Authors Note: I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please read and review :)

Thanks for beta'ing it Mystics Apprentice!

Chapter Twelve: Why?

I yawned as someone shook my shoulder. Were they also calling my name, or had it been in a dream?

I opened my eyes and looked up. Two yellow-colored eyes were gazing down at me. It was Vanitas. He was standing beside my bed.

I grinned and sat up. "Good morning, Vanitas."

"Hi." Vanitas grinned back and sat at the foot of my bed. He certainly seems to be in a good mood today, I thought to myself.

Yesterday he had been trying to find out why I had stayed behind, and it had taken awhile to get him to stop questioning me. After he had stopped being suspicious, we had a lot of fun together. We'd talked for a while, and then even played a few board games.

I was glad to see that Vanitas was happy, but I was afraid he wouldn't be for much longer. Later, Riku and I would leave and rescue Kairi, and I would no longer be helping Xehanort and my companion. Could we still even be friends? No…we wouldn't be anymore. That made me feel tremendously sad.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

I glanced up in surprise. "Oh…nothing."

He continued to watch me, not looking thoroughly convinced.

"Vanitas, why are you really helping Xehanort?" I finally blurted. "I mean, have you ever questioned his intentions before?" I dropped my gaze to the laminate wood flooring of the hotel. Vanitas's eyes widened, appearing rather taken aback. His expression then became neutral once more as he looked away. He appeared a little uneasy.

"Yes… I have," Vanitas answered. "Many times, actually. I even considered not helping him anymore. But what else can I do? He's the only one who's on my side. And, to tell the truth, since he brought me back from where I was, I haven't cared very much. Plus he promised that he'd set things right for me."

I hadn't expected that answer from him. I was a bit surprised to be hearing him tell the truth. At least I was pretty sure that it was the truth. I mean, why would he say all of that if it weren't?

"Let's go eat," Vanitas said. He stood up suddenly and made a motion towards my door. Upon reaching it, he pulled it open and disappeared from view. He apparently didn't want to have that conversation, but I was really wondering if he might consider helping me now. He would make a great ally. I was pretty sure that if Sora and Riku would let me help them, then they would easily allow him to. Just so long as Vanitas was polite.

"I'll ask him about joining Sora and his friends while we eat," I decided, as I got up to leave the hotel.

…

Vanitas and I walked silently down the streets of Twilight Town, except it wasn't very twilit at the moment. The sky held dark gray clouds, which threatened to pour rain at any moment. I kept glancing at it thinking that we wouldn't want to be caught in that storm.

My companion seemed to be having similar thoughts, because as it started to sprinkle lightly he turned into the nearest restaurant. While he might've just liked the sound of it, it seemed like a good place to eat at, especially since it was a pancake house. Plus it wasn't very crowded, which was definitely nice.

A waiter came over right away and got us at a table, or, rather, a booth.

Apart from Vanitas and I there was only two other people in there, so we received our drinks rather fast. I had ordered a cappuccino. Yum!

I sipped at it thoughtfully for a while. Vanitas was also silent. I wasn't sure how to ask him to help Sora's party. And, once I did ask, would he agree? I wish I knew for sure.

"So," Vanitas said, glancing at the door where the waiter had disappeared. "It's a lot less crowded then the last restaurant we went into, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I agreed. It certainly was, but then the last one had been busy because it was Ansem's birthday.

Our food came quickly after that. I had ordered a plate of pancakes drowned in boysenberry syrup. They tasted really good! Vanitas had ordered a cheese omelet. I had been torn between getting an omelet or pancakes, as I had never had either of them, but Axel had once told me that pancakes were really good. That and waffles. I had eaten waffles before, so I'd thought to try something different.

When we were about halfway done, I decided to tell him that I was going to leave and help Sora and his companions. As much as I didn't want to, I knew it'd have to be done at some point.

"Vanitas," I began, "how do you know that Xehanort isn't just lying to you?"

Vanitas let out an uneasy sigh. He looked up from his plate and lowered his fork. "He hasn't yet," he told me. "If he does as promised, then it would help him as well."

I absentmindedly stirred more creamer into my cappuccino. "I'm pretty sure that he's lied to me." I told Vanitas. He glanced up at me, looking slightly surprised. "He's really after Kingdom Hearts, isn't he?"

My ebony-haired friend simply stared at me momentarily, before shaking his head fervently.

"No, he's not. Or, at least he doesn't want it for himself," Vanitas told me quickly, shifting uneasily in his chair. "He isn't, like, out to rule the worlds or anything."

"I'm not so sure," I said quietly, staring into what little remained of my drink. "I think that really is what he wants. Or maybe he wants to destroy it. I—I don't want to help him get whatever he's wanting."

I drew in a deep breath. "Vanitas, I can't help Xehanort anymore. I'm going to go join Sora." I hesitated before looking at him. I couldn't quite read the expression on his face. "Would you consider coming with me? I'm sure they would welcome you. And maybe they could even help you."

Vanitas watched me for a moment, his expression unsure, before he let out a dry laugh.

"They wouldn't help me," he said finally, as though I were crazy for even suggesting it. "And I doubt they would let you help them. Heck, you probably couldn't even find them."

I slid out of my seat and stood up. I'd already made up my mind: even if Vanitas wasn't going to come, I would still join Sora. I turned around and headed for the door.

…

"Wait, Xion!" I yelled. I quickly slid out of the booth and ran after her through the door. She couldn't just leave, Xehanort would be furious with me.

I flung open the door of the restaurant and dashed outside. Xion was only a short ways away, her back facing me. I quickly strode over to her.

"You can't leave," I said, moving so that I was in front of her, somewhat blocking her path.

"I have to, Vanitas," Xion told me quietly, averting her gaze from mine. "What Xehanort's doing isn't right. Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

I hesitated. On the one hand, I found myself somewhat wanting to. If not only so that Xion and I could be on the same side. She was the only friend I had, and I didn't want to lose her. Wait…what was I thinking? I didn't really want to join Sora, and, even if I did, there was no way that he would let me join them. Besides all that, I wasn't even really supposed to have friends, anyway.

"Of course I'm sure," I told her. "You shouldn't either."

"I'm going, Vanitas," Xion told me. I could tell that she had made up her mind. "C—can we still be friends?"

I stared at her blankly as I thought it over. Do friends stay friends even when they're not on the same side? I wasn't sure, but I somewhat doubted it. It would make more sense if we were titled something like "enemies."

"No, we can't," I told her, shaking my head.

She looked a little upset about that, but there was no way we could be friends. Heck, I was pretty sure I was crazy for ever assuming that we could in the first place. Xehanort would've laughed at me.

Xion looked up briefly before heading around me towards another street.

I hesitated before following. Should I just let her leave? And she easily could now; I had shown her how to open the time portals the day before. Why had I done that again? Heh, maybe I really was losing it.

I caught up with her as she was heading into the area with the clock tower. I had forgotten what the whole area was called.

I slowed down as heavy raindrops began to fall from the sky. The rainfall had stopped briefly while we were in the restaurant, but apparently not for good.

As I rounded the corner I saw Xion walk over to someone with silver hair. He didn't look old, so I guess that was just the color of his hair. I had never seen him before. Probably one of Sora's cronies. Maybe Xion had talked to him yesterday. That would make sense, because otherwise I wasn't sure what changed her mind all of the sudden.

She opened up a portal and began heading towards it. As the silver-haired teenager left through it, I ran up and grabbed her arm. It'd been only moments before she entered the portal as well.

Xion turned to look at me. She struggled, trying to free herself from my grasp.

"Xion, you can't leave," I told her through gritted teeth. Xehanort would be angry, and, even though I didn't really care if he was happy or not, he could get awfully mean.

"I am going to leave," she told me firmly, as though there was no questioning the matter. I let go and she backed up a couple of steps. "I'm sorry, Vanitas—Good-bye."

I watched her go, the rain now pouring down buckets as some people liked to say. It rolled off my hair and onto the ground.

"Bye," I muttered. Did I feel sad?

...No of course I didn't. But what was I going to do now?

Once the portal had closed, I spun around and headed off. Now I was positive I was crazy. Why? Because I was actually going to go ask Xehanort if he was lying to me. I was also going to ask him what he hoped to accomplish with everything.

…

I stepped out through a portal of time and continued on my way, despite my severe dizziness. The dry ground crunched beneath my feet as I made my way up towards a castle owned by some dark fairy named Malefa-something-or-other. She was on our side, and sounded almost as sour as Master Xehanort.

Though this seemed slightly silly to me, I had felt a lot happier while traveling around with Xion. I actually had fun, for the first time that I could recall. I rather enjoyed being out of Xehanort's presence and with someone a bit more, what was the word, nice perhaps? Or cheerful, or, maybe just being around someone who was actually nice to me. I wasn't sure.

I was somewhat happy that things weren't working out exactly as Xehanort had wanted. Or who knows; maybe they still were. He had a way of setting things up so that they worked exactly as he wanted. It was plain irritating sometimes.

I paused outside of a pair of large doors leading to the castle. I'd stood before them twice before. Once to leave Unversed there for Ventus and his cronies, and the other when Xehanort explained that the fairy who owned it favored the side of darkness.

I reached out and grabbed the handle to one of the doors and gave it an experimental tug. It swung open easily, allowing me entry into the large gloomy castle. It was a dark castle where a dark fairy lived surrounded by dark clouds. I'm not sure why I found humor in this.

Ugh, what was the matter with me?

Inside the castle was dim and rundown. Some of it was literally falling apart, not as badly as The Land of Departure, but still the place wasn't well off. I didn't like it at all. Oh well. I just wouldn't stick around here for very long.

I began heading further up into the castle. Xehanort normally wouldn't reside on the first floor. I guess he just liked to be on the top, whether it be by being leader or literally.

After wandering around for a while I finally heard him from within a room nearby. He was speaking with someone. Maybe I would finally be meeting the famous evil woman who owned this dark old place.

I pulled open the door and went inside. Xehanort was in there, just as I had thought. He looked up at me when I stepped inside. At first he put on one of those weird, sick smiles, but when Xion didn't follow me his face fell back to his usual scowl. The old Keyblade wielder was almost always grumpy. And even though he was my master, I greatly disliked the old man.

"Why hello, Vanitas," Xehanort greeted. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes, actually," I replied glancing briefly at the tall women standing in front of his armchair. She was dressed in dark colors, and also had a deep scowl on her face. Sheesh, grumpy people.

Xehanort frowned, not that he ever stopped; I guess it just became slightly more noticeable.

"What is it?" Xehanort inquired. His expression reflected that he wasn't happy. "Where is your companion?"

"…Gone," I stated matter-of-factly. There was no point in lying, especially since I had been going to say so myself after a moment. "She left. She went to help Sora. She said that she didn't want to help you anymore, seemed under the impression that you were lying to her or something. Smart girl."

Xehanort stared at me, looking slightly shocked. Mostly I just agreed with whatever he said and never questioned it. I glanced sideways at the dark fairy. She had an eyebrow quirked, and a funny expression on her face.

I forced myself to somewhat smile. "You're Malefae right? My name's Vanitas."

I held out a hand to shake hers, which she simply stared at. She looked extremely irritated. I knew I hadn't gotten her name right, but I honestly didn't care.

"It's Maleficent. It's…nice to meet you too, Vanitas," the fairy said smiling a little too nicely to be real, plus I could tell from the look in her eye that she wasn't happy to meet me. And she didn't shake my hand. Again: oh well.

I turned around to face Xehanort again, awaiting to hear what he had to say next.

"You let her?" my master inquired after a moment, looking quite surprised. "Vanitas…this is not good! You know she wasn't supposed to leave. What's gotten into you?"

"I think some sense, actually," I said, irritation creeping its way into my tone. "Can you tell me why I'm even helping you anymore? Do you ever speak the truth, old man?"

Xehanort looked angry. I knew he would be, but I didn't care very much. If the old coot wanted to be mad, then let him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it, glancing back over my shoulder at something. I frowned and glanced over as well. Behind me was an Unversed. Gah, the little creatures were beyond annoying.

I flung my Keyblade into it, wincing as I turned back to look at Xehanort, my gaze hard—he'd better answer me.

"I told you that I would make you whole again," Xehanort told me, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "And you will be… All in good time."

"Like in ten years?" I asked. I knew he had a new plan to get Kingdom Hearts, and if he didn't need the X-blade any longer there was every chance that Ventus and I might not be whole for the next decade. "I think Xion had the right idea."

"Don't be ridiculous, Vanitas! It'll be much sooner than that," Xehanort told me, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "Now you need to track down Xion and stop her before she gets to Sora! Tell her I want to speak with her! To explain things."

I stood there, staring at him for a moment, before pulling out my Keyblade again and slamming into the floor right in front of him.

"No! You know what? I won't," I snarled, making my Keyblade disappear. I then turned around and left the room, not waiting to hear what Xehanort had to say to next.