I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney.

Chapter 37

"Okay, just keep holding it there. Don't worry; the bleeding should stop soon."

Ven winced as Sora continued to dab at his face with a wet cloth, methodically clearing the blood away. Normally, Eraqus would have taken that role, only he was busy searching for Aqua, and cleaning up the mess from Terra's rampage probably wasn't best for the Master's mental health. That left Sora – who claimed he had lots of experience from the aftermath of his and Riku's swordfights – as Ven's nurse.

"Is it that bad?" Ven asked.

"You're really bruised," Sora said, "but I think you'll be okay. Head wounds just bleed a lot."

He grunted, shifting in his seat. The movement caused the wad of tissue he was holding to move, and a trickle of blood escaped from between his nostrils. With an annoyed sound, Sora pressed on the wad.

"You have to keep it there, Ven," he said. "If you keep moving it, your nose will keep bleeding."

"Sorry."

With a sigh, he continued to sit there while Sora cleaned him up, switching the wad on his nose when Sora gave him a fresh one. He could taste the blood in the back of his throat: salty and bitter. He would be smelling it for days.

The door swung open. Mickey walked in, face forlorn. He rubbed the back of his head, kicking the ground awkwardly as he said, "Gosh Ven, that looks painful."

"It doesn't hurt as much as you think," Ven said. Indeed, his face felt like one giant, throbbing bruise, but that was all. "So, what's going on?"

"We can't find Aqua," Mickey said. "Terra's gone off-world to look for her. He says he has some way of tracking her."

"The Wayfinder," Ven said. "Man, we really owe Naminé."

They basked in silence for a few minutes, before Sora broke it, asking about Ven's nose. Ven removed the wad, found his nosebleed had ended, and happily tossed the blood-soaked gob into the trash. He rolled his shoulder, checking that Terra hadn't wrecked those either, and was greeted by a loud, but not painful, pop.

"Did Terra say where he was going?" Ven asked.

"The Dwarf Woodlands," Mickey said. "Are ya going after him?"

"Yep."

Mickey exchanged a glance with Sora. "Uh, I don't wanna be rude or anything, but Terra said he didn't want you to come."

Ven frowned. "I don't really care about what Terra wants right now."

Neither looked pleased, but they didn't challenge him. "Do you want us to go with you?" Sora asked instead.

"It's fine," he said. "Terra won't want you there."

Innocently, Sora said, "I thought you didn't care about what Terra wants."

He let out a bitter laugh. "There's a difference between not caring and being stupid. But thanks, anyways."

He sighed, staring at the distant wall. "It's been so long since it was just the three of us . . . maybe that's why everything keeps getting worse. Once it's us again, maybe we can start getting somewhere."

"I sure hope you're right," Mickey said.

Ven smiled sadly. "Me, too."

"Aqua!"

Terra's only answer was the chirps of crickets. Sighing, he trudged onwards, hoping to find some trace of his wayward friend. Really, what was she thinking, running off like this? He got that she had been spooked – he himself had been pretty spooked by Ven's sudden betrayal – but why in the worlds had she thought this would be a good idea? Why didn't she just giftwrap herself and knock on Vanitas's door?

He glanced down at the Wayfinder. At least he had this much. If it were correct, then Vanitas had yet to get his hands on her. Hopefully, she was doing as good a job hiding from him as she was from Terra.

"Aqua!"

His shout sent a cloud of birds into the sky, but did nothing when it came to actually locating his target. The forests in the Dwarf Woodlands were huge; who knew how long it would take to find her?

If only there were five of me, he thought. Then maybe he'd have some luck. As it was though, he would search the forest until sunset. At that time, he knew Aqua would have moved indoors or abandoned the world.

"Aqua, come on, where are you?"

"Well, she isn't here, that's for sure."

A roar on his lips, he whirled around, summoning Earthshaker in one smooth move. Just as he had suspected, Vanitas was there, hardly a dozen strides away.

"Vanitas," he growled.

"And I was worried you may have forgotten me," Vanitas sneered, unmasked. "Glad to know I'm so memorable."

"Where's Aqua? What did you do to her?"

Vanitas held his hands up. "Me? I didn't do anything."

"What do you want?" he demanded.

Vanitas said, "Well, there seems to be some unresolved issues between us, so I figured why don't we settle things? Once and for all."

With that, Vanitas summoned his keyblade.

For the first time in his life, Terra was hesitant to attack. The last time he had fought Vanitas, he had won. He knew that, Vanitas knew that . . . so why would Vanitas be badgering him for a fight now? Had the guy turned suicidal or something?

He scanned the area, finding no signs of a trap. Still, he didn't trust Vanitas one bit. But if he refused to fight, Vanitas would probably go after Aqua or something, and that was unacceptable.

"Once and for all," he said coldly.

They charged.

It was just like old times, the way their keyblades grated against each other. Terra flashed back to a desperate fight in a glass station, the climax of his foray to Silent Hill. Just as he did then, he moved past Vanitas, and pivoted around on his heels, angling his keyblade for a block. That much, at least, went according to memory.

It appeared Vanitas remembered this too, for there was little force in that swing. No, it was more of a distraction than anything else as he weaved around Terra, darkness converting the ground into one giant slide. A stronger attack – born of darkness, not keyblade – collided with his back. Heat rushed to the spot, then spread outwards as his anger began to fester.

He sent a shockwave through the air, sharp-tipped, carving great grooves into the tree. But Vanitas merely teleported out of the way, appearing even closer to Terra with his arms crossed behind his head. He could picture the younger boy's tongue sticking out at him, and he pictured severing that as he swung downwards, a stroke that again was dodged.

Vanitas appeared nearby, but Terra didn't attack, too busy being suspicious. He didn't like this. This whole situation reeked of a setup. For what though? He couldn't answer that.

"Something wrong, Terra?" Vanitas said.

Terra weighed his options, then opted to dismiss his keyblade. "You know what: I'm not going to fight you."

A pause was the only indication that this had not been part of Vanitas's plan. "No?"

"No," he said. A satisfied smirk lit up his face. "I'm not."

Vanitas matched his expression. "Whatever made you think you have a choice?"

With that, Vanitas lunged, keyblade pointed at Terra's heart. But just because he had dismissed his keyblade didn't mean he wasn't ready. The darkness came to him, forming a smooth shield that bent like rubber under the force of Vanitas's thrust, only to spring back to its proper place afterwards. Vanitas leapt back, keyblade held over his head in his 'ready' position.

Terra didn't take the bait. He stepped back, creating a portal with a flick of his hand. He stood halfway in and halfway out, clearly signalling his intention to interfere with Vanitas's plans.

Vanitas paused, hunched over like a prowling predator. "I thought you'd be all over this opportunity," he said.

Terra snorted. "Whatever."

He was almost inside the portal, so close to leaving, when Vanitas casually remarked, "I mean, you must be furious over what happened between me and Aqua."

That stopped him. Foot hovering mid-step, he said, "I think you overestimate yourself. You haven't done anything she can't recover from."

Vanitas didn't answer right away, but slowly reached back and crossed his arms behind his head. And then he said something that Terra was in no way prepared to hear:

"I wasn't expecting her to a be a virgin, y'know. But hey, it worked out better for me, so I'm not complaining."

What. Vanitas . . . he had . . . No, he couldn't have. He wouldn't have . . . Aqua wouldn't let him . . .

But he flashed back to how broken she was. He could hear her sobs in his mind, feel her trembling body against his.

"You ever tasted her, Terra?" Vanitas sneered. "How does it feel to know that I was there first? It must be maddening to think that you're second-best."

No, no . . . he had to control himself . . . but that was easier said than done when his chest was constricting and making it hard to breathe. Black splotches were staining his vision, which was rapidly growing narrower the more he dwelled on Vanitas's words.

Vanitas stepped closer, grinning like a fox. "If you want," he said quietly, as if he was telling Terra some great secret, "I can tell you what it's like to be inside her."

His swing wasn't just strong enough to kill Vanitas; it would have decapitated him, cracked his skull open in a spray of gristle against a tree three yards away. The force would have blown his body towards that same tree too, snapped a few bones just in case Vanitas could somehow reattach his head.

It was a shame that Terra missed.

"You bastard!" He missed again, but he didn't miss the tree. The trunk exploded in a shower of splinters and sap; he could feel it sticking to his skin. And Vanitas . . . he was just laughing. Standing back away from him, arms crossed behind his head, looking like Ven. His laugh even sounded like the youngest apprentice.

"If you want her that badly, Terra, I might be willing to share," Vanitas said.

"NO!" he bellowed. "You won't touch her again!"

Their keyblades slammed together, sending a shockwave through the area. Leaves rose up all around them, spinning in a wild vortex as if caught in the midst of a twister. He brought his weight down, trying to crush Vanitas like a bug, but Vanitas swiftly teleported and before Terra knew it, he was being attacked from behind.

He lashed out not with his keyblade (that would be too slow), but with a backhand. It cracked against Vanitas's face, making a similar sound to the one that Ven's face had made when Terra had punched him. And why stop there? He leapt at Vanitas like a cat, darkness-constructed claws extended.

For all his bravado, Vanitas still lacked the strength to take the full brunt of a Terra-styled tackle. They fell to the ground, Terra positioning his elbow to land on Vanitas's throat.

It was so easy to posture up on Vanitas from there, so easy to slam his fists again and again into the other boy's face. So ensnared by his bloodlust was he, that Terra didn't even notice that he was hitting a barrier instead of flesh until the tenth punch. That only made him angry. He roared, bring both fists high above his head as he prepared to break the barrier with nothing but brute strength.

But Vanitas was faster. He dropped the barrier, striking upwards with a finger-thrust that dug deep into Terra's trachea. It wasn't enough to stop Terra, but it was certainly enough to shift his angle, so that he hit Vanitas's shoulder instead. Gagging, still recovering, Terra put one hand on either side of Vanitas's head, struggling to draw some air into his lungs.

And Vanitas bit him.

He swore loudly, rearing back, with Vanitas still attached to him like a parasite. He had locked his teeth in right where Terra's neck connected with his shoulder. Light, the twerp had some sharp fangs! While Terra tried to pry him off, Vanitas positioned himself, placing his feet on Terra's chest. Right when it had occurred to Terra to use a spell to burn Vanitas off, he sprung away, pushing himself off with his legs. Before Terra's disbelieving eyes, Vanitas rolled promptly to his feet, panting with what may have been excitement or exertion.

"It's hard to believe Aqua would trust a failure like you," Vanitas said. "Look at you: you can't even stop a little boy."

Clutching the spot where Vanitas's teeth had been, Terra glared at the other boy. He had never wished he had laser eyes as strongly as this moment.

"You can't protect her," Vanitas spat. "Not from me, not from Ven; you can't even protect her from yourself. She came to me with these huge handprints on her neck; where the hell were you during that?"

"Shut up," he hissed.

"Hit a nerve, did I?" Vanitas sauntered closer. "Why? Were you not there because she was fleeing from you? She told me! She confessed that she's scared of you."

"You're one to talk," Terra said.

Vanitas sniffed. "You think I'm no good for her because she's scared of me . . . but that doesn't that apply for you and her, too?"

"Shut up." He could feel his darkness simmering below the surface, just waiting to burst out of his heart.

"Face it, Terra. You're not her friend. She doesn't even like you."

"SHUT UP!"

His arms flung out automatically, caught in the current of his escaping darkness. He roared, the sound carrying through the forest and scaring birds from their roost. Thick, inky tendrils curled around his arms, giving off a dense mist that highlighted how his eyes had started to glow. Earthshaker appeared in his hands, but it wasn't right. It was just as dark as him, the colours having changed.

His eyes locked on his prey, and he leapt, ready to kill –

Vanitas took a few steps back, aimed his keyblade, and shouted, "Holy!"

It was the one spell Terra had never thought him capable of using, and consequently, he was not at all prepared. The light hit him straight-on, right when his darkness was at his peak and . . . Kingdom Hearts, nothing had ever hurt this much before.

He screamed, landing in a crumpled heap at Vanitas's feet. His dark claws dug into his own flesh as he tried to rip the light off his skin. He was burning, being baked alive by the light that clung to him, and when he opened his mouth to scream again, blood-specked foam built up at the corners of his mouth.

Vanitas watched, his face cold.

Eventually, the spell wore off, and Terra was left a whimpering hulk. His darkness had since retreated, burying itself deep within his heart. Without that source of power, he was left with hardly anything; he could barely turn his head to look at Vanitas.

Speaking of the devil, Vanitas had dropped to one knee, peering almost curiously into Terra's face. Terra snarled, tasting blood in the back of his throat.

Quietly, Vanitas said, "I win."

He stomped on Terra's chest, holding him, denying his weak effort to escape. Expression unreadable, Vanitas cocked his head as he stared downwards, meeting Terra's increasingly desperate stare with his own.

Vanitas raised his keyblade.

"You . . ." Terra had a hand clamped around Vanitas's ankle, but was too weak to do anything else.

Vanitas smiled.

And then he sunk his keyblade deep into Terra's chest.

It was later than she liked. She still had an hour or so before sunset, but still . . . She could feel the shadows growing thicker around her, feel the drop in temperature. With a shiver, Aqua hugged herself and continued to walk.

Five minutes. Five more minutes and then she'd take her chances in space. She was still wary of Vanitas; she expected that he was up in the sky waiting for her, ready to swoop in and snatch her up the way an eagle would a mouse. Vanitas said he wanted some time apart, but they probably had different definitions of that. His version probably involved locking her up in a cell somewhere.

Something snapped. Rainfell appeared in a plume of bright sparkles. She shrank away from what she thought to be the direction of the sound. If it was Vanitas . . .

She gasped at the glowing yellow eyes, but it was only Terra. He was rubbing his head, stumbling forwards as if he was drunk.

She had never been so glad to see him before.

"Terra!" She ran forward, catching him before he actually fell over. He started slightly at the contact, frowning as he suddenly starting playing with her fingers.

His touch was like ice, it was so cold. She almost pulled away. Terra must have read her mind though, because his arm wound around her back, keeping her close. He was staring at her face now, trying to meet her eyes.

She didn't give him that, but she did hug him. "I'm so glad you're here," she murmured.

Terra was like a rock. He didn't move.

She frowned, sensing that something wasn't right. "Terra?"

As if responding to her voice, something slithered beneath Terra's skin. It was black, thin, like veins or a vine. A second after it had appeared it was gone again, but it was enough.

She tried to tear herself out of his arms, but he was too strong. His grip only grew tighter, until he was nearly crushing her ribs between his biceps. And all the while, he didn't stop staring at her with that curious, almost innocent stare.

She looked up at him. "Terra?"

He smiled.

His claws dug into her flesh.

Before you ask, yes, Vanitas did use a light spell. Yes, it will be explained. Or you can try to figure out how now :)