The violet haired keyblade apprentice found herself walking in a pleasant meadow. Wild flowers were scattered about here and there.
"I wonder where I am?" She said aloud.
"The Dwarf Woodlands." Vanitas's voice cut through the pleasantly chirping birds.
"Are you following me?" Velle demanded.
"No I just wanted to make sure you didn't give up again because you just missed Ventus. Good job on locating him but you were a little too slow." Vanitas replied while walking beside her.
"No way!" She groaned, "Well I guess there's no use sticking around here then."
"Not so fast, of course there's a reason to stick around." Vanitas stated.
"Like what?"
"You need to keep training or your friends will leave you in the dust." He seemed more like he was taunting her then helping her. "I think there's someone just up ahead who might need a little help, why don't you go check it out?"
"How would you know someone needs help up there?" Velle retorted, but Vanitas was gone. "Where did he-" Just then a scream interrupted her thoughts. Velle ran towards it, did this have something to do with Vanitas. She reached a clearing through the woods with a large cottage, the doors and windows were open and Velle could hear a loud commotion inside. She ran to the doorway to see several little monsters of darkness running around.
"What are those?" Velle asked, summoning her keyblade. There were a bunch of small men running around and a young woman was standing on the table trying to stay away from the monsters.
"Another diamond thief!" one of the small men shouted.
"Not another one!" another called from inside a cupboard.
"Diamond thief?" Velle wondered. She didn't wait for a response, she charged towards the monsters and attacked. One by one they began to fall until finally the house was quiet. The small men were all hidden and the young woman gingerly stepped off the table.
"Thank you so very much for helping us, my name is Snow White." She introduced, offering her hand to Velle.
Velle shook it gratefully, "No problem at all! My name's Velle, I'm not a diamond thief. I'm just looking for some friends."
"Oh you too?" Snow asked curiously, "Come on out Doc, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey. It's alright, really!" Slowly and cautiously the men crawled out from their various hiding spots. "These are the seven dwarves, they've so graciously allowed me to stay with them."
"Hello!" Velle said cheerfully. "Have you seen any of my friends? One is taller than me, a boy with brown hair. The other is a girl who's taller than me with short blue hair. And also a boy a little taller than me with blonde spiky hair? Um...they would all have a weapon like me too." She summoned her keyblade to show it to them.
"Oooo, just like the other two." One of the dwarves cooed.
"The other two? You've seen my friends!?" Velle asked with excitement.
"Yes, but I'm afraid they've gone now. Terra and Ventus right?" Snow asked politely.
"Yes! That's them! If you see either of them again can you please tell them I'm looking for them?" Velle pleaded with her hands clasped. "If you see my friend Aqua with the blue hair, don't tell her you saw me." Velle added quickly.
"Why don't you want her to know you've been here? Are you hiding something? Something like being a diamond thief?!" Grumpy demanded.
Velle put her hands in front of her in defense, "No! No, nothing like that. I just...I left home to search for Ven and Terra even though she told me to stay." She looked down at the ground. "I don't want her to be disappointed in me… or for her to worry."
"It's okay Velle, thank you so much for helping us. Your secret is safe with us." Snow told her.
"Thank you Snow, thanks guys!" Velle grinned. "I should get going before I miss them again."
"Oh! Are you sure there's nothing else we could do to repay you?" Snow White asked, taking a few steps forward.
"No, no! Really it was nothing at all!" Velle said scratching the back of her head bashfully.
"Well please come back to visit soon, Velle. Thank you again for saving us." Velle smiled and nodded before running out of the cottage and back into the woods.
"Well, looks like you got a little stronger in there." Vanitas's voice rang from above. Velle looked up into the trees with a start to see Vanitas sitting on a branch.
"What's your game Vanitas!" Velle demanded summoning her keyblade.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Vanitas tutted as he hopped down from the tree. He landed gracefully on the ground face to mask with the violet haired warrior. "I said you got a little stronger, I didn't say you were strong enough to pick a fight with me yet."
Velle shoved him away from her and he chuckled, "What do you mean I'm not strong enough, I had you back at the castle."
Vanitas snickered, "You thought. I didn't want to draw the attention of the others. If I was really going at you, you wouldn't stand a chance."
Velle rolled her eyes with disbelief, "Yeah right!" The wind was suddenly knocked out of her and she felt herself thrown into a tree with a gloved hand wrapped tightly around her throat.
"Watch it, Vellum. Or I'll tear you apart. I don't care what the Master says." Vanitas spat. "I'm not your friend." He let go of her and she fell to the ground with a thud and let out a sputtering cough.
"Who's your Master?" Velle demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know...besides you should stop wasting time or you'll miss your friends for good. I'm sure little old Ventus is forgetting all about you already..." He summoned a dark corridor. Velle scrunched her face up with anger, she picked up a rock and threw it at Vanitas just as he was leaving. The rock hit his helmet with a clunk and then he was gone.
"At least I got the last word...sort of…" she said to no one in particular.
Night was falling and Velle summoned her armor, if there was one thing Vanitas was right about was that if she didn't hurry she might miss her friends for good. Velle soared off to the Lanes Between on to the next planet awaiting her arrival.