CHAPTER 28: XION

As I held Vanitas tightly I could feel every last emotion mixing around inside of him. I turned my attention towards Aqua, seeing her in a heated conversation with Mickey. During that conversation she kept pointing directly at Vanitas, which was really starting to make me angry.

"I'll be right back," I told Vanitas as I walked over to Aqua. "Hey." Her attention immediately turned on me with an attentive look. "Listen, I'm aware of what happened to you and your friends, but don't think for a second that I'll let you talk to Vanitas like that."

"You know about what he's done," Aqua questioned. "So then why are you defending him? How could anyone stand up for a such a cold heartless freak?"

"Don't you dare talk about him like that! You don't know him like I do!" I understood her anger, but one way or another I was going to make her apologize. "When I was lost, he found me. When I was hurt, he healed me. Whenever I needed anything, Vanitas was there for me. The Vanitas you know has been dead for a long time. The Vanitas I've come to know is one of the most selfless people I've ever known."

"Then he's clearly a better actor than I gave him credit for."

I was fed up with her attitude. She could hate Vanitas all she wanted, but I refused to let her talk about him like this. I called forth my final phase and pointed it in her direction. "Vanitas may not be willing to fight you due to your past, but I have no guilt towards you. I will fight you if you insult him again."

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Vanitas. "Let it go Xion," he spoke softly. I tensed up in my shoulders, wanting to protest, but he cut me off. "Please." I loosened up my shoulders and let my eyes fall to the ground. I'd never been so frustrated before. Even my old time in the organization, working for Saix, wasn't nearly this bad. "Forgive her Aqua. She's done nothing wrong."

I wanted nothing more than do express my own anger towards Aqua, but Vanitas would stop me anyway. I was left with no choice but to calm myself, and walk away. Vanitas followed me as if he knew I wanted to say more. When we were far enough away I turned to face him. Before I spoke I looked past Vanitas, once again seeing Aqua and Mickey in a conversation, but it seemed much less heated than before. Riku on the other hand was speaking to the man in the black coat. His hood had been removed, showing an elder man with some long blonde hair, as well as some facial hair, and orange eyes.

"Vanitas," I began. "Why are you letting her treat you like this? You're not a bad person anymore. If she knew half of the things you've done since we met-"

"That won't make up for what I did to her and her friends," he interrupted. I wanted to protest, but he was too stubborn to win against. "This is just how it is for now." I wanted to protest, but Vanitas and I were on enough thin ice as it was already. For now I was willing to put my emotions in check, for his sake.

Riku introduced us to Ansem the Wise while Mickey finished calming down Aqua. At last it was time to leave. Riku opened up a corridor of light and stepped through it, followed by Ansem, then Mickey, and Aqua. I was about to head through next until I turned around and saw Vanitas starring out over the ocean. "I could stay here," he spoke quietly.

"What," I questioned. "Why would you do that?!"

"If I stay, then I can't lose control around you. I won't be able to escape, and Xehanort won't know where to find me. I figure that he probably can't divide his heart up anymore than he already has. Which means that if I'm stuck here, then you guys essentially win the war before it starts."

"Absolutely not!" He turned just enough to see me marching towards him. "I am not losing you! Even if you stay here, what's to stop him from reading my book and finding out where you are?"

"I'll keep on the move. I won't stay on the beach. I'll just keep running and running until I can't run anymore."

"Then I'll follow you. And don't you dare tell me that I can't because it's my choice and I'm not going to let you be alone anymore." I took his hand in mine and held it tight. "My new life began with you, and that's how I intend to keep living it." I could tell that he wanted to protest, but knew that it would be a wasted effort. I was stubborn and he knew it. Even if he had forced me out and shut the way back in, nothing would be able to stop me from opening a corridor back inside. "Don't you remember what you promised me? You said you'd always be there to protect me."

He chuckled slightly. "I guess I did. Boy was I an idiot?"

"Nah, I thought it was a sweet gesture. Now c'mon, everyone's waiting for us." I walked towards the open corridor, knowing that Riku was obviously keeping it open for us, pulling Vanitas with me. He didn't resist, or try to stay behind. He walked with me no longer behind me, but next to me. As we walked through the light, for the first time in a long time, I felt hopeful.

A/N: So I realize that this is an extremely short chapter, considering my usual chapter lengths. I wanted to make it last longer but I couldn't seem to find anything more for Xion to do here. But bright side is that I have the rest of the story planned out and hopefully will have the chapters out sooner. I have big plans for the next two chapters so stay tuned. And feel free to check out my new story 'OPPOSITES'. It's another VANION, as I call them, story that I'll be doing along side this story. Until then thanks for reading and feel free to drop me that review as I really do appreciate it.