back at it again @Krispee Kreme (thanks rover)

[vacantis]

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.

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[vapidus]

It's not an exaggeration to say that Vanitas's life is pain. The rotten core of his heart drips from it's wound - or would, were it not for the bracelet keeping everything in him, turning blood loss into spreading bruising. He is not allowed to see his other half, that it aches for, and night makes this somewhat easy. In his late sessions, Eraqus says that, with effort, Vanitas could work his way back into the light, into good graces, into all the things Vanitas misses but can't imagine. Vanitas doesn't believe it. Some part of him wants to.

Something ancient and deeper than that drives him, in accepting the state of affairs, in swallowing hardship like food. It's not anything mystical, though it does resonate with his darkness-nature - it's pure and utter survival.

He's lying on his back in his bed, breathing shallowly for care of his ribs. He heals fast - it will be gone by next lesson, and right now it's too much to think even of casting a spell. The door suddenly shaking like something's struck it causes him to jolt upright and then roll off the bed with the momentum of curling up with a yelp. He hits the floor and clambers to his feet against stars, just in time for the door to slam open fully, revealing... himself.

Or not. His other half. The one he's not allowed to see, on pain of-
Vanitas's decision making capabilities aren't the best at the best of times, but this might be why he takes one look at Ventus standing in the doorway and tries to fling himself out of a fifth-floor window.