Empty In Remnant
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, RWBY, or any other works associated with them.
This story is currently more taking up more interest than my other one. What this means is that you readers get to have an additional chapter to read this month. Also on the previous chapter, at the very end, I misspoke. I meant to say establish character.
Chapter 2: A Heart to Heart and Exposition Galore.
Ozpin came to check up on the young boy currently residing in the school's infirmary. In any other situation, he would have sent someone to take the boy to the closet hospital in the city, but he wanted to know why the boy was in the forest and his connection to the orb of darkness that had spawned a creature strong enough to eliminate the Grimm in the forest.
In other words, he wanted to interrogate the boy after he had woken up. But he was having trouble doing that.
When he and hunters under him discovered the young lad, they've tried waking him up. Each time, their attempts would end in failure. Worried that the boy's condition may persist, Ozpin had a professional doctor take a look at him.
In the meantime, the others would try to look for someone that may know this boy.
"How is he?" he asked the doctor.
"I'll be blunt, Headmaster," the doctor said. He wore a standard doctor's garb with glasses that go along with it. "He's not well."
The doctor began to explain.
"He appears to be in a coma. Yet...it's strange. There's no wound, no bruise, no anything on his body that would indicate that he was recently harmed. And..." the doctor trailed off.
"Doctor," Ozpin said. "What is it?"
"I hate to say it...but-" the doctor took off his glasses. "His body is failing and there's no determinable cause. Given time, he will perish. I can try to keep him alive for as long as I can, but for how long, I don't know."
They looked at the young boy sleeping on the bed. His chest is rising and lowering with each breathe. The heart rate monitor attached to him beeped in intervals that got slower and slower showing that while he is still alive, he will die if this pattern continued.
Dive to the Heart
In the recesses of Vanitas's Heart, there stands a pillar. In more better times, the pillar, in pristine condition, would have a picture depicting him, his weapon, and the symbol of the Unversed in the backdrop of the Keyblade Graveyard and a 'frame' with a red and black color scheme. However, due to his recent, and probably the last, battle with Ventus, his heart has been fractured terribly and is on the verge of total collapse. As a result, the pillar, which is a symbol of an individuals heart, has changed to reflect the damage that has been done.
The image which was emboldened on the pillar was gone. In its place was a simple white background. The pillar itself has been fractured to the point one could almost use the word 'shattered' to describe it.
There was one lone pillar, amidst the broken fragments, where Vanitas, in his red and black outfit, is standing. His golden eyes are blank and his face is almost expressionless. If a person were able to look at him at this moment, they would find that only a small amount of sadness could be detected.
'So...this is how it ends,' Vanitas thought. 'Defeated by that weak-...no...I lost. That makes me the weakling.' He changed his words. 'Defeated by Ventus and left to die in some random planet.'
As a being created from the darkness of another person's heart, both his body and heart were comprised of darkness. When Ventus had defeated him and destroyed the X-Blade, he should have been destroyed along with it. Yet somehow, he had barely managed to survive.
However, that survival came with a cost. As half of the X-Blade was made from his heart of pure darkness, the weapon being destroyed affected Vanitas greatly.
His ability to create Unversed was weakened to the point where even the strongest of his emotions made manifest could be considered of normal strength by others.
And while the heart will never receive the damage the body receives, whatever damage the heart receives is inflicted on the body. His heart is heavily damaged and, thanks to what has just happened to him in this strange world, his body will perish and his existence with soon come to an end. It would take a miracle for him to survive this.
And a miracle did appear.
He felt a presence coming towards him. He looked up at the darkness and saw a heart, young from the looks of it, coming towards him. It had a very strong light, reminiscent of Ventus, but with a small amount of darkness within. The heart came closer and closer until it was up in his face.
"Your heart...it's broken," the heart said.
"Yeah...I know," he responded sadly before asking a question. "Why are you here?"
"Umm..." The heart seemed unsure on how to respond. "...I came because I felt that there was a heart in pain.
'What kind of a reason is that?' he thought.
"I want to help you," the bright heart said.
"How would you even help?" he asked. "My heart is heavily damaged. I tried to fix it myself but...I failed. How would you be able fix it?"
"I could try connecting with your heart. I did it once before and it seemed to have helped the last person."
Vanitas was confused.
"How would that even work?" he asked.
"Simple. We join together temporarily and the connection should mend your heart." The heart said in a very matter of fact way.
Vanitas pondered on this before realizing a potential flaw.
"I don't think that would quite work," he said. "You see...my heart is pure darkness and your heart is mostly comprised of light."
"Ah," The heart appeared to have gotten the picture. "Then I'll just have to give you some of my darkness then," the heart said. "Simple as that!"
Pretty sure it's not that simple, but hey, whatever.
"Fine. Whatever. Do what you want." he said. "But I got to ask you something."
"Hmm?"
"Why are you doing this? What do you stand to gain from this?"
"Umm..." The heart pondered a bit for an answer. "I do this because...whenever there's a heart in need, I just have to help. I would feel sad if I don't."
Really? Was there truly a heart that kind? Even Ventus didn't show him the same kindness and his heart was pure light. Still, the answer the heart gave him was as good as any other answer.
"Oh, I know that you said your heart is pure darkness, but you wouldn't mind me sharing a little bit of light with you, right?"
As a being of darkness, he would normally be averse to such a thing. But there was something special about this heart that made it hard for him to decline its offer.
"You know what?" he looked at the heart with a slight smile on his face. "I don't think I would mind at all."
The young heart shone brightly in happiness.
"You won't regret this, I swear it!" the young heart said with a very happy tone.
The two's heart connected with each other.
Ozpin and the doctor beside him were surprised. The heart rate monitor attached to the young boy began beeping in normal intervals, showing that the boy's condition was now stable.
"What has happened?" Ozpin asked.
"I...I don't know," the doctor responded. "It's nothing short of a miracle."
The heart rate monitor began to beep slightly faster, indicating to the two that the young boy in the bed was waking up.
The boy in the bed began to stir and move. Eventually, the boy opened his eyes, revealing a pair of golden yellow orbs and his face has a blank expression on it.
Ozpin approached the young child and began asking questions.
"Young boy," he said. "I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. I must ask, are you okay?"
The black haired child did not respond. He merely blinked slowly at him as if he was unresponsive. This caused him to become worried.
"What is your name?" he asked, hoping that the young boy can answer. This caused the boy to scrunched up his face, perhaps trying to remember. Though maybe he would rather the boy didn't, as he noticed that the boy was getting more agitated as the longer he tried to remember. It got to the point where he began clutching his head.
"Is he well?" he asked the doctor. The man only shrugged his shoulders in response.
"If you would pardon me, headmaster, now that boy is conscious, I need to check up on him again." The doctor motioned for Ozpin to leave. "I'll give you a report once I'm done."
Some time later, in his office, he was sitting at his desk listening to the reports of Glynda, Oobleck, and Peter.
They had gone around the city and did some digging for information regarding the young mystery boy. What they found was concerning. To be more specific, what they had found that they could not find any information on the child. None whatsoever.
No families, no relatives, no connections, not even a poster or a description of the child on the missing persons list. As far as the Kingdom of Vale is concerned, the young boy that is currently in the medical ward of the school does not exist at all.
As a result, this means that the only way to know who the boy is and his connection to the floating orb of the darkness is from the mouth of the boy himself. And from what he saw of the boy the last time he saw him, Ozpin would not be surprised if the boy was still not in condition to talk.
Disappointed with the lack of information, he dismissed both Oobleck and Peter. Glynda, however, he did not as she was somewhat akin of a personal secretary for him.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
It would appear that the doctor has come to give his report to him.
He looked at Glynda and, getting the the hint, she opened the door revealing the doctor.
"I've come to report, headmaster." Ozpin nodded at him, signaling to him that he may speak. "I have good news and bad news," he said.
"What's the good news?" he asked.
"The good news is- the boy is no longer in any danger of dying. His body is perfectly healthy and he should be out of bed in a couple days." That was good news, indeed.
"And what's the bad news?" he really hoped it was nothing serious.
"The bad news..." he made a slight pause, as if he didn't like what he was about to say. "The bad news, headmaster, is that the boy has amnesia."
Now worried, he asked the doctor a question.
"How bad is it?" He really hoped that the boy didn't have a severe case, else he would have nothing to go on regarding to what happened in the Emerald Forest.
"He appears to have lost all his memories," he said. "When I asked for any information regarding his life before being found, I wound up triggering an unwanted reaction."
"What happened?"
"In his attempt to remember, he ended up having a headache so intense, it caused him to pass out."
"How terrible..." Glynda said quietly in the background.
Yes. How terrible.
"Do you have any idea what may caused his amnesia?" he asked.
"I believe his amnesia may have been caused by some sort of trauma. Since I did not find any injuries on his body, I can safely rule out physical trauma as a cause. As a result, that leaves mental trauma. Of course...his strange condition when you brought him in and his miraculous recovery may have had a hand in this as well, but I can't say for certain. In any case, It seems likely that he will not be remembering anything from his past for a very long time."
"I see..." Ozpin said. "Thank you very much for your time, doctor. You are dismissed." The doctor nodded, turned around and left the office.
He sighed.
"Are you alright, Headmaster?" Glynda, who appeared somewhat concerned asked.
"I appreciate your concern, Glynda," he said. "And to answer your question, yes, I am alright. It's just..." he made a short pause. "It appears that I won't be getting answers as to what happened in the forest."
The blond witch nodded as if to sympathize with him.
"What of the boy?" she asked with a tone of concern in her voice. "What will happen to him?"
Ah, yes. The boy.
"In light of the boy's amnesia and the fact that the boy was found within the Emerald Forest, which is considered part of Beacon Academy, I've decided to take responsibility for the boy."
"Wait, what?" Glynda said. "Do you mean that you're planning to adopt the boy?" she asked.
...Maybe he should have worded that better.
"I should've worded that better," he mumbled under his breath. He decided to properly explain so that Glynda wouldn't get the wrong idea. "That is...not exactly what I meant, Glynda. What I meant was that I was going to take the young boy to a place where he can live."
"And where would he live?" she asked.
"I plan on taking him to an orphanage," he said. "As it is likely that boy is not registered within the system, I plan on rectifying that issue."
After all, it's the least he could do.
Finding a orphanage within the capital wasn't a hard task. He's already made contact with the head of one of them and scouted out the place beforehand to confirm the place would be good for the boy. The place was called 'Orphanage of Vale.' The name was generic, yes, but from his impressions of the place so far, it appears to be a respectable and functional facility. And for him, that was good enough.
The hard part was filling out the paper work required to get the boy submitted as a citizen of Vale and the one required to get him into the orphanage. He didn't like paperwork. Fact of the matter is, no one does. But they were a necessary evil. One that could put the young black haired boy on the proper path in life.
Though right now, what's stopping him from putting him on that path is the part where it requests a name from the person in question.
Both documents, one for the orphanage and the other for the Government both require a name for the child. Now, he could just pick a random name for the boy, perhaps one that would correspond with the color of his eyes or hair and just leave it at that. However, he didn't want to do this. A name is, after all, a mark of an individual. It couldn't be done that easily. And if it was, then what will happen if the boy remembers his name? He would be unable to change it while he was young.
So he made his way back to the medical ward to ask the young boy for his name. He remembered asking for it last time, but he didn't get an answer. Perhaps now that a few days has passed, he would get an answer.
In the morning, after informing the doctor beforehand, he entered the room where boy is still confined to. The black haired boy, who was awake, noticed his presence and turned to look at him.
The boy still had a blank look on his face. How worrying. He grabbed a chair, placed it next to the bed, and sat on it.
"Child," he said. "Do you remember me?" He asked to question to see if the boy recognized him. After a few seconds, the boy nodded in response.
To Ozpin, this was a good sign. It meant the boy was capable of answering questions.
"Good, good." he said in relief, but made sure not to let that show. "That saves the trouble of introducing myself to you." After a small pause, he continued. "So, mystery boy, I want to know something," he said, intending to be blunt. "Do you remember your name?"
Ozpin was delighted to note that the boy nodded.
"Excellent," he said. "What is it?"
The boy began to speak his first words.
"Va.." the boy began coughing.
Ah. Seeing as the boy was only communicating with just nods and such He had forgotten that the boy hadn't spoken a word since he appeared. How inconsiderate of him. He quickly made his way out of the room and back to get a cup of water for the boy. After doing so, he gave the cup to the child and watched as he slowly drank the content until it was empty.
"Please, continue," Ozpin encouraged.
"M-my name..." the black haired child began to talk. "My name is...Vanitas."
"Just Vanitas?" he asked. The boy nodded.
Vanitas, huh? He found the name to be odd, especially considering the naming convention that is normally used in today's world. No last name to note, either. He found that to be strange. People usually have a first and last name. Not just one or the other. Well...except for orphans, he supposed. Perhaps this means that the boy was already without someone to begin with.
"Thank you for your time, young man." Ozpin said to the child. He decided to stop this train of thought for now. Speculation would get him nowhere at the moment. And besides, he now has a name to put on the documents.
He got up and went to his office. After the required paperwork was done, he'll send the boy off to an orphanage where hopefully he'll get adopted by a good family.
That ain't gonna happen, Ozpin.
This is gonna be like one of those games where the tutorial is annoyingly long. If any of you ever played KH2, you know what I'm talking about. It'll take a bit, like maybe one or two chapters worth, before the plot really starts to get moving.
So I got a quick question to ask: What would you prefer: A Vanitas that's a nigh unrepentant jerk ass as depicted in BBS or a Vanitas that's a jerk with a heart of gold? I already know what I want Vanitas to be in this story (and it will happen), but I am curious to know what you guys, the readers, want.
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This is Kanimize. Thanks for reading!
