The Night Within My Eyes
Description: A sequel to Kingdom Hearts II. When a Gummi Ship crashes into Disney Castle, King Mickey calls on Sora and Riku to help a previously unknown world rid itself of some very familiar Heartless. Eventual pairing: RikuxOC, plus some SoraxKairi because they're cute. Rated T because I can't see myself ever writing K.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. But you knew that already.
Seventeen
He was leaving. She had opened her heart, asked him to stay, allowed herself to be happy, and for nothing. He was leaving anyway.
"I don't understand!" she nearly shouted. Anger had come to comfort her in her pain. Familiar and strong.
He smiled at her, ignoring the edge in her voice. "I already explained it. Sora and Riku agree with me."
"Well, I don't! Vincent -!"
He firmly placed his good hand on her shoulder. "Look," he interrupted, "you need to get to Balamb as quickly as you can so the remaining three don't send more enemies here. Take the fight to Balamb and free Midgar. That was your plan, right?" He waited for her to nod and then continued, "But there are still Heartless here. Too many for our troops to comfortably take care of. So I'll do it. I'll clear out their base here while you clear out the one on Balamb."
"You're going to take care of all the Heartless by yourself?"
He smirked gently at her. "You don't think I can?"
Yuko crossed her arms over her chest and sulked. The wind tugged at her ponytail as she and Vincent stood just outside the Garden's front gates. Sora and Riku had retreated several steps behind them, far enough away to give them privacy as they argued but close enough to come bid Vincent farewell when the fight had ended.
"You don't even know where to start looking for their base," she grumbled, firmly determined to give him as hard a time as possible.
To her surprise, he answered promptly, "The Abes Building."
Her head shot up, and she stared at him. The ghost of a smile flickered across his face at her reaction. "The company that makes blitzball equipment?" she asked incredulously. "How in the world do you know that?"
He dipped his chin into the collar of his cape. The hint of smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Chaos knew," he replied in a quiet voice. He lifted his hand and placed it over his chest. "It's still here, waiting to be called on. The beast as well, and I don't know how many others. I need to find out. I need to find out who I am now and just what is lurking inside me." He raised his eyes and stared into hers. "Alone."
She buried her fists in her hips and glared right back at him. "Why alone? It's like Riku said, we can get you under control if you can't handle it."
"Except that Riku was in no position to do that during the fight with Braig."
"That wasn't his fault!" she exploded, suddenly furious that he would attack Riku, conveniently forgetting that she had been the one to bring up his name.
"I'm aware of that," he responded with a laugh in his voice that infuriated her even more. "But the point is, with all the Heartless and the apprentices to fight, do you really want to worry about having to fight me as well? I called on the beast during the battle because I was relatively sure I could control it, but for the others, I have no idea. What if I go berserk and the only way to stop me is to kill me? Would you really want to have to make the decision between your life and mine?"
Yuko swallowed and looked away, unable to answer. What would be worse: not knowing whether or not Vincent was still alive or knowing for certain that he was dead because she had killed him herself? If she could talk him into coming but just not using his dark powers, then maybe … but no, that was selfish of her. He needed to figure out what had happened to him; she could certainly understand that.
She sought his eyes again and stated, "Once we've dealt with the apprentices, I'm coming back and I'm going to find you." When he nodded in response, she asked, "What should I tell Devalin?"
The relief on Vincent's face was obvious. He had clearly not expected her to give in to him so easily if at all. He thought about her question for a minute before answering, "Tell him I was honored to be his aide and I hope that someday I'll see him again."
Yuko nodded, internalizing the message, and then asked, "And Luci?"
Vincent visibly winced. Yuko felt a small bit of perverse pleasure at the reaction. Her conscience scolded her, but she was too upset to pay attention to it.
In a near-whisper, Vincent said, "You won't be going to Luca. You won't see her."
"Yes, but Dev will," she insisted. She wasn't going to let him worm his way out of this. All those letters he had written, gushing about the girl who had claimed his heart, enough romantic nonsense that she and Zell had stared at each other in amazement and wondered if their Vincent had really been the one who wrote them. Thanks to them, she knew how much Vincent and Luci meant to one another, and she was not about to let the other girl suffer in ignorance just because he didn't want to deal with it.
She pressed him, "What should I have him tell her?"
Vincent remained silent for a long time, his eyes to the ground. Finally, he answered softly, "Tell him to look in my desk in my office on Luca. Left-hand side, top drawer. There's something in there for her. A present. Have him give it to her and tell her to sell it and use the money to build a new life for herself."
Yuko's anger began to grow. What kind of stupid, juvenile garbage was this? Intentionally misunderstanding, she said, "So you're breaking up with her then?"
His head shot up in shock, but when he met her fierce eyes, he lowered his chin again. "No. It's just …"
"Just what?" she demanded. "Just that you think she won't want you anymore because of what happened?" She stopped and blinked to herself. The meaning of his "present" had come to her. "It's a ring, isn't it?" she asked, rage building with every word. "You were going to propose to her, weren't you? And now you're telling her to sell it instead? You idiot!"
Vincent shrank back, and murmured sounds of surprise and alarm rose from the other boys behind her. She was fully aware of how loud and how scary she could be when she was this pissed off, but right now she didn't care. He thought he was doing Luci a favor, that she'd rather have some bright and shiny "new life" than a life with him. Could he be any more stupid?
"She deserves better … " he was stammering.
"Better than what? Better than you? Better than a sweet, wonderful guy who adores her? Better than love?"
"Better than this!" he finally snapped, thrusting the gauntlet into her face.
But Yuko only laughed at him. "And what is that other than a way for you to wallow in self-pity? You really think Luci will care what you look like on the outside? You think she'll be unwilling to help you out with any darkness or depression you might have? You think she won't wait for you if you need her to? Do you really think that little of her? I thought you loved her."
Vincent blinked at her, stunned. "I … I …"
Yuko pressed on, confident now that she knew she was winning. "Drowning yourself in regret and guilt is a colossal waste of time. You're still alive; your fellow soldiers weren't so lucky. You should make the most of the time you were given." She raised a hand and tapped her chin with a finger, pretending to think. "Now, that speech sounds familiar. Who said that to me, I wonder?"
A small smile tugged at Vincent's lips. "I did," he answered quietly.
"When was that?"
"When you came out of the machine."
"Oh, that's right." She rested her hands on her hips and grinned at him triumphantly. "And by the way, that ups my count to three times in as many days."
Vincent stood there for several moments, gazing at the ground and trying to stop the smile that was spreading slowly but surely across his face. Finally, he gave up and started to laugh. He reached out with his good hand, took Yuko by the arm, and pulled her into a hug. Once she had recovered from the surprise, she squeezed him tightly, overjoyed that she had stopped his spiral of self-destruction.
"Thank you," he said when he had released her. "You're a great friend, Yukes."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "You're welcome, Vinnie." They laughed some more at that, but she sobered quickly and said, "Go do what you need to do and come back to us, okay?"
"Yeah," he answered with a nod. "I'll come back. I promise."
"So what do I have Dev tell Luci?"
Vincent smiled gently. Softly, he replied, "That I love her. And that I'll see her again, if she wants to wait for me."
Yuko reached up and ruffled the soft dark hair that she had loved to abuse during her childhood. She smiled happily. "I'll do that."