Into the Light
Summary: So where was Vincent during Kingdom Hearts? Imprisoned in Maleficent's castle before being placed under a spell and sent to destroy Traverse Town, that's where. Some friendships can transcend ten years and a gulf of darkness. Takes place before and During Kingdom Hearts. Not slash.
Rating: T as a precaution
Genre: Drama/Friendship
Disclaimer: If I had any claim on Kingdom Hearts, I would be making plans to put Vincent into Kingdom Hearts III! Also, I would know the name of Lea's Keyblade, but that's a different matter.
[A/N:] So I became a fan of Vincent Valentine not too long ago, and not long afterwards, I discovered that he was supposed to be in Kingdom Hearts but got so no one would confuse him and Cloud based on the fact the have similar personalities, or something like that. And I couldn't believe it! No! My new favorite character was supposed to be in the best crossover series ever, but got cut! NO!
Fortunately, though, I write Fanfiction. And that is how this story came about...sort of. I know that's what got me thinking in this direction, but I'm not sure what happened to it after that. Anyway, this is a different style from my usual writings, as most of it is not in chronological order and I hope it's not too difficult to follow.
For ease of reading please note that Bold italic text= Journal entries and Bold text = letters set before the story begins while Italic text = Flashbacks and memories Also, any scenes involving Maleficent but without her fighting Sora (and the ones with Pete) are set in the time between Leon and and the others coming to Traverse Town but before Sora's arrival in the town. I hope that helps some, but please let me know if the story is still too confusing. I hope you enjoy it.
"Leon, do you remember Vincent?"
For a moment Leon looked surprised, then he nodded as he kept loading bullets into the revolver on his Gunblade. "I haven't thought about him in awhile. But yeah, I remember him."
"Do you think he ever got back home?" Yuffie asked as she perched on the bench in the town square.
"That world is gone, so I don't think he could get back if he wanted to." Leon pointed out.
"But what if he did?"
"Then he'd find out everything is gone and he'd move on." Leon said with a shrug. "He can take care of himself, Yuffie, and I'd say he knows enough about the darkness to keep moving when a place is infested with it. He can move through it, you know. If Vincent made it back to Hollow Bastion and found the place was gone, he wouldn't stay. He'd move on. It's been how long now since we all left? Maybe he's found someplace to settle down and he's happy there."
Yuffie kicked at a rock lying in the middle of the square. "Why wouldn't he come try to find us?"
Leon shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't know where we've gone. I'm doing perimeter. Are you coming?"
"Yeah, right behind you."
Xehanort came by again today. Highwind was out and he had closed up the shop before he left. I did not bother to open it and let the man in.
Ansem the Wise is a bigger fool than I imagined if he thinks that merely ordering Xehanort to stop will make him cease work on his experiments with the heart. I weary of his presence; the darkness in his heart calls to the darkness that was put in mine. In the darkness between worlds I find new monsters moving, the likes of which I've never seen in such numbers until these experiments on the heart began. Perhaps Xehanort calls out to them through his experiments.
I do not feel secure here anymore. It is time for me to move on. Xehanort is not to be trusted and Ansem is either complacent or oblivious to his actions.
~V.V.
"It's quite rude to not cooperate. Especially when you're a guest in another's…" Maleficent paused, looking at the man hanging chained from the prison wall in front of her before finishing, "Castle."
"Well, usually one invites a guest to their house, rather than kidnaps them and drags them off through the darkness." Vincent Valentine pointed out dryly.
Maleficent didn't seem disturbed as she continued to pet her crow. "You have something I want. I've seen its form in you as you move through the darkness. A great demon, a monster that you control." She smiled. "Chaos."
Vincent looked down. After a moment she strode smoothly forward and lifted his chin up in one sharp-nailed hand until she could look into his red eyes. "This does not have to be difficult. Simply bow, swear your obedience to me, and do as I command you."
"Not in this life, witch."
She smiled cruelly before removing her hand. "Your resistance is useless. I will break you and allow Chaos to come out, or I will have your allegiance to me and allow you free will while you serve me. Either way you will serve me in the end."
He gave the witch a brief grimace of a smile. "That may be harder than you think."
"We shall see whose power is greater." Maleficent replied calmly.
"Milady," A whining voice behind her cut in, and Vincent saw the over sized cat that had been with the witch when he was captured. "Milady, we need your assistance upstairs."
The witch picked up her staff and turned away. "Don't run off now," She said.
"I'll hang around." Vincent retorted blandly.
The door to the prison closed, and there was the faint sound of a key clicking in the lock.
His arms had gone numb and his body stiff long ago. It was difficult to keep track of time in the prison. Vincent had not seen the witch since her first visit.
In the end, he slept. It passed the time, and while he slept he didn't have to remember that he was he was a prisoner here in the witch's castle.
Once, his dreams were filled with vague visions of dreadfully things and horrors he had known before. His own moaning awoke him, and when it did he found the witch standing in front of him, one thin-boned hand pressed to his chest, as though she was trying to pull Chaos out of him.
She left a moment later, and he never discovered her reason for coming.
"Maleficent, how long are you gonna keep that guy locked up here?" Pete asked one day.
Days tended to blur together in a realm that was shrouded in and bordered on all sides by darkness. If asked, Pete could not say when he had first met Maleficent or when her minions had dragged the dark-haired man back and chained him up in the dungeon below.
Pete didn't even understand why she had kept him here for as long as she had. It wasn't like he was a Princess of Heart, so what was the use of keeping him?
"Until I find a way to get what I want from him," Maleficent said as she stroked her crow's feathers. A moment later the bird flew over to a perch and sat preening. "There must be some way." She stood and strode over to a window cut in the stones of the castle. Behind her, near the throne, Pete watched.
"Uh, what do you want from him?"
"The beast he controls, the one that moves through the darkness without quailing. But he controls it closely."
"Yeah, you'd have to work hard to catch that guy off guard." Pete agreed.
And break his control, the witch realized with a smile. "I have an idea."
He was asleep again. Time was slipping away, forgotten.
And then he woke up. And when he did, he saw Cerberus lying on the floor.
A moment later the shackles holding him up off the floor and his arms above him clicked open and Vincent fell to the floor.
For a moment all he could do was lie there. Then he tried to push himself back to his feet, only to stumble and fall. The second time he pushed himself to his feet he managed to stay up.
He grabbed his gun off the floor and shot the lock on the door, then slammed the door open and began running up the stairs.
"Hey, hold it right there, pal." It was the obese cat from before.
"Out of my way." Vincent snapped, and fired a warning shot.
Pete dodged it and then raced towards Vincent, who had not slowed his ascension. Vincent's reaction was slow, he saw Pete coming, but before he could muster a jump to leap over his opponent with, Pete's fist shot out and caught him hard in the stomach.
His breath knocked out of him, Vincent crumpled on the stairs. Another punch, this time to the head, sent him rolling back down, into the path of Maleficent's minions.
For a moment he lay there, trying to catch his breath again. Then he saw the minions coming closer. A sharp burst of magic flung them back, and Vincent nearly flew up the stairs, running harder then he'd ever run before.
This time Pete was not fast enough to lay a hand on him as he vaulted over the cat, landing on the stairs behind him. Vincent swung his pistol around, catching Pete on the side of the head before shoving him down the stairs. Pete almost crushed the minions as he nearly landed on them and while he was there, he blocked their way, but Vincent was already on the next flight of stairs up and he did not look back.
The open turret was up there. He could see it from here…
And just like that, the witch was in front of him. "Get out of my way!" Vincent roared, extending his gun as he did.
She had one tiny orb of dark light in her hand. It radiated a sickly light.
He was moving too fast, and he realized as he lunged forward that he had miscalculated, badly.
He fired, because his finger was already on the trigger.
The witch dodged it and lunged forward, plunging the orb into his chest.
Vincent Valentine fell to the ground.
A moment and a pulse of red light later, Chaos stood up.
Maleficent smiled. "Excellent."
"Maleficent?" A voice behind her asked, and she turned to see Riku, who had washed up at her home in a wave darkness earlier that day standing there. "What's going on?"
"I am about to initiate an attack against world between darkness and light." Maleficent said, before turning back to Chaos. "There is something I require of you," She said, reaching out a hand to touch his cheek in a manner that was almost a caress. "There is a world between light and darkness, called Traverse Town…destroy it for me."
Without a word he turned and flew away. Maleficent turned back to Riku. "Well?"
"I want to learn to use the darkness." Riku said firmly.
She smiled. Oh, it was turning out to be such a good day…
"Cid, do you remember Vincent?"
Cid paused and glanced up from the accessory he was polishing. "Remember who?" He asked.
"Vincent! Remember? He used to room with you!"
A moment passed, and a look of comprehension dawned in Cid's eyes. "Valentine! Vincent Valentine. Yes, I remember him. And I didn't room with him. I was his landlord. He rented the apartment above my shop in Radiant Garden."
"Do you think Vincent made it somewhere safe before the darkness came?"
Cid paused for a moment, then pushed the piece he was working on back onto the shelf. "He was long gone before the darkness came, Yuffie. You don't remember, because you were young when he left."
"It was after Ansem and his apprentices began their experiments on the heart…."
~XXX~
Once a year, the Sun Festival was celebrated in Radiant Garden. The brightest colors were brought out, ornaments and things of beauty put on display, and all over, people put out pieces of gold-colored glass to catch the sun and keep its rays for the rest of the year.
The food wasn't bad either and it was nice to be able to close up the shop for a day and go out around the town. Cid Highwind had missed Ansem the Wise's speech that morning, but that was no big deal. It was always a short speech anyway.
He paused for a moment to look through the gold-glass pendants a vendor was selling before continuing on past the other vendors.
Two kids, one with spiky red hair and the other with long blue hair, darted across the street in front of him, cutting him off, and he scowled at their backs before continuing on his way.
At the end of the road, he saw Valentine standing there. It was odd to see his lodger out and on a festival day to boot, but then he saw that Ansem's new apprentice, the one who had turned up out of nowhere one day was standing there, gripping Valentine's arm. Whatever the apprentice was saying, he was worked up about it. Valentine pulled away from him and walked away.
Cid blinked, not even sure that he had seen what he thought he saw.
"Xehanort just kept harassing him. One day Valentine just decided to leave."
The clinking and clanging sounded like coins. Cid poked his head from under the engine block he was working on, just in time to see one gold coin fall to the floor.
His mysterious lodger for the past year and a half was standing there.
"What's this all about, Valentine?" Cid asked as he slid out from under the engine block and stood up.
"I'm leaving. I hope this is sufficient payment for my breaking our contract."
For a moment, Cid stared at him, stupefied. Then he said, "May I ask why?"
There was a long pause, and then Vincent spoke. "Xehanort. I no longer wish to deal with him. Ansem is a fool if he thinks that Xehanort will stop experimenting on the heart. Is the money sufficient?"
"Huh? Oh, uh," He paused to glance down at the gold on the table. "Yeah."
Vincent gave one brief nod, and then turned and walked out the door.
~XXX~
"He walked out and I never saw him again after that." Cid finished. "Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Yeah." Yuffie said with a sigh as she jumped down from the table she was sitting on. "I should go see where Leon is. See ya later Cid, and thanks for the help."
"Sure." Cid said, but after she had gone, he looked at the counter. Hidden in one of those cabinets in the counter was a black, leather-bound bound with a red Cerberus embossed on the front and a slender sterling-silver chain for a bookmark.
And he wondered if he should have told her that when he left, Vincent Valentine left everything behind, including a journal that talked about darkness and light and how to move between them.
Based on where he had found it, inside the back a piece of furniture, with disturbed dust in corners and scuff marks on the wood floor showing where other pieces of furniture had been moved, he didn't think that Vincent had meant to leave it behind.
…I have consulted with the Ministers of State and Science, and if you are willing to agree, we have decided that you should receive a stipend of one hundred gold pieces per lunar cycle until such a time as you no longer reside in Radiant Garden or until the end of my reign as king of the land.
I hope you understand that I deeply regret what happened to you, and I accept responsibility for not having made sure that Shinra University was supervised more thoroughly. The Shinra University science department has been suspended indefinitely until such a time as I and my ministers have reviewed all aspects of it. Please accept again my most sincere apologies for what you have endured.
Sincerely,
Ansem
~X~
Your Majesty,
I accept your stipend. There is a question I would like answered, though. Where is Hojo?
~X~
You may expect your first payment by the end of this month. Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent have both been banished from Radiant Garden for the crimes they committed.
Ansem
"Thanks for letting me practice fighting with you, Leon." Sora said. He had arrived in Traverse Town not long ago, and quickly established himself as the Wielder of the Keyblade. He had also made friends with Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid and just about anyone else had met in the town.
"You're welcome." Leon replied. "The only way to get better at fighting, though, is to keep fighting. Are you and Donald and Goofy leaving soon?"
"Yeah! Donald had one more thing he wanted to ask Merlin about, and then we'll go." Sora said as he slung the Keyblade over his shoulder.
"Remember, it will be the best way to find your friends from your island." Leon added, noticing that Sora looked vaguely disappointed to be leaving.
A roar over their head stopped the conversation. And both of them looked up just in time for a monster to drop down between them. It lunged out at Sora, who jumped back and rolled out of the way.
Leon had dodged and rolled out of the way of the monster, only to realize that he recognized the strange red headdress and ragged red wings. There were some things you didn't forget, even if you only saw them once…
"Vincent!" Leon yelled as he scrambled to his feet. He grabbed his sword and ran back towards the fight. "Vincent, stop!"
The monster, Chaos, Leon remembered a moment later, this was Vincent's Chaos form, turned towards him, and backhanded him, sending him flying.
Not far away, Yuffie was helping Cid sort the parts that were needed for the Gummi Ship Sora and his friends were going to take. Yuffie looked at the sheet of paper containing Cid's scrawled notes. "I think this is everything." She said, glancing back down into the box.
A muffled roar rang out, and the two glanced towards the door. "What was that?" Yuffie asked.
She got her answer a moment later, when Leon came flying through the plate-glass window in the front of the shop.
"What is this?!" Cid demanded as he and Yuffie hurried over to Leon, who was lying in the middle of the floor, surrounded by shards of glass. His Gunblade had landed off to the side.
"Yuffie…" Leon said as he tried to pull himself back up, "Vincent's back."
Sora blocked Chaos' claws and then lunged out again with the Keyblade. A wave of magic nearly knocked him back, but he braced himself and managed to stay standing through it.
A large Shuriken flew by a moment later, which Chaos knocked to the side. While he was distracted, though, Leon jumped in, landing several blows with his Gunblade before being flung back. "Sora! We have to knock him out!" Leon called.
"Okay!" Sora said taking a fighting stance as Yuffie caught her shuriken and dropped back down to the ground next to him.
Between his Keyblade and Leon's Gunblade, accented with Yuffie's attacks with her shuriken, in a few minutes they had turned the tide of the battle in their favor, though it still took too long to finally knock Chaos out.
Sora dropped to the ground, breathing hard after his last jump attack. He watched as the Monster that Leon and Yuffie called Chaos fell back, but then something strange happened. As Chaos fell back, he pulsed red for a moment, and then became a man with long black hair and a red cape.
"Vincent!" Leon and Yuffie both ran forward. Leon reached the other man first and caught him before he could hit the ground, setting them both down. "Vincent. Vincent!" Leon called, but Vincent's eyes closed a moment later and he slumped in the other man's arms.
"Vincent, wake up!" Yuffie demanded, grabbing him by his cape and shaking him.
"Stop it Yuffie." Leon ordered.
"What's going on?" They both looked up as Sora skidded to a stop next to them. "Do you two know him?"
"Yes," Yuffie replied. "We knew him in Hollow Bastion before it was destroyed." She paused and threw her healing magic out. "Clear Tranquil."
Vincent didn't respond. She tried again, and then a third time. She would have kept going, but Leon spoke again. "Stop, Yuffie. It's not working. Something's not right here. Go back and find Merlin. We're going to need his help."
Yuffie ran off, and Leon knelt and after a moment, managed to sling Vincent over his shoulders. He pushed himself to his feet.
"How long has he been able to transform like that?" Sora asked as he scrambled to his feet and followed Leon.
"Since I knew him." Leon replied. "But I don't know much beyond that. Tales of why he can transform changed every time I heard them. This is the first time he's ever attacked us, though. Come on, let's get to Merlin's."
"His heart has been placed under a spell to force him to transform and stay transformed." Merlin announced. "The reason you can't wake him up is that that's what's protecting from having to transform. Some put him under the first spell, but the second spell was a sleeping spell that seems to be of his own creation. It won't lift until the first curse is broken." The wizard, turning to the little group that had gathered in his front room when Leon showed up with Vincent.
"So there's nothing you can do for him?" Cid asked. "No magic?"
Merlin gave him annoyed look. "I can break the spell he put on himself, but what would the point be? He would transform again. And I can't find a way to break that spell. If it's true that he's never attacked any of you before," At this point, Yuffie and Cid and Leon nodded in agreement, "Then someone is controlling him, and the sleeping spell was his escape."
"How can the control spell be broken?" Aerith, who had shown up as well, asked.
"I would say that you would have to stop whoever put the spell on him." Merlin said.
Yuffie looked down at the floor, something Sora noticed. "Hey cheer up! I'll find who did this and I'll stop them! I promise!" He told her.
She smiled, though there was a hint of sadness to it. "Thank Sora. I'm definitely going to count on you, so don't let me down!" And the feeling in the room changed, even if no one would admit it.
"What're we gonna do with Valentine in the meantime?" Cid asked.
"Let him stay here." Merlin said. "He can sleep safely until the spells are broken." Then he turned to the Sora. "Sora, Donald and Goofy were looking for you. They're ready to leave."
"Alright. I'll go find them. Don't worry Yuffie. I'll stop whoever did this." Sora said as he darted towards the door.
Leon followed him. "Come on Yuffie, we'll at least see them off. And we'll go by my place to get Vincent something to sleep in."
She followed him out, and Cid and Aerith followed them, leaving Merlin and the sleeping figure on the settee of the room.
"Well, I'm sure he'll do fine." Merlin said, then headed upstairs. Behind him, Vincent never stirred.
It was a strange way to keep a journal. He guessed. Cid had never kept one, so it was hardly as though he was qualified to make judgment.
The entries were divided by lines centered on the pages, and none of the entries had been dated. At least one entry was stopped mid-sentence, and much to Cid's amusement the first time he had finally broken down and invaded Valentine's privacy, there were at least three separate reminders to pay the rent and one shopping list written out in the book.
It had been the entries on the darkness that Cid had found most useful…
"You missed a fun day today. Tifa – I don't know when she got here, but she's here – fought Leon in hand-to-hand today. It was fun to watch. Leon got out okay but Tifa sure gave him a run for his money." Yuffie said as she paced around the bedroom. The window next to the bed was open, giving a view of Traverse Town and letting a cool breeze blow in.
She turned to face Vincent, who was asleep on the bed and had not stirred. "Maybe they'll have another rematch when you wake up and you can watch it then." She said as she finally gave up pacing and settled down in a chair in the room. "Cid's got new designs for some accessories for Gummi ships. You ought to see them. He's got a couple of good ones, but there's this one that I think is really crazy…"
~X~
I have such a headache, and Chaos is not helping the situation at all. Sometimes I think he does this on purpose just to torment me.
There was something strange in the darkness today; more little black creatures crawling around. They are quite nasty if allowed to get too close. They make for good target practice, however, and I practiced with Cerberus until I ran out of bullets.
Strangely, for all the ones I shot, the numbers of the creatures didn't seem to diminish at all.
Aerith had never met Vincent, but she wanted to be kind to him anyway. That was how Leon came find himself playing delivery boy one day.
He had agreed to take the flower bouquet over, but not the food. Vincent still hadn't woken up, he pointed out to Aerith, and, he added privately, he was not going to subject Vincent to food poisoning anyway.
Feeling a bit like a fool for having to be the one to deliver the flowers, he went to Merlin's house and went up the bedroom in the front of the house. There was nothing on the dresser, so that was where he set the vase. Then he turned and went over to the bed.
"Does he dream while he sleeps?" he asked, knowing the Merlin had followed him upstairs.
"No." The wizard answered from the doorway. "He does not dream, or feel hunger or thirst or pain. It was a well-crafted spell."
On Vincent's forehead was a small scar, one that looked like it had been caused by a bullet. Leon had never seen it before; the bandana that Vincent wore all the time had covered it until now.
After a long moment, Leon turned away from the bed. "Well, it's all up to Sora now. He has the Keyblade, after all."
~X~
Rent is due tomorrow.
~X~
There is a rumor going around that Ansem's new apprentice wants to study his own heart to try and find his memories that he lost when he arrived in Radiant Garden.
I expect this will end badly. There's something about Xehanort that doesn't exactly lend itself to trusting him.
Cid looked around the room uncomfortably. "So, Yuffie asked me to come by and tell you she was going to be late today." He told the still figure on the bed. "Because I guess she somehow thinks coming in here and talking to you will make time go by faster, or something."
He rubbed his head irritably, feeling very silly to be talking to someone who probably couldn't even hear him anyway. "She's with Leon, dealing with some Heartless on the other side of town. Maybe when you wake up, you can help them with things like that, Valentine."
He stayed for a moment longer, then turned and left, intent on finding Merlin and asking why magic couldn't fix this mess.
~X~
I took Chaos' form today and flew through the darkness. I lost my way, and when I came back out, I was near a strange tower. There was a balcony near the main turret; when I landed there I met a man dressed in blue robes – a wizard. He gave me directions back to Radiant Garden.
When I stepped back out of the darkness, Xehanort was there, waiting. He asked me to let him experiment on the darkness in my heart. I refused. He continued to ask regardless, as though he had not heard my answer.
~X~
I was accosted today by Xehanort at the Sun Festival. He asked me about the experiments again. I gave him the same answer.
~X~
I received a letter from Ansem the Wise yesterday telling me that he had recently become aware of what Xehanort wanted from me and that he had ordered Xehanort to stop harassing me.
I doubt that Xehanort listened, since I saw him again today (how unfortunate), and he still asked to perform experiments on me.
The darkness that resides in him calls to the darkness in me. It has occurred to me that I would enjoy becoming Chaos and ripping him limb from limb, but I doubt such an attack would be tolerated, or work on him. There's a strange power that Xehanort has, though I don't know if he is aware of it yet. If he is unaware, then I have no intentions of helping him find it.
I suppose I could always leave Radiant Garden, travel through the darkness and look for a new home.
Many worlds away, several months later, Sora landed the final strike on a purple and black dragon. The creature let out one last roar before collapsing to the ground. A moment later, green flames erupted from it and after a moment, all that was left was a black smudge on the ground.
Back in Traverse Town, Yuffie was in Vincent's room, rambling about the latest goings on in the town and how Aerith had accidentally slipped Leon one of her drinks, leaving him in the awkward position of having to drink it and pretend to enjoy it until she had returned to the kitchen and he could safely dump it.
As she paused to take a breath, she heard Vincent take a deep breath, something she had not heard since the day he fell asleep. She watched him for a minute, then turned and ran for the door. "Merlin! Leon! Cid! Come quick!"
The three men came immediately, and there was silence in the room as Merlin stepped to the bed.
There was a pause, and then the wizard spoke. "The spells are broken. His heart will wake up soon."
"Yes!" Yuffie cheered, jumping up and down. "Sora did it!"
"Do we know when soon is?" Leon asked.
Merlin shook his head.
"Of course not." Cid muttered.
"Now you listen hear, you-" Before Merlin and Cid could really get started fighting, Leon stepped between them.
"If you're going to start shouting at each other, you might be courteous enough to take it back downstairs." He told them, and after a moment, they left, traces of argument drifting back up the stairs.
When they had gone, Leon turned back to Yuffie. "I'm staying here." She announced.
"Don't stay up here all night. We don't know how long it'll be until he wakes up." Leon said, and then he was gone.
Yuffie stirred in the chair she was draped in and looked at Vincent. He had only moved once since Merlin had announced that the spells were broken and he had not woken up yet. She looked at the clock. It had been ten minutes since the men had gone back downstairs.
"I wonder if Sora will come back and see us. I wonder if he's saved all the worlds yet." She said, and the words lapsed into silence.
"Anyway, when he does save the world, I hope he comes back and we can see him again." She continued.
"Yuffie," A dry voice rasped, and she turned to the bed to see Vincent was awake and looking at her.
"Vincent!" She shrieked happily, nearly throwing herself on top of him as she hugged him. "You're awake!"
He patted her back, awkwardly. "Hey Yuffie. How've you been?"
"Not bad," She said, sitting back up. "Considering one of my friends ran off into the darkness one day and didn't come back out of it for like, ten years. And then he came back and tried to attack me and Leon, which wasn't very nice at all."
He winced. "Ah. I'm sorry about that."
"Don't apologize." Yuffie told him. "Merlin told us why you were attacking and about the spell and everything."
"Who are Merlin and Leon? And where are we?" Vincent asked as he sat up.
"Leon is Squall, but he doesn't go by that name anymore. He keeps insisting that everyone has to call him Leon now." Yuffie said. "But sometimes I forget and call him Squall by mistake." She added with a shrug. "And Merlin is a wizard who lives here in Traverse Town, which is where we are now. This is his house we're in. He offered to let you sleep here until you woke up from the spells."
"Where's Radiant Garden?"
"It fell to the darkness one year after you left." A new voice said from the doorway, and they turned to see Leon standing there. "It was overrun by the Heartless and destroyed. Those of us who survived came here to Traverse Town." He extended the bottle of water he was holding towards Vincent, and the other man gratefully took it and took a drink.
"Well lookee here," A rough voice said from the doorway. "Looks like sleeping beauty finally woke from his slumber."
"It's been a while, Highwind." Vincent said without turning around. The odd placement of the bed in this room (or maybe the odd way he'd been placed on the bed) left him facing the wall on the other side of the room rather than the door. He leaned back on the pillow and titled his head back until he could just see Cid standing next to another man dressed in blue robes and with a long grey beard.
"Good afternoon, young man." The man in blue said. "It's good to see you awake."
"It's good to be awake." I've been asleep too long already.
"Why didn't you come get us, Yuffie?" Cid asked.
"Well, he only just woke up a minute ago." Yuffie protested. "You all came up here before I could go down there."
"Ya, sure," Cid said. "Anyway, good to see you awake, Valentine. Glad ya made it out of the darkness, too. Not too many did." He added, almost as an afterthought. Then he went on, "And now that you're awake, you can help us travel back to Hollow Bastion."
Yuffie looked at Leon, who nodded. "We're gathering everyone to go back. It's time."
Vincent sat up and swung his feet off the bed. "Then someone tell me where my clothes are so we can get this show on the road."
"I'm surprised you know what Hollow Bastion is, Vincent."
"Yuffie, people were starting to call it that before I left."
The trip back to Hollow Bastion was uneventful. The first sight that greeted them of the ruined world, though, was enough to make Aerith and Tifa step back from the windows of Cid's ship.
"It looks worse than I remembered." Aerith said quietly, and that was really all that could be said about it.
They landed near the castle and disembarked. As if some force was drawing him, Leon headed towards the castle. Aerith watched him walk away. "Where are you going, Leon?"
"Sora's nearby." Was all the swordsman said.
Aerith followed him, and Yuffie was about too, when she realized that Vincent was still standing by the ship. "Are you coming, Vince?" She asked.
He nodded and they followed the others up to the castle.
In the center of the Castle, they found the Keyhole. Leon was the first to realize that Sora was inside it.
It was good to speak to him again, to say goodbye.
But as Sora walked away, Yuffie looked around and realized that Vincent had not come in with them.
When Sora had gone, she found him outside, leaning against the wall across from the door, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I thought you were going to come talk to Sora." She said.
"He doesn't need any more distractions right now. I'll see him later."
"But the walls between the worlds will come back and we won't see anyone anymore!"
"Hm. The worlds won't be as closed as you imagine." Vincent said as he stood up and stepped forward. "This isn't the end." He said as he looked at the door the others were still behind. "It's only the beginning."
Epilogue
Vincent pulled open the door to the refrigerator, ignoring the sticky note on the fridge door ("Yuffie – Stop messing with the thermostat! – L") and found the coffee creamer. He pulled it out and set it on the counter next to the sugar bowl and coffee machine. Leon and Yuffie both liked cream in their coffee, and Leon should be home soon and Yuffie should be up soon.
He poured a cup for himself, black with one sugar, and settled down at the table to enjoy the morning peace and quiet.
It didn't last long.
Yuffie came bounding down the stairs a few minutes later. "Morning Vince!" She exclaimed as she poured herself a cup of coffee and took a seat at the table. "Have you seen Leon yet?"
"Not yet, but he should be on his way back by now."
"I wonder if it was a bad night for Heartless."
"I'm sure if it was too much, he would have called us."
"That reminds me, Vince, we need to get you your own phone!" Yuffie told him.
The gunslinger never got a chance to answer as a moment later the door to the house the trio had shared since their return to Hollow Bastion two months prior opened and Leon dragged inside, all but dragging his Gunblade behind him.
"Good morning!" Yuffie chirped.
"And good night." Vincent added dryly. Leon had been out on patrol all night and fighting Heartless for part of it; his next objective after this would be sleep.
"Thanks." Leon said shortly as he tossed his cell phone onto the table. "Don't wake me unless we're about to get overrun by Heartless. Vincent, will you take the afternoon patrol if I'm not awake by then?"
"Yes." Vincent replied.
"Thanks, I owe you one." Leon said as he turned and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to bed now."
No sooner had they heard the door to his room shut, then his phone rang.
Vincent picked it up and answered it. "Hello."
"Hey listen, we got another enclave of Heartless spotted on the south side of the city." Cid reported. "You wanna get Leon and let him know?"
"No." Vincent replied. "Yuffie and I will handle it."
"Alright. Thanks." Then he hung up.
"So what are we going to handle?" Yuffie asked, leaning forward expectantly.
"There's a group of Heartless coming towards the city." Vincent said as he set the phone back down.
"Alright! I'll get my shuriken!" She said, and darted for the stairs. She was back a moment later with her Conformer.
"Well, let's go stop the darkness!"
[A/N:] I was hoping to find a beta reader before I posted this, but it's hard to find beta who does crossovers...and ...yeah. Um. Yeah. Anyway, we didn't start going in chronological order until Vincent as Chaos attacked Traverse Town, so I hope that didn't screw anybody up too badly.
I hope you all liked it. Slash isn't my cup of tea and I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't find many stories that didn't involve Vincent in the KH world without some kind of slash, which was probably also my other motivation for writing this. Hopeful it works kind of like a springboard for more stories involving Vincent in the KH worlds, but we'll see. I think I just built another KH power trio, and I like that.
So, was it good? Bad? Confusing? Too angsty? Too crazy? Anyway you choose, please drop me a review and let me know what you thought. It is much appreciated!