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~Shadows in the Wind~
Gold eyes narrowed at the wasteland before him.
The boy was gone. There were lingering traces of darkness, but no sign of the boy himself. So he had left or was taken. He dismissed the latter immediately. No one knew of the boy's existence, save himself and this world was extremely hard to enter if one did not possess a keyblade. No, the boy must have left of his own accord.
The question was why?
He had seemed content when he had left and yet he returns to find him missing, gone without a trace. Perhaps the boy was not as stable as he had thought. No, he had been stable enough; he had checked as he extracted him from the other boy's heart. He was well enough to survive on his own.
So the boy was deliberately disobeying him. It seemed he had inherited the stubbornness of his original heart.
Hmm.
If that was the case, he would just to remedy it, wouldn't he?
Vanitas glared at the sky from behind his mask.
The old man probably knew that he was gone by now. And as much as he wanted to, hightailing it over to Ventus wasn't an option. Xehanort knew exactly where the boy was and had, hopefully, left him there. Plus, his Lighter half wasn't in any condition to do much of anything. No, seeing him in person would have to wait for now.
Besides, he wasn't in that much better shape. His body still felt awkward compared to his heart and there were still gaps in his mind. Not to mention the strange creatures that had appeared in his distress back in the Keyblade Graveyard. None had appeared since he left, but he swore he could still feel them lingering under his skin. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination or not. Maybe he was just paranoid.
Regardless, he needed to find a world he could hide on for a little while. Just until he figured things out.
He'd already stopped at one. It was alright, he supposed. There was an old wizard there who taught him a few spells – just the basics much to his disappointment, but they were useful and it gave him something to practice and master. That world was bright though. A little too bright for his tastes. A good world to visit, but not one to stay on for too long.
Ventus would probably like it if he ever figured out how to put himself back together, the moron. Though he supposed he couldn't fault him because he was still in their Original's body. The body that felt their heart being ripped in two, the body that had to live through that trauma. He wasn't entirely sure which was worse: remembering it or feeling it.
Both were painful burdens in their own ways.
He shook his head. Whatever. It didn't matter. They would just have to deal with it. They had lived through it, so dealing with the aftermath was doable too. And then they would prove to the old man that they didn't need him, that they never needed him, and that he could take his experiments and shove them up his ass. Crazy old coot.
Vanitas couldn't wait to see the old man's expression. Part of him wanted to see his expression when he realized that he was gone, but he wasn't dumb enough to stick around. He'd had enough, thank you very much. And if sticking around meant that more of those creatures would come and try to tear apart what little was left of him, then he'd pass.
He'd rather wander between worlds until the end of time than do that again.
He was sure the creatures had their uses and all that, but they hurt damnit! And he'd had enough of that. Was it really so much to ask not to be in pain anymore? Because that was really all he wanted. Maybe if he practiced with them…but was it worth the risk? Possibly. He should wait though. Gather his strength and work with his keyblade. He could decide after that if it was worth it or not.
Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.
Now he just needed to find somewhere he could train with his keyblade that the old man wouldn't think to look.
Vanitas looked around the seemingly endless space he was surrounded with and sighed.
Easier said than done.
This place was twilight. Constant, unending twilight.
He didn't think such a thing existed. But the longer he stayed, the more he realized that the sun's position in the sky never changed. It was just sinking below the horizon, but never quite dipped under it. The sky remained unchanged – day, night, morning, afternoon, it didn't matter – the same reds and oranges and yellows painted the sky. An eternal sunset.
It was a fitting place, he supposed.
Not too Light and not too Dark.
The town wasn't exactly his scene, but he had figured out early on that he didn't really mesh well with other people. He couldn't really figure out what it was, but he didn't like being around people. They were good for background noise though. They drove away the overwhelming quiet of the Dark. So people were fine, but only at a distance.
Sitting on top of the clock tower and watching the sky while listening to the hustle and bustle of the town below was nice. It made him feel calm. Which was odd because he didn't really do calm. He was almost always on edge. But here he wasn't. Here he could relax some.
He found an old mansion on the outskirts of the town. It looked like it had been abandoned for years and the large lock on the gate kept those with too much curiosity out. Not that a lock was a problem for someone with a keyblade, but for everyone else it might pose a challenge. It would be a good place to rest. Somewhere where no one would bother him. It also had space and was far enough away from everything that he would be able to practice without being seen or interrupted.
Yes, this world full of Twilight.
He could stay for a while.
Yeah, so there's Jerk-nort being his evil self. Such charm. And lots of Van introspection! Don't worry, there will be people talking next chapter.
Until next time,
~Elri