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

Chapter 19

Ven flew down the streets, the wind rushing through his hair. He didn't know where he was going; he didn't particularly care where he was going. It didn't matter. His job was to distract Vanitas and keep him away from Xion for as long as possible.

And that was something he was really good at.

He turned on a dime, zipping around a corner. Above, darkness flared as Vanitas teleported from one building to the next. He wasn't as fast as Ven, so that was the only way the masked boy was able to keep up. It suited Ven perfectly though, because the delay made it easier to evade Vanitas.

Vanitas whipped a ball of darkness at him and Ven spun out of the way. Now, with an entire town as a battleground and nothing at stake, he was actually having a bit of fun. He stuck his tongue out at Vanitas and swore that he heard the other growl.

Monsters staggered out of the fog. They were lying figures, the same thing that had attacked him and Xion during their first visit to Ridgeview Clinic. Wary of the acid they spewed, Ven quickly cast Reflect between them. He backed up with his weight on the balls of his feet, scanning the horde for a way out.

Meanwhile, Vanitas charged up his next attack.

The closest lying figures suddenly flopped over at the waist, the flesh on their backs squirming as they got ready to release their acid. He flicked his keyblade back, then forwards in an Aeroga spell, reflecting the acid back at its users. Sizzling bubbles sizzled on their skin, and he rushed forwards, swinging his keyblade.

When Vanitas' attack came, Ven became a blur that dove out of the way. The dark energy instead knocked over the monsters like a bowling ball knocking over pins. As the monsters struggled to recover, they were easy for Ven to dispatch.

Those precious seconds gave Vanitas enough time to jump down and attack. He thrust at Ven's exposed back, the latter barely dodging. Wayward Wind glimmered with light, contrasting with the hue of Vanitas' keyblade. Light and darkness clashed as they fought each other, trying to wear the other down.

Vanitas slipped under his guard, and shot a fireball right at his gut. There wasn't time for Ven to think before the heat licked at his torso. Again? He hadn't even really healed it the first time!

Ven disengaged with a grunt, biting his lip in pain. Vanitas advanced, stalking towards him like a wolf closing in its downed prey. Quick as a flash, his hand shot out and grabbed Ven's throat. With each second that passed, he squeezed harder. Ven brought Wayward Wind up, but Vanitas blocked it, using his keyblade to pin it to the ground.

He brought Ven's face close to his.

"Nice try," he said, "but you're way out of your league."

Ven clenched his jaw, refusing to say anything.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Vanitas shook him, cocking his head to one side like a curious child. "Spit it out, Ventus. I'm dying to hear what you have to say."

"Go away," Ven mumbled.

"Go away?" Vanitas' high-pitched laughter rang through his mind. "But we're having so much fun."

The hand around his throat tightened ruthlessly, cutting off his air supply. Though Ven clawed at the grip, it didn't weakened. Black spot danced in front of his eyes, and a haze settled over his mind.

The grip slackened. He swallowed down greedy mouthfuls of air, tears of fear and anger in his eyes.

"You're weak," Vanitas murmured, "I can't believe I need a loser like you."

There was a moment that Ven's feet flailed in thin air as Vanitas lifted him. With a harsh laugh, the masked boy tossed him aside, taking his sweet time to approach.

"I don't think I'll kill you just yet," Vanitas said. "I'll have some fun with you first. Tell me, Ventus," Vanitas sunk to one knee, and Ven could see his own face reflected in the domed mask, "how much pain does it take to make you scream?"

Ven said nothing.

The tip of Vanitas' keyblade traced the bottom of his chin. "We'll see soon enough," Vanitas said. In an amused voice, he added, "This might even be enough to get Aqua out of bed."

He stopped Ven's punch cold, grabbing the wrist and wrenching it back as if he planned to snap it in two.

"Careful, Ventus, you might want to think about what exactly you're getting yourself into."

"Leave them alone," Ventus said.

"Or else what? Are you going to cry?"

Ven's face grew red as Vanitas laughed at him. Truthfully, he didn't know what he would do. He couldn't win against Vanitas; right now, the dark boy was playing with him, he was sure of it. Had Vanitas really been trying to kill him, he would have sent him to that nightmarish world again or summoned Pyramid Head.

"Let's make a deal," Vanitas said. "Hand over that vial, and I'll reconsider my decision to pay a visit to Terra."

"You know where Terra is?" Ven asked with suspicion.

Vanitas laughed. "I know everything that goes on here. Now, the vial."

His hand began to migrate over to Ven's neck. Shielding it, Ven tucked his chin in and mumbled, "Fine."

Vanitas was just cocky enough to believe that Ven would ever choose to hand the vial over. Just in case though, Ven pretended to make a run for it, barely getting to his feet before Vanitas pushed him back down. Vanitas' keyblade pointed at his forehead as the masked boy growled, "Don't try that again. Now give it to me."

Ven took the vial from his pocket and dropped it into Vanitas' waiting hand.

"Good boy." The red liquid sloshed from one side to the other, and Ven prayed Vanitas wouldn't notice the difference. "And now . . ."

Vanitas smashed the vial on the ground, and stomped it into dust. A red pool leaked from underneath his boot, steadily spreading outwards. For Ven, it was a bit surreal to see his own blood staining the ground and feel so disconnected from it.

Vanitas patted him on the back. "Hope Aqua gets better," he sneered.

It was so hard not to smirk. To keep himself calm, Ven focused on how badly Vanitas was falling for his ruse.

A whoosh signalled the closing of Vanitas' portal. Quickly, Ven scrambled to his feet, automatically brushing his clothes off. He whooped, grinning in excitement; it had actually worked! He had fooled Vanitas, and Xion still had the aglaophotis. Now, he had to find his way back to Brookhaven.

He did so in only a minute. Either, he had unconsciously ran all the way here while fleeing Vanitas, or the dark force controlling the town wanted him to go here. The former didn't seem right, and the latter didn't seem to make sense. Why would the town want him to return to Aqua?

Because it thinks I can't do anything, he realized. Vanitas had mentioned that he wanted to make Ven suffer. What better way to do that than forcing him to watch as one of his best friend slowly grew sicker? Worried that Vanitas might be spying on him, he hid a grin; this time, Vanitas' incessant need to torment him had worked in his favour.

He opened the doors, stepped into the reception area and like a lizard lying in the sun, basked in the heat. Naminé and Xion were at the mouth of the hallway, not with Aqua as he had expected. Both were speaking feverishly in hushed voices, Xion's face set in dismay and Naminé's in fear and anxiety. Blue eyes flickered to him, followed by a pointing finger, and then both girls turned. Neither looked happy to see him.

"Do you still have it?" Ven asked, fearing the worst.

Xion nodded.

He relaxed, the tension rolling off his shoulders. "Okay, have you given it to her yet?"

She shook her head no. "Ven, she's –"

Cheerfully, not paying attention to her words, he cut her off. "You guys didn't have to wait for me. Come on, let's go!"

He ran down the hallway, a streak of blond hair and white and black clothes, not even staying long enough to hear Xion and Naminé yell, "Wait!"

It was unfortunate the door to Aqua's room was closed. He had thought it was open, just a crack, and planned to burst through it like he did to Terra in the Land of Departure (he stopped doing it to Aqua after she grew annoyed and laid a mine behind her door). But, sadly for him, it was completely closed, and he ran into the door instead. Lying on his back, he rubbed his nose. Good thing Terra hadn't seen that.

"Oh, Aqua!" he sang, stretching out her name. His grin faded when he saw the empty bed. "Aqua?"

There was no sign of her. The sheets had been strewn on the floor, as if they were thrown off in a hurry. On a nightstand sat a half-empty glass of water and an untouched can of food. Perplexed, he looked around the room, almost expecting Aqua to drop in out of nowhere.

"Why did you move her?" he asked when Xion came up behind him.

"Ven . . ."

The cadence of her tone worried him, and he pried his eyes away from the bed to look at her. Xion refused to meet his eyes, staring at the floor instead. His chest tightened; something was wrong.

"Did she get worse?" he asked.

Xion shook her head and gave him a look so apologetic, so sympathetic, that he started to sweat.

"What's going on?"

"Ven," Naminé came up behind him, "I'm so sorry."

He stared at her blankly, not understanding and not wanting to know.

"I fixed her Wayfinder, and I swore she was asleep." Naminé wrung her, biting her lip nervously. "I only left for a little while, to get something to eat. But when I came back, she was gone."

"Gone where?" he asked hoarsely.

Her eyes closed. "Outside."

No. He ignored them and ran. Though he ran faster than he ever had before, the journey felt endless. Finally, he flung the front doors open, screaming Aqua's name. A horizon of featureless fog greeted him, mocking him.

The fog swallowed up the hospital as he ran away, and he didn't care. Aqua was sick and wandering, Terra had abandoned them and fled – he was losing both of his friends, and nothing he did stopped it. The town, the darkness he now despised, was pulling them away from him.

He didn't know what to do.

He stood alone in the street. Some unconscious part of his mind took over then, guiding his hand into his pocket, where it moulded around the shape of his Wayfinder. The charm seemed to radiate light, warming him with its green glow.

"There's always a way," he whispered.

"Ven!"

He didn't move as Xion screeched to a stop beside him. Panting, hands on her knees, she looked up at him. Focused as he was on the Wayfinder, it took her a few moments to get his attention.

"Xion," he said softly, "what happens now?"

She bowed her head. "I don't know," she admitted.

The two of them stared into the blankness. He felt Xion's touch on his shoulder and leaned into her, burying his head in her shoulder.

"I just want them to be safe," he said into her cloak.

She felt Xion stiffen underneath him, but it wasn't out of fear. There was something else behind that, some firm declaration and the rigidity of a made choice. In contrast to the hardness of her muscles, she gently pushed him away, looking at him fully.

"Take this," she said, handing him the vial with the real aglaophotis. "Find Aqua and Terra." She looked away from him. "There's something I have to do."

He studied the vial closely. "Xion, wasn't there more in the vial?"

"I have the rest. It . . . it may come in handy. Oh, Ven, do you have a flashlight?"

He nodded mutely and handed it over. "Xion, what are you going to do?"

She smiled sadly. "Just trust me, Ven. It will be alright."

"I do trust you," he protested, "but I don't want you to get hurt!"

Her smile grew, but it was still watery at the edges. "Ven," she said, stepping close, "I'm glad I got to meet you."

Their foreheads touched and Ven went rigid. This entire conversation felt like a goodbye of sorts, and that was something he didn't want. He didn't want to leave Xion to die in this town.

But before he could say anything, she was gone, and he was left with nothing but the vial and the rushing wind.

There was no one home when she entered the church, and even if there had been, they wouldn't have paid her any mind.

Xion walked up to the altar and stood in the center of the holy building. For all the power their so-called god had, he had done a horrible job of weeding out the traitors in his ranks. She should have been dead hours ago, since the moment she disobeyed his will and told Terra what had happened to Ven. But she was still breathing, still alive. In a sense, of course.

Checking to make sure she was alone, she tiptoed over to the trapdoor. It opened with nary a sound, the darkness beneath it seeming to cluster. She stepped onto the first stair, and slowly, descended into the secret room.

As the stairs grew shorter and escape further away, the first inklings of fear licked at her. She continued on anyways, mouth set in a firm line. She wouldn't chicken out now. She would go down there, and she would end this. She couldn't stand by and watch the town claim innocent souls anymore, not when she knew there was another way.

Ventus. It made her smile just to think about him. He had been slated to die, yet even knowing that had not been enough to keep her cold towards him. He was just so happy, so energetic, so nice. Not like any of The Order. They were only concerned with what their god wanted.

She couldn't really blame them; she used to be like that too.

She had been born a slave, a replacement for a puppet. No one had ever told the entire story, but she knew she only existed to replace Naminé. Every creature in this town had a meaning, and long ago, Naminé had been innocence. Somehow, she'd broken away from the town's grasp and barricaded herself in Brookhaven Hospital. That had been a long time ago. Naminé had never stepped outside since.

With Naminé's defection, Xion had been created. The darkness had learned from its mistakes, and tethered her to it in a way Naminé had not. That's what she had thought, at least. Lately, she had heard its whispers less and less, felt the god's desires grow weak. Ven, Aqua and Terra, they had freed her without meaning to, and for that, she would be forever grateful.

She just wished, more than anything, that she could go with them.

She stepped onto the circular plane of glass. At once, the droning voices started up, speaking of darkness and light. She felt a breeze pass over her as something groped for her heart, examining it.

She was created from darkness, so her heart (if she really had one) had no light.

The room was plunged into darkness.

She steeled herself, knowing what monster made this its lair. It was one of their god's personal creations, almost as prized as the Bogeyman. Whereas Naminé was innocence and the Bogeyman punishment, this creature was corruption. Too many times had it been used to enslave someone that otherwise wouldn't have fallen.

She would stop it here.

She and Naminé had known, from the second they saw that mark on Aqua's arm, exactly why she was so sick. It had been a consequence of her foray down here. Xion closed her eyes; if only she had been there, then she could have warned . . . no, she would have been too afraid. Whether or not Xion had been present, Aqua would have been attacked all the same, and the poison would still run through her veins. She still had her natural light to protect her, her friends and now, the Wayfinder, but Xion still worried; none of that erased the fact that darkness, his darkness, had tainted her.

She heard the monster moving across the glass towards her, searching for its next victim. Slowly, quietly, she took the vial of aglaophotis out of her pocket and gripped it tight. With her other hand, she took out the flashlight.

The beam revealed glowing red eyes.

She could still run. The staircase was right behind her.

Xion swallowed; she wouldn't. Ven had given her the gift of choice, and she wouldn't dishonour that now.

"I'm ready," she said. She sunk into a stance and uncapped the vial. "Come and get me."