Vanitas

A heavy, brutal pounding sounded throughout my teeny tiny shack and my eyes popped open, sleep still lingering in them. Instantly my mood was sour and I scowled; only one person had the gall to wake me up in such a manner.

Throwing up my long, curly red hair, I clenched my teeth. "Vanitas, shut the hell up or I'll end you!"

"Rise and shine, Princess," came his sarcastic voice from the other side of the door. I threw it open, still particullarly angry, and eyed him distatefully. He leaned against the doorframe, his features hidden by that ever-present helmet. "Master Xehanort wants you to spar with me. Now."

"Quite frankly, I don't give a shit what Master Xehanort wants me to do," I grumbled groggily, my gaze hard.

"I know," he replied, obviously annoyed. "That's why you're weak. Now go put on some clothes and get your Keyblade, idiot. If you ever want to become a Master-and if you don't want to get thrown out on the streets by Master Xehanort-you'll come with me without complaining. Got it?"

I sneered at him. "Nobody tells me what to do. And I don't care if he throws me out or not. I have no intention of following through with his plans for those three losers on the Land of Departure. So why should I go?"

"Because if you don't do what he says he'll destroy you, Fae, you idiot."

"Why do you care?" I sneered again, scowling at him.

Vanitas turned his back on me and was silent. He was already walking away before he finally replied, "I don't. Now come on, and make it quick."

"Weak little thing, you!" Vanitas laughed as I landed with a hard thud on the ground, blood trickling out of my nose. "You're just worthless, aren't you?"

Grimacing I forced myself back up, wiping at the blood that was flowing into my mouth. "Oh, I'm just getting started, Vanny. This won't be over until you're unconsious."

He scoffed at the nickname I'd given him when we were kids. "That's some pretty big talk for someone who's losing."

Gripping my Keyblade in my hand I glowered at him. "Shut up, stupid, and fight!"

I charged at him full speed, an animalistic growl coming from my throat. However I was already injured from being struck earlier and Vanitas deflected my attack easily, sending me back to the ground again. Blood gushed out of my head where I'd landed and my vision started to swim. "Van, you stupid idiot, look what you've done."

Vanitas ripped off his helmet (which was incredibly rare; he hardly ever took the thing off), his golden eyes wide. "Holy shit, you're bleeding."

I rolled my eyes, which sent a shooting pain to my temples. "Nice work, Sherlock. Real perceptive of you."

"No, like you're bleeding. Like, a lot."

"Yeah, I can feel it, idiot," I grumbled, my voice growing weaker. "My sight is water."

He knelt down next to me, concern framing his face. I had never before seen him like this, not in all my life. "Fae, you're not making sense. You're injured."

"I'm making perfect sense," I slurred. His face was morphing into strange shapes and confusing me and I blinked hard to make him stay put. "You're just... You're just a..."

"C'mere," he murmured.

The last thing I remember before blacking out was being scooped up into a warm chest, a feeling of safety washing over me.

I awoke to the feeling of my brain pounding against my skull, begging to burst out. It throbbed mercilessly against my head and I groaned, pushing my temples hard. My fingers touched gauze and I sighed. I suppose I really had been injured just as bad as Van said I had,

"Don't touch it," Vanitas' voice grumbled and I squinted.

"Don't talk so loud," I countered, clutching my head. "It hurts my brain."

"What brain?" he shot back rudely and I forced myself to sit up from the bed. He had his helmet off and was wearing normal civilian clothes like I did. Weird. I'd never seen him like that.

"That's no way to speak to the injured," I deadpanned, devoid of emotion.

Suprisngly, his face sofented and he sat forward in his chair. "Sorry."

My eyebrows shot up. It was unusual for Vanitas to be anything other than brash and annoying and I wasn't sure how to respond. "Um..." I glanced around the room. "I haven't been in here in a long time."

Vanitas and I used to spend a lot of time in his room when we were little, sparring and pulling pranks on one another and pushing each other over. Even back then we were rude to each other. "This place hasn't changed much."

"Nope," he replied, his hands in his jean pockets.

I grinned. "Damn, Vanny. I didn't know you owned actual clothes."

He rolled his eyes and plopped next to me on the bed. "Shut up, Fae. You're being annoying."

"Not as annoying as you anytime you open your mouth. Like, ever."

Vanitas simply rolled his eyes and my smile faltered. "Hey, what's your deal? C'mon, this is our thing! Arch nemesis type things. You say something snarky, I say something snarky back. Come on!"

He rubbed the back of his head, mussing up his pointy black locks. "Guess I'm not up to it today."

"You were fine earlier this morning," I pointed out, wagging my finger. "You were fine while we were sparring earlier. What gives?"

The golden eyed boy pursed his lips. "It's getting worse, y'know."

Instantly I knew exactly what he meant. "You mean..."

"I thought I had it under control," he said, shaking his head. "I thought I could handle everything, but it's getting out of hand. Creating the Unversed just makes me feel negative, which in turn creates more Unversed."

"You said you knew how to control them, though," I replied, my voice low. We may not be the best of friends-Hell, we may not even like each other-but we were all each other had. I looked out for him and he looked out for me; that's just how we worked.

"I know, Fae, I know," he said, running his hands through his hair. It stuck up all over the place messily, refusing to be tamed now that it was out of its helmet. "But I was wrong. My feelings are getting stronger, so the Unversed are getting stronger too. If they get too strong they don't obey me anymore. It's getting... Crazy."

Letting out a breath, I took his hand in mine to comfort him. It felt weird, but... Nice. "So what are we gonna do about it?"

He raised his eyebrows. "We?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yes, we, you idiot. You think I'm gonna let you take this shit on all by yourself? Hell, you're practically incompetent without me."

Vanitas let out a short laugh, which I had probably only heard a handful of times in my life. It made me happy. "See? That's not negative. No Unversed popped up around us. No anger seeping through you. Just happy."

The idea seemed foregin to him. "Master Xehanort says that happiness is just a crutch. It makes you rely not on yourself, but on some fabricated emotion that is too fleeting to really exist in your heart."

I arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, well you know what I say? That A), Xehanort is a loony old bat that has no business being in charge of anything, let alone us, and B), he must be awful fun at parties."

"He'd kill you for saying that. Literally."

"Oh, look at that. I seem to have lost all of my ability to care."

Once again Vanitas chuckled and turned to face me for the first time in the duration of this conversation. "Why do you hate him so much, Fae? He saved your life."

"More like ended it," I grumbled. For the first time I noticed that my hand was still in his and I became embarassed. "I'm not going to be his puppet. And if he wants to destroy me for that, fine. I don't care. I'd rather be dead and gone than help a crook like him."

"He's not a crook," he insisted. "It's for the good of the worlds. I mean, yeah, he might have a less than desirable way of going about it, but it's necessary."

I laughed bitterly. "Really? Is it really?"

"Yeah. It is."

"You seem to be forgetting that he killed my entire family just so he could use me, just because I can use the Keyblade."

"They were abusing you, Fae," he insisted.

I waved him off. "Yeah, well so what? Maybe I would've killed them one day. Who gave him the right?"

He gave me a sly grin. "We both know you don't have the guts."

I stared him down, eyes narrowed, but soon I grinned too. "Yeah, I know."

"Weakling."

Rolling my eyes, I shoved him. "Jerk."

A silence fell over us and he grinned. "God, we're pathetic, aren't we?"

"The biggest low-lifes there are," I confirmed. Then I grabbed his arm. He flinched. "Okay, back on track though. How the hell are we gonna get these negative emotions under control?"

His brows furrowed. "I honestly have no idea, Fae."

"Well you don't seem negative right now."

He seemed to think for a moment and gave me a half smile. "Yeah. I'm not. I usually never feel negative around you, even when you're at your most annoying."

I was about to give him a snarky comeback when I noticed that his eyes had widened, as if something had just dawned on him. "Oh... Oh God."

I gave him a look. "What?"

"Oh God," he repeated, rising from the bed. He paced around the room, tugging at his hair. "Oh God, he was right. He was right. This is awful."

"Van!"

"Shit, this is awful. Goddammit, This literaly couldn't be worse. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-"

"Vanitas!" I yanked him by the arm, forcing him to stop his pacing. "Vanitas, what the hell are you going on about? You're freaking me out!"

His jaw clenched, unclenched, then clenched again. His eyes would not meet mine. "Fae. Please let go."

His skin felt like a corpse and I released him. This always happened when the negative feelings started to flow throughout him. Soon the Unversed would apparate, and who knows if he would be able to control them this time.

"Vanitas, look at me."

He would not. "Faeyith, you need to leave. Now." His voice was low and his teeth were gritted, like he was trying his hardest not to yell.

Vanitas never called me by my full name. This meant he was dead serious. I shivered, a certain amount of fear coursing through my blood. Still, Van was my friend-whether I liked it or not, we were stuck with each other. "Van, no. I'm not leaving you like this. I can help."

"That's the problem!" he finally exploded. The room turned cold, and I knew what would soon come. The walls of the room, once white, turned a deep blue. Portals were forming, the portals the Unversed traveled through.

Still I remained. "Vanitas, what do you mean?"

"Master Xehanort said this would happen, and I can't let it, okay?!"

My hands were back on his arm now, holding tight. I could hear the scurrying of the Unversed just beyond the portals and my skin crawled. "What did he tell you? Breath, please. Deep breaths."

"He told me," he breathed, trying his hardest to keep his voice even. His arms were becoming more and more like ice. "He told me that there would be one person who wouldn't let the negativity stay. And that once I found that person I would be useless to the cause. He'll... He'll kill me, Fae."

I was stunned. "Van, you don't think that's me, do you?"

The Unversed were crawling down the walls now, writhing with every step they took. If Vanitas couldn't control them then they would soon be upon me, and who knows what would happen? Sure, I was a capable fighter, but I was already injured and there was no way I'd be able to take on these... things.

His golden eyes met my green ones for the first time. "I don't know. Master Xehanort said there was only one way to find out."

"What the hell are yo-"

My words were cut off by his hard lips crashing into mine, his hands flying to my cheeks. They were cold like the rest of him and I jumped, scared to touch him.

However, his lips began to fill with warmth, slowly but surely. My eyes fluttered closed and I began to kiss back, my hands finding their way to his chest. I do not know what came over me, but soon I was pulling him closer into me, deepening the kiss. He tasted like cinnamon and I kissed him back fiercly, lovingly, with all the passion I could muster.

His hands found their way to my hair and he pulled me impossibly closer, tangling his fingers in the already-tangly red mop that was my hair. I did not mind. Instead I pulled him by the shirt to my chest, my lips searching his hungrily.

The kiss went on and on like that, but eventually we pulled away, our breathing ragged. His forehead was pressed against mine, his hands resting lovingly on my cheeks. "Wow..." he breathed, his chest rising and falling under my hands.

"You're..." I began, still breathing hard. "You're warm, Van."

He nodded, his forehead bopping against mine. "I know. I know. They're gone, too. The Unversed"

"So that means...?"

Vanitas said nothing. Instead he simply rubbed his fingers gently along my jawline, his usually hardened eyes soft.

"Van?"

"I can't stay here any longer," he said finally.

My brows furrowed. "What-What do you mean?"

Vanitas clenched his jaw, still rubbing my jaw in a circular pattern. "He'll kill me, Fae. He'll destroy me. And I can't hide something like this, he'll know."

Even though I already knew, I decided to ask anyways. "What are you going to do?"

He moved his forehead away from mine, but still stayed particularly close to me. His hands traced along my lips. "I have to escape. I have to leave here and I can't come back."

I nodded knowingly. "Of course. I know, of course I know. When?"

Vanitas nearly looked pained. "Now, Fae. I have to leave now."

I felt as though I'd been slapped. The hurt was obvious in my eyes I suppose, for he turned away, his eyes instead looking at something on the far wall. His fingers slipped away from my face and he gingerly stepped away. "I'm... I'm sorry."

"You're leaving right now?"

"Y-Yeah." He would not look me in the eyes. Instead he summoned his Keyblade, prepared to leave his room, his world, his life.

And me.

His hand had nearly reached the doorknob when I yanked him by the arm towards me. His eyes widened out of surprise but that was soon gone, for I crashed my lips onto his. My fingers wound themselves into his hair, pulling him ever closer. He wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me from the ground.

I was the first to pull away, giving him a pointed look. "You really think you're gonna get rid of me that easily, idiot? Oh, no, no, no. You've got it all wrong. I'm your only friend in the entire world and you're not nice enough to make any others. You need me."

Ever so slowly a teeny tiny smile crept onto his face. "You stubborn little hellian."

A smile spread on my face too. "You gonna keep talking, or are we gonna make a run for it?"

Vanitas glanced outside of his teeny shack; the coast was clear and he placed a peck on my forehead, taking my hand in his. "Time to go."

And with that we took off into the night, into Hell knows where, looking for our destiny.

shit writing from a shit author about a shit character. van is actually my favorite character in the entire series, for god knows what reason. perhaps i just have a soft spot for mean, snarky assholes that call everyone idiots? (i.e., Akira)