The desert princess slept soundly in her glass prison. Riku and Vanitas stared at her uncannily peaceful face as Maleficent approached them. She had on a gentle smile, yet her sharp features made her look sinister. The two boys turned toward her in unison, Maleficent switching her eyes between them and then to the princess in the chamber.

"It shouldn't be long before we are able to open The Door." She said it with a heaviness that instantly threw Riku into the back of his mind.

"What's this door you're talking about?" asked Riku. "Does it… It doesn't have anything to do with the heartless, does it?" Riku was swimming in his thoughts, his words sounding hollow out as they left his mouth. "When my island was consumed by darkness, there was a door… when I opened it, the heartless were let through to devour what was left of my home."

"You say were the one to open this door, Riku?"

"I was…" Riku wanted to defend himself, but it really was him that brought upon the finishing blow. Guilt struck his heart. He would make up for it—using the same darkness that took everything away, he would use it to get it all back.

"Then you should have no problem opening another one. This 'door' I mentioned—it is called the Door to Darkness. It holds the power to reign over all worlds, and yes, it contains heartless. Where else would they come from but beyond the darkness?"

Riku looked to the ground and clenched his fists.

"It's too late to grow a conscience now, boy. Finish what you've started, or have you forgotten our deal?"

"Oh, I didn't forget our deal. I was just thinking how great it would be to have the kind of power you're talking about." Riku's teeth were gritted despite himself.

Vanitas placed a rough hand on Riku's shoulder, trying to comfort him or intimidate him he had no idea. All Riku knew that was when he did so, he felt darkness flow through Vanitas's hand and into his body.

"At the end of all this I'm getting my friends back." He looked at Vanitas with annoyance, his hand still on his shoulder. "Do you mind?"

Vanitas didn't faulter.

"First you're on about kissing me, and now your hands are lingering on me for longer than they should be."

"Hey, I only said I'd kiss you so you'd be able to taste a little more darkness."

"Taste a—please, never say that again. You're too casual with those kinds of jokes, Vanitas, you're just like So—"

"Don't say that!" Vanitas snapped. He ripped his hand from Riku to his own surprise. "I am not like anyone else. I am like me and that's it. I'm not your Sora, and I'm not Ventus. I'm me!" Vanitas's fists were balled up and he was panting. Shouting out of nowhere startled Riku. He thought to comfort him, but the small amount of darkness Vanitas had just rendered into him took over instead.

"You are only a small part of a bigger whole. You don't exist as a 'you,' not without the other parts. I'm going to reunite those parts… which means you do not exist without me either."

"No, I'm me and no one else!"

"You're a fragment of my friend Sora, and when I have him back, you'll be gone. You won't even be 'Vanitas' anymore."

"Shut up!"

A beam of darkness burst from Vanitas's hand and it crashed into itself in the solid form of a sword, intricate and shaped like a key. There were gear-like mechanics framing a piercing blue eye embedded in the hilt. He swung it with might at Riku and it hit him in the side, eliciting a cry of pain as he flew back and landed some ways from both Vanitas and Maleficent.

"Now, now, boys," cooed Maleficent, "With the darkness swimming so heavily within both of you, I know that it must be hard for you to hold your tongues," she looked at Riku, "and your tempers," she said, looking at Vanitas, "but we must play nice if this is going to get done in any timely manner."

"Why should I help you, again?"

"Riku, did you hit your head when you fell just now? You already answered your question in your previous quip to Vanitas—to find your friends."

"You open the Door to Darkness, then what? What does that mean for me and my friends?"

"You want to protect your friends, don't you?" Maleficent turned away from them, talking with her back to their faces. "I can offer you the power to do so. All the strength you could ever need can be given to you by the darkness—the darkness that I will control."

"Strength?" said Riku, with his eyes wide. Maleficent waved her hand and the same beam of darkness that had shot from Vanitas's hand came from Riku's.

Then, there was a sword, sleek and fine unlike Vanitas's, but red, black, and blue like his—the colors of darkness with a piercing blue eye embedded in the hilt. It felt heavy in his hand and fit so perfectly in his grip. He held it out in front of him and looked down the edge, his view of Maleficent balanced on the tip. She turned around and waved another hand, a corridor of darkness erupting from the floor.

"Your next destination is Wonderland. Don't disappoint me… and oh, try not to get lost."

Vanitas scoffed as he trudged toward the portal. Riku was still looking down his sword when the other boy grabbed his hand and pulled him through the darkness.

"Not so rough, I'll fall," warned Riku.

"You seemed like the type to like it rough. What, would you rather I caress your hand while I held it?"

"I said those jokes weren't funny." Riku hissed.

If the part about falling had been a warning it came to pass, for after a few steps Riku and Vanitas found that the floor had dropped out from beneath them and they suddenly found themselves falling at an incredibly fast rate. Riku tried opening his eyes against the whipping wind to see nothing but crazed-out shapes and colors passing by him in blurry streaks. He cried out Vanitas's name, who had his arms up in front of his face.

Riku did his best to angle his body closer to Vanitas, grabbing back one of his hands with his own, just so he could have something to hold on to. It seemed like they would fall forever if they didn't hit the ground soon, but as soon as the panic really began to set in, they slowed, the shapes on the walls becoming a clear and wavy checker pattern. Riku peered down and Vanitas peeked beyond his brace to follow his gaze.

The ground was visible and approaching at a steady rate. The two landed hand in hand, one foot after the other with no trouble at all. They were in a circular room with nothing other than a door on one side of the wall.

Vanitas took in his surroundings until he saw Riku's hand in his. He narrowed his eyes at him and Riku immediately pulled away, looking away with a furrowed brow.

"Who's touching who, you said?" Vanitas smirked.

Riku hurriedly reached out to open the door, ignoring Vanitas. Behind it was another door. He turned red as Vanitas choked on his own laughter. He rushed to open the second door but there was a third door behind that one. He kept going, but the doors never seemed to stop, along with Vanitas's laugher. However, as Vanitas's howls got louder, the doors got smaller. Each door Riku opened was smaller than the one in front of it!

"Alright, fine," huffed Riku, finally giving up. He stepped aside and crossed his arms, motioning to the mess of open doors with his head. "You try," he beckoned.

Vanitas smirked before rolling his eyes and stepping forward to open the door. He had to crouch to reach the knob but he pushed it open with ease, another room showing itself on the other side.

"You're welcome," Vanitas said, his tongue sticking out from his mouth.

"Whatever."

Riku's eyes couldn't roll any harder and he pushed Vanitas aside to crawl through the final door. Vanitas followed on his knees behind him and they found themselves in another small room with the same crazy feel to it. There was an overabundance of patterns that made the room noisy and crowded even though the only thing in this one was a table and another small door.

The two crouched in front of the door, thinking they'd crawl through this one too, but when Riku tried the knob he found it was locked.

"Punch it," suggested Vanitas.

"No, don't do that!" cried a sleepy voice. It was coming from the door.

"Hello?" Riku called through the door, trying the knob again, he jiggled it roughly, putting more force into it this time.

"I told you—punch it," said Vanitas one more time, throwing a fist into the air.

"Didn't you hear me? I said not to—yawn."

The keyhole underneath the knob stretched wide open at the same time the voice yawned. The voice was not coming from beyond the door, it was the door—or at least the doorknob. A sleepy pair of eyes opened themselves and squinted up at both Riku and Vanitas, their own eyes wide at the bizarre sight.

"I'll open for you," relented the doorknob, "but there's no way you're getting through—you're too big!"

"Well, how do we go through then? How do we get smaller?" asked Riku.

The doorknob yawned and closed his eyes.

"How do we get smaller!?" yelled Vanitas, pounding his fist on the floor.

The doorknob jumped, not that doorknobs can jump, and blinked his eyes up at Vanitas. The doorknob scrunched up his face before looking over toward the center of the room.

"Why don't you try the bottle on the table?"

Riku had no hesitation in taking a small sip from the mysterious bottle labeled "drink me" that was apparent on the table. He shivered and shut his eyes, waiting for whatever he was feeling to stop shaking him. He blinked several times, his vision blurry. Then, Vanitas began howling with laugher. Riku opened his eyes and he saw why. He was incredibly tiny, standing on the table top, staring up toward a towering Vanitas.

"This can't be," Riku cried. "Just how tall am I now?!"

"Man, Riku, I didn't think it, but it looks like you're less than six inches," Vanitas howled. Riku's face turned bright red.

"And being Sora's friend means I know more than you probably think. I could tell you what's up. Get down here and I might even show you." Riku was trying to be as snide as Vanitas, maybe even a little cocky, but the second it left his mouth he realized what he had just said.

"Riku, you pervert!" cried Vanitas with tears of laughter leaking from his eyes as he took the bottle in his hand. Something about the way he said it made Riku's heart stop. The flush of embarrassment drained from his face and a solemn look took over. Vanitas soon met him by his side, shrinking down to join him on the table. When Riku didn't say anything back he began to study his face. "What? No come back?"

"Let's just go. I'm not on this mission to play around."

"That's right," a smile slid across Vanitas's face. The next thing he said was at a whisper. "Soon, I'll make the cut. He'll commend me."

"Who would ever praise you?" Riku asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Vanitas punched his partner in the arm, teasing him as he ran ahead through the door. Riku hurried down the path after him, trees beginning to grow around them in a small forest. It wasn't just his face; Vanitas really did remind him of Sora. His energy was just like his and as he saw Vanitas race ahead of him something familiar came over him.

"So, you wanna race, do ya?" Riku's heart thumped with joy as he sped up to meet Vanitas who turned his head to peer at Riku from the side. The two smirked at each other, a competitive nature running through them both. They were going head to head, toe to toe, staring a daring stare into each other's eyes, glancing every so often at the road ahead to make sure they didn't trip.

However, Vanitas still managed to trip and went rolling onto the path ahead before smacking his head onto a white picket fence.

"And the winner is… Riku!" Riku announced his own victory. Vanitas sat up, rubbing the back of his hair.

"You just got lucky is all. What did I hit my head on anyway?"

The two looked up to see a large cottage standing on the side of the path. There was something odd about it though. It must have been the giant protruding arms and legs coming from the windows and doors.

"Monster!" cried Vanitas, pointing.

"I'm not a monster!" cried a voice from inside the cottage. It was soft and gentle like a small girl's. The hands of the monstrous beast reached for a window in the front and opened the shutters. Two big blue eyes stared down at both Riku and Vanitas. "Oh please, you must help me. My name is Alice. I appear to have gotten stuck."

"How'd you get stuck in a place like that, Alice?" Riku asked as he approached.

"Well, I was looking for some gloves for the white rabbit and I came across a small box of treats. They had the words 'eat me' on them, so of course I did. Next thing you know I'm the size of this cottage!

"What kind of rabbit wears gloves?" snorted Vanitas, still rubbing the back of his head.

"The kind that lives in a cottage and eats frosted cookies," Riku replied.

"Try this," Vanitas said to Alice, "It might make you smaller." Vanitas took a bottle from his belt and held it up to Alice who pinched it between two giant fingers.

"You stole the bottle the doorknob gave us?"

"I didn't steal it. I… borrowed it," Vanitas turned his head to the side, mumbling snidely, "with no intention of returning it."

The sound of Riku's eyes rolling was almost audible, and while he was busy with a palm to his face, Alice had taken a very large sip of the bottle that Vanitas had handed her. Within seconds her arms and legs shrunk back from the cottage's openings and Alice had disappeared inside. A girl, just a child, exited out the front door after only a few moments. She had had golden hair and a beautiful blue dress that matched her eyes.

"Thank you for helping me, uh…" Alice paused for their names.

"I'm Vanitas and he's Riku."

"Thank you, Vanitas, Riku. It's a pleasure to meet you." Alice relieved a perfect smile, her rosy cheeks and pink lips like flowers. She curtsied when she thanked him. She held out her hand, offering back to empty bottle. So kind, as if there weren't a single drop of darkness in her heart.

Vanitas took her hand with a smile and offered a bow to meet her curtsey.

"The pleasure is all mine, Alice. Did you say you were looking for a white rabbit?"

"Oh yes! I've meant to bring him his gloves—oh, they must be back in the cottage."

"Well, we certainly can't go looking for him without those gloves to return to him. Why don't you go find them and we'll meet you right back out here."

"Vanitas what're you—" Riku tried to ask, but Vanitas cut him off.

"Hurry back! Stay away from those cookies now, you hear?" Vanitas hurried Alice off back into the cottage, Riku waiting until she was gone to continue talking.

"What's your angle? I said earlier, we're not here to play around."

"Riku, couldn't you tell? That girl's heart was pure light—she's one of the Princesses of Heart. See, this is why I'm the leader."

"Excuse me? You're the what now?"

"I'm the man… with the plan."

On the last word, Alice came bounding out of the cottage, gloves in hand. No second sooner she went flying through the air, having tripped on the outstretched leg of Vanitas. The gloves continued flying, but Vanitas caught Alice with a single arm before she hit the ground and hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

"The gloves! Oh my, Vanitas, thank you for saving me once more, but you can put me down now."

But Vanitas said nothing—just opened a corridor of darkness and lead the way back to Maleficent and the chamber.

There was a lot of struggling once Alice figured out what was going on. She beat her fists on his shoulder and shouted names at him.

"You brute! You're the monster here! Let me down at once! Oh, I shall never find the white rabbit like this!"

No doubt scared by the darkness of the corridor, Alice quieted and covered her eyes the rest of the way back. Vanitas himself found no grace in shoving Alice into one of the glass chambers and before she could jump out, a fog surrounded her, putting her into a deep sleep.

"You couldn't have been a little gentler? You were so smooth with Jasmine, but Alice is just a little girl. You can't do that!" Scolded Riku.

"Actually, I figured she'd be easy to carry because she was a child."

"I know you said we weren't kidnapping anyone but that was definitely kidnapping."

"She was a Princess of Heart in any case—part of the mission. I just got a little carried away."

"Was it the darkness? Did it take over?"

"Oh Riku, Riku, Riku. Don't think we fall into darkness the same way. You hold your darkness in a little container within your heart. For me, however, darkness is my container. We're not on the same level. We never will be."

There was a slow applaud from behind them just then and they turned around to see the familiar Maleficent. Her scepter was tucked into the crook of her elbow and her elegantly bony hands clapped for them both.

"Well done, Riku. Vanitas."

"Now I get what I want, right? You're going to give me my friends?" Riku said no missing a beat.

"You have a choice, Riku. Sora's heart, Sora's memories…" she paused, "…or Kairi." Vanitas nearly lost his footing.

"You have to pick his heart, Riku. Pick Ventus's—I mean Sora's heart." Riku ignored the unfamiliar name as he did last time Vanitas brought it up.

What Vanitas wanted was not his concern. His only attention was reuniting with the friends he'd known his whole life—if anything, they were his life. All these unfamiliar worlds and people—he couldn't enjoy them without everyone together.

Back on the island… they promised to build a raft and sail to new worlds together. Riku didn't want to think back to then—to the moment he decided to destroy it all. He was going to make up for it. He didn't want to be left behind.

"Just so we can get him back together… please, I choose Kairi."

Maleficent took her staff and waved it off to the side, summoning a corridor of darkness. She smiled gently and nodded her head.

"Don't forget to return. Then again, it's not like you have anywhere else to go."

You could hear the smile on Maleficent's lips as she said her last words. Riku paid no mind. All he could think about was seeing Kairi.

If only just to say how sorry he was.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Quite a lot of crude humor in this one! But that's what the tags are for. I've definitley written Vanitas as his gremlin mode headcanon here instead of his actual canon behavior, but I think it makes the story much more fun to write and read. Not to mention I want to draw that parallel between him and Sora who didn't get enough time to act a goofball before he was torn apart by the darkness. Hopefully we see more of him soon even though Riku has chosen Kairi!