Afterdeath
Author's note: I think I've heard there's a new trailer for KH3 out. I'm choosing to not watch it until I've got this story completely posted. This story is already going to be an AU, and I've just got to draw the cut-off line somewhere. So this story will take the June trailers into account, but nothing after that.
Happy reading!
Chapter 4
Kairi suddenly stiffened and stopped in her tracks. Mickey and Sora noticed and paused as well. "What is it, Kairi?" Sora asked.
Kairi clutched at her heart. "Something's here…"
"So, you brought a little princess of heart this time?" a swirl of darkness asked, with Aqua's voice. The darkness swiftly ringed about them, surrounding them.
"Aqua! Show yourself!" Mickey commanded, poised and ready to attack.
"Are we really doing this again, Mickey? I thought you'd learned your lesson the last time. Once the darkness takes root, there is no plucking it back out."
"You're wrong! Riku was possessed by Xehanort's heart, too. And we saved him. So we're going to save you as well," Sora declared with confidence. He had his keyblade in a two-handed grip and was ready and waiting for a sign of where to strike. But the darkness continued to swirl around them in an indistinct form. And the ring was closing in on them.
"She's there," Kairi declared, pointing at a featureless spot in the cloud of darkness. Kairi finally then raised her keyblade and shifted into a fighting stance. "Aqua, please – try to fight it. We're here to help you!"
The darkness did not abate, but the area that Kairi indicated solidified and took the form of the missing keyblade master. Aqua glared down at the trio with unnatural, glowing yellow eyes. "And what if I don't want to be saved?" she asked coldly.
"We know you do," Sora insisted. "Aqua, you were always one of the strongest to resist the darkness. You can do this."
"How could you know such a thing?" Aqua snapped. She lunged forward and slashed at Sora with her keyblade. He was able to parry each strike, but only barely. Mickey and Kairi rushed forward to try to help him. Mickey was able to hold his own, but Kairi was easily knocked aside. Kairi recovered quickly, but then Aqua turned to targeting her, recognizing her as the least combat-experienced of the three.
Sora dove between Aqua and Kairi, facing Aqua. "Aqua, stop this! This isn't you!" Sora felt his heart start burning, like it was going to burst. Trusting his instincts, Sora closed his eyes and willed his heart to do what it would. His eyes snapped open and he changed his stance. "Aqua. Remember what you said when you made us the wayfinders? You said we'd always be friends – we share an unbreakable connection! Fight this, Aqua! Terra and I are still waiting for you."
"V-ven…?" Aqua whispered in confusion, letting the point of her keyblade drop. "How… how did you get here?"
"I've been here all along, waiting for you to wake me up," Sora said with Sora's voice, but not with Sora's inflection.
Mickey caught Kairi's eye and nodded. "Now!"
Kairi pointed her keyblade at Aqua and then perfectly synchronized with Mickey, used it to fire a beam of light at Aqua. Aqua shrieked and writhed but was pinned in place by the twin beams of light.
"Now, Sora!" Mickey cried.
Sora started, the blinked slowly. He looked up at Aqua trapped in the light with surprise, as if only just seeing it. But then he recovered and raised his keyblade. "Right!" He reached into his heart and found the unnamed power that let his heart resonate with another heart. A spiky pink link-point appeared before him, and Sora raised his keyblade to unlock it. And then his heart made the jump across the gap and began diving down, down, down into the depths of Aqua's heart.
The dive was a strange one, compared to those Sora had done before to wake the sleeping worlds. Maybe a person's heart was different than a world's? Where worlds showed flashes of objects that belonged to them, Aqua's had different glimpses of people and places – memories perhaps. But there were also heartless – or heartless-like monsters. Sora really couldn't tell the difference but wasn't overly worried about it. They attacked him, he attacked them back. Easy enough. In fact, he was happy to finally have a bit of a challenge. All those stray heartless he had encountered in the various worlds had been hardly worth his time. He hadn't even seen any Organization members in ages. Unlike Riku…
Sora suddenly locked up. He had been trying so hard to avoid thinking about this. But Riku… Riku was…
Sora yelled in frustration as he slashed straight through the next monster, a mostly shapeless thing with yellow eyes. It was unthinkable, it was unfair that the best outcome they could hope for right now was that Riku had only lost his heart. Hadn't Sora already spent enough time searching for Riku and worrying about Riku?
When Sora had first gotten pulled into this whole mess, he'd had to face the unthinkable reality that Riku was no longer Riku. He'd been misled and corrupted by the darkness until he had finally had his heart pushed to the side and replaced by another. Sora had had to fight Ansem in Riku's body, not knowing at the time if it was already too late for Riku or not. And then, when Sora had defeated Ansem and closed the door to Kingdom Hearts… he had really tried to keep up an optimistic front, for Riku and Kairi's sakes. But sealing Riku in the Realm of Darkness, the place where all heartless congregate, had seemed like a death sentence. Sora had tried to do what Riku had asked of him, to go back to Destiny Islands with Kairi... But at the last second, he had pulled back, had stood just a step too far back as Kairi was swept away in the rush of the worlds reforming. He could have reached her, but instead he was paralyzed by the fear that he had just left his other friend to die… and he couldn't just leave him like that. Sora was only going to go home with both his friends. No matter how often they got kidnapped or brainwashed or whatever.
And then Sora had spent months trying to find Riku again – both before and after his long nap. Wondering if Riku and King Mickey had made it out of the Realm of Darkness. Wondering if Riku was safe. Grasping at the tiniest hints that Riku was still out there, looking out for him. Sora was still more than a little mad that Riku had been hiding from him. Who cared if he had the wrong face? Riku was still Riku. As long as his heart was right, it didn't matter to Sora or Kairi how he looked on the outside.
But now they had lost Riku again. And this was more frightening than his body being possessed, his heart and mind just being temporarily shoved aside. Riku was gone, one way or the other. If Xehanort had unlocked his heart… well, Sora knew what happened then. His heart would become a heartless, and his body would become a nobody. If both were destroyed, then Riku would come back. Axel-now-Lea had gone through that exact process.
But what if the situation weren't that simple? What if Xehanort decided to claim Riku's nobody as another vessel? Or even his heartless as yet another? Or what if Xehanort spitefully split up the two halves and hid them in different worlds, where Sora could never find them? What then?
Well, Sora was just going to keep trying. He had his friends – Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and now even Lea – who would help him in his search. And maybe there was some way to track Riku by his heart, to get some sort of guidance.
But there was still the possibility that Riku was really just dead. Sora kept trying and trying to avoid thinking of this possibility. But now he was starting to wonder… what happened to the hearts of those who died? If you could find the heart, somehow, could you then bring the person back…?
The crimson transition portal swirled around Sora, cutting off his train of thought. He exited the dive.
Sora landed in a crouch and took in his surroundings. "Wait, isn't this…?" White walls, white floors, with occasional white pillars with white floral shapes. Castle Oblivion.
"Look out!"
Sora ducked and rolled forward. He heard a clank on the ground behind him. He righted himself and spun around, this time ready to block the strike aimed at his face. The geezerly Xehanort sneered at him, then prepared to cast a spell. But he was knocked aside by Aqua who clobbered him with a combo strike.
Sora joined in to aid Aqua. Maybe Xehanort was too strong for Sora or Aqua alone, but with the two combined against him, he didn't stand a chance. Aqua and Sora alternated striking at him to disrupt his spell casting, then took turns casting healing spells at each other as needed. It wasn't an easy fight, but the two heroes kept at it and wore him down. Aqua got the last blow, another combo strike that rendered Xehanort unconscious.
Aqua watched Xehanort warily for a moment, then held her keyblade straight out in front of her. A beam of light shot from it, completely vaporizing Xehanort's body. Aqua then slowly straightened out of her fighting stance and turned back to face Sora. "Thanks for your help. Whoever you are."
Sora grinned widely, crossing his arms behind his neck. "You're welcome! And I'm Sora."
"Sora…" Aqua said thoughtfully, studying him closely. "Have we… met before?"
"I don't know," Sora replied with a nonchalant shrug. "But we've met now! So now we can be friends."
Aqua chuckled. "Just like that? Well, okay then. We're friends." She half-frowned. "It's odd… but you remind me of someone I know…"
"Oh, you must mean Ven! Yeah, his heart's inside of mine."
"What? How?!"
"I'll explain it all later. For right now, we need to hurry out of here!"
x-x-x
Mickey and Kairi had already released the spears of light keeping Aqua pinned in place, and were anxiously watching Sora to see him pop back awake. Kairi helped him back to his feet. "How's Aqua?" she asked.
"She's all right, I think. She should be awake in just a minute."
Kairi gasped, and then Sora and Mickey noticed the dark corridors opening in a ring around them.
"Organization Thirteen! I suspected they might come," Mickey said. "Sora, Kairi – grab onto Aqua!" The mouse king laid a hand on Sora's arm, then withdrew a star-shaped stone from inside his black coat.
The star shard immediately burst into life, whisking the quartet away in a streak of brilliant light before the black hooded figures could draw any closer.
X-X-X-X-X-X
"I had honestly thought to never again set foot in this place. And I was not sad about the prospect."
"We get it, Ienzo, we get it," grumbled Dilan. "None of us want to be here either."
The group stood just outside the doors of Castle Oblivion. Everybody was eyeing the structure with uniform looks of disgust. No one had good memories of the place. Even Donald and Goofy, who technically didn't have their memories of the place.
"What exactly is it that we here to search for?" Aeleus asked, all business like.
"So… you remember that chamber that Xemnas was always searching for?" Lea said reluctantly.
All three of their new companions turned and glared at him. "You dragged us here for that wild goose chase?!" Dilan snapped.
"We searched the castle. All of us. From top to bottom," Ienzo enumerated coldly. "How are we to succeed this time when we could not before? And with many fewer persons this time to aid in the search, besides?"
"Yeah, but this time, we have this!" Lea dramatically summoned his keyblade. "I've got more info on the Chamber of Waking this time, too. This castle is designed to protect the chamber so that not just anyone can access it. Xemnas and a bunch of nobodies are exactly the kind of people it's meant to keep out. Got it memorized?"
"Will you please stop it with that stupid catchphrase?" Dilan groaned, rubbing his face. "It's bad enough with you fancying yourself another keyblade hero…"
"Look, the keyblade doesn't lie! You have to be worthy to get one!"
"Xehanort has one too, doesn't he?" Ienzo observed.
"Well…" Lea didn't know how to answer that one.
Donald finally spoke up. "It obviously means that Xehanort was once worthy himself!"
"Yeah!" Lea recovered quickly. "What he said!"
"What did he say…?"
"Never mind, guys, let's just go." Lea gestured up to the front door. "Donald, Goofy, and I already searched most of the castle. But we found a place we couldn't get through. We were hoping you guys could help us out, okay…?"
Aeleus nodded. "Of course." He started forward.
Dilan sighed loudly. "Fine. Since we're already here."
Ienzo just gave Lea a studying look as he passed him into the castle. The look made Lea's skin crawl.
"I still hate this idea," Lea muttered under his breath after Donald and Goofy headed back in. Then he rushed inside and hurried up to the front of the group to give directions.
x-x-x
Lea quickly led his team back to the spot where he had been stymied by the stuck door. With only a grunt of acknowledgment, Aeleus strode forward, rammed it with his shoulder, and it immediately popped open.
"Thank you," Lea said with some embarrassment. "So, um… now it's all new territory. I don't know what to expect."
"Will there be heartless?" Dilan wanted to know.
Lea shrugged. "Probably? It would all be too easy otherwise…"
"Where should we head next, then?" Ienzo inquired. "To the basement? To the top floor?"
"Neither," Lea declared. "See, this whole castle was created to protect the Chamber of Waking. Or rather, whatever place it was before was rearranged to protect it. So I think the Chamber of Waking will be in the exact center."
"Oh, gawrsh," Goofy said slowly. "That does make sense."
The ex-apprentices – well, mostly Dilan and Ienzo – exchanged a look, then decided to not argue with Lea's logic.
"We should split up," Donald declared. "That will save us time."
Lea, Goofy, and Dilan agreed with that, but Aeleus was firmly against it. "You say this place might be dangerous. And that only Lea will be able to open the Chamber once we find it. And how will we communicate with each other once separated? Splitting up will only waste us time, in the end."
Donald squawked at being overridden, but the rest of the group agreed it sounded reasonable. With Lea taking the lead, and the other ex-Organization members offering navigation suggestions, they started making their way further into the building.
x-x-x
"I told you, we're going around in circles!" Donald squawked.
"Huh," Lea said, studying the burn mark he'd left on the wall several minutes previous. "I don't understand; this doesn't make any sense…"
"You can't go any further because I won't let you," a new voice said.
All the group spun around in unison. "Riku!" Donald and Lea gasped, but Lea studied the odd, dark outfit the silver-haired boy wore and made the connection. "No… you're not Riku. You're his replica."
"That's right," the replica said bitterly. "I'm just the fake!" He summoned his copy of the jagged sword, Soul Eater. "And I've been set by Master Xehanort to destroy any intruders."
"Wait, wait!" Lea tried to appeal. "You don't have to follow Xehanort's orders. We can help you! You want to be your own person, right…?"
"It's too late for that!" snapped the replica. He then charged forward and slashed at Lea. The replica was fast and strong, but Lea had the added experience of having trained some with Master Riku. He knew many of his favorite moves. Lea blocked all of the replica's strikes handily.
The replica seemed to realize fairly quickly that he couldn't prevail in this battle and withdrew a few paces.
Lea tried again. "Please, let us help! Look – I'm sorry about before. We all are."
"I told you, it's too late for the replica. Xehanort destroyed him when he realized he couldn't get him to obey. That's why he created us."
"Us?" Dilan parroted. He turned to look back the way they had come, and two more Riku replicas stood, blocking the doorway.
"Xehanort shattered the replica's heart, and gave a piece to each of us," another replica said, followed by two more who came in through the doorway ahead.
"If we destroy all the intruders, then Master Xehanort will give each of us a full heart," yet another replica said, coming in from behind.
"What?! Are you – you all – crazy?! Xehanort will never give you anything!" Lea snapped. He dropped into a fighting stance, his keyblade at the ready. "On the other hand, it seems to me that if we destroy all you extras, you'll end up as one replica with a full heart."
"You can try," said another replica. The heroes were now fully surrounded by a ring of replicas – a full thirteen. Then all at once, the replicas attacked.
Lea sprang immediately into action. Donald started blasting magic spells, and Goofy charged with his shield. Dilan and Aeleus summoned their weapons and began attacking as well. But Ienzo… did nothing. He only attempted to dodge and shield himself from blows with his arms.
Lea turned to see just as Ienzo dropped to the floor – hopefully just dodging and not hurt – and only then realized in horror that he had never confirmed that Ienzo and the others could still summon their weapons. He had just assumed that since he still could… Lea dashed over and kicked aside a Riku before it could land a serious blow on Ienzo.
But the Riku army seemed to zone in on this weak point and all began targeting Ienzo together.
"We've got to get out of here!" Dilan bellowed. He blasted a series of lances at the Rikus, then grunted and shakily opened a dark corridor.
"Are you crazy?! You're not shielded against the darkness!" Lea yelped. His keyblade got knocked from his hand. He gave up and summoned his pair of chakrams instead. Despite his training, he was still faster with his familiar weapon. One of the Rikus finally tumbled to the floor and vanished into a wisp of smoke. But meanwhile, Ienzo had stopped moving…
"Better than dying here with you!" Dilan countered, trying to clear a path to reach Ienzo. The Rikus were swarming him.
Logic warred with emotion in Lea… and he decided Dilan was right. There were getting overwhelmed – was that more Rikus coming in the door?! – and he didn't want Ienzo's death on his hands. Again. Lea threw the chakrams at Rikus, grabbed Ienzo, and made a stumbling run toward Dilan. Dilan snatched Ienzo from Lea's hands and dove into the dark corridor without hesitation. Aeleus paused briefly to look back before stepping through himself.
Donald squawked in concern. Lea grabbed the duck and tossed him into the portal of darkness. "Come on, Goofy! Let's go!" Goofy obediently followed and he and Lea rushed through the portal as well just as it was starting to flicker closed.
x-x-x
Lea was concerned for the others as he ran through the dark corridor. He still had his black coat, and Donald and Goofy were presumably similarly shielded. Hopefully, anyway. But the other three had gone back to ordinary clothes, and they had just barely gotten their hearts back…
Before Lea could brood any longer, they came to the other end of the short tunnel and emerged back into the real world. Lea turned quickly to determine their location. "We're… just outside the castle."
"And we're not going back in! I can't believe we trusted you in the first place! Once a double-crosser, always a double-crosser…!"
Lea tuned out Dilan as he continued to rant. "How is Ienzo?" he asked Aeleus, anxiously.
"I believe he is coming to," Aeleus replied, his voice dispassionate.
"Don't you lay a finger on him!" Dilan snarled, shoving a lance in Lea's face. "Haven't you done enough already?!"
"Stop it! Just for a second! Let. Me. Talk," Lea snarled back at Dilan. The other man gave him a furious glare, but silenced. "I screwed up, okay? This mission wasn't supposed to be this dangerous. I didn't want any of you to get hurt."
"We're not going back in—" Dilan started to demand.
Lea cut him off. "You're right. We're not. We're not equipped to deal with that… army of Rikus." Lea crossed his arms tightly around himself. He checked again on Ienzo and met his unfocused gaze. Then he continued addressing the group. "The plan now is we go back to see Yen Sid and report on what we found. We'll make sure Ienzo is okay, and we'll get you some permanent lodging until it's safe to go back to Radiant Garden." Then, just to Ienzo, Lea said, "I'm really sorry. I should have asked to make sure you were able to fight. I just assumed, and I shouldn't have."
"I… I should have said something. I… haven't been able to summon my lexicon since I was recompleted. I thought it would come back to me if the need was real…" Ienzo's voice was weak and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
Lea cast a quick cure spell. "Sorry, I'm still bad at healing magic. Just hang in there, okay? You're going to be fine…"
Ienzo laughed weakly. "Were you always this… motherly with Roxas? No wonder he liked you so much…"
"Uh, guys? The castle door is opening," Goofy said.
All discussion abruptly ended. Aeleus scooped up Ienzo in his arms. Lea similarly grabbed Donald, ignoring the duck's furious cursing. They all made a mad dash down the incline to where the gummi ship lay waiting for them.
"Put me down, you overgrown thug!" Donald squawked, feathers flying as he flailed about. "I don't need to be carried! Just wait 'til his majesty hears about this!"
X-X-X-X-X-X
Riku was still in the middle of recapping his success with Demyx/Edym when the sky flashed like a massive bolt of lightning had bisected it. Then the darkened Traverse Town split in half and reformed into a world that was painfully bright by contrast. All Riku could make out at first was the whiteness of it. As his vision cleared, he recognized the place as a portion of the castle in the Worlds that Never Was. The massive chamber with thirteen white thrones. "What just happened?" he asked Vanitas, changing subject midsentence.
"Xehanort's calling us. Maybe your new buddy tipped him off to us," Vanitas snarled, turning away from Riku to scowl at a wall.
The real-world Vanitas immediately sprang into motion, moving to the location Xehanort had specified. Riku was starting to get attuned enough to Vanitas that he didn't need to be explicitly shown what the other boy could see in order to know what was going on in the outside world. Riku still couldn't see anything, yet, but he could sense Vanitas's running, and the exertion of his heart.
But the improved sensitivity wasn't enough, especially given the circumstances. Riku was dreading the possible scenarios that could unfold if Xehanort had begun to suspect Vanitas. But he didn't want to wait in here, blind to what was unfolding. Riku purposely approached Vanitas and grabbed his shoulder. "Let me see and hear what's going on."
Vanitas knocked aside Riku's arm with as much force as he could muster. "It's too risky. What if he suspects something?"
"Exactly. If I know what's going on, I might be able to help you deflect his questions."
Vanitas laughed. "You mean, you'll help me lie to Xehanort? You're a terrible liar, Riku."
"So are you," Riku countered with a shrug. He ignored how Vanitas's body posture tensed to attack. "I know you're still the one in control here. But remember that my life is on the line, too. I have every reason to do whatever I can to make sure you succeed."
Vanitas leapt at him anyway and tackled Riku into the floor. "Don't. Touch. Me. Again," he snarled, slamming Riku's shoulders against the floor again for further emphasis.
With his own armor and helmet on, Vanitas's violent outburst didn't faze Riku much. But he decided he'd better not push his luck further. He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
Vanitas growled back at him, managing to sound almost feral. Then he summoned his keyblade and jammed it into Riku's helmet, right between the eyes. There was a flash of light, and Riku's head knocked against the floor again. "There," Vanitas said, and he got up and stalked away.
Riku found his vision blurry, but after only a few minutes, he discovered that he was actually seeing two similar scenes, simultaneously. With effort, he could bring one or the other in focus. In both scenes, he stood alone in the white throne room, but he quickly determined that in one scene he could not control his own actions. This must be the real world. Riku continued practicing switching between the two views while he waited for someone else to arrive.
After only a few moments more, other black-coated figures began to appear: some entering by the hidden door, like Vanitas; others teleporting directly to their chairs by dark portals. When Vanitas finally decided to hop up into his chair, Riku got a glimpse of black sleeves and determined that Vanitas must be attired like the others, hood and all. While still in the real-world viewing space, Riku decided to test if Vanitas could hear him, and so asked about the coats.
(The full costume is required for all meetings in this room,) Vanitas's disembodied mental voice responded.
(Xehanort likes being dramatic,) Riku observed with some amusement.
Vanitas snorted in response. (Yeah, he does.) Then he added, (Don't talk to me unless you've got something important to say.)
(Got it,) Riku smirked to himself.
Time passed. The other seats filled. The topmost throne remained empty. Riku would have preferred to continue studying the other seekers of darkness, but his view was limited to what Vanitas chose to look at. And Vanitas had chosen to stare down at the floor.
But then the quiet whoosh of a dark portal echoed through the silent chamber. Vanitas's attention snapped to the center throne. All the other seekers were facing it as well. Xehanort appeared from the darkness in his seat. And he was frowning.
Riku felt an unnerving crawling of his skin. After a moment he realized he was feeling Vanitas's fear. (You're not alone,) Riku whispered to his host.
Vanitas mentally hissed back. But the feeling of overwhelming dread eased somewhat.
At least until Xehanort boomed out at all of them. "You have disappointed me." Then Vanitas's terror returned twofold.
"They were not supposed to find her," Xehanort continued. "They were especially not supposed to free her. Saïx, explain how you managed to fail so miserably."
Her? Does he mean Aqua? Riku thought to himself. He felt hope blossoming in his heart. If they managed to free her, then that means this was another blank spot in his visions of the future! Master Aqua will be a great ally against Xehanort!
Meanwhile, Saïx was offering his excuses. It sounded like Aqua had kept managing to evade everyone who was trying to guard her. And then "the king and the others" had found Aqua before the seekers could locate her again, and had utilized some magical object that let them escape from the Realm of Darkness instantaneously. Riku had no idea what that object could be. Clearly, neither did Saïx. But Xehanort seemed to know what it was, as he grudgingly accepted the explanation.
"This is not ideal, but enough of our pawns are still in place," Xehanort mused to himself. "Kingdom Hearts tries to surprise me, but it will not be enough. We will succeed. I have seen it. Once the X-Blade appears, there is nothing that can prevent the Keyblade War from taking place."
(He's rambling to himself again,) Vanitas spoke up in the mental space. (He does this a lot. Usually he makes a lot less sense. Especially when he's talking to his past self.)
(Is he… is he even sane?) Riku asked.
(The guy wants to destroy all of existence just to see what happens – of course he's not sane! But the most dangerous part… is that he still thinks he is.)
Xehanort stared at Saïx a long time, in silence. Finally, he said, "I cannot see clearly enough to see if you remain by my side at the moment of the war. But you have proved useful to me before. So I will not destroy you for this one failure."
Saïx bowed deeply. "Thank you, master."
"Give your full attention now to your secondary assignment, Saïx. And be sure not to disappoint me again."
"Yes, master," Saïx replied.
Xehanort turned his attention back to the rest of the seekers. "Are there any other matters to report?"
Two more seekers took their turns to give vague and mostly positive reports. The language was so vague that Riku couldn't even form a guess as to what they were talking about. Xehanort accepted the reports without much interest. Whatever they referred to were, perhaps, just other backup plans. Items of lesser concern.
The room fell silent again. Xehanort looked around at each of them individually. "Anything else? Have you fallen asleep? You're all so quiet today," he said mockingly. "Come now – don't waste my time by making me call another meeting later. Is there really nothing else you know of that might comprise a risk to our plans?"
Slowly, reluctantly, one figure raised his hand. "Um, Vanitas nearly killed me," Demyx said in a small voice. "And he was beating up everyone else, too. I… I think he shouldn't be allowed to do that."
"Vanitas…" Xehanort hissed, throwing the full weight of his gaze on the boy. "I am out of patience with you! I have plenty of options for new servants who won't defy me at every turn." Xehanort summoned his keyblade, a jagged piece of metal with an eerie eye embedded in it.
Vanitas had frozen in terror. (He knows, he knows!) his mental voice was repeating over and over.
(No he doesn't!) Riku countered, frantically. (Tell him you were just testing your new power! Tell him you needed to be sure you'd be strong enough to beat Sora and his allies!)
"I… I was just doing what you told… told me to do!" Vanitas stammered out. He held his arms out in front of himself defensively. "I had to make sure it had worked! That I had really absorbed Riku's power! How else could I know?!"
Xehanort frowned, but relaxed the angle on his keyblade slightly. "But targeting Demyx? We've already discussed this."
(What did you–? No, never mind.) Riku resolved to ask Vanitas about his history with Demyx later. (Tell him that you think Demyx is a weakling and you just wanted to train him. You were trying to get him stronger,) Riku suggested.
"He… He's the weakest link here! He always has been! I was just… just trying to get him stronger. It worked with Ventus, right? He got stronger by my helping him. I'm just trying to… trying to help your plan. I don't want to die…" Vanitas hunkered down in his chair.
Xehanort continued glaring at Vanitas a long moment, in silence. At last, he spoke. "I know you well, Vanitas. I've known you for your entire life. And you have always been terrible at deception."
Vanitas mentally dissolved into panic again, so Riku yelled at him, (Stay calm! Stay calm! Don't tell him anything else!)
Xehanort continued his unrelenting stare in silence for a few moments longer. Then he sighed. "So, as idiotic as an excuse as that is… you must really believe it to be true. So now, let me make things clear to you, Vanitas. You are now to do nothing without explicit orders. Especially not attempting to "train" my other vessels. You will join me to fight in the Keyblade War, and nothing more. Is that clear?"
"But… what am I supposed to do until then? Just sit in my room?!" Vanitas snapped back out of reflex.
"Yes, that would be ideal," Xehanort agreed with a hard look and a cruel smile. "Unless that would be too difficult for you."
(Don't say anything else,) Riku begged. (Don't tell him you intend to ignore him! Just accept it and play the good vessel. Please!)
(Shut up!) Vanitas told Riku mentally. In the real world, he inclined his head. With difficulty, he grit out, "I… I will do my best. Master Xehanort."
"Good." Xehanort sounded amused. He banished his keyblade back to empty space. "Now – I won't ask again. Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?" he asked loudly of the room.
No one spoke up. Riku couldn't blame them. He was almost holding his breath himself, as he was certain all the seekers of darkness were. Just waiting for Xehanort to leave.
At last, Xehanort decided he had waited long enough and started summoning a dark corridor. "Don't disappoint me. Our time is close at hand. Very close." And with that, he disappeared into the oval hole of darkness.
The other seekers started leaving the instant Xehanort was gone. Dark portals erupted from the chairs and swallowed the occupants. Demyx studied Vanitas for a moment, then shook his head and left by dark corridor as well. At last, Vanitas was the last one left. He hopped off his chair and headed for the door.
(Aren't you going to travel by dark corridor like everyone else?) Riku asked him.
(Don't tell me what to do! I feel like walking, okay?!) Vanitas yelled at him mentally.
(Okay, okay. Do what you like.) Riku switched his view back to Vanitas's heart world. It had recovered from Xehanort's summons and was back to the shadowy version of Traverse Town. Riku quickly located Vanitas slouching against a wall. "Are you ready to work on our next plan?"
"Leave me alone!" Vanitas shrieked at Riku. With a scream, he summoned a massive monster and hurled it at Riku. Riku had to summon his keyblade and fight for several minutes to get rid of the red-eyed, wolf-like thing. By the time the monster was defeated, Vanitas was long gone. Riku slumped against a wall to catch his breath. Then he closed his eyes and tried to find the equivalent of sleep in this strange place.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Endnote: I'm so mean to the Riku replica, haha. Anyway, this is what Xehanort wanted Even for. After all, if you can make one replica, why not a dozen or more? But anyway, I've always had mixed feelings about the Riku replica. I mean, it seems like the KH universe would treat him as his own person… except he's still just a derivative of Riku. He has a copy of Riku's memories, courtesy of Naminé. And he looks exactly like Riku did, at the time. In the new trailers, he looks exactly the same as he did before – leading me to theorize that replicas don't age. So he's an immortal, unchanging, knock-off of Riku. It seems hard to imagine him having much of a real life. Maybe I just have a hard time sympathizing with him… I guess he's pretty much in the same boat as Pinocchio? Maybe they should be friends.
And my dear buddy, Vanitas… I've had such fun writing him. He and Riku make such a fun pair to write dialogue for. Vanitas keeps trying to get a rise out of Riku, and Riku is way too patient to take the bait. I figure Riku learned a lot from dealing with Sora. Sora wouldn't try to make Riku angry, of course – but I can see him trying to goad Riku into specific reactions, and Riku learning how to not react, just to tease Sora back. Now that I think about it, I guess it makes sense that Vanitas would have some similarities to Sora's personality… but I wasn't thinking about this at the time I wrote this.