I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts or Silent Hill. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney and Konami respectively.

Chapter 17

It was so cold.

Aqua's clothes felt like ice against her flesh. She fumbled with the covers, fingers brushing against her shirt and becoming icy cold as well. It wasn't from temperature, she realized, but dampness. She was soaked, covered in sweat.

The light was much too bright, and her head began to pound when she forced her eyes open. They didn't stay that way for long, as unless Aqua made a conscious effort to keep them open, her eyelids drifted shut on their own. It didn't feel like she had slept at all.

Her arm hurt. She raised herself into a sitting position, and was immediately hit by a wave of nausea. Groaning, she laid her head back on the pillow, wrapping herself in the blankets. Why was it so cold?

Something was wrong. Her mouth felt like cotton; her throat, swollen. She couldn't stop shaking, and her efforts to shout Ven's name only resulted in a croak. Her eyes were closed, but the world was still spinning around her. She felt like she was suspended in space.

Aqua tried to get out of bed, but her knees buckled the instance weight was put on them. She slipped to the ground, clawing at the bed, and the covers came with her to land on top. As her skull smacked into the ground, new pain joined the old.

"V-Ven?" she rasped.

Though she was freezing, the cool floor was refreshing. She peeled herself off, trying at least to climb back into bed, but her limbs felt like jelly. She fell back to the floor, and curled into a fetal position, shaking.

By the time someone arrived, she was half-conscious. The voices randomly grew louder and softer, but in neither case was she able to understand the words. She did, for a moment, but then the meanings would slip through her fingers, leaving her with nothing more than a few garbled syllables. Opening her eyes, she could make out no faces, only swaying silhouettes.

Ven's touch was like fire. When his hand pressed against her forehead, she leaned into it, savouring the heat. Someone lifted her up and set her back on the bed, pushing the covers up to her chin. Her teeth chattered.

Ven sat on the bed with her; she knew it was him because of his hair. She curled towards him, again attracted to the warmth, but also the light in his heart. She could see it in her mind, a pinprick of white. She focused on that, being her last thought before the hand stroking her hair lulled her to sleep.

"She's so warm," Ven said nervously, "why does she keep shivering?"

As if she had heard him, Aqua shuddered. Ven bit his lip and worked his fingers through her hair, trying to will her into stopping. On the other side of the bed, Naminé watched them.

"It's the darkness," Naminé whispered. "It's hurting her."

Ven looked around helplessly. He couldn't see any darkness and even though his heart had as much light as Aqua's, he had never been able to sense it as adeptly as she could.

"How do I make it stop?" he asked.

"I'm not sure you can," Naminé told him. "When her keyblade broke, it damaged her heart. She's having trouble fighting off the darkness."

"Fighting off?" he repeated, horrified at the implications. Aqua's upper body jolted, and the pained gasps that followed afterwards sounded so very much like sobs. His insides twisted; he couldn't stand sitting around doing nothing while she was in such pain.

"There has to be something we can do!" he snapped. Naminé flinched at his tone, and he softened it. "Please."

"I may be able to do the same thing I did for Terra," Naminé said. Her hand reached over to Aqua and plunged into her pocket, taking out the blue Wayfinder. Upon seeing what Naminé was holding, Ven's first instinct was to lunge and take it away from her, but he held himself back. "I can take the light in her heart to make her Wayfinder a guard against the darkness, but it won't work completely. Her heart's already too damaged."

"But there has to be a way to fix it!"

Naminé hesitated. "Aglaophotis," she said finally. "It drives away the darkness."

"Okay, great!" Ven grinned. "Where is it?"

She closed her eyes. "In Ridgeview Clinic."

No. He heard that wrong.

Please, anywhere but there! he begged. He stared at Naminé, mouth open, waiting for her to realize her mistake.

But the sympathetic look she gave him told him there was none.

He leaned back against the headboard, butterflies fluttering in his stomach. He could almost hear the knife dragging across the ground. He had sworn that he would never go back to that place, but this was one of his friends. He had to. He couldn't afford to be selfish now.

Naminé pulled down the sleeve on Aqua's arm, exposing the angry bruise. It was completely black now, with the red inflammation having faded. But. . . it had changed. Where once it was a normal bruise, this looked more like a tattoo. The blackness had migrated into a border, leaving the inside empty. The bottom was a rounded point; the sides curved out and then inwards to form the rough outline of a heart. It looked familiar, and Ven's heart stopped as he realized why.

"Naminé, don't a lot of the monsters have that symbol on them?"

Her silence was enough of an answer.

That was it: he couldn't wait any longer. "I'll be back soon," he promised, getting off the bed, "you fix her Wayfinder."

She copied him. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"To Ridgeview," he said dully, "isn't that where you told me to go?"

"Yes," she said, "but I didn't think you would actually do it."

He reeled back as if she had punched him. Of course he was going to go! It was insulting that she would think otherwise.

He was out the door before he could hear Naminé calling for him.

So, he was back here. Okay, that was no problem. All he had to do was go in, grab this aglaophotis stuff, and he was home-free. Now, if only he could get his legs to move.

Ven stood on the road leading to the doors of Ridgeview Clinic. Ahead of him, an empty can was blown down the path. The building looked normal, exactly the same as it did before it had morphed that one time. The thick fog shrouded it, hiding the upper floor from view, but the clinic's image was permanently burned into his mind. He knew exactly what lay beneath the fog.

Snow cracked under his feet. Flakes glimmered as they fell around him, covering up the trail he had left. Ven gulped; if he failed . . . no, he wouldn't think about that.

His fingers wrapped around the doorknob, but when he tried to open the door, his muscles seized up with panic. He sighed, watching the rising cloud of hot air that escaped him. The metal was so cold that it burned when he placed his forehead against it. Okay, you have to do this, he told himself. No matter what monsters laid inside, he had to enter. Aqua was counting on him.

Besides, I survived once; I can do it again.

With that, the doors opened.

Light spilled into the interior. Staring, Ven realized that while the outside looked the same, the inside did not. The wooden floors had been torn up, laying in piles of splinters and exposing the sandy ground beneath. A single light, tethered to the ceiling, swung back and forth, and the shadows swayed with it. The entire scene had a rougher, more primitive feel to it, as if he had gone back in time.

The ground was surprisingly warm. He expected cool, dry dirt, but instead it felt like the sun had been shining down on it all day. But he did get dry; the air seemed to steal the moisture from his skin. Smacking his lips, he stepped forwards, and the doors behind him shut.

Was it locked? He fumbled for the knob, sighing in relief when it turned. Only after did he remember that he had a giant key for a weapon. Yes, not one of his finer moments.

Last time, he had been cocky, foolish and unaware of the horrors lurking inside this place. Now he was wiser and instead of charging straight in, he raided the reception desk instead. What were the chances that a random paper would detail the location of the medicine? Not very high, he suspected, but still worth a try.

While shuffling through the papers, a scrap slipped out. It floated down to the desk, landing type-side up. In smudged black letters, too thick even for ink, it read, She may not deserve this, but do you? It didn't make any sense, so he tossed it aside.

Surprise, there was nothing about aglaophotis, so he studied a map framed on the wall instead. Mostly, it just had room numbers and stuff, nothing he was interested in. There had to be a better one somewhere.

He returned to the reception desk, throwing the drawers on the ground until he found what he was looking for. According to this map, there was a storage room. Not a bad place to try first.

The room was down the hall, less than a minute's run to the exit. Still, Ven hugged the walls, peeking around every corner before he dared to continue. However, the monsters appeared to be sleeping today. He didn't even see a heartless.

The storeroom was nearly bare. A couple of open-top, cardboard boxes still lay on the shelves, each one boasting battered samples of medical objects. None of them was aglaophotis, or medicine of any kind. He was about to leave when he bumped against one of the boxes and pushed it back, revealing the corner of a paper underneath. The paper was lined, with curly handwriting, and Ven plucked it from its prison beneath the box.

The dude's useless, it read. He was always too much of a coward to join us, and I think the last session broke his sanity into itty-bitty pieces. It was hilarious. Anyways, the Superior says the Big Boss can't make any more monsters from his heart, so looks like we're setting him loose. Xally thinks we might see him around town before he bites it. I say the dude will get killed the second he steps outside.

The paper slipped from his fingers. What was this? He glanced inside the box, at a scalpel innocently sitting there that suddenly seemed so sinister. For a moment, when he turned, he thought he saw blood on the walls.

The windows rattled. His shadow crisscrossed them as he walked down the hall, his usual exhilaration absent. The light lit him up from above, so that his hair practically glowed even as his lower body was cast in shadow. In the distance, he could hear the ticking of a clock.

He was about to renter the reception room when the door to the room slammed shut. He blinked. He could have sworn that it had just been an empty doorway before. Not terribly concerned, he grabbed the doorknob and twisted, starting to open the door.

Behind him, someone chuckled.

"Wrong way, Ventus," Vanitas said, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

Ven snarled. This guy again? How many times was he going to bother him?

"You don't even know what I'm looking for," Ven said warily. With narrowed eyes, he pressed his back against the wall and his gaze flickered from one corner to the next. As he had learned, when Vanitas appeared, bad things tended to follow.

"No? So, it isn't this?"

Vanitas uncrossed his arms and held up a vial filled with red liquid. A stopper prevented the fluid from spilling as he sloshed it back and forth, snickering as he did so.

"What is that?" Ven asked, dreading the answer.

"Aglaophotis." Vanitas shrugged and said, "It's no use to me."

With that, he let it drop.

The vial seemed to fall in slow motion. Ven dove, reaching. He was fast, but the vial was so far. He could see it getting closer to the ground, could imagine it breaking into a million pieces.

The air was forced out of him as he landed hard on his stomach. He didn't catch it, but there was no spill either. Above him, Vanitas laughed, spinning the vial between two fingers. He must have swooped down at the last moment and saved it.

"Clumsy and pathetic," he said, "Eraqus has really lowered his standards."

The jab didn't hurt. Ven simply didn't have time to be insulted. "What do you want?" he asked pointedly, his gaze fixed firmly on the vial.

Vanitas couldn't have failed to notice where Ven's attention laid. He held the vial up to the light, mockingly examining it. Ven could picture his sneer when he asked, "How's Aqua?"

Ven stiffened, certain that the masked boy had something to do with her condition. "I'm not telling you!" he spat. "It's none of your business."

"Hmph." Vanitas' voice dropped suddenly, becoming more dangerous. "It's as much of my business as it is yours."

There was something more to those words, and the hair on his nape stood on end. He made a show of summoning his keyblade, hoping at least to strike some worry into the other boy's heart. But Vanitas snickered, not even bothering to arm himself. Instead, he beckoned Ven to go ahead and attack. Ven didn't, of course. He was many things, but he wasn't stupid.

"Whatever," Ven said. "Look, I really need that stuff. Can I have it?" He tried to downplay its importance, hoping that Vanitas didn't know it was the cure to whatever sickness plagued Aqua.

"No," Vanitas said, to no real surprise. "I don't think you can."

Ven struggled to keep his voice even. "Why?"

"Because I don't feel like giving it to you."

He took a deep breath and counted to five. "What do you want?"

There was no emotion in Vanitas' voice when he said, "I want to see you suffer."

Ven lunged, and Vanitas jumped back, landing lightly on his feet like a cat. "If you want it so bad," he said, "follow me."

The masked boy walked backwards, and a door behind him opened all on its own. For a moment, they stood there staring at each other. Then Vanitas disappeared into the room beyond the door, and gathering his courage, Ven followed.

How had he missed this room before? It was huge! Whereas most of Ridgeview Clinic was dark and depressing, this room featured a skylight that allowed the sunlight to come through. Too much sunlight, in fact. It felt like he was outside.

The ground was warm and grainy, made of sand instead of snow. In the center of the room was a stone pillar, atop of which Vanitas perched. A beam of light fell around him, bouncing off his helmet. Hunched like a vulture, he stroked the vial with his thumb before setting it down beside him.

"You want it?" he shouted. "Come and get it!"

The black and red keyblade appeared in Vanitas' hand. Ven ran out of the way as Vanitas leapt, and the keyblade impaled the place where Ven had been standing a moment before. Ven whipped around, Wayward Wind held behind him, and stumbled back as Vanitas charged. The other boy was fast, aggressive and, Ven found, had a natural talent for invading other people's personal space.

Vanitas laughed. "I'm not even trying!" he cried, charging up a black ball in his palm. He flung it at Ven, who leapt up and out of the way. He landed low, and Vanitas skated towards him on a wave of darkness. Their keyblades met, the air between them hissed, and then Vanitas was past him and curving around for another strike.

Ven dug his feet in. He could feel the air electrifying as Vanitas neared. When their keyblades met, sparks jumped between them, blinding them with an orange light. Vanitas rolled off the wave, but it continued to move, curling back and threatening to drown Ven. Ven cast Reflect, and the darkness crashed against the barrier, which was beginning to crack as the pressure built.

Vanitas broke it with one well-placed swing. Though the magic slowed the keyblade's speed, it still hurt when it slammed into Ven's ribs. He grimaced, brought Wayward Wind up in his reverse grip, only for Vanitas to grab the shaft. The keyblade flared, and Vanitas let go, but not before smacking Ven with the pommel of his dark keyblade.

A salty taste invaded the back of his mouth. Before blood trickled out of his nose, he cast Cura to mend the cartilage. Vanitas waited a step away, using his keyblade as a third leg as he leaned backwards.

"Giving up already?" he sneered.

Ven glared at him, trying to communicate his hate. Vanitas laughed.

His nose still tender, Ven gazed upwards at the top of the pillar. If he could get up there, he could run away and leave this fight to a time when things weren't so drastic. Of course, Vanitas must have known that Ven was thinking that. The masked boy was inching backwards, his keyblade rippling with a dark flame.

When he swung, it escaped in a whip-like fashion. The flames singed Ven's chest, leaving a black trail. He bit his lip in pain, and dashed to the side when the dark keyblade followed.

There was an opening. Ven ran for it, rolling underneath Vanitas' keyblade. He grabbed onto part of the pillar's protruding rock, climbing his way up.

Halfway there, the stone next to him exploded. His grip slipped. Hanging from just one hand, Ven had just enough of an angle to see Vanitas preparing for another blow. The fireball took form, shot through the sky towards him. Taking a deep breath, Ven summoned his keyblade and aimed.

It did not reflect back at Vanitas as he had hoped. Instead, the fireball broke apart, burning the rock on either side of him. Vanitas strolled towards the pillar, arms crossed behind his head as he watched Ven struggle to regain his foothold.

"It's hopeless," Vanitas said. "You'll never do it like that."

Ven blinked. He was right. He was too open when he climbed, too vulnerable. He may as well go ahead and hold up a blinking sign that said, Hi, kill me please! Ven found a handhold for his loose hand, turning his back to Vanitas in hopes of tricking the boy into thinking that he intended to ignore him. He knew it worked when Vanitas snorted.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose when Vanitas threw another dark fireball at him. Closing his eyes, he waited for that moment of forbearing, right before the attack would be true. Then, he felt it and with unmatched speed, he propelled himself up and over, landing behind the shocked Vanitas. His armour was fully formed by the time he hit the ground, and this time, he made the first move.

He slashed at Vanitas' unarmed back. The bodysuit did not tear, but he felt the flesh underneath give way. Vanitas staggered forwards, furiously spinning around, keyblade held out in front. It grated against the shaft of Ven's keyblade, wailing as it dragged across. They locked blades again, disengaged, and circled each other.

"Neat trick," Vanitas spat. "Got any more?"

"How about this?" Ven pointed his keyblade down and cast Aero.

The spell propelled him into the sky, high above Vanitas. At the top of his arc, he twisted and glided towards the pillar, a rare smirk crossing his face as he observed the grounded Vanitas.

Vanitas disappeared.

And reappeared on top the pillar.

He grabbed Ven's helmet like he was a raging bull, and redirected him into the pillar. He tried to stand, but Vanitas' knee pressed against his neck. With his armour, he couldn't feel the bone, only the pressure.

"So close," Vanitas said, "and yet . . ."

Vanitas grabbed him under the armpit, lifted Ven high enough so that his chest was off the ground, and then carelessly tossed him off the pillar.

" . . . you're not even close."

A spray of sand splashed up around him as he crashed. Ven pushed himself up to his knees. Vanitas landed close to him, the tip of his keyblade dragging on the ground. He didn't even bother to use it, instead kicking Ven over onto his back.

Vanitas held him down with a foot on his neck. With a single, fluid motion, he grabbed Ven's helmet by the chin, and yanked it off. The helmet was cast aside, rolling to a stop against the base of the pillar.

"You're weak," Vanitas said, "pathetic, worthless!" He punctuated each word by stomping on Ven's throat. "You should be thankful for what happens next."

Vanitas slammed a hand down on Ven's shoulder, dismissing his armour. That hand then migrated to Ven's chest, settling right over his heart, and something within him responded. It felt like he was being stretched, torn apart.

His heart burned. It was like someone had plunged a red-hot knife into his chest, and was carving it out. The strings holding his heart in place begin to fray, snapping one by one. With each snap, a new wave of pain ran through him. He jerked violently; his eyes rolled up into his head. His ribs were being pulled apart, and something cold and much too big to fit forced its way into the void.

He screamed.

Someone help me! In his mind, he cried for his friends.

Vanitas laughed wildly, his helmet hovering an inch away from Ven's nose.

Ven swallowed. He would only have one chance.

Wayward Wind came, and he drove it right into the center of Vanitas' helmet.

Vanitas howled in pain, and Ven kicked him off. Though his heart was still sore, the vast majority of the pain immediately went away. He stumbled forwards, glassy eyes struggling to focus on the pillar and his prize.

"Ven, wait!"

It was a female's voice, but in his dazed state, Ven was unable to connect it to a face. He turned around, and then saw Xion at the door, waving at him. In her hand, she held the red vial.

Vanitas snarled. Ven ignored him, and raced for the exit. Behind him, Vanitas aimed, charging up his shot-lock. The beam escaped him, tearing through the very molecules in the air as it carved a path towards Ven. Ven grit his teeth, pumped his legs harder, and reached.

He slammed the door shut just in time.

"Xion," he breathed.

She didn't answer him, and held up an empty vial to a cut he hadn't noticed. The blood dripped into the glass container, filling it.

"Take this," she said, "pretend it's the aglaophotis. I'll meet you at Brookhaven."

"How can I be sure I'll find it?"

"You will," she said. She placed a small hand on his chest. "Your heart will guide you."

He nodded.

Xion leapt out a broken window, and Ven raced down the hall, filled with renewed energy. The door exploded behind him as Vanitas emerged.

Ven exhaled. The chase was on.