A/N: HEY GUYS I'M BACK LOL

Well, kind of. I've had this prompt buried in a notebook for a while and I finally decided to type it up. (Because when I'm not writing, I'm still writing… *sweatdrop*) When I say "for a while," I mean, like, three years. This is older than the HTTYD crossover in the previous chapter. Surprisingly, I still think it's actually decent. Possibly unfortunately to some of you, it's also a crossover, this time with the Reckoners (Steelheart) series. I don't think you necessarily need to have read it to understand what's going on though.

Takes place at some point during the second book, Firefight.

Vanitas cried out in physical pain, hissing and flinching away from the blinding light. His mask did nothing to filter out the brightness; even his eyelids were little more use than tissue paper. The stark contrast from his long trek through the dark corridors only made it more unbearable.

"Xehanort," he muttered through a grimace, "if you knew about this stupid world, I'm gonna-"

He'd been stumbling, trying to find some shade, any relief from the ubiquitous light. Well, he'd found something - the edge of a cliff.

And he'd stumbled right over it.

Cursing, he opened a vertical corridor, hoping to land himself… well, back on land. Luckily, the dark corridors seemed to have some intelligence of their own; if he told it he wanted a solid surface to land on, it would seek the closest safe landing place.

Safe and away from the light, he clarified.

The dark corridor spat him out only a foot from the ground. Unfortunately, he'd still had quite a bit of of momentum from falling, and his helmet hit concrete with a hard crack. His head throbbed; his vision doubled. In spite of that, he could clearly make out the spiderweb fracture blooming across his mask.

He muttered a string of curses, making his mask melt away into nothingness for now. At least the light wasn't blinding here, and his vision slowly began to focus again as he shoved himself to his feet.

"What in Kingdom Hearts…?" He squinted as he spun, taking in the view of this new world. New Babylon, Xehanort's world list had called it. Not that he'd ever heard of an Old Babylon.

Vanitas had seen a lot of weird worlds in his missions to spread Unversed, but this one took the metaphorical cake. As far as he could tell, he stood on the roof of a ridiculously tall building, in the middle of an ocean of more ridiculously tall buildings - literally. Water lapped at the skyscrapers' walls, drowning any doors and obscuring exactly how deep the towers stretched down. The only clue he had to estimate by was the radioactive glow of… whatever it was lighting up the insides of the buildings. He squinted at the windows of a skyscraper adjacent to his. Some freaky kind of fruit?

It wasn't the only weird thing that glowed; rainbow paint seemed to decorate the roof and walls of all the surrounding buildings, making the night come alive.

So if it was night, what had that blinding light been…?

It only took a swivel of his head to find out. A couple buildings away, the roof of a taller skyscraper was a bright ball of light, like a miniature sun. He didn't stare at it long enough to determine exactly what it was, or why it might be there. He preferred to not have his retinas set on fire again, thank you very much.

Besides, it wasn't important. He was just here to spread Unversed, cause some chaos, attract the idiots to come save some helpless civilians…

He frowned. Where were the helpless civilians? Sure, it was night, but Xehanort's notes - the few sporadic bits of advice the old geezer bothered to give him - said that people in this world were nocturnal.

"Maybe they hate that stupid light as much as I do," he thought aloud. If that were the case, maybe this world was right up his alley. Not that that would stop him from terrorizing it with Unversed, of course.

He scanned the horizons, hoping to spot some innocent bystanders, when he saw one reason why they might've been absent: there was no way to move between these rooftops. Farther away, the buildings were linked by swaying rope bridges. This one and others nearby were like little islands.

Lucky for him, he didn't need bridges. He opened a corridor to head for the connected buildings - but then he spotted something. Someone. Looked like a girl, crouched alone -

And pointing a gun straight at him.

He quickly ducked into the corridor. He didn't have much experience with guns, other than what he knew from that idiot Braig. Needless to say, he didn't have a high opinion of them. They were a regular human's pitiful excuse for magic or a keyblade. Still, that didn't mean it would feel great to get shot by one.

He changed the corridor's course, materializing directly behind the girl. A decent display of his supernatural abilities would make her think twice about who she pointed a gun at.

As she spun around, he summoned his keyblade and took full advantage of his revealed face, twisting his lips into a malicious grin. He expected her to scream, maybe throw her gun over the side of the building in panic, realize she was nothing compared to this specter of darkness.

She didn't even flinch. And she shot him point-blank in the shoulder.

Surprise, fury, and embarrassment burst from him in the form of Floods, Scrappers, and Bruisers as he flew backwards. Unfortunately, that didn't help the blood bursting from his wound. Clenching his teeth, he dug out the monstrous chunk of metal, something Braig's arrowguns never left behind. He wouldn't scream, he wouldn't scream and give this idiot girl any satisfaction…!

"Curaga," he managed to cast, restoring his health bar and bringing immediate relief to his pain. Even his suit mended itself, tendrils of darkness enveloping the healed flesh.

The girl's eyes widened. In the time he'd spent healing himself, she'd already shot all his Unversed, and she only had a shallow scratch on her arm through her ripped jacket to show for it.

"Megan? What's going on?" A voice crackled through some electronic device at her shoulder, which she tapped to silence.

Vanitas was still furious - she'd had the nerve to shoot him! She was asking for a Boss Battle, the idiot. No one did that except for Aqua. And this girl didn't even have a keyblade. It was…

...A little impressive, actually. He'd never before had a regular human fight back when he released his Unversed.

"You're another High Epic looking to meet with Regalia, aren't you?" The girl - Megan, if he could trust the earlier voice - scowled. It was only then that he inspected her closely. Calling her a girl was a little misleading - up close, he could tell she was probably a year or two older than Aqua, with a similar figure. Her blonde ponytail and buttoned jacket were soaked; had she been swimming in that dark water?

His own scowl matched hers. He was pretty epic, but he didn't know anything about a Regalia. Maybe if Xehanort ever gave him some useful notes…

"Why should I?" He asked, crossing his arms. It was a little difficult while holding his keyblade, but he managed. "And why in darkness' name did you shoot me?"

Megan raised an eyebrow. "You don't just sneak up on a girl holding a gun, slontze. You're not from around here, are you?"

He snorted. Her attitude was getting annoying very quickly. He wouldn't admit that was because it too closely mirrored his own. "What, you've seen a lot of people as awesome as me around here?" He rolled his eyes. Normally he was more subtle about his outworlder identity, but now he was determined to intimidate her… or maybe he wanted to impress her.

Neither was working. She shot him his own signature "idiot" glance. "In case you haven't noticed, Babilar attracts a lot of High Epics. Like that one you almost got fried by." She nodded in the direction of the bright light. Wait, there'd been a person in there? Who could apparently use magic… was that what the whole "High Epic" thing meant? "That's Obliteration, and he's going to level the city any day now. If you're smart, you'll get out of here."

Ugh. This wasn't going the way he'd planned it at all. At least she wasn't shooting at him anymore, but that still didn't explain why she didn't seem the least bit afraid of him.

"Yeah, right." He snorted, rolling his eyes. "You're just trying to scare me off. Well I'm staying right here." He smirked, twirling his keyblade.

"So you can do what, stand around and twirl your little sword?" She kept giving him that same look. Man, she was a tough nut to crack.

"It's a keyblade. And at least I'm not standing around playing with a stupid gun," he retorted. "Why were you aiming that thing at me, anyway?"

She tapped the gun's scope. "I was observing. I'm not enough of a slontze to shoot another High Epic I've never met. Unless he shows up behind me, that is."

What the heck is a slontze? Some kind of insult, no doubt. "What do you mean, another? You've shot another guy with magic before?"

She looked at him like he was the biggest idiot - or slontze - in the entire Worlds. Before she could insult him again, however, a figure came flying up over the skyscraper's edge.

"Megan!" He shouted, landing awkwardly on the elevated concrete and disengaging the jets of water blasting from his feet. What kind of spell was that? Wateraga? He'd never seen anything like it. "Are you alright? Where's Knoxx?"

"I'm fine. You don't have to rush in like I'm a damsel in distress." He could've sworn her eye-roll was a little more affectionate that time.

"I know you're not. You're like, a distressing damsel. Y'know, if you were captured by a dragon, you'd totally make the dragon distressed and ride it to freedom."

Megan blinked at the new guy, looking like she was either holding back a laugh or choking. Then she coughed. Probably choking, he guessed. "...Anyway. Knoxx flew off when this slontze showed up."

"I'm not a slontze," he muttered, feeling very much like taking Void Gear to the back of her skull. Unfortunately, she'd made him too curious. "Whatever a slontze is…"

The new guy looked him up and down, eyebrows raising, and finally addressed him. "You must have some wicked powers to make up for wearing a costume like that."

"Excuse me?" Vanitas scowled.

"I mean, skintight suit? Spiked black hair? Shredded skirt? It's like you walked straight out of some old anime."

"For once, that wasn't an awful simile," Megan mused, making the guy beam.

"Thanks! Now, uh… why are you two standing around talking?"

Megan shrugged. "He teleported behind me, I shot him, he self-healed and decided he wanted to chat."

Void, these two were weird. The guy looked a little nervous around him, but Megan was still steelily calm. Which didn't make a lot of sense, considering the boy had magic and she didn't.

A thought suddenly occurred to him: these two were probably older than Terra and Aqua. People had magic on this world too. And they'd seen his face unmasked. What if they thought he was just some kid playing with magic, not a real threat?

The thought infuriated him, almost taking shape as a Buckle Bruiser, but the guy addressed him again.

"What's your name, kid?"

That was all it took.

"I'm not a kid!" Vanitas snarled. A trio of Buckle Bruisers rose up from dark tendrils at his feet. A few stray Floods scampered out as well, wild with irritation.

"Whoa!" The guy - Vanitas still didn't know what to call him - leapt to the air, pulling up and shooting out water to keep himself aloft. A buckle caught him in the leg, throwing off his balance. "Remind me not to provoke Epics I don't have notes on!"

Megan rolled her eyes, launching bullets through Vanitas's Unversed. Within seconds, their negativity was once again flowing back to him, only feeding his anger, and adding a nasty bit of pain on top of it.

"I thought improvising was your specialty, Knees." She shot the guy a smug grin. His eyes were wide.

"Those weren't illusions, were they? What kind of Epic is this kid?"

Vanitas forced his emotions down. Unversed apparently wouldn't help him there; wisps of darkness were all that were left of them.

"Not bad," he grinned, taunting them. "But I'm just getting started."

He bared Void Gear over his head, then lunged at the girl. Regardless of Knees' magic, she was clearly the bigger threat.

At least, he thought that, right up until Knees sent him flying off the roof with a blast of water.

Vanitas floundered in midair, but couldn't think quick enough to teleport back before he hit the water's surface.

He didn't know how to swim. Brine flooded his lungs; darkness obscured his vision; salt burned his eyes. Why did he have to break his helmet? The mistake would be the death of him…

I can handle the keyblade brats just fine, but the first non-wielders I fight kick my sorry butt all the way to the Void…!

Sinking through the wet darkness that payed no heed to his struggling limbs… for once, he felt like the idiot. He couldn't even get his bearings enough to open a corridor, or teleport, or anything.

I can't die… not now, not by something as stupid as a little water…

He struggled harder, attacking the water in a reckless attempt to reach the surface, but it was too late. Even the glowing submerged graffiti began to darken.

With the last trail of bubbles leaving his mouth, Vanitas slipped into unconsciousness.

XXX

"Huh, who would've thought the streambeam could draw water out of people? It's like a-"

"Forget the metaphors, Knees. He's waking up."

"Oh, uh, should we tie him down? I don't want him coming at us with a sword again."

"He can teleport, remember? I thought you were the Epic nerd."

"Sheesh, Megan, you are an Epic. Have you ever heard of any Epic with the power to create real monsters? 'Cause I felt it. Those were no illusion."

"No one's ever mentioned someone like that. Or an Epic so young. He probably doesn't have a handle on his powers yet."

"Well, you said he seemed chatty. Maybe he'll tell us something."

Vanitas had been lying there, listening to the two kidnappers - or rescuers? - without opening his eyes. It didn't do much good. They hadn't mentioned why, after trying to kill him, they'd saved him from drowning. Unless… they just wanted to talk to him? It didn't make any sense. Outworlders were just supposed to run in fear, not fight back or talk with him.

His stinging eyes slowly creaked open. The salt seemed to have cemented them shut, but he couldn't rub them. His suit would only irritate them more, so he just tried to blink the pain away.

The night sky didn't sprawl above, like he'd expected. They must have moved him indoors… but then what was with all the plants? Jungle vines and exotic glowing fruit climbed the walls of what looked like a tiny cubicle.

Oh yeah. This world was just messed up like that.

"You're not going to try and kill us again, are you?"

Vanitas nearly screamed when Knees' brown eyes suddenly appeared over him. Void Gear sprung to his hand, but the brunette guy immediately snatched it.

"Whoa, take a look at this? Who would make a sword with this much detail?" He held it out for Megan to inspect; she brushed a hand over it, as if to make sure the keyblade wasn't an illusion.

"Give it back, Knees," Vanitas ordered darkly, regardless of the fact that he was lying on a half-rotted computer desk, in no position to order anything.

Megan blinked in surprise as Knees blushed bright red. Then the girl burst into a laugh, only adding to his embarrassment.

"You just had to call me that in front of him," he groaned. "Why couldn't I have a cool body part nickname, like Toes?"

"...Toes?" She gave him a funny look.

"Yeah, like, I'm always on my toes? Prepared to take on whatever Epic shows up?"

Megan shook her head with a light laugh. "You are absolutely ridiculous."

"Yeah," Vanitas spoke up, startling them. "Everyone knows fingers are a more impressive body part. You can't hold a keyblade without fingers."

The two young adults stared.

"What?" He shoved himself up into a sitting position, summoning Void Gear back from Knees in a purple flash. "You still think toes are better?"

"No, you've got a point; I do need fingers to be an awesome shot…" Knees mused.

"Glad you've found someone to have those, uh, deep conversations with." Megan tried to bring them back on track. "But we have more important issues."

"Yeah." Knees sighed, plucking a glowing purple fruit that hung too close to his face. "Let's get one thing straight, though: my name's David. Only she gets to call me Knees."

"And I'm Firefight," she interjected, voice still serious. He noticed that her hand was still hovering over her giant gun. "Only that slontze gets to call me Megan."

Vanitas was glad she clarified. He had a feeling she wouldn't let it roll off so easily if he called her the wrong name.

"What about you?" David asked. "I get you don't like being called 'kid.'"

"I don't." He Vanitas scowled, but didn't release any Unversed this time. "My name is Vanitas."

"Vanitas?" David repeated with a shrug. "Interesting name. Does it have to do with your powers?"

He swung his legs over the side of the vine-choked desk. "It means 'emptiness,'" he repeated what Xehanort had told him once, unsure why he was bothering to talk to David. This was the guy who'd drowned him… but Vanitas had gone after his friend with a keyblade first. And he had also apparently saved him from drowning…

"Okay…" David said slowly, tossing the fruit up and down. "So, what kind of powers do you have? Illusion? Reality warping?"

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. Maybe he hadn't impressed Megan - Firefight - but David couldn't hide his excitement. Vanitas's lips curved into a small smirk.

"How does 'creating monsters out of my emotions' sound?"

Firefight scowled. "It sounds completely impossible, even for an Epic. There isn't a classification even remotely like that."

David snickered. "Nerd." She rolled her eyes, but he kept talking. "Somehow Regalia has strengthened Epics' powers and given completely new ones. I wouldn't rule it out."

"Maybe so, but he didn't have a clue who Regalia is."

He frowned a little at that. "Well, maybe he came from across the ocean, or-"

"Could you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Vanitas snapped. "If you don't believe me, I can just show-"

"No!" David and Firefight shouted simultaneously. The purple fruit dropped to the ground.

"What, too scary for you?" Vanitas taunted. Maybe he'd done a better job than he'd thought.

"Not even close." Firefight snorted. "But we've learned something important. If an Epic doesn't use his or her powers for a long enough time-"

"-They stop acting like spoiled kids who didn't get enough marshmallows in their Lucky Charms," David finished with a grin, but she shot him a glare. "What?"

"Nevermind. I suppose I can't get mad at you for talking about us like that if it's true." She sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Wait… You're saying you're an Epic too?" Vanitas frowned. David had been the one using magic, not her.

She nodded. "I've been trying to avoid using my powers. So far it's difficult, but it keeps me from feeling some of the emotions that make me a danger to others."

That hit Vanitas like a ton of bricks. "You're saying you would give up magic just to what, be a better person?" He scoffed, hopping down from the desk. David took a step back.

"It's bigger than that," she insisted. "It makes me feel better - more human."

What was this girl saying? If he gave up magic - gave up making Unversed - he could be normal? Pfft, like he wanted to be normal. He was awesome; these people had called him Epic. Why should he give that up?

"Then you're an idiot human. You're just trying to make me weak. Whatever this trick's about, I'm not falling for it."

Firefight turned away from him, shaking her head. "See what I mean, Knees? It's not that easy."

"He's just a kid, Megan," he whispered. "He probably doesn't even realize his powers are changing him. We can't let him become like the rest of them. It's just… it's so sad. You should get it even more than I do."

"I can hear you, you know." Vanitas crossed his arms, itching to let his irritation out as Unversed, but he'd rather not give Firefight any more bullet fodder.

She sighed, giving David an irritated look that said something like, you make me do the stupidest things, slontze. But she took a deep breath and put her hand on Vanitas's shoulder. He stiffened like he'd been shot with a chunk of Blizzaga.

"Listen to me, Vanitas. I've gone through the same things you are." Her brown eyes bored into his, with a level of sincerity and intensity no one had ever shown him before. "I was given powers I never asked for. I was practically turned into a monster against my will."

He'd been about to snap back, tell her that she couldn't possibly know what he'd been through. But shockingly, her description sounded accurate so far. He'd never asked for his emotions to manifest as Unversed; he'd never asked Xehanort to rip him from Ventus's heart and make him a monster. So he let her keep talking.

"...I killed more people than I'd like to admit. And I barely felt a shred of guilt. It's easy not to care about other people when you feel like a divinity, right?"

He found himself nodding. He was better than Ventus, better than anyone. He would forge the X-Blade and rule the worlds. It was his destiny, his right.

"It wasn't until recently that David and I realized it's the powers themselves that change Epics. I know it's hard to keep yourself from using them; it's not a permanent solution. But tell me, Vanitas - has having powers ever really made you happier?"

It was that sentence that cut straight through his heart.

Happy? I don't even know what that feels like. And I don't care, either.

It was a lie. He remembered happiness, barely. It was an emotion that never surfaced in his Unversed… because he hadn't felt it since he was a part of Ventus.

Void. She was right, wasn't she? He didn't have to answer out loud; his unmasked face couldn't hide his realization. Still, he didn't have to admit it.

"I'm happy enough." He roughly shrugged her off. Besides, he couldn't just stop making Unversed. Xehanort would kill him, for one thing. For another, his emotions always found their way out sooner or later. The more he held them back, the more violently they'd eventually burst out. "Is that why you saved me? So you could try to brainwash me? Nice try, losers."

"Vanitas, I can tell you're as happy as a carrot trying to grow through solid steel. Without even a little bit of fertilizer."

He scowled at David. "I'm not a vegetable."

"Forget it, Knees." Firefight sighed. "I told you your plan had about a point-one-percent chance of working. Not everyone wants to be human."

His stubbornness didn't let up. "Then what do we do? Let him wreak havoc wherever he wants? Let Regalia or some other High Epic get to him? Throw him back in the ocean to drown?"

"That was a mistake," Vanitas grumbled. They wouldn't really try that again, would they? Not that they could. He would be prepared this time; he would make a break for it if it came to that. But if he could keep them talking, he could get a few more answers first. "I answered your stupid question, now you do the same for me. Are there really other people on this world with magic like mine?"

David stared in confusion. "Well… I wouldn't call it magic, but yeah. Where have you been living, the bottom of the ocean?"

He ignored the question. "Have any of them given up their powers? Besides Firefight?"

David smiled at that. "I know two others personally. I can't give out their names for their own safety, but trust me. It works."

"And you?" Vanitas raised his eyebrows. "If you're not an Epic, what was that water magic you used?"

"Oh, you mean this?" He lifted one foot, showing off the boot-like device he wore. There was one on his other foot too, and both connected to an odd tank on his back. "It's a spyril. Technology, not my power."

Technology, right. Some worlds had more of that than others. Vanitas nodded. "Okay, last question. Why do you idiots care if I use my powers or not? I'm not even from here. I'm not your problem."

This time, it was Firefight who answered, her voice low. "Because no one else needs to become a murderer if we can help it."

It didn't change his mind. He couldn't stop making Unversed. Forging the X-Blade was the only thing he had to look forward to in his miserable life.

But he couldn't deny that these two might be onto something. His Unversed were spawned of negativity; when they were destroyed, it brought back those negative emotions, plus his creations' pain. And that spawned more Unversed, on and on… a vicious cycle. If he could really stop creating them…

No. That was a hope he couldn't afford to have. More vain than his empty name.

"Well, thanks for the chat." He drawled it sarcastically, but was surprised to find that he meant it. It wasn't often he talked to anyone at all, much less someone who seemed to understand him.

He opened a dark corridor, and David's eyes widened. "After all that, you're just going to leave?"

"What, did you want to invite me home for dinner?" He scoffed.

"With teleportation like that, you can't keep him at the Reckoner base," Firefight pointed out quietly. "He's not the little brother you never had. He's a dangerous Epic."

Vanitas smirked. He had proved himself to her. He mentally celebrated the victory.

"Exactly! We can't let him loose on the city!" David, again, seemed to ignore his presence.

"You don't exactly have a choice." Vanitas took a step closer to the corridor, in case they decided to go with Plan B. Eliminate him.

"I wouldn't say that." Firefight moved her hands into position on her giant gun. Vanitas gulped. Maybe he'd healed his shoulder with a Curaga, but if he took a bullet to the head, he doubted even Once More would save him.

For someone who wants to stop other guys from becoming murderers, she doesn't have a lot of qualms about being one herself.

"Tch, no need to get trigger happy." He rolled his eyes. "Sounds like this place has enough problems. If I'm going to cause chaos, it'll be somewhere peaceful enough to appreciate it."

With that, he disappeared through the corridor.

Later that day, he spread Unversed in Neverland, Deep Space, and Olympus Coliseum. Still, he couldn't help thinking that for all the chaos he caused, none of it was as fun as he pretended.

A/N: In clarification of being back or not, I'm not sure if I'm going to finish NaNo, I might start working on ASAS again this week. Stuff's still kind of crazy, I'm still recovering from finishing reading Oathbringer, which was kind of an emotional gut-punch. In a good way. And a bad way. At the same time. Anyway, I sometimes have a hard time writing for a little bit after a finishing a good book, but hopefully I'll be able to get back on track. I'm also really tempted to write some Stormlight Archive fanfiction now but I feel like I'd butcher everything. xD

Also was tempted to write a small spoof with Nightblood (from the book Warbreaker) in it for this prompt (Sword), but then I realized all it would consist of would be basically:

Nightblood: Hey! Want to destroy some evil?

Vanitas: I am evil, idiot.

Nightblood: …

…

…

…DESTROY EVIL!111

(Or something like that lol)

(Sorry everyone who hasn't read Warbreaker)

(Or Steelheart)

(Why are you reading my lame fanfiction just go read that seriously xD)