The halls of Disney Castle had quieted down into a relative peace. Most were sleeping, but it was shallow from grief. Yet they sat there, barely moving. Except for one...
Sora felt himself curl up. The pain of his heart becoming fractured was fresh again, and it was a living hell he never wanted to relive. But this nightmare was too important to wake from.
"Get up and fight, loser. Or do you really want to lose control that badly?" Vanitas sighed as he kicked Sora over. Sora stood, and summoned his Keyblade "I don't want to lose anything, not anymore."
He felt his knees quake: yep, he was exactly like the stained glass image. Cold, golden eyes, raven hair, pale skin, but otherwise he was Sora through and through. Sora then lowered the Keyblade in his hands "But I don't want to fight you." Not yet.
"Huh, well too bad, we're gonna fight-"
"How about I rent out some time for you?" Sora said very quickly.
Vanitas stopped his advance "What was that?"
"You get control every night, as long as you don't hurt my friends."
Vanitas lowered his Keyblade, eyes narrowing in either distrust, annoyance, or intrigue. Maybe a little bit of all. "I can do whatever I please with this body at night, as long as I don't hurt any of your 'friends'."
Sora nodded "Yes."
Vanitas tilted his head in interest as he held a hand to his chin "Define hurt."
"Physical or mental abuse of any kind, however mild it may be. Any of that and the deal's off."
"Hmmm... And this is EVERY night? Not 'once a full moon' or anything like that?"
"Yes."
"Okay, define your friends."
"I will say whenever someone has become my friend. The current list is everyone at this castle, and the kids in Twilight Town."
Vanitas mulled things over "So... I can get you horribly drunk?"
"Yes."
"Generally ruin your reputation?"
"Do I really need to explain 'You can do anything as long as you don't hurt my friends'?"
Vanitas grinned "Say, how about a one-night stand with Kairi? I bet she'd-"
"NEVER. That is filed under hurt, in my book."
He sighed disappointedly, then asked "How about any other girls?"
Sora hesitated, then yielded "As long as I don't know them."
Vanitas then reaffirmed the information given to him "So, if I leave you alone during the day, I can do whatever the hell I want at night as long as I don't do anything harmful to your friends, am I right?"
Sora nodded.
Vanitas then held out his Keyblade "Then swear it. Cross your Keyblade with mine and the deal is sealed."
Sora did so, saying "I'll..." he trailed off: what was he thinking? Vanitas asked harshly "You'll what?"
Sora bowed his head "I'll leave Disney Castle forever."
"Oh really?" Vanitas laughed "Then as a gift from me, I will allow you to control the Unversed."
Sora brought back his Keyblade "Unversed?"
"Fledging emotions that can only be controlled by me, but I am making an exception with you in return for your generosity."
Vanitas whistled, and several monsters appeared "Hey guys, this guy is your second master. Any outbursts, and you will be personally hearing from me, got it?"
There was several chitters of agreement, and a small blue thing- like the one back in Wonderland -clambered up onto Sora's shoulder and he cried out in pain as he suddenly had a major headache.
Hello, my new liege.
Sora froze at the voice, and Vanitas explained "You're now linked with these guys. They die or get hurt, you feel the pain. Just like me." He then laughed as he crushed one of the minions, causing Sora to double over in pain "But you'll learn to love it."
Sora took a shaky breath, then said "Can I just wake from this nightmare already?"
He felt himself waking up after uttering the words, Vanitas saying far too sweetly "Well then, see you tomorrow night."
He sat there, then quietly got out of bed and wrote a letter by the moonlight streaming in through the window. After that, he removed his old clothes still caked with dried blood and went through a wardrobe to find a suitable travel outfit.
He found a pair of navy shorts that hugged his legs about halfway down his shin, criss-crossed with several yellow belts to support two red traveling packs. He also grabbed a blue tank top with a red pouch, like it was originally a hoodie, and put a short-sleeved jacket on top of that. The jacket was black with white trim, and had two metal pauldrons on the shoulders that were partially covered by the hood. He checked it, finding that it could comfortably rest on his head, but his face and hair stuck out more than he wanted. He shrugged, knowing he didn't have much time.
He looked at his transformed hands again. The hands of a murderer. He stuffed his empty sheets with pillows, grabbed his letter, and left with barely any sound.
...
Kairi was drifting through her own dreams. She didn't dream of the boy for what felt like the first time in an age. Right now she was serenely floating in a sea of lavender smoke. She noticed a silhouette of Sora walking towards her, but since she knew she was dreaming, didn't comment on it.
Sora placed a letter by her head, then sat down next to her. Funnily enough, he was still a shadowy image- black and highlights with no detail. He brushed aside some of her hair, gentle and tender. He then bent over and kissed her softly. He held it for far longer than she thought he would, and almost felt sad when he backed away.
"I'm sorry if that... if you didn't like that." Sora said softly "I just wanted to know what it felt like, just once, when everything was calm, when I wasn't doubting anything." she sat there as his hand continued to stroke her cheek "Just once before the storm came."
Kairi wondered what he meant by a storm.
Sora explained, even when she didn't ask it "With Vanitas in me... There's no way anyone's safe here. So I'm leaving."
Leaving? How could he leave-
"I... I-I just want to say... I love you."
She smirked a little, knowing he had been holding that back for awhile.
"You're gorgeous, smarter than most girls I've met, but I gotta say the best part is... is how nice you are."
He sounded like he was sobbing now.
"I've been shoving it away as fake, just a way to get behind my back and stab me in it, but you... you really do care for a lot of people. I have... I just need something like that so much. Kindness, stability, love... I haven't had it much, because even Riku can only give so much."
He stood "But I'm not willing to destroy that." he turned away and began leaving back into the mist "All I ask is that you take care of Riku, forget about Organization XIII, and don't follow me." he then added "I think it'd be best if you forgot about me, too."
Kairi shifted in her sleep, mumbling "I won't."
Sora paused, his hand on the doorknob. Tears were running down his face thick and fast. He walked back, then carefully placed another kiss on her cheek "Everyone here means far too much to me to see you all die by my own hand. Tell everyone goodbye for me, okay? I love you. Goodbye."
He almost ran back to the door, then wrenched it open and closed it while running down the hall.
The door closed loud enough to wake Kairi. She stared at her ceiling blearily, then yawned "Weird dream-"
There was a letter on her side table. She bolted up, grabbing the letter and reading it in a heartbeat. She leapt out of bed, the letter crumpling in her vice like grip "SORA!"
She banged on his bedroom door "RIKU! RIKU GET UP!"
Riku answered it "Kai, it's not even dawn yet-"
"Sora's left!"
Riku stiffened, then turned to Sora's bed "No, he's still here. Come on, tell Kairi you're still here..."
No response. With fear and worry starting to show, the walked over and pulled off the blanket. A pile of pillows fell to the floor.
"SHIT!" Riku screamed, running out into the hall "SORA! SORA WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Soon the whole castle was awake, everyone searching for Sora.
But it was too late, and he was gone.
OOHH MAJOR PLOT CHANGE. And NOW Sora gets his neat clothes :) but I digress, we gots some interesting changes ahead.
Oh, and that is all for today (7/20/13) since I still need to re write some stuff.