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back at it again @Krispee Kreme (thanks rover)
There's another boy in the Land of Departure.
Ventus has seen him, maybe three times, despite apparently everyone involved's best efforts. Always in the evening or the early morning. Questioning Aqua and Terra never helped, and the one time he walked up to Master Eraqus and asked him plainly he'd gotten a firm hand on his head and a stern word to mind his studies.
He'd...forgotten about it for a while after that. Just hadn't thought about it, and went back to training with Terra and Aqua. They were finally letting him use keyblade, and they said it was fall now, and the leaves turning red meant snow was on the way, and it was so dreadfully exciting.
But he'd seen the boy again, when grabbing a book for Terra late at night, just a flash of a head of black hair from a window, but before he could stop himself he was pressed up to the glass like someone had pulled a wire taunt.
The other figure, the other boy, his age maybe, was limping along back towards a wing of the house Ventus had thought nobody used. He'd opened a door, vanishing from veiw, and Ventus had reeled back as the spell was broken.
The desire to follow the other boy was overwelming. Ventus had to swallow it down, a hand on his chest as his heart pounded. He'd finally managed to stumble to bed, but his mind kept returning to the door, to the boy, to the...incessent pulling he felt. It was frightening, but he kept it to himself, even as Aqua scolded him for poor footwork.
That night he sat up in bed, eyes wide and unblinking. He could put it off no longer. Without even bothering to put anything over his sleep clothes he walked out over the wet grass towards the unused wing of the house, its windows boarded up and dark. The door, when he put his hand onto it was cold. It was also locked.
Ventus groaned. Unlock spells...the simplest imaginable, still eluded him. There was only one thing to do. With a huff he shot a palm out, a giant gust of wind following and rattling the door on his hinges. It remained closed, feeling desperate, the pull in his mind growing stronger, Ven tried again and again.
When he paused, opening his eyes and breathing raggedly, the door was swinging--its lock shattered and its hinges squealing from the abuse. Ven felt terrible for about a half second, before he stepped inside.
Ventus has seen him, maybe three times, despite apparently everyone involved's best efforts. Always in the evening or the early morning. Questioning Aqua and Terra never helped, and the one time he walked up to Master Eraqus and asked him plainly he'd gotten a firm hand on his head and a stern word to mind his studies.
He'd...forgotten about it for a while after that. Just hadn't thought about it, and went back to training with Terra and Aqua. They were finally letting him use keyblade, and they said it was fall now, and the leaves turning red meant snow was on the way, and it was so dreadfully exciting.
But he'd seen the boy again, when grabbing a book for Terra late at night, just a flash of a head of black hair from a window, but before he could stop himself he was pressed up to the glass like someone had pulled a wire taunt.
The other figure, the other boy, his age maybe, was limping along back towards a wing of the house Ventus had thought nobody used. He'd opened a door, vanishing from veiw, and Ventus had reeled back as the spell was broken.
The desire to follow the other boy was overwelming. Ventus had to swallow it down, a hand on his chest as his heart pounded. He'd finally managed to stumble to bed, but his mind kept returning to the door, to the boy, to the...incessent pulling he felt. It was frightening, but he kept it to himself, even as Aqua scolded him for poor footwork.
That night he sat up in bed, eyes wide and unblinking. He could put it off no longer. Without even bothering to put anything over his sleep clothes he walked out over the wet grass towards the unused wing of the house, its windows boarded up and dark. The door, when he put his hand onto it was cold. It was also locked.
Ventus groaned. Unlock spells...the simplest imaginable, still eluded him. There was only one thing to do. With a huff he shot a palm out, a giant gust of wind following and rattling the door on his hinges. It remained closed, feeling desperate, the pull in his mind growing stronger, Ven tried again and again.
When he paused, opening his eyes and breathing raggedly, the door was swinging--its lock shattered and its hinges squealing from the abuse. Ven felt terrible for about a half second, before he stepped inside.
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You know, if they survive this.
Ventus' optimism usually comes from a stalwart belief in his friends, but with that relationship hardly 8 months old and recently shaken...its hard to summon it.
He takes the torch, staring at the flickering flames for a second before Vanitas speaks again. Ventus nods slowly.
"Don't say 'make her' like that." Ven says quietly, but he's already pretty much agreed. He just really doesn't want to fight her. He starts quietly walking, keeping the torch low and leaning around the hallways. The walk to the battered remains of the door isn't long...but it feels like forever.
"We cant take the torch out there." Ventus whispers, glancing back at Vanitas. "We don't...they could be right in front of us." They could be anywhere.
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'What's with all these scuffed up doors' enters Vanitas's head and then exits it without hitting a conclusion. He stops at the most broken one with Ventus - the one to the stairs.
They could be anywhere but... "They can't be everywhere," Vanitas says, his voice equally low, but there's a note of uncertainty to it. Eraqus is really powerful and nothing Vanitas has ever done has shown a hint of being able to cause him harm; he's always in control. Maybe they do know where they both are, and are just toying... no, that doesn't make sense. Or they wouldn't have been physically looking in the first place.
"Fine, we'll say pretty please with rainbows on top as long as she does it." Well, Vanitas won't. He has some dignity. He really doesn't want to fight her either; he's seen her utterly obliterate a training dummy in the yard by accident, a slip in her usual perfect poise. He doesn't like thinking about how they might not have a choice, if Eraqus orders her; it roils in his stomach, an Unversed clawing at his insides unable to escape.
It's also at the idea he has; this has never worked on Eraqus. The man has always been able to pinpoint him and pull him out of the shadows, or simply wait the short time before Vanitas loses hold of it and comes back into form, staring down at him. "Snuff the torch then, I'm going to try something."
He takes as deep a breath as he can and melts onto the floor, feeling his way along it and under the door. He's not really sure how he can 'see' anything like this, but there's nobody on the other side, at least immediately; he quickly moves back under and just in time before he's himself, panting on the stone. He hates doing this. It's like holding his breath, or pulling himself up a wall with one arm, but more than that, it's like not being real. "No-one's... there." The stairs might be another matter themselves.
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"I'll do the talking, if you're gonna be stupid about it." Ventus groans, rubbing his face a little. He'll figure out how to convince Aqua to let them out of here, if you're so fucking complicated. For a second, he's confused about how exactly he's supposed to put the torch out but...good old Aero comes in again, blowing it out in half a second. Best spell. Best. He only hopes Vanitas has a plan to relight it later.
The dark takes a second for his eyes to adjust, which is a small mercy because Ventus blinks to see the end of vanitas melting into shadow in what can only be described as some sort of horrifying hallucination. Then he blinks again and Vanitas is back, gasping onto the door and looking worse then ever.
"W-what was that." Ventus took a step back, gripping the torch tightly. The connection between the two sears like a live wire as Ventus feels paranoia eat at it. What was that? Darkness? It couldn't be that, could it? Darkness was evil and cruel and tore you away from what you loved and made you different and....
oh no...
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The emotion jangles between them like a repetitive rotary phone and adds to the paranoia already there. Adrenalin or it's equivalent is a hell of a drug; it aids in pushing Vanitas to his feet, his heart already curdling sour, already singing betrayal. Right. Darkness bad, light good. Should have thought Ventus would have remembered sooner.
"What do you think, Ventus?" He says, the glow of his eyes as he cocks his head even more pronounced with the torch out. His smile is half sneer, the effect somewhat ruined by how awful he feels and the constant distracting pulling worry of discovery, eyes breaking line to dart to the doors and hall. He looks at Ventus clutching the torch like a lifeline. "What, are you going to hit me with that?" He's almost insulted.
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He might fear Eraqus, for some deep, unexamined reason, but Eraqus had put a healthy fear of darkness in his head, and Aqua and Terra had very firmly, almost urgently affirmed it. Darkness was just about the worst thing Ven could think of. Something that corrupted and wanted to hurt.
"That was Darkness." Ventus looked at Vanitas glowing red eyes, failing to recognize them as a sign of infection, but feeling trepidation stir all the same, swirling around them both. "You can't. You're tricking me?" He didn't mean it to sound like a question. "This isn't...isn't safe. I need to-"
He half turns, clearly unsure but unwilling to tolerate Vanitas's overt threats. Maybe he'd hit you with this stick Vanitas, if you made him.
"my mother told me I was a monster. she was right of course but it still hurt"
"What, you need to what? Run back to Eraqus? To your friends? They wouldn't care though. They're not going to protect you. They'll just stand by and watch it happen because they don't care what happens to you, they'll just lock you away after and pretend everything's fine!" He's been stepping closer as he's been saying this, face locked in a rictus grin and his voice drops low with vehemence. "You're the one who came to me." If anyone was tricking anyone here, then you played yourself.