Chapter Eight: Master of The Land of Departure

The Land of Departure…

The world was almost completely destroyed; now I could see why Vanitas had been slightly reluctant to come. A building that could've once been a castle stood before us, its edges broken away from the center.

"Well, we aren't going to find anything out here," Vanitas informed me. "Let's go inside."

He then began striding towards the door of the large building before us. I followed slowly, looking around as I tried hard to stop feeling so dizzy.

Vanitas pulled open the double doors and went through, and I once again followed. We entered a long, wide hallway with a large staircase lying directly in front of us. The inside was almost entirely ruined, with lots of debris and large parts of the walls and roof lying littered across the floor. The place had really been torn apart.

"Okay, lets start looking," Vanitas said as he began ascending the staircase. I started heading up the staircase as well, still looking around at what had once probably been a very nice building.

Once we reached the top we turned right and went through another set of double doors. These led straight into what looked like a throne room. The room was quite large, and at the end of it there sat three throne-esque chairs. Who had lived here? I figured it must have been someone important.

"How about we search around in here first?" Vanitas suggested while turning to look at me. "Who knows, it could be underneath one of those chairs or something."

I nodded. "Okay."

I then set to work, circling the three thrones and examining underneath them. Meanwhile Vanitas strode away to look at something by the wall. There wasn't anything underneath the large chairs, except for a thin layer of dust. Someone must have been here not too long ago.

"I'm feeling as though I'm on a recon mission for the Organization," I thought to myself, almost laughing.

I walked over to Vanitas to see if he had found anything interesting, but it didn't really look as though he had. He was crouched down to examine a bit of the floor that had been torn up, and all he kept pulling up was bits of ruble.

"Vanitas?" I began, tilting my head to one side and causing my bangs to fall into my face. "Who was it that had lived here?"

Vanitas stood up, brushing off his pants before looking at me.

"The man's name was Eraqus," Vanitas told me. "He trained with Master Xehanort. This land was passed on to him after his master died."

Vanitas then began walking away towards the opposite wall.

"Was there anything interesting by the chairs?" he asked me, bending down once again to plunge his hand within another hole.

"Nope," I replied, and then further asked, "what happened to him?"

"He died," Vanitas responded without looking up.

"Did he die of old age?" I further pressed. I was unsure of how much longer Vanitas was going to keep answering my questions.

"…No," Vanitas answered slowly, pausing briefly. "He got killed actually… By his own pupil."

"Really?" I asked in surprise. "That's awful."

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. He straightened before walking over to the door we had come from, cracking it so that he could look behind it. He certainly was doing a very thorough job of looking for the book in this world.

I walked away, but was only halfway across the room when Vanitas pulled the door back open.

"I don't think it's here," Vanitas informed me. "We should go look in Eraqus's old room."

"Okay," I replied, turning back around and following him out the door.

Instead of turning onto the stairs we went right and walked along the hallway above. We continued through a large door leading to a somewhat smaller corridor. Near the end of the hall were three doors, one leading straight and two remaining on either side. Vanitas turned through the left door. It led to a smaller hallway, containing only two doors. This time we went through the one leading straight, which brought us into a very large room; a bedroom that was very nicely decorated.

"Hmm," Vanitas murmured. "He had a nice room."

"Yeah, it is very nice in here," I agreed, looking around at all of the eccentric decorations.

"I think we have a better chance of finding it in here," Vanitas told me. "I guess it'd make sense if the man kept it in his own bedroom."

I nodded, moving over to a bookshelf that was about the same size as the ones in Merlin's house. I began pulling out books, starting with the uppermost shelf. There were many old books on it, even one about Kingdom Hearts! I flipped through most of the book's pages before carrying it over to Vanitas, who was looking inside a box that he had found underneath the bed.

"Do you think this could be it?" I asked, holding it out to him.

He frowned at it thoughtfully before reaching out and taking it. He began flipping through the pages, a bit more slowly then I had.

"You will not find what you're looking for here."

I whipped around, instinctively pulling out my Keyblade. Vanitas closed the book swiftly and tossed it aside in response, glaring at the man who now stood in the doorway.

I wasn't exactly sure on who he was, for he was wearing a long black coat like the one I had from the Organization, hood drawn high.

"Who're you?" Vanitas demanded, taking out his Keyblade as well. "And…what will we not find?"

The man slowly lowered his hood in answer, his head turned toward Vanitas. The man had shoulder-length black hair, with the first layer tied back in a ponytail. I couldn't quite discern his age, but he did look like he was over middle-age.

Vanitas let out a gasp, gripping his Keyblade more tightly. "You!"

"So," the man began, looking Vanitas up and down. "You must be Vanitas. Tell me, how is your master 'Xehanort' doing?"

"Fine," Vanitas answered, continuing glaring at the man. "What about you? We haven't heard from you in awhile."

"I have been better," the man told him. "Now I'm curious, what is this girl doing with you?"

I stared at him, not sure on quite how to answer; it didn't sound as though he were expecting me to, as he was still glaring at Vanitas instead.

Vanitas shot me a swift glance, a somewhat wary look on his face.

"She's helping us," he replied haughtily. "She understands that what we're fighting for is right."

The man raised an eyebrow skeptically before looking at me.

"Do you?" he asked. "Or are you unsure?"

"I—" I began, not exactly sure on what to say. No, I wasn't entirely sure, but I couldn't say that. "I trust them."

The man still wore a doubtful expression, turning to face Vanitas once more.

"What lies have you fed this girl?" he demanded. "She must not know the truth, or else she wouldn't be helping you."

"Of course she knows the truth," Vanitas snapped irritably.

"Well then, Xion," the man said, frowning at me. "Sora and his friends have a reason for not helping this man and his elderly master."

I looked at him. Something told me to believe him, but…

"I know Xehanort like my own brother," the man continued. "He is after Kingdom Hearts, and plans to use its power as a means to bring about the destruction of all the worlds! You should be helping Sora prevent that!"

I could only stare at him. What he was saying honestly seemed right, but if he were somehow wrong…

I was about to speak, debating helping him. However, Vanitas seemed to have had enough of our conversation.

"Enough of your lies, old man!" he yelled, his bright yellowish eyes glinting in near rage.

Upon saying this, Vanitas transferred his Keyblade to both hands. Holding it high above his head, Vanitas leapt at the man; aiming to send it slamming down into the older man's head. However the man leaped back out of the way, and pulled out a weapon of his own: a Keyblade.

I watched, once again unsure of what to do. They now began fighting around the room. There was one thing holding me back from joining them, and that was: if I were to join in, who would I help?

It was hard to keep track of what was going on, as they both resembled two blurs moving from one end of the room to the other. They continued doing this until Vanitas aimed for the man, missed and hit the bookshelf, sending many books crashing down over his own head. As soon as most of the books had stopped falling, I saw the man appear right behind Vanitas, slicing his Keyblade swiftly through the air.

"Vanitas!" I gasped. "Look out!"

Vanitas leaped aside, but not soon enough. However, the dark-haired man missed where he'd initially been aiming, and instead pierced into the flesh of Vanitas's arm.

"Urgh!" Vanitas brought his hand to the freshly made wound, a pained expression upon his face. Then he began charging at him once again.

The man, however, seemed to have had enough and stepped aside, opening a time portal instead of striking back.

"Think about it, Xion," the man said, stepping back into it. "You know that what these people are doing isn't right."

With that he was gone, leaving a very irritated Vanitas behind.

We both remained silent for a few minutes, Vanitas breathing heavily. I then slowly began walking over to him.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly, reaching out a hand and placing it on his shoulder.

"I'm fine," he answered, his teeth tightly clinched. "Xion, don't believe a word that man says. He's the one who's really after Kingdom Hearts."

He then took a step backward and walked off across the room, back towards the door we'd come from.

"Let's go," Vanitas mumbled, jerking the door open. "You heard the man, it's not here."

I looked at him in surprise. "You believe him?"

"Yeah, I do," he replied agitatedly. "Let's go."

I followed him out of the room and down a hallway leading towards an even larger one.

"Who was he?" I asked.

"…Eraqus," Vanitas muttered, his voice barely audible.

"But wasn't that—?" I began. Vanitas nodded. "Weren't he and your master close?"

Vanitas opened the door leading to the larger corridor and went through; I followed without being prompted.

"Yeah, they were close once," he told me. "But Eraqus changed, and they're no longer after the same thing. Eraqus is no longer on our side."

"Oh," I muttered quietly. But that still left me wondering: which one was right?

We left the hall and began descending the stairs back to the first level. A few short minutes later Vanitas was pulling open the door leading to the outside. Almost immediately upon stepping out, he made another dark corridor appear. I stepped in, making a mental note that next time I stepped into one of those I had to put my Organization coat on first.

Vanitas followed me and then strode off, leaving me to follow along behind him.

We didn't wander through the portal for very long before turning through an archway leading into another world.

My eyes met a bright sunset the moment we entered the next world; I hardly had to glance around to figure out where we were. I turned to look at Vanitas.

"You think the book could be here?" I asked in mild surprise. "In Twilight Town?"

"I don't know," Vanitas answered. "But I think it's a decent place to find a hotel. It's past 11 at night."

"Oh." I hadn't expected it to be that late yet. It hadn't seemed like we were in The Land of Departure that long.

"The only problem with this world is that it's locked within endless twilight, making it hard to sleep," Vanitas told me, scowling. "Unless you'd rather go back to Radiant Garden?"

I thought about that for a moment. I did feel safer in Twilight Town… but he was right; Radiant Garden would be nice for its darkness.

"Hmm," I began. "Perhaps Radiant Garden?"

"Fine," Vanitas answered in response, opening a portal of time with less concentration then he had put into it the last time.

"We're traveling through a time portal?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Vanitas said. "I don't fancy going to Radiant Garden in this time period unless we want trouble. I'm just going to take us back a few months."

"Oh, all right," I said. I was really curious to find out what the trouble would be, but I wasn't about to ask; I didn't want to make him mad. Vanitas was actually getting much nicer as time went on. At times I almost enjoyed his company…almost.

We then stepped into the portal and left that time era altogether.

A few seconds later we stepped out into darkness of the night, in the middle of some housing within Radiant Garden.

"Well," Vanitas began. "Let's go find a hotel or an inn or something."

I nodded, and we headed off. On our way we passed that one place where we had first arrived in Radiant Garden earlier that day, and wow! The place looked absolutely amazing in the dark. The spurting fountains had lights underneath them, illuminating them with a color between pink and lavender. I stopped and stared at it, not really able to look away. It was beautiful! I heard Vanitas's footfalls come to a halt a couple of seconds after mine. Wait a minute…it was the one man from the cottage who had told me about this place! No wonder he had said that it was so wonderful.

I heard Vanitas slowly backtrack so that he stood a couple of feet away from me.

"Heh, it is sort of pretty, isn't it," Vanitas muttered.

"Yeah," I agreed quietly.

"Come on," Vanitas spoke again. "We should head over to a hotel."

"Okay, yeah," I said, turning away from the fountains. "Sorry."

With that we continued until we came across a hotel. Vanitas stepped inside and walked over to the counter.

"Two rooms," Vanitas said, pulling out a pouch from his pocket.

I stepped back to glance around. I had never been to one of these before; it was quite nice.

"Come on," Vanitas said, moving towards some stairs. "They're up this way."

I turned around and followed him up the stairs. There was a short hall above. Vanitas strode towards a couple of doors near the end.

"Here's yours," he said, handing me a key and gesturing towards one of the doors. "Though you probably could have just as easily unlocked the door with your Keyblade."

I walked over to the door and pulled it open. However, I turned to face Vanitas before stepping inside.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" I asked.

Vanitas sighed, leaning against his doorframe. "I don't know."

"We could go back to Twilight Town and look around there, if you think it could be there?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Honestly Xion, at the moment I think it could be practically anywhere," Vanitas replied, wildly running his fingers through his hair. "So, sure, we'll try there next."

"Okay," I said. "Good-night."

"…Night," Vanitas responded before turning around and heading into his room.

I then turned into mine, shutting the door behind me. The room was fairly nice, though not quite as nice as the one Master Xehanort had given me. This room was much plainer, with no bookshelf, nor any nice curtains.

I walked over to the bed and sat down, placing my head in my hands. Was I really doing the right thing?