Chapter 12: Other Worlds
Vanitas held the delicate flower between two fingers, rolling its stem back and forth. Xehanort's telepathy persisted in bothering him that day. Perhaps it was because he'd wandered too far out of bounds.
"What do you want?" Vanitas asked, diminishing his black mask.
"Vanitas…where are you?" Xehanort's voice echoed in his head.
"I'm out, exploring worlds, just like you told me."
"It seems you've wandered too far out of bounds," said Xehanort. "What world are you on, and how did you get there?"
"Beats me. And how do ya think? I used a Corridor…"
"Impossible. The place you're in doesn't have a Lane Between that reaches there. Unless the Corridors have been acting up again…"
"Who knows. I'll see you when it's done."
Vanitas produced a magic fire, burning the flower in his grasp. He stood up and leaped off the cliff, descending deeper into the war-torn jungle. On his way down, he saw various cliffs and trees, as well as an ancient Mayan ruin in the distance. Then, he noticed a young woman scaling the cliff's side with a pickaxe.
"Crap…" He wasn't supposed to be seen here.
Upon closer inspection, the woman had a bow and arrow fastened around her torso, and, judging by all the dirt, sweat, and blood on her body, she must've been having a rough time.
The girl must've heard Vanitas; turning around she nearly jumped off the wall in shock of seeing him. Their eyes met briefly as they passed one another, intrusive yellow boring into defensive brown.
"Great. Now I have to kill her."
He dug his Keyblade into the rock wall, slowing his descent into a bumpy halt. Immediately, he began climbing after her, using his superhuman strength to catch up in leaps and bounds.
The woman gasped and drew a handgun. "Stay back!"
"Nothing personal," Vanitas called back, admittedly happy to cause someone fear.
The woman fired downward multiple times; Vanitas dodged them all, finally coming in arm's length of the gun-toting mountain climber. In one swift motion, he disarmed and pulled her from the wall, opting to hold her precariously by the wrist.
Horrified by the boy's strength, the woman shrieked, "What are you?!"
"Wow…" Vanitas looked her up and down. He wasn't expecting such beauty in a place like this.
The woman landed atop the cliff with a loud thud, courtesy of Vanitas's throwing arm. The raven-haired teen soon followed her, though he landed gracefully on his feet. Scooching backward, the woman asked in a British accent, "You're not from here, are you?"
Vanitas just remembered he didn't have his mask on.
"Are you…just a boy?" she asked.
"Hmph." Without warning, he summoned a ring of fire around the woman. Giving an excruciating amount of thought to his next act, he tightly gripped his Keyblade and asked, "You gotta name?"
"Lara," she replied breathlessly.
"You never saw me, Lara."
With that, he turned around and dove off the cliff. While falling upside down, he reasoned with himself, "Wait. Maybe I should follow her."
Vanitas returned to the top of the cliff. This time, he was standing on the wrong end of a bow and arrow.
"Nothing personal," Lara stated before shooting one off.
"Hey!" Vanitas yelped, swiftly catching the arrow before it pierced him. "I let you live, and you show your thanks by shooting me—whoa!"
Lara didn't wait for Vanitas's response; she ran up and kicked him in the chest, knocking the strange boy off the cliff.
-X-
Meanwhile, Master Xehanort was hard at work trying to sense Vanitas's location. Hammering his fist on the table at McDonald's, he growled, "Foolish boy! He could be destroyed if he wanders too far, or worse…he could become Self-Aware."
