Sora and the gang arrived in the weird world, where upon they heard Arthur shriek, they all looked back to him and Sora and Arthur jumped and yelled out at each other in surprise.

"W-why do you all look so freaky?!" Sora seemed to take minor offense as he yelled back

"You don't look any better! Donald, this is your magic, so what's going on?!" Donald sighed, like the two human boys were the dumbest boys on the planet, which was probably accurate, then spoke.

"Well, it seems that the world inhabitants aren't humans, so we have to conform to… Monsters? You should know better Sora!" Arthur snickered as Sora embarrassingly tried to defend himself, but Donald just let him have at it.

Soon enough The Quadruples walked into a factory ahead of them, they were on guard when they read a sign that said 'We Scare Because We Care'. They all looked back once more before they walked in through the automatic doors, and they immediately saw a huge blue, furry monster, along with a bald green monster, both who had their backs to them, they were looking down at something, that something seemed to sound much like a young child. But they were unsure, but whatever it was, noticed them and pointed at them under their legs, to which the two beings moved aside to greet the newcomers, they both had warm smiles, and they noticed that the green guy had a single eye, while the blue monster had large horns, the thing that sounded like a child though, was a child however, and did not seem off. The green guy freaked out and tried to whisper to the blue guy "Sulley, quick, hid the K-I-D before they report this, I'll deal with them- H-hey guys, you wouldn't believe it, the craziest thing happened! The K-I-D just wandered into the factory-". But before the strange man could continue, the blue guy, Sulley as they quad had gleaned from the ramble, spoke up.

"Pipe down Mike, you get so worked up over this, nothing's wrong". Mike sputtered about before finally saying

"You're the CEO! You should be setting a better example!" Sulley just shook his head

"Look at them, do they seem like they mind?" Mike went back to sputtering, but before he could get out anything intelligible, there was a distinct sound of zipping, and everyone gave their attention to the entrance, and the girl began crying and frantically pointing at whatever was ahead of them. Sulley muttered something under his breath and carried the girl behind the desk to hide her from whatever was at the entrances, Sora spoke up.

"We'll handle them!" But as they readied up, Sulley and Mike rejoined them. As Arthur struck down the small beings of evil, he could not shake the familiarity of the strange enemies. Then, it seemed like some giant, shelled enemy entered the lobby of the factory, but it, like the rest, fell to their immense power. But this was different, when he saw the large beast fall, he could feel some form of pang in his chest, he felt… Loneliness, like never before, and a voice spoke to him

Do you feel what I feel? And you say you want to help? You still don't understand, maybe on your last breath you will.

"-Uh, Exterminators? From far off, way far off, we're here to deal with those scary monsters plaguing your factory!" Arthur seemed to be tuning into a conversation, as it seemed that no one noticed, Mike looked uneasy, but Sulley nodded and said

"Well Mike, we sure could use some help, and these guys seem reliable, so whaddya say? Mike looked at the quad suspiciously before nodding. Sulley said "Well, first, we need to put Boo back in her room, so she can't get hurt by these monsters, her door should be in the door vault!". Everyone gave a short nod, but Sora looked confused and asked his two friends

"Do any of you know who those things are?" And just like a lightbulb, Arthur answered

"Unversed! Uh… They're Unversed". Everyone looked at him expectantly, and Arthur shrunk in his standing, "They're beings created from negative emotions, me, Ven, Aqua and Terra fought against them a long time ago". Goofy and Donald nodded, as if to confirm his version of their origin story. They all exchanged nods and decided to head for the vault door and they began charging off, but not Arthur, he knew better, and so he stayed behind, and low and behold, he finally showed his face.

"So you say you want to help me? But then you actively make me hurt? You felt the things I felt, so maybe you'll understand me better, let me make this clear: I DON'T want your help! So quit acting like you can, or even care to, you won't trick me, never!-" Arthur interjected, as calm as caring as he could possibly be

"Have you ever considered that this wasn't a trick? You seem to put yourself down, but why?" Vanitas glared at him, but said nothing. "Ven never felt this, did he? Not T-Terra, or A-A-Aqua, yeah? So why me?". Arthur stuttered out their names as the memories of their old times were still very shaky. By the time he ended his string of questions, Vanitas had left, in pure anger, leaving behind some more floods, but just before he could run away, and leave them be, not wanting to hurt Vanitas, and wanting to keep his word, Sora charged back, alone, with his keyblade in hand, ready to strike down those beings, but Sora connected with Arthur's keyblade, in shock he jumped back and stared in bewilderment as Arthur was defending the monsters 'has he gone mad?!' Sora thought to himself. A little flood jumped on Arthur, but did not try to hurt him or Sora. But Arthur seemed to be pained by this, but shook his head and weakly muttered "I-I'll… Explain later, let's just go". Dumbfounded, Sora just nodded and helped Arthur out of the lobby, to the laugh floor. By the time they regrouped with the others Arthur looked fine, but that changed as he saw a room full on various floods, and a few, bigger unversed, Sora looked at him warily but Arthur shook him off and, reluctantly, urged Sora and the rest to fight. As the fight raged on, Arthur became more and more emotionally burdened. Hatred, anger, fear, sorrow, envy, just a snippet of emotions that flooded him and he was heaving, luckily, no one paid attention to him, well, almost everyone, Sora knew better than to leave Arthur unsupervised, and saw he was not being harmed by the Unversed, and seemed to suffer whenever one was destroyed. Sora was more concerned about Arthur's health than about his connection to the enemies. Once all the enemies were defeated Mike called back a few doors so they could get to the door vault, they got to a smaller door vault, with general ease. The next door was supposed to take them to their destination, but it took them to a sort of basement. Mike and Sulley looked confused

"This isn't the door vault, did we take a wrong turn?" Sulley ask, more to himself, but before Mike got to ask, another voice said

"Who cares? All that matters is that it'll be the last wrong turn you losers will ever take!" Everyone turned to the door, to see a purple, scaly lizard standing before them, Arthur and Sora summoned their keyblades, while Donald and Goofy brought up their staff and shield respectively. Sulley glared at him

"Randall-"

"What're you doing here, Randall?" The lizard snickered and answered

"I'm replacing the current management, and I have the help of my little friends". Randall smirked at the group, Mike and Sulley stared back in anger, while Sora, Donald, Goofy and Arthur stared in confusion, and mild annoyance. After banter back and forth, Randall revealed his real motive, but seemed to hint that someone was helping him do this, and something in the back of their minds told them it wasn't the Unversed. That was enough for Sora and Arthur to charge at the lizard, but Randall managed to vanish before their eyes, throwing their concentration off, but there was no time to search every inch, they needed to get a move on, the safety of Boo was far more important than Randall and his flunky friend. Venturing through the redecorated, deadlier basement, the trio + Arthur began clearing out the lasers for Sulley and Mike, so they could proceed forward to the vault. Though Arthur didn't personally fight, but would try to rid them of the area to not let Vanitas or him get hurt. It wasn't long before the group reached the central control panel, but it seemed to not be powered, and, of course, Sora opted to try to destroy the machine, but before Sora could, Mike stopped him, and suggested that they used the power of laughter. Before they could make Boo laugh, some small floods and a few larger ones arrived. Sora looked at Arthur with worry, but Arthur just gave an emotionless face, and a quick nod. Sora attempted to make it as fast as possible, but the larger ones could not be helped, which saddened Sora immensely. Never before had Sora needed to second guess the placement of his swings, nor the opponent facing them, but with every swing, Sora couldn't help but worry that the next swing would be the one to seal his fate. Arthur, though put through the immense pain, persevered, and finally it came time to open up the big door, by making Boo laugh. Before they all convened together for the task, Arthur pulled Sora to the side. With a deadly serious tone, Arthur said

"You shouldn't hold back, you could get overwhelmed, and you may lose". Sora looked astonished, wondering how Arthur could easily say something like that while he was clearly hurting, and he just told Sora to disregard his pain.

"Arthur, I won't hurt you, you deserve better-" Arthur had had it, this pitying behaviour, it stemmed from when he had those visions, and they would keep at it, and he refused to take part in it, he was better than that.

"No, just stop, stop making me feel incapable, everyone is at danger, and darkness will overcome us if you fail because of me, I can't have that, I won't, stop worrying about me, I'm not that fragile, and I'm certainly not that important". Arthur got more tense and aggressive as he neared the end of his rant, and Sora had enough of it.

"Stop this! I'm tired of you trying to handle the weight of everything on your own, I'm tired of you being so cold and closed off, like we can't help, like you can't see we're all terrified of the next time you begin to lose your memories, or the next time darkness takes you, why won't you put down this act?-" Arthur flared up, the venom and pure rage in his heart was showing in something as simple as his glare, it scared Sora to see the beast he had awaken

"I am making sacrifices for the greater good! Why won't you see that?! I am the cog in your machine, I am replaceable, unimportant, it's way past time you acknowledge that! I've been through this before, and I'll do it again! This isn't an act, it's who I am, and I'm tired of all this coddling! If I die, I die, that's it, end of. Stop treating me like some helpless kid!"

He ended off his tirade by stomping off and having his back to Sora, heaving and hyperventilating, trying to kill the pressure in his chest. When Sora turned back to the rest of his friends, there were mixed looks of disapproval of Arthur and sympathy for Sora. The rest tried their best to push the discomfort aside, and cheer up Boo, but it didn't work, Boo looked incredibly sad, and troubled, and when Sulley and Mike tried to figure out what was the issue, Boo looked over at Sora and pointed at Arthur and said

"Sad". Now everyone looked expectantly at Sora, then to Arthur, and Goofy softly spoke

"Maybe ya' oughta make up with Arthur, maybe then Boo'll laugh!". Sora looked uneasily at the, now, in thought boy, before nodding shakily. As Sora got closer, he began to feel better about it, but when he put a hand on Arthur's shoulder, Arthur broke the silence.

"I know he isn't bad, the boy who made these creatures, he's like Riku, can't see anything but the darkness, but I know that he's better than it". This surprised Sora, and he asked

"Who is it, are you sure he's good?" Arthur nodded, he managed to relax and let the words come freely

"He's the one who made these creatures, when we were in those sewers, back in Twilight Town, I saw his face, he looks almost identical to you, in the back when times, vague things I can remember, but… I remember he tried to hurt Ven, but now, I want to be his friend, I don't want to hurt him, though he pulled some dirty tricks, should I feel ashamed of this? He hurt Ven, what would he think, what do you think he would think?" This time, he turned slowly to Sora looking him in the eyes, and they were immersed into each others eyes. Arthur looked worried, nervous, Sora slowly spoke, only saying what he felt in his heart

"I think he'd understand, you just want to give people a second chance, it's admirable, I know he'd be proud of you". Arthur smiled and nodded, he felt easy going, calm, at peace, and he spoke again

"Vanitas, his name is Vanitas, he's the darker half of Ventus, and he too, is searching for Ven, I've been worried about this place, it's what Van would want, a factory run off of negative emotions, it's a playground for him, but where might he be?-" Sora hated cutting off Arthur, he often found himself entertained by his long tangents, curious and invested in his thoughts, invested in hearing more from the curious boy, no matter how much of an over-sharer the boy could be sometimes.

"Arthur? Sorry to interrupt but-" Arthur snapped out of his winding hole and snapped his head up, acknowledging Sora with a nod

"Of course, we should get this door open, sorry for all of this". He smiled at Sora and Sora smiled back, happy the conflict was resolved, but made it a note to never get on his bad side again, as it was by no means a pleasant experience. When they attempted again, this time, Boo laughed and smiled and even jumped a little, rejoicing at the smiles on their faces. But before they could proceed closer to their destination, a voice stopped them, and made Arthur's blood run cold

"Leaving so soon? I would have thought you'd stick around for a bit longer, friend" The voice spat out the last word with contempt and venom. Instinctively, Arthur brought up his weapon as he spun around to greet the voice, and it was good he did, as he just narrowly blocked a killing blow, he shoved his opponent off of him, and glared back at the figure before him, who had hopped back some more, to ensure he was out of keyblade's reach. Sora and the gang backed up Arthur, but Arthur looked back at them and shook his head at them.

"I can deal, you guys need to leave, let me take this one" then he looked over at Sora and could imagine the argument they had earlier, resurface 'You act like you can take the weight of the world by yourself, like we're not there!'. He sighed and said

"You need to trust me, this is a personal issue, I need to go it alone, but I'll be back" Arthur looked to all of them for confirmation, and while most understood, one still stuck out, Donald.

"Oh yeah? What happens if you get hurt? Who'll heal you then? We can help Arthur, so let us". Arthur smiled and softly said

"If I get struck down, then I get struck down, but it's better than treating my friends like a crutch all my life, trust me Donald, whatever happens is meant to be, so if you think I'll do fine, then be confident in me and be with me in spirit". Donald frowned but his eyes showed that he was proud of the boy and his words, Sora hugged Arthur and nodded at him, with Arthur reciprocating the gestures, they left soon after, and Arthur was left to deal with Vanitas on his own, but did not intend to hurt him.

"So, you still thinking of being a pacifist? When will you ever learn?" Arthur sighed and said

"You're the one still holding a grudge here, there was a time where I was mad, but I'm not anymore, I'm astonished, and disappointed" Arthur de-summoned his blade and stared blankly at Vanitas, his eyes held some sympathy, and desperation, but Vanitas refused to feel anything by it.

"Is this some pleasure trip? Seeing me writhe in disgust? Is that what it is?" Arthur shook his head

"I don't want to hurt you, aren't you tired of this? Senseless violence? When will you step off the high horse and just let me be with you?" Vanitas was silent, and he did not speak, so Arthur walked up to him, and before he could be shoved away, he hugged Vanitas. Vanitas tensed his body and it took a second before he managed to muster up the strength to shove Arthur and yelled out

"Don't touch me ever again!" Before vanishing from sight. Arthur sighed, feeling horrible, he really wanted to help, but Arthur prodded too hard, and now Vanitas had run away, he needed to note that for next time. Arthur wasn't feeling the best, so he opted to walk around, yeah, it wasn't very hero-like, but he was in no way, in fighting shape, so he decided to meet the others back at the laugh floor. He took his time, trying to manage with the short and intense pain, that was until, a large, bold, unimaginable pain tore through his body, it was difficult to breathe, to stand, to collect his own thoughts. Arthur stood there, letting his tears collect in his eyes, fell to his knees and began crying. Arthur didn't know why, he felt really, really, really sad, angry, but he also felt something else.

Stupid

Alone

Betrayed

Worthless

Arthur recoiled in shock, that voice, it wasn't his own, so what was it doing, speaking those things? Why was it so accurate? Arthur tried to stand, and he began to stagger back to the laugh floor, with meager success.

"Don't you see? Feel? Hurt? Give me one good reason why you'd want to help me?"

Arthur reached out, to what, he was unsure, but he felt the urge to reach out, as if he were attempting to console someone.

"It's what friends do, you can't take all of this pain on your own, don't you want help?" Almost instantaneously Vanitas responded coldly

"Don't need it" Arthur stopped momentarily 'don't need it? Does he just think this is normal? Why?' Arthur responded

"You don't need to take on all of this on your own, haven't you ever had a friend?" Arthur could just see Vanitas laughing at him and shaking his head

"Friends just get in the way, are weak, weigh you down, that's why we got as far as we did, it's why we'll continue to succeed". There were so many things wrong with that sentence, so many things Arthur could pick at, but he just couldn't, he felt terrible. 'Were these things ingrained in a boy who never knew better? I responded in violence, we all did, and that only proved what Master Xehanort told him, we're all at fault for him being our enemy, this could all have been different… If only… It's too late to think about that now, I need to focus on the what is, not the what could have been'.

"Have you been hurting all this time? Have you been thinking these things for this long?". Vanitas did not respond, and Arthur feared that he had scared Vanitas away, it would have been the worst time to do so, they were onto something crucial. But Vanitas responded

"Did it take you that long to notice? Man, you really are stupid, of course I've been hurting all this time, and I'll continue to hurt until I go back to whence I came, back to the darkness that amalgamates me". Arthur didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent, but he whispered out

"You don't need to be like this, please, let me help you, let me comfort you, let me show you how much more you are". Vanitas became enraged, the idea of being made to feel inferior, by someone who fought intently to destroy him was a new form of disrespect even he didn't know was possible.

"How dare you?! How dare you make me feel small, you of all people, some miserable, guilt wracked welp like you wanting to bestow me, a peasant, the ability to be redeemed?! Do you even hear yourself when you speak?! Stop acting like you care for me! This is something you're saying to rest easier at night, you're not knight in shining armour, you're a self obsessed ego maniac! You only care about feeling good at the end of the day! How I feel doesn't matter, as long as you can turn in for the night without the urge to off yourself, everything, and everyone else comes second". Just like that, Vanitas abruptly stopped himself, and he ceased talking, and spoke no more, he left, taking his fury and hatred with him, leaving Arthur to grieve over what he had been doing.

The conversation guided him to the laugh floor, but he was not happy, he felt remorse, and regret, he was a terrible person, he was using Vanitas in a way to make himself feel better, he was a lousy friend, and a lousy human being. Arthur just sat on the floor, next to the door he had come in on, and silently sulked, beating himself up over everything that was made clear to him. It didn't take long until everyone else made their way back to the laugh floor. They saw Arthur, an emotional wreck on the floor and they all made their way to him, to comfort him.

"Gee Arthur, you sure seem upset, what's the matter?" Goofy asked, Arthur stayed silent, and Donald asked his question next.

"Was it that creepy guy? You don't need to worry about him!" Arthur just shook his head and stayed silent, Sora spoke up

"Arthur? Please, just say something". But before Arthur could say anything, another voice spoke up

"Why are you wasting your time with that pathetic loser? I am the far more interesting one here". They all looked back to see the same boy as before, Arthur tried to make himself smaller, and Vanitas noticed this, and he laughed at it, but Sora was fuming on the inside 'How dare this vindictive creep make fun of Arthur?!'. He summoned his keyblade and glared the other boy down.

"Who are you?" The boy remained silent for a moment, then spoke up

"We have never met in the flesh, I am Vanitas". The way Vanitas spoke was deliberately slow and emphasizing his name, as he put a hand over his heart. But before Sora could retort, a figure bolted past them, charging at Vanitas, it was Arthur, but he didn't have his keyblade out, he called out

"Vanit-". But he was cut off as Void Gear collided into his chest, with a tremendous amount of force, creating a powerful shockwave, and sending Arthur flying back in the direction where he had been running from. Arthur slammed back into the wall, and fell down, slamming his chest into the ground

"You're pathetic"

"I'm sorry, I really, truly am"

"Sorry's don't mean shit, you snake!"

"Please, I mean it, I really do care about you, deep down, I don't want to hurt you"

"You haven't been doing such a good job of that, now have you?"

"Please, please know that I love you like I love Terra, Aqua and Ventus… Please, please know that if I die, I died trying to be your friend, please, that's nothing but the truth, from the deepest parts of my heart"

Silence… That sickening silence followed, and Arthur was back by himself, in the darkness, but his body seemed to be moving around, and he heard some other voices.

"Sora, are you sure he'll be okay?" It sounded like Sulley.

"Yeah, we could find a way to treat him here if you're not sure you can, it's the least we can do, after all". And that had to be Mike, why were they showing this amount of concern for him? Vanitas must have told them the truth about him, so why would they care about what happens to him? He didn't deserve their love and care, not a single ounce of it.

"Thanks guys, but I really need to take him with me, we'll be able to help him, but really, thank you guys for everything!". Sulley spoke up

"No, thank you, without your help, we would never have gotten Boo this far, you're always welcome in here when you need somewhere to go, that applies to Arthur too!" Sora made a grunt sound and he heard footsteps walking forward, and some murmuring, before he heard Sora whisper

"Come on guys! Let's give Boo a good send off!". Arthur heard two other grunts of agreement. And Arthur was greeted by a loud set of screams, and the laughter of a child, but then he heard tiny, quick footsteps, then, he felt his forehead get warmer, and couldn't help but smile, and Boo resumed laughing, before scurrying away.

Arthur had the temptation to call out to Ventus once again

"Ven, are you there?" Just like the strike of lightning, as quick and as energetic, the boy responded back

"Of course, I'll always be here when you need me". Hearing that voice, remembering that face, it drove Arthur crazy, he longed to hold the boy in his arms, but it was torture to not be able to do it.

"Does… Does it make me a bad person?" Arthur didn't need to be specific in order for Ven to understand, he had been inside of him, or at least, partly inside for him.

"I know you'd never try and use someone, and I know that what you felt was real, you're not a bad person, I know it". Just hearing Ven say those kind things got his heart beating faster and faster.

"Should I hate him?" Ven was silent for a moment, then spoke

"I can't decide whether you should or not, but I wouldn't be mad at you if you managed to convince him to side with us, if he can put his grudges in the past, then I can too, and I'm sure Terra and Aqua would be willing to accept him too".