Chapter 6

Ven never knew he could feel so exhausted.

Beside him, surrounded by the dead keyblades in the aptly named Keyblade Graveyard, he could tell Terra, Aqua, and Mickey felt the same.

It had been a close fight. Too close. Xehanort, despite losing Terra's trust at Radiant Garden, had still tried to force the darkness in his heart to grow. Thankfully, being aware he was being manipulated had Terra more on guard, and refused to give in to the temptation when confronted by it.

It had cost Terra, and he was the most beat-up out of all of them, but he was still himself.

Though finding out Xehanort's master plan had been to body snatch Terra was too creepy to think about for long. Made even worse by the fact that he seemed to be encouraging Vanitas to do the same to Ven.

And Vanitas did make a valiant effort to do so, but when confronted with Ven and Aqua fighting together to stop him, he'd backed off.

"This isn't going to work," Ven's apparent dark reflection had said snidely the moment he realized the battle was lost.

"What?" Xehanort had demanded, looking at his apprentice in fury. It had been very apparent things were not going as planned for him, and he was not able to recover without his preordained devious schemes. "Vanitas, do what I created you to do and forge the X-Blade!"

But Vanitas had smirked at his master with an air of someone who'd lost all respect for him. "Thanks, but no thanks, Chickenhead," he'd said casually. "But I have other candidates to play with."

And with that, he'd vanished, leaving Xehanort alone with four keyblade wielders who were all very angry at him.

Considering Xehanort was none too happy about the entire situation either, he'd stood his ground and attacked.

The fight was long and arduous, but in the end, Xehanort had retreated spouting dark promises that this wouldn't be their last clash, leaving the four friends exhausted, bruised, and battered, but alive, and that was more than they'd thought they'd have at the start of this battle.

It wasn't over, but they were safe.

For now.

Still, Ven couldn't help but ponder Vanitas' parting words. "I wonder who those 'other candidates' are?"

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Roxas skeptically.

"Sure it will," Lea said confidently. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Please tell me you didn't just say that," Isa groaned.

"Why? What's wrong with him saying that?" asked Xion worriedly.

"You'll see," Isa replied cryptically.

Before them, four-year-old Sora, who was sitting on five-year-old Riku's shoulders so the two boys could fit into Roxas' Organization coat, asked, "Do we look cool?"

Because the arms were too long for Sora, the hood flopping over his eyes to blind him, and Riku's face poking out between where they'd pinched the coat shut with safety pins, they absolutely did not look cool.

"Sure you do," Lea told them, lying through his teeth.

The four friends had come to Destiny Island to make good on Sora's request to see Kairi. Given that would mean taking small children through a corridor of darkness to get there, they'd spent the last several days pondering how to actually do it, before landing on the same plan they'd used to get themselves between worlds, and stuffed both boys into Roxas' coat for Xion to ferry them through.

Xion hovered nervously beside the two children, her hands out to catch them if they lost their balance. "Are we sure this is the best way to do this?" she asked.

"Short of stealing another gummi ship, unfortunately, yes," said Lea.

Seeing Roxas gain a thoughtful look, Sora thrust his hand out to shake his finger at him, not that it could be seen under the flopping coat sleeve. "No, little brother," he scolded. "Stealing is bad!"

"What if we just borrow it," Roxas offered, having long given up on not being Sora's 'little brother'.

"No stealing!" Sora said, his enthusiastic hand gestures nearly toppling him and Riku over. "Cid is my friend! (Or he will be.) We're not taking his gummi ships."

"Sora! Watch it!" Riku squawked beneath him as he worked to keep his balance with Sora's flailing.

Isa sighed. "Just get them through the corridor before they fall over," he said to Xion, already feeling exhausted, and it was only the beginning of the day.

With one last hesitant glance at the wobbly children, Xion carefully escorted them through the corridor.

The three boys left on the beach waited with bated breath until Xion finally returned with Roxas's coat in hand and a smile on her face. "Safe," she said. "Who's next."

Kairi was spending a typical day picking flowers in the gardens when suddenly she heard her name being called.

"KAIRI!"

The little girl turned around just in time for an excited boy with brown hair to tackle her in a hug, making them both fall into a bed of Chrysanthemums.

Kairi looked up at the boy, who was beaming beside her. "Hi!" he said. "I'm Sora. I'm gonna be your best friend."

Kairi blinked at him. "What?" she asked at this enthusiastic proclamation of friendship.

Sora got back to his feet and helped Kairi out of the flower bed just as another boy with silver hair came running up. "And this is Riku," Sora said, gesturing at the new boy with a ta-dah pose. "He's going to be your best friend, too."

Kairi stared at them. "What?" she repeated.

"Sora did you really just knock her down," Riku scolded, casting her an apologetic glance. "You don't do that to girls. She isn't going to want to be friends with us now." He then turned to Kairi and added, "Sorry about him, he's silly."

Sora's face fell dramatically. "Oh no!" he said, also looking at Kairi worriedly. "I was just really happy to see you. I'm sorry! Please say we can still be friends."

Kairi stared at both of them for a long moment as her brain caught up to what was going on.

Then, she burst out laughing, startling both boys so much they stumbled backward into another flower bed.

Still giggling, Kairi reached out to help them up. "Okay, I'll be your friend," she said. "I'm Kairi, but you already knew that."

Both boys grinned widely at her, and each took one of her hands so she could pull them back to their feet.

And with that, a lifelong friendship was formed.

From a distance away, the Radiant Garden Rebels watched the three children play together.

"And now all is right in the worlds," said Lea with a satisfied nod. "If Castle Oblivion taught me one thing about Sora, it's that he'd do anything for those two, and they'd do the same for him."

"It's good to have friends like that," said Xion with a knowing grin at the rest of them.

"Is anyone else concerned that we technically just kidnapped two children?" asked Isa dryly.

"We did?" asked Roxas, confused.

"Well, we certainly didn't get parental permission before bringing them to an entirely different world," Isa pointed out.

"Aw, we didn't kidnap them," said Lea waving off the concerns. He then patted Roxas on the shoulder. "And we've got Sora's brother here to supervise, so it's family approved."

Roxas and Isa both shot him unimpressed glares, though each for their own reasons.

Xion, however, had been keeping an eye on the kids and noticed someone else was watching them too. "Who's that?" she asked, drawing her friends' attention.

They looked to see her pointing up onto one of the high terraces next to the castle where an old man was looking down at the playing children with narrowed eyes.

A very familiar old man.

"It's Xehanort!" Isa hissed.

"You mean Xemnas?" asked Roxas, his eyes narrowing up at the old man.

"Yeah, looks like he still hasn't found his fountain of youth," Lea muttered.

"I don't like the way he's looking at them," said Xion warily. The entire time she'd noticed him, he hadn't taken his eyes off the children, though which one he was watching was hard to tell.

The boys all nodded in silent agreement. The way he was eyeing the three was creepy. Or maybe that was just his face… No, that just made it extra creepy.

Glancing at the other three, Isa offered, "I'll stay here and watch the kids. I think the three of you have a score to settle."

Lea, Roxas, and Xion all nodded, then turned to head towards the steps to the terrace, careful to keep their movements natural so as not to catch Xehanort's attention.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Roxas as they made their way around towards the old man, and then hid to observe him from behind. Xehanort didn't seem to notice them, his eyes still glued down below.

"Dunno," said Lea. "If Ven was right, he's pretty powerful, and he sure made an impression last I saw him. I don't know if we'd beat him in a fight."

"Should we fight him?" asked Xion. "He hasn't started the Organization yet."

"No, but he did try to trick that Terra guy into using the darkness. So I doubt his intentions are all that great," said Lea. "We'll just have to give him an extra special surprise."

"Plus, with the way he's looking at Sora and his friends. Remember, Axel told us that if we ever saw someone looking at us like that we should either kick their butt or run," added Roxas and Xion nodded in agreement. He then frowned. "What is he interested in them for?"

"Nothing good, I'll tell you that," said a new voice behind them.

The three jumped and wheeled around, only barely managing not to make any sounds that would alert Xehanort to their position.

Behind them, leaning against a wall, dressed in dark clothing was-

"Sora?" all three of them asked in bewilderment.

Except… it wasn't… Sora was down in the garden playing with his friends. And to their knowledge, Sora had never had black hair and yellow eyes. But the teenager standing before them now really did look an awful lot like an older version of Sora (sounded like him too, from what Lea could recall).

Said teenager blinked at them in confusion at the name. "What?" he asked.

Roxas recovered first. "Sorry, you just look like my Som-er-my brother," he said lamely.

The boy raised an eyebrow at them. "Funny you should say that, 'cause you sure look a lot like my brother. I think you know him? Goes by Ven?"

"Ventus?" asked Lea in surprise. "I didn't know he had a brother."

The boy shrugged. "We don't get along that well," he said nonchalantly. "Sibling rivalry and all that. Name's Vanitas. So why are you stalking hunched, bald, and creepy over there?" he asked, jerking his head in Xehanort's direction.

The three teenagers tensed and glanced back over at Xehanort. Thankfully, he hadn't noticed them, too busy lost in thought.

"It's… a long story," said Xion, wondering how they could even begin to explain their circumstances to an outsider.

"In a nutshell, that guy-" Lea said pointing over at Xehanort, "-Did a whole bunch of stuff that screwed all of us over while trying to do some crazy experiment, and we want to make sure he doesn't get the chance to do it again."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Yeah, that's definitely something he'd do. But do you really expect to stop him with rubber chickens and fart boxes?"

"Heard about that from Ven, did'ja," said Lea. "We weren't totally prepared to see him that day, but it worked didn't it. The old jerk didn't manage to pull one over that Terra guy because of it."

Vanitas' lip quirked hearing that. "That is true." He then leaned in with interest. "So what's your plan this time? I heard something about an extra special surprise."

The three blinked and exchanged a glance. Then Lea told him what he'd been considering.

Vanitas' expression morphed into a smirk and he cackled. "Oh, I need to see that."

Xion and Lea exchanged another glance, and Roxas raised an eyebrow. "You in?" he asked.

Vanitas' smirk grew into an evil grin. "I'm in."

Xehanort's eyes were locked firmly on the children below, his mind scheming.

One of them, the girl, was a Princess of Heart. Even from a distance, her pure light was radiant as she frolicked in the flowers. Xehanort could see great potential in that light. If he could somehow harness it, and combine it with Vanitas' pure darkness, then perhaps the X-Blade could still be forged.

It would be tricky. A small girl was nowhere near as strong as Ventus, and the balance had to be just right. As it was now, her light, bright and pure with youth and innocence, could possibly banish any darkness Vanitas contained. Or the opposite could happen, and Vanitas' darkness would consume her, snuffing her out.

Yes, balance would be key, but it would be worth it.

The girl's playmates also were of some interest. Xehanort was quick to disregard the little brown-haired boy, as he didn't seem to be of any use, but the silver-haired one, now he was interesting. The old keyblade master could sense he had already been marked for succession. Someone, Terra if he was not mistaken, had claimed the boy as his apprentice, and for that, he would make a very good pawn indeed.

But how should he utilize this new game piece? He was too young to be a new vessel, though there were some merits in the unexpectedness of such an act. Still, the risk to his and the child's lives made it more of a contingency plan than an initial one… For now, at least, when he was older… perhaps.

Another option was to take the boy hostage. If Terra had marked him as his apprentice, then the boy must mean something to him. Perhaps enough for him to give in to the darkness, allowing Xehanort to claim his vessel. And if he played his cards right, he may even manage to manipulate Ventus into joining with Vanitas for the X-Blade as well.

Yes, there were many possibilities, many ways to salvage this situation at hand with these children. He just needed to decide on his next move, and the game would be his.

He was so lost in his ponderings, that he barely noticed the world around him.

He definitely didn't notice the bucket of foul-smelling glue until it landed upside-down on his head, covering him in its contents.

Or the ripped feathered pillows that followed after, but then, his head was stuck under the bucket for that part.

Xehanort would never admit to the indignant squawk he let out while he tried to pry the bucket off of his head, but couldn't due to the slippery feathers and the strength of the glue.

Above him, no doubt in one of the castle towers, he could faintly hear the sound of laughter and someone saying, "You were just supposed to dump the bucket, not drop the whole thing!"

To his absolute fury, he could hear his wayward apprentice respond. "Are you arguing with the results?"

"Heck no! This is better than I thought," the first voice replied, laughter evident in his tone.

Vanitas and his companions would pay dearly for this.

It seems the children in the garden below him had also caught sight of him, because he heard one of them call out, "Hey look, guys! On the wall! It's a bucket chicken!"

That only caused Xehanort's traitor apprentice and his companions above him to laugh even harder.

Xehanort seethed!

And the darkness responded.

Above him and below him, he heard yelps of shock and fear, no doubt at the sight of darkness swirling around him (though no doubt not nearly as intimidating as it normally was given the bucket and feathers).

Xehanort was perfectly willing to unleash the darkness onto all of them, but before he could-

'CLANG!'

'CLANG!'

'BAM!'

Xehanort went down like a sack of potatoes as two keyblades and a chakram flew through the air and struck his bucketed head one after another.

Dimly through his ringing head, he heard voices calling for the castle guards. His last conscious thought was that explaining this to Braig when he bailed him out was going to be a nightmare.

And then the mighty Keyblade Master Xehanort fell unconscious.

Vanitas hadn't smiled this much in… never!

The closest he'd ever gotten before was when he'd laughed at this group and Ventus' pelting Xehanort with their prank supplies.

It was even more exhilarating to be part of the group doing the pranking.

"This is the greatest day of my entire life," Vanitas said reverently as he and the other three hurried away from the castle tower they'd snuck into to drop things onto Xehanort.

"Had a real bone to pick with that guy, huh?" asked the redhead who'd introduced himself as Lea.

"You have no idea," Vanitas said, his tone bittering. Being Xehanort's apprentice was no easy feat. It was more like torture than anything else, especially when compared to the cushy training Ventus had gotten from Eraqus. He hated them all the more for that.

His expression then brightened remembering the ridiculous sight Xehanort had made when getting bashed over the head with the others' weapons. That was a memory he would treasure forever.

"Serves him right for being creepy about the kids," Xion said, bringing Vanitas back to the present.

That gave Vanitas pause. "Kids?" he asked. "What kids?"

"Roxas! Lea! Xion!" came a shout, and a small blur came running to them and bowled over Roxas.

Vanitas blinked down at the sight of what looked like a tiny version of himself chattering worriedly at Ventus' odd (and now winded) double as he sat on his stomach.

Guess this was Sora, Roxas' brother. Though, at least these weird mirror people looked like they had a normal sibling relationship. Being split from one person made defining things weird.

Also, he hated Ventus. These two seemed to care about each other.

(A few blocks away, some Unversed were spawned from his jealousy.)

Another teenager with blue hair came running up to them with two more children in tow. "Are you guys alright? That guy started being freaky, so I got the kids out of there." He smirked. "Also, Sora was worried."

"I noticed," Roxas groaned as he sat up with Sora still on top of him.

The other two children, meanwhile, had caught sight of Vanitas and were looking up at him with wide eyes.

Great.

Kids.

Vanitas did not do kids.

"Why do you look like Sora?" asked the silver-haired boy.

"Why does Sora look like me?" Vanitas shot back.

The boy's face scrunched up thoughtfully as if this was a legitimate question.

The girl, however, hadn't taken her eyes off of him. "You're broken," she said, in a voice that was both cluelessly innocent and yet all too knowing at the same time.

The rest looked at her in confusion, and Vanitas' face twisted into a dark scowl.

He opened his mouth, fully prepared to tell the little girl where she could stick her observations when she darted forward and hugged him around the middle.

"There, there," she said, patting him on the back as much as she could with her tiny arms. "You'll get better."

Vanitas was stiff as a board under her hug.

He! Was being hugged!

Had he… had he ever been hugged before?

No, not as Vanitas, and even when he and Ventus had still been one and the same… it had been a long time.

Too long.

So long he barely remembered it.

It was… nice!

The two little boys with the girl decided to follow her lead and hug him too, leading to Vanitas finding himself trapped at all sides by captors that barely passed his hips.

The kids' four teenage babysitters all were snickering at him, no doubt finding his shell shocked expression funny, but for once Vanitas couldn't find it in him to care.

There was something… something in him… that felt warm in a way he hadn't felt since the split.

Eventually, the hug broke up, and Lea suggested they all get ice cream (to the kids and Roxas' clear delight), and Vanitas found himself being dragged along to join them.

And now, sitting on top of a garden wall and watching the sunset with four teens and three children, Vanitas could only eat his ice cream and ponder his next step.

He'd come here to scope out if either Roxas or Xion would make a good replacement for Ventus in forging the X-Blade. Jury was still out on that judgment, but today had been… fun!

Maybe it was worth sticking around… at least a little longer.

If nothing else, he'll get to make Xehanort miserable.

And that would make however long it takes totally worth it.

A/N And thus this chapter came about because a good few people asked for Vanitas to interact with the Radiant Garden Rebels, particularly Roxas. If it's not clear, Vanitas isn't in his armor right now and is pretending to be a 'normal kid' so he can get close to them. Sooo, is Vanitas catching affection, or is it just Kairi's princess powers? It's the princess powers, at least for now. Also, given Ven's comment during their fight, it'd be just like Vanitas to make friends just to spite him.

I have to give special thanks to Luna Lillyth for this chapter. She and I have been trading a lot of messages back and forth talking about Vanitas' rebel potential. Because of her, there's going to be a seventh chapter eventually, because we came up with too many good prank ideas not to use them. I'm still writing it, so it probably won't be next week, but I'll get it out when I can.

Next Time: Vanitas has joined the rebellion. Only chaos can come from this.