(Stuff starts to get really juicy in this chapter! We finally learn more about where this story is heading in the future, plus I still managed to fit some memes in here and there. Basically, everyone is suffering. The end. See ya next week!)
(Also ate all my formatting for breakfast, so if you notice any weirdness with spacing between words then pls let me know)
So many people were lining up to have a turn at kicking Vanitas' ass, he was considering charging for admission.
He wasn't sure if it was a trait unique to blondes, or if it was something that the people holding fragments of Sora's heart had in common, but Ventus' look-alike burst through the hefty doors of Yen Sid's study in the exact same manner as his doppelganger and loudly declared that he was going to "murder that asshole where he stood". For a so-called 'Guardian of Light' some of them had violent tendencies that went far beyond Xehanort and his eleven clones, not counting himself of course. Vanitas was barely able to open his mouth without someone trying to stick their fist in it. Sure, he used to be their sworn enemy, and maybe he had tried to kill them that one time…. Fine, more than once. They super deserved it, though.
He couldn't blame them completely for their less than welcoming reception. If Sora had turned up at the doorstep of the Seekers of Darkness begging for help after killing off half their members, he would've had a knife stabbed in his back like it was the Ides of March. Perhaps their hostility was spurred by their expectations that Riku and Kairi would be victorious at dragging the brunette home by his hair, so accepting anything less was nothing short of a total failure. Perhaps it was because Vanitas looked so similar to Sora that just gazing upon his face reminded them of the friend they had abandoned in the darkness.
He was still a little pissed off at that. Vanitas expected nothing less than to be forgotten in the Realm of Darkness, but these people claimed to be Sora's friends. Vanitas didn't know what having friend was like, but the constant lectures on the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP™ had given him a rough idea. Sora should be thanking him for fighting everyone who came through that door on his behalf. Every single person deserved his boot up their ass.
Considering that Ventus and Roxas were even more identical than Vanitas and Sora, something he hadn't believed was even possible until he saw it for himself, they should really be used to that by now. Funnily enough, the differences between the two blondes reflected the differences between himself and his little brother – one was kind and warm like a ray of sunshine on a gloomy day. The other was sharp and dangerous, like a poisoned blade.
Either way, it was amusing until he was the target of their aggressions. Vanitas had to dodge a Keyblade thrown straight at his head, leaving it embedded in the wall behind him. Yikes.
Perhaps agreeing to be dragged along by Riku and Kairi was not the smartest move. With Xehanort's whereabouts still unknown to him, Sora's dim-witted friends were the last safe port in a raging storm, but if they had their way Vanitas would be sent packing back to the Realm of Darkness before he could call parlay. The raven boy wanted to evict Sora from his heart more than anyone else in the room, so bit his tongue as the Guardians physically restrained Roxas before he actually killed someone. He would play along, if only for now. There was nothing stopping him from getting out of dodge once the brunette had been pried from him; he was in the Realm of Light now, and that gave him plenty of options for causing havoc.
"So," Vanitas began, "I'm guessing by the circus you've got going on here that Xehanort's plan didn't work out?"
"No." Roxas replied with his arms crossed, still fuming that his friends had prevented him from getting sweet revenge. "We kicked his ass three months ago, same day we kicked your ass."
For all the response was loaded with hostility, it did at least answer a question that had been plaguing Vanitas since the whole debacle started. It was no wonder he was struggling to use the Void Gear, or that he was exhausting himself so quickly – he was three months out of shape! He swore that his time in the Realm of Darkness was maybe a week tops, although considering that the sun never rose and the moon was technically just a giant blue heart, he wasn't too surprised that his sense of time was a little skewed.
"Speaking of that," Terra interjected, a little more controlled than the seething blonde, "You never explained what happened to you. Sora and Ventus both took care of you…"
"Beats me," Vanitas replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "Guess they didn't do a very good job of it."
Terra's brow furrowed in disapproval. He was not consumed with the burning rage that gripped Aqua, probably because his interactions with Ventus' dark twin were fleeting, but he was being particularly uncooperative. Terra tried to remind himself that the person standing in front of him with several knives pointed at his throat was not Sora – they may look almost identical but their personalities couldn't be more different. Treating Vanitas the same way that they would treat Sora was going to get them nowhere fast.
"Well, if you guys have had quite enough of interrogating me, let me do the same," Vanitas continued. "If Xehanort was killed, then what exactly happened to Sora to make him like this?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a couple degrees at his question. Most expressions were that of crushing guilt, only Terra and Riku continuing their eye contact with Vanitas as the others looked down or to the sides. Seems he had struck a nerve. He was going to remember that.
"We don't know for certain," Riku replied. "We were hoping that Sora could fill those details in himself."
Sora blinked and then fished his Gummiphone out of Vanitas' pocket. He wouldn't put it past himself to have just broken it by dropping it at some point, but the screen was built to last and the rubber case should've absorbed any damage. Heaven knows he put his phone through the works while on his last adventure with nary a scratch. It looked more like it had been deliberately tampered with.
"No idea," he admitted. "I always take photos wherever I go, but my phone is too damaged and I can't access the Camera app." He sheathed the device in his pocket and rubbed his nose in thought. "I remember going after Kairi's heart… I had to go through some worlds that are still stuck in the Realm of Darkness, but for her heart to be saved someone had to take her place. I feel like I should remember what happened to me after that, but- "
"I brought you Sora!" Neku exclaimed, anger dripping from every word. "We had a bargain!"
Sora stopped in his tracks, almost ploughing straight into Neku as he abruptly halted in front of him. The ginger boy hadn't been particularly receptive to Sora's attempts at forging a friendship, or at least an alliance. His icy demeanour reminded him of Cloud, every playful jab or eager praise offered to him deflected with a stoic shield of indifference. Even though the brunette was nothing more than an irritant to him, Neku had never growled at him with the genuine rage that tainted his voice in that moment.
The object of his ire soon revealed himself, a thin man draped in familiar black robe and face concealed behind a hood that light couldn't penetrate to reveal the person that lay within. Sora felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of the person garbed in the trench coat of the Organization. He had defeated the last of the members already, Xemnas falling to his Keyblade many moons ago and taking the legacy of Organization XIII with him. Who lay shrouded behind those cursed robes, and why would they associate themselves with the now defunct group?!
It seemed the man was more than ready to answer all of Sora's questions. He bent his knees and leapt into the air far higher than gravity should allow, his trench coat billowing out around him like a raven spreading its wings. The figure's face never moved from Sora's for a single moment, even as he prepared to pounce on his prey from above.
"Hey! That wasn't the deal!" Neku yelled at the man, eyebrows furrowing and a growl in his voice. "You said you wouldn't hurt him!"
Vanitas blinked and rubbed his eyes, the nausea combining with the ice cream in his stomach and making him want to vomit; he got such a bad headache whenever that happened. It wasn't enough that Sora was freeloading off his heart, he had to go and pilot it around too. It was only a matter of time before he tripped in front of oncoming traffic and sent the both of them on a one-way trip back to the Realm of Darkness.
"This whole thing is bullshit," Roxas whispered, earning himself a smack on the head from Xion who had remained silent, quietly processing the situation without interjecting.
"I wonder…" Ventus mused, mostly to himself. "When Mast- ahem, Xehanort pulled all my darkness out of me and made Vanitas, Sora saved my life by joining his heart with mine. I can't help but wonder if that's what we're looking at here."
Vanitas nodded in agreement, until he realised what the implications of his brother's words meant for him.
"Hold on a sec," he yelled, "You're telling me that Sora's leeching off my heart?! I only have half a one, I don't have enough to spare!"
"Hmm…" Yen Sid hummed deeply, the first sound he'd made since the young Keyblade wielders began fighting amongst themselves. "I think that Ventus' words hold some truth, but I'm also concerned about Sora's decision to bind his heart to Vanitas, and not to one of us."
That was something Vanitas really wanted to know too, perhaps more than anyone else in the room. The two were sworn enemies, identical in appearance but opposites in alignment; it was more likely for the two to fight to the death than to prop each other up like they currently were. Literally anyone else would have been a better option. Hell, Xehanort would have made more sense, provided he wasn't already dead himself at the time.
You were the closest that answered.
No one else came.
"That's right," Vanitas mumbled. "No one else came for him. I heard Sora calling out for help in the darkness, and I let him in. And that means- "
He summoned the Void Gear into his hand and pointed it at the enthralled Guardians of Light.
"This is all your fault."
Roxas' eyes widened at the accusations, before angrily summoning his own two Keyblades and lunging at Vanitas. Terra tried to grab his arm to stop him, but the blonde was just too quick. He collided face first into Vanitas, ready to disembowel the demon for his outrageous accusations, only to get a gloved fist in his mouth from Vanitas himself.
"Say that to my face you coward!"
"I just did, what are you, stupid?"
"Don't you dare talk about Sora like that!"
"Your favourite drink is school glue!"
Yen Sid placed one hand on Riku's shoulder, pulling his attention away from the mosh pit developing in his office as the boys continued their brawling. Xion pulled Roxas off Vanitas, keeping her face away from their flailing limbs, while Terra got Vanitas in a chokehold and dragged him backwards.
"Riku," Yen Sid stated, as calm as ever. "Would you take our new 'friend' to visit the others in Radiant Garden. He may be unwilling to cooperate, but our best chance lies with the information stored inside Ansem's computer."
Riku nodded, ignored the sounds of crashing as a Keyblade was tossed across the room behind him, accompanied by loud swearing.
"Will do, the sooner we can get Sora out of this mess, the better."
Vanitas was getting a lot of stares.
If Riku hadn't outright told him that the world he had dragged him to was Radiant Garden, he wouldn't have guessed in a million years. Granted, the black-haired boy's experience with the illustrious castle and its acres of cobbled streets was mostly fleeting, whereas this town was more of a construction site. Riku could talk about how many improvements had been made until he was blue in the face – Vanitas wasn't convinced that the walls wouldn't crumble around him if he so much as breathed on them. Even the castle seemed to have chunks of rock bitten out of it by some kind of ungodly creature.
The atmosphere of the town hadn't changed in the last decade, at least. If Vanitas allowed himself to overlook the shambles that the town was currently in, he could see vendors on every street corner, shouting loudly about their wares; the smell of freshly baked goods in the air; ice cream in the hands of every child. His stomach turned just thinking about it. Everything was business as usual as far as the locals were concerned, even as they stepped over the debris that littered the streets.
Vanitas was used to having nasty looks thrown at him, but the frequency at which he was experiencing them was staggering. As Riku frog-marched him through the marketplace he occasionally caught sight of a person in the corner of his vision; every time they would inevitably notice his presence and move as if coming to greet him, before abruptly stopping and turning away. He swore he saw the occasional expression of shock cross their faces, but whenever he turned to confront them they had looked away.
"They think I've brought Sora back," Riku stated, his gaze firmly fixed forward with no discernible expression. "He has a lot of friends here that are waiting for him to come home."
Vanitas opened his mouth to say something snarky in return, but closed it without a sound. He held no connection to these people, mere faces in an endless crowd of spectators, but he could feel the sharp stab of pain that punctured his chest for a moment at Riku's sombre words. He grumbled to himself and put one hand over his heart, willing his overly vocal stowaway to keep his emotions to his damn self.
Riku led him up a rickety stairway, past a group of stalls that were… manned by ducks? OK sure, whatever. As they ascended above the marketplace, the smell of gasoline and dust filled his nostrils and the sound of machinery reverberated between his ears. No wonder the vendors were shouting so loud, Vanitas could barely hear himself think up here! What sort of backwater dive was Riku luring him to? Oh my God, what if he was about to kill him and dump his body somewhere?! Riku already had it out for him, and Vanitas was in no position to defend himself.
He won't. Riku's not a murderer.
Vanitas wondered if Sora was giving his friends too much credit.
Riku had dragged him to some kind of workshop, random pieces of machinery strewn about like a death trap, and more than one suspicious stain on the exposed stone flooring. Sparks were shooting out from beneath a hunched figure of a man wearing a large metal face-cover and no protection on the rest of his body. The guy was seconds away from going up like a roman candle, but Riku reacted as if this was a common sight. He didn't even attempt to shout at the man – there was no way his voice would carry over the sound of the welding – and instead just waved his arms around to get the figure's attention.
The motion worked; the guy looked up from his workspace and gave a one-armed wave back, turning his welding gun off and sliding his helmet back to reveal his face. A mop of messy blonde hair toppled out of the helmet, held back by a pair of smudged brown aviator goggles with fingerprints all over the glass. Surely he should be wearing the goggles to protect his eyes?! And… was that a toothpick in his mouth? Under the mask?!
"Hey kid!" the stranger bellowed. "Yer lookin' well."
"Eh, same old same old," Riku replied, bumping fists with the taller man. "Still trying to give up smoking?" He gestured to the toothpick that was still firmly lodged in the man's teeth.
"Ha! Yuffie told me she'd kick my ass if she smelled smoke on my breath again!" he guffawed. "Too bad the gasoline covers up the smell so she can't tell, eh?"
He wiped his nose smearing soot across his cheeks, and turned his attention to the black-haired boy who was standing silently with an incredulous look on his face.
"So, guess yer the Sora look-alike, eh? I'd recognise that spiky hair anywhere."
Vanitas scowled at the ill-timed comparison and clenched his fists, but felt Riku's hand rest heavily on his shoulder before he could pick a fight.
"Cid," he said slowly, hesitant to allow Vanitas to attack everyone he came across. "This is Vanitas. He's a…"
Riku looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"… Friend?"
"… I'm cooperating, that's all," Vanitas replied through gritted teeth. Cid sniggered under his breath.
"That's all we can ask fer. That hothead friend o' yers came by earlier, rantin' an' ravin' bout how he's gonna tear ya limb from limb. Said I should let him know when ya dropped by."
Riku audibly groaned and put one hand on his face. He was one of the few to have met both Axel and Lea, and while Lea was significantly more level headed than his Nobody – not that this was difficult – he was still furiously protective of his friends. There was no doubt in his mind that the redhead was intending on following through with those threats. Riku did not want to go back to the Mysterious Tower with Vanitas in a casket. The raven Keyblade wielder decisively brushed the hand that still remained attached to his shoulder away, grimacing at the prolonged physical contact.
"Look," Riku began, "Lea is gonna kill me for this, but please don't tell him that we've arrived? Vanitas hates this more than any of us, but killing him isn't going to do Sora any good either."
"For what it's worth, I would also appreciate not being torn limb from limb," Vanitas concurred.
Cid chewed on his toothpick pensively, considering the request to withhold information from a friend. He seemed to agree with them, shaking his head in amusement and wrinkling his eyes with a smile.
"So what brings the two o' ya here anyhow? Thought yer first stop would be the castle."
Vanitas pointedly noticed that Cid did not concede to their pleas, but he wasn't in a position to argue. He rummaged around in his pocket and produced Sora's Gummiphone, careful not to catch his fingers on any of the sharp cracks in the screen. Cid's eyebrows rose at the sight of the damaged device, almost disappearing beneath the goggles that remained glued to his hairline.
"The hell did ya do to it?!" he questioned, taking the device from Vanitas' hand and turning it over to inspect the damage. "These things are made of orichalcum fer Christ's sake!"
Vanitas just shrugged. Not even Sora was able to answer that question.
"No idea," he replied, "but Sora thinks we could jumpstart his memories if we can access the photos on it."
Cid peeled the rubber Gummi casing away and winced as the extent of the damages revealed itself to him. Gummiphones were designed to withstand everything that their Keyblade wielders went through, the screen reinforced with orichalcum dust and protected with the same Gummi blocks that regularly achieved space flight. The only possibility that the mechanic could arrive at was that the device had been deliberately and malicious destroyed, and it couldn't have been done by Sora – otherwise the kid wouldn't be asking him to repair it.
"… Aye," he finally agreed. "Would be easier just t' give ya a new one, but I'll see what I can do. Damn kids, eatin' through all my supplies…"
"Oh, hey," Vanitas interrupted. "While you're at it, is there anything you can do about this?"
He held out his right hand in front of him and summoned his Keyblade. Vanitas could feel the call of the Void Gear in his heart, itching to be sunk into someone's chest, but tried to keep an image of Sora in his mind. The only times he had summoned the Kingdom Key were purely by accident, done in the heat of the moment like an involuntary reflex, but the brunette must have been thinking the same thing as the silver blade appeared in his hand with a flash of light.
"I don't think this thing is gonna be much use like this," he explained, gesturing towards the bent teeth of the blade.
Cid eyed up the rusted weapon with a mixture of awe and concern. Keyblades were by no means indestructible – hell, Riku was currently on his fifth – but Sora had always been touchy about allowing anyone to come in contact with the Kingdom Key. Cid was an engineer, not a blacksmith, but even he would've sold his firstborn for a chance to handle and study such a legendary weapon, even in such poor condition. The rust was easy enough to remove, and the teeth could be hammered back into shape, but the missing keychain was a whole different problem. The keychains allowed Sora to change the form of his Keyblade, so without it he was stuck with the Kingdom Key.
"… Ya sure you're alright with me handlin' this thing?" Cid asked. "Sora was always mighty protective of it…"
Vanitas just shrugged nonchalantly and pushed the Keyblade into Cid's hands before he could refuse.
"S'not my Keyblade, soooo…"
Cid tentatively accepted the weapon as rust flaked off the metal spine under his palms. He could feel the warmth of magic running through the silver blade even in its damaged state, warming his hands like he was standing by a fire. It was oddly comforting. He wordlessly turned away from the two, mumbling to himself as his brain began plotting out an action plan to repair the forlorn Keyblade. It may not be his area of expertise, but Cid would be damned to let such a precious opportunity pass him by.
Riku crossed him arms and gave Vanitas a look that he couldn't place.
"You really are nothing like Sora," he mused, mostly to himself. "He never lets anyone touch his Keyblade, not since he discovered it was technically supposed to belong to m-"
Riku's eyes widened and he abruptly choked on his breath, bringing his train of thought to a close before he could say anything incriminating. He had almost forgotten who he was talking to.
"Uhh, never mind, haha… Let's head up towards the castle. Cid'll need some time."
Vanitas' yellow eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he said nothing. He could tell that Riku was walking on eggshells around him, something that was not entirely undeserved, but it was far more interesting to contemplate what the silver-haired boy had almost let slip. As far as his admittedly limited knowledge of Keyblades went, the only way for a Somebody to become a Keyblade wielder was to be bequeathed by an existing wielder. Vanitas, Roxas and Xion were the exceptions, granted their Keyblades by proxy because the hearts that had birthed them were already bound to an existing Keyblade. What was Riku insinuating, that the Kingdom Key wasn't supposed to be Sora's? And if so…
Who was it intended for?
The two backtracked down the stairs towards the marketplace where they were interrupted by yet another unknown figure. Vanitas was getting real sick of people popping out of the woodwork like that. The guy seemed to be wearing an entire Hot Topic's worth of belts around his waist, a jacket adorned with the fierce image of a roaring lion, and a scar right between his eyes. He also bore a moody expression, one that rivalled the frown that perpetually soured Vanitas' own features.
"I guess the rumours were true then," the man grumbled. "The whole town's been talking about you ever since you landed."
"I seem to be getting that a lot," Vanitas grumbled back in response. Something about the man's haughty attitude was rubbing him the wrong way, not that it took much to get his hackles up.
"I'm taking him to the castle, Leon," Riku stated, aware of the rising tension. "Yen Sid thinks there may be something useful on Ansem's computer, and I'm here to make sure Vanitas doesn't do anything stupid on the way."
Evidently Riku wasn't the only one to have noticed the hostile atmosphere – most of the townsfolk had cleared out of the immediate area and watched on with frightful expressions like they were witnessing a dog fight. He knew that both Leon and Vanitas had vicious tempers, but he could trust Leon not to raise a finger against the other denizens. Vanitas was a wild card. Then again, watching the older man kick Vanitas down a few pegs would be awfully satisfying…
"Hmph," Leon grunted, unwavering in his intense stare. "Sora has a lot of people who care about him. If it comes out that you so much as looked at him funny, then there'll be hell to pay."
"Is this a joke?!" Vanitas spat back. "I'm getting real sick of everyone threatening me when I've done nothing to deserve it!"
"I mean, if you're being serious then you did try to kill all of us," Riku piped in. "And you did manage to kill Ventus at least once. Twice, if we're being generous."
"Not helping."
Leon tutted and revealed his Gunblade, stowed away and attached to one of his many belts, and pointed the sharp end towards the black-haired boy. He had sworn to never raise his weapon against another person again, only using the unique combination of sword and revolver on the Heartless or the occasional Nobody, but if Vanitas was disturbing the peace then he needed to be taught some respect.
"I won't tolerate any aggression in this town," he stated stoically, his posture still relaxed even as he threatened the younger boy. Vanitas growled and summoned the Void Gear in his hand in retaliation. The Kingdom Key may be out of commission, but he was no defenceless Guardian of Light. He wouldn't roll over and beg for mercy, even as he gasped his last breath.
"Oh yeah? Bring it on, Grandpa!"
Leon growled at the provocation and hefted the Gunblade over his right shoulder, shifting the weight behind him and darting forward to collide the metal weapon with Vanitas' skull. He wasn't cruel enough to use the sharpened edge against the raven boy, no matter how insufferable he was, but a blow from the blunt end would still get his point across. He blinked and Vanitas vanished as if he had never existed, but his combat-ready senses heard a gust of air from above, just in time to roll out of the way.
"Too slow!"
Vanitas teleported above his opponent and brought the Void Gear down into the ground, ice crystals shooting up from the exposed stone and leaving a layer of frost behind. At least he wasn't so out of practice that his usual moves eluded his grasp. Leon rolled quickly out of the path of the ice shards, air whistling past his face as a few loose icicles barely grazed the skin on his cheeks. The kid was either moving so quickly that his eyes couldn't keep up, or he was straight up teleporting around. Either way, attacking from a distance would do very little when Vanitas could close the gap in a heartbeat.
Vanitas had stabbed the ground so hard that the teeth of the Void Gear had become wedged between two slabs of stone; Leon used the opportunity to pivot on his axis and smack the Gunblade into the side of the Keyblade wielder's head. Vanitas yelped in pain as the force of the blow sent him staggering backwards, thankfully also dislodging his Keyblade and breaking off loose chunks of cobble with it. Without missing a beat, Leon pulled the trigger on the hilt of his weapon, shooting a bullet from the hidden chamber down the side of the blade and towards Vanitas.
Vanitas wasn't stunned enough to take that lying down. He shifted his hand to hold the Void Gear in a reverse grip and used the shaft of his Keyblade to slice clean through the bullet, two individual streams of fire streaking past him on either side as the two halves of the bullet ricocheted in different directions. Damn, that was pretty sick! He retaliated with his own Dark Firaga, a ball of ominous black fire lurching out of the tip of the Void Gear towards Leon like a missile. Vanitas didn't actually expect the magic to hit such a nimble target; it was merely a distraction. Now that Leon's attention was shifted towards the projectile blazing towards him, he could prepare an Arc Arcanum to quickly close the gap and-
Wait a moment, he didn't know how to use Arc Arcanum! That was one of Sora's moves, what on earth was he thinking?!
"Get him Leon! Kick his ass!" Riku cheered raucously from the sidelines, pumping his fist in the air as Vanitas narrowly deflected a downward swipe from Leon that was intended to slice him clean in half.
"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAY?" Vanitas yelled, straining against the weight of the Gunblade trying to break through his guard.
Vanitas was not above using dirty tactics to win a fight. As Leon put all his weight into the downwards blow, Vanitas used his free left hand to punch him straight in the gut, the brunette doubling over in pain. Riku booed from the peanut gallery at the shameful lack of sportsmanship, but Vanitas didn't do him the honour of acknowledging his existence. Finally spotting his chance to fight back now that the older man was stunned, Vanitas let out a barking laugh and lunged forward, Keyblade ready to plunge into the chest of his enemy as he-
"They'll come at you out of nowhere, and they'll keep on coming at you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."
Sora paused and spun around at the voice that reverberated around the vacant plaza. Traverse Town already had an otherworldly atmosphere blanketing it, teetering on the edge of darkness and populated by refugees from destroyed worlds, and Sora supposed he could count himself among them. Still, he drew the line at hearing voices out of nowhere. He was being followed by a tall, muscular man with a long scar across his nose and a dark look in his eyes that hid a sorrowful past.
"But why? Why would it chose a kid like you?"
Sora scowled at the man, his grip on the Kingdom Key tightening until his knuckles turned white. He was so sick of being told that he wasn't good enough, wasn't strong enough to fight. If they could've seen all those times he had almost beaten Riku in their sparring matches, they would be sorry they doubted him! Why were adults all such stuck-in-the-muds?
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" he protested loudly.
"Never mind," the man snorted. "Now, let's see that Keyblade."
He took a few steps towards Sora, one hand outstretched to grasp the weapon that remained firmly in the brunette's grasp. The man didn't look like any Heartless he'd seen before, but anyone who tried to take his only means of saving his friends was still his enemy.
"What? There's no way you're getting this!"
Sora hesitantly readied himself for battle. His sparring with Riku had gotten him far enough against the Heartless, no better than feral animals, but this was another human. He didn't want to have to fight a person! The man seemed to sense the weakness in his heart, and let out a snort.
"All right," he replied, revealing an enormous weapon with a viciously sharp blade and a loaded barrel.
"Have it your way."
Vanitas recoiled backwards before he could land the blow, one hand on his forehead as a crushing pain swept through him. He felt like he'd been hit by a baseball bat, his vision obscured with flashing lights. Leon almost took the opportunity to strike back at his now stunned opponent, but he wasn't some morally-grey scumbag. He took a couple steps backwards as Vanitas fell to his knees, only to back up into something solid and unyielding that had crept up behind him during the struggle.
"Didn't Aerith tell you not to fight children."
Leon flinched as a hand firmly rested itself on his shoulder, still tense with adrenaline from the battle. He turned to see Cloud giving him his usual deadpan stare, eye icy blue and unfeeling. Leon tutted and lowered his Gunblade, allowing his posture to relax and stood back upright.
"You talk like I make a habit of it," he replied. Cloud almost smiled, the corner of his mouth barely curling upwards in amusement. If Leon didn't know him, he would think the blonde was an unapproachable asshole. Only part of that was true – Cloud was still an asshole. The blonde removed his hand from his friend's shoulder and offered it to the downed Vanitas, who promptly batted it away and pulled himself to his feet unaided.
"You know," Cloud remarked softly. "I used to be the same as you – consumed with rage at a world that told me I didn't have a place in it. Your light is what sets you apart from the Heartless, it's what makes you unique."
"I'm literally a being of pure darkness," Vanitas snarled back. "I have no light in my heart to lose. In fact, my 'light' belongs to a different person entirely."
"Even so, that light is still yours, just as much as it is theirs," Cloud replied. "Don't lose sight of it. It's what keeps us human, and you'll never fill the void it will leave behind if you let it go."
"I couldn't be farther from 'human'," Vanitas growled, as if the word itself was a slur on his tongue. "Do all of Sora's friends infuriating speak in riddles?!"
Cloud's relationship with Sora was always a little… unconventional. The first time the two had crossed paths was at the Olympus Coliseum, and the two had fought viciously while Hades pulled the strings from behind the scenes. Would he describe their relationship as 'brotherly'? Cloud didn't have any remaining family, at least none that he cared to waste a thought on, so the idea of having a little brother under his wing was so foreign to him.
Still, the emotions he felt towards the boy in front of him were conflicted, and a sizable portion of that came from the face that glowered back. Cloud sometimes wished that Sora was a little less happy-go-lucky and naïve, perhaps a little more like him? No, he wouldn't wish such a curse on anyone. The blonde would love for Sora to be just a little less trusting of those looking to manipulate him, just a tiny bit less willing to throw himself headfirst into any adventure that called his name. The look of unbridled malice that sullied Vanitas' face – the face that was so similar and yet so different to Sora's – made him realise just how precious the brunette's purity was in a world that was so filled with darkness.
He had seen that look before. It was the same look of fury that used to linger in his own eyes. The same way he looked at Sephiroth.
"Perhaps," Cloud responded, backing down as he realised talking to the enraged boy wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Sora taught me that lesson many years ago. I hope a time comes where you are able to learn it too."
Vanitas simply growled in response and pushed past the blonde, his shoulders raised like a bomb ready to go off at any moment. Riku gave Cloud a look of exasperation and chased after the retreating figure.
"When did you get so wise?" Leon questioned, only half serious, and raised one arm to rest it on the shoulder of the shorter blonde. Cloud didn't react to the rhetorical question, his vision still focused on the pair of Keyblade wielders as they vanished into the thick forest of houses that lined the winding streets of Radiant Garden.
Sora had saved Cloud from his own self destruction, but was Sora able to do the same for himself?
Sometimes Lea wasn't sure where 'Lea' ended and 'Axel' began.
This wasn't strictly a bad thing, not in his books. The two were technically the same person after all, two sides of the same coin, although it still surprised him at the two extremes his own personality could take. Lea truly lived up to the nickname of 'hothead', impulsive and perhaps a little abrasive – Axel on the other hand was calculated and manipulative, able to put his feelings aside for the sake of following orders. It was one of the reasons why Xemnas put so much faith in him to carry out all his dirty work, including assassinating the other members of the Organization if they stepped a toe out of line. Xemnas could've commanded Axel to take his own life if it suited him, and the redhead would've followed with no recourse.
Lea could probably do with some of Axel's obedience right now. If Axel was in his position, watching Ienzo stick pads to Vanitas' exposed chest to hook him up to various imposing machines that did god-knows-what, the Nobody would've simply observed in silence and let him get on with it. In comparison, the only thing keeping Lea from socking Vanitas in the face was Isa, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed in deep thought. The redhead wasn't the most… observant person, but even he could see the exhaustion that weighed down on Vanitas' shoulders and behind his sickly yellow eyes. The brat was significantly weaker than the few times that Lea had encountered him, so the chance of retaliation was pretty low. It would also be really satisfying to marry his fist with Vanitas' mouth.
Lea just couldn't bring himself to lay a hand on the face that look so much like Sora.
He still felt guilty that he had never really paid Sora back for everything the brunette had done for him. Sure, that was because he had essentially offed himself before Lea could have a chance, but still! Sora was the only person he knew who could still happily offer an olive branch to the person who had repeatedly tried to kill him. Hell, the kid would've tried to befriend Xehanort had the old man not immediately died, and Lea didn't doubt that Sora would've been successful. Axel didn't deserve to be offered a second change after everything he had done, but Lea was going to make sure that Sora's mercy was not in vain.
Lea's relationship with Sora was a little complicated no matter which way you sliced it, even ignoring all those times Axel had tried to behead the brunette with his chakrams. He wasn't kidding when he admitted that Sora made him feel the same way that Roxas did – the redhead had the uncontrollable urge to wrap him up in a blanket like a burrito and fight anyone who tried to lay a finger on him. Heaven knows it was the least that Sora deserved, having saved the universe more times than he could count and never asking for anything in return. Axel despised the purity that radiated from Sora's heart, but Lea only desired to protect it. The world was cruel and such precious innocence was too easily lost.
It was funny that Vanitas didn't give him the same feeling. He and Sora shared the same face, but the only thing Lea felt towards him was hate.
Isa was the voice of reason, as per usual, pointing out that Lea and Vanitas shared a lot in common. Once Lea stopped cussing his friend out for suggesting such a vile prospect, he explained that both Lea and Vanitas knew how it felt to be constantly confused for someone else. For Lea, it was Axel – his fiery Nobody was the first persona that most of the Guardians of Light had encountered, barring the apprentices who were all now significantly older than the rest of them, despite their youthful appearances. For Vanitas, it was Sora – the boy who shared his face. If anyone could sympathise with the black-haired Keyblade wielder then surely it was Lea.
Lea absolutely did not sympathise with Vanitas in the slightest, but he supposed Isa had a point. He'd let him live. For now.
He opted to flick through the messages on his Gummiphone instead, trying to entertain himself while Ienzo worked on the multitude of machines and Vanitas sat staring into space. It was at least nice to see that things were starting to get back to normal in the group chat – Lea could only take so much freaking out from his younger friends. Xion had posted a selfie of herself smiling brightly with one hand resting on the head of an extremely fluffy white Samoyed.
number_imaginary: met this good boye today at tram common
10_year_nap: oh lawd he comin
white_witch: him chonk
Master_Aqua: He's very floofy, thank you for the lovely picture Xion.
soHotImOnFire: B O D E
notanobody: not to be dramatic but i would die for him
number_imaginary: not to be dramatic but me too
The only person who wanted to kill Vanitas more than Lea was Vanitas himself. The scientist had poked and prodded him with a variety of torture devices, all in the name of discovering the truth behind Sora's residence in his heart, and he could only count the tiles on the ceiling so many times before his brain cells began to die off. He didn't have that many to spare these days! The longer he spent suffering in the presence of the denizens of light, the more he longed for the mind-numbing boredom of the Realm of Darkness.
"How are you feeling, Vanitas?" Ienzo queried, tearing off a strip of paper that had been spat out of the machine he was hooked up to and perusing its contents.
"I'm contemplating the sweet release of death," Vanitas replied, completely deadpan. Ienzo plucked the tabs off his pale chest, allowing him to slip his suit back up and over his shoulders.
"That's a little dramatic," Isa remarked. He received an acidic glower in response from the raven boy, but didn't rise to the provocation. Lea snorted in amusement – he couldn't help but draw just the tiniest bit of satisfaction at seeing one of his enemies knocked down to the point that no one was taking him seriously.
"Trust me, there's a queue forming to be the first one to kick your scrawny ass," he sniggered.
"I don't understand you people," Vanitas growled, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. "One minute you're trying to help, and the next you're threatening to kill me! If you're gonna do it then just do it now for god's sake, just send me back to the Realm of Darkness. Anything is better than dealing with this bullshit."
"No swearing in the lab," Ienzo commanded, not even looking up from his reading at the outburst. "Your heart is under enough stress as it is."
"Did you find something?" Riku asked, his attention piqued at the thought of making headway into rescuing his friend.
"Mmm…" Ienzo mused to himself. "Well, we at least know that Vanitas is telling the truth. It's faint, but his echocardiogram does indeed show two heartbeats."
"Wait, Vanitas has a heart?!" Lea exclaimed in mock horror.
"Oh, very funny, you're such a comedian," Vanitas spat back at him. "Now what are we gonna do about it."
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Ienzo replied, brushing his bangs out of his eyes only for the grey strands to fall right back into place. "I scoured Master Ansem's archives, but the only record that exists of someone binding their heart to another and surviving is Sora himself."
"Well, why don't we just ask him?" Lea proposed, gesturing at Vanitas who was still seated on the assessment table. "He's literally right there."
Vanitas turned such a bright shade of cherry red that Ienzo was concerned he had actually had a heart attack, steam shooting out of both ears at the blasé statement from the redhead.
"I SWEAR TO GOD, SAY THAT TO ME AGAIN YOU DOLLAR STORE GOTH, I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND USE IT AS A RAMMEKIN!"
"Can you please not threaten everyone who looks at you funny for five minutes?" Riku growled back, his own hackles raised at the provocation.
"Bite me, you beach boys reject."
"Pardon the intrusion, but I've just received some interesting data from His Highness that may prove useful."
Vanitas abruptly ceased in his arguing with his glorified chaperone at the new voice, coming from the computer terminal itself. The sound was overly tinny, distorted a little by the speakers, and carried a slight mechanical timbre that sounded decided inhuman.
"What now?!" he groaned to himself.
"Thank you, Tron," Ienzo replied, just glad that he wasn't going to witness a brawl break out so close to his delicate equipment. "Please, go ahead."
"My pleasure!" Tron agreed, a pixelated smiley face displayed on the main monitor. "The King has just uploaded a copy of Data-Sora's coding to my mainframe. We should consider using this new information as a benchmark to compare Sora's current condition to. Data-Sora was programmed with all of Sora's personality and memories before he entered Castle Oblivion, so his coding is rather outdated, but if Vanitas is correct in his description of the heart that currently resides within him, then Sora may be missing some vital components that would result in a fatal error if we attempt to separate them too soon."
"…That's actually not a bad idea…" Ienzo mused, one hand over his mouth and charcoal eyes cast downwards in deep thought. "There's already a precedent of this, at least to some extent. We used some of the left over data from when Roxas was imprisoned in the virtual Twilight Town to rebuild his heart, that way he could survive outside of Sora's body within a Replica."
"So what," Lea interjected, not fully following the conversation with the spattering of technical mumbo-jumbo. "We can't just smack Vanitas three way 'til Sunday until Sora pops out of him?"
"I greatly oppose any plan that involves smacking me three ways 'til Sunday!"
"I never thought I would say this, but I agreed with Vanitas," Riku stated, the words tasting bitter on his tongue. "It took Ventus ten years to recover enough to wake up. If Sora's heart is damaged as much as we're being led to believe, then there's no way he'd survive being catapulted out of Vanitas right now."
"I believe the colloquial term would be 'blue-screen-of-death'," Tron concurred.
"What a monumental pain in the ass…" Lea groaned, running one hand through his wild mane of red hair. He couldn't begin to fathom what sort of trauma would be needed to render such a powerful heart as Sora's completely desolate. Hell, the kid had even survived Xehanort ripping all of the light out of him in a gross perversion of what the bald man had put Ventus through, and still came out victorious with his identity intact.
Vanitas watched as the atmosphere in the room soured at the realisation that Sora was not going anywhere quickly. Even Tron was unable to offer words of wisdom; there was simply no precedent for such a situation and nothing to pull from his terabytes of knowledge that would alleviate the problem. The raven Keyblade wielder grumbled and pushed himself off the table, jumping to his feet sharply. He hadn't suffered through endless barrages of interrogation to be told that his situation was hopeless.
"Well, if brother dearest is too weak and pathetic to survive on his own, then we've just got to strengthen him, right?" he remarked. "Those pieces of Sora's heart have to be lying around somewhere. If we can find them and just stick them together with some duct tape, he'll be as good as new and I can go back to dicking around doing whatever I want."
Ienzo considered the black-haired boy's statement. For all his words were lacking in any sort of finesse or tact – a trait he did share with the brunette – there was a basic logic behind his reasoning. Indeed, this was something they had done before with Roxas, and even with Xion and Naminé. Their circumstances were a little different as none of them were whole beings to begin with and so were more receptive to his attempts at filling in the holes in their hearts with data, whereas Sora's heart would likely reject any artificial Band-Aids.
"I completely agree," Isa agreed, breaking his period of silence after taking in the situation from the sidelines. "Sora has never given up on us, even in our darkest hours, so it is only right that we do the same for him."
Ienzo turned and tossed his clipboard in the trashcan, wincing as the clanging noise of the metal receptacle against the granite flooring strained his ears. There was little use focusing on data, they needed to take a more unconventional approach. They needed to think like Sora, and heaven knows the brunette operated on logic that defied all known laws of the universe. He existed completely outside the realms of possibility; Ienzo suspected that this trait was the exact thing that had propelled the brunette into his position as the 'key to everything'. That statement only proved itself to be more truthful as time went on.
"Tron and I will use the data we collected today and compare it to the left-over code from Data-Sora," he explained. "That'll help us determine just how much damage Sora's heart has sustained during his absence. In the meantime, the most effective way to strengthen an ailing heart is by traversing the chain of memories that bind us together. If we can expose Sora to areas that have meaning to him, but notto Vanitas, that should buy us enough time to devise a formal plan."
Vanitas looked down at the ground and clenched his fists while he considered the scientists words, before looking back up and nodding.
"Whatever man," he agreed reluctantly. "I'm not in any position to complain. If it gets me out of here quicker, then I'll play along."
Riku smiled slightly at his words – Vanitas was only barely cooperating with their plans, and he couldn't blame him. The last time the raven boy had encountered any Guardians of Light, he was their sworn enemy; it was like asking Riku to side with Maleficent on the off chance that she wouldn't kill him when she was done. Sure, he had technically done that exact thing in the past, but the point still stood. He and Lea exchanged firm nods, palpable relief shared between them now they had a goal to work towards. It didn't seem that long ago that they were stumbling around aimlessly in the Realm of Darkness, turning over every rock and slaying every Heartless in their quest for a single sight of chocolate brown hair or that playful laughter.
"You know," he began. "We still have some time to kill before Cid'll be done with the Kingdom Key. Why don't we get started now?"
Vanitas cocked his head to one side in confusion. Riku flinched and blinked hard as the motion sent visions of sea-blue eyes and a toothy smile through his mind.
"What, retracing Sora's memories?" he queried.
Riku crossed his arms. There wasn't going to be a single part of this that would be easy.
"Yep. After all, we need memories that meant a lot to Sora, and just because something was meaningful, that doesn't mean it was good."
Riku was surprised to see Radiant Garden's Keyhole still attached to an entire city block's worth of machinery after all these years. It was no secret that Ansem, the bad one, had linked the gateway to the heart of the world to his stolen computer terminal to continue his research into Kingdom Hearts after he usurped the lab from the actual Ansem. That never stopped being confusing. It was possible that Ansem's wicked scheme to reform Kingdom Hearts by allow the Heartless to consume the hearts of every world they descended upon like a scourge was born right here, born from the myriad of information stolen from the heart of Radiant Garden itself.
"I'm surprised the others haven't taken all this down yet," he murmured to himself, running his hand across a large pipe as if the Keyhole was on life support. Lea scoffed behind him, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.
"Do you want to be the one who volunteers to get started? 'Cause it sure as hell won't be me."
Lea knew that Ansem, the good one, had denounced all of his previous research after the annihilation wrought under his stolen name, but part of him suspected that the remaining apprentices had continued his line of work without him. Even was too absorbed in his breakthroughs using Replicas, especially now that he had so many willing subjects, but Ienzo still had his nose stuck deep in tomes and scrolls about the nature of hearts. It was kinda nice to see – Zexion approached his research with such a cold and analytical nature, it was a nice change watching his grey eyes light up with joy at each iota of new information he was able to uncover.
He just hoped Ienzo knew what he was doing.
The two had all but dragged Vanitas by his ears up to the Keyhole, following their newly laid-out plans to bolster Sora's heart. Lea didn't understand most of the jargon that Ienzo spouted on the daily, but the idea seemed to be that exposing the brunette to powerful memories would kick his ass into gear so they could pluck his heart out of Vanitas before the raven boy did a runner. The redhead had no idea what they were going to do with Sora's heart once they had it, seeing as they didn't have a body to slap it in to, but perhaps Even had another Replica lying around. They were practically coming out of the woodwork these days.
Lea was familiar with Ansem's castle long before Xehanort showed up and rubbed his evil all over everything. He and Isa had spent countless hours breaking in through the back door and creeping around the empty corridors in search of treasure and mysteries when they were kids, although the redhead had never wandered into this section of the castle before. It was up so many elevators that they were on the verge of breaking through the clouds in the sky, and the ride was supremely awkward with Vanitas will stewing in his rage.
"Alright, let's get this over with," Vanitas grumbled, walking towards the psychedelic portal. "Should I go in that thing, or…?"
"No!" Riku yelled at the suggestion. "That's the entrance to the Keyhole, who knows if you'll ever come back out!"
Vanitas inspected the portal in front of him as it undulated like colourful ink, various wires and tubing disappearing within its depths. Xehanort had banged on about the 'heart of the world' so many times that his own ears began to bleed, but the black-haired Keyblade wielder had never seen a Keyhole in person. It stretched from the floor to the ceiling, many meters tall was like a castle gate, and emitted a slight breeze that flowed through the skirt of his bodysuit as if he was standing outside.
It was a little creepy.
"Do they all look like this?"
"Nah, most Keyholes aren't even physical," Riku replied, poking at one of the monitors still wired up to the portal to see if any of the equipment was still active. "Sora had to use his Keyblade to summon them; I guess some of these machines must be keeping it corporeal."
"Oh yeah, I forgot you've never seen one of these things before, huh?" Lea remarked, rubbing his exposed arms as the breeze sent shivers running down them with the unnatural chill. "Well, Ienzo did say to try and drag up memories that were important to Sora and not to you… Is it working?"
Vanitas dragged his yellow eyes away from the hypnotic warping of the Keyhole, crossed both arms, and closed his eyes in thought. It had been well over a decade since he touched down in Radiant Garden to carry out Xehanort's schemes, and he certainly never entered the castle before. Strange… something seemed awfully familiar about this place, and it really shouldn't.
This place has nothing but painful memories.
"Mmm," Riku agreed. "This is where Sora and I fought for the second time, when I was possessed by Ansem. It's also where Sora released Kairi's heart from inside himself. I just hope we don't need to use the same technique again."
"Too right," Lea replied. "Didn't he straight up stab himself?! The kid is pretty hardcore."
Vanitas hadn't realised he'd said anything out loud, the musing about painful memories coming from Sora and not from himself. He had no memories to associate with this place, although he couldn't deny that the Keyhole cast a shadow over the area that smothered the trio with a sense of suffocating despair. Sora had always been resolute that the heart was made of light, but the heart of the world in front of him couldn't be further from the truth. He could almost hear the sounds of clashing weapons, yelling and crying, and the feeling of something sharp in his chest…
"Hey, you still with us?"
Riku placed one hand on Sora's shoulder and jostled him gently to break the trance that he had fallen into. The black-haired boy took a couple of heavy blinks before snapping back into full awareness, releasing the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and looking around in a wild panic.
"The Keyhole?" he questioned, confusion in his yellow eyes. "W-When did we get here?"
Riku mirrored the look of confusion that had taken over Sora's gaze, before realising that he was no longer in the presence of Vanitas, although he had no idea what caused the sudden shift. It was like speaking to someone with multiple personalities.
"Just a couple of minutes ago," he replied as calmly as he could. "Ienzo wants us to trigger your memories to help strengthen your heart before we separate you from Vanitas."
"My memories…" Sora mused, placing one hand over his… over Vanitas' chest. "But why this one? Why here? I have so many happy memories, why did we chose one that holds so much pain?"
Riku winced and withdrew his hand, clenching it by his side at the outburst. He really didn't know what to say. He should be comforting his best friend, explaining the plan they had formulated and how he was going to be OK, but the words wouldn't come to mind. He was taken right back to that moment he had decided to abandon his search, the only remaining member of the Guardians of Light that still scoured every corner of the Realm of Darkness until finally there were none left and Sora almost slipped through their fingers.
"This whole thing sucks," Sora lamented. "I'm being such a bother to everyone…"
"No," Riku replied firmly, his sense of self-pity washed away as he firmly refuted Sora's claim. "I don't want to hear you saying that again. None of this is your fault."
Lea's ears perked up at Riku's statement, and he moved to cut across him.
"I'm probably gonna sound like a right asshole for saying this, but… you're wrong. This is Sora's fault."
The expression on Riku's face suddenly shifted to one of fury, his cheeks burning red with anger that the man who called him their friend was turning on Sora so quickly.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" he demanded. Lea sighed and put one hand on his hips.
"It's like this," he explained. "Sora is absolutely to blame because he knew the risks of using the Power of Awakening and did it anyway – he put himself in this situation. Just the same that I'm responsible for Kairi being kidnapped by Xehanort, seeing as I was the one who brought her to him, and you're responsible for letting Ansem use darkness to control you."
Lea firmly put both hands on Sora's shoulders, feeling Vanitas' muscles below his palms where the brunette had only skin and bone, pulling his gaze up from the defeated stare at the floor and back to his eyes. Funny, how even though those eyes were the same pale yellow that pissed him off so badly before, they still triggered the overwhelming desire to protect the brunette when there was another person behind the eyes.
"I know it sounds harsh, but lying to yourself and saying you did nothing wrong, that this is just the hand that fate dealt you, is a farce. You need to accept the blame for your part in this, because it's the only way you'll be able to forgive yourself. Got it memorized?"
The miserable expression on Sora's face broke as he let a laugh slip past his lips at the cringy catchphrase. That was one thing that Lea didn't miss about his time as Axel – he thought he was so cool saying that, but it was just an embarrassment to think about. Riku still didn't look happy, but his features held an expression of stubborn self-reflection, rather than fury.
"Did you ever manage to forgive yourself, Lea?"
"Still working on it," he laughed back. "I'm not good at all this soppy stuff."
Sora grinned back at him, and Lea released his grip on his shoulders. Strange that as expression that was so familiar on Sora's features seemed so foreign when framed by jet black hair. The smile wavered for a moment as Vanitas rested his hand on his chest, feeling the second heartbeat that pounded away alongside his own growing stronger as if his own heart was about to be swallowed whole.
"Strange… I feel… sad?"
"I mean, that seems like a reasonable reaction to everything you're going through right now, Sora," Riku replied with a slight smirk. His friend could be so obtuse when it came to his own emotions.
"Not him, me," Vanitas insisted, his usual grit returning to his voice. "I'm… sad. I don't think I've ever felt 'sad' before…"
What a strange feeling. Ever since the day he had been forcibly ripped out of Ventus' heart and dumped into the world with no name or face he had only experienced bursts of burning hate. If he was lucky, sometimes he would even feel apathetic. Vanitas had plenty in his half-baked existence to feel upset about, but his emotions had only ever manifested themselves as rage, didn't matter who it was directed towards. It was easier than sitting around crying like a baby – that certainly wouldn't get him any closer to ending his existence and freeing himself from his pain.
Was this sorrow just part of owning a whole heart? And if so, was it really worth it?
"Even? Could I trouble you for a moment?"
Even was so absorbed in his work that he was completely oblivious to the outside world around him. He was elbow deep in a Replica, something he was tentatively referring to as 'Replica 2: Electric Boogaloo', his lab coat stained with some ungodly fluids from the homunculus and platinum hair pinned back in a ponytail. The Replica appeared identical to the previous models he had churned out before, skin a pale alabaster white and face completely devoid of features that would indicate it was intended to be human. The insides were a whole different story, designed to mimic organs perfectly even down to the molecular level.
Even pulled out a string of intestines and inspected them closely, his face protected from splatters of bodily fluids by a pale blue surgical mask. The demand for Replica bodies was through the roof, although the only people who really needed them were the several thousand iterations of Sora that had no bodies of their own. With his advancements in technology they could use the Replicas for organ transplants, teleportation, they could even move all the kids into these new bodies that were way more durable and less likely to have limbs drop off. Plus, Even got to continue his research, and that was the most important thing to him.
Ienzo sighed at the lack of response from his superior, but was not overly surprised. Even's laser-focus on his work had never faltered, even during his time in the Organization, to the point where it bordered on obsessive. The blonde had a great sense of humour, but try and pull him away from his work and he would bite your head clean off. Ienzo only made that mistake once.
Still, this development was so serious that he was willing to brave the consequences.
Ienzo picked his way through the room, stepping over loose wires and piles of paper that were an awful fire hazard and set his anxiety running, and coughed loudly to get Even's attention. The blonde jumped out of his skin and straight into the light hanging from an armature above his head, clattered to the ground and shattering with a deafening cacophony. Ienzo stood frozen in place at the destruction his intrusion had caused as Even groaned with pain. That was going to leave a mark.
"… It better be important," he muttered, rubbing his head.
"I wouldn't disturb you if it wasn't," Ienzo insisted. "Did you hear about Sora?"
"Ah yes, the kid finally clawed his way back from death for the umpteenth time," Even remarked. "After all the times he let people piggy back off his heart it's about time that someone finally paid him back."
Ienzo nodded in agreement. He considered Zexion as a completely separate individual, the Nobody's personality so far removed from his own that the two were practically strangers. Zexion beheld Sora with a sense of apathy, a twerp who would have been incredibly interesting to study but nothing more than a potential science project. Ienzo saw Sora as a kind-hearted child who had been plucked from his peaceful life and dropped into a war while he was barely toying with the idea of puberty. Poor guy.
"Well, Tron and I have been running over the data we collected from Vanitas and Sora for a few hours – comparing it to the coding from Data-Sora that the King provided us with, but…"
Ienzo took a shaky breath and braced himself.
"Could you… come check my work?"
Even looked at him in silence, before breaking out into raucous laughing and pulling his face mask off.
"Is that all? It's been a while since you wanted me to check if you remembered to carry the 1. You're talking like Sora's life is hanging in the balance!"
"Well…" Ienzo trailed off, flinching at just how close the scientist had come to the truth. "It's probably for the best that you see for yourself."
Even shook his head in mock exasperation and removed his surgical equipment, dropping it on the floor and stepping over it. He could see how his former-student's eyes glued themselves to the mess he was making, Ienzo's obsession with cleanliness and order a prime target for teasing. Even didn't really care, his gown was so drenched with sticky fluid from his experiments that it needed to be incinerated anyway. Even though Ienzo had graduated from his apprenticeship under the mad scientist, he couldn't help but cave to his request at assistance. What kind of scientist would he be if he didn't help his fellow scholar anyway?
Besides, Ienzo hadn't made any serious mistakes in years. His work was probably fine.
…
Oh.
That wasn't fine.
"Are you sure you didn't miss anything?" Even probed, looking at the data with a look of incredulous shock on his face. Ienzo shook his head in disappointment, his grey hair almost glowing blue under the light of the computer screen.
"I thought the same, but Tron has run the simulation five times. It's all correct."
"Affirmative," Tron replied from the computer, running through the waterfall of information that he had amassed. "Vanitas' heart is as expected – it holds half the mass of a normal heart and what he does possess is contrived of only darkness. By all accounts, Sora's heart should be at least the same volume as it was when Data-Sora was created, but it currently holds less than a quarter of its matter."
"A quarter," Even balked. "H-How is he not dead?"
"According to all knowledge we have about the Power of Waking, he should be," Ienzo groaned, head in his hand as a migraine battered the insides of his eyeballs. "Using the Power of Waking to restore a lost heart requires a sacrifice to be made in its place. Sora's heart is strong, but the probability of him surviving the experience is functionally zero."
Even looked back down at the data he was presented with, searching it for any signs of spelling errors or miscalculations that could've resulted in such a dramatic conclusion. Sora laughed in the face of probability – the fact that his Nobody was able to exist at the same time as he did was proof of that – so the idea of the brunette surviving a fatal blow wasn't too farfetched. What didn't make sense was how he was able to survive on such a tiny sliver of heart. He shouldn't even be able to speak, never mind summon his Keyblade or overpower Vanitas to use his body.
What in the actual hell had happened to him?!
"Unfortunately, that's not all," Tron continued, changing his monitor to display a 3D render of Sora's heart that he had generated. "Now that we've confirmed that Vanitas' heart is comprised of pure darkness, there is a significant risk that his heart will attempt to indoctrinate Sora's light into its own mass to account for the missing half that remains with Ventus. If this happens, it may become impossible to separate them."
"So instead of trying to verge back with Ventus, Vanitas' heart is trying to merge with Sora."
"It appears so."
Even groaned heavily at the death sentence Sora had been given. This was it; they were living the worst-case scenario. Vanitas was the single thing keeping Sora alive, and also the thing that was sucking him dry even though the raven boy likely had no idea. He locked eyes with Ienzo, his crystal-blue eyes betrayed the concern that lay beneath his icy façade. His pupil looked like he was taking the revelation personally, as if this was his fault for not being able to come up with a solution that would fix everything in an instant. Ienzo was exceptionally intelligent and sharp minded, but Even sometimes forgot that he was barely older than Sora himself.
Looks like they may need his new Replica sooner than they first thought.
