Sora, his normal black outfit on, stared at the almost dead looking thing that was Vanitas. Vanitas, the overconfident boy who underestimated the key blade warriors, Sora and Riku.
"What do we do now?" Riku asked, thinking about whether to hide Vanitas, or send him out into the ocean. Riku's gray hair fell down around his shoulders; the wind had stopped blowing, as the hot summer day wore on. Sora just stared at Vanitas. Sora was shocked at himself. He sometimes got really "into" a fight and didn't think about what he was doing. Was he too hard on Vanitas? Sora knew that he was his enemy, but he was still curious as to what Vanitas' plan actually was. But now that the body lay, unmoving, on the shore of Destiny Islands, Sora and Riku would never know.
"I don't know," Sora sighed and faced Riku. "We didn't think we had a chance of winning."
"Guys! Did you see the waterfall? It was black... And then I fainted. I thought I heard your voice, Sor-" Kairi yelled as her pink, high converse drummed against the bright sand, creating a rhythm. The blue sky was no longer blue; it was a light shade of indigo, save for the orange color that surrounded the sunset. The two boys she was desperate to approach were on Riku's little island, sitting on the tree that bared paopu fruit. Sora and Riku sat there often and talked to each other, so that was not what worried Kairi. What worried the sixteen-year-old red head was the figure lying on the sand, not moving.
"Guys! Guys! GUYS!" Kairi shouted, needing to know who that person was. When she reached Riku's island, both boys gazed upon Vanitas. Sora hopped off the tree and bent over Vanitas, Riku close behind. All Kairi could see was Sora's thin lips moving, and Riku's expression. The way Riku's eyebrows scrunched together and the frown of his mature face let Kairi know the matter at hand was serious. She was burning with curiosity, but she was still at least a hundred yards from Riku's island.
"We didn't ... Right," Riku stated calmly, his eyes darting from the sand to Vanitas, and then back to the sand. He stepped back slowly from the body as his instincts told him to run away, but if he left now, what would Sora do? Riku sighed inwardly, and came to a conclusion. It was a thought he'd been pushing to the back of his mind, but now it wiggled its way forward. As much as he didn't want to do it, Riku knew it was the only way to make sure Vanitas never woke up to destroy Destiny Islands again.
Riku summoned his key blade, Way to the Dawn, and inched closer to Vanitas. He was trying to make it as subtle as possible, but Riku was not stupid. Something as outrageous as this cannot be made subtle. It is an act that is too big to hide. Sora looked at Riku, his blue eyes shining like marbles.
"What are you?" he asked, but made his sentence abrupt when Riku raised his key blade. The end of the Way to the Dawn was facing downward as Riku held it over Vanitas' chest. He swallowed many times, cannot believing he's doing this.
"It'll save everybody, Sora. Please trust me," Riku pleaded, although his own trust in himself was thin. Sora's eyes widened, as he was torn. Part of Sora wanted to just destroy this enemy, but the wiser half wanted to leave him alive. Although the wiser half had a point, as they DID need to know what Vanitas' objective was, Sora knew that Riku was right.
Riku looked at Sora, who nodded. He was agreeing with Riku's idea, but when Sora looked at Vanitas, a strange feeling almost engulfed him. If it had, Sora would have done anything to stop his best friend. The feeling was optimist, thinking that Vanitas had light, but Sora had already concluded that wasn't true. The boy with jet-black hair had maybe been born from taking the darkness out of someone's heart, but Sora and Riku were certain Vanitas was a creature of darkness.
"Riku! What-"
Both boys whirled around, before Riku brought his key blade down on Vanitas. They laid their eyes upon Kairi, who had sped up her running to see what was going on. Her eyes widened when she saw Vanitas on the ground, unmoving.
"No! No, Riku!" Kairi stood between Vanitas and Riku, and put her arms out in a straight line, making it clear she was not going to budge. And you could not change her mind. Her purple-blue eyes burned into Riku, but softened so they only toasted Sora. Her face seemed like it was speaking silently, saying "Please. Please tell me you aren't doing this." Her eyes were filled to the brim with two emotions, both of which hurt Sora. He didn't like to make Kairi angry or disappointed at him, as these were the things that her eyes reflected.
"Kairi..." Sora started, not knowing where to start, but Riku decided to leave the explaining to him. The boy's mouth opened, but his long gray hair flew into his mouth. Riku pushed the hair out of the way, tucked it behind his fair colored ears, and began to speak.
"Kairi, please let us explain something," Riku pleaded, but Kairi's unbelieving stare had not changed. He could already see his struggle to make Kairi look at this event through his own eyes. Sora looked on and gulped. Kairi, if she didn't understand, would not see Sora the same ever again. He had always loved Kairi, as Kairi had always loved him. Sora didn't want the connection between them to disappear.
"Vanitas-" Riku tried again.
"Don't start there. The waterfall," Sora suggested forcefully. Riku nodded, as his friend's advice was important at this point in time.
"When the waterfall turned black, it was a 'portal' for enemies called the Unversed to come invade the Destiny Islands. Their leader, Vanitas, looks and sounds exactly like Sora, but he's evil."
"I figured. He's lying in the sand, Riku," Kairi said flatly.
Riku's eyes widened as he processed Kairi's words. Vanitas WAS lying in the sand. He and Sora had caused that. They had known Vanitas was evil, but for what cause? Maybe they could have changed him. What people did that make him and Sora? Riku bit his lip, but knew better than to stop talking all together. Kairi was a year younger than Riku, but she was a Princess of Heart. There was no darkness in her heart, but Riku's heart was stained. He ignored it, but the darkness was there and it would always tempt him. Riku could see problems unlike Sora and Kairi could. He saw things in a different light, and this problem was more serious than they saw. Vanitas was pure darkness, not a speck of light, but his friends were sure to think they've found one.
"Kairi, this boy is pure darkness, and he wants your heart," Riku's tone changed. He became more serious and Kairi loosened a little.
"My heart?" Kairi was reliving the last time her heart was taken, maybe 2 years ago. It was not a memory that pleased her, and she hated that her heart wasn't strong enough to not be taken.
Sora's focus was on something else, however. He raised his eyebrows and stepped closer to Riku, full of suspicion.
"Riku, how did you know his objective?" Sora asked, keeping an eye on Kairi. Riku couldn't answer, and a tense silence filled the air. Sora sighed and stepped back, so he stood next to Kairi. If Riku didn't know, that was okay. There were times where Sora's friend saw things differently and knew things Kairi and Sora didn't.
"Well, okay then. Maybe he- Oh! That means we have to protect you, Kairi," Sora realized on a whim.
All of a sudden, the sound of an attack of darkness was heard. It was a scary noise and the three teenagers noticed it at once. A sound of fast wind and the color of black appeared in the air. Sora knew it came from the boy behind him, but didn't know the attack was aimed for Kairi. Sora whipped around, summoning his key blade in a flash. Kairi let out a yelp as she flew down to the sand, squeezing her eyes tight. The darkness soured over her and toward Riku whose eyes opened wide. In the time quicker than a blink, Riku summoned Way to the Dawn. Vanitas' blow flew toward Riku. The dark air sucked in on itself and sunk to the ground. Sora, Riku, and Kairi looked on in sheer shock as Vanitas' fighting move disappeared under the pure white sand. Sora glanced up at Vanitas to see a brilliant mocking smile on his evil face. His golden eyes stared at the ground, not blinking. The three looked at the substance they were standing on to find it had transformed into something you could not call sand. The teeny tiny grains were all turning a darker color of brown and were still turning darker.
"What's going on here?" Riku demanded. Vanitas shrugged and disappeared in a puff of darkness.
