A/N: Playing KH III made me want to update this. Poor Vanitas. And poor Kairi. And poor Aqua. On the bright side, almost everyone got their happy ending, so I'm happy about that

Also, for the record, I'm still mostly convinced Vanitas was in Sora until DDD. Young Xehanort explicitly stated Sora's wary was a prison and Vanitas showed up right after he said it and Vanitas only comes back afterwards? Nope, nope, Van was totally in there. I shan't be convinced otherwise.

Published: 2/06/2018

Warnings: Vague KH III spoilers in the form of dreams

Chapter 11

Nightmares

Sleep was a commodity that Vanitas did not get often. To say he was in constant pain was an understatement. True, he now had a more solid for, but beneath the skin Vanitas' flesh practically boiled, bubbling just below the surface. Trying to get comfortable was an utter pain, so, when Vanitas finally managed it, he'd usually sleep like a babe.

Anyone who disturbed said sleep would be Punished with a capital P. This included Xehanort, who had learned the hard way that trying to get his apprentice to rise was the most likely way to get attacked by a horde of rampaging Unversed.

So, long story short, Vanitas did not like getting his sleep disturbed since he so rarely got it. Unfortunately, his precious commodity was cut short and Vanitas couldn't even do anything about it properly because a nightmare, of all things, had startled him awake and how utterly pathetic was it that he was having one of those again?

A nightmare and, perhaps, something more.

Vanitas' eyes snapped open as he shot up with a hiss.

Wha- what? What was that? Vanitas' hand rose of its own volition, gripping painfully at his chest. The pain coursing through him felt too real, far too real to come from a nightmare, regardless of what Vanitas knew to be true. It felt real and it hurt!

Hurt.

It hurt… It hurt, it hurt, it hurt! Vanitas wasn't even sure why he was hurting, why his heart was crying out like this to him. He hadn't… He hadn't felt this much pain, so sharply and hotly, since those early days when he kept slaying Unversed so they wouldn't harm Ventus' comatose form.

And that little shit claimed Vanitas had never done anything for him. Hmph. Ventus was a brat. A forgetful brat with memory problems worse than Dory the fish.

Okay. Vanitas was exaggerating a bit. Even Ventus wasn't that bad.

Oh wait. Vanitas took that back. So took that back. Ventus had literally forgotten he'd fought in a KEYBLADE WAR. Ventus had forgotten and Vanitas alone had to carry the horrors of the atrocity that had birthed him because Ventus was an ignorant little piece of-

"Shadow? Shadow, what's wrong?"

Vanitas blinked.

Somehow, Sora had made his way into Vanitas' bedroom without Vanitas noticing. Considering said bedroom was conjured by Vanitas' inside Sora's head, this was not surprising. Still. If Vanitas was bad at being woken up early, Sora came to a close second, complete with raining lightning down on Vanitas and Ventus once when they'd awoken him early.

Regardless of being woken, Sora didn't look angry or mad. No. The eight year old was staring at Vanitas in complete and utter concern and love and no one had ever looked at him like that and it did things, annoying things, to that twisted organ that pumped Vanitas' blood day in and day out and- and- and...

This boy was far too precious for this world, Vanitas decided. Maybe Sora was a Princess of Heart. True, they weren't supposed to be male, but maybe Sora threw a wrench in that operation just because he wanted to.

An innocent light that Vanitas would not burden with his problems. His nonexistent problems. It was all in his head anyways, so it hardly mattered.

"It's nothing, Sky. Go back to sleep." Vanitas told the boy.

Sora frowned. Before Vanitas knew what was happening, he had a lap full of Sora who was glaring at him while his hands rose to grip at Vanitas' bare shoulders.

"You aren't nothin' so stop pretending you are! You matter!" the child shook him.

Vanitas blinked rather stupidly. In other words, he impersonated Ventus for a full ten seconds before reaffirming himself.

Vanitas narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"You are a child and I won't place my problems on your shoulders." Vanitas said firmly. Or anyone's shoulders, really. Vanitas was content to deal with his own problems, as he always had and he wasn't about to change.

Sora rolled his eyes.

"We are literally the exact same age," the boy reminded Vanitas.

…

Ah. True. Very weird considering Vanitas was a muscular teenager and Sora was a literal bouncing child, but true.

"If you tell me about your nightmare, I'll tell you mine." Sora bargained.

Vanitas blinked. He was unaware Sora had nightmares. How was beyond him since he literally lived here, but apparently he had in fact missed it. Still…

"Your bartering skills need work, kiddo." Vanitas told Sora.

Sora sniffed.

"Tell me or I'm summoning Ventus." Sora threatened in an act of utter betrayal.

Vanitas took it back. Sora was no Princess of Light. He was a Scion of Darkness.

"I've already been summoned and both of you are loud."

Vanitas groaned as Ventus appeared out of thin air beside him, only to flop down face first onto the bed, close his eyes, and snore.

"This is not sleepover night." Vanitas twitched.

Ventus opened a single eye to stare at him.

"It is now. 'Sides, you're warm and I was cold and I'm not leaving and you can't stop me so shuddup and be nice about it."

Sometimes, Vanitas was surprised what four years of being stuck together in an enclosed space had done to them. He never thought the day he'd get along with Forgeti McGetisum would arrive, but it had. Ventus only yelled at him about his misdeeds with Xehanort every other week now, which was a step in the 'no more headaches' direction, so Vanitas was all for it.

"Shadow," an insistent hand slapped lightly at Vanitas' cheek. Looking up, he gazed into Sora's concerned gaze. "It's not nothin' and I'm not leaving you alone."

Vanitas opened his mouth.

"You might as well spill," Ventus yawned, "you were projecting so much pain that even I felt it."

Holy crap, if even Ventus had noticed then Vanitas definitely needed to get a handle on his emotions. Ventus was slower than molasses.

(Okay, okay, so Vanitas still wasn't over Ventus' 'at least I have some' line and had been mentally berating the other for years over it. It had been mean and unnecessary and honest if Vanitas was willing to admit, but cruel all the less)

Vanitas turned to Sora. The child's determination had not once waived. Vanitas sighed. Whatever. He'd speak. It was stupid anyways. Once Sora realized that, he'd stop pestering Vanitas and leave him alone.

"I dreamed… I dreamed I was fighting an older you. You were attacking me and Ventus was attacking me and the pair of you struck me down. One of you shattered half my helmet and, as I stood there fading, we talked." Vanitas explained. Ventus sat up slightly, curious. Sora was paying rapt attention, unusual for the boy. "I… I told the pair of you that I was darkness. That I chose that, that it's all I wanted. I stood there, ranting to the two of you that you were my brothers and that I was standing beside you by standing in your shadows and… You two just… You two just let me." Vanitas winced at how pathetic he sounded, even to himself. "Well, Ventus just let me." Vanitas corrected. "Apathetic little brat just shrugged, but you, Sora? You yelled at me. Yelled, but not much else. You let me fade and- okay, this is stupid, it was just a dream and-"

Vanitas was interrupted by arms wrapping around him as Sora dug his head into the crook of Vanitas' neck. Vanitas froze.

"Never… I'd never leave you to drown, Shadow. Never." Sora promised. "Older me wouldn't either. Maybe he couldn't do anything then, but he'd never forget an' he'd find you and he'd save you."

Vanitas felt a part of him break.

It… It hurt again. Gods, it hurt so much. It hurt, but… At the same time… There. Something more. Something different. Behind the red hot phasing through him was a light, bright and pure and… And Vanitas latched on.

It made the numbness go away. It cooled at the flames, cooled at the fire. It… Hope. It was hope.

Great. Vanitas had spent far too long with the white hats. He was starting to sound cheesy.

A hand landed on Vanitas' free shoulder. Looking to the side, he stared at Ventus.

"Van… I know we don't get along most of the time, but I wouldn't abandon you either. You know that, right?"

Vanitas swallowed.

He finally got it. He finally understood. He understood what had hurt so much, what had made him feel so weak, so pathetically weak. What made him feel terrified.

He was scared of falling back into the dark. He was scared of drowning in it, alone, with no one bothering to care enough to drag him out of it, even as he pleaded for it.

No. Not plead. Vanitas would never plead. He was far too proud for that. He'd go down with a malicious smirk on his face, cackling on the outside even as he broke on the inside.

"Do you understand?" Ventus repeated. "I'm not leaving you. I'll admit, I was annoyed at first, and there's still a lot I don't get, but I do understand that you aren't anywhere near as bad as I first assumed- and I'm sorry I never reached out to you before. I should have."

Vanitas snorted. Unfortunately, it came out far more choked than he would have liked.

"If you had, I'd have stabbed you." Vanitas reminded.

Ventus laughed. Not a sane reaction to being threatened with bodily harm but hey, Vanitas had come from Ventus and, frankly, he had to his insanity from somewhere.

Sora leaned back.

"Okay, my turn." the eight year old proclaimed. Vanitas blinked. Erm. What? "I dreamed me, Riku, and Kairi were in a big fight. Kairi hadn't been in a fight before but for some reason we decided she should be in a warzone for her first real fight and she got captured by this creepy baldly and- and- and he broke her into pieces and it was scary!" Sora wailed before burying himself back into Vanitas shoulder.

Wha- what?

Vanitas blinked up at Ventus over Sora's shoulder. The other boy sat up, wide eyed.

"Man… Now I feel kinda bad about my dream." Ventus scratched the back of his neck.

Still sniffing, eyes red and puffy, Sora pulled back before looking at Ventus.

"Why? What happened in your dream?"

"I dreamed Xehanort had me and Aqua tied up in chains and Terra showed up, broke out of his control, and put an all holy beat down on Xehanort with your help." Ventus admitted.

"... Why do you get the good dreams?" Vanitas whined before going back to comforting Sora who had, to Vanitas pleasant surprise, giggled madly at Ventus' dream before demanding to hear more.

Weird, weird dreams.

As Vanitas was finally dozing off again, his eyes snapped back open as a cool realization hit him.

Old creepy baldy…

Vanitas glanced down at Sora snoring away between him and Ventus(the kid managed to sleep inside his own head while he was already asleep. Vanitas could only aspire to have that kind of sleeping skill).

Sora had described Xehanort. As far as he knew, while he and Ventus had mentioned Xehanort before, there was no reason Sora should know anything about the old coot. So, the question then became… How did Sora know anything about the old man?

Just how real has those dreams been?

Vanitas groaned. Nope. Nope. Noooo. He was wayyy too tired to deal with this shit. He'd worry about it when he woke up. Nope, nope, nope, bedtime, now.