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


Keeping a Secret

She awoke, cold and sore. She was on a glass circle suspended in a black sky, and recognized it instinctively as her heart. Knowing that, she relaxed. If she was here, Xehanort hadn't killed her.

But clearly, he had done something.

Her shoes squeaked as she stood. All around the edges of the floating disc, an orange force field rose high into the sky, encasing her within. She touched it, sent a pulse of magic into it, and received enough of a shock back that she yelped and withdrew her hand. It was strong, whatever this power was.

Now, the question was whether it was meant to keep something out, or something in.

Disturbed, she turned her eyes away and cast her vision over the glass. On one half, her half, there was an image of herself. Nearby, were three small circles that she knew should have held a picture within. But only one did now. One circle held a picture of Ven's face, and the other two were ruined. It looked like some monster had come along and scratched and gnawed upon those images until they were unrecognizable.

And on the disc's other half? There was one image there, and it was of a person who most certainly had no reason to be there . . .

"Vanitas," she hissed, her hands balling into fists.

A beat passed. Then something in the air shifted –

"We finally meet."

She went rigid. On the other side of the disc, the side with his image, Vanitas had suddenly appeared. He wore no mask this time, and his golden eyes roved over her face. He prowled towards her, stopping right at the center of the disc, right before he would have crossed the line separating his half from hers.

"I didn't think I would actually see you here," he remarked.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Why are you here? How are you here?"

His head cocked to one side, like a curious puppy. "Do you know where we are?"

"Of course," she said. "This is my heart –"

"Our heart."

She hesitated. "What?"

He spread his arms out, gesturing to all around them. "Our heart."

The moment he said that, she knew it was true. Yet, part of her still denied it, and she croaked out, "That can't be; it's not possible!"

Vanitas laughed. "I bet my old Master thought that, too. Yet, here we are."

She stepped back. "How long?"

"A while," he said. "Since the day we first met. Sorry, I didn't mean to keep it a secret."

"You . . ." A thought hit her. "Are you the darkness Eraqus sensed within me?"

"You could say that."

"Then you . . . you made me hurt them!"

"I didn't make you do anything!" he snapped. "That was all you, Aqua."

"That's-"

He cut in. "Do you feel guilty about doing it? Do you?"

She said nothing, and for both of them, that was as good as a confession.


Review Response:

Dawn: Yay! New people :D And thank you! I hope I do too!

In regards to the Xehanort reports, there won't be anything too specific :(