Hey, guys! Wow, okay, so it's been a while since I updated this amazing story since life has been a bit hectic for me, so yeah! But now I'm back and ready to begin this interlude chapter! In case any of you are curious, an interlude is basically something that takes place between some chapters, like if Ignis is doing something like killing Unversed in another world, then during that time, it just goes to another character's perspective, or at least that's what I assume. And you'll be quite surprised whose perspective will be in this chapter!
Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Kingdom Hearts series, only the OCs! Mage of Hope also doesn't own the songs, "From Shadow," and "Lusus Naturae," from RWBY, created by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams. Mage of Hope would also like to note that some of the lyrics from the songs have changed a little, so not all of the lyrics are from the original songs.
"Again!"
Vanitas leapt up back to his feet, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain from his injuries. He casted a quick Cure on himself before charging forward once more; Void Gear locked with No Name, Xehanort's personal Keyblade.
Right now, Vanitas was engaged in yet another one of his harsh training sessions with Xehanort in order to prepare for when the time came for the forging of the X-Blade, something both him and Xehanort have been trying to accomplish for a very long time. As frustrating as it may be, and he'll likely never admit it, Xehanort was far more stronger than Vanitas, surpassing the darkness-incarnate boy in terms of magic, experience, and much more, making Vanitas all the more determined to beat his old master. Hell, even leaving a scar on his ragged face would have satisfied the young masked boy.
Vanitas knew he wasn't performing his best today, just like in the past few training sessions he's had with Xehanort. Xehanort calls them training sessions, but Vanitas refers to them as beatdowns. Then again, every single beatdown has effectively made him stronger throughout the years, so he couldn't complain with the results, even if he not once defeated his elderly master despite getting stronger.
Ventus and his friends were all pathetic weaklings who couldn't beat him with his current strength, even if all three of them ganged up on him at the same time. Wait, three? No, it was supposed to be four. Ventus, Aqua, Terra, and...
Her.
Ignis. It's been a while since he's last heard or seen of her. He's had his Unversed survey over the rest of her friends to check up and spy on them, but for some reason, he couldn't find her anywhere at all for the past couple of days no matter how many worlds he had his Unversed search. It was like she completely vanished! Either she's located in some other unknown, faraway world at the moment, or...
He shook his head at the thought of her being dead. No, there's no way the stubborn, hotheaded idiot was actually dead! She may be weaker than he is, but he refused to accept the concept of her actually being dead in some unknown, faraway world that he's probably never explored before! He needs her! He wants her! He-
...Why does he so desire her?
His thoughts were smashed away when he felt pain overwhelming him from a powerful magical strike from Xehanort, causing him to fall on his back in a painful thud. He started to get up, but stopped when he felt the tip of No Name at his throat. He knew that just one little push forward, and the ancient, old Keyblade would pierce his throat, so he stayed still.
"...What's wrong? You're not like your usual self today, Vanitas," spoke Xehanort in an amused tone, though his golden eyes clearly display disappointment in his apprentice.
Vanitas hated being looked down upon, especially from Xehanort. He always wanted to prove he was the best, like no one ever was. He held no close relationship to the old man, but he still wanted to be acknowledged as a very powerful person, and someday, he wanted to be even more powerful than him, but right now, it was clear who was the stronger one. While he knew Xehanort was stronger than him, he absolutely refused to be seen as some...some pathetic disappointment. It was already bad enough that Ventus was already need, like he was much more special than him, but if Vanitas was acknowledged as being a disappointment, well, it would make him feel as though he was more inferior and useless than poor Venny.
"...I'm fine!" scoffed Vanitas, pushing away the Keyblade and getting up on his own. "I'm fine! Let's keep on-"
"No." Xehanort dismissed his Keyblade and turned around; his arms folded behind his back as he started walking away. "We're done for now. You've clearly have something in your mind that's affecting your battle process. We'll continue this next time, when you're more clear-minded and less...ignorant."
"Ignorant?!" Vanitas scowled, taking offense to his previous comment. "I was doing just fine! I can go again, much better than before! I-"
"No. Right now, you're acting like nothing more than a petulant child throwing a tantrum."
Vanitas gritted his teeth, taking every single ounce of his strength not to attack Xehanort from behind. Not only would this prove futile, but Xehanort would expect this from Vanitas and counterattack much more effectively, as well as prove Xehanort's point that he is acting like a child on a tantrum. He refused to be compared to a child and instead stood up straight, clenching Void Gear very tightly in his hand.
"...Fine," growled Vanitas.
Xehanort paused, but he didn't turn around to face the masked boy. "Oh, and one piece of advice, Vanitas. For someone like you-no, especially for you, it's best if you sever any ties you have with anyone. Don't let any lingering feelings cloud your mind, because such trifling things are useless in battle."
"Please, I don't let emotions cloud me," scoffed Vanitas before smirking. "And severing ties? It's like you're asking me to be your enemy, old man."
Xehanort smirked. "Oh, Vanitas...you know as well as I do that we both need each other to accomplish our goals. I wish for the X-Blade, and you wish to be free from pain by becoming the X-Blade, so our goals align. We're simply tools to each other, nothing more than that."
"For once, we agree with something," said Vanitas, crossing his arms.
"Although, between the two of us, I wonder who's acting more like the tool here?"
"Fuck you, old man."
"Such language. You wound an old man's heart."
"You don't have a heart, jackass.
"Same to you, my apprentice."
Having said that, Xehanort opened up a Dark Corridor and stepped through it, vanishing into who knows where. The Dark Corridor closed shortly after he entered, leaving Vanitas all alone in the wind-whipped wasteland.
Once Xehanort was gone, Vanitas let loose his anger by pointing Void Gear at a cliff and firing a fully-powered Dark Firaga at it, blasting off a huge chunk of the cliff. That let off a bit of steam, but it wasn't nearly enough to let out his frustration.
His negative emotions began to form swirl up within him, an ominous, yet familiar feeling he's always had every time his powers that manifested from the darkness within activated on their own. A dark shadow emerged from Vanitas' body, taking form of a familiar creature; a monstrous foe that Ventus and his friends has continuously defeated over and over.
Unversed.
The origin of all Unversed, no matter what size, form, or unique powers they had, all came from within one single source; Vanitas. Unlike monsters one normally recognize from video games, fairy tales, and other sources, these "monsters" were special. They were literally Negative Emotion Incarnate.
Each Unversed is similar, and yet different in many ways, other than their appearance and different powers bestowed onto them by their creator, Vanitas. Because they were emotion incarnate, they were born from one or more single negative emotions. Fear, anger, hatred, sorrow, despair, hopelessness, and even emotions stemming from the natural, seven deadly sins. Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, and Pride.
Come to think of it, the Unversed he created out of those seven deadly sins...only one person had managed to kill most of them. Ignis. At the very least, out of all of the deadly sins, she managed to destroy five out of the seven, which was quite impressive in Vanitas' own book, especially since Ignis' other friends never once encountered any of the seven deadly sin Unversed. Everything always did come back to her in the end. Just what was it that made her so special?
Ignis' skills were average at best. She wasn't as magically talented as Aqua, nor was she as fast as Ventus or even physically strong like Terra. She seemed to be your everyday, run-of-the-mill Keyblade apprentice, but she was quite different than them. In fact, in some ways, she seemed better and a bit more interesting than her friends.
For instance, her defensive skills were quite good, so she'll be able to last a bit longer in a fight. In addition to long-term battles, her supportive and defensive magic was far better than her offensive magic, no matter how much she wanted to try and improve her offensive magic for the sake of her creation magic. Speaking of her creation magic, it was solely due to training and her imagination that she made her creation magic quite strong. If anything, she seemed more skilled with fire offensive magic than any of the other elemental magic.
But what really made her more interesting was the fact that she started using darkness magic, a type of magic she was absolutely forbidden to learn and use by her pathetic Keyblade Master, Eraqus. Yet, even so, she chose to disobey his orders in favor of being interested in darkness magic which was a sureway sign of her changing her alignment from light to dark, yet, for some reason, she hasn't...turned evil.
Rather, she was learning more about both light and darkness magic simultaneously. Sure, she was more interested in learning darkness magic than light magic, but the fact that she hasn't succumbed to the tempting power of darkness and joined the dark side just shows how resistant she is to the temptation, or that she's becoming...neutral.
There hasn't been any single Keyblade wielder who's become neutral. Xehanort may be close, but he's much more closer to the darkness, despite his claims about light and darkness needing to coexist with each other. And Eraqus is definitely not a neutral Keyblade wielder either, since he's so obsessed with the light.
It would be quite interesting if Ignis does become a neutral-sided Keyblade wielder. Who knows what unexpected, unpredicted things she could-
Vanitas mentally slapped himself as he snapped out of his thoughts. He did it again! He was thinking about stupid, stubborn Ignis once again! To be fair, out of all of the four Keyblade wielders, she has proven to be closer to a match to him in combat and will increasingly grow stronger the more time passes, wherever she is. Plus, she has become more...interesting.
But why? Why, why, WHY? Why was she interesting? Why was she constantly in his mind? Vanitas blamed Ventus for these annoying feelings he held towards her. He was fully aware that these sickening feelings were akin to love, thanks to Ventus' huge crush on Ignis. He didn't need such...such useless feelings, especially ones that constantly hinder his path to freedom, which is one of the many reasons why he absolutely loathed Ventus.
It wasn't just Ventus he hated, but also his friends, annoying people who claim the power of friendship and love is much stronger than anything else, and...! Wait, if he hated Ventus' friends, then...did that mean he also hated Ignis as well? Of course it had to mean like that! The answer was obvious, especially since he's going to have to kill her sometime later in the future, after all!
Yet, despite his mind telling him it was absolutely the right thing to do, why does his chest hurt upon thinking that? It's almost as though he has a heart, and that his heart doesn't want him to even think about hurting Ignis.
Frustrated, Vanitas focused his gaze on the Unversed that his emotions had summoned earlier. In a flash, he bisected the Unversed in half with his Keyblade, killing the emotion incarnate monster in an instant.
A surge of pain coursed throughout his body as the fragment of emotion that gave birth to the Unversed returned back its source. This always happened! Every single time, whether he summoned an Unversed willingly or not! If an Unversed was defeated, it would always return back to him, but the pain would be like tenfold to him each time.
The Unversed...he summoned so many over the past few years ever since he was created as Ventus' shadow. So many Unversed based on his own painful feelings and from what he had to see from Ventus' happy life with his friends and HER.
He was envious.
His emotions represented the seven deadly sins, and then some, He desired no more pain from his miserable life. His power to create the Unversed was his most destructive force, and yet, his weakness as well, for all the pain his power brought to him ever time an Unversed was defeated. The pain increased immensely when significantly, more powerful Unversed were slain; a backlash to his almighty power that made him a GOD amongst his Unversed creations.
It was pretty obvious to him that his Unversed - his own power - represented his suffering. Xehanort taught him that he can convert his pain into power, something that's been proven true over and over as he used his Unversed and even amongst his other powers to ruthlessly slaughter every single weakling that got in his way as he explored other worlds of his own volition. To everyone he met in different worlds throughout the years, everyone was a weakling. Sure, there were good fighters, but they were at the bottom of the barrel compared to him, whose always on top of the pyramid.
A sadistic laughter burst from his mouth as he threw his head back; the thought of maliciously harming others invigorating his body as it started trembling with excitement. He awaited for the day when he could finally kill the rest of Ventus' pitiful friends and take Ventus to forge the X-Blade, all to escape this suffering and pain.
Vanitas' emotions soared high as more black masses flowed out of his body, emerging as Unversed of many negative emotions that were filling up the young masked boy. Anger, envy, malice, and many more negative emotions powered up the Unversed as they were summoned from their master's overwhelming emotions. What strength they contained came from their master, and whenever they returned to him not through defeat, but willingly, Vanitas grows stronger from absorbing them back.
Truly a backlash power.
Vanitas' laughter ceased and was instead replaced by a growl as he glared at his Unversed with scorn. Though they were of his creations, they caused him unbelievable amounts of pain every since they were defeated. And if they were defeated, then they were nothing more than weaklings. And so, he had no use for weaklings.
He charged forth, wielding his Keyblade, Void Gear, to exterminate the vermin that was rightfully his. His weaklings.
From Shadows
By: Jeff and Casey Lee Williams
Born with
No life!
Into subjugation!
Treated
Like a
Worthless animal!
Stripped of
All rights!
Just a lesser being!
Crushed by
Ruthless human rule!
From the very beginning, Vanitas couldn't possibly be classified as a regular human being. Oh, he had the handsome, attractive body of one, but he was still born from the darkness of a weakling, and humans don't normally give birth to monsters like him. In fact, when he was born, he was fully masked, but behind that mask, was a monstrous, doll-like face with red eyes and jet-black skin, a face that belonged perfectly to a monster like him.
From the start, he had no freedom. Nothing to go by. He was just a monster hiding his face behind a mask that the darkness fabricated for him. Darkness was his one true friend, and he embraced the power all the time. But at the same time, even with the power of darkness, Vanitas was weak, so weak, he had no idea what to do about the Unversed and the pain that came along with his power. He was so weak, he was forced to be subjected to Xehanort's effective, but cruel and abusive training methods. Vanitas knew that he and Xehanort had the same goals, but also that the boy himself was nothing more than a tool for Xehanort to use and discard later in the future. Vanitas was weak, but he was so much stronger than Ventus. But because of some coincidental fate, Ventus somehow proved useful enough to continue living for Xehanort's upcoming plan, breaking out of his shell and gaining a new light, all while Vanitas wore a new, human-like appearance of his own, resembling that of a young man who would soon become a hero of light in the future.
Vanitas was not only darkness incarnate, but a literal wolf in sheep's clothing afterwards.
When it started,
All I wanted was a chance to live my life!
Now in darkness,
Taking anything I want and I will rise!
I'll rise!
I'll rise!
Vanitas tore down yet another Unversed, grimacing silently as another jolt of pain exploded within him as his Unversed reverted back inside him. He was now on a slaughtering mayhem, killing every single Unversed within his sight, banishing them with Void Gear or his devastating magic. He needed to clear his mind of any hindrances and grow stronger after all, and his legion of weaklings were perfect targets to grow stronger, even if they did bring him pain upon defeat.
As the years grew by, he only became stronger and stronger, not just by exterminating weaklings, but also through Xehanort's guidance as well. He may be an old man and an asshole, but he was still his Master, and several times stronger than him. One day, though, he will surpass his Master and when that day comes, it'll be the day when he no longer has anymore use for the old fool.
From shadows,
I'll descend upon the world!
Take back what you've stole!
From shadows,
I'll reclaim my destiny!
Set my future free!
And I'll rise!
And I'll rise!
While Vanitas performed a barrage of swift, sword techniques with Void Gear on a onslaught against a bunch of other Unversed, the pain from killing the Unversed made him remember something that he absolutely despised Ventus of. Why should he suffer when that weakling isn't? Why is he the one who has to bear all this pain while that weakling Ventus is always having fun, enjoying his life with his friends? And it's even more infuriating because Vanitas is forced to recall Ventus' happy memories, especially memories of...Ignis.
The thought of Ventus being happy with Ignis infuriated him even moreso than the concept of Vanitas suffering under the backlash of his power. Everything always led back to that weakling, Ventus! Vanitas was created from Ventus' darkness, Vanitas was forced to witness Ventus' memories as the darkness incarnate boy had to grow stronger in ruthless and painful ways, and now, thanks to Ventus, he was having all sorts of feeling towards the girl named Ignis!
For some reason, whenever he thought of Ignis, his emotions are always twisted in a...conflict. He hates her, but at the same time, he doesn't as well. He won't go admit to something mushy as loving her in front of anyone, but she has impressed him a few times, something not even Ventus has done. Aqua and Terra were just as strong as young Keyblade Master candidates, but Ignis was rising up to match their power exponentially, so she'll be a worthy opponent to fight when the time comes. But, it's more than just her strength that he finds admirable.
Her personality is far too bright, too chirpy, too perky, something that has annoyed Vanitas more than once. But, she has demonstrated charisma and a strong willpower, and one of the things interesting about her is that she's not afraid to backtalk against him. Of course, he finds her willing to use darkness magic to be another interesting thing, but he didn't say that would have to be the only interesting quality about her.
Which, again, leads back to the question: Why was he so intrigued with her?
Deep down, he knows that he does love her. It may have started solely due to Ventus' crush on her, but then, Vanitas started to slowly develop his own reasons for loving her. He hated that he loved her, because these feelings will get in the way of him being free of all this pain. This...love will only hinder his way to becoming one with Ventus to form the X-Blade, his only method of escaping the pain.
Above the darkness and the shame!
Above the torture and the pain!
Above the ridicule and hate!
Above the binding of my fate!
Vanitas let out a yell as he slashed with a stronger attack, killing yet another Unversed and suffering another wave of pain. Normally, fighting these many Unversed combined with the amount of pain that's been constantly coursing through him ever since his fight started would have made him lose consciousness, but for whatever reason, whether it was just his own negative emotions powering him up or a different reason, he still kept going.
One time, just one time, he had a crazy thought. What if he killed the rest of Ventus' friends, used Ventus to forge the X-Blade, and spared Ignis alone? Just her, and nobody else. Maybe Xehanort would have opposed this decision, but the biggest threats to his plan gone, with the only remaining threat being a helpless girl that couldn't stand up to the Keyblade Master? It sounded like a sweet deal to Vanitas.
But that was nothing more than a fleeting fairy tale.
Xehanort doesn't like loose ends, and he certainly wouldn't want even a menial threat like Ignis to live. Xehanort was somewhat a perfectionist, so obviously, he wouldn't want any single threats nor any flaws in his plans. That, and because Ignis would never allow any of her loved ones to die under her watch. She's definitely the type of person to sacrifice herself before allowing any of her friends to die. People would call that trait admirable, but Vanitas would say that it was a stupid trait.
Besides, if Ignis knew the full truth about him, about how he's the source of all Unversed, monsters that harmed innocents, including her friends, as well as his future plans for her and her friends, especially towards Ventus, she would hate him. She would hate and despise him just like any normal human being would. Just like any rational person, she'd think of him as a liar, murderer, insane, and most of all...
Monster.
Call me
A Liar,
Degenerate and killer!
Psycho!
Heartless!
Insane criminal!
Yes, of course she would. And she wouldn't be the only one thinking that way. Ventus, Aqua, Terra, those guys would also think of him as such. He was nothing more than a tool for Xehanort, a means to an end to completely Xehanort and his goals. If he was a tool, then Ventus was nothing more than a puppet, a puppet who doesn't even know his role unless his puppetmasters controlled and led him on.
He's committed far too many atrocities, too much bloodshed throughout the years, to ever be redeemed. And the thing is, he doesn't want to be redeemed, because if he has to face redemption and "change for the greater good," he'll have to be like one of those goody-two-shoes warriors of light, dedicated to protecting others and stopping evil, and all that cliché shit.
Why change who he is when he enjoys what he loves best; wrecking shit and causing mayhem like bloodshed all around?
Stupid
Mutt and
Nothing but pure evil!
Primal
Bloodshed
Is all I ever do!
Nobody could ever understand how he felt, or the suffering he's had to endure every single day of his life. The only bit of happiness he's ever experienced was watching the suffering and deaths of others. He's not afraid to admit that he is one sadistic son-of-a-bitch that takes pleasure in seeing other suffer and die. A cruel philosophy he's always had, is that if he had to suffer, so should others, especially towards his other half.
There's not a single person in existence that could ever understand nor go through all of the suffering he had and still is experiencing. People would view him as a monster, a killer, whatever negative thing they had to say about him. Others would hate him and try to kill him to make sure he never hurts them, but the ones he hates the most are those that pity him, thinking he's simply a young, misguided man who needs love and all that bull crap.
Those that hate him should die, but those that disgustingly pity him should suffer before dying.
I'm misguided?
Treated like I'm a criminal and I should hide.
Born in darkness,
Tired of being pushed around and I will fly!
I'll fly!
I'll fly!
Despite the ever-growing pain that continued to inflict upon his body the more he killed his Unversed, Vanitas didn't once falter nor lose consciousness while constantly slaughtering wave after waves of Unversed. He smirked to himself as he continued his onslaught despite the backlash pain it brought to him as a result. If he was managing well for this long, it just goes to show how much stronger he's gotten.
It's a huge step towards the completion of the X-Blade.
From shadows,
I'll descend upon the world!
Finishing off another group of Unversed, Vanitas felt himself both vibrating in pain, yet glimmering with strength. It's just as the old man said: the more enemies he killed, the more stronger he becomes. He has to release all of his negative emotions, yet control them at the same time. He didn't really get nor care what the old man meant, but now, he's starting to.
Once the time comes for the X-Blade to be forged, he'll be strong enough. Strong enough to erase all of the pain and suffering. Strong enough to create an infinite army of Unversed without repercussions. Definitely more than strong enough to take on Ventus and his weakling friends. And...
Powerful enough to betray his master.
From shadows,
I'll reclaim our destiny!
It was only now that he realized that he no longer felt the rushing waves of pain coursing through his body as he swung at empty air. What was supposed to be corpses of black masses has already merged back into Vanitas' body during his slaughtering of his own Unversed, his own creation of demonic emotion -incarnate monsters. He looked around, expecting to see nothing but the barren wasteland of the world he had grown accustomed to, but was surprised to see one Unversed remaining.
A Hareraiser.
Hareraisers were amongst the most weakest of the Unversed he had, so he didn't normally send them out much except for stealth purposes. But, for some odd reason, during his onslaught of mercilessly killing his Unversed, this small creature of darkness was able to survive that round.
Ignis' face came into thought when he took a second glance at the Hareraiser.
Come to think of it, the last time he summoned a Hareraiser, he had used it to act as both bait and as a spy to lure out Ignis after she fell victim to a very powerful sleeping magic spell that would only be broken once the princess in the world she had been in was awaken. He remembered that event very well, because not only did he get to see her fight his Unversed of Sloth, but he got to see her in a dress, dance with her, and more importantly...
Stole her first kiss.
Back to the matter at hand, which involved the Hareraiser. Because Vanitas knew Ignis could absolutely not resist any cute things, he took advantage of the Hareraiser's cutesy appearance to lure out Ignis to see if she was awake. She was no good to him sleeping, after all, or even dead back then.
He was full of negativity, he knew that and it's likely it'll never change. But before, when he stole her first kiss, he felt...a spark. Something he's never felt before. Just for that instance, he enjoyed it. He wanted to feel that way again, so he swooped down for another taste of her lips, but unfortunately, his second kiss with her wasn't quite as mesmerizing as the first. But, just like how he's wondering why he's so obsessed and intrigued with Ignis, he wanted to feel that feeling once more.
He wanted...to be loved.
Not the kind of love where one praises him and views him as some sort of ruler. That's just admiration and respect. No, he wanted to feel that warmth called love. Ignis doesn't even know she had her first kiss taken away, which makes this even more fun and exciting. Vanitas wanted to be loved by someone who, despite knowing his past and the cruelty he's done, would still accept a monster like him.
Vanitas...wanted to be loved by his fallen angel.
"Ugh, what am I thinking?" grumbled Vanitas, shaking his head. "Why am I still thinking about her? She's anything but an angel! I have to get these mushy, stupid love thoughts out of my head-And I'm talking to myself. As if I couldn't get anymore insane than I already am. I need to get outta here for a while and clear my mind."
He started walking away and paused, turning around to see the Hareraiser Unversed following behind him. He went up to it and kicked it away, barking out a harsh laugh before opening up a Corridor of Darkness and exiting through it, abandoning his poor and useless weakling of an Unversed.
Vanitas honestly wasn't expecting to be standing in the very shores of his Master's home world; Destiny Islands.
All he wanted to do was wander around in some random-ass world, unleash some havoc by summoning some Unversed, maybe even joining in the fray if he was interest enough? This wasn't the first time he's caused chaos in another world for fun, after all.
After wandering around Destiny Islands for a bit, he could understand a bit of what his Master had been feeling when his Master wanted to go out beyond the oceans and see what other world, or rather, worlds, laid ahead the horizon. Honestly, if he had been in his Master's shoes, he would have either left the world much more sooner, or probably have died out of boredom.
Speaking of which, judging from the skies and the sun being halfway down from view of the ocean, Vanitas could guess that it was around sunset time, meaning night would soon appear. Vanitas removed his mask, feeling the island breezes waft over his black, spiky locks and his face as his nose caught whiff of the oceanic scent that seemed nostalgic.
"Sora, are you sure you want to split up? I don't want you to get lost again!"
"I'll be fine, Hina! You go check the beach, and I'll check the forest! Riku's really good at Hide-And-Seek, and I wanna beat him at his own game!"
"O-Okay, but be careful! If I don't find Riku, then I'm coming to get you, Sora! You're my cute little brother, after all!"
"Okay, Sis!"
Hearing the sound of children's voices, Vanitas glanced over and saw two children on top of one of the wooden bridges on the island splitting up. The boy rushed off towards the small forest on the island, whereas the young girl descended down from the bridge and was making her way to the beach, specifically where Vanitas was.
Smirking, Vanitas snapped his fingers, summoning forth a few Floods and mentally ordered them to attack and scare the girl. He was a sick son-of-a-bitch, unleashing monsters of his own creation to attack an innocent little girl, but did he care? No. He just wanted to see the suffering and demise of the little girl as a way to pass time.
Hinatsu was running around the beach in search of her friend, Riku, whom she and Sora had been playing a game of Hide-And-Seek with. She knew that Riku was pretty good at hiding and never lost a game of Hide-And-Seek before, which made Sora even more motivated to try and break his winning record. She too, wished to find Riku, but she was more concerned towards her brother. After a quick search on the beach shores, if she doesn't find Riku, she'll go into the island forest and search for Sora. Perhaps the young, black-haired boy over there knows?
Suddenly, some small, unknown monsters popped up around her, blocking off any means of escape. One of them even leapt forward and slashed at her arm, causing her to cry out in pain. Blood pooled down from the slash marks on her arm, making her know very clearly that these monsters were out to get her for whatever reason. She knew that she was supposed to keep magic a secret, so that meant that she couldn't really use it without Miss Ignis around or her permission, but these monsters were hurting her, so Miss Ignis would understand if she told her, right?
When another of the monsters leapt towards her, Hinatsu panicked and extended her arm out, remembering the magic lessons Miss Ignis taught her. "F-Fire!" A burst of flame came from her palm, and though it didn't destroy the monster at first, it did damage and take the monster by surprise that the child that it was fighting now had a means of attack.
Even Vanitas had to admit, he hadn't expected the young girl to be a caster of magic. From what he knew about Destiny Islands from Xehanort, nobody knew how to use magic, but then again, it has been years since the old man left in his youth, so maybe things have advanced in this boring little island world.
The Unversed that Vanitas had summoned earlier were quickly annihilated by the young girl's magic. It seemed that basic fire magic wasn't the only magic she knew; she knew other elemental types of magic, like water and wind magic that she used to defeat the Floods. Not only that, but she displayed a basic Cure spell to heal the wound on her arm.
"T-That was really scary..." Vanitas heard the girl murmur to herself. "I hope Miss Ignis will understand..."
Ignis? She was here? Growing interested, Vanitas walked towards the young black-haired girl, stopping near her so him overshadowing her could bring her attention. As expected, the girl noticed and turned around, blinking her wide, silver eyes up at him.
Wait, silver eyes? Now this just became a LOT more interesting.
"H-Hello? Mister? Can I help you with something?" The silver-eyed, black-haired girl asked, tilting her head curiously to the side.
"...Who taught you how to use magic, kid?" asked Vanitas.
Her silver eyes went wider before her face changed to that of panic. "O-Oh no! You weren't supposed to see that! Oh, no! Miss Ignis is going to be so mad at me! She told me to keep magic a secret!"
So Ignis was indeed here. There weren't a lot of people named Ignis, so Vanitas could venture a guess that "Miss Ignis" was the Ignis that he knew personally.
"This Ignis...Does she have long, red hair? Cheerful personality? Armor?"
"Hmm? Y-Yes...Miss Ignis is like that...Are you friends with her?"
"...Yeah, I guess you could say that."
Never in a million years will he admit in front of Ignis out loud that they were friends, though. Nor does he want to be when they could be something more...
Snapping out of his thoughts, Vanitas told the young girl, "Ignis and I are...close in a way. Because of our 'friendship,' I also know magic, because I, too, know magic. Look." To prove his point, Vanitas conjured up a dark flame in his palm and showed it to her, amazing the little girl.
"Wow...you can use a black version of fire!"
'I mean, she's not wrong, but that sounds so racist,' Vanitas chuckled in his mind. "So, you can trust me, because I'm Ignis' 'friend.'"
"Oh, okay...Um...Where's Miss Ignis, then?"
"She's...busy. I'm just traveling by. So, what's your name, kid?"
"Hinatsu! May I ask for your name, too, sir?"
"You don't really need to know," said Vanitas. "I mean, it's not like I'm going to stay on this island for very long, so you don't need to know the name of someone you'll never meet again."
"Hmm...True, but you are friends with Miss Ignis, so I feel it would be rude if I don't know at least one of her friends!" said Hinatsu. "Well, you don't have to tell me, but I can just ask Miss Ignis who you are the next time she comes! And how rude you were!"
'Cheeky little thing, are you?' Vanitas thought, his eye twitching as he now paid further attention to the girl. "Alright, fine. If you're so interested, then I'll tell you. It's Vanitas."
"Vani...? Vani-tas? Vanitas!"
"Yeah, that's right."
Hinatsu hopped excitedly in front of Vanitas; a happy expression planted on her face. "Vanitas! Vanitas! Vanitas! Guess what? Guess what? I learned something new about your name the other day in the library! Not just yours, but Miss Ignis', too!"
Vanitas raised an eyebrow, deciding to entertain this child for a bit. "Oh? And what would that be?"
"In another language, Latin, 'Vanitas' means vanity! I don't know what vanity means, but it must be something special! Miss Ignis' name is special, after all, too! Her name means 'fire' in Latin, and it suits her well, because her hair is the color of fire! Mr. Vanitas, what does 'vanity' mean?
Vanity was nothing special. In fact, vanity, in its definition, meant emptiness, as well as worthlessness. A fitting name that he despised, and yet, he didn't want to discard such a fitting name that suited him just fine.
"It means nothing. Don't worry about it," said Vanitas, reaching his hand out to pat and ruffle the young girl's hair, running his fingers through the girl's soft hair. Hinatsu didn't seem to mind him ruffling her hair, in fact, she inched closer, wanting to feel more of his touch against her head, smiling widely with her eyes closed as she enjoyed the sensational touch.
Her silver eyes...along with her ability to use magic almost effortlessly...there was no doubt about it that the little girl named Hinatsu was definitely from the Argentum clan, a clan that specialized in many forms of magic, including ancient and forbidden types of magic that made them both blessings and a threat to other worlds, even though they themselves have never invaded other worlds before.
Keyblade history books stated that the Argentum Clan were masters of magic and that their most notable trait was having silver eyes. The books spoke of how the Argentum Clan wanted the power of the Keyblade for their own selfish and malicious deeds, so they began either capturing or killing off any Keyblade wielders, even going so far as to cruelly and painfully torturing them before killing them. They were viewed as the most vicious clan of magicians to ever exist.
That was far from the truth. Actually, that wasn't even the truth at all.
Those pathetic history books were created by the original Keyblade wielders, probably the first generation of Keyblade wielders, in order to hide up their own crimes and blame the innocent victims for what they've done. Vanitas learned the truth about the whole Keyblade and Argentum Clan issue from Xehanort, who learned the truth from research and investigations on his own.
The real truth of this tragedy is that the Argentum Clan were originally the ones who founded the power known as "magic," and were an isolated civilization with advanced, magical technology. One day, it was decided that the Argentum Clan would spread their knowledge out to other worlds, and that they played a major role in the creation of the Keyblade, the one weapon that could combat against dark forces like the Heartless, so the clan wanted to use their powers and knowledge to further help others and stop evil.
It was true about the fact that all the Argentum clan members were masterful at magic, sages of magic, even. They created magic and separated it in many other forms and types of different magic. Over each generation, their numbers grew, as well as their magic. Soon, the power of their ever-growing power took form in their eyes, changing their original eye color into that of the silver color. In a way, silver eyes was just a mark of extraordinary magical prowess for the clan, now being a hereditary trait for future generations.
Unfortunately, the first Keyblade wielders grew envious and wanted all of the power and knowledge the Argentum Clan had to offer, so the greedy Keyblade wielded plotted together and, in an unexpected ambush, wiped out the civilization in a single night. The people the clan had trusted so deeply had betrayed and literally backstabbed them, and those who were captured were tortured endlessly until they were killed. Afterwards, the Keyblade wielders stole the books and whatever knowledge they obtained to use for themselves.
What was even worse was that these Keyblade wielders portrayed themselves as heroes, making up some outlandish story about how the Argentum Clan were the evildoers plotting to conquer other worlds, using any means necessary until the Keyblade wielders banded together to stop them.
Well, it seemed several members escaped on the night of the massacre and taught others their own magic before eventually being hunted down simply for being members of the Argentum Clan. Not all were exterminated, as evident in the form of the little girl named Hinatsu, whose silver eyes and remarkable magical ability are proof of her being part of the Argentum Clan, even if it was forcibly massacred centuries ago.
"Mister?" Hinatsu looked up at Vanitas, eyeing the Keyblade in his other hand. "What's that weird key thing you have in your hand?"
Ah, Void Gear. Vanitas had forgotten that he still had this in his hand and didn't dismiss the Keyblade back in The Keyblade Graveyard. Maybe he had been so distracted with his thoughts, he had forgotten about Void Gear still in his hand?
...This just brought a new idea in his head. A very interesting idea. He wasn't interested in the Argentum Clan, not when it had proven weak upon being defeated by a group of Keyblade wielders, not when they had the magical advantage. But...there was no records of a member from a forgotten clan being a potential Keyblade wielder, was there?
Vanitas ceased ruffling Hinatsu' now messy hair and knelt down on one knee, spinning Void Gear until the sword handle was faced towards Hinatsu.
"Wanna hold it?"
"Hmm? O-Okay!"
Once Hinatsu grasped her small, little fingers around the sword handle, Vanitas released his grip on Void Gear. Because the Keyblade's weight was unsuited for a small girl like Hinatsu, she struggled to keep it in the air until she couldn't take it and had most of the Keyblade fall to the sandy grounds beneath her feet, with her keeping up only the handle part of Void Gear.
"Oof! I-I'm sorry, mister! I didn't mean to drop the key thingie!"
"You technically didn't drop it. It's still in your hand. Hmm..."
Vanitas watched as Hinatsu struggled to lift up Void Gear, clutching the handle with both small hands. He waited a minute...then another...and then another...until he completely verified that the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony was completed.
Technically, a Keyblade wielder doesn't have to have the title of "Keyblade Master" to pass the power of a Keyblade onto another individual, only having the skills and level of a Master would do the trick. The fact that Void Gear is still in Hinatsu's hand and has not automatically returned back to Vanitas' hand is proof that Hinatsu has potential to becoming a Keyblade wielder. If the Keyblade did not approve of Hinatsu, Void Gear would have immediately returned to Vanitas' hand. Maybe Hinatsu wouldn't really inherit his Keyblade, but rather, later in the future, she would possess the power to wielder her own Keyblade.
Vanitas always believed in getting work done the easier and effective ways possible. As such, he didn't bother uttering the incantation necessary for the ceremony. He found it both a waste of time and useless when all the ceremony required was for a Keyblade Master to allow another individual to touch the Keyblade.
Why did he allow Hinatsu the power to wield a Keyblade? Simple; he was bored. He wanted to see what would happen if an Argentum Clan member were to wield the power of the Keyblade? A member from a clan of sages, combined with that of the power belonging to the ones that massacred her ancestors...Now that would be quite an interesting, powerful person, now, would it?
Come to think of it, didn't Hinatsu have a brother of her own? That boy she was with earlier?
Taking Void Gear back from Hinatsu, Vanitas asked her, "Hey, kid. Don't you have a brother?"
Hinatsu' eyes widened. "Oh, no! It's been so long! I have to go find him-"
"Ah, wait." Vanitas stopped her, planting a hand on her shoulder. "Before you leave, I have some questions to ask."
"Okay, okay! Please make it quick, though!"
Vanitas nodded. "Alright, I'll keep this brief. Does your brother have the same colored eyes as yours?"
"Hmm?"
"Your brother. I heard you talking to your brother earlier. Does he have the same colored eyes as you?"
"Sora?" Hinatsu shook her head. "No, his eyes are blue. Mine's grayish, kinda like silver."
'They ARE silver,' Vanitas thought, wanting to tell her that before deciding not to waste his time. "So, what were you two talking about earlier?"
"Oh, my and my brother were trying to find our friend, Riku. He's playing Hide-And-Seek with us, and he's really good! I just wonder where he is right now..."
"Hina!"
Both looked up and saw both Sora and Riku standing a bit far away from them, waving at them. They seem to be waiting for Hinatsu.
"Oh, I gotta go!" said Hinatsu, turning around to leave.
"Wait, one more thing," said Vanitas. "Do you mind not telling Ignis that I was here, as well as what we did?"
"Why?"
"I...want to tell her myself. As well as what a good girl you've been. And how you're a responsible young girl for taking care of her friends and...is he your younger-older? Twin brother?"
Hinatsu grinned. "Oh, he's younger than me, so he's my younger brother by 1 year! He's my young, adopted brother."
Vanitas blinked in surprise. "Adopted?"
"Yeah, I found out the other day. Mama and Papa said that soon, we'll have a family meeting, and they'll tell me and Sora all about what adoption is! But, okay! I'll be sure not to tell Miss Ignis since you're going to tell her yourself! Bye-bye, Mister Vanitas!"
Vanitas watched as the tiny little girl ran off and rejoined with her friends, locking hands with both of them as they wandered off somewhere to play. Silver eyes were a hereditary trait, so at first, it surprised him when he learned that her brother, Sora, had blue eyes, when he should have had silver eyes. However, her being adopted into another family made much more sense.
He thought it would be boring to visit Destiny Island, but it seems this experience had been well-worth it.
Back at The Keyblade Graveyard...
The moment he stepped back into the barren wasteland world, he felt immense pain flowing into his body, indicating that another one of his Unversed was defeated once more. However, the defeat of this Unversed only led him to witness the one who had slain his Unversed.
Ignis.
More pain and memories of his slain Unversed poured into him like an overflowing river, causing him to witness the parts where Ignis slain the Unversed returning to his body. The deaths of his useless and weak Unversed were not in vain, as he now knew exactly where she was, as in, which world she's in.
That's right...the pain made him remember that he still had a duty to uphold. He had to summon more and more of his underlings to test and make Ventus and his friends grow stronger, even if it brought him both pain and strength every single time. But the difference this time in creating more Unversed is that he's more determined than ever to do so.
And, he's thought up of an Unversed to be as equal as him, a hundred time more powerful than any of the Unversed he's ever created before.
Concentrating and masterfully performing the role of a puppet master, Vanitas focused all of his negative thoughts into the creation and summoning of his Unversed army. It was like he was a conductor in an orchestra, leading his players to perform in a wide stage; the stage being the battlefield, a bloody battlefield with nothing but death.
As much as he viewed his Unversed as weaklings under him, they still have their uses, and he viewed the Unversed as his most beautiful pieces of creation, given that the power of the Unversed was his to manipulate to his heart's content. Xehanort was right about one thing: The fools obsessed and deluded that the power of light is their only salvation and good in the universe could never comprehend the beauty within darkness.
Lusus Naturae
By: Jeff and Casey Lee Williams
Gnarled and mangled
Warped deformed
They see nightmare
A mutant swarm!
I see beauty
Underneath
I see promise
In nature's freak!
Swarming all around him and filling up areas upon areas within the empty world he was in, Vanitas started creating all sorts of Unversed in his own image, grinning maliciously as he took in the beauty of the powerful creatures surrounding him. Afterwards, it didn't take long for his own strong, negative emotions to do the rest of the work for him as he focused on only one Unversed truly worthy of deserving his attention.
His ultimate creation equal to him.
A mystery of blood and bone
Soulless, origin unknown
Twisted devil, villain lost in time
Mindless, born of bubbling ooze
Intelligence I will infuse
A curse upon the world, but now you're MINE!
Like all of his other Unversed, the being he was creating was going to be yet another one of his Unversed, but the major difference is, this Unversed was going to consist of all of his negative emotions merging into one being, in addition, he will release all of his strengths and power onto the being to make him his equal.
This Unversed will be his perfect creation.
I will raise you up
Design the perfect beast!
Elevate the savage
Use you to deceive!
The best part about all this? None of those light-loving fools will ever see this coming. They view his Unversed as nothing more than monsters, and while that's true, they couldn't fathom to understand deeply of what the Unversed truly were.
The Unversed weren't just monsters, they were emotion incarnate. They're too stuck up in their delusions about the light being the ultimate good that they fail to realize a much greater evil is about to be unleash, an evil far greater than the Unversed, who are nothing more than underlings and tools, but also his personal creations. Personal weaklings who have nothing but their own purpose of creating destruction in life.
They don't know
They don't understand
There's a goal!
It's my master plan!
These simple-minded fools just see my plans abstruse!
I'll give the monster's life a use!
Vanitas concentrated more on the being he was so intent on perfecting to be his equal. His efforts were slowly and effective giving to fruition, as the black mass that came out of Vanitas just like where all the other Unversed originated from was taking form.
The master of Unversed grinned; his golden eyes shimmering with malicious joy as his eyes took in the forming appearance of his new creation, all while the rest of his negative emotions were doing his work creating new Unversed. His new creation was taking in all of his abilities and powers, and his new appearance was not only fitting, but absolutely perfect beyond creation.
Awaken, my brood!
Today you will rise!
I've give you life
My Luscus Naturae!
Open your eyes!
All Unversed originated from one source only, and that was Vanitas. In fact, the first Unversed he created was from the very spot he was standing on, in the Keyblade Graveyard. He may be the embodiment of Ventus' darkness, but Vanitas felt as though he was the embodiment of darkness all around. Simply thinking like that made him feel confident and an all-powerful being, almost like a god.
At first, the Unversed were a mystery to him, and they've gotten traits that still are a bit of a mystery for their young master. But, there's still so much more to learn about the Unversed and what other hidden potential they may have within. They're his little pets, underlings, weaklings whose lives he can toy away with little to no consequence, other than the backlashing wave of pain he always experiences whenever one of his Unversed dies.
People fear what they do not understand, which is why they'll never understand the Unversed; his precious creations. They see an Unversed, they automatically think it's a monster and try everything they have to kill it. The reason why not many people can kill his Unversed? It's because instead of trying to understand it, they just drop everything to kill them, and their negative emotions only succeed in powering up his negatively emotionally attractive Unversed.
Created in a netherworld!
Into this realm you were hurled!
Emotionally misunderstood!
I will decode and knowledge gain
Your mysteries I will explain!
I'll lucubrate and change you for the good!
So far, the only people he knows that have effectively defeated a lot of his Unversed are Terra, Aqua, Ventus, and Ignis. They've become nuisances, but necessary nuisances if they wished to become stronger by defeating his Unversed every single time. But, he could never forgive them for delivering so much pain to him, even if it was, once again, necessary, as it's all part of Xehanort's plan.
One good thing from all this besides making them grow stronger and more of an interesting challenge is that he doesn't need to hold back his power every time he summoned more Unversed. The stronger they grew, the stronger he'll make his Unversed, over and over again. No matter how many they defeat, they could never truly kill them unless they kill the source, which is him, and he'll be damned if he lets himself get killed easily.
Everything was for the sake of forging the X-Blade. For the sake of ending this unbearable pain.
The fools they've placed in power
Try to halt my dreams!
They will fail to stop me!
Grimm I will redeem!
Vanitas took in his surrounded and found that he had masterfully created an army of different kinds of Unversed, ready to be unleashed to invade and conquer a whole bunch of other worlds. Truly, his most fearsome and weak power, all at the same time.
The Unversed was created by him and him only. It was his own power, and nobody else's, not even Ventus, from whom Vanitas himself originated from. He chose to divulge in the power of darkness for his own sadistic and selfish needs. He claims to have no need for weaklings, and yet he has weaklings as his subordinates, his servants, his slaves, his creations.
He wasn't any mere master or king to the Unversed. No, he was their GOD.
He gave them everything. He gave birth to them. He gave them power. He gave them form. He gave them at least one negative emotion surging within their pathetic bodies. They were all a part of him. Just like the saying, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," where ashes came from, it'll eventually return to dust.
In other words, when Vanitas created the Unversed, they will always return to him, whether through their god's will or through death.
I'm your god!
I will make you grow!
You're my own
Twisted embryo!
Many would call him mad, a monster amongst monster, for enjoying the suffering of others and for creating such abominations that shouldn't exist in their lives. What do THEY know about suffering, anyways? If they had time to complain, they had time to get stronger to counter against the Unversed. Vanitas always did love a challenge, after all.
And when they try and are lying in their own pool of blood, about to face death, perhaps he'll smugly tell them the origins of the Unversed so that they can take it upon themselves that they stood no chance and would die, taking the secret to their graves?
They call me sick obsessed
A madman with no proof!
In triumph I will show the truth!
Vanitas raised an arm, and in doing so, created yet another group of Unversed from his own power within. But what he seemed more focused and interested on was his own personal, perfect creation.
It was almost complete. His design, which took after his own appearance, was flawless, especially since Vanitas was personally creating this particular Unversed not just with his own negative emotions, but also pouring in his abilities and powers into this all-powerful being as well, to assure that this being will not be defeated by anyone weaker than him.
Awaken, my brood!
Today you will rise!
I've give you life
My Luscus Naturae!
Open your eyes!
A strong wave of pain exploded inside him as Vanitas gripped his chest and grunted, giving out shallow breaths afterwards. He saw the sight of Ignis striking down yet another Unversed, which explains the pain in his body as the defeated Unversed returned back to him. More and more waves of pain joined back into his body with more Unversed returning.
A grin formed on his face as he came to a realization. Wherever Ignis had been a while back, she has indeed grown much stronger. He could feel it in her attacks the moment they struck down his Unversed. If she grew stronger, that meant that she's going to pose more of a challenge than the first time they fought, and that excited him.
It didn't matter to him if his Unversed were defeated, because he could always just regenerate more back over and over again in an endless loop. If one weak Unversed was unable to do its task, then it's simply logic that a much stronger Unversed will crush the weak Unversed and do its job for it.
What he loved about the Unversed is that they will never betray him. They're just thoughts and embodiments of the negative emotions swirling within him constantly. They have no other purpose other than destruction and obeying their one and only master, so any thoughts of betrayal has and will never cross their feeble, loyal minds.
When evolution fails,
Darkness will prevail!
What nature warped,
I will restore!
I will love
What all abhor!
They call me sick obsessed
A madman with no proof!
I'll give the monster's life a use!
Awaken, my brood!
Today, you will rise!
I've given you life
My Luscus Naturae!
Open your eyes!
With his creation of an Unversed complete, Vanitas eyed his new, personal Unversed from head to toe, loving the appearance of the Unversed. He was an exact replica of his own master, minus the colors. They were almost like twins, with the new Unversed taking in the colors of both white and black.
Vanitas Remnant.
That was the name Vanitas decided to give to this replica of an Unversed. More specifically, he decided to name him Remnant, for short.
With a single wave of his arm, Vanitas sent the large numbers of his Unversed away, scattering them all to all kinds of different worlds to cause havoc and chaos all throughout the Lanes Between. It was inevitable that many would be slain in the hands of Ventus and his friends, and that pretty soon, he'll be feeling wave after waves of pain, but that's something he's already gotten used to. He sent all but one Unversed; that Unversed being his Remnant.
He decided to have his Remnant remain hidden in The Keyblade Graveyard. It would certainly be a bit of overkill if he sent his Remnant to other worlds and have him face off and possibly kill any of Ventus and his friends. For the time being, Vanitas knew deep down that both he and Xehanort still needed them for a little bit longer.
Vanitas did indeed sent away his Unversed, but specifically instructed his Unversed to stay away from one world only. That one world was the world in which Ignis was currently in. Vanitas decided to personally handle that world and see what Ignis was doing, and he didn't need the interference of his Unversed this time.
Using the powers of darkness, Vanitas floated higher into the atmosphere until he was nowhere in sight in The Keyblade Graveyard, having flown into The Lanes Between so he could travel all the way towards the world Ignis was staying in.
Yes, he was heading towards the world of La Cité des Cloches.
Also known as...Notre Dame.
Wow, amazing! The first chapter for this new year of 2020, and I finished it!
Sorry it's taken a while, but I wanted to update one other story before continuing this story! And I believe it was totally worth it, because this interlude was from Vanitas' perspective, in a way. It deals with his current emotions and how he feels about this whole ordeal! I tried my best not to make him too OOC or anything like that when it came to his feelings with Ignis and how he views her as his "fallen angel." I actually thought that last bit was kinda sweet for a guy like him! But I also tried to focus more attention on his negative emotions and how he views life, based on the actual Birth By Sleep novel. I hope I did a good job!
Also, yes! That is the real tragedy of what happened between the Argentum Clan and the Keyblade wielders from the very beginning. The Keyblade wielders were corrupt, greedy people who took all of the credit as they wrote down that the Argentum Clan were the bad guys, while portraying themselves as the good guys, wrongfully accusing them while being seen as the heroes. This situation is similar to the Darcsens from the Valkyria Chronicles games, if you guys already know that.
And, what a twist! So, it turns out that Hinatsu is the adopted big sister of Sora. Before you guys say anything, no, she's not going to be like one of those other Sora's sister OCs, where she's the twin sister and that they're so similar, and that they copy each other's movements and team up with each other. No, I find those really annoying. Hinatsu is going to be different from Sora, in so many ways. She's a realist, and she's going to be more mature than Sora. She is, in no way, related to his happy-go-lucky personality. She'll have different abilities, different powers, and she won't be like all those annoying OCs that seem to act like Mary Sues to me!
I'm sorry for all of you who do have similar OCs like that, but I just wanted to rant a bit, because I haven't seen a really good Kingdom Hearts OC story. Most that I've encountered often have characters that are SO OOC towards each other. Like, the bad guy is so bad, and he has ambitions, but suddenly, one girl shows up, and he drops everything for the name of love? NO! That's so annoying and boring!
For those of you wondering if you're sensing the irony in my story regarding that cliché thing between Ignis and Vanitas, mine is actually a bit different. Maybe I did make Vanitas a little OOC, but I didn't make him immediately drop everything just to be with one girl. No, his pain is real! Sure, he has conflicting feelings with Ignis, but I'm also trying to make his struggle real, kinda like what I did with this chapter. I am trying to suit his personality from the games and light novel into this story as much as I can, and I really hope I'm going about the right direction and doing okay with his character.
Also, another twist to put in is, if you all thought that IGNIS was the one who was going to let Hinatsu inherit her Keyblade, you are really mistaken. Plot twist! It was Vanitas, for all the reasons I put in this chapter. We've seen Riku inherit the Keyblade from Terra, Kairi from Aqua, and Sora only managed to get the Keyblade, because at the time, Riku's heart fell to darkness, and he had Ventus, a Keyblade wielder, inside his heart. But, what if a bad guy made someone else, an important member of the Island Friends, their next inheritor? Wouldn't that be an interesting point?
And now, we reach the discussion of the songs I put in this chapter, "From Shadows," and "Lusus Naturae," that came from RWBY. I feel like these two songs fitted Vanitas perfectly, so you can go back to the lyrics and think about how they reflect off his character. I even tried to describe how the lyrics fit him like a glove through descriptions and right between lyrics, so I hope you guys do understand. You guys can even listen to the songs if you want to, because I absolutely love these songs! RWBY songs are the best!
Next chapter, I'm sure you already know, but it's already revealed what world will happen next. And...in the next world, that's kinda a bit of a point of no return. Like, everything will change in the next world in more ways than one. And yes, I know that this world is already featured in Dream Drop Distance, but if you knew the fate of that world, then...well, this story will explain further about that fate. You may not understand right now, but you'll understand once the next world arc is like, halfway over.
With that said, read and review!