Vanitas wished he could smirk so bad when he saw Ansem's armor fall apart right in front of him, making the last bit of that lingering will disappear for good. The only thing he could do at the moment was look down at the pile of broken armor below him and wait for a reaction from the keybladers.

Thankfully for him, Vanitas did not have to wait long for a reaction from them when felt a presence behind him. Vanitas huffed out a laugh as he turned his head to see a keyblade pointed to his back, with the blade's owner glaring right at him. "Make another move and I will kill you," Riku threatened.

At first, Vanitas did as he was told and didn't move at all, but then, without Riku noticing, the will formed a corridor of darkness below him, which made him vanish quickly. Riku growled and swore to himself softly as he looked around the room quickly. "Show yourself you coward!" He yelled as he looked around the room. The silver hair teen then looked to Kairi and Sora's will, who both had their keyblades out but were not in as much of a hurry to find Vanitas as he was.

"I can't believe this," a voice said behind the three, which made them quickly turn around to see Vanitas calmly leaning against. "I save your sorry little behinds and you still try to kill me? Talk about rude."

"You really think we are going to trust you after everything you did?" Riku spat, "And for the record, you did not save our lives; we could have handled Ansem just fine even if you didn't come along."

"Is everything I did really that bad? I mean come on, could have been a lot worse," Vanitas said sarcastically.

"Well let's list everything, shall we?" Riku continued, "You took over Ven's body, forcing him into a coma for twelve years, you came back and worked for Xehanort again as his replica, you nearly killed Terra, and not to mention you tricked Xion—"

"Woah, woah," Vanitas interrupted, "Alright, what I did was pretty bad, I admit, but what I had what Xion was real; it had nothing to do with any of this."

"You really expect me to believe that?" Riku questioned.

"I am dead serious," Vanitas lost his sarcastic tone when he said these words, "In fact, she is main reason I am doing this."

"Doing what?" Riku growled, losing his cool completely when Xion was brought up in the conversation.

"Shifting off of Xehanort's side and moving in to neutral," Vanitas hissed, but then calmly took in a breath before he continued. "Look, what Xehanort is doing right now is bad, but what he plans after this if he succeeds is much worse."

Instead of letting Riku angrily respond to the will this time, Kairi stepped forward and took control. "What exactly is he planning?" She asked nicely.

"Well besides worlds' domination there's torturing all those you care about, which should explain to all of you yet another reason why Xehanort abducted little Princess of Heart over there," the will continued.

Kairi standing several inches away from him, but she could practically feel Sora's will tense at the thought of Kairi's capture. To comfort him, Kairi intertwined her hands in his, which he gently squeezed back.

"But it will get much worse than that," Vanitas continued, "Chaos isn't the 'god' out there that is waiting in line for world domination. Sure, most of them probably aren't gods but they have that kind of power, and before you know it all of those people will be battling for world domination, and all the worlds will be destroyed in their war. I don't want that to happen, alright? Sure, I may be filled to the brim with darkness but that doesn't mean I don't have a conscience."

"So what are you trying to say?" Kairi asked.

"I am going to help you destroy that man before he can do any of this," the will admitted. "I admit fully I am not going to join your side, but I am guaranteeing you I am not going to be on that old man's side. So really all I am asking is if you will let me help you."

Riku glanced over to Kairi quickly, who only shrugged, before he looked back over at the will. "How do you expect us to trust you?" He asked.

Vanitas laughed, "Well Kairi, why don't you tell them how they can trust me since you clearly didn't tell them how you managed to escape this castle when you were captured."

Riku and Sora's will both were shocked by what Vanitas was saying and turned to Kairi instantly. "Kairi, what is he talking about?" He asked.

Kairi looked into Riku's eyes quickly before glancing back at the ground. "When I was held captured here, those wills put this thing on my wrist, which explains the wound, that wouldn't let me leave the castle or summon my keyblade." She huffed and pointed at Vanitas, "He was the one that took it off for me."

Riku gaped at what Kairi was saying before he looked over to Vanitas's will. He was silent before finally asking, "Why did you do that?"

Vanitas shrugged, "Couldn't stand to see her get tortured anymore, sick and tired of Xehanort's games, blah blah blah."

"Kairi, are you sure that's what happened?" Riku asked her, which she nodded to immediately after giving him a look saying I'm not stupid.

"So I guess I am just going to ask the million munny question again," Vanitas crossed his arms, "Will you let me help you?"

The room was completely silent for a few moments with no one making a move or a sound. That was until Sora's will let go of Kairi's hand and boldly walked up to Vanitas, standing in front of him before giving him a nod. While Riku gaped at the scene once again, Vanitas laughed and said, "I mean come on Riku, if your best friend trusts me, why can't you?"

"Riku, we can trust him," Kairi said quickly.

"How do you know that? He might have done a 'good deed' or two, but does that really prove we can—"

"Yes, it does," Kairi cut Riku off, "I don't know how to explain it, but there is something different about him."

"Different how?" Riku asked.

"Different as in there is something there that wasn't there before," Kairi breathed again before she stepped forward to Vanitas as well. Riku only huffed in another breath before he too walked over to Vanitas, not trusting him, but trusting his friends' judgment. "Alright, you can start showing us you aren't on Xehanort's side anymore by getting us up to him as soon as possible."

Vanitas nodded before waving a hand at them. "Well then this way heroes," he sarcastically said, waving his hand in the direction of which to take. The three keybladers followed his lead into the hallway which he directed, even though Riku gave Vanitas a death glare when he walked past the will. This did not go unnoticed by Vanitas, and the will only thought one thing:

Don't think I still won't kill you, Riku.

Xehanort-Sora stood calmly at the highest peak of the castle, the Altar of Naught, preparing to summon the Door to Darkness at the right time. The old man in Sora's body knew he couldn't summon the door as long as Sora's lingering will was still around, since there would still be too much to risk. So he commanded the remaining wills to end him and, once he was defeated, then he would summon the door.

However, Xehanort was not expecting Riku's replica to appear in a corridor of darkness behind him with bad news.

"My lord," the replica said, "I am afraid the only ones left in this fight are you and I now."

Xehanort-Sora was completely confused by this comment. He figured the other wills would be gone by now, but Vanitas? How could he have died off so easily? "You mean we are the only ones left alive?" He asked, sounding calm.

"No sir," Riku's replica said, "All of them are dead, but Vanitas, he has betrayed us and is helping those keyblade bearers!"

Xehanort growled at this, "Are you certain?"

The replica nodded.

Xehanort wished he could just kill the replica out of pure anger, but he knew he couldn't since they were the only ones left now. So instead, he angrily turned around, and knew what had to be done.

"I knew I should have killed him the second I found out his 'little secret,'" Xehanort said to himself, "But if he wants to join them, he will die along with them."

"What do you want us to do?" Riku's replica asked.

"Send the 'gift' we have been saving for them, and if they make it past that, I will just have to deal with Vanitas myself," Xehanort continued. "And once I end him, I will let you deal with the others."

"Of course sir," the replica continued, "But that is not all you are planning, is it?"

Xehanort shook his head and growled before announcing his plan,

"I am going to summon the Door to Darkness now, and then when Sora's will is defeated I shall open it for Chaos to be released."


I know, short chapter, but this was mostly a set up for what is about to come!

So Vanitas has gained the keybladers trust and Xehanort reveals his last minute plan to summon the door to darkness and wait until Sora is killed to open it. Can the suspense get any worse?

And what is this little gift Xehanort is talking about? Well you will all have to find out in the next chapter...

By the way, they released a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix if anyone didn't know already!

So please R&R and look out for the next chapter!