“Why does the sun set here? It’s not real. None of this is real.” Vanitas gestures sharply at the view, the sun sinking slowly into the ocean.

Ventus hums beside him. “Maybe, because it is real.”

Vanitas frowns at him. “Ventus, I just said-.”

“And maybe you’re wrong.” Ventus looks at him and sticks his tongue out. “Maybe it’s real, maybe it’s not. But we’re real and we’re here, so something about this place is real. Dreams and hearts might not be physical, but they’re real, right?”

Looking back at the sun, Vanitas scowls, eyebrows drawing together sharply. “It’s not the same.”

“Well obviously not.” Ventus laughs. “But they’re real, we’re real, and maybe the sun sets because we expect it to. Even dreams have to follow some rules. I like it, so that’s what matters.”

“Hmph, your wants don’t define the universe, Ventus.”

“Maybe not the whole universe, but for this part of it, I think whatever we want goes.” Ventus elbows him in the side. “Watch the sunset with me.”

Vanitas elbows him back. “Fine.”

Real or not real, I want to be here with you.

~~

His master offers him a second chance to be a part of something that will remake the world. He offers him a second chance to be more. Everything in Vanitas’s head is unsettled and buzzing, the pieces not lining up right, but he knows that his master no longer has anything to offer. Vanitas takes the coat from his gnarled hands anyway and plays the part of a pawn yet again.

“Go, get stronger so that you are ready.”

It’s exactly what he needs. Vanitas goes to a place full of monsters. It echoes with laughter during the day, but he finds evidence that it used to be full of screams. Close enough. Mindlessly, he sends the Unversed crawling through the doors. Swipe a card, send a piece of himself through, grow stronger, and then get another door. It’s simple, mindless.

It gives him time to sort out the buzzing in his head. A sundrenched beach, a moonlit ocean, and someone beside him. He had always longed for it and somehow…

Dream or reality, Vanitas wants to believe.

~~

Something in the universe shifts and his chest lights up like a star. The emotions, not his, not his, overflow from his broken piece leaving him gasping and shaking with the Unversed all around. Their eyes are the only ones on him, thankfully. If anyone else saw, if his master knew…

No. This is his chance. This is what he’s been planning for.

He forces the emotions back under his skin, ignoring the shake in his hands, in his arms. Months and months and finally-. He opens the portal, following the chain wrapped around his bit of darkness that might be called a heart.

He’s surprised when it opens up on a place long destroyed. Surprised and then not. He shakes his head as he looks up at the restored spires, eyes drawn to one window in particular. “You were worried about where you’d be, about your home…” Vanitas strides forward, thrusting the doors open to a place he never would have been welcomed. He’s only been here once before, but the bond is burning and he knows that he’s close.

Voices echo from the hall above and Vanitas grins under his mask. Perfect, all the pieces are here. His steps are silent as he moves up to the hall. He can see them, Sora and his friends and even Master Aqua. Emotions struggle to make themselves known, but he tamps them down and focuses on the now, on what they expect.

“That was a neat trick. No wonder no one could find him.” No wonder I couldn’t find him. Vanitas strides across the floor toward them. Sora and his friends turn, drop into ready poses.

“Vanitas!” Sora is ready for him this time, but Vanitas isn’t here for him. Not entirely. He’ll need something from him soon, but the boy must have figured it out by now.

Aqua runs forward, her face set into a grimace at the sight of him. “Why are you here?” Freak, monster. The insults burn in her eyes, but they’re darker than they used to be.

There are many things they need to say to one another. Now is not the time. He still has a part to play to his master. Vanitas pauses a few feet from Sora and spreads his hands. “Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt your touching reunion, but surely you won’t begrudge me a moment with my other?”

Lights, magic, brighten the sunlight filled room. Sora’s keyblade is a heavy thing in his hands, but he spins it like it’s made of air. Sora charges at him, his friends at his sides, and Vanitas can only sigh. He doesn’t have time for this. The figure in the chair is waiting, has been waiting, and Vanitas cannot wait any longer.

Dark shadows are everywhere and he long ago learned to manipulate his very space among them. The space distorts around him and he darts past Sora and his friends. His chest is throbbing and he needs-. He pulls himself past all of them, as close as he can bear.

Seated on top of a throne that would not be a comfortable place for a decade long nap, Vanitas watches Aqua gasp and look around. She’s out of practice. Where has she been for these many years? Vanitas leans forward, places his chin in the palm of his hand.

All of them turn, Aqua gasping in disbelief, “What?” As if she never learned it herself. He saw her, fought her as she turned such a move back against him. Well, it’s not like they’re fighting now. Not yet. They won’t let him take because they don’t know. And it’s not like he can run off with the shell without the heart within.

“So, Venty-Wenty wants to keep sleeping.” He can’t keep the smile off his face. Oh, the things he’ll hear about that. “What am I ever going to do with you?”

“Shut up!” Aqua’s voice snaps louder than the summoning of her keyblade. She leaps at him, above him, and comes down hard. He swings his arm up, catches her keyblade against his. She struggles to break past him and he has to wonder if he’s gotten that much stronger or if she’s fallen that far.

Vanitas can’t help but sink a bit further into his master’s role, to get under her skin after she beat him so soundly. “You better settle down there, Master.” He shoves her back, sends her to the floor where her boots squeal over the stones. He leaps down after her, landing lightly between her and the chair.

Motivation.

It has always been a matter of motivation.

Vanitas has been trained in it, to press the right buttons until everything explodes. He glances between them: Aqua and Sora. He needs to keep her from beating him and to motivate Sora to do what he’s supposed to. Don’t focus on me, idiot. Free his heart!

They’re talking to one another, debating who gets to fight him, and Vanitas is glad when Aqua uses her damn head and keeps her place in front of him. Her barrier spell shimmers to life, locking the both of them in a dome that will take too much effort to break out of. Vanitas swings Void Gear to his shoulder and waits. Sora and Ventus are both outside and that is all that matters.

Aqua lifts her keyblade and Vanitas swings his arm back down. He spares one more glance at Sora, one hand pressed to the barrier, and grinds his teeth. Go! Then Aqua lunges forward and it’s like no time has passed at all.

They dance around each other, trading blows and spells. She’s not as strong as she was, but Vanitas can’t easily knock her down either. The longer the fight goes, the more aggressive she becomes, pursuing him relentlessly. She knocks him back to the ground and still Sora stands there and gapes. Fine. Fine. He’ll do all the damn work.

Vanitas looks toward the throne, the barrier shimmering between them, distorting the features on the other side. Frustration and anger bubble over and fire turns the end of his keyblade molten. He flings the fire, bubbling with dark energy, right at the barrier. The spell hits and the barrier cracks. Come on. Do something!

He prepares another, launching it at the same spot, and then suddenly Aqua is there. Like an idiot she leaps in front of the spell completely undefended. It strikes her, slams her into her own barrier, and then she collapses on the ground, struggling for breath. Still, Sora stays where he is, only shouting for Aqua like it’ll actually change a goddamn thing.

“Stupid,” he hisses to himself. “How many openings do you need?” Vanitas walks over to Aqua who’s stunned from the blow. He sighs through his nose and then lifts his keyblade with both hands. Perhaps, all they need is a memory. He can hear the howl of the winds streaming through the stone spires of a desperate, lonely place. He hefts his keyblade a bit higher and looks directly at the slumped over form in the chair. Ventus!

Vanitas won’t stab her. They need her and he’d like to think he’s a bit better than striking her while she’s unable to stop him. Still, he does an excellent job of acting it out. He lifts the keyblade a bit higher, totally ready and about to do it, and counts out a very long five seconds.

If this doesn’t work, I’m grabbing Sora by the ear and dragging him up to Ventus. Maybe if I smack him bodily into Ventus, he’ll get the fucking picture.

Light explodes from the throne, wrapped around a form that rockets forward. Vanitas looks up and can feel the grin that splits his face as he swings his arm up and around.

“Aqua!”

Their keyblades collide, sparks flying, and light and darkness erupt from them both.

The barrier shatters from Ventus’s force, raining down around them like falling stars and all Vanitas wants to do is laugh.

Ventus is gritting his teeth, but this close Vanitas can see the confusion in his eyes. They disengage, Ventus landing in front of Aqua, still ready for an attack. He’s waiting to see who the person in front of him is even as his heart tells him two different stories.

Vanitas feels it all. He tosses his keyblade to the side, uncaring of where it lands. Sora and his friends will charge forward in a moment to support Ventus, but all Vanitas cares about, all he’s wanted for months…

He reaches up, rips his mask off, and tosses it the same direction as his keyblade. Ventus is staring at him in confusion, but Vanitas laughs loud enough to fill the hall and comes forward, empty hands held out. “Ventus.”

“Vanitas?” Ven straightens up, lowers his keyblade. “What are you-.” He presses a hand to his head, looks at Vanitas between his fingers. His keyblade vanishes from his left hand and it reaches out, reaches toward him.

Vanitas takes it with both of his and squeezes. “It’s me,” he says softly.

“It’s me. This is real.”

Ven stares at him and then his lips twitch up. He lowers the hand from his face and then yanks Vanitas forward. Ven wraps his arms around Vanitas’s back and squeezes him close. Vanitas buries his face in Ventus’s shoulder and clings to him. Finally, finally, finally.

“Ven?”

The two voices ask almost simultaneously and Vanitas wants them all to go the fuck away, but…conversations must be had. He extracts himself enough that he and Ventus can look each other in the face again. Ven cups his face in both hands, Vanitas holding them together still, and Vanitas doesn’t need their bond to understand the feeling spelled out in Ven’s eyes. He huffs at him. “Not with an audience, you don’t.”

Ven frowns at him, kisses the tip of his nose before Vanitas can lean back, and then turns to Aqua.

Someone else clears their throat and Vanitas looks at Sora. Sora, for his part, looks like he just took a smash to the head and isn’t sure what’s going on anymore. Vanitas smirks a little. “What?”

“I-.” Sora shakes his head sharply. “Okay, I have a million questions, but first…couldn’t you have just said you were on our side?” Sora pouts at him, arms crossing over his chest.

Vanitas rolls his eyes. “You’re an idiot.” But, with one of Ventus’s hands wrapped tight in his, Vanitas might begrudgingly admit that good-natured idiots aren’t so terribly bad. With the war still ahead, they’ll need the bright-eyed hope and optimism that fills Sora. Vanitas sighs at him. “I’m a darkness, that’s what you need to know.”

“For now,” Ventus says, turning to look back at him. “But I already changed your mind.”

Lips twitching up into a smile, Vanitas says, “Maybe, if you think it matters.”

Ventus’s answering smile is brighter than the burning stars.