.

CHAPTER 25: VANITAS

Kedrex huh? Talk about an interesting name. Then again, who am to talk? "So, Kedrex," I spoke, "what exactly can you tell us about the dark realm?"

"Pretty much everything there is or isn't to tell," he answered. While we walked he didn't even turn his head to face us as he talked. While he walked ahead of us I observed his attire. His style was very similar to my own, but without any symbols on his, and he had his keyblade sheathed on his back. We walked past many book shelves along the way. Each of them had a giant letter on them, Z through N. We passed up to the next floor where the letters were organized from M to A.

"So how come you're carrying your keyblade on your back? Why not send it away for later?"

He actually stopped and turned his head this time with a grin plastered on his face. "Why be like every other keyblader? Every master does that, and it's boring. By carrying mine on my back, I stand out more as a slightly more unique keyblade master. As if being left handed wasn't enough." Left handed? That's right. Not many keybladers are left handed, and the ones that are usually have unique fighting styles. Maybe he'd be a good- "Don't even think about it Vanitas. I'm not gonna fight you." Wait, how did he know what I was thinking? "You have a bad habit of challenging people with power that's either equal or greater than your own." He then raised his right arm and pulled the sleave to reveal a familiar symbol. The symbol of keybladers from the land of departure. Ventus wore the same symbol over his chest. Only Kedrex's was a black tattoo.

"What's that mark on your arm," Xion asked.

"This is the mark of the guardians. We adopted the symbol from the land of departure, where many keybladers trained in the past. Sadly that land is lost to all of us. The other guardians have tattoos like this, but in different colors. Meaning basically, I'd be too much for you Vanitas."

I wasn't convinced. The guy didn't look much older than myself, plus there was no way he could really be as strong as me. At least I thought so, until he suddenly vanished right in front of me. "Where'd he go?" My question was answered by someone tapping me on my shoulder. I turned around to see him smirking at me. "How did you-"

"Each guardian has two unique abilities that help us in battle. They go far beyond the abilities of normal master powers. Mine are extreme speed and strength." He's got that kind of power? Guardians must be tough if they have this kind of power.

This started to make me think. Maybe we could convince him to help us. "Hey Kedrex. Since you seem to have a mass knowledge as well as such great power-"

"No." His smirk vanished into a serious frown. Was he just gonna keep interrupting me? "As much as I'd like to help you, I can't leave this place. That mark on my arm does more than show my status as guardian, it also prevents me from moving too far from the library. The only conditions that allow me to leave are if sensitive documents are stolen, or if it's the only way to secure the library's safety, or when I finally pass the mantle of guardian to someone else. Each outcome is as unlikely as the next."

"Dude, that sucks," I commented. I really thought he could be of use to us. "Anyway, back to the task at hand. The dark realm. We need a way out of the dark realm once we enter, and we're not even sure how we got out the first time." He looked like he was pondering over my problem.

"Well that's a fairly long explanation. The shortest version is that you have to be a being balanced in light and darkness." Oh well that explains everything! "Let me put it this way. If some doesn't have a pure balance of light and darkness within you, then it's impossible to escape. And I mean a 50-50 light and dark balance."

"That's why Vani couldn't escape," Xion guessed aloud.

"Not just him, but you as well." And now both Xion and I were confused. "Xion, the reason why Roxas was being drained was because he fit this profile of balance. You on the other hand are made entirely out of light based memories. Since you have your connection with Sora and no darkness of your own to balance yourself out, you took the only source you could find, Roxas. As a result, you drained his darkness, weakening him in the process."

"So why isn't Vanitas being effected like Roxas?"

"Because I'm in the same box as you," I concluded. It was starting to make sense. "You weren't siphoning my powers. You were exchanging them. Trading half of my darkness, for half of your light."

"Give the man a prize," Kedrex cheered. "He's figured it out."

"What about the corridor of light we saw? Why did it wait 3 weeks to show up then?"

"Because neither of you had actually fully balanced out your light and darkness. Riku had though."

How in the world does he know all this? It made absolutely no sense. "How much of history do these books record," I asked.

"Well, all of it. The volumes vary on age of the person. For example, you, Vanitas,are currently working on your seventeenth volume. Xion would be on her second. I myself am working on my nineteenth. These volumes only cease to be written once someone's life has ended."

"And Aqua's story," I asked.

"Look at the book shelf behind you." I turned to see the shelf with the letter A on it. In the middle I noticed a very familiar name on many books, 'AQUA'. "Her story continues to be written, even now. When Xehanort took Terra's body as a vessel, he and Aqua battled one another. During the fight a portal into the deepest reaches of the dark realm, which he fell through. He would've stayed there if Aqua had not risked her life to save Terra. She took his place in the dark realm." My guilt began to eat away at me. If I hadn't helped Xehanort in the first place things could've turned out much different. "Which reminds me, when you go to save Aqua, you should bring plenty of food and fresh water. Unlike you she hasn't found food in the last ten years."

"I have a question," Xion spoke up. "Vani and I. You said we were siphoning darkness and light from each other until we balanced out. Does this mean that we're both capable of escaping the dark realm now?"

"Well, yes. At least you are now. During the past month Vanitas spent so much time by you that the exchange was completed. This is why, when you were imprisoned by Clu, you were un able to summon your keyblade. In the dark realm you were unable of losing any light, so when you left you were still imbalanced. You two continued to balance each other out, it just took longer than it would've if you were to have stayed in the dark realm."

"How did we ended up in Radiant Garden after leaving the dark realm? When Riku and Sora left they ended up back on their island. So why didn't we go there too?"

"The corridor of light that opened was very unique. It was designed to take a person to the world they felt the most attachment to. For Sora and Riku, the islands fit that description. For Vanitas, that was Radiant Garden. You would've been sent to Twilight Town if you and Vanitas hadn't been holding hands when he passed through."

"How exactly do you know all of this?"

"When I saw that you two were coming, I read through the most recent volumes of you two. After all, I did have two hours to kill while I waited for you. I normally don't read other people's volumes unless they're approaching the library. I see it as an invasion of privacy."

I had no reason to doubt him. So far everything he said came with proof and made complete sense. Wait. Books of everyone in this part of the universe are kept here, including Xehanort. "Kedrex, can I see one of these books?" He shook his head, answering no to my question. "But, why?"

"I'm sorry, but it's forbidden. Only the guardians are aloud access to those particular books. I can't just let you look at them while you're near me." I wanted to be mad, but he had a job to do and I couldn't be mad at him for it. "So while Xion and go look at the info on the dark realm that you specifically need, don't you dare go looking at Xehanort's most recent volumes." He walked away with a soft smile on his face, and Xion followed him. Could he be anymore obvious?

As soon as he was gone I rushed back to the X section. Xehanort's 65th volume. I opened it up and began reading the most recent entry. From what I could tell, the volume was from Xehanort's perspective. Vanitas is becoming a problem now. He won't willingly be a part of this now. So long as he has something worth fighting for, like that unusual girl, he'll defy me to the very end. I must remove this distraction or find a way to make him accept. He was not supposed to gain an attachment to something. Should he give into despair, he will undoubtedly be distracted enough to be made into a vessel. Finding out that he was alive, after all this time, was quite a surprise. There's no need to go after Sora anymore.

I could feel my blood boiling at this point. I knew exactly what he meant by throwing me into despair. Killing Xion. But this Xion that he is so infatuated with, who is she? None of the other seekers seem to know anything about her. She is an anomaly. The only way to know anything about her is to go to the library of X. It will have all the information I'll need about her. For so many years I have searched for anything that could lead me to the library, and finally I have found a way. I do feel sorry for the young keyblader I had to torture, but it was necessary to find the location of the library. In fact I can see it right now. At long last I have found-

I immediately dropped the book and looked out a nearby window to the night sky. What I saw looked like a lit getting bigger, or actually closer. He was coming. I ran back up the stairs to find Kedrex and Xion. "Guys," I screamed as I ran. I got up to the next floor when I saw the two of them coming down the stairs from the next floor. "Xehanort's on his way here! He's almost here!"

Kedrex didn't waste any time running to a nearby P.A. system. "Everyone to your battle stations! Unknown number of hostiles approaching the library! Arm up! They are to be considered to each be armed with keyblades and extremely dangerous!" He then turned his attention to us. "What did he want?"

I turned my attention to Xion. "He wants all the information on you, to use against me."

"Good," she said. GOOD? "We know what his target is now. So let's get give it to him."

"A trap," Kedrex guessed. "We know what he's coming for, so we set a trap." It made sense. With Kedrex, there was no way we'd lose. "You two are the last line of defense. You work on setting a trap while I try to stop him. Hide the books and get ready."

"Wait. You're not staying?"

"My men can only delay Xehanort for a short time. If he's brought the seekers with him, then I'm the only one who can delay them long enough to buy you some time."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me Vanitas!"

The look in his eyes was dead seriousness. A few minutes ago he seemed like some happy go lucky guy, but now he looked like the angel of raging death in human form. Without another word he jumped right out the window, keyblade in hand. I looked to Xion expecting to see a worried look on her face, but all I saw was here coming up the stairs holding two books with her name on each. "So what's the plan," she asked. Xehanort had no idea that we were here, which gave us an advantage.

"Xehanort taught me tons of trap magic spells. Ones that he himself developed. Since he doesn't know we're waiting for him..."

"He won't be expecting his own traps to be set up against him."

"Exactly. Head upstairs and I'll get the traps set."

Setting them up was easy enough. The second he takes a few steps in this corridor he'll be shot with dark thundaga, dark firaga, and dark everything. And that's just the first set. I hid myself above the entryway waiting for him to step through. Before long I saw two shadows coming through the door. The first person I saw was Xehanort, or at least the top of his head. "This is quite the collection of information," he spoke. He started taking another step forward. One more and he'll trigger the trap. Right before he took that last step a hooded figure grabbed him by his right shoulder with his left hand. His right side remained in the entryway. "What's wrong?" The hooded figure then pulled their right hand forward, dragging a blood covered and unconscious Kedrex with him.

What the figure did next shocked me, and tested my resolve and new way of life. The figure tossed Kedrex into the middle of the room. "NO," I screamed as I jumped down to save him. Luckily he was still in the air when I caught him. But catching him didn't stop gravity from dragging us back to the ground. As we hit the ground I cast a Reflect spell around the two of us. The attacks from traps smashed into the shield like a hurricane of destruction. It was becoming too much. The spell wasn't going to hold long enough. CRACK! What remained of the traps attacked both Kedrex and I. The force of the impact ended up smashing both of us into the far wall across the room. My vision was too distorted to make out anything after that. Before I knew it, everything faded to darkness.

A/N: So I'm writing as much as I can these days, but my schedule is beyond booked compared to the summer time so I can't write as much as I'd like to. Thank you to all who are being patient with me. Anyways... What did you all think of this chapter? Drop a review and light up that review box up! Until the next chapter, keep being awesome!