Give darkness to the light
The ice-cream vendor yelled at the blonde boy.
Don't make eye contact.
Head down, Sora scrolled through the texts on his phone. Apollo invited him to a group chat and most of the messages consisted of Mr. Wright asking for solutions to one technical problem or the other. Right now, Justice belittled their boss on his lack of a smart phone while Athena and Ema defended Mr. Wright vehemently. He smiled at the banter.
Don't make eye contact.
"You don't have enough munny kid!" the vendor clamored. "Scram, I sell these for a living, can't be making cuts for gaudy shrimps like you. Ask your parents for more bucks." Cold mist wafted from metal containers. Droplets of water ran down the cart.
The boy despondently raised his head and stared expectantly at Sora who made the mistake of peeking up from his phone.
He averted his gaze from the sorry child, felt cold blackness settle in his stomach and digging out his wallet, paid for the cone of Double Crunch.
Eyes lighting up at his strawberry swirled ice-cream with too many unnecessary toppings, the boy invited Sora to a nearby seat. Unable to refuse the pleading power in the blonde's dreamy irises, Sora collapsed on a wrought iron bench, wondering why the embroiled himself in extra trouble. The boy eagerly peered at the street, excited at the cars zipping across the road. He pulled the miniature, chocolate keyblade tucked in the ice-cream and for reasons unknown, Sora's gut twisted anxiously.
"My name is Ventus, you can call me Ven." The blonde smiled with the force of sunshine and fields of poppies "Thank you for the ice-cream, Mr... I don't know your name."
"Clavius." Sora inwardly melted, how could anyone be so pure and wholesome? "Sora Clavius," he added. So Fluffy! "You...you are not from around here are you?" The sun hovered midway around the giant orange mountain in the sky. "You're dressed strangely and you're worked up over things like cars."
A car zoomed past and Ventus gawked.
"My clothes are strange?" he forlornly regarded his puffy pants and metal edged boots. A peculiar piece of armor wrapped his petite shoulder. "Is this the normal clothing in this world?" Spooning another mouthful of ice-cream and crunching on a stick of wafer, he delicately lifted the edge of Sora's scarf. "It's very soft." Ven squinted at the logo. "Organization..." he read slowly, "XIII?"
Mentally berating himself for making the stranger uncomfortable, Sora explained, "You read it as Organization Thirteen, and well... your clothes aren't that bad," he mumbled uncertainly. I wouldn't be caught dead in such bizarre fashion. "Organization XIII is the luxury brand name in this world."
Ven continued eating, licking the smear of ice-cream across his bottom lip. The ice-cream man wheeled past them, people navigated the streets as they emerged for work, school or play. Shrinking at a group of passing high school students, Sora feigned busyness when one waved genially at the blonde.
"Can you tell me more about Organization XIII?" Ventus asked. "Do you want ice-cream?" he sweetly offered the half-melted gloop swimming in his cone bowl.
The cherubic grin on the boy's face prompted Sora to speak. Weird, talking with Ven didn't make his hands cold or sweaty. The blonde sat still, like a loving, hand crafted doll.
"Org XIII is awesome," Sora gushed. "Their headquarters are in the commercial district, but they have branches all over Los Angeles." He pointed to a branching street. "Down there is Level 12, selling woman's clothing. You get everything from pajamas to formal wear. Recently," Sora prattled, "a Level 6 bookshop opened and I'm saving munny to buy Zexion's latest novel, it's coming out next month." He tapped the calendar app on his phone and showed it to Ven, whose mouth formed a perfect, astonished oval. "This is a smartphone," Sora passed the device, "Organization XIII sells it too, it's a Level 5 product."
The blonde's eyes glittered like a thousand evening stars as he gingerly held the phone in open palms.
"They have a wide variety of stuff." Sora smiled when Ven poked the screen and grinned when an app launched. "But you need loads of munny to get these things."
Ven's small shoulders slumped. He looked up, his good cheer returning at a chipmunk mascot handing out balloons. "I don't have munny," he informed and a passing person handed him a colorful flyer and ignored Sora completely. "An amusement park," he muttered, voice small.
"Do you want to go?" Sora questioned and blinked.
Why am I being so friendly with him?
Ventus bopped his head eagerly.
...Must. Protect. His happiness. Sora decided and fumbled with his wallet. "Here," he forked over a wad of munny, "get you a ticket."
"I'm going alone?"
"You... you have someone else you want to go with?"
The traffic lights at an intersection changed colors, an entire column of cars filed past, cutting the view of the opposite streets into segments. "Would you come with me?" Ventus asked, clutching the munny tightly.
Urk... Too many people.
"I'm not good with amusement parks." Sora bunched his muffler. People entered a cafe in droves and exited the glass doors with styrofoam cups of steaming coffee. He wanted cinnamon toast and his stomach growled softly, further reminding him of the lack of breakfast. Checking his wallet, he pulled out more notes and insisted Ven take them when the boy protested politely. "Go have fun at the amusement park," Sora urged, "and there's extra munny in case you are in the mood for ice-cream." He beamed. Odd. "And be careful when crossing the streets, walk on those white lines," he directed the clueless blonde to a pedestrian crossing situated near a stop sign.
Sky blue eyes glazing in gratitude, Ven carefully stuffed the munny in his pockets. "Thank you. I'll be sure to have lots of fun!" he declared and waved as Sora rose from the bench, suddenly drained. "And I'll visit Organization XIII when I have time." He continued waving, a bright speck in the sea of colorfully dressed people. "Till we meet again, Sora."
When Sora crossed the streets, the boy was nowhere to be seen. He stared at the bench, under an old fashioned streetlight and pondered on the obscure familiarity Ventus resonated.
Have I seen him before? The attorney lingered on the curb for a while longer till hunger forced him into the nearly empty cafe.
There is gold in the drops of the sea.
The mermaid pulled him along, her webbed fingers clamped firmly around his wrist, underneath the thick, gold cuff he impulsively slapped on while raiding a treasure chest in the sunken ship. Her impromptu appearance made him uneasy and the solar and lunar charms glittering across his bare chest roiled with the waves as Ariel smoothly cut through the water and dragged him to the palace.
Atlantica shimmered through ever shifting tints of blue. Bioluminescence shone in ornate lamps, lighting the way to the palace. The merfolk conducted trade under the protection of a giant, luscious pink jellyfish membrane and cowrie shells rattled as it exchanged hands. Mermaids trailed behind him, flitting from structures conspired of coral and rock. The daring ones gently tugged his diaphanous fins before giggling and gliding away.
The palace unfolded beyond an arch gate draped with vibrant algae. The glare of gold hurt his eyes.
"Daughter, Ariel," King Triton boomed and greeted his guests. "I am pleased you have finally chosen this fine mermen as your spouse. He is certainly dressed like a king."
Wait... what? Vanitas jerked from Ariel's grasp. "Is your pops out of his mind?" he grunted under his breath.
A bright red lobster scuttled on the King's throne and clicked its pincers in approval as the King praised Ariel for her maturity. She waited, a smile plastered on her face and hair bouncing in the water as her father exhausted his words.
Twirling his magnificent beard, Triton eventually reclined in his throne, a delicate, twisted structure glistening in mother of pearl tones. Two braziers on either sides of the armrests bubbled with magic. "Come hither so I may bless you," he declared and held his trident.
"Father," Ariel swam to him and gently kissed Triton's cheek, "this young man needs healing; I am here to assist him." She gently straightened her father's crown. "I am not here to wed and please stop this talk of new kings, you still have a long way to go." She fluttered elegantly from one side to the other, her tail expertly buffering against the volume of water. Vanitas tried to mimic her movements and instead, ended up doing a complete rotation. "His name is Vanitas," Ariel descended, "he came to our Kingdom for solace and peace of mind." Her words rung like pearls.
"Technically," Vanitas began, "I didn't come here, I was toss..mphf!"
"Quiet," Donald hissed and jammed his staff in Vanitas' mouth. "You majesty," the squid and turtle bowed in tandem, "it is an honor meeting you. Please don't mind him." Donald pointed a tentacle at Vanitas gagging in the background.
The elation in Triton's chest dampened as he critically inspected the spazzing merman. The youth possessed a powerful tail, his semi-transparent fins caught on the coral embedded on the seafloor and he painstakingly worked them free. The young man was cut with the figure of a prince, the gold and jewels complimented his bloodless skin tone perfectly.
"I see," Triton sighed. "Your happiness is my happiness Ariel," he fondly ran gnarled fingers through her hair and she kissed his hand. "Is your work in the world of humans going well?"
The King and mermaid princess conversed in low, serene voices. Ariel related stories of the KBWA to her father and he listened intently, trident across his muscular, aquamarine tail and fingers knotting absentmindedly in his flowing, white beard. Vanitas slowly propelled himself towards the entrance of the throne room, a familiar, numb sensation crept across his arms and chest and the feeling intensified at the expression of familial happiness on the mermaid's face. Vanitas knew this crushing weight.
It came on each time he missed his brother.
He leaned against the outer corridor and a flock of mermaids ogled him shamelessly from the latticed balcony railing. He glared in return. They whispered to each other and patted their hair, twisted in elaborate buns and decked with strings of pearls. Gritting teeth, he turned to the wall, startling when the double height, gold leafed doors groaned apart. His companions, Ariel and a striped, yellow and cyan fish emerged.
"This is Flounder, my best friend," Ariel introduced the tropical fish.
"Hmm, delicious," Vanitas commented and Flounder hid behind Ariel.
The mermaid laughed. "Well then, let's begin the therapy shall we?"
Before he could protest, she again grabbed hold of his forearm and sailed through the technicolor corridors. Lanterns bobbed from the ceiling and a forest of kelp swayed in the palace courtyard, a refreshing verdant among the monotony of gold walls, screens and pillars. Ariel twisted under an arch gate and Vanitas smashed his mouth against the top as he tried to pass through.
Grumbling, he reversed, bumped against Donald and Goofy helped him navigate the tricky piece of architecture.
They left the palace and its shimmering opulence. The streets, cloudy with sand, clamored with seahorse carriages, fish and merfolk traffic; and the occasional jellyfish drifting like a pale pink, satin cloud.
"What would you like to do now?" Ariel asked and came to a sharp stop. "Anything specific on your mind?"
Distracted by a duo of bluefire jellyfish rapping in the market square, Vanitas narrowly avoided getting his tail tangled and replied, "I would very much like to go home. Who knows what the silver haired pansy is doing to my brother?" The thought brought on a fresh wave of worry. "Sora probably didn't eat breakfast..." he grumbled and perched on the edge of a hollow clamshell.
"Why did you pick a fight with Strife?" Ariel asked.
The moment she posed the question, Vanitas launched off his seat and dove into the throng populating the streets. A carriage screeched to a halt, spitting sand and bubbles everywhere. He traversed through a pair of long eels, smacked his tail against them and groaned when Ariel followed from above, effectively cutting his escape.
"When Zack died," she dropped her previous question for a more painful one, "how did it feel?"
How did it feel? He mused.
The hustle and bustle of the streets died, giving way to the humming quietude of an undersea park. Benches were carved from cliff faces, schools of brightly colored fish weaved between beds of orange and yellow coral.
"I was sad," he stated. "And a little angry. Nothing more," Vanitas stirred dust with the tip of his finger, "nothing less."
He brought out the giant pearl and polished it.
The mermaid dropped next to him and he scooted further away. "Everyone is sad when people they love die." Ariel laced her arms. "Why were you angry?" Vanitas opened his mouth. "Think for a little while before you say anything, we have a lot of time."
He wondered if saying nothing will suffice.
Time ticked at different speeds. Goofy joined the fish fluttering between the coral and strands of kelp, little giggles floated to Vanitas' ears. The sound of glee.
"You were one of the last people to know of Fair's death," Goofy stated. "I'd be mad too."
Donald fell asleep, hanging on the underside of the bench with his tentacles. Bubbles rose from his mouth and Vanitas burst them. "I was angry because no one informed me of Zack's death." He remembered the rage coiling in his chest like a tightly wound spring. The sense of being wronged. "And when I found out, they ordered me not to go. He's my mentor, why would the higher ups stop me from going? It doesn't make sense!"
The mermaid listened to him, her eyes mellowing in understanding.
"I stormed to Hollow Bastion." Vanitas hugged the pearl to his chest, the cold soothing. "And I met Strife who inherited the Buster sword." A hiccup lodged in his throat and he clamped his mouth shut, directing his golden gaze at the undulating, black horizon beyond.
Ariel laid a palm on his hand. The silence stretched till he could take it no more.
"I hate Cloud," Vanitas involuntarily burst out. "I'm... I'm envious of him."
There it is, the beast slumbering between the chambers of his heart. The oily darkness seeping into his veins, clouding his emotions. Anger. Anger.
Rage. Blinding.
"Sora's unhealthy dependence on me, never bothered me," the words poured like a dam free from constraints, "I like it." Ariel listened to him without judging and afraid he might run out of words, Vanitas barreled on, uncaring of what he said. Let the beast bleed through his words. He was sick of feeling like crap. Sick of wanting to rip Cloud's throat out. Sick. Sick of clinging to Zack's memory and acting like he never cared. "I wanted to be Zack's everything. I knew he had a former student, but I wanted to be the one he remembered; and the one everyone remembered him by. I wanted to make him proud... when I got a solo mission for Agrabah…" he irritably touched his stinging eyes and recoiled at the tears dripping from them, "when I got the solo mission… I wanted to complete it without any interference from Zack and later boast about it to him; but he... he got himself murdered!"
His shout roused Donald, Goofy retreated into his shell.
"Cloud and another lady were there, I don't know her, she's very beautiful... green eyes." Vanitas pressed his palms against bruised eye sockets. "I was jealous," he breathed, "there was someone else closer to Zack." Vanitas giggled manically. The pearl rolled in his lap. "Even now, the Grey Knight is training Sora and… and…" he twisted his silken fins, "I'm afraid. It's irrational," he admitted, "but I can't help feeling this painful poke in my chest."
He irritably wiped the tears rolling from the end of his chin.
"Goddamn tears," he cursed and turned his face. "Don't stare at me!" he hissed at Ariel.
A heartbeat passed while he sniffed, Ariel launched off her seat and Flounder followed as she dipped to the waves of rippling coral in the undersea garden. The tropical fish darted out from their homes to sing praises to the princess and she smiled benevolently at them, her fingers plucking a sea star rooted on a jutting rock.
She presented the vivid creature to him.
"Crying is healthy." She gingerly flicked a tear from his face. He hiccupped, nose and cheeks a raw red. "Emotions are chemicals," Ariel twirled in the water, "and when your body makes too much of them, it upsets the balance." Flounder fluttered between her outstretched arms. "To correct the balance, the body squeezes those emotions out and," she cupped her hand underneath Vanitas' chin, "these are your tears. Tears are little envelopes of emotion," she said with a lilting voice. "Tiny packets of happiness and sadness, anger or frustration. It's good to cry." Ariel sunk in her seat with Flounder on her lap.
Vanitas pulled the sea star. "I'm a man," he muttered, "men don't cry."
The town at the foot of the mountain reeked of deliberate decay. Marble pillars crumbled, dark veins leaching across the stumps still upright. The roofs of once proud temples caved in, sunlight clawed the interior, bleaching frescos into whitewash, dust swirled in the beams, ghostly smoke from sacrificial braziers.
Stone mansions, rooted in plots of fertile land, overshadowed the town. Olive trees bent double under the weight of fruit, the olives carpeted the ground, rotting into a pile of mush. The road continued, snaking to the peak of the mountain, its boundaries preyed by the local vegetation.
"Aqua!" The call trilled in the castle vestibule. The soft clink of metal echoed on granite tiles. "Aqua~" Ventus sang and like a whirlwind, entered the small chamber where Aqua sat in a chair and played Command Board by herself. "Look!" he thrust three pieces of paper under her nose. "I got tickets to an amusement park." He hopped excitedly.
Moving the counters on the board and keeping it away from Ven's overeager flailing, she smiled. Her hair shone a bewitching silver blue in the dim room. "That's wonderful," she grabbed hold of the hopping boy and squeezed him into a warm hug. "But how did you get them? You spent all the munny I gave you on ice-cream."
A bell jar sparkled on a window sill. The bottom dusted by withered, windflower petals.
"Sora bought them for me," Ventus claimed. "The ice-cream vendor yelled at me because I ran out of munny," he pouted in annoyance, eyes sparking gold.
Aqua laughed. "You know, your pouting isn't working." He grinned and dropped into a chair opposite her. "Who is Sora?"
"A lawyer," Ven answered, irises morphing back into sky blue. "He's full of light." An idea popped in his head. "Do you think he'll inherit the Kingdom Key?" he questioned and raised his arm for a summon. "It doesn't come to me anymore. There are lots of people down there," Ven peered out of the glassless window and gestured to the speck of Los Angeles below the sea of amber clouds, "and he is the only one who felt like... me."
Joining him at the window, Aqua smoothed his ruffled locks of hair.
"Or what I was..." Ven muttered cynically. "Will you come with me to the amusement park?" he asked, the innocence in his expression returning abruptly. "Please," he appealed and held her hands, "the ticket will go to waste."
She reluctantly relented at his pleading.
"Yes!" Ven pumped a fist in the air and grabbing a ticket off the table, whirled to the Chamber of Waking. "I'm gonna give this to Terra," he piped.
Foreboding silence lay thickly in the Chamber of Waking. The blinding, stark whiteness contained an elaborate throne of equal brilliance and a myriad of charms and chains floated in the air around the throne. A suit of burnished, bronze armor stood vigil and marching to it, Ventus tucked the flimsy ticket between the armor's interlocked fingers.
"I miss you," he said to the armor and Aqua raised a fist to her heart. "Didn't the three of us always promise to stay together?" Ven pulled the grass green Wayfinder from his pocket and turned it over in his hands. "Where are you?"
"Ven, please." Aqua moved closer to the blonde and clasped his shoulders. "Tell me more about Sora," she encouraged and steered him away from the armor. "And the amusement park, when should we go?"
Casting one last glance at the suit of armor, Ven followed her back to the small room.
In the Chamber of Waking, the armor tightened its grip on the giant Keyblade, the ticket scrunched protectively under its palm.
Donald, Goofy and Flounder observed Vanitas as he slept. Exhausted from his experiences, he nodded off, head resting at an awkward angle against the cliff face and webbed hand hanging onto a stub of rock for dear life. A stream of miniscule bubbles escaped his mouth each time he exhaled.
"For once, I wish he could be this easy when he was awake," Donald whispered. He bounced in the water and one of his suction caps latched on Vanitas' tail. "Oh boy..." the duck murmured as the Black Saint woke.
"Did you say anything duck?" he demanded and wiped a string of drool from the corner of his mouth. "Can I go home?" Vanitas stretched, eyes rimmed in scarlet.
At his voice, Flounder swam to safety in the beds of coral making up the undersea park.
"Why don't you stay in Atlantica for a while?" Ariel suggested and Vanitas scowled in disagreement. "I can teach you the art of Cure," she added. "It's a spell the wielders of darkness find trouble mastering." Ariel fixed a seashell pin sliding out of her hair.
Considering her offer, Vanitas brooded. "If I can learn it, I won't have to rely on the stupid duck all the time," he reasoned as Donald started a verbal assault on him. "Fine," he smirked, "I suppose it'll be useful in combat."
He declined her offer of helping him swim and spent the next few leagues smashing into each and every obstacle. His tail ripped as it snagged on the jutting spine of a whale skeleton and when the glittering scales fell to the sand bed below, a bunch of merfolk children immediately fought over them. He nearly broke his arm when an octopus crawled across it, the unfortunate creature met its end at the edge of a boulder and Flounder chocked back a sob.
"Can you sing?" Ariel asked and broke into a tune. The surrounding fishes echoed her song and it was as if liquid sunlight poured into the sea.
Vanitas sailed straight through the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish while listening and jerked in pain. He hung limp, momentarily paralyzed while the semi-transparent creature glomped him in folds of velvet soft tissue.
"Get this thing off me!" he screeched and thunder crackled in his fingers. The jelly fish shriveled and bounced away. "And no, I can't sing," he grouched.
"Try. Singing makes everyone happy," Ariel cajoled.
"If you want your ears to bleed," he scathed, "then I'll send a recording. Heh, my singing can be used as an instrument of war."
"What about your brother?" Goofy questioned and Vanitas massaged his suddenly numb arm. "Can the blue-eyed Clavicle sing?"
Clavicle?
"Yeah." Vanitas mentally sifted through his memories of Sora singing. "He's got a decent voice; hardly sings though, mostly hums."
Ariel smiled serenely when Vanitas conducted a conversation devoid of death threats and sarcastic snarls with his companions. The undercurrent of anger and depression eased its vicious hold on him and he gripped the sea turtle's shell and swam. The trio plunged into a grove of kelp, racing to get to the other side and Vanitas emerged with ribbons of colorful seaweed trailing along his arms, neck and waist. He ferried a tiny crab in his nest of unruly, raven black hair and sped away from Donald, taking flight from an irritable, moray eel.
She wished for his pain to wash away.
"I'll call him Jimmy." The Black Saint revealed the tiny crab and 'Jimmy' protested its unceremonious christening with rapid-fire clicks of its pincers. "Can't he speak?" Vanitas enquired and poked the crab. Jimmy snapped its claw shut on a finger. "Stupid moron," he seethed, "I'll crack you open and serve you with mayo."
His finger bled, a crimson thread diffusing in water.
"Let Jimmy go," Ariel released the terrified crab back into the floating kelp, "and let me see you wound." She held his finger upright, a flash of green light flowed over his hand and the skin knitted under their gaze. "This is the power of cure," Ariel declared as Vanitas flexed his hand, "let me teach it to you."
Frustration shone in his eyes as he tried and failed to cast cure for the umpteenth time.
"Why the hell isn't it working?" Vanitas fumed. Donald and Goofy watched him. "What am I not doing right?"
The mermaid forcibly pulled his cupped hands apart as he attempted the spell again. "Cure is a healing spell," she reminded, "you cannot cast it with feelings of anger and while you have the intention to hurt others." Donald agreed sagely. "You like attention; and you are afraid of your brother finding someone else," Ariel eased her grasp when he stiffened, "I don't think it's a bad feeling to have."
"It sucks," Vanitas confessed quietly. "...I'm constantly competing with no one. It makes me hate myself." His last words drifted in a whisper.
"You have a very beautiful tail." Ariel praised the glistening aquamarine and fuchsia bands. "In Atlantica, merfolk with beautiful tails are often thought to be important people. You are important to everyone you come across, even if they might not always feel it. You are important to Sora. You are important to Zack, likewise to the KBWA and to Cloud Strife."
"I'm afraid I'll find out Zack tolerated me because I was his student." Something inside Vanitas broke again; like a clam with its shell repeatedly smashed in. Shattered beyond the point of repair. "If it's such a case... I don't want to know." He wanted to create a new shell, to protect the fragile, pitted pearl laying in the center. "I don't like the color of my tail," he swished the appendage, "it suits my twin more. He is very vibrant, once you get past his seventy layers of anxiety and self-doubt. But I don't want anyone getting close to him." Pearls dissolve in acid. They stain easily without care. "I hate feeling this way, its tiring."
Goofy laid a sympathetic flipper on his shoulder while Donald pried open a bunch of small clams and threaded the pearls together, placing them on the Vanitas' head.
"I don't think it's a bad feeling to have," Ariel repeated. "Everyone feels such a way to some extent." Flounder found his way between her arms and she stroked his fins. "As long as you don't force anyone to acknowledge you completely, it's okay to feel selfish." She tilted her head when he looked at her. "And perhaps you can be more honest with your feelings? People will understand how much they mean to you, they will appreciate you more."
Her lectures, instead of angering him, brought on a warm flush of happiness. Vanitas' cheeks grew hot in embarrassment. He cupped his palms together, eyes widening at the blooming flower and the accompanying, neon green glow of cure.
"I did it!" he exclaimed. "I cast cure." He crowed. "No more Donald for me!"
The squid whacked him with a staff, "What do you mean no more Donald? We are supposed to work together!"
"Ahyuck, don't hit him," Goofy protested. "But it's great isn't it?" the dog smiled toothily, "this means he is healing."
Waves rippled, the horizon remained a never changing blue-black. Coats of sea-blue upon sea-blue.
"Hey," Vanitas, draped over Goofy's shell, began. "Can a take a souvenir from this world?" He produced the giant pearl and Ariel nodded in agreement. "I'll give this to... to Strife," he mumbled. "Truce," he unnecessarily explained, jerking his face away from the beginnings of Donald's smile. "If you laugh," he threatened, "I'm setting you on fire."
"I didn't say anything," Donald relented. A grin crawling up his beak.
Fear
Night
Keyblade Graveyard
Mist rolled over the barren, fathomless cliffs of the Keyblade Graveyard. A cold, heart shaped moon drifted between sheets of smoky grey clouds. Roxas dangled in the air, as frost crept over his skin, rendering his armor useless and freezing his brain.
Cold. So cold and numb.
He smashed to the ground, the ice cracking. He clawed the dirt and rose, dread surging over him like a tidal wave when the man teleported in front of him.
Grinning wickedly. Golden eyes shining like flames in his gaunt, wrinkled face.
Roxas shivered, from fright and the realization of failure. He raised Wayward Wind to parry, his Keyblade twisted out of his grasp and he backtracked, tripped over air and fell, closing his eyes for the inevitable blow.
Which never came.
Aqua stood in front of him, Keyblade fisted in an iron grip, further to the front, a lump formed in Roxas' throat, Terra faced off against the old man.
Sparks flew between Keyblades. A motif, a pillar crawling with runes of fire, blazed above Terra's head as he fought the man back.
Suddenly the pillar cracked and greyed. Black fluid oozed between it and Terra turned, expression into one of grim determination.
He blinked; and his eyes flashed gold.
Gasping awake, Roxas wiped a tear leaking from his eye. His heart pumped rapidly, a plug clogged his throat. He swallowed and shivered, frantically trying to stem the ancient tide of fear from flooding his veins.
A/N: Crying is the body's way of restoring homeostasis, it helps with balancing the emotions in your body. Emotions are essentially chemicals and neurotransmitters cooked up by the brain, too much of it and it comes out in your tears.
You know the drill, read and review everyone, make Vanitas happy, he likes the attention!