WARNING:
This story contains references to drug, sex, and violence as well as depictions of such. Please read at your own discretion.
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VANITAS
"Where are we on finding it?"
Our base felt darker than usual. Way out on the outskirts of Orenda were industrial complexes galore. I'd heard locals call this area the badlands but in reality it was just a sea of factories and pollution. One building in particular tucked away between metals and ruins was our hideout. It didn't look like much on the outside, inconspicuous and just another building facing the gated sea but once granted access, the inside was immaculate; marble floors, white walls, minimalist furniture of blacks and blues. The others stayed here, with entire floors to themselves. I never cared to as I didn't want roommates and found my own spot in town.
Still, whenever I was called for meetings I'd have to drag my ass to the top floor where our boardroom was located and sit at the grand dark wooded table amongst the others staring at hologram projections of our mission.
Right now we were faced with a shimmering blue projection of the supposed Helix. Although digital, the details were clear with it being surrounded by dozens of hands and vines of light spiralling about it. The Helix itself was an ornate orb of some sort, not exactly soft but not necessarily firm looking either. It was otherworldly, even in this projection.
"Still looking," the dirty blond whined. The others sat around the table, shielded away by their organization cloaks. I'd strewn mine on lazily once I reached headquarters. I was still in a mood over the chaos of my intruder.
How could I have been so careless? I was totally off my game and lost in desires. Now I'd fucked everything up. What the hell was Hikari even doing showing up? It was completely unlike her.
After she'd left I was quick to kick Skuld out of my apartment and spent the rest of the night calling and messaging her. As expected, I hadn't heard a thing back. That was until I'd received a vicious message from Kairi the next day.
I glared down at my phone, the screen flashing her text from 'Kari's number and leaving a bitter taste in my mouth:
This is Kairi. You've completely destroyed one of my closest friends and I'm messaging you to let you know she's done. How could you cheat? How could you cheat and then have the nerve to look at her and deny dating her? How could you break her like that? Hikari's been crying none stop because of what you did. You should be ashamed. You're disgusting. We all wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt but clearly, we were wrong for ever trusting her with you. So I'm just here to tell you, you're done. Don't call her, text her, message her, and don't you dare ever even think about coming to see her. You better hope you never come across her again because even if she can't fight you off we all will for her. Especially Roxas. So unless you want that fight I suggest you keep the hell away from her. Roxas was right about you. And he's going to make her happy, really happy. And soon enough you'll be a forgotten mistake she made. Stay away from Hikari, she doesn't need you, she doesn't want you, and you can sure as hell bet if she ever had any love for you that's gone. You're a monster.
Immediately, I thought: what a bitch.
The corner of my lips tugged into a smirk. She knew all the right buttons to push and if I'd had a heart I probably would have been in tears. But for me, her threats meant absolutely nothing. I could take them all on and I was beyond ready for it. Hikari was mine; I'd found her, claimed her, and I would own her. This was just a misstep. Soon enough she'd come running right back because she needed me, she was devoted to me. I could see it in her eyes, feel it in her words, my plan had worked; that girl had fallen for me.
Fuck, it felt good. It was amazing to wield that level of power over somebody, especially someone with so much potential. Her power was overwhelming sometimes as she'd mindlessly take away my pain. The red-haired beauty just had to be near and all the aching stopped. It was a perk of being the Lightbringer as I'd learned.
Upon being reborn, this shell of a heart I was given made life almost unbearable. Somehow, my powers coming from negativity and being born in the darkness conflicted with it. It was only through time and narcotics did I manage to get any work done. But from the moment I was near her things started looking up.
"Still lost," I heard Skuld say. I refused to acknowledge her, hell I barely looked at her. I was livid and blamed her completely. She was supposed to be on top of things, sensing and keeping tabs on her. Wasn't that what all this magic she'd managed to attain was for?
They had a special connection, Hikari, Kairi, and Skuld; at least that's what she told us. They were connected due to the testing and experiments they went through under Ansem. She never went into much detail about it but judging from her solemn demeanour I doubt it had been anything good.
It was a feeling I was unfortunately familiar with.
"How unfortunate," Luxu tried to appear calm but his golden eyes said otherwise. His annoyance seemed to travel to his fingers as he quickly typed on the slim keyboard in front of where he sat at the head of the table. In a flash, the digitalized blue hologram of the Helix warped into one of the pretty redheaded I'd been fawning over for months.
"No clues from the Lightbringer?" I could hear Larxene's shrill whine before I even looked at her. "Lame. Weren't you two supposed to be on top of this?"
Before I could snap back, Demyx cut me off with a sigh, "it's not like it's easy making somebody like you, Larxene."
"If it was," I frowned. "Maybe you'd find someone to bitch at rather than using it all up on us." That earned a snigger from Demyx but the others were unimpressed.
"Wanna try that again, lover-boy?" She threatened.
"Why not just grab the girl?" Luxord kept his boredom on the cards he shuffled in his black gloved hands. "It may not be gallant but we aren't exactly the heroes of this story, now are we?"
"Too risky," I reiterated once again. Why the hell did we always have to go over this? "Look, Hikari's practically on board, okay? She even went to the witch trying to figure this all out on her own. Just give me a bit more time."
"A bit more time?" Larxene growled. "It's been months! At this rate, I'll be an old lady before I get the chance to see Stre—'
"He's handling it," Skuld intervened. "I say we give him more time. There's no way we can force her to do this. We need the brat as agreeable as possible."
I wouldn't meet her eye and I definitely wouldn't thank her for interrupting. If it hadn't been for her I'd still have Hikari completely wrapped around my finger. Now I was stuck trying to win her back.
Luxu sighed, he'd been quiet since asking about our progress. "We need to find Metanoia. Right next to the Lightbringer and Princess, it's of the upmost importance."
"You think we don't know that?" Larxene grumbled. "Without the Helix we may as well quit now."
"Exactly," the raven-haired man snapped. "So hurry up and find it."
"Not like you've got any updates," Demyx scoffed. "What do you even do here all day?"
His golden eye pierced through him, leading Demyx to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "If you forgot, there's still a war coming. Just because this battle starts it doesn't mean it'll end it. We must be prepared."
Luxord cleared his throat, a poor attempt at reducing the tension. This mission had revealed a different side to him. Maybe to was his true nature but despite looking the same as I'd seen him before, he behaved completely different. He was a lot less carless and far more driven then I'd remembered. I'd never seen Luxu so serious, made me wonder what he was fighting so hard to get back.
When he'd brought me along to this journey he'd been completely aloof and secretive about everything that pertained to him. Including his sudden name change. No longer was he Xigbar, the Freeshooter. Now, he was Luxu, a keyblade wielder with a creepy weapon and a mysterious past. Master Xehanort would have probably chastised me for not investigating further but I already had so much on my plate trying to get his dumbass back.
"Look, at least we've got eyes on the necessary players," he commented. "As long as nobody shuffles the deck, we're on track, hm?"
Ignoring the card puns, Luxord had a point. This was all just a minor setback. There was no doubt in my mind that if we just stayed the course we'd find a way to fulfill our wishes. I just needed to give the redhead sometime to cool off and come to her senses. Once she could think straight again and realize this was all just a misunderstanding we'd be fine.
"How's her progress anyway?" He questioned. "Any improvements?"
I couldn't help but smirk as my hand travelled up to my throat, "she's definitely gotten stronger. Say what you will about those wielders but they're some pretty good teachers."
"It's not the Masters," Skuld announced, I'd almost forgotten she was seated next to me. Almost.
"It's the power of the Lightbringer," she explained. "She's finally began accessing her true potential and dabbling with life."
"Huh?" Demyx's confused expression said exactly what I was thinking. As much as I knew about this Lightbringer nonsense there was still so much I had to learn.
She sighed, "she's manipulating life-forces and energies without even understanding it. Halcyon is literally a key, a wand really, that its user uses to ease the tension wielding that kind of magic does. However, the user is where the magic lives. The sooner she can tap into it, the sooner we can begin the awakening."
Larxene grinned, malice in her eyes. "That's great! What can we do to speed up the process?"
"What we've been doing," Luxu continued, tapping away at his keyboard before another flash of the girl in question appeared before us. Rather than a stagnant pose, we now watched her model run through some of the moves I'd taught her. "Even though the heartless have reappeared it's not enough. Keep creating chaos in the worlds for the wielders to fight. The further we push her, the stronger she gets and the easier the ritual will become."
My eyes moved to glance at Skuld who only kept her vision forward, staring at the projection of the redhead. Her eyes were bitter and her jaw clenched. She despised the girl, despite her being the key to getting her precious Ephemer back.
Demyx groaned, "if she's so strong now, why can't we just move to phase two?"
"Because the Helix holds her true power," Luxord replied. "Little parlour tricks aren't going to breakdown the barrier of realities. Without the Helix we can't open the gate, Demyx, forget reset the universe."
He only sunk deeper in his seat, "I knew that."
"Then why'd you ask, stupid?" Larxene snapped.
Our meeting ending shortly after and I was the first to leave the room. I had to get home to Yuna and look for more clues about the Helix. Now I definitely couldn't just rely on Hikari recovering her memories through Skuld's or Namine's magic. It was better to be searching rather than sitting around waiting for her to forgive me.
I headed over to the elevator and pushed the button to take me down to the lobby. A twitch of my wrist led me to pulling my phone from my pocket and do a little browsing. The first place I ended up, as per usual, was Kairi's Kingstagram. Her incessant need to post everything about her life was a goldmine when it came to searching for Hikari. Her most recent posts had been about an outing the entire group had went on. That had to be a good sign since Light had attended. She was probably in a more forgiving mood now that she was around her friends again.
I knew they'd probably try to talk her out of seeing me but as long as she was in a good mood, I could work around that.
I skimmed over the video of Light belting into that karaoke machine once more. Since Kairi'd posted their little adventure I couldn't help reviewing those videos over and over again. Watching Hikari sink and saunter through that room and serenade her friends put me in a bad mood, one that became worse whenever Roxas showed up. It hadn't been too long ago since she'd found out my secret but these videos told a completely different story in regards to how I thought she'd be feeling.
Roxas was becoming a persistent thorn in my side when it came to my work with the Lightbringer. It was probably worse now after all the chaos that had erupted in my apartment. I couldn't help but wonder what she'd told him. I could careless what the others thought of me but when it came to him, when there was a chance he was revelling in my foolish mistake it enraged me.
She had to be fucking him. At least, I wouldn't be surprised if she was. Those two'd always had some strange kind of connection no one could pin down. And now, thanks to my indiscretions, I'd practically thrown my girl at him.
What the hell was I even doing with Skuld?
When we'd met, I thought little to nothing of her. She was another recruit in the battle to rewrite the past. Was she attractive? Sure. But that didn't negate the fact that I was on a mission.
Skuld was a pain in the ass to work with though. She was a know-it-all who assumed because she had some years on me that meant she somehow had all the answers as well. It pissed me off to no end but I always knew how to keep my cool. Besides, she and her ability to manipulate sight was incredibly useful on the missions we were forced to work together.
It was in Twilight Town actually, the first time we'd went in search of the Lightbringer. That was the first time we actually messed around. She'd been getting on my nerves the entire trip and probably vice versa when I'd accused her of having such an attitude because she wasn't getting any.
I knew her reasons for participating in the plan, some tragic love story or whatever but our success was at risk if she kept trying me with that shitty attitude. She'd been quiet after that and maybe two hours or so later, I called it a night and suggested we hit up a hotel. I'd just hopped out of the shower when she demanded entrance into my room and despite being prepared for a fight, it did no good when she trapped me with a kiss.
From there, we began fucking almost routinely. At least, that was until we finally found Hikari and most of my time went into wooing her. Occasionally, she'd come by and we'd fool around again but it meant absolutely nothing.
Which apparently had only made it worse as Hikari had so abundantly made clear. I couldn't see how. If I had any feelings for Skuld maybe I could justify her anger but she was a pointless fling. I didn't feel anything for her, hell the feelings that I may have had all came from and were for Light. Maybe if she hadn't been so dramatic and ran out I could have told her all that.
"Are you going in or not?"
A familiar voice drew me from my thoughts. Skuld marched right past me and into the elevator. A part of me wanted to take the stairs since I hadn't been alone with the raven-haired girl since the incident but I wouldn't cower to her and instead stepped inside.
She'd hit the lobby button and I groaned internally, knowing we would be stuck here together for the next little while. Instead of striking up a conversation, I turned back to my phone and cursed myself for leaving my earpods with my bike.
"Vanitas."
"Skuld," I muttered. Of course she'd want to talk now that she had me alone.
"I do apologize for putting a dent in your plans, I should have been more cautious."
Scoffing, I repeated, "a dent?" It was far more than that but clearly she didn't seem to think so. Whatever, I'd get everything back on track in no time.
"She'll come back to you," she continued. "She's naive. Foolish enough to see the good in you."
I glared in response, refusing to show her any kind of emotion. She may have been able to feel the tension between us but I wouldn't validate it with any kind of reaction.
"Has she contacted you?"
"Not yet," I replied, dryly. "But it's only a matter of time."
"Are you sure?"
Unfortunately for me, that caused me to raise a brow of concern. Had she not just said 'Kari would come back? Was she trying to mess with me? Her honey brown eyes stared back at me, not the least bit interested.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Maybe she's just not as naive as I thought."
A slither of anger crept up my spine, "you know this is all your fault, right?"
That surprised her, "and how is that?"
"You were supposed to be watching her at all times, you let your guard down."
Skuld's disbelief was all over her face now, "is that so?"
"Mhm."
"Sounds like you're blaming me for you losing the girl."
"I didn't lose anything," I snapped back. "I told you, it's only a matter of time."
"And in that time, sweet like Hikki's getting comforted and pampered by Roxas. Wonder how that's going to work for you."
The anger I'd been burying burst and in an instant, I had her pinned to an elevator wall. My nails scratched the glass by her ear, ringing in a painfully high screech, causing her to cringe in response.
"If you'd just been on top of your shit we wouldn't be in this mess."
"And if you could keep your dick in your pants we could have avoided this all together."
My brows furrowed further, "you weren't complaining about my dick when it was in you."
Skuld rolled her eyes, "I warned you about all this. I told you this method was idiotic and you'd get too close."
"Too close? The mistake I made in getting close was with you. I had Hikari eating out of my palms, believing any and all of my bullshit but you let your jealousy—"
"Jealousy?" She replied in disbelief. "I would never. Especially not over you."
I could only chuckle before pushing myself off her. She could deny it all she wanted but the signs were as clear as day. Hell, if the others ever found out how badly she'd royally fucked us I'm sure they'd say the same. Not like any of it mattered now.
"Whatever you say."
There was silence between us for a few moments, the only sound being the chime of the elevator as it ticked it's way back down to the main floor. It wasn't until she sighed that I shot her a quick look.
"Even if any of that was true, her finding out about us is a best case scenario."
Another short laugh left my lips, "and how do you figure that?"
"She needed motivation," she declared. "And I won't apologize for supplying it."
I gawked at her, completely lost by her logic and reach to avoid accountability. Before I could say anything about it, the elevator doors finally flew open and we stepped out.
I was over this conversation. It was clear she didn't want to understand and I was not in the mood to explain myself. I'd let her go on believing whatever the hell it was she needed to sleep at night but eventually we'd all know the truth, I'd see to it.
"Vanitas."
The raven-haired girl tilted her neck back, hood atop her head once more.
"I can admit where I did wrong," she said. "Before you see her next, it would do you some good to do the same."
With that, she marched down another hall of the lobby, leaving me both more agitated and confused than when I'd arrived.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hello reader(s)! Just wanted to say thank you so much for reading!
Please Read, Review, Follow! All forms of criticism are welcome.