'This is not the same person I've been fighting for so long,' Jasmine said to herself as she entered the living room, finding Vanitas sitting on the couch with his feet on the table in front of him. Her armed guards around her alerted Vanitas to her presence and when he turned around, he smiled brightly, looking all in the world like a darker version of Sora.
Three days later when she and Vanitas had dinner, Jasmine once again took her meals to her bedroom. Saix, who had usually stayed at Vanitas' side, was often the one to deliver them. He always came and left without so much of a word, simply setting the meal aside on a trade near the door before resuming his role as Vanitas' right-hand man. However, on this night, Saix had come by with the purpose of bringing Jasmine downstairs so that they could watch TV together.
Jasmine was truly beginning to wonder if Vanitas had completely gone off the deep end and believed that they were going to co-exist in this mansion or if perhaps there were other reasons behind his sudden change of behavior.
Either way, all of it was very alarming.
As usual, Vanitas had an armed guard posted at every possible entrance into the den. While Jasmine and Vanitas sat on the plush leather sofa (on opposite ends of course) Saix took a seat in an armchair in the corner of the room, watching Jasmine intently.
It was clear to Jasmine that Saix was there for the sole purpose of keeping her from snatching Vanitas' neck.
Wise…considering that the thought had crossed Jasmine's mind multiple times once she sat down.
"You ready to start?" Vanitas asked her cheerfully before he grabbed the remote.
Jasmine gave him a half-lidded glance, her eyes clouded with disdain. "I don't know why you won't drop the act."
Vanitas genuinely seemed confused by Jasmine's statement. "What do you mean?"
"You've got to be kidding me," Jasmine rolled her eyes and glared at Vanitas, trying to position herself as far away from him as humanly possible on the couch. She knew that with the wrong response, she would most likely attempt to make a pass at him and at this moment she didn't want to have to deal with Saix. Something told Jasmine that Saix might be a tougher opponent than one would imagine and with her not being completely healed it would not be a fight she could win. "You were never this calm and carefree. Never. I know exactly what kind of man you are. You're not fooling me."
Vanitas grunted as he reached forward and set the remote back on the table. Stretching his arms out and yawning, he rested against the couch and faced forward so that his focus would be on the TV.
"You also haven't known me for very long," Vanitas simply replied.
"There's also something telling about a man who drugs and blackmails a girl into sleeping with him," Jasmine fired back bitterly, trying to bury the emotions from way back then. "What makes you think that I would want anything to do with you? You are the reason why I'm in this position – the same goes for you," she added, remembering that Vanitas also in hiding.
Vanitas fell silent, his facial expression signifying that he was deep in thought. He crossed his arms over his chest and exhaled deeply, shutting his eyes.
"If you think that I forgot for one second about anything you put me through you're dead wrong," Jasmine finished, pulling her knees to her chest before laying on her side, face smothered in the plush leather sofa.
"You think that I'm a monster, don't you?" Vanitas finally spoke, all cheer gone from his voice.
"What the hell was your first clue? I may not be all there now either by most people's standards, but you," she peered through her darker than black bangs. "I shouldn't have even dignified that with an answer. You're something else."
Vanitas said nothing more for the remainder of their time together. Instead, he began watching his show, stealing a few occasional glances at Jasmine.
"I'm glad you're all healed up now," Kairi said to Riku as she and Sora sat in his bedroom back on the Destiny Islands. Since the shooting, Sora and Kairi had stuck to the silver-haired young man like glue. Even though Vanitas now possessed what he'd been chasing after for over a year (Jasmine) the two wanted to make sure that nothing else happened to their friend.
Riku sat up in his bed and smiled. "Yeah me too. Thanks you guys."
Sora, who was standing next to Riku's nightstand, roughly slapped the older boy on his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "You don't need to say thanks for looking out for you dummy. We're friends. That's what we're supposed to do."
Under normal circumstances Riku would have returned the slap but he it slide for today. "I just appreciate it, that's all. By the way how's Roxas?"
"As indestructible as ever," Kairi smiled, taking a seat at the end of Riku's bed. "His shoulder still hurts a bit but it's nothing he can't manage in time. Naminé is taking good care of him."
"Good," Riku sighed and rested against his pillows. However, as soon as he got situated his cell phone went off and he grumbled.
Sora found Riku's phone near the lamp on his desk and picked it up, his smile from earlier shrinking when he saw the caller ID. "It's Aria again," Sora informed Riku.
Kairi climbed on top of Riku's bed, sitting on her knees with her hands folded in her lap. "You do realize that she's not going away, right? You guys have to talk about this," Kairi stressed. "I'm sure she's weirded out by the sudden distance you put between you guys."
Riku had been trying his best to avoid Aria since he was released from the hospital. But every day there had been at least three to four calls from Aria accompanied by numerous text messages. Riku understood that she was worried about him given the recent events (with her being his girlfriend and all) but he was having a hard time sorting out his feelings ever since he and Jasmine had been shot.
"It's a miracle that Aria didn't see Jasmine," Kairi pointed out, directing this to Sora.
"I know right? Aria wasn't looking when Jasmine passed by," Sora recalled, having been right in the line of fire himself when he briefly spoke with Jasmine. "I think that's a good thing. However," Sora turned to Riku, holding out the now silent cell phone. "You're gonna have to talk to her."
Riku took the cell phone, noticing that Aria had sent him a text message "I'll call her tonight. I just need to get my head on straight."
Kairi pulled her crimson bangs out of her face. "So what are you thinking about?"
'Jasmine,' Riku answered mentally. "You guys were right the entire time. Jasmine wasn't trying to hurt me. She ran because she was avoiding Vanitas. My parents showed me the security footage from that night. She didn't leave on her own."
"My thinking is that maybe Jasmine was preparing to leave, but it just happened sooner than she expected."
"That's exactly what happened," Riku stressed. "She joined SOLDIER to protect herself and is trying to figure out how to end this."
Sora and Kairi stole a glance from one another, thinking the exact same thing. 'He finally figured it out.'
"So what are you going to do now?" Kairi asked. "We're not supposed to get involved. Tifa told me that not even the police are allowed to touch this. Apparently this thing is a lot bigger than what they're letting on."
"I wonder what kind of stuff Jasmine knows that has everyone freaking out…" Sora trailed off, his eyes widening. He grinned. As terrifying as everything this event had been thus far, Sora couldn't deny how exciting it was at the same time. It was a real life action/mystery story. "So she's a secret agent? Ha! She's so cool!"
Kairi smiled. Sora was always able to turn a situation around. "I guess so."
"The only thing I can think of," Riku said, changing the subject, "is to try and maybe talk to Tifa and see what she might know."
"But Tifa isn't in SOLDIER anymore," Sora reminded him.
"She's just not active right now," Riku explained. "Her, Cloud, Zack and the others are still somewhat involved but just not on the level that Jasmine is on right now. If there's one person who might be able to tell us about SOLDIER, it's her."
"And how are you sure that Tifa is going to tell us anything? I think she's supposed to keep quiet too," Kairi reminded him gently, recalling the instructions told to them all by one of the higher ranked officers in SOLDIER.
Sora agreed with Kairi. "Won't she get in trouble for talking about this?"
"Perhaps, but I think she's done with the secrets too." Riku shut off his phone after he read Aria's message and fell back against his plush pillows. "I think we all are."
Axel shook his head as soon as he got a good look at Roxas' shoulder. Taking a seat in Roxas' bedroom on the couch next to Naminé, he shook his head. "I'm starting to wonder if you and Jasmine can function in any kind of healthy friendship where one of you doesn't end up hurt."
Roxas breathed out an exasperated sigh. "You can blame Sora's cousin for this one. He's off his rocker."
"That's the mild version of it," Axel shifted in his seat. "How's Riku?" Axel asked Naminé.
The blonde smiled slightly, still slightly shaken up from all of the recent events. "He's doing a lot better now. I think now the only thing that's happening is that everyone is putting the pieces together."
Axel nodded his head and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. His cell phone began to vibrate and he immediately fished his phone out of the pocket of his slacks. "Well that's usually how this thing goes. I'd say we're right on schedule," Axel said absently, texting away on his phone. Once finished, he slipped it back into his pants pocket.
"I'm worried about Jasmine," Naminé told Axel, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Shit I'd be worried too," Axel scoffed. "Vanitas got what he wanted. But if you ask me, I think this thing is a lot messier than it already is."
"What do you mean?" Roxas asked, his curiosity now sparked.
The redhead shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Something doesn't seem right about this to me. This time around Vanitas' desperation levels have shot through the roof. I'm sure you know this."
"So…?" Naminé trailed off, wanting an answer as to why things had escalated.
"I'm fairly sure that Vanitas isn't going to just keep her as a pet."
"Which probably means that now things are going to get a lot worse if Jasmine isn't found," Roxas finished after Axel.
Before any one of them could say anything further, the trio heard footsteps outside in the hallway and silenced themselves. After heard a loud knock on the door, Axel's smile spread from ear to ear.
"Who is that?" Naminé asked Roxas. "Mom and Dad are out as are most of the staff. We're not supposed to have visitors."
Roxas immediately got on the defensive, standing up and in front of Naminé who rose to her feet as well.
Axel headed for the door, urging the blond twins to relax. "This is actually someone you both will want to see."
Naminé and Roxas looked at each other, confusion painted on their faces. "Who is that, Axel?" Naminé asked.
When Axel touched the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder and smirked. "You both have to be crazy to believe that Jasmine didn't have a backup plan." He pulled open the door and stepped aside. Once Roxas and Naminé got a look at the three young people standing in the doorway, their jaws dropped. Especially once they got an eyeful of a smiling blond boy with glasses that looked almost exactly like Roxas.
"Ventus…?" Roxas trailed off, completely stunned. "Is that you?"
Author's Note: How did you guys like it? I'm trying to set up the last story so I apologize if I'm taking a long time. Thanks for all the support on the last chapter. You guys are awesome!
Also, if you guys are bored or whatever check out my other story, "So Scandalous". I should have an update in a couple of days.
hopefuldreamer1991: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Thank you for the review.
meyoume: Yeah I noticed that when they started with Versus…well, what is now Final Fantasy 15. It'll be interesting if they use Riku's voice actor. He's recovering pretty well. He's still not 100% but he's better than he was when he first got shot lol. Thank you for the review.
Platform934: I can't reveal too much right now but I'll be sure to drop a surprise or two in future chapters. Thank you for the review.
Skeleus: No problem! Thanks for the review and I hope that the update was just as good.
PinkDinosaur: It only gets stranger from here, friend. Thank you for the review!
Roxas4Ever: Quite a drastic change, isn't it? Thank you for the review.
animechick247: I'll have to keep my lips sealed for now on this one. Glad you liked the chapter and thanks for the review!
Sookdeo: Yup. For once Vanitas is actually protecting her for her own good. Strange isn't it? Kinda makes you wonder what kind of enemy they'll be facing to where this seems necessary. Thanks for the review.
Guest: Yup. Same dude! Thank you for the review!
Frooky90: I'm glad that you enjoyed it. We'll be seeing a lot more of Vanitas and Riku in the future. Count on it! Thank you for the review and for extending a hand to me. I appreciate it!
Guest: Haha I didn't realize that Vanitas was gonna spook everyone. But yes, I have a few more twists planned. Thank you for the review!
GUEST: Here you go! I just hope that it was worth the wait. Thank you for the review!
Thank you everyone for all the support. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the last chapter and hope that you like this one. I'll get to work on the new chapter asap. Take care all!