Ventus ran through the halls, looking for his brother. The Master was expecting them soon to begin training, but he also wanted to speak with Vanitas alone. He had to know what he and the Master were talking about earlier this morning. The Master seemed to want to inform him and the others, but something was holding Vanitas back. Was he afraid of how he would react? Or was it something worse?

He turned the corner to see Vanitas exiting his room. Vanitas wore his usual outfit of black pants with a red and blue belt, his sigil in the middle, and a maroon top and boots underneath a grey sleeveless cloak open in the front.

"Vani!"

Vanitas looked up at Ventus's yell as the elder twin ran towards him.

"We need to hurry and get to the training hall. The Master is waiting!"

Vanitas rolled his eyes before giving Vanitas a grin.

"What? Can't wait for me to beat you in spar practice again?" Vanitas smirked at the blond.

Ventus stopped before his brother and pouted at him.

"You just wait." He answered. "One of these days, I'll beat you."

Vanitas rolled his eyes once again. "Sure you will."

Vanitas sauntered past him but stopped when he noticed that Ventus wasn't following him.

"You okay?"

Ventus rubbed his arm as he looked anywhere but his brother.

"Ven?"

Ventus looked up at Vanitas, who gave the blond a confused but worried look. If he didn't question Vanitas now then he would never work up the courage later. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his nerves.

"I was wondering about what happened earlier this morning."

Ventus noticed how Vanitas tensed up, but he continued.

"I…" Ventus began. "I overheard you and the Master talking."

Ventus paused to look at Vanitus's reaction. The younger boy didn't react, appearing to be frozen in shock and fear, but he could see that his hands gave off small twitches.

"Vani, what is it that you're afraid to tell me?" Ventus asked. "I want to know how to help you-"

"NO!"

Ventus stepped back in shock at Vanitas's sudden yell. While the two have had their occasional spat with one another, this was the first time either of them had full-on yelled. Ventus noticed how tremors ran through Vanitas's body and his eyes were blown wide as he stared at the blond.

"Vani…"

"No!" Vanitas reiterated. "You can't! You can't help with this!"

Ventus stood frozen as Vanitas continued, shocked when small waves of darkness began to flow around his body.

"Vani?"

Vanitas didn't respond, the tremors intensifying slightly as more darkness seemed to move around him. The dark-haired boy began to bend down as if he was unable to fully resist the urge to curl into a ball. Ventus cautiously took a couple of steps towards his brother, his eyes full of worry.

"Vani?"

That seemed to shock Vanitas out of his frozen stupor. The dark-haired boy gave a yell as the darkness quickly rushed out, knocking Ventus to the ground. Strange sounds began to fill the hall, almost like a range of different pitched squeaks.

Shaking his head, Ventus looked up at Vanitas, who returned the look with a fearful one of his own. The squeaks continued, causing Ventus to look around the hall in shock. A small group of strange creatures, similar to a heartless, had appeared. There were a total of four creatures altogether. One resembling a purple, thin, and sharper featured Shadow heartless, two resembling a blue-green bird and a white rabbit, and the final one being shaped like a blue vile with an orange crystal on top.

Ventus stared at the creatures for a couple of seconds in shock as the creatures seemed to explore the hallway they had found themselves in. He looked up at his brother to see Vanitas had frozen in place, his eyes no longer showing fear but instead full terror.

"Vani?"

Hearing his name seemed to break Vanitas out of his frozen state as the younger boy quickly ran from the hallway and out of sight.

"VANI!"