Darkness' Embrace
Sora | Twilight Town: Fifth World

His breath came in short bursts and his legs ached, but he kept moving without looking back, too afraid of what he might see. His steps seemed to echo in this darker part of the city, but Sora continued to run just like they told him to; the ice cream man, the pretty lady that ran the café just next to the parlor—they told him and everyone else to run when a mass of black approached. They panicked, screamed, and Sora wasn't sure if Kairi and Riku were alright because he could only hear his own heavy footfalls, a puddle splashing, and his pounding heart. It seemed all too surreal. But that growing shadow, the heavy atmosphere—it made his situation real enough.

As far as Sora knew, he was alone. This part of the city seemed deserted and eerie, like maybe there were things hidden in the corners or within a shadow of a shadow, waiting for him to draw closer. Yet he continued onward.

Kairi and Riku though—they took the twists and turns, hoping for a shortcut, maybe, and they called him over as they ran, but Sora wanted open space. It felt much safer than narrow alleys, and he told them to meet at the station... even though he was pretty sure he was lost, now.

Taking a chance on the possibility he was completely alone, he looked back, stopping in his tracks and breathing harshly.

What had been a swarm of black mass that he was sure chasing him had been reduced to scarce amounts of tiny twitching things, with their yellow glowing eyes and curious wandering. They stood around for a moment, just like Sora, before sinking into the ground, and Sora didn't have time to really catch his breath as he turned and started to run again because he didn't know what would happen if those things caught him—the sight of merging with the ground told him to move, to get away and hope that they didn't catch him because if they did... if they did...

His eyes caught sight of movement, of things jumping his way, and frozen to the spot now, Sora could only watch them charge toward him. Their blue bodies were leaping almost in sync, and not knowing what else to do, Sora brought his hands up in an attempt at defending himself. Eyes squeezed shut tightly, he waited for the swarm to hit him, thinking of the possibility that they'd tear him limb from limb, opposed to maybe being dragged into the ground by those shadow things.

But when he felt nothing hit him in the next few seconds, confusion began to haze his mind, and because curiosity teased him, Sora peeked open one eye and saw that those things were rushing past him.

Then there was a low laugh that could only be described as bored, and it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Oh, this is rich," they said, and Sora thought he felt his pulse freeze for a moment, because that voice—

"No wonder why the Heartless are here. Tell me, where have you been?"

—sounded like his own. But he didn't sound like that. Never talked like that.

As he lowered his arms, his eyes opened and met a golden color so intense that Sora actually took a step back. He took another upon seeing his face, mind racing to find a logical solution as a single brow was raised in what could be amusement.

"Who are you!" he tried to shout, but to his dismay it came out like a squeak. Behind him, he heard those things moving, and he didn't want to know what was happening.

"Oh," the stranger seemed to have a sardonic smirk. "You're not him."

He seemed to take pleasure seeing Sora attempting to mask how afraid he really was, stepping around him in what had to be an exaggerated slow walk. Sora followed his every move.

"My Unversed won't hurt you unless I command them to," the other-Sora gestured to them, his voice so hollow that Sora was finding it hard to believe his voice really sounded like that. "They are satisfied doing your job for now. But of course, you're clueless," those gold eyes studied his face, trailing down. Sora felt just a bit violated. "You're smaller than I remember."

"Who are you?" he tried again, fists clenching. He wanted to take another step away, but he was still being circled. There was a predatory aura about this stranger, and Sora definitely didn't like it.

"I'm you."

He must have misheard. "You—what?"

He was smiling now. Tiny and looking very out of place, but it was a smile. "Call me Vanitas."

Sora didn't have time to say anything else when Vanitas snapped his fingers. All of a sudden there was a swirl of darkness embracing him, cold and unpleasant and making him want to scream. It chilled him to the bone, and yet when opened his mouth to let out any sort of noise, it swallowed him.

Lost Image
Roxas | Twilight Town: Fifth World

Roxas regained control of his breath as he slew the last Heartless in the area, pulling up his hood to obscure his face from the light. It was a pitiful little thing; smallest Shadow of the batch that probably wasn't harmless. But then he reminded himself that they grew fast, and struck it with his Keyblade before it had the chance to escape. His arms ached from fighting, but knowing that he wasn't out of danger yet, his Keyblades remained in his grip.

It seemed that he wasn't the only one defending the city. It would've taken him longer to exterminate a group of Shadows alone, maybe a few minutes less if Vanitas was with him, but this... this was done so quickly that it was obvious whoever else was fighting alongside him used also used a Keyblade. Unversed could only do so much, and Vanitas was lazy; he preferred to watch from afar and hunt Heartless rather than confront them. Every world that Sora hadn't been to yet, Vanitas took pleasure in just sitting back and letting his miniature army do all the work. Other times they found places that had Heartless control, which in turn meant Unversed were unwelcome as the quality of darkness categorized them with the enemy, so it was a rare and oddly uncomfortable sight to see Vanitas with his own Keyblade, slashing away at darkness that held such a similar essence to his own.

Quickly scanning the area, Roxas then took off to where he felt another wielder could be; where the trams parked, close to the wall leading to the forest. So far, that feeling was never wrong, but most times there were Heartless around. Usually he found Riku, and that always meant having to challenge him even after backing him up. Not that it was hard or anything; Roxas was used it by now. Riku was always the same, using his affinity only when needed to. The only problem was not knowing how much was too much and if he could control it properly or not.

His path lead to a clearing where darkness seemed to manifest, the feeling quite intense and making him focus just in case there was a stray Shadow or anything bigger around. It was much more... wild than Vanitas' and Riku's, and it caused the hairs on his nape to stand on end. He gripped the Keyblade in his right hand tighter, lifting to point at where the inky swirls seemed to gather, and let magic run through his arm and into his black Keyblade. He felt Oblivion grow warmer in his hand before it released a ball of fire, straight at the darkness.

That's when he heard blades cutting through the air.

As soon as he heard the sound, Oathkeeper was brought up to block the blow, leaving his arm tingling at the force. His knees bent and feet spread apart, Roxas tried to overpower what he sensed was a Heartless by pushing against it, only to curse when he noticed glowing red and orange. His other blade came up to swing, but the Heartless let out a burst of fire that sent him flying away, his Keyblades dropping out of his hands as he rolled. He didn't have time to even groan, having to dodge a blade coming toward his chest, scrambling to get back up and away from the thing; Heat Sabers were troublesome and he didn't stock on any ice charms before he came here. It seemed to slash at nothing once he was well out of its way, as if it were blind, and Roxas' fingers twitched to hold his weapons that he had let go. If it was attacking nothing, then it must be looking for him, but he couldn't cast or defend himself without them...

He called Oblivion into his hand.

The reaction was instant—it turned to his direction and leaped high into the air, its fiery blades pointed towards him, and all Roxas could do was dodge roll out of the way and edge toward Oathkeeper. Heart beating frantically, he took a breath and gripped Oblivion in both hands, watching it spin and become a red and orange blur. Maybe he could cast aero and knock it off balance? No, he needed ice magic, and it was Vanitas that had it this time.

Deciding that attacking head on was the only plausible option, Roxas ran toward his other weapon, jumping when flames came in his direction and thankful that his fire resistance was high enough. The Heat Saber stumbled his way, its blades glowing and slashes growing more frantic the closer he got to Oathkeeper, and Roxas wondered what would happen if he just called it into his hand. Probably the same as before, and he really didn't want to risk it.

He kept an eye on the berserk thing, frowning as it spun and swung at nothing in particular. This wasn't normal behavior for Emblems... although his experience with the elemental blade wielders was only with two others previously, and that was with Sora by his side. They didn't jerk to their Keyblades being summoned, nor attacked air for absolutely no reason. It was disconcerting knowing that it was able to seem like it was in a blind rage.

But it was a Heartless and that was meant to be impossible.

Moving quickly, Roxas pulled Oathkeeper up by the key chain, throwing it in the air slightly to catch it by the handle. As soon as it was secured in his grip, he lunged toward the Heartless, Oblivion readily pulled back to attack; it paused in its repetitive dance to turn its head in Roxas' direction, and as he brought his favored Keyblade to assault the thing, he was met with a gradient of red as their weapons met and pushed against each other.

Every swing, every jab, the Heat Saber met and dodged his attacks effortlessly, while Roxas found himself losing footing and having to grip tighter so that his weapons wouldn't fall out of his hands. But the sheer force being used was too much, and he was taking steps back with each blow even though he wasn't the one putting on a defensive stance before; the tables had turned and his arms ached even more.

Sparks flew; Oblivion released black smoke with each hit, blending with the darkness surrounding them. Roxas was losing his breath, trying to create distance between he and the Heartless, but its swings were relentless and quick, and he knew that he was going to lose.

His favored Keyblade went first, clattering across the concrete and vanishing in a puff of smoke, and Roxas knew that Oathkeeper would return to the light soon enough without its partner. He didn't have enough energy to summon another Keyblade, but what he had was enough to keep Oathkeeper on its own for a while; he could see the glow beginning to dull, a sign that he would be on his own soon.

It was getting harder to block the attacks, and Roxas could feel his legs growing weak along with his energy slipping, hood falling back as he tried to escape burning blades. He stumbled, leaning on a wall and ducking as the Heat Saber thrust a burning tip at his face, casting aero despite knowing how weak it was, but it pushed the Heartless away from him. Up into the air it went, just as Oathkeeper faded from his hand.

There wasn't any point trying to summon another Keyblade. Maybe if Vanitas or even Riku was close by then Oblivion could be called again, but they weren't and the Heartless would recover from its fall at any moment. Roxas was defenseless, but that didn't mean he was going to run away from it. The thing would rampage through the city, and his duty was to help clean up the mess until he found the Sora or Riku of this world to make sure that they could use their Keyblades.

It came crashing down, dust flying up and mingling with the swirls of black smoke, the ground shaking from the impact. Roxas took a breath, eyes narrowed at where the Heartless was as he made to pull up his hood again, waiting for it to stand. No way it would've been weakened by a mere fall from a weak spell.

But just as the dust started to clear, so did the darkness. The area seemed to be a little brighter and felt less dangerous, a little warmer. Confusion settled in his mind as he let out a breath he hadn't realized was being held, eyes scanning the area. It was empty, save for the boxes and the dent left on the ground. Roxas took a hesitant step forward, just as he heard hurried footfalls getting closer to where he was.

"Hey!"

Startled, he turned to face from where he entered, seeing... no, it couldn't be. He wasn't meant to be here—he wasn't meant to be anywhere but that one place—good god, what the hell was going on in this world?

"Hey, are you alright? You shouldn't be here, oh man—" this other person, this boy, approached Roxas with such a concerned face that he had a hard time believing that he was here too. "It's dangerous here, but not now at least. Uh, sorry, I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven!"

The over-cheerful demeanor was so, so much like Sora's. He tensed when Ventus stood right by him, luckily unable to see his face. "This kinda thing doesn't happen often here; ah, well, nothing usually ever happens in this area at least..."

He was nervous. Ventus was nervous. It made him relax a little, for some reason. He was babbling still. His name was Ventus.

Roxas didn't know what it meant, but maybe one of the others knew. He reached up to pull down his hood, making Ventus stop in the middle of his sentence when he moved, and watched as those mirrored eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. If there was one thing he knew, it was that this world was definitely not on the radar for anyone else, and there was only one thing he could do, to protect himself and other-self.

Licking his lips, he gently grabbed hold of Ventus' arms. "I need to hide you."