AN: Good old family conflict. I'm currently going through one know and believe me people. It is not easy on the soul. Please read and review, as always constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

BTW, did the readers like the special chapter? Something happened to fanfiction over the new year period so I couldn't view what was going on with my stories…gave me heart attack as well. Like WTH.

Also, a big Thank you to The Reader II for favoriting and alerting my story. Once again POWER!

Disclaimer: I do not and will not own KH and Legend of Zelda, the most I can do is come up with these stories.

Chapter 24: Conflict of the heart

The knight's vacation came and went in a flash. Stories were swapped around the table: Impa and Sheikha visited their village deep in the mountains. Ashei trekked back to Snowpeak and spent her time snowboarding with her family and the abominable snow-creatures Yeto and Yeta. As for Auru, he together with his family and Shad decided to view the Gerudo Kingdom ruins. Link took Zack to Ordon village and spent a couple of days herding goats, goofing off with the local children and fishing. Members of the House of Kingdom, along with Aqua retreated to their native worlds for the duration of the break. Vanitas declined to speak about how their days went, however, it was apparent something had happened. The twins looked far from refreshed, to the keen observer, they looked downright unhappy. Aqua too appeared uneasy. And amongst all of this, no-one knew what prince Sora was up to.

A loud yawn broke the cordial silence surrounding the knights.

"What do we do now?" Zack warbled, he got up, gave another yawn and stretched.

"I wasn't given any assignments." Impa replied.

"Can't you issue on of your own yeah? You're the leader now" Ashei spoke.

"Temporary leader" came the soft reply "I do not have authority to do as I please"

Hearing this, Link sunk low in his seat; he pulled his hat in an effort to cover his embarrassed face.

The second knight sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Since we have nothing to do, I propose training" she stated "for the others, I advise recon missions, however if you feel like declining, you are free to do so. Dismissed."

At first, none of the knights moved, then slowly Vanitas left first and Impa followed him. Aqua, Zack and Link huddled together and kept on chatting till the room emptied out except for them. Getting up, the Hylian announced that he had some training to do and after smiling widely at the duo, he too departed to the castle courtyard.

Link wiped sweat from his brow, training with the ball and chain was truly tiring and he missed the twin dragon's presence as well. Despite the fact that they were not allowed to freely mingle with him, Roxas and Ventus both took their time and dropped by whenever he was busy training in the courtyard. They simply sat on a low stone wall and traded jokes or made conversation and from some of the words Link managed to overhear, their main topic centered on Sora. His absence was affecting them quite a lot.

Focusing on a target before him, the tenth knight twirled his weapon above his head and lashed it out expertly. The spiky sphere was abruptly hurled back before it struck the wooden doll and Link caught it without injuring himself. Satisfied with his handling of the deadly metal ball, he braced himself and repeated the above training, however, this time his concentration was broken by the angry mutterings of familiar voices. Turning around, he let the weapon crash into the dummy as he observed Ventus briskly walking away from a fuming Roxas.

The elder twin's visage resembled Vanitas' expression. Dark and intimidating.

Striding up to Link with a happy grin plastered on his face Ven greeted:

"Hello Link"

The older knight greeted back and ruffled Ven's hair; thereafter he looked at Roxas who grudgingly mumbled an incoherent greeting.

"Don't worry about Roxas" the younger twin placated "he's just mad because he couldn't see his friend Axel over the holidays and also…big brother Sora told us not to see you anymore" he mournfully finished.

"Exactly Ven, let's leave, I don't want to get into any more troub-"

"But he is not here" Ventus whined.

Roxas drew his hands into fists and felt nails biting into his skin. A feeling of restlessness descended on him, he felt like he was being watched ever since he stepped into Destiny Islands. Explaining all of this to his younger brother will prove to be futile. He was all sunshine and rainbows till the truth smacked him hard in the face. Right now, he wanted to get away from the castle, an enraged Sora was the last thing he wanted to encounter, alas, Ven insisted on hanging around the courtyard where it was extremely easy for someone to spy them.

Roughly grabbing Ven's hand, he proceeded to forcibly haul him away; unfortunately the boy yanked his hand out and ran in the opposite direction.

"Ventus" Roxas hissed "get back here…NOW!"

On the receiving end, both his brother and Link flinched. It was uncharacteristic for Roxas to be this heated up.

Rising up to Roxas' inexplicable attitude, Ventus yelled at him:

"Stay away from me, you've been acting weird ever since we went home, it burns when you touch me."

Hearing this Roxas reeled and blanked out.

Facing Link, Ventus related the events taking place in Destiny Islands. The holidays had begun with a festive air but quickly morphed into a chaotic one. Vanitas would leave the house early every morning and if he was asked where he went, he simply gave vague answers. Slightly suspicious of his elder brother's motives, Roxas formulated a mischievous plan consisting of tailing him and ruining any undercover mission he happened to be assigned to. One morning they both set off determinedly only to be lost in the world between worlds. How Roxas managed to return both of them home, was a question Ventus asked one too many times. Like Vanitas he declined to comment and upon reaching to clap his younger twins back, a searing pain shot through Ven's body, as he recoiled, he saw the older twin's hand was covered in dark energy.

The incident was imprinted in his mind. As much as he wanted to forget it, each time they held hands, his palms would burn like fire.

He wondered if Roxas was doing it deliberately. The mere thought of it hurt.

Link was at a loss for words. Sure he understood Ven's predicament however, it was not his place to instruct the young noble on what to do. Besides, his older brother was in shock. Treading over to him, he gently touched his shoulder; Roxas' response was to instantaneously launch himself towards Ventus.

"Get away from me, I know you are using the powers of darkness" Ventus screamed.

This time, Roxas and Link froze. The statement was a grave accusation.

"Calm down Ven, your brother only wants the best for you" Link attempted to diffuse the situation.

"No he does not, Roxas likes getting himself into trouble and it's one of the reasons why he can use two key-blades instead of one. And he got turned into a Nobody by those organization members Sora defeated." Ventus panted, his eyes were dilated with fear as he rambled on "Roxas can use both darkness and light, he chooses not to utilize the darkness because it gives the members of our house a bad reputation."

Ven's words washed over the Hylian like a tidal wave, he had no idea what the boy was shouting about although it sounded serious. And for Roxas, the youngster stood there and glared at his brother with hate.

"Ventus" Link spoke mildly "It's not nice to call your brother a nobody."

You're totally missing the point Link.

"He's still one of them" the younger twin prattled on, ignoring the older knight "I bet our big brothers don't know you can control those…those Samurai nobodies right…I know, you-"

The rest of the sentence was cut off by a vicious blow to his face courtesy of Roxas. Ven staggered back with a dumbfounded look and then quickly recovering from his apparent astonishment, he too struck his brother across the jaw and was rewarded by Roxas punching him brutally in the gut. Ventus wheezed a couple of times, crouched low and tackled his twin to the ground where they rolled around, kicking, screaming and throwing up dust.

"STOP IT YOU TWO" Link bellowed, trying in vain to detangle the scuffling nobles.

They paused on hearing his voice, Roxas gripped Ven by his shirt while the latter clutched his brother's neck, the duo simultaneously frowned at the tenth knight and in unison screeched:

"Shut up!"

Amidst thumps, shrieks and growls, Link picked up snippets of the continuing argument the twins were having. It seems Ventus thought his brother had turned rogue whilst Roxas insisted he had not.

"You…you used them to take us out of the world…in between worlds…" rasped Ven "nobodies…you can summon nobodies…not even Vanitas can do…" he punctuated his sentence with a kick.

"LISTEN! Yes I can summon them. I did it to get us out. I was desperate because it is really dangerous to be stuck in between worlds. STOP IT!" Roxas clawed the hand that was slowly putting pressure on his throat "Sorry, I didn't know…it would hurt you. I'M Sorry Ven. Owww" he moaned as his brother drove a fist into his head

"Stopga" droned a voice and the twins froze in time. Roxas was curled up miserably on the floor and Ventus in an action of trying to hit him, anger and pain stamped on his visage.

Sora stood before the petrified duo and inspected them carefully. They were bleeding in several places. One had a bloody nose and a swollen lip while the other sported a red mark around his throat. The fight had been extremely serious. For as long as he'd known them, his twin brothers would never, ever brawl like this. Sure the occasional punching and kicking was normal but blood, no, they had never drawn blood. Briefly scanning Link, he motioned to the knight to stand next to him. The command was promptly obeyed

"What happened" questioned Sora

"They were arguing at first and it turned out like this."

"…I see. I suppose you tried to stop them. From the looks of it, they did not heed you."

"Yes sir. I apologize for not being able to do anything" Link bowed.

As Stopga's time ran out and the duo unfroze the first knight kneeled before them and demanded in a hushed tone:

"I want an explanation, why are you two acting like this?"

Seeing Sora standing there, Ven immediately ran over, grabbed his elder brother in a steel grip and started bawling his eyes out. He began to explain the happenings leading to the squabble when a multitude of Samurai nobodies popped up, the creatures unsheathed their swords and instead of attacking the knights, they grouped together; surged towards Roxas and bowed down to him.

"Go…go AWAY. LEAVE ME ALONE!" Roxas flailed and howled.

A storm of thundaga disintegrated the nobodies. Hoisting Ventus on to his back, the prince walked towards Roxas and sat down next to him, thereafter he pulled Ven on to his lap and attempted to do the same to the shell-shocked twin, only to have a burning pain shoot through his hand. Ignoring the sting, he vigorously dragged an unwilling Roxas next to him.

"Link" Sora commanded "make sure no-one enters the courtyard."

The knight saluted and went to guard the entry.

Under the blue sky, three siblings sat peacefully. After considerable time had passed the youngest member of the House of Kingdom begun snoring peacefully, heaving a sigh, the eldest turned towards Roxas and observed him drawing circles in the dirt.

"So…it seems you have some rather unique abilities?"

"Ventus hates me" replied the boy.

Sora closed his eyes, and willed the pain to numb; he was not going to let his sweet little brother turn out to be like Vanitas.

"The powers of darkness are not a bad thing Roxas, if you balance it out with light, it makes a formidable combination. Stop trying to suppress it, you will eventually be devoured."

"He says I hurt him…" the blonde whispered "when I use darkness, I hurt him…that is why I keep it hidden. I don't understand why Vanitas can use darkness and not hurt anyone. Why?" he sniffed.

"Because instead of harming us Vanitas gets hurt in the process, it is the reason why he keeps his distance." Sora answered.

"…Oh…I guess it must be really painful and annoying to be with us."

The conversation was not going the way the first knight expected.

"No Roxas we are all different, however this does not mean we don't love and respect each other. What's stopping Vanitas from leaving our home huh? Tell me" he gently urged.

"…I dunno"

"We're his family and despite him denying it, there is no question that he loves his brothers very much even if…even if we are painful to be around. Do you understand? Once Ven calms down, everything will go back to normal, you'll see."

"No…" Roxas muttered wiping away stray tears.

"Hmm?"

"Ven and I won't be the same anymore. He'll forever be afraid to approach me."

At these words, Sora cast a glance at Ventus who was currently fast asleep and drooling on his clothes. He shook the boy awake. Ven rubbed his eyes and stared at Roxas. Sliding off his brother's lap, he sat on the bare ground and nervously picked his fingers. The prince rose, dusted his clothes and smiled at them.

"Ven, Roxas, learn to accept each other's differences okay? Once you do, you'll find holding Roxas' hand does not hurt an-" something sharp stabbed him in the back and on looking down he saw a dark, swirling vortex in place of his chest. A torrent of monsters and dark creatures spewed forth, the force of it driving him backwards. Through his hazy vision, he witnessed his younger brothers spring up from the dirt, pupils wide with terror and perhaps disbelief. A thousand thoughts churned in his mind as he lurched rearwards and fell to the floor. His eyes remained open and unblinking.

"Ganondorf…WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Roared the twins and in tandem materialized their key-blade in flashes of light.

The villain merely laughed and vanished from the scene.

"WAIT YOU-" Roxas shrieked

"Roxas, we need to take care of the monsters first and get big brother out of here."

The enraged twin calmed down a bit.

"Right" he stated "let's get Sora out of here." He offered a lopsided grin to Ven.

Somewhere in the vast world of Kingdom Hearts, a bald Xehanort cackled horribly, the sound of his laughter shattered a window in the already decrepit room he was sitting in.

"My plan is proceeding perfectly" he hoarsely said "breaking the bond was easy, all I did was to stimulate the darkness in Roxas and this is the result!" a dramatic arm gesture followed his self-praise.

"And now with Sora gone, perfect, I can finally undertake the completion of Kingdom Hearts"

On the other end of the room, Ganondorf paid scant attention to his co-conspirator. He did not even know what this 'Kingdom Hearts' was.

"Does this mean I can finally get rid of Link?" he harshly questioned.

"Heh. Do what pleases you" smirked Xehanort "my student will return to me shortly therefore I will have no need of you"