There won't be much author note here, I'm keeping it for the epilogue that's coming right after that. Enjoy!
Vanitas watched Aqua's head fall to the ground. He couldn't not notice the smile on her lips and he sighed. That girl had been too clever for her own good.
"Now, now, Vanitas, forge the X-Blade! Defeat Ventus! Meanwhile, I shall transfer this heart to my new Vessel!"
Xehanort walked towards Terra, No Name in his hand. Terra struggled, but was still trapped from the spell. Vanitas smirked. He looked like a ridiculous worm.
"At last, our moment is here. Out with the old and brittle vessel, and in with a younger, stronger new one! And now it is your darkness that shall be the ark that sustains me!"
He stabbed his own chest with the blade, and a ball of light escaped his body. Vanitas thought it was funny that such a rotten heart would still emit so much light.
"Vanitas! The X-Blade!"
"Fine, fine" lazily answered Vanitas, taking his eyes off the light floating towards Terra, slowly, incredibly slowly. Terra was probably fighting it, trying to control his Darkness as much as he could. The heart even seemed to consider going to Vanitas instead for a while.
"Ew, don't you even think about it, you gross heart! I've got other plans for my body! Ventus, are you ready to turn into the most powerful weapon blah blah blah nobody cares?"
Ven gave him a defiant look.
"I'm not planning on giving up my life for that stupid plan!"
"My thoughts exactly!"
The two boys, each a half of the same heart, Light and Darkness, took each other's hand, and a wave of pure power blasted from them. Xehanort fell back. Terra was blown away, landing next to Aqua. And the heart, although unfazed by the gust of power, was now floating aimlessly around, before setting its course back to its original vessel.
The old man looked at Vanitas without understanding. The boy took his helmet off and offered his most cruel smile to his Master.
"You betrayed me... How dared you? Do you think they will forgive you? After you killed her?"
Vanitas laughed.
"I'm not doing this for their forgiveness, old man. I'm doing this because she taught me how it felt to be your own person. I'm not going to throw that away for your stupid plan of conquering the world. I'm myself now, I've built my own memories. Some are good. Some are bad. Some I will forget and some I will remember all my life – such as your face right now."
"Xehanort, you thought that by splitting our heart in two, you would be able to forge the X-Blade by reuniting those two parts later." Continued Ventus. "But a heart is something strong. It can grow back. And now, we both have our own heart! Thanks to the love of the people around us, we both are our own person now."
"I wouldn't be as sappy as he is with his power of love thingy, but yeah, that's the idea. Thank you for bringing us to life, that was awesome. Also, you lost. That's awesome too."
He grinned as Eraqus's keyblade fell down on Xehanort. The old Master staggered as the other one sighed, his face sad and disappointed.
"We were once friends, Xehanort. I would never have thought I would have to defeat you one day. But it's over now."
Xehanort fell to his knees, his hand reaching out to Vanitas.
"I raised you... And this is how you thank me...?"
"I've never been good at being grateful anyway. But you are a terrible father."
Xehanort let his final breath out. Soon, his body vanished, and his heart rose in the sky until they couldn't see it.
"Ventus?"
"Yes?"
"I'm pretty sure you can let go of my hand now."
"Oh. Yes. Sorry."
Terra groaned and the two boys suddenly remembered what was surrounding them. Vanitas took a step forward, then backward. Ventus grinned and pushed him in the back.
"I'll check on Terra. Go and check on Aqua. I suppose she's not really dead?"
"Did she turn into a cloud of pure light and vanished? No, I just threw a Sleep spell at her. And... thanks."
Ventus winked at him before running to Terra, Vanitas followed him, his own steps taking him to Aqua. He kneeled by her side.
Memo was already gently patting her face with her flappy ears, and Aqua was slowly waking up.
She opened her eyes and stared at Vanitas. And, suddenly, he was at a loss for words. He did not know what to tell her. How could he find anything to say after he betrayed her so much? What he had told Xehanort was true : none of what he did had been for forgiveness. He wasn't expecting that much anyway.
"Vanitas? Is that you?"
He stared at the ground. He couldn't face her. His hands were shaking.
"But then... The X-Blade? What did you... What happened?"
He closed his eyes, silent. His voice wouldn't respond. He couldn't answer.
"Let me tell you what happened, Aqua." Ven's cheerful voice answered in his stead. "After he kidnapped me, Vanitas told me about Master Xehanort's plan. He wanted to bring us all here. Vanitas's betrayal was meant to harm you, and therefore to bring Terra to an enormous rage. Vanitas would have to fight Terra to increase his rage, and they expected you to witness the fight and try to stop them. Xehanort wanted Vanitas to kill you as you stopped them, but he did not. He covered a binding spell with some darkness to look like he had casted something terrible on you. That would bring Terra to the ultimate anger, giving way to the Darkness within him and turn into the perfect vessel. However, Vanitas did not want to forge the X-Blade anymore. He told me you taught him to value his own life. He's been trying to figure out a plan to defeat Xehanort for a while, but for that, he needed to pretend he'd been using you the whole time. You couldn't know. Nobody could know, until the very end. The only moment where Xehanort would lower his guard would be when he was sure of winning. And until then, Vanitas would have to pretend he was on his side."
"Vanitas, is that true?"
"If I had to choose between an old geezer who'd slash me whenever he could and only thought of me as a tool, and someone who gave me cake and probably cared about me more than I did, who do you think I'd chose?"
Aqua threw her arms around him.
"I knew it. I knew. Everything we've lived through, that couldn't be a lie! I've seen you smile, and that never looked fake. I'm so glad, I'm so so happy."
She kissed him on both cheeks, laughing, ecstatic.
"Also, you are a terrible liar, Vanitas. Xehanort might not have noticed, but did you really think I would miss that?"
He looked at her. What did she mean?
"Your helmet! Vanitas, whenever you lied, you would have your helmet on. You didn't want to meet my eyes. I wasn't sure, of course, but when you threw me that spell and I saw Memo hiding over there... She is the connection between us two. She comforted me in my idea that you wouldn't betray my trust. Thank you so much."
Losing his words again, but for another reason now, he simply hugged her back, his heart throbbing in his chest. She always trusted him. She never lost faith, even after all he did. He tripped her over and over, and she kept on getting back on her feet. He chuckled.
"You are so hopeless, Aqua."
"I am. But that's because I'm surrounded by hopeless people, I'm afraid. But you, Vanitas, aren't hopeless. There is still so much hope left for you. You'd better not think of running away, because you have a training to complete, and I'll make sure you do."
Fun fact: Saphir knew someone would die for a very long time. But she only considered Terra, Aqua or Vanitas. MUHAHAHAHA
Okay, click next and read the epilogue now!