"Are they, perhaps, weakened by daylight?" Ignis said, back pressed to the Regalia, peeking his eyes over the trunk of the car at the literal tornado of Heartless whirling down the road, completely blocking their passage.
"Not on your life, Specs," Demyx hissed, gently bopping his chocobo on the head to get it to duck down. "You guys support us with those grenade things of yours. Goofy, defense. Donald, we're the best offense here." Demyx sighed loudly. "I haaaaate fighting but if we're getting off this rock we don't have a choice."
Donald nodded, calling forth his staff. It crackled with black miasma for a moment long enough to give Demyx the chance to see it before it glowed pleasantly in his fingers.
"Do anything stupid and I'll kill you myself," Demyx hissed at him. "Don't forget, I left my remorse at home."
"I've dealt with worse."
"Knees bent."
"Sora, I know my Keyblade kata."
"What's a kata?"
"I… uh," Vanitas started, rolling his eyes. "It's your form. How you move and swing. And while your style is… well, I can't say its ineffective, it can't be good for your back. You're right on the bend your knees bit, but…"
Vanitas grabbed Sora roughly- harder than he appreciated, but he understood his twin-of-sorts wasn't trying to hurt him- especially with a Keyblade again it seemed like some tiny amount of his physical power had returned.
"Back straight, shoulders back, left hand in a V on the back half of the hilt, there. Still a two-handed grip. Use your left for power and the right to steer it. You'll get more force and more control behind your swing. Go on, you made a Noise, give it a good thwack."
Sora's face turned three shades of embarrassed pink- oh how the turntables (or whatever that expression was- Sora couldn't remember). He grunted out a 'hyah!' and cleanly sliced his pin-made Noise in two, leaving the naturally-occuring one alone.
"I've been doing this as long as you were born, moron."
"Yeah, well, I…" Sora started, wanting to say "didn't have an actual teacher for this", but bit his tongue. "Nevermind."
"No, say what you were thinking."
"It's not like anyone actually taught me," Sora breathed out, head down.
"Yeah, well, given that, you've done a helluva job," Vanitas said, crossing his arms. "So, your turn. How do I deal with this lightweight toothpick?"
Sora smiled. "I never could do a one-handed grip, but on Neverland, there was a flying kid who fought with a balsa wood sword…"
"Peter Pan?" Vanitas asked, eye raised. "If you're cotton candy, that kid's a toothache."
"You know him?" Sora asked, stars in his eyes as he sidestepped a lame Noise attack.
"Not personally. Just through Ven's memories… and yours."
"Oh, right," Sora said a bit downcast. "Hey! When we're back, I'll take you. You should probably get coated in fairy dust anyway, so you can fly."
"What, so I can be a lil' light like your kiddie crew?"
"I mean… where else will you go?" Sora asked inquisitively, not realizing how deep the question would cut.
"Bah. Hard pass."
"Oh come on, my mom would take you in a heartbeat. She always wanted more kids. You said you could remember bits of your time with me. So I'm sure you know I'm right."
Vanitas sighed, and shifted his stance to match a memory that was and wasn't his. "Let's burn that bridge when we get to it."
Vanitas practiced a few lunges, satisfied. "So you're actually slightly observant of those around you. Thanks. For the suggestion. I have a lot more control this way."
Sore smiled. "Anytime. You wanna spar?"
"With you?" Vanitas asked, shoving an errant Noise away with his foot.
"I mean, fighting these guys is a bit one sided, right? I'll Cure you if I hurt you. Just say stop if you need a break and we will. I'll do the same."
Vanitas considered it for a moment. "Fine. Wait. You still have your magic."
"Saying the word stop doesn't just make me cast Stop," Sora replied, closing his eyes, and shaking his head. "And to keep it even I won't use anything but healing."
Vanitas responded by readying his blade. "Well prepare your mana because I'm about to kick your ass."
Demyx roared, sitar in hand as he strummed a chord calling as many of his Dancers to him that he could. The Demon Tower froze for a moment, spun counterclockwise, and split before rejoining, like his left and right eyes were seeing things out of synch with one another.
Demyx shook out his head and the Tower returned to normal- massive, angry, and swarming. Frowning, he ordered his attack, blasting music to keep his minions moving apace. One by one, they began ripping Shadows from the giant tower, filling the dusty road with Heartless shrieks. Demxy watched as a grenade, sparking with blue-gold electricity, was lobbed high over the roof of the car right into the center of the vortex, splitting it and regurgitating scads of the tiny beasts in a flash of jittering blue lightning.
"Flare!' Donald screamed, aiming his staff at the weakened vortex, shooting out his usual stream of sparklers before he gasped.
Demyx had been right; he really had taken too much darkness magic, filtered through the Nobody or otherwise.
Donald let go of his staff, but it was too late. Sparklers continued to pour out, draining him dry and at this rate…
"Donald, stop!" Demyx cried out, kicking the business end of his dropped staff away from the waning cyclone. "We're trying to corner these Heartless into ripping a portal open, not totally- oh no…"
Demyx flicked eyes back and forth between Donald, now an inch off the ground and crackling with black tendrils of magic, and the fleeing Heartless, opening up a portal away from the endless sparklers in the opposite direction. By the time they'd un-Darknessed Donald the Heartless would have long since scattered to the winds and-
"Prompto," Demyx yelled. "You trust me?"
"What?" Prompto responded, screaming over the din as he poked his head up from behind the rear door.
"Do. You. Trust. Me."
Prompto flinched at the question. "Enough."
"Well, I don't know if you're a real Nobody or not, kid, but I think you can handle the darkness just fine. You wanna keep that portal pried open for me?"
"I…what?"
"Stand in the portal and don't let it close. I promise. If you're anything like me, you might even command my armies. Do it now or we might just be stuck here permanently!"
Demyx squared up with his sitar. He didn't have any more time to spare with Donald continuing to rise, drunkenly possessed on power. If he waited much longer the not-currently-a-Duck was going to go full Heartless. And then where would he be?
Demyx inhaled again, eyeing the car from his peripheral vision as he saw the four locals start shifting out of view. There was nothing more he could do to keep the portal open now- it was going to be up to Prompto or not at all.
"Goofy, shield up, let's bash this idiot friend of yours."
Vanitas pirouetted out of the way of Sora bashing his blade down on his head, stopping when he realized he was using one of Aqua's signature dodges. Ventus's memories really had rubbed up with his when the two of them were stuck inside Sora.
It's not that he didn't like it- it was more the fact that anything good or happy he did have he couldn't attribute to himself. It was as if the only happy memories he possessed were from watching movies. Fantasy stories of other people's lives, and never his own.
Not that the last three or so days were bad. Far from it. Warm beds, good food, security. It was odd- not necessarily new, as he'd experienced it through Sora, but that was precisely it. It was Sora's. He was just along for the ride.
He'd always thought that if he was his own person, Sora's mother would not have treated him with anything resembling kindness. He was a freak, a face-thief.
Every little thing he did have was stolen or ripped from-
Thwack.
Sora got a solid hit on his off arm's shoulder, sending a surge of pain down into his hand. Sora quickly dismissed his Keyblade, worried, and Vanitas took the opportunity to jab Found Memories right in his chest, winding him and sending him to his knees, ready for another strikes despite what was almost certainly a broken arm.
"I yield!" Sora choked out.
Vanitas froze, noticing Sora's hands glow green. For just a moment, he considered bringing the Keyblade down on Sora's head, but swallowed the feeling, dismissing the blade.
Sora coughed a few times, and reached out to Vanitas. "I was pretty sure I broke something. I was going to heal you but you just kept going."
Vanitas frowned. "I didn't ask to stop."
Sora returned it with a trademarked pout. "You're really hurt, though. It's not like we're actually fighting. It's just practice."
Vanitas winced slightly as he shifted his weight. "Whatever."
"It's not 'whatever', Vanitas," Sora whined, reaching out to touch his shoulder. When Vanitas kept himself still, Sora saw it as acceptance and gently placed his hands down where he'd struck.
Relief was immediate.
Vanitas exhaled a strained breath he didn't realize he was holding as he shook out his healed arm. He watched Sora sit on the curb, eyes closed and breathing deeply.
Why wasn't he healing himself?
"Ummmm…" Vanitas started, shooing a Noise away from Sora with his Keyblade. "You're not dead, are you? Wait… stupid question."
"I'm recharging. Riku's the better mage. Cure saps me completely."
Vanitas suddenly felt very warm, and his shadow boiled a little. He gently pushed the coalescing puppy head back into his shadow with his heel as he swallowed down the guilt. "So… since I attacked you after you hit me, you've gotta wait with the pain?"
"Basically. It's only a few minutes, and you didn't hit me that hard," Sora replied, trying to be cheerful behind a slight wince.
"And now I feel like an ass," Vanitas said, flopping next to Sora on the concrete.
"You didn't know."
They sat quietly a few moments before Sora, who didn't really understand the concept of thinking in silence, spoke up.
"So what were you planning on doing when we went home, Vanitas?"
Vanitas shrugged. "Probably put myself at Ventus's mercy. I'm not even sure we could merge back into one person after all our time apart, or if he'd even want to. I don't think he'd be happy with my half of our memories."
"Your half?"
"He might have them, I don't know, but I think I'm the only one of us who remembers life before we were split. I- on my own- am roughly your age, but us- as a single person?- we're old. Real old."
"How old?"
"Old enough to know Demyx before he was a Nobody."
"Well didn't that happen like ten years ago?" Sora asked, color returning to his face as his hands glowed green. He cured himself, standing up and dusting off the flecks of concrete for another round.
Vanitas just laughed. "Some of 'em maybe. But no, not Myde. He 'n Ventus were part of the same Union."
Sora just looked puzzled, while Vanitas sighed, picking his blade back up for round two. "It's a long story. A really long story. How 'bout we beat the shit out of Coco and then I tell it? I'd rather explain when everyone's here so I don't have to waste my breath."
Sora nodded, grinning. "You're on."
Donald's eyes were glowing gold, now, and Demyx spat a curse under his breath.
Time.
They didn't have nearly enough, nor did Demyx have the ability to turn his back on Proto-Heartless Donald for even a moment to glance at the portal situation. He just had to trust that Prompto would hold open the door for them, so to speak.
He called over three Dancers- any more and he couldn't do more than general orders, and this fight needed exact precision. The goal was maiming, not murder.
"A concussion's our best bet," Goofy said, looking up at his friend spewing darkness everywhere. "You can drop him off at Ansem's castle on the way to Destiny Islands, can't'cha? He's got equipment for stabilizing people with darkness in 'em that shouldn't have it."
"Took the words from my mouth," Demyx replied back, strumming to order his minions. "We need to shake down Rudol anyway."
"Roger, roger," Goofy replied, before flinging his shield like a Frisbee right for the space between Donald's eyes.
"Sorry, Donald!" Goofy cried out as Donald took a few tumbles in midair, before righting himself and wailing out a rasped angry noise. "Uh-oh, I think I just made 'im mad…"
"Mad is good, it means he's still got his emotions," Demyx said, gritting his teeth. A finger caught in a string and Demyx knew he was probably bleeding on his beloved instrument.
Healing spells were definitely not his forte, and he didn't have time to waste recharging his mana over a cut fin-
"Waterboy!" Demyx felt the air warp to his left, and Noctis was an inch away from the neck of his instrument, a dark bottle uncorked, holding it out for him to take a swig from it without stopping what he was doing. "Potion. Should heal your hand."
"Are you nuts?" Demyx cried at him as Noctis shoved the flask in his face, forcing it down. It burned like fire but the blood certainly stopped leaking.
"No more than you are for asking Prompto to trust you," Noctis replied, mildly annoyed. "Don't worry, we're keeping it open. For now. But your weird-ass demons are still trying to make out with him."
And then he was gone. Demyx grinned, wiped the blood off Arpeggio with his free sleeve, and surged again with his melody.
They were going to do this.
"Fuck," Vanitas hissed. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
Something… he clearly did something to set this off. Sora was on all fours, with round spheres of gold for eyes, and darkness coming off in waves. When he'd ripped out his own heart, creating that Nobody from his and Ventus, and heartless from his and Vanitas's leftovers… it never fully pieced himself back together.
Just like Vanitas did, Sora had a trigger, and somehow he'd just pulled it.
And Sora- the dregs of Heartless left behind at least, was chasing after the lame little Noise that was keeping them tethered into the pocket dimension. Kill it, and they'd all rematerialize back in the real Shibuya, visible monstrosity and all.
Vanitas lightly danced around, corralling the confused little Noise away from Sora, and quickly realized something.
Sora, in shadow form, wasn't seeing Vanitas as a threat.
Odd, as the last time they'd fought in the Keyblade Graveyard, and Vanitas had actually been on the receiving end of it, Sora was merciless. He ignored Ventus's cries to stop, and tore straight for Vanitas's throat in a feral rage until the bloodlust died off and he returned to normal.
Now, it was an almost comical game of monkey-in-the-middle, and the poor little Noise was the monkey. When Sora lunged again, Vanitas grit his teeth and pulled his twin into a hug, flinging him gently on a shoulder.
That was odd. He could lift Sora. Maybe his strength was only sapped when trying to use it aggressively?
Right now, he wasn't exactly one to care. With his free hand, he re-summoned his Keyblade, and cleanly sliced the last Noise in two. With no enemies in sight, Sora calmed down immediately in Vanitas's arm, and the pocket dimension began to fade off.
Vanitas grit his teeth again, stretched out his wings, and prayed to Joshua that he could fly before the whole thing collapsed on them. As the last of it melted away, and the real, noisy city returned into focus, Vanitas found himself treading air an inch above the pavement, with a whiny, though complacent, heartless Sora cradled in his arms.
Flood squaked irritably on the ground, as a rushing businessman walked right through Vanitas and Sora. Vanitas shivered and hissed at his Unversed.
"Get on."
Flood scampered, latching itself to Vanitas's head as its master sighed.
"Wednesday morning taxi service. Fun. Let's find somewhere away from all these people, yeah, Sora?"
Sora chittered in his arms like a Heartless, and Vanitas stretched his wings, hoping he wouldn't pull one like Sora had done. He wasn't sure he could handle being touched to get it set in a cast, hypnotized or otherwise. With a few flaps, he landed on the roof of a highrise overlooking the scramble crossing, and gently deposited Sora on the glass. Flood jumped off, running little circles around Sora, the two chittering at each other as Sora shoved his butt in the air and head to the ground, like a dog trying to play.
Vanitas raised an eyebrow. Three days was all it took for Sora's subconscious to reclassify one of the most powerful Keyblade wielders and direct disciple of Xehanort from enemy to ally.
Vanitas scanned the skyline. The sky was a mix of pinks and blues, and a billboard cheerfully blinked 06:47AM at them. His stomach growled.
"C'mon, idiot, I want breakfast, and I can't drag a Heartless into a coffee shop."
Sora just chittered in reply. Vanitas frowned. The sounds were close enough to his own Unversed that he could sort of understand. Sora was hungry too, in not so many words.
"How do I put you back from attack dog to puppy?" Vanitas sighed out at no-one in particular.
Sora, however, took it as in invitation to tackle-hug Vanitas.
Vanitas froze, in dead panic. Sora was strong enough as it was, but his Heartless was a straight-up monster, limbs locked around, binding Vanitas's arms and pinning his wings against his back, to say nothing of the sudden emotional strain of being not just touched, but confined.
Vanitas lost focus, his breath coming in gasps, as panic overtook him and Flood expanded to triple its size in moments.
"Vanitas!"
Somewhere, Vanitas might have recognized that voice as Sora's- as the Heartless, now reverted and panicking himself- let go and tumbled backwards off the roof.
"Aaaah!" Sora screamed, as he grabbed for the ledge at the very last moment. The shriek snapped something in Vanitas, and he snarled, jumping forward, his wings extended. He leaned over the edge like a bird of prey, glancing down at a frightened, confused Sora, barely hanging on.
"Flap your wings, idiot!" was all Vanitas could bellow, as he grabbed Sora's free hand.
Sora's whole face went pink, as he calmed, and took two solid flaps, pushing himself upwards and back on the roof.
"Idiot," Vanitas hissed.
"Yep," Sora agreed, laughing hysterically from adrenaline and flopping backwards onto a still-giant Flood.
Sora's laughing died down to a whimper as Flood shrank underneath him, eventually wiggling out from behind to nest on Sora's stomach.
"I… I'm sorry," he finally said, just above a whisper. "For… being such a burden."
Vanitas shook his head. "No, you've calmed me down from more than… well way too many panic attacks. I owed you."
"You don't, Vanitas. You need time to heal."
"And you don't?" Vanitas asked, curiously, flopping backwards himself to stare up at the bright, nearly cloudless sky.
Sora frowned. "I mean… sure. But…"
"Even I wasn't ripped apart into a Heartless, Sora."
Sora began idly petting Flood. "You… kinda already are one though, right? I mean, you and Ven are sorta like Heartless and Nobody yourselves."
Vanitas couldn't really argue with that, even though he knew his other half had emotions while he still possessed reason.
"I… I'm sorry my id tackled you."
"I'm sorry I set you off in the first place."
Sora laughed again, almost knocking Flood off. "You? You didn't set me off. I did." Sora took a deep breath, holding out an open palm to the Unversed to sniff to let it know another localized Sora-based earthquake wasn't going to happen again. "It just… happens sometimes. There's no real reason, unless I'm just about to die. Other than that, it's random. And since you weren't close to killing me, well…"
Sora's statement was cut off by a bestial growl, as both boys looked to the other.
"Breakfast?" they asked each other, before laughing with the same face and voice while the billboard below blared a gentle tune, marking 7AM on the nose.
"We are so stupid," Vanitas hissed, wiping tears from his eyes. Whatever had hit him, maybe it was the timing, the perfect synchronization, or the juxtaposition of Sora almost falling off a skyscraper roof to complaints of mild hunger, it didn't matter. It was funny as hell, and for once, he wasn't laughing at someone, but with them.
"Yeah," Sora replied, sitting up, before scrunching up his face. "Wait, though."
"What, you need me to help you land?" Vanitas asked, peering down at the city of ants below.
"I mean, yeah, I'll take the help but…" Sora replied, fishing around in his waist pouch for something. His phone. "Could've sworn I got a text."
"Uriel calling us home?"
"No, this isn't a number I've added a name to," Sora replied, showing off the screen. Sixteen digits, four sets of four, with a two word text below.
'ON ROOF.'
"I know the first set of four digits is the area code," Sora explained. "That's Radiant Garden's. But right now there's only a few worlds with Gummiphones accessing the between-world network, so…"
"Your friends in the lab coats? Vexen?" Vanitas asked, peering.
"No, I have their numbers stored. Wait… this was sent through the group chat, so…"
Sora typed the number into the search bar on the top of the chat screen, to see when the number was added in and if it had commented before.
Sora blinked. It had been added into the group chat at the same time as Vexen and a Twilight Town area code, but hadn't written anything yet. Sora concentrated, trying to remember who'd been in which search party (narrowing it down by the numbers with names already) before hitting a realization like a ton of bricks.
"Vanitas… I think Isa is trying to reach us."
Prompto hissed. Not in pain- or, more specifically, not the kind of pain usually associated with fighting demons; no crushing or slashing or bashing.
It felt like he was at the gym and trying to bench press twice his normal weight. The small crowd of Demyx's pink and white demons weren't helping in the slightest, one reaching out to touch his face and he could have sworn he heard maternal cooing from another.
"Stop molesting me and help me," he whined at them. He already knew the tendrils of darkness magic seeping out in curling waves behind him wasn't going to affect them- it wasn't affecting him, either. Ignis stood to his side, daggers out, while Gladio held his greatsword almost like a shield, guarding him as he pushed to keep the portal from closing.
Suddenly, seven pairs of long hands reached around the edges of the pulsing darkness and began to pull outwards, releasing the pressure off Prompto as he gasped a little in shock. The demons were listening to him.
"Making new friends, are we? Ignis said, as he spared a glance backwards.
"Shaddup," Prompto hissed.
"Language, pipsqueak," Gladio gruffed out at him.
"You're… not…" Prompto asked through gritted teeth, unsure how to finish his thought.
"Not what? Mad? Hardly. If we'd known you were a demon we would have tossed you out of the car at night as a distraction ages ago," Ignis replied, clearly jest in his lithe voice.
"Very… funny…"
"If you're not trying to eat me, I don't give a flying fuck if you're demon or human," Gladio finished. "Just do your job guarding the Prince and that's all I give a damn about."
"Oh? What was that again about language?" Ignis asked him with an added dose of side-eye.
"Shove it, Specs."
"I believe I shall."
Ignis elbowed Gladio as Noctis phased back next to them, tossing the spent potion bottle to Gladio and readying a magic grenade from a safe distance.
Demyx sighed.
"This is the second time today I'm gonna have to ask. Hey Goof, you trust me?"
"What'cha plannin', Demyx?"
"I'm going to drown Donald."
Goofy frowned, throwing up his shield just in time to deflect an errant spray of magic coming off the almost-heartlessed Donald. "Make it quick."
"I don't wanna fight more than I have to, you know this by now," Demyx mock-whined in reply as he pulled back his Dancers, a pillar of water erupting under his feet. He surged forward, riding the wave, until it engulfed he and Donald both.
Demyx sighed and calmed himself down. As a human, he'd be panicking without air. As a Nobody, the tide was his domain. As long as he forgot he needed to breathe, he'd be fine, and his lack of emotions wouldn't cause him stress.
The same could not be said for Donald. The almost heartless roared, then tried swimming up outside the bubble of water that Demyx lazily expanded, then began trying to lash out at Demyx himself. But Demyx merely used his own water to glide out of the way, spinning just out of reach like an ice skater in their routine.
After a few more seconds, the wisps of darkness began to fade from Donald, as normal, human panic took over and the last few bubbles escaped his mouth.
Quickly, Demyx gave one las strum, breaking the water spell and sending them plummeting back to the pavement below. Demyx dismissed Arpeggio with a fast wave, so it wouldn't shatter, worried more about the instrument than his own body, and prepared to hit concrete with full-
-Demyx choked on air, soaked, on the pavement, not a scratch on him. As he shook himself out, he saw Noctis haul an unconscious but breathing Donald on a shoulder. Prompto was holding open the portal with the rest of the Nobdies he'd summoned, calm and complacent under the blonde's watchful eye. Noctis must have teleported to catch them, but the momentum meant he'd still blacked out for a moment.
Demyx rose to wobbling feet. "Never again," he muttered irritably.
"I sure hope not, a'hyuck." Goofy took Donald from Noctis, nodding to Demyx. "But you did well."
Demyx just shook his head and walked to Prompto. "Hanging in there?"
"I've been worse," Prompto bit back. "I'm gonna be sore for the next month."
"Yeah, yeah, scoot. I've got it from here." Demyx stepped in the opening, releasing Prompto to great relief.
"Question."
Five sets of eyes looked to Demyx. "What now?" Noctis sulked.
"Am I leaving this open behind us? If I don't, I don't think we'll ever be able to get back in."
"Won't our demons have a chance of going through?" Ignis asked.
"Well, sure, but you saw this. We deal with these losers on the daily. Well, not me," Demyx quickly added as Goofy glared at him. "But we have people on our side whose job it is to clean up these messes. A few extra demons to be able to come back and give you guys a hand later sounds like a fair trade."
Prompto stared at Demyx. "I don't know what the others are gonna say, but I'd like that. I… I want to know more." Prompto turned pink and cast his eyes down at his own hands. "if I… if I really am a demon I should learn how to use my powers like you."
Noctis slapped Prompto on the back. "You could always go with them. I know you'd come back."
"The Prince is right, Prompto," Ingnis added. "You'd do a disservice to him not having all of your combat skills honed correctly."
Prompto shook his head. "Not yet. Not now. Not until after the wedding and we take back our home."
Gladio just rolled his eyes. "Pretty sure it's unanimous, zombie. Leave the thing open. We'll make sure it isn't destroyed this time. I'll get the Lestallum locals to put a prefab shack around it so people don't go poking. You just hold up your end of the bargain and teach Prompto how to lead a demon army. Got it?"
Demyx nodded. "Fair deal."
He pressed his fingers into the edges of the miasma, hardening the darkness into something more permanent and palpable, trailing around it until a solid corridor formed. "C'mon, Goofy, we need to haul ass or we'll be left behind."
"Yessir!" Goofy cried, as Demyx grabbed his arm and threw his coat over him for some degree of protection in the corridors.
Quickly, Demyx and Goofy, with an unconscious Donald in tow, were gone, out of sight into the purple-white darkness of Betwixt and Between, leaving the four locals and two mildly panicked chocobos staring at the magic left floating in air.
"So, uh, how're we supposed to prove we did the bounty?" Noctis asked.
Ignis frowned. "We chalk it up as a loss, I suppose. Now who besides Prompto is riding chocobo-back to Lestallum?"
