Disclaimer: The following contains characters and elements from Disney, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Dissidia Final Fantasy, TWEWY, and some OCs. I own nothing but the idea and the OCs.
AN: And we're back! Hello! No reviews yet? Is my story really that bad? Oh, well. Time to continue! Only one new character introduced in this chapter, fortunately. And with that said, away we go!
Chapter 2: Ebony and Ivory
Riku carried the tray along the hallway of the third floor, looking around, reminding himself that he really needed to make more of an effort to clean the place. The house might have a lot of people in it, but everyone living here tended to stick to the store and the first two floors. He was the only one in the entire group who ever came up here, not to mention lived on this floor.
As he neared the end of the hallway, Riku made a mental note to himself to try a little harder to strike up a conversation with him that lasted longer than thirty seconds. He had lived here for a year and a half now, yet he was still a bit of an enigma.
Balancing the tray on one hand, Riku knocked on the last door in the hallway.
"Come in," a voice called. Riku opened the door and walked into the room, moving slowly as it was much darker in here than in the rest of the house. A hand closed softly around one of his wrists and guided him to a corner of the room where it was a little lighter, thanks to the partially open curtains in that area. The hand holding him let go, and Riku heard a chair sliding across the floor behind him until he could feel it against his legs.
"Sit down," the voice said again. Riku smiled as he carefully lowered himself down onto the chair behind him.
"Good morning, Vanitas."
With those words, the curtains over the window were roughly pulled back the rest of the way, showering the room with sunlight. Riku blinked and looked towards the window to see a boy staring at him. The boy had spiky hair similar to Sora's, and his face was very close in appearance to the other boy as well. However, where Sora's hair was brown, this boy's hair was a raven black, and his eyes, instead of blue, were a deep gold. He was dressed in a long sleeved, black shirt with dark red trim, black jeans, and black lace ups. He spoke with a hard, deep voice, as if he was older than what he looked.
"Xanderville, you're up early," he commented as he sat down on a bed next to the chair Riku was sitting on. Riku flinched at the use of his last name, but decided to ignore it for now and focus on the task at hand. He passed the tray he was holding to Vanitas.
"Here, I brought you something to eat."
"Thank you, Xanderville."
"I thought we agreed not to use my surname," Riku growled. So much for focusing on the task at hand. Vanitas paused for a moment, choosing his words.
"We agreed not to use your surname in a public place, as it could attract unwanted attention. Your father was too well known." Vanitas took a sip of the hot chocolate Riku had brought him and glanced at the expression on the silverette's face.
"However, I am well aware of the fact that using your last name makes you…uncomfortable. If you don't want me to call you by your surname, then I won't. I have no interest in upsetting you, Riku Kye." Riku flinched again.
"Mind leaving out my middle name too?" Vanitas nodded.
"Very well, Riku."
Vanitas studied Riku's face for a moment. Then, without warning, he leaned over and closed one hand around Riku's wrist.
"Are you alright? You seem upset about something." Riku smiled. Was he that easy for Vanitas to read?
"What makes you thing something's wrong?"
"Your eyes are duller than they normally are," Vanitas observed. Riku raised an eyebrow at him. Vanitas shrugged and looked at Riku expectantly. Riku sighed.
"Sora and Roxas got on my case about you again. They think that I'm over indulging you by bringing your breakfast up here."
"Perhaps you are."
"What?"
"I have full use of both of my legs, not to mention both of my arms, and I'm not injured in any way, so, there's no tangible reason why you would need to come up here. You only do so because I told you when I first arrived here that I dislike being around too many people. In that regard, I've been selfish. I have also made no visible effort to assist in the running of that store of yours, nor in the upkeep of this house, all based on my excuse that I don't enjoy being around people. I appreciate your courtesy towards me, but it's unfounded. Anyone else would've thrown me out months ago." Vanitas smiled. Odd. His eyes were always so much lighter when he smiled. Riku smiled back.
"If I threw you out, not only would you end up dead thanks to those eyes of yours, Sora and Roxas would probably kill me."
"Why? They've known you much longer than they've known me."
"That doesn't matter, Vanitas Henderson. You're they're brother, always have been, always will be. Even if they both complain about you, they'd be devastated if something happened to you." Vanitas chuckled and released Riku's wrist.
"You win again. Very well. I'll do it."
Riku frowned. "Do what?"
"I'll help with your store. Some of your "employees" are next to worthless out there."
"You're going to help?"
"Isn't that what I just said?"
"Aren't you worried about how people will react to you, though?"
"I'm sure you'll hide me if I start feeling too threatened."
Riku laughed.
"That's settled, then. Let's go."
Riku stood up and moved towards the door.
"Where do you plan to put me?" Vanitas asked in mock worry as he moved to stand next to Riku.
"I don't think you'll do too much damage in the kitchen, right?"
"I suppose not."
"Good."
Riku looked at the clock on the wall. It was 6:10 a.m. He had talked, actually talked, with Vanitas for a full ten minutes! A new record!
Vanitas put a hand on Riku's shoulder and spun him around to face him.
"What's put you in such a bright mood all of a sudden?"
"Do you realize that in the amount of time we've known each other, that was the longest conversation we've ever had?"
"You weren't actually timing our conversation, were you?"
"Normally we only talk for less than a minute before we both clam up."
"Well, perhaps that's because there was never any real need to prolong the conversation before. We both know everything there is to know about each other."
Riku smirked and gave him a light shove. Vanitas stepped back, then forward again.
"You win again…Cosmos." Vanitas' voice had become deeper, more feral. Almost like a monster. His eyes had a strange reddish tinge to them.
Riku gazed at him. The normally sea foam green eyes had lightened to near transparency and were starting to glow. Riku smiled. When he spoke, his voice had become higher. Much higher. "I always do…Chaos."
Both boys suddenly clapped their hands to their faces, their eyes returned to normal, but momentarily blank. What had just happened? Had they both blacked out for a minute? Riku and Vanitas looked at each other, then shrugged and left the room.
AN: Okay, what was that all about? Clearly, there's more to Riku and Vanitas than meets the eye, isn't there? Do you want to know what happens next? I wonder… Please review! Is there something I'm doing wrong? Let me know!
Thank you, Yue!
