c h a p t e r - t w o :: Light and Dark Flavors
Aurora looked between her son and the man that stood before them, a look of confusion on her face. How did her son know this man? Surely he was not a member of the Court, for then she would know him and recognize him. As Ventus was not allowed to leave the palace, for fear that his curse would come to light, he would not know anyone outside of the Court. She would slip her questions into their introduction, taking the information from him in a shifty way. It was never expected that Aurora could be underhanded, but even she had her moments. As a Queen, she had to know how to get information without being direct. She would never have been a good ruler otherwise.
"Are you a friend of my son? I have not met you before; it's a pleasure, sir… What is your name, dear? I don't think I know it." She gave him a warm smile and beckoned him closer to her.
"You could call us that, I guess. We met a long time ago, after all." The mysterious man smirked. Bowing his head, he took hold of the Queen's hand and placed the gentlest of kisses upon it. As he straightened himself, he continued, "My name is Terra, your Highness. Perhaps you've heard of me?"
"You…" In an instant her blood ran cold. Fear shone through in her blue eyes, a haze of emotions covering them. She whipped around to face her son and said, "Go up to your bed room Ventus and wait for Flora. Do as she says, okay?"
"Yeah, sure mom." Ventus stood to leave, casting only a parting glance to the man, Terra. Who was this man? It was obvious that his mother feared him and wanted them nowhere near each other, thus was why she was sending him away after all. With just that look of confusion, Ventus started towards the stairs and out of sight. With him out of the picture, Aurora beckoned her husband to come. They stood side-by-side and stared at the boys before them, Terra and the other, unnamed boy.
"Philip… he's Terra." The Queen whispered to her husband. She placed her face in the crook of his neck and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. "He's come on Ven's sixteen birthday, and that can only mean he wishes to take him from us."
It was no use. The Queen was sobbing in the middle of the Grand Hall. For one reason or another, though, no one seemed to notice the small group. It was as if they were in their own small world.
"You are to leave this place at once. Aurora and I will not stand for this- you will not take our son from us." Their was an air of finality in his words, but they received only a laugh from the unnamed boy.
"You think we're just going to listen to you and this dumb bitch? Please, get over yourself. You may be King and Queen, but you're son is coming with us like it or not." As he said those words, the boy started to phase away into the darkness that encompassed his body. As soon as he was gone, Terra figured it was best to leave as well. They were both gone. When they were left alone, Aurora and Philip made a start for the stairs, breaking through the crowd as quickly as they could. They charged down the hallway and burst through the door at the end of the hall. The drawers to the dresser had been torn open and a few things were missing. Most importantly, though, a small crown had been thrown upon their son's bed. It was clear, their son had made his escape. For now he would be safe with three fairies who had been placed in charge of caring for him in a case such as this. They were not Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, as they had grown tired with age and never would have been able to keep up with their son. Instead, Flora had placed him in the care of their apprentices.
Ven had been taken to a small village in the forest he had always loved to escape to. This village, though, was one of the least likely places for him to have been taken to. The village consisted only of woman- female fairies, to be exact. The streets were paved in stone and a wall of trees surrounded the town, shielding it from view. Lovely gardens filled with flowers that could bloom even after the winter's first frost came through and without the summer's loving sunlight could be seen in front of every home. It was a beautiful place, filled with peace and prosperity. Money was not an object to the fae, who instead would barter for what they needed, using their plants and homespun garments. Ven could only look on in awe as they all went about using magic in their work. Magic was something that had always amazed him, but he only knew the basics of. Aqua had been the magic user; not him.
It was a week into his stay when he was finally put to use by his guardians. They were three kind women, with the names Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. Each was more different the last. Yuna was a kind-hearted woman who was more interested in helping others than taking care of her own personal interests. Next was Rikku, the youngest of the three, who was filled with a never ending supply of energy. Finally, there was Paine, the stoic member of the trio—who referred to themselves at the Gullwings. They worked as forest guardians, ensuring that no one would find their town. It was their job to lure people away and to go elsewhere. Such a job could obviously not been done by Ventus, though—after all, they were supposed to be keeping him safe. Instead, they gave him the job of collecting fruit from the forest by the town entrance.
"Don't stray too far from the town. We can't have you attracting fiends and heartless to yourself." Paine warned him before sending him out, "You'll only be protected by the barrier if you're close to the town."
The prince had nodded before grabbing the basket by the door and running out to take care of his task. He'd been forced to stay indoors for seven days, and he was starting to get a bit stir crazy. The task had to be done by sundown, when his three guardians would be home, which gave him a bit of time to explore the town and surrounding area. First, though, he'd complete his task. As he walked through the town, Ven noticed a few people who had come in and out of the Gullwing's home. Each was given a wave and a smile as he passed them. Emma and Lucil, Cali and her mother, Lady Shelinda, and finally Lulu, who stopped him to ask where he was headed off to and to stay safe.
The forest had marked trails that led the blonde to a place to pick berries. The bushes were full of raspberries and blueberries, and each time Ventus pick one, another grew in it's place. The supply was never ending. Popping a raspberry into his mouth, he pressed it to the roof of his mouth with his tongue and mashed it, feeling the magic within the small berry seep onto his tongue. The taste was delightful. He had never tasted a fruit that was so sweet on his tongue. Sitting beside the bush, he ate his fill of the berries, never once noticing that the flavor had begun to change ever so slightly. It was no longer a berry grown by light, but rather it was tainted by the darkness itself. As he ate, he slowly grew more tired, until his head rest on the ground beside his basket of berries.
"Heh, that was way too easy." Vanitas stepped out from the shadows, looking down to the sleeping prince. He hovered above him, looking down at him with a look of disdain. The toe of his shoe nudged Ven's body, checking for any sign of conscious. He was out cold. A smirk came to Vanitas' lips as he moved to lift the Prince of Light, hauling him up onto his shoulder before carrying him off towards the Fae Villiage. When he came close, he took notice of wisps of light passing by him, floating on a gentle breeze. It was a fairy trick to distract people coming close to their village, to draw them away. Did they honestly think a trick like that was going to divert him? If he were not on a mission to gain his Queen's favor, he would have laughed outright, but for now he had to act as though he had not seen it or sensed it.
When the village was in sight, he allowed a fake smile to come to his face, soft and seemingly kind. The village elder was the first one to greet him, stepping forward to meet him. She motioned for some of the women to follow her and grab the prince and take him home. Each of them looked unnerved that a person- a man no less- had found their village, but their leader seemed to be okay with it.
"I'm sorry to have surprised you all, but this was the first village I found, so I figured it must be his home." Vanitas smiled at the sleeping prince who rested in Lulu's arms. "He was sleeping by a berry bush. Here is what he found, if you'd like them."
Another woman, Shelinda, took the basket before thanking him and helping Lulu to bring Ventus home to his guardians. They had been worried sick when they arrived home and not found him there. As the women left Vanitas and the elder alone, the two were finally able to speak.
"So, you were able to find our village after all?" The enrapturing women said, her voice having a hint of amusement.
"Of course, did you expect anything less? I almost thought I'd lose my charm in front of your little followers for a minute, though. Your little Gullwings are irritating." Vanitas lost his smile, his face returning to a dark smirk. "So, when can I come back and take that worthless brat, Yunalesca?"
"When Maleficent determines it is the right time, of course. After all, the prince needs a little more time." Yunalesca gave nothing away in her smile. "Though I do believe it will be Terra who takes him, not you. Her Excellency would not be pleased if she knew what you are planning. You are trying to defy fate, and that is not acceptable."
"Yeah, whatever, like you're one to talk." Vanitas sneered, turning his back to the woman before finishing with, "At least I'm not masquerading as a fairy when I'm nothing more than a nasty Lamia reject."
As he left her behind, he could hear her hiss and Vanitas could only image her true form beginning to show. With even the littlest bit of anger, her tongue would split and the ends of her hair become that of scales, revealing the snake within her. How she had been able to hide herself for so long was a mystery to him. It had been a part of why she was sent away from Maleficent's palace, after all, though he had never cared to remember the entire reason.
It took him only a flick of his wrist to return to his Queen's side, acting the part of her loyal follower. He had simply melted into the darkness and allowed it to take him home. Maleficent was not alone, however; Terra was by her side and the two were finishing an exchange of words. Vanitas hated seeing the two of them together, a mother and son scheming for her child's eventual take over. The Warrior of Darkness hated every moment of it. Terra hardly represented the darkness; only he could be the true heir to Maleficent's throne. Whereas Terra did not feel the need to destroy all traces of light he came across, Vanitas had been destroying all the light he could since he could wield his own blade. Why should he become King when there was only a limited amount of darkness within him? Just because he was the son of Maleficent, it did not make him the best.
In comparison, Vanitas had been born of pure darkness taken from the heart of another. No one knew where he had come from, but it was the only way someone as cruel as him could have been born.
When the room was finally clear, Vanitas made his presence known. He stepped forward to greet the Queen, falling to one knee and bowing his head. He could only await the day where others would greet him in a similar way.
"Mission complete. I returned the sleeping beauty to that village." Slowly he rose from his position, a look of apathy on his face.
"Good, my child, you have done most excellent." Maleficent said, playing with the orb on her scepter all the while. A green light swirled from within, casting an eerie light throughout the room. "Normally I'd send a lesser knight to do such work, but it seems they are all in-training for the upcoming invasion, and I mustn't disturb them. After all, soon enough you will be leading them into battle against the Light, once Terra takes the throne and our little prince's heart."
"Of course, my Queen, I understand completely. Will I also be the one to retrieve him from Yunalesca?" His hopes had raised a bit, waiting for a simple yes from her, and she did not fail him.
"Yes, I believe that will be your task. I believe I can trust you with delivering him to Terra atop the tower when the time comes." The Queen's eyes were filled with buried feelings of bitterness and hatred, "His mother may have been left to sleep in her own bed and be reawakened, but her son will not be so lucky. I will have his heart and nothing is going to stop me from destroying that wretched kingdom once and for all!"
Thank you all so very much for all of your kind reviews. They drove me to continue on, though I am very sorry about how late this is! I didn't mean for it to take me a month, but work and school got in the way of writing. I hope you enjoy this character. It is filled to the brim with Final Fantasy X characters, so if you haven't played the game you should look them up. Lulu, Emma, Lucil, Shelinda, and Yunalesca are all FFX characters and are NOT original characters in this piece, nor do I own any of them.
Anyways, please review and hopefully I will get the next chapter out quickly. I'm definitely not dropping this. (: