Chapter 10 The Face of Fear

"Where are we?" Vanitas asks, peering over the counter of the bar. Every bottle, plate, and glass is stacked in perfect lines that give the place an unlived in feeling. Ven sits on a barstool beside him, looking around at the tables and chairs set up in perfect symmetry around the room.

"The 7th Heaven bar," Ven replies, running his hand over the smooth bar top. "I've never seen it empty before."

Vantas shrugs. The name doesn't tell him much. He hops up on a barstool and leans back against the bar. "So what memory of yours are we in for now?"

"I don't know," Ven says. He leans his elbows on the table and rubs his eyes. "I have a lot of memories about this place."

And in his mind he can see them all playing out starting with the first time he'd walked through the doors and met the Traverse Town gang. And the surprise that Zack lived there too. They'd made so many memories in this place. From simple movie dates in Zack's room to the night of Tifa and Cloud's wedding when Zack's touches on his bare chest had left him breathless.

There had been bad times too. The day the two of them broke up. He'd come into the bar crying, embarrassed that everyone was looking at him. But the next time he walked through those doors, all had been forgiven.

Vanitas shifts closer to him, jarring him out of reminiscing. "Every memory you've been thrown into has been terrible," he says. "What's the worst memory you have of this place?"

"I don't kno-"

Ven cuts himself off with a small gasp. His worst memory, his most terrible nightmare, hadn't been in the bar. It had been just outside.

Ven stands, almost tripping in his haste.

"Ven?" Vanitas asks, rising as well. Ven can only stare at him wide eyed. Vanitas reaches out a hand towards him, but Ven spins around and sprints from the bar, shoving tables and chairs out of the way.

"Ven!" Vanitas shouts, but Ven's already out the door.

Outside, the first district of Traverse Town is as eerily quiet as the bar had been. Ven races for the side alley off of Cid's shop and rounds the corner at full speed only to pull up short. The imposter Vanitas is crouched halfway down the alley. At his feet is a pool of blood and a body.

Zack.

"Stop!" Ven screams and jumps into action again. He grabs the imposter by the shoulders and throws him back. Dropping down beside Zack, Ven's hands accidentally touch the sticky blood. His fingers leave blood stains on Zack's face as he cups his cold cheeks. "Zack," he murmurs, his voice thick. There is no spark of life in Zack's eyes. "Say something, please…"

"You're too late." Behind him, the imposter Vanitas rises to his feet. His face is covered with the black mask, but there is a smugness to his voice. "You've lost him forever."

Squeezing his eyes shut as tears start to well up, Ven shakes his head. "No. It can't…" he says, his voice trembling. But he doesn't know what happened to Zack after he left his bleeding out in this alley. If Zack had lived, wouldn't he have come save him by now from this prison of white walls and terrible memories?

A tear rolls down his face as he opens his eyes. Looking past the imposter, Ven sees Vanitas has appeared at the entrance to the alley. Vanitas looks on with his mouth slightly open and his eyebrows drawn together.

"I know you're not the real Vanitas," Ven says to the imposter, sticking to what he knows is real. He rises to his feet and stares into his reflection in the mask. He looks afraid, broken.

The imposter shrugs and the black mask fades away like it had been made of smoke. Blond hair tumbles out and to Ven's surprise it's a girl hiding behind the disguise. She's pretty and only fifteen, but her eyes are cold like she has seen enough evil for a lifetime.

"I might not be the real Vanitas, but he really did this," the imposter says. She gestures to Zack's body, but Ven turns his head the other way. "He killed your Zack. Just for fun."

Ven meets Vanitas eye. He hasn't moved from his spot at the entrance to the alley and at Ven's glance, he looks away.

"It's time to stop running, Ven," the girl says. She steps closer and touches Ven's cheek. "There is no one left to run to."

Ven slaps her hand away and she laughs. "You can't save yourself, can you?" She says, smiling. "You've always needed someone else to do that. But look what happens to the people who try."

She grabs Ven's head and forces him to look at Zack. Her grip is strong and seeing Zack's eyes glazed over takes all the fight out of Ven.

"They die," the girl says, her grip tightening. "Zack, Terra, Aqua, Master Eraqus. All dead. All because of you." She let's go of Ven and he stumbles.

He wrenches his eyes away from Zack and sees the girl summon a dark corridor. She pauses on the threshold, looking back.

"How can you think you're worth saving?" she says, shaking her head in disgust. A moment later the dark corridor swallows her up.

As the portal fades, Ven feels a touch on his shoulder. "Ven," Vanitas says in a soft voice.

Ven turns on Vanitas and shoves him in the chest. "Make it stop!" He shouts, tears caught in the corners of his eyes finally fall. "You said none of this was real!"

"I…" Vanitas is at a loss for words and with an angry shout, Ven shoves him again.

"Make this disappear like the other memories!"

Ven turns back to Zack's body. He raises a hand to his quivering lips and drops to his knees.

"I...I can't," Vanitas confesses, approaching Ven slowly. "We left… and I don't know what happened here either. If Zack-" He stops himself and kneels down next to Ven, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know if I killed-"

Ven throws Vantias' hand off his shoulder and Vanitas falls back. "Just go away!" He shouts and Vanitas slides back on the ground away from him.

"Ven, I'm sorry," he starts to say, but Ven cuts him off.

"Just-" Ven takes a shuddering breath. "Just leave me alone, please." Smoothing a hand over Zack's hair, Ven leans over Zack's still body. Tears drip from his cheeks onto Zack's. With a shaking hand, Ven closes Zack's eyes, bending down to press a kiss on Zack's forehead.

A shuddering sob escapes his lips as he pulls away and he collapses back against a nearby crate, twisting away so he doesn't have to see Zack like this.

With quiet footsteps, Vanitas backs away. He doesn't leave the alley, but chooses a crate a few steps away to sit on.

Ven doesn't have the energy to yell at him again. Drawing his knees to his chest, he let his head drop onto them as he wrapped his arms around himself. He doesn't speak and neither does Vanitas.

The silence of the alley is broken only by the sounds of sobs Ven tries to swallow.

LightzMusic22: tbh Namine evil mastermind is my new favorite character to write

micaelaann. cruz: Boom! Surprise! It's Vani!

Amestri: Evil Namine...helpful Vanitas...sometimes I wonder how I ended up here

I'm back! College is once again in full swing and I didn't have a chance to even look at this story in over a week. So ta-da! It's only one scene! One short, depressing scene, but an awesome and pivotal one too.

My writing schedule this semester is probably going to be "writing schedule? what writing schedule?" So hang in there with me. I've got lots planned to keep you all on your toes. Some of it's good. Most is angsty. You know, the usual :)