Okay! So we are back with another chapter for this story! But this time we star the Vanitas flashback mini arc! So the next few chapters are about Vanitas and his time in the mansion. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Let's get started!
Ch.9
Back 14 years ago
Vanitas was exploring around the front room of the mansion. He knew it was abandoned, but boy was the front area filled with dust, junk, and broken glass. But nevertheless it was still super cool.
"Come on already Ventus, get over here and explore this place with me," Vanitas called out to Ventus, who was still outside of the mansion.
Vanitas looked around a bit more, hoping that Ventus would come soon. He started to head towards the staircase he heard Ventus shout out to him.
"Vanitas! The doors!"
Quickly Vanitas turned around and saw that the front doors were slowly. Vanitas's eyes widened as he started running to the doors. Just as he was about to get to them they slammed shut right in front his face. Immediately Vanitas began to push and pound on the doors. Trying to get them open. But no matter what he did, the doors did not open again. It was like they were being held closed by something.
There was a eerie sound coming from somewhere behind Vanitas, but he didn't dare look. He was beginning to be afraid. This was not what he expected.
"This place is just suppose to be abandon! Why are the doors like this?!" Vanitas shouted in his thoughts. Finally after another failed attempt to get the doors open he called for Ventus. "Ventus! Get over here! Open the doors! They won't budge from inside here!" He continued to hit the doors though, hoping that they may just open up again.
"I-I'm coming!" Ventus shouted from outside.
As Vanitas waited for Ventus he heard something again from behind him. This time he turned around and looks. His mouth dropped open as he screamed. Right before him was probably the scariest creature he had ever seen. And it was staring right at him with glowing, yellow eyes.
The creature laughed as it raises its hand. Darkness swirled around Vanitas and tightened like chains. Vanitas continued to scream as he was pulled closer towards the creature. Whatever this creature was, it was terrifying. Vanitas tried to move or break from of what was holding him, but it was too strong.
Vanitas tried to find words, but all that came out of him were screams of pure terror. It didn't make things any better when he was lifted off the ground by some kind of magic and now was face to face with the creature. This was the first time in Vanitas's life were he felt truly scared.
"Welcome to my mansion little one. I hope you enjoy your stay. I am happy to welcome you... my new guest," the creature cackled in a deep, demonic voice before it plunged its hand into Vanitas's chest.
Vanitas cried out loudly as pain shout through his entire body. It felt like his heart was burning. The room around him began to fade away as his body started to go numb. Though his body was numbing the sharp pain in his chest never seemed to cease. In the next second everything went black.
Vanitas shifted side to side as his eyes slowly started to open. He felt as if he was laying in a soft bed. Upon opening his eyes and letting them adjust, he found that he was in a bed. But it was not the guest bed in Ventus's room. This room looked completely different. Vanitas had no idea where he was. He looked out the window to see that it was still nighttime out, but he didn't know the exact time. He couldn't seem to find a clock or anything in the room that could help give that indication.
Vanitas jumped out of the bed, feeling a bit dizzy. Something felt strange… but he couldn't figure out what. But he knew something was different about him. After looking around in the room for a bit he looked out the window more closely. He saw an old, overgrown, abandoned courtyard. The walls surrounded the courtyard looked very much like the walls of the mansion. "Am I still in the mansion? I… I need to get out of here! Gotta get out of here before that monster comes back!"
Vanitas ran over to the door and opened it. He peered out into the hallways to make sure the monster wasn't there. Once he saw that the coast was clear he ran down the hall, hoping he was heading towards the front of the mansion. Soon he saw the staircases that lead down onto the main floor. Vanitas quickly scrambled down the closer staircase and headed towards the front doors.
"Please be unlocked this time!" Vanitas thought as he gave the doors a big push. Thankfully the doors opened up and there was still no sign of the monster. Vanitas took this opportunity and ran towards the front gate. He would be away from this place before he knew it! He didn't see Ventus anywhere so he figured that Ventus had run home scared.
Just as Vanitas got a few feet away from the gate, a strange glow formed in front of him. It wasn't just in front of him, but it stretched all the way across the yard. Vanitas tried to move on, but found he couldn't get past the place in the yard he was standing. He kept trying to move forward, but he could get past the glowing wall in front of him.
"What gives? What's with this?!" Vanitas shouted as he tried to hit the barrier. His hand collided with it, but it did nothing.
The air around Vanitas dropped without notice. Vanitas turned his head to look around, as if he felt someone was nearby. A voice then came out of nowhere… but it wasn't any old voice. It was the voice of the monster he had heard before.
"What's this now? You are trying to leave? I'm afraid you can't do that."
"Yes I can! Just get rid of this barrier!" Vanitas shouted.
"You do not seem to understand. You are not allowed to leave here," the monster said.
Darkness formed around Vanitas again and held him tight. Vanitas tried again to break from the darkness, but it was still pointless. The darkness wrapped around him was far too strong. Slowly, against his will he was dragged back into the mansion where the demonic creature was waiting.
Vanitas stared at the creature. He knew he should be scared and afraid of it… but for some odd reason he didn't feel like that at all. Though he knew that's what he would normal be feeling… but it was the strangest thing… he didn't feel anything.
The creature came close to Vanitas and he tried to move away, but the darkness was still tightly wrapped around him. "Stay away from me!" Vanitas shouted at the creature.
The creature laughed in response. "So hostile. How amusing. Perhaps this form is too much for your young mind."
Darkness formed around the creature as it began to change. Vanitas watched with wide eyes as the creature's seemed to be shifting and changing into something else. The body started to look more human. Soon the creature had completed changed into the form of a adult man. Though he didn't look like a monster he still looked just as intimating.
He had dark skin and long silver-grey hair that reached past his shoulder and stuck out in different directions at the top. His eyes were a amber-orange that in the dark lighting looked like they were glowing. The man wore a strange outfit, the only normal bits was the dark black pants and knee cap high boots. He wore no shirt, but instead he wore two coats an undercoat that was white and showed off his chest muscles and was double belted at stomach level. Above the undercoat was a trench coat which has a dark blueish black top half and the bottom was white it was lined with yellow at the edge seams. He wore a fanciful decorated blue and white shoulder pads that strapped onto his trench coat. The sleeves of the trench coat hugged his arms and ended underneath his white gloves that flared out.
He stood there with his arms crossed, glaring down at Vanitas. "Is this better? Perhaps now you won't look so… scared." The man's voice was still deep sounding, but no longer demonic.
"Who… Who are you?" Vanitas quietly asked. Though the man glared at him with menacing eyes, he was still not as scary as his monster form. Vanitas found a little confidence to speak up. "Why won't you let me leave?"
The man chuckled. "My name is Ansem and this is my mansion." Ansem gestured to the room around them before he took a step closer to Vanitas. "And you are my newest guest."
"Newest guest?" Vanitas asked.
"Yes. All those who enter my mansion are cursed to stay here."
Vanitas gulped. "Cursed?"
Ansem chuckled again. "Yes. Once you enter the mansion, you can never leave it."
Vanitas wanted to asked something else, but he couldn't seem to think of anything else. He lowered his head as he sighed. He couldn't believe that Ventus was right… this mansion was cursed. He was never was going to see his family again… he would never get to meet his little sibling. He was trapped… forever. Incoming footsteps drew Vanitas's attention to look back up. Ansem now stood directly over him.
"You don't have to… worry though. You are not alone here. You have plenty of others that are here just the same as you are. In fact… I think I hear some of them coming right now."
Vanitas listened as he could each faint talking and footsteps coming. There was soon two people walking across the second story walkway. They stopped once they saw Vanitas and Ansem.
Ansem smiled. "Ah Isa and Lea, just the two I wanted to see. As you can see we have a new guest here. I shall have you two watch over him while he adjust to his new life. Understood?"
The people made their down the stairs and over to Vanitas. He could now see that they looked like teenagers. Maybe just three years older than him. One of them had green eyes and short, spiky red hair that was starting to spike out in many different directions. The other had light blue eyes and blue hair that slightly was spiked up in back, but it mostly fell down a little past his jaw.
"We understand," the blue-haired boy said with a expressionless look.
The redhead though didn't say anything, he was looking over at Vanitas. It was hard to tell by his expression, but it almost looked like he looked sorry for Vanitas. The redhead was then nudged in the side by the other one. He grumbled as he directed his attention to Ansem.
"Yes sir… We'll watch the kid."
"Good. His room is room 226. Make sure he does not try to run off again," Ansem said before disappearing in a cloud of darkness.
The darkness chains disappeared around Vanitas finally. With his movement back he stretched his arms, which were now a bit sore from being constrained for so long.
"So kid, what's your name?" the redhead asked.
At first Vanitas didn't want to answer him. He was tempted to get up and run away again. But if the same thing happened as last time… there was no point.
"Vanitas…" Vanitas said as he slowly stood up.
The redhead seemed to smile a little. "Well nice to meet you Vanitas. My name's Lea, got it memorized?" Lea pointed a finger to the side of his head while the other guy let out a groan. "And this is my friend Isa. Now come on, let's get you back to your room."
Vanitas stood where he was, not wanting to move any inch. "Why?"
"Well that's because it's late and you need your sleep…" Lea seemed to hesitate for a moment before he continued. "You really will need some sleep after tonight."
Vanitas tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Why don't you just explain it to him already Lea?" Isa asked. "Why don't you just say that-"
"Let's just let the kid get use to this place first!" Lea interrupted. "Explainions can come at a later time."
"I see no point in holding it off…" Isa commented. "It won't really affect him now and you know that."
Lea stared long and hard at Isa before shaking his head. "No. We will explain it tomorrow. Come on kid, follow me."
Vanitas didn't want to follow, but Lea did seem far friendlier than Ansem did. He knew that for sure. Slowly he started to walk towards Lea and Isa. Vanitas kept behind them as they all headed up the stairs and down the hall. None of them of said a word, leaving a awkward air around them. But again… though Vanitas knew it should be awkward… it didn't feel awkward. Vanitas still didn't understand it...though he thought he could ask Lea or Isa later, they seemed to know something.
Soon they arrived at room 226. Vanitas stared at the open doorway and then at Isa and Lea. "Do I… really have to stay here?"
Lea sighed. "I'm afraid so…"
Vanitas was about to ask another question, but he instead let out a yawn. He suddenly felt more sleepy than he had. He then felt the hand on Lea on his head. "Well kid, looks like you are ready for sleep. We'll talk tomorrow okay?"
Vanitas swatted Lea's hand off his head before he walked into the room. "Don't touch me… and don't call me kid…"
Vanitas closed the door behind him, not waiting for a response for Lea or Isa. He walked over to the bed and flopped down on top of it. He wished that this could be a dream… but he could tell it was far too real to be a dream. He didn't have much time to think though as his mind quickly drifted off into sleep.
Vanitas woke up the next morning to light shining in through the window. Vanitas squinted as he found himself to still be in the bedroom that was in the mansion. He was truly trapped here. He got up and sat on his bed lost in his thoughts as he tried to process everything. Suddenly he realized something.
"Ventus!" Vanitas recalled Ventus had shouted that he was going to come and open the doors for him...but that never did happen. Ventus never came...did he? Vanitas balled up his fists as he stood up. He looked over at the pillow on the bed before he started to punch it.
"Ventus… where are you?!" he shouted as he continued to punch the pillow. He knew normally doing something like this would help him calm down… but there was still that strange… empty feeling inside that. It didn't make any sense.
"Ventus... Why… Why didn't you come save me! You stupid, scaredy cat… Ventus why did you run away?..." Vanitas tried to push anger and passion into his words… but that never did happen. And that only confused Vanitas more.
"What are you doing kid?" a voice asked.
Vanitas turned to see Lea standing in the doorway. He hadn't even heard the door open. Vanitas looked back at the pillow, now all lumpy from being punched. "My mom told me that when ever I felt angry… I should try punching a pillow. To take my anger out… bu-but I don't understand. I.. I don't…" Vanitas trailed off, not able to find the words.
"But you don't actually feel angry, right?" Lea asked.
Vanitas stared at him with wide eyes, but somehow he felt that statement made sense. But there was still a lot of confusion behind it. Vanitas unclenched his fists as he sat down on the floor. "I don't understand… why do I feel this way? Why can't I get angry or anything?"
Lea sighed as he went down to sit next to Vanitas. "Well...it's because of the curse."
"The curse?" Vanitas asked.
"Yeah… You remember the scary guy Ansem right? Well he… traps us all here by taking away our emotions in our heart."
"How can he do that though? I don't get it…" Vanitas said as he placed his hand over his chest to feel his heartbeat. His heart was still beating, but he felt nothing from it. No fear, or confusion, nothing. He only felt the emptiness inside. He did remember vaguely what had happened after the mansion doors slammed shut. Ansem held him in the air with magic and then plunged his hand into his chest. Though he knew the memory of that event was terrifying, it now brought forth no emotion at all.
"I know it sounds a bit weird… but it is the truth," Lea responded.
"So… You're trapped here too? He took your heart as well?"
Lea nodded as he lowered his head. "Yeah. I went to explore this place with my friend Isa a few years back. We were only about a year older than you… and we have been here ever since."
"Why though… Why does he do that? Why does he wanna trap us all here?" Vanitas asked.
Lea shook his head as he closed his eyes. "I don't know…" There was a pause before Lea spoke up again. "So who was this Ventus you were talking about?"
Vanitas sighed as he looked away. "He's my best friend… but he is a big scaredy cat. He said he was going to come and help me when the doors slammed shut. But he never came… he abandoned me…"
"I'm sure he didn't mean to. Considering what happened… he must have been pretty scared."
Vanitas felt something drip from his eyes. He wiped his finger across and pulled his hand back to see tears on his finger. He was crying but he didn't actually feel like he was. "I still don't get it…Why did this happen to me…"
"I know it's hard to get use to, but… you get use to it."
"I don't want to get use to it!" Vanitas shouted, but there was no emotion truly in it. "I want to go home! I want to see Ventus again… I just… I don't like this." The tears ran down Vanitas's face, but he never began to feel truly sad. The tears meant nothing if he couldn't feel the sadness that went along with them.
In the next moment he clung onto Lea's shirt as more tears fell down his face. He kept trying and trying, but no matter what he did he couldn't feel sad. The tears just felt like they were raindrops streaming down his face. He couldn't cry or sob over what he wanted to feel… because he couldn't feel anything at all.
Vanitas felt Lea place a hand on his head. "It's okay kid. I know it's hard. Let those tears out. You'll feel better soon."
"Don't lie to him," a different voice cut in. Isa was now standing in the doorway, looking as emotionless as ever.
"I'm just trying to make him feel better," Lea responded.
Isa scoffed. "That won't do him a lot of good when he can't even feel anymore. It's better just directly telling him he'll spend the rest of his life without true emotions… like the rest of it."
"Isa…He's just a kid though..." Lea mumbled though he didn't say anything more after that.
"I don't see what that has to do with anything. We were just about the same age as him when we came here… and no one tried to tell us it would be all right," Isa replied coldly.
"But we're here now. Even without feelings we can be there for the kid. Just so he isn't by himself for all of this."
Vanitas scrunched up his nose. "Stop calling me kid. I am not a kid. And… I don't wanna live without my emotions…"
Lea sighed again. "Yeah I know what you mean. But even if we can't feel anymore, a lot of us still act like we can. We can still laugh at jokes and stuff because we know they are funny, even without feeling it. So don't listen to Mr Stick in the Mud over there. He is just a big party pooper."
Vanitas couldn't help but laugh, and that's when he realized what Lea meant. He was laughing, but didn't actually feel the amusement from the joke. But the laughter still was there. He could in fact still laugh.
"I still see it as pointless," Isa commented, unaffected from Lea's joke insult. "Why bother pretending to have emotions when we actually don't?"
"Just bug off already Isa. You're not helping," Lea muttered.
"Are you two really friends?" Vanitas asked as he let go of Lea's shirt.
Lea chuckled. "Yeah we are, but Isa is just a bit rude at times. Just ignore him when he is like that. Other than that he is a good friend."
Vanitas nodded and he laughed a little again. He really wished though he could feel the fun and joy behind that laughter. He was not happy to be stuck here. He wanted to be able to go home and everything, but he realized that would never ever happen. He was now apart of the curse of the old, abandoned, mansion. Something he never originally thought to be real. But now he found out the curse was real and it was worst than just people disappearing. But, even if the circumstances seemed bad, he was at least glad, or he imagined he would be glad, that he had some new friends.
And that wraps up this chapter. I am not sure how many chapters the Vanitas flashback arc will go, but it will be at least another chapter or 2. I'll see how it goes when writing. I also still have the poll up btw, (idk if I really need to mention it each chapter so after this I wont but please don't forget to check it out if you haven't yet.)
Until next time! Thanks for checking out this story!