When Vanitas woke up the next morning, it was in Ventus' bed with soft blankets covering his aching body. Ventus had snuck him upstairs and let him sleep in the king sized bed with him so he didn't have to sleep on the smelly futon again, it was the best night's sleep Vanitas had gotten in his life. Ventus had even let him use the tub and wash himself properly for the first time since he had gotten an injury and was so covered in blood that Xehenort had washed him. He sat up to a sunlit room and a refreshed feeling that made him feel he could do anything today! But as he looked beside him, Ventus was not on the other side of the bed where he had been before.

"He's probably already up, eating breakfast or watching cartoons..." Vanitas thought to himself, he didn't know when the other two got up, just that they were ready to duel around 9:30 every morning. So Vanitas got up and found his now clean clothes (Ventus had thrown them in the washing machine last night) dry and neatly folded on the dresser. He put them on and oh! They had never been softer, the grime and sweat and oil that always made them seem to stick to him were gone and he felt like he were wearing a second skin they were so comfortable.

He snuck downstairs and outside to warm up until he and Ventus would duel. They had decided to continue practicing until they were strong enough to beat Xehanort together and then they would run away to Master Eraqus' Castle and ask to be his new apprentices. But the sun rose higher and higher and Ventus nor Xehenort showed up. Vanitas was worried, but chose to practice a while longer, scared of wandering the castle looking for Ventus when he technically wasn't allowed in the upstairs area at all. He summoned a massive darkside to practice single target fighting like Ventus had suggested, it got him pretty good quite a few times and Vanitas had to adjust his tactics, but once he got the defense down, the Darkside was relatively easy to beat with low hp and weak attacks.

As the Darkside exploded, Vanitas saw a figure in the distance through the rising black smoke, and as it cleared he recognized his Master walking towards the Castle from the distant gates.

"Master Xehanort?" Vanitas questioned as his Master neared him, Xehanort had never left the castle while Vanitas had been around, so why was he walking back from the gates now?

"Vanitas," Xehanort said in a tired voice, "Come with me..."

Vanitas followed him inside, full of uncertainty and fear.

"Where is Ventus? He wasn't here to duel this morning," Vanitas said as they walked inside. Xehanort whipped around, a look of sickly pleasure on his face and rage in his eyes as he shut the door and pinned Vanitas against it.

"Do you really think that anything happens in this Castle without me knowing about it?!"

Vanitas was scared, and shook slightly as he stared up into the golden eyes, silent.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Xehanort slapped Vanitas hard across the face, making his cheek sting.

"N-no, Sir..." Vanitas stuttered, resisting the urge to cover the place where he'd been struck, knowing it to be a "sign of weakness" that would earn him beatings until he stopped flinching.

"That's right! I know everything! I know what you and Ventus talked about last night! And now that he is self aware, he could not play his part!"

Vanitas trembled with fear, for once not for himself but for Ven, "W-what did you do to him?"

"I sent him away Vanitas... I wiped all of his memories and turned him over to Eraqus... it was the only way to ensure he'll train as a heroic Keyblade Master."

No... Ventus? Gone?

"You wiped all of his memories?! Why?!" Vanitas stammered.

"I do not have the power to simply remove one night of memory and keep him here. He would see you and immediately remember. And if I had sent him to Eraqus with all that he knows about me, Eraqus, Mickey, Yen Sid and every apprentice in existence would be after me! Be lucky I found a way to fix your mistake at all! I could have just killed both of you and started over, I have plenty of time after all," Xehanort was furious, Vanitas could tell, but even now his Narcissistic side was making the man proud of his anger, and that was when the sadistic side usually came out and tortured Vanitas. Vanitas had to choose his next move very carefully.

"I'm sorry for messing everything up, Sir... I'm glad you came up with such a clever way to fix it... I'm glad you spared our lives..." Stroking Xehanort's ego would send the man on a rant about how great he was, but he wouldn't hurt Vanitas... most of the time.

And just like Vanitas hoped, a smirk graced the elder's lips as he leaned back and began talking about how "Yes, it was very clever, wasn't it?" and "You could never have come up with something like that." Vanitas endured it, nodding and assuring him with "Yes so clever!" and "Never in a million years!" and "I wish I was as smart as you!"

After a while Xehanort began a mobile muttering to himself of how easy ruling the world really was for someone smart and patient like him and went to the kitchen to make lunch for himself. Vanitas stayed by the door, not sure whether to follow or run or just go to his room. What would life be like without Ventus? But Vanitas tried to console himself by reminding himself that Ven was in the safest place possible. Xehanort couldn't make them fight when Ven was with Eraqus, and in time Vanitas would get to Eraqus too. He would tell Eraqus everything, and Eraqus would surely kill Xehanort and take Vanitas in too! It wasn't what they had planned, but Vanitas knew that Ventus was safe and happy where he was, and as long as Xehanort couldn't touch Ven, Vanitas could take all the abuse his Master had to dish out.

Suddenly Xehanort reappeared in the doorway to the dining room, "Come along, you might as well eat."

Vanitas was taken aback, but he slowly and carefully stepped into the dining room and took a seat at the huge table where there was a setting for him. Xehanort set down a simply peanut butter and jelly in front of him with some chips on the side. It was small and simple, but it was the most beautiful meal Vanitas had ever had given to him. He felt like he might cry over the white fluffy bread, free of mold and dirt. And as he put a fresh potato chip in his mouth, the flavor exploded in his mouth like the stale ones never had, and as excitement overtook him, he began eating like he had never had a morsel of food in his life.

Xehanort just calmly ate his turkey sandwich and watched his apprentice, he found it kind of cute, like when he would give Ventus a gift, or more closely like giving a puppy a treat. He got up and poured some grape juice in a glass, setting it in front of Vanitas and sitting to watch as Vanitas stared at him in excitement before gulping it down. That was when Xehanort realized, no amount of abuse now was going to make Vanitas hate Ventus, because he could no longer blame his abuse on Ventus winning duels and Vanitas' short comings. However, Vanitas really was like a puppy, and everyone knows that when you befriend a dog, the dog will loyally follow you to the ends of the earth. Loyalty was what he needed from Vanitas now, and if something as simple as a PB&J got Vanitas this excited, then bonding with him and earning his love and respect would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.

From that day on, Xehanort would raise Vanitas like his own son, teaching him to be just as evil and cruel as himself until Vanitas would be willing to die for the X-blade, just to make his Master happy.

A/N: Wow! Ok it's coming together... but will Vanitas really sell out his other half just for PB&J's?! Stay tuned, I'm going to stick with Vanitas, maybe I'll make a side story at some point about Ventus, but really Ven just follows the game pretty closely except for an adorable little crush on Terra :) Stay tuned for some Vanitas spoiling and his reunion with Ventus.