"Okay," Aqua hummed out, pulling most of the attention to her. "Sora, is that… around the end of your first adventure?"
The boy nodded, carefully extracting himself a little from the pile he and his friends had become. He didn't let go of them completely, but just enough that he could see the rest of the room. "Yeah, I think there's like another week where we travelled around, trying to find Mickey and Riku before…" He trailed off, eyebrows furrowing as a small frown crossed his face. "After that, I can't remember anything until waking up a couple of weeks ago."
Unseen by most of them, Naminé flinched, looking down at her hands. They were probably going to see Castle Oblivion next and everything that had happened there. Everything that she had done. Her hands curled into fists in her lap, and she bit her lip. She hoped… She hoped that Sora would perhaps react the same way he had when he had figured out what she had done the first time. She didn't… She hadn't wanted to hurt him, but… She knew she had. She knew very well what it was she did.
Aqua gave herself a second to let that part of Sora's explanation sink in. While that was highly concerning, they would probably find out about it. Then she could evaluate how much more she needed to be worrying about it.
"Well then," she said instead of whatever else she wanted to say. "It's probably time for a break."
"Shouldn't we keep watching?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "That's what we're supposed to do here, right?"
"Maybe," she conceded with a tip of her head. "But we have to realize that for us, time has been passing. Sora, didn't you say that you and Riku were in the Realm of Darkness before coming here?"
"Yeah," Sora admitted. "We had just finished fighting Xemnas and…" He grimaced, sharing a look with Riku. They both knew how taxing that fight had been on them. Even now, hours and several cure spells later, they could both still feel the effects.
"And I'm sure that this has been tiring for all of us, not just those who just came out of a fight." She had seen the way Terra hadn't spent much time standing in between the times he helped Riku or how both Roxas and Naminé had only gotten up if they absolutely had to. Even if the rest of them hadn't been through what Sora and Riku had, they were all tired in their own way. She would admit, rest sounded wonderful to her. She hadn't been able to sleep in the Realm of Darkness, not with the Heartless always attacking her, especially once she lost Master's Defender. And while it was clear that time passed differently in the two worlds, it hadn't been a non-substantial time for her either.
Looking around, she could see that the other adults agreed with her, if Mickey's and Axel's slightly worried faces were anything to go by.
"Sleep sounds like a good idea," Riku murmured, eyes blinking down at Sora and Kairi. "I highly doubt that you've done anything to relax since being kidnapped twice and gaining your Keyblade," he said, remark aimed at Kairi. "And we both just got out of a who knows how long fight with Xemnas." This time, his words were aimed at Sora.
As if listening to him, the room's lights dimmed slightly and the room seemed to… stretch, if that was possible. Two beds appeared in the back, along with a pile of blankets and pillows.
"Man, this place is freaky," Axel muttered. None of them really disagreed with him.
Mickey didn't know what had awoken him. Blinking his eyes open, the mouse king sat up from the couch he had been sleeping on, eyes automatically moving to check the others in the room.
In the dim light, he could see Aqua, Terra, and Ven together on one of the beds conjured, the three of them curled up together, not wanting to spend even a second apart. On the floor near Mickey, in-between all the couches, despite numerous protests, the three Destiny Island's children had created a nest out of blankets and pillows. In their words, 'like they had done when they were young'. Riku was settled in the center, Sora and Kairi both taking a side of the older boy, doing their best to protect him even in their sleep. Mickey couldn't help the small smile that bloomed on his face when gazing at him. It was nice to see him finally allowing his two oldest friends to help him. As painful watching his past actions had to have been, Mickey was glad it happened. Riku had clearly needed it, as well as the breakdowns he'd had. Sometimes, the best way to process emotions was to let them come out first.
Further back, Axel had taken the second bed, along with the three remaining teenagers, Roxas and Xion asleep in his arms, and Naminé reluctantly pulled along by an insisting Xion, who didn't want the girl to sleep alone. Mickey was slightly worried about the way Naminé was curled into a small, little ball in her sleep, and he knew what happened next no doubt would have to do with her time in Castle Oblivion. He didn't know the full story, he honestly didn't know most of it, but he knew it had been bad. It was obvious just from the way she sat and interacted with the rest of them.
So, everyone seemed asleep. What had awoken him then?
Another quiet scrabble sound broke through the silence and Mickey abruptly remembered their final member. Carefully stepping off the couch and heading over to the corner that the young darkness wielder had claimed, he was forced to conjure the smallest light spell as it seemed like darkness itself was seeping into the cracks in the wall, making it darker than the rest of the room.
"Vanitas?" He asked quietly as he pulled the light to him and four sets of red eyes reflected back at him, the Unversed circling Vanitas like cats would circle a person. "What-?!"
"Don't hurt them," Vanitas said, voice also dropping probably just from instinct. One of his hands was resting on the head of the closest Flood and the other three were scattered around him in different positions, one curled up in Vanitas's lap like he had seen Pluto do several times.
"Unversed?" He asked, forcing back the instinct to grab his Keyblade and get rid of them, despite how futile that movement would end up being. "How are they…? Did you summon them?" Can he summon them? Mickey hadn't known.
"I always was able to summon them." Vanitas's voice was bitter, even in its quietness. "They're a part of me." The hand that was resting on the Flood tightened slightly, nails still covered by gloves scratching the top of the Flood's head. The Flood… purred, if such things were possible, its eyes growing smaller for a second as if it had closed its eyes in pleasure.
"A 'part of you'?" Mickey asked, worried about the implications of that sentence. Why were they a part of Vanitas? What were they to him? What was he to them?
"Yes," Vanitas replied. "Part of me." At Mickey's confused look, his eyes moved back to the Flood, who looked up at him. "They're my… emotions, if you could call it that. They appear when I'm…" He swallowed, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there. "… distressed." The Flood that was curled up in his lap stood, stretching like a cat would, before changing its position to settle back in Vanitas's lap.
Mickey's eyes widened. Distressed? But they… Hadn't they been everywhere? Every world, dozens of them. "Can you summon them… without being distressed?" He asked. He had to know, he didn't want to think about the other option. Because Vanitas was a teenager who shied away from gentle looks, who was the apprentice to Xehanort, who snarled and scoffed at any light.
"It's possible," Vanitas said. "But it is harder." So, Vanitas just summoned them. He must have. He must have summoned all of them. Because if all of them were from distressed emotions-
Vanitas sighed, dragging Mickey from his thoughts, and he looked at the teenager. Truly looked at him.
On the surface level, he just looked like Sora with darker hair and yellow eyes. There were scars, faint and white, curling up his face, three of them that faded before they hit his eyes. There were dark-ish circles under his eyes and his hair certainly didn't look like he had been taking care of it well.
One of the Floods shifted, reaching up and pawing at one of Vanitas's arms and Mickey realized something with a jolt.
"Vanitas, your outfit," he started and Vanitas looked up at him from the Flood, eyes flashing for a second in surprise. Like he hadn't realized that the King was still there. "Do you… Do you want to change?" The outfit didn't look comfortable, being identical to the battle suit that he had worn when he had fought Mickey all those years ago, and it seemed… strange to continue to wear it, when it was such a big symbol of Xehanort.
"What?" Vanitas asked, sounding thoroughly taken aback, and Mickey hoped he hadn't overstepped.
"It doesn't look comfortable," Mickey said gently, doing his best not to startle Vanitas further. "And I bet the room could conjure some clothes for you. It's done everything else."
As if the room was listening to them, which it probably was, a pile of dark clothes appeared in between them, neatly folded. Behind them, the same color as the walls, a door faded into being. Vanitas jumped slightly when the clothes appeared and the Floods' eyes flashed in time with their creator.
"No, what, why would I-" Vanitas sputtered, his hand tightening on the Flood, and Mickey winced.
"You don't have to, I just wanted to give you the option," he reassured. "I just…" It was just that Vanitas was a teenager. Who couldn't help but remind Mickey of Riku, still entrenched in the darkness and searching desperately for a way out. Who wore the face of Sora, the boy who sacrificed so much to save the worlds. Who was the half of Ventus, who tried and failed to hold onto what he had, afraid of losing it. Who sat like Naminé, as if expecting something to appear and hurt him. Who had the same jaded, broken look in his eyes as Roxas, the same resigned air as Xion. The feeling of being forgotten, that surrounded Kairi like smoke.
Maybe it was because Mickey was realizing that Vanitas was a teenager and something that clearly happened all those years ago.
Vanitas's face flickered through so many emotions that Mickey wasn't able to catch all of them, pressing himself backwards deeper into the corner. Mickey sighed. He clearly… wasn't helping.
"You should sleep," he eventually settled on, hoping that his words would relax Vanitas slightly. "It'll be good for you." He turned and left then, trying to put enough space between the two of them that Vanitas would relax.
As he headed back to the couch, he listened, hoping that Vanitas would take up the offer. But there was no movements from the corner and Mickey's dreams were full of dust, Keyblades, and the creatures that would jump out from shadows, living reflections of their creator's pain.
Vanitas's eyes hadn't strayed away from the clothes sitting innocently in a pile in front of him once in, what he suspected, an hour. You idiot, it's a pile of clothes, it's not going to hurt you.
But every time he looked at them, every time he looked away, all he could see was the mouse King's eyes. Hear his words. Ringing in his ears over and over again.
"Can you summon them without being distressed?"
"It doesn't look comfortable."
He wanted to snarl, to set one of the Unversed on the pathetic pile of linens in front of him. To shut off his ears like he had been able to do some many times because he had gotten in trouble for listening too much in the past.
But for some stupid reason, he couldn't.
He already hated this. Hated being in this room, forced to watch things that had nothing to do with him, forced to share space with Master Aqua and Venty-Wenty and all the other pathetic Light-Bearers.
Not that they were as light as he thought. The silver-hair had been a pawn of darkness, of Xehanort. And the fire-burner had admitted to being a bad person.
His nails, hidden by his gloves, dug into his arms.
The Unversed moved around him, offering their little comforts.
The clothes sat in a pile in front of him.
"It doesn't look comfortable."
With a final snarl, he stood abruptly, snatching the clothes as he went, causing the Unversed to scatter from around him. He didn't… He wasn't accepting anyone's charity, the room was the one to conjure the clothes. He wasn't… It wasn't… He had been given them, as stupid as it sounded. It would be… bad for him… to ignore it.
"Room," he growled after a second, looking back down at the clothes and noticing what was there. Or, what wasn't there. "Can I have a pair of gloves?" It made him cringe, made him burn to have to ask for it but… his current gloves were made for gripping his Keyblade, made for making sure his hands wouldn't get scratched up during fights. Like the mouse said, they weren't comfortable. But, he couldn't go without gloves. Not with…
The scars on his hands twinged still on the coldest nights, as if remembering what had been done to them a couple of years after his creation, once Xehanort first starting letting him out of the Graveyard.
A pair of gloves appeared on the pile in his arms. He flinched.
It was a… gift from a being much more powerful than him. It would be a bad idea to say no.
That was the only reason he was accepting it.
Kairi giggled as she ran down the hallways, her doll clutched safely in her hand. In her mind, the princess was running to save her love, who was locked in the tower. Also known as her closet. It was like the story Lea had told her, a couple of nights ago, though it was the princess doing the saving now. Because they could save as well.
She rounded one of the corners, making sure to avoid Granny's study. She wasn't allowed in there quite yet, something about her being too young to be near some of the things. She disagreed. She was five, she wasn't a baby anymore.
Or at least, that was what Lea said.
Nevertheless, she didn't go in the room.
The sound of a door being thrown open made her perk up, as there was only one person whom she knew that did that, and the sound of his voice echoing down the hallways only served to prove her correct. All thoughts of the game she was playing left her mind instantly and she pivoted on her heel, racing back to the door.
"Lea!" She shrieked in happiness, seeing her older brother turn to face her at her shout. Without a second thought, she threw herself at him, leaping up into his arms and trusting him to catch her. Like he always did.
Of course, this time was no exception.
"Hello, 'Ri," he replied with a laugh, holding her gently but securely as they spun slightly due to Kairi's force. "What's all this? I've only been gone a couple of hours."
"A couple of long hours," she pouted, leaning back slightly in his hold to give her the best impression of Granny's glare whenever Lea tracked mud into the house. "It's been forever."
"It really hasn't," he chuckled but gave her a final hug before setting her gently back down on the ground. Behind him, Kairi could see Isa, the other boy hiding a gentle smile behind a hand and she waved at him, getting a nod back. Kairi couldn't help the feeling that Isa didn't like her, but to quote her Granny, 'he just didn't know how to talk to children.' Whatever that meant.
"So, how'd you spend the day?" Lea asked her, kicking off his boots and pulling off his jacket. Winter was really starting to settle in and Kairi couldn't wait until it started snowing. Lea always made the best snowmen.
"Well, Granny needed my help starting dinner and then I had to read my schoolbooks." She made a face as she said it, rocking back and forth on her heels. Lea muttered something with a smile as she said it, something that made Isa smack him on the shoulder. She blinked for a quick second. "And then I drew some and played. What'd you do? Make it into the Castle this time?"
Isa's face did something funny as she asked and Lea's eyes crinkled slightly in something that wasn't happiness, but she didn't have a chance to look at it fully before he was back to normal. "Yup," he chirped out, rolling his shoulders back and moving deeper into the room, Isa following him as always. "And managed to get back out with any of them catching us." She gasped in joy, feeling her eyes grow wide.
Every day, Lea would come back with either the fact that he got into the Castle or didn't. She didn't actually know why he wanted in there or even what he did, but why did it matter? It was so cool that he was getting into the Castle. She could see it whenever she went into the square and she desperately wanted to go in. Maybe one day she could convince Lea to take her with him.
"Lea, is that you?" Granny called, her voice coming from the kitchen and the three kids each jumped slightly, if for different reasons.
"Yep!" He replied, offering a hand to Kairi to hold as they moved down the hallway. "Isa's here too!"
"I suspected," Granny replied, in the tone of voice she used whenever she would talk to Isa and Kairi wasn't allowed to listen for some reason. Isa ducked his head at that and Lea turned, giving him a comforting look. Which Kairi still didn't get. Isa came over almost every other day, why was he still worried about being in the house?
The smells from the kitchen hit them as they entered, and Kairi couldn't help the smile that spread over her face at it. Granny always made the best meals, no matter what. Granny turned around, giving them a smile and Kairi smiled back, her hand snug in Lea's grip until-
-it wasn't and the ground shook under her feet.
The square, which usually was populated with so many, was dead and empty and her lungs were nearly bursting and her hands were scraped but she couldn't stop.
The beasts would get her.
She remembered them from before, remembered them from a couple of months ago, remembered the woman who had saved her, with the beautiful weapon. She was told Lea about it that night, whispering under the covers like they loved to do and he had told her about the boy his age with a similar weapon and they had both laughed.
She didn't feel like laughing now.
She could hear the critters behind her. Her little legs couldn't keep this up.
Why did she have to go to the square without Granny?
She knew why.
Because Lea was still missing.
She had heard Granny's worried murmurs, had listened in the beginning when Granny told her to stay in the house and not answer the door for anyone. She had seen the sadness on Granny's face when she had returned from the Castle, when Granny had told her that the people at the Castle hadn't seen him.
But… Kairi couldn't help the feeling that the words were wrong.
If Lea was anywhere besides school, the square, and home, he would be in the Castle. And they knew this. If he had gotten caught sneaking into the Castle, he would have just been thrown out. And it wasn't like that happened anymore. Lea had been an apprentice and he had been so proud of it and Kairi had known there was something he wasn't telling her, but he had told her not to worry so she hadn't and now…
Now her brother was missing, there were beasts in the square, and a blackness in the sky.
She didn't know what to do. What could she even do?
The path caught her toe and she fell with a cry and blood spattered the ground and she wanted to cry because Lea was gone and Isa was too and Granny was clearly worried, clearly didn't trust the Castle anymore and now there was beasts and she was going to DIE-
"Kairi!"
She woke with a gasp, hands reaching out randomly, feeling her heart beating out of her chest. Her breath came in pants and the view of the ceiling she had was blurry.
"Kairi?" At Sora's voice, she dropped her hands and rolled her head to the side slightly. Sora was sitting up and giving her a concerned look, rubbing sleep from one of his eyes. It was clear that he had just woken up as well.
"Sora?" She questioned, mind slowly falling into the present from… whatever dream she'd been having. "What…?"
"You were having a nightmare, I think," he explained, leaning slightly closer to her. "Are you okay?"
"…Yeah," she responded after a second, the feeling of the blankets beneath her and the suspicious lack of Riku between her and Sora working to ground her. "Yeah, I'm okay." She pushed herself up, rolling her shoulders slightly and looked around.
The light had risen up again, back to a seeable level. Ven was still asleep, as was Naminé and Xion, from what she could see. Riku was awake, talking quietly to Mickey, but when he felt her gaze on him, he looked up at her, giving her a concerned look. He must have seen her nightmare. She waved his concerns away.
Aqua was currently trying to wake Ven, the same action that Axel was taking with Xion and Naminé. Roxas was awake, sitting at the head of the bed and giving the room at large a more searching look, like he had just fully started to see it in its totality. Terra was nowhere to be seen, which was concerning until she noticed the door imbedded into the wall. When had that…?
No matter.
Their final member was sitting in the same corner he had exiled himself to the night before, looking like he was trying to melt into the shadows and…
Didn't he used to have different clothes?
Sora followed her gaze. "Mickey told us that the room conjured new clothes for Vanitas," he told her in a low tone and Kairi got the feeling that it had been a whispered confession. "Which was probably a good thing, his last outfit didn't look that comfortable."
Kairi nodded once before looking away so Vanitas wouldn't catch her looking. She had a feeling he would tear into her. Which, seriously, what was his deal? Who willingly worked with someone who had killed and abused and imprisoned people?
She pushed herself to her feet, stretching her arms up and over her head. Ven was, reluctantly, awake, and Aqua had disappeared into the room with Terra. Kairi wondered for a quick second if there had been something that they should have watched out for when watching the past, as it was now clear that Terra had been possessed by that madman and it was some version of… him, if you could even call it that, that Sora had fought. Not that it would have been a willing thing.
"I assume we're going to start watching soon?" She asked as Sora stood as well and the boy gave her a nod.
Well, she thought, looking around as Xion and Naminé both returned to the land of the waking. Hopefully this watching won't hurt people as much as the last one clearly hurt Riku.
Terra… was well aware that he currently shouldn't be acting like this.
He was a Keyblade Wielder, for stars' sake. He had fought countless enemies, knew how to wield his blade flawlessly. He was the oldest and it wasn't like he was a stranger to grief and heartache and hurt.
So why was it one measly nightmare that had managed to knock him so thoroughly to the ground?
His hands ran through his hair as he sat on the ground, back pressed against the wall behind him. He didn't know where the room had come from, why it was there, but it was mostly just a tinier version of the room in which they had watched the past. It was just currently used by Terra as he worked to make sure he wouldn't fall into a panic attack.
"Aqua, put an end to me."
"Show me your darkness."
"Did you really help kill our master?"
"Stop, stop, please! Leave them alone!"
"Try all you want but-"
"Terra?" Aqua's voice broke through the haze in his mind and he flinched, his head slamming against the wall. The woman blinked, taking in his form, before gently closing the door behind herself and hurrying to his side, falling to her knees next to him.
"Terra, hey," she said quietly, one hand already outreached and placed on his head, Cura flowing through it easily. "It's okay. What happened?"
For a second he considered lying to her, but the thought was thrown out almost immediately. It was Aqua, she would be able to tell that he was lying instantly. "Nightmare," he replied quietly, wincing at the roughness of his voice. "Followed by a flashback, I think."
Aqua hummed, voice unreadable for a second before she changed her position and leaning closer to him, wrapping one of her arms around him and pressing their temples together.
"About Xehanort?" She whispered and he nodded once. She simply sighed and leaned closer, curling her unoccupied hand around his. "Wanna talk about it?"
He shook his head faster than he ever thought had in his life.
"Okay, but… It'll probably get brought up," she murmured, speaking the part of him that he didn't want to acknowledge out loud. "Our past is probably going to get shown too."
"I know." He didn't say anything besides that and she let it be, the two of them simply sitting together in the quietness. Before, of course, something occurred to him.
"Aqua?" He asked and she hummed in answer. "There's something I have to tell you."
Aqua paused, able to discern his tone of voice, and sat back slightly, keeping their hands intertwined with each other but facing him fully. "What?"
He winced, closing one eye slightly. Hoping that Aqua doesn't kill me. "Y'know the boy, Riku?" She nodded once. "Well, the fact that he's… a Keyblade Wielder… isn't an accident?"
"What." It wasn't a question.
Terra ran his tongue over his teeth. "I may… have Bequeathed to him? When I was there?"
"You did what?!" Terra finally managed to open his eyes to look at her just as she stood up, pulling their hands apart. He flinched slightly.
"I Bequeathed to him." His voice was more steady this time. "About ten years ago now."
"He… You-" She spun on her heel and paced the length of the room. Terra blew out a slow breath, watching her carefully. He knew this was how she'd react, given the fact that Riku was five when he had visited and her opinions while they were watching the past clearly hadn't changed that outcome.
"He was five," she finally managed to spit out, turning on her heel once she reached the door a third time, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him. He wilted.
"I know," he responded and she took to pacing again. "But Aqua… He was so bright."
"I know," she snapped.
"Bright enough to draw me in from the Lanes Between Worlds."
"I know."
"And if he could draw me in, who knew what else he could draw in." Aqua finally paused slightly at his words and he pounced on the opportunity. Sue him, he didn't want to die. "Aqua, he was always going to be something special, that much is so obvious. I thought I could give him a fighting chance with the Keyblade." He paused, looking down again. "And it wasn't like I meant to leave him there all alone. I had plans to come back, after a couple of years, once he was older. Talk to him, truly explain everything. He had already realized that I was from a world not his own, he already wanted to leave his island. What else could I do but try and help him the best I could?"
Aqua gazed down at Terra, biting her tongue. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to be mad so badly because Riku had been five. He had been a child, safe and innocent.
But… He had also been bright. So stupidly bright that it dragged her from the Lanes Between. He was special and Terra… wasn't wrong about giving him some form of protection. Not that it had ended up helping him much, but she as hell wasn't going to say that to Terra when he was already dealing with so much.
Idiot, she cursed herself. Terra was probably there first; you should have realized that Terra gave Riku a Keyblade. What kind of a Keyblade Master are you?
"Fine," she eventually settled on, sitting down on the floor in front of Terra. He looked at her in surprise. "Fine, I realize that you did the best you could." She ran a hand through her hair. "Did you Bequeath to Sora as well?"
"No," he responded with a shake of his head. "I don't know how that happened. The thing… with the light in the darkness… when he was trying to save Riku perhaps?" She bit her lip. Maybe…
She sighed slightly, pressing her hands into her face.
"Okay," she murmured. "Okay." She wiped at her face once, subtly wiping away the tears that had been building in her eyes. She was a Keyblade Master, they don't cry. "Up Terra," she said, reaching a hand out and grabbing one of his. "We have to be there, for them. You can speak to Riku when you feel up to it, though you will be doing it, and I'll work to not strangle Vanitas with my bare hands." She let out a final breath. "And we'll be there for the kids. No matter what."
Terra looked at her before nodding once. "Let's go watch some more of the past," he told her and she nodded. Squeezing his hand a final time, she backed up and reached out to the door, pushing it open. To her relief, it seemed like everyone was up, even Vanitas. She paused for a quick second. Had he even slept? He had been awake the last time she could remember before she slipped off to dreamland, definitely not having a nightmare, and he had been awake when she had woken. Had he even fallen asleep?
She gave him a cursory glance, trying not to focus too hard on him. That was… not something she was equipped to handle right then.
"Is everyone ready?" She asked the room at large, trying to push all the confidence that she didn't feel in her voice. There were nods from around the room. "Let's do it then."
Unseen by everyone, Naminé took several struggling breaths and pressed her nails into her palms so hard that they broke skin. They were probably about to see what she had done. To Sora and the Riku Replica and-
She sucked in a breath. Sora hadn't been mad at her when he found at. He hadn't.
She pressed her eyes closed against the sting of tears.
He wouldn't be mad at her now, right?
She desperately hoped so.