I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney.
Vanitas Saves the Day!
A gentle whirring sound was floating out of the mostly empty room, drifting through the halls as softly as a feather on the wind. It sounded faintly like a bee's hum, or the sort buzzing of a motor. Or, to be both accurate and true, it sounded exactly like a snore.
Past the open door and inside the sparsely-furnished room, Xehanort was dead to the world. Lying flat on his back, it was one of the few times that he wasn't slouching and had someone held a stethoscope up to his spine, they would have heard it sigh in relief. It was a fairly uninteresting sight - at least, that's what it would have sounded like. For the two children peering into his room however, it was fascinating.
"Is he really asleep?" Terra whispered.
"I think so," Aqua said.
Timidly, they tiptoed into the visiting Master's room. Neither of them was particularly fond of Xehanort; in fact, between his yellow eyes and creepy scare, they unanimously agreed that he was terrifying. However, since Xehanort was asleep, he was currently harmless, and sometimes terrified was just a synonym for curious.
From behind, Terra slammed his hands down on Aqua's shoulders, making her jump. "I bet he keeps a skeleton in his closet," he whispered into her ear.
Aqua shivered. "Really?"
Terra nodded, a wide grin on his face.
"I don't think we should be here," Aqua murmured as Terra tramped over to Xehanort's bed.
"Come on!" Terra said. "Do you want to look at him or not?"
On one hand, she didn't think this was a good idea, but on the other hand, she really did . . . Besides, Terra was here. He would protect her. So, with that thought in mind, she waddled over to Terra's side, and the two peeked over the bed at the sleeping Master.
"He's so bald!" Aqua said.
"Yeah, I know," Terra said gravely. Without hesitation, he hopped onto the bed next to Xehanort's head, and squinting, waved his hands in front of the Master's closed eyes.
"Okay, he's sleeping for sure," Terra said.
"Where did his hair go?" Aqua asked. "Everyone has hair so where did his go?"
Terra sighed, but decided to play along. "I don't know. Go ask Master."
Aqua looked around the room, an idea lighting up her eyes. "Maybe he hid it!"
With that, she began to search, squeezing underneath the bed and dragging out Xehanort's luggage. She rooted through the contents, tossing them to the side when no hair revealed itself. Terra joined her soon afterwards out of curiosity, and between the two of them, Xehanort's belongings were strewn all over the place.
Aqua slumped against a wall, scowling with all the rage her five year-old face could manage. "It's not here . . . Maybe it's in his closet!"
Terra rolled his eyes but said nothing.
The two immediately ran to the closet, ripping it open. There were a couple of outfits there on hangers, which looked suspiciously identical to the clothes Xehanort always wore. They tore the outfits off their hangers, bringing them down to their level. While Aqua looked through the pockets for Xehanort's secret stash of hair, Terra wriggled into a set of clothes, checking himself out in the closet's mirror. The clothes were twice as big as him, but his opinion, they still worked.
"Look, Aqua! I'm Xehanort." His face took on a dull, grotesque look. "I'm going to slouch and be lazy."
Aqua's giggle was cut off by a hiss of, "What in the worlds are you doing?!"
The two children froze, and then simultaneously looked at Vanitas.
"Nothing," Aqua said.
"That so? I -" Just then, Vanitas looked – really looked - at what Terra was wearing. "Oh man, this is too good to pass up," he said. "Terra, stay like that for a second."
Vanitas disappeared in a flash, and a few seconds later, he was back with a camera in hand.
"Okay, now pretend to be Xehanort!" he said.
Terra copied his face from before, and Vanitas snapped a few pictures. Snickering, the boy held up the camera and said, "Now to find a photocopier . . ."
"Do you know where his hair is?" Aqua asked.
"He doesn't have any." Vanitas did a double-take at the room. "Is that why everything's so messy? Xehanort's going to kill you."
Terra and Aqua exchanged a glance, realizing the truth of that.
Vanitas clapped his hands on their shoulders and said, "Don't worry, I'm here to save the day. You see, he won't be so angry at you if you make him laugh a little . . ."
Xehanort was furious. He wasn't sure if it was the children or some unversed that had rampaged through his room, but whatever it was, he was going to make them pay!
He sat in sullen silence at the dinner table. The aura radiating from him was so dark and dangerous that Eraqus and Ventus had seated themselves as far away as possible. They watched Xehanort warily, seemingly unable to take their eyes off him even for a moment. Vanitas, on the other hand, was smirking without a care in the world.
"Is everything alright?" Eraqus asked.
"Certainly," Xehanort growled, making the other Master and his apprentice flinch.
Eraqus cleared his throat. "Well, we should eat then, yes?"
Xehanort grunted and turned to his food, not oblivious to how the other two were still watching him. He was oblivious however, to how Vanitas waved at one of the doorways.
There was a flurry of motion. Somewhere in the scuffle, a glass was knocked over and when the dust cleared, a serious-looking Terra was standing in the middle of the table, wooden keyblade raised.
Wait a second.
Were those his clothes the boy was wearing?
"I'm Xehanort," Terra announced, "and I'm going to take over the world with darkness and stuff!"
Before anyone (save a hysterically laughing Vanitas) could react, Aqua jumped onto the table too, also wearing a set of Xehanort's giant clothes.
She said, "Yep, and then I'm going to make everyone bald so I don't feel left out!"
Vanitas was still laughing, but to Xehanort, it seemed like the entire world went silent. His vision was tinged with red as he narrowed in on the two children mocking him.
Suddenly, Terra turned to Eraqus. "Did we do a good job, Master?"
Xehanort's eyes snapped to his former friend. Ah, so this had been Eraqus' idea. For his part, Eraqus looked absolutely shocked and mortified, but Xehanort wasn't fooled.
He grinned viciously. When he killed Eraqus, he was going to make sure it was very painfully.
I am seriously challenging someone to draw Little!Terra and Little!Aqua wearing Xehanort's clothes.
Next Chapter: Exposition returns! (because the plot has to actually show up again at some point)
