there was. Warm, comforting, taking the shape of a hug, of pure love, chasing the Darkness away. It wrapped around Ventus, too, and although it used no words, he understood the message. And he knew whose light it was.
My heart won't forget you. The Dive to the Heart was restored, and he smiled at the girl drawn on it. Sora was a lucky one.
For a while (although he couldn't tell how long), things were back to normal. His peace was back, his timeless days spent at the beach, in a house (Sora's home), or snoozing off on the Dive to the Heart. But at one point (when?), things started to change again, although it was so subtle Ventus didn't realise it at first. The colours of the mosaic were fading away, really slowly. Faces started to get blurry. One day, Ventus noticed that the picture changed - there was a new face, a blonde girl, looking a lot like Kairi… But she wasn't Kairi. And yet, she took her place. Who was she? What was she doing here? The whole place felt sad. Sora's heart was sad, and Sora might not even be aware of it.
And then, Kairi was back, but the colours weren't. They kept on fading away. The place was getting sleepy, as if Sora was asleep - but his heart shouldn't be losing its colour, losing its light, should it? Helpless, unable to know what was going on, Ventus couldn't do a thing but wait. He was good at that. After all, there was no time here.
Kairi started disappearing again, not being replaced, just vanishing. The whole place was basically black and white by now.
Until the day it all came back - well, not all of it, but most of it. There was a blinding light, and then the colours were back, Kairi's picture was back, and a newcomer was here. She looked a lot like Kairi, but in a different way than the girl that had replaced her. She looked quieter. Darker.
"Am I getting a roommate? Hi!"
She stared at him with awe.
"Roxas?"
He didn't understand the question. Roxas? Was it a name? Or perhaps they didn't speak the same language? He put his hand on his chest.
"Ventus. You?" He pointed at her slowly. She smiled, shaking her head.
"I'm… I'm Xion. Is this… Sora's heart? Who are you really?"
So she knew where she was. That was surprising. But at least they talked the same language, which was great.
"A pleasure, Xion! Please call me Ven. Do you like the beach?"
"The… beach?"
The place changed for his favourite Island. Although this place was not his, Sora's heart was pretty conciliant with his locations requests.
"If we are to talk, best to do it under the sun! Alright, who goes first?"
"I would like you to tell me who you are, if you don't mind. And why you are in Sora's heart. I have no memory of you from Sora, but… You just look so much like a friend of mine."
He told her his story, and she listened. He even included the part about Kairi visiting, thinking that perhaps Xion had met her before.
And she told him her story, and that explained a lot about what happened recently. She was the reason the colours faded away - well, some of them. Sora's memories had been stolen from him, and sent into two puppets, Xion, and Roxas, who apparently looked just like him. Roxas might even have been the reason behind that terrible pain he felt before: when Sora lost his heart, a part of Ventus might have gone too to ease his host's pain.
"I think he will join us soon." Smiled Xion, and her eyes were shining bright at this thought. "He just needs a bit more of time, but he will soon realise this is the only way."
"So are you going to be… permanent resident? Long-term ones, at least? It won't hurt to have some company."
"I think so. I wasn't meant to exist. I don't even know why I am here, when I should have returned to nothingness…"
"Well, you have a name and memories, it's not like that could vanish just like that!" He grinned at her, and she looked at the horizon, thoughtful.
"I wonder… Will he remember me?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" His grin grew bigger as she frowned, trying to understand what he meant. With a soft nod, he showed something behind her. She turned around, to see a boy standing there, lost.
"How could it be? I've only been there since…" His chuckles interrupted her.
"Don't try to understand time around here, it makes no sense. This is a heart, after all. Not real life. Can't you see where we are?"
The beach was gone, and the Dive to the Heart was back. Full. Restored.
"This heart is complete again. I guess I'm an extra, now. Go greet him, okay?"
She took a few hesitant steps towards the newcomer, while Ven remained lying on the ground, staring at the black nothingness above him. Sora's heart was complete. How was he doing? His heart had been through a lot, lately. Then, again, lately could mean for this last decade or so. Ventus didn't even know how old Sora was now. Perhaps he was an old man by now. He hoped he had been reunited with Kairi.
He spied on the two others. That was wrong, but there wasn't much else to do. And Xion looked so nervous, that was cute.
"Ro...xas?" Her voice was barely a whisper. Lucky they were in a completely silent place, or her words would never have been heard.
He looked at her in silence. Ventus caught a glimpse of his face. Man, we really could be twins, he thought, amused.
"Do you know… Who I am?" Once again, he was silent. Ventus worried about Xion. What if he really couldn't remember her? That would be really sad. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like if Terra or Aqua forgot about him. He pushed this thoughts away and sat up to have a proper look at them.
Xion was facing Roxas, but she was staring at her feet, as if she couldn't face him. Which was probably why she was panicking at his lack of answers. Had she looked up, she would have understood pretty quickly.
"Pssst, Xion! His face is probably more interesting than your feet right now!" Whispered Ven in a grin. Xion, balled her fists and finally dared to look at Roxas.
He was very still. And from his gigantic cerulean eyes streamed down a river of tears.
He remembered her. He was just so shocked, so astounded to finally find her again that he couldn't move or talk.
"Roxas?" She reached out for him, hesitantly touching his bare hand from her gloved one. That seemed to wake him up.
"Xion? Is that… really you?"
"It's me. For real." She smiled at him, and she looked so happy and sad at the same time that Ventus sworn to himself that if Roxas didn't move in the next five seconds, he would be the one to hug her.
Of course, that was unnecessary. Roxas threw his arms around her, and they stayed in that embrace for a very long time. Ventus did his best to ignore how much he missed Terra and Aqua. Aqua gave the best hugs.
"And… who are you?"
After their endless embrace, that involved a lot of giggling, crying and unintelligible words, Roxas finally let go of her and started to be interested by Ventus. He jumped back to his feet and held a hand out to Roxas.
"Hello, clone of mine!"
"Clone…?"
If he had taken Ven's good looks, he apparently didn't get his sense of humour. Ven smiled.
"Well, you and I sure look alike alot. My name is Ventus. You're Roxas, right? Xion told me a lot about you. Mostly nice things."
"Mostly?"
"He's teasing you." Laughed Xion. "Sora saved Ven years ago, after Xehanort tried to turn him into a weapon." That seemed to amuse Roxas, who scoffed. "Yeah, tell me about it."
Ventus crossed his arms. "So this is the Sora's Heart Weapon Club? Sounds fun! By the way, guys, there's something I'd like to ask you…."
This time, it was Ven who was uneasy. He wasn't sure he should be asking, but this could be his only chance to know.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about my friends, Terra and Aqua?"
Roxas shook his head. "Sorry. Never heard of them. But we haven't existed for long, so…"
"Wait, Aqua's name rings a bell." Ven looked at Xion, full of hope. She was frowning, as if trying really hard to remember what it was. "Before I left the Organization, I had a look at their reports. That's how I found I was a… whatever. There was a mention, only once, to an armour they kept locked somewhere… And it was called 'Aqua's armour'. That's the only time I've seen that name, though. All I know, and it's because I overheard Xigbar mentioning it, was that Xemnas was looking for a room called 'The Chamber of Waking', and that it was connected to his past. Sorry, I wish I could have been more helpful…"
Ventus grinned. "You've told me enough, don't you worry. I'm sure they are safe. As for this room…" His grin somehow turned into something a bit more mischievous. "I can't really explain how I know it, it might be something I heard in my sleep somehow, but I think that's where I am… My body, at least. If anything happened to it, I'm sure I would know it. So I'd say this room is safe for now, although that's just suppositions. That aside… Would you guys like to swim a bit?"
The beach was back, the sun gently warming them up. Ventus threw himself into the water with no hesitation, and the two others quickly followed him.
"Look, we made it to the beach… I wished Axel were there, though." He heard Roxas whisper to Xion. Ven grinned and splashed them.
"Okay, guys, rule number one: this is Sora's heart, so no negative thoughts! We gotta make the kid happy, got it? Keep the dwelling for once you're free!"
They both smiled and started playing with him. Ventus quickly stared at the fake sky. Let's hope we will be free, though.
They played a lot. Talked a lot. Since time was not an issue, they didn't really know how long it had been, but one day, Ventus started feeling a little dizzy. The house turned back to the Dive to the Heart.
"Ventus, are you okay?" worried Xion. Ventus found it really hard to focus on anything, and he knew it could mean two things. Either his body was dying, or…
"I think I'm waking up, guys. I'm sure you'll soon be free too, so… See you on the other side!"
He felt really cold, as he was fading away. Cold, and a bit scared as well. He grinned at them, hiding his true feelings.
I hope I'm really not just dying were his last thoughts, as he completely disappeared from Sora's heart.
Is it a happy end? A bad end? Your choice!