The next morning comes much earlier than Vanitas would have liked, as at some point he must have dozed off while leaning against the window. When he awoke, it was to the sound of Suzume gently knocking on the door, announcing that breakfast was ready.
Thankfully, she didn’t say a word about his choice of sleeping arrangements, and breakfast proceeds mostly the same as dinner had the night prior; with Vanitas staring warily at his simple plate of toast, eggs, and bacon.
‘So,’ Suzume chooses to break the silence. ‘What do you boys have planned for the day?’
‘I don’t know.’ Sora hums whiles portioning out Jewel’s breakfast, unbothered as she paws insistently at him to hurry up. ‘Nothing yet I guess. But I texted Riku, so you never know.’
‘I see.’ Suzume smiles, ‘Well he knows he’s always welcome to join us.’
Vanitas, who had been playing with his eggs, looks up when he sees Suzume turn to him next.
‘And what about you, Vanitas?’ She asks innocently. ‘How are you feeling this morning?’
‘Okay.’ He grumbles and shoves a piece of the meat into his mouth. A tactic he hopes will ensure he doesn’t have to answer any more questions.
The flavor is odd, and it’s once again very chewy, but this time there is a hardness to it, some sort of crispy tinge. His teeth struggle against the new food, unused to having to eat so much variety. The sound of the foreign crunch in his mouth is only outweighed by Jewel, who is practically inhaling her own breakfast on the other side of the kitchen.
Sora has just barely sat down to join them at the table when a sudden spike of apprehension comes over Vanitas. He stands up so fast that his chair noisily clatters onto the ground just as the front door is slammed open, revealing a disheveled looking Riku.
‘Sora!’ He calls with worry, his eyes sweeping over the scene of the three of them at the dining table.
‘Hiya.’ Sora nonchalantly waves while taking a bite of his toast.
Riku turns a glare to his best friend as he shuts the door and crosses the living room.
‘What do you mean ‘hiya’?’ He asks, exasperated, and turns cautious eyes towards Vanitas. ‘You text me that Vanitas is back but not to worry because it’s ‘not a big deal’?’ Riku says accusingly to Sora, though keeps his gaze on Vanitas. ‘Just what’s going on here?’
‘What does it look like idiot?’ Vanitas answers for himself while stabbing another piece of meat onto his fork.
Riku regards Vanitas, clearly contemplating what to say behind narrowed eyes. Vanitas can sense anger and caution dripping off of him in waves.
‘It frankly looks like one of the Organization’s members somehow made their way back to the realm of light after we defeated them.’ Riku settles to say as a pointed observation.
Vanitas regards him, pleased to hear some sass from a guardian of light, and more than excited to throw it right back.
‘Did you figure that out all by yourself, Master?’
Vanitas smirks while Riku stands up straighter.
‘I did, though the question of why is what I’m still pondering.’
‘I’d keep pondering if I were you.’ Vanitas sneers. ‘That is, if you have the braincells for it.’
‘I have plenty.’ Riku glares. ‘Though I might not be able to say the same for you. To apprentice under Xehanort not once but twice, and then show up on a world that’s known to have not one, but three Guardians of Light on it?’
‘Guys, stop it.’ Sora protests, moving to stand up.
‘Maybe you should mind your own business.’ Vanitas says, recognizing the low blow threat.
Riku scoffs, the two of them glaring at each other with an intensity that has Vanitas feeling fired up and irritated.
‘This is my business. You’re-‘
‘Boys. That is enough.’ Both Riku and Vanitas turn their heads towards Suzume as she looks at them with a stern expression. ‘Riku, you know better than to cause a scene like this. Now sit down and get yourself some breakfast.’
Riku looks to Vanitas, having an expression as if he very much wants to protest. But somehow, he takes one glance at Suzume and begrudgingly takes a seat at the table while she gets up to fix him a plate.
Vanitas is once again left speechless as he looks at her, still wondering how she can stop potential fights with words alone.
The rest of breakfast is an awkward affair, with Sora and Riku eventually dissolving into a casual conversation and pretending to ignore the elephant in the room that is Vanitas.
Suzume, however, wastes no time in engaging with Vanitas once breakfast is finished, and he soon finds himself whisked into the backyard.
‘You want me to what?’ Vanitas asks her, one black eyebrow raised as he looks at the odd grey suit she had handed him. It has a weird hat on top with some sort of mesh fabric where the head goes.
‘Now that you’re up and walking alright, I wanted to show you something.’ Suzume only says while putting on a baseball cap with some non-familiar logo. ‘Come on, it’ll be fun!’
Vanitas shoots her a skeptical look before gazing back towards the house. He can tell that Sora and Riku are talking about him, and it wouldn’t be a far-off guess to think that Suzume was only grasping at an opportunity to distract him.
Even so, what she said combined with the strange suit has his curiosity going, and without further protest he puts it on along with the boots and matching gloves. Once he’s properly dressed, she beckons him deeper into the backyard and over towards some strange wooden boxes.
He’d seen them the night before from the window but still doesn’t have a clue what they are.
‘Good morning little ladies.’ Suzume greets the box, and Vanitas raises an eyebrow as if she’s crazy. Just who the hell is she talking to?
But as he watches her slowly take the top off the outer box, the answer becomes clear as dozens of insects fly out. Vanitas looks at them with curiosity, something in him instinctively showing caution, though he’s not sure why.
As he gets a closer look, he notices that they’ve got black and yellow stripes, and a buzzing sound rings in his ears with each flap of their tiny wings. He watches as about a dozen of them land on the mesh veil covering his face, feeling a frustrated frown pull at his mouth as he once again knows exactly what they are but is unable to come up with the word.
‘Let’s see, last I looked at these girls was… then today is…’ Suzume mumbles to herself while looking over a written notecard on the inner lid of the box. Vanitas turns to watch her instead as she finishes up noting something down and then uses a metal tool to crack open the lid with a satisfying crunch.
‘Here we are.’ Suzume grins while removing a wooden frame. There’s something nestled inside of the wood’s four rectangular walls that’s yellow and full of holes, and there are so many insects on it that Vanitas could not even begin to count them all. ‘These bees are very gentle. I thought you might like to meet them.’
Bees… so that’s what they are.
‘Why?’ Vanitas asks, appearing bored now that the mystery is solved.
‘Have you ever been around bees before?’ Suzume answers his question with one of her own.
‘… No.’ He answers, though seems hesitant. He’s definitely never seen them as Vanitas, but as Ventus he could not say one way or the other.
‘Then isn’t it just nice to experience something new?’ She smiles at him with an innocent, open expression.
Vanitas ultimately doesn’t have an answer for that as he watches the little bees scurry to and fro along the frame.
‘What do you mean you guys have been talking about what to do with Vanitas?’ Sora asks incredulously from where he is seated next to Riku on the couch.
His best friend pinches the bridge of his nose with frustration.
‘Sora, this isn’t a game. Vanitas is dangerous.’ Riku’s words are restrained but his tone is anything but. The two of them have been going around in circles for some time, and he still can’t understand Sora’s insistence about giving Vanitas an undisputed second chance.
A lot of their friends have had one, Riku included, but it was no secret that Vanitas was the very first member to join Xehanort’s cause years ago during the battle with Terra, Ven and Aqua. If there was anyone that could have all of the old man’s inside information and the know-how to continue his legacy, it would be Vanitas.
Not to mention just how little information anyone has on him. Even Ventus, his other half, knows very little about Vanitas. And others that were later in the Real Organization alongside him like Saix, Xion, Even and Demyx, barely ever saw him.
‘Xehanort hardly ever let the boy leave his side. And even when he did, Vanitas was always accompanied in the shadows by either Ansem or Xemnas.’ Even had admitted some time ago to Riku, Mickey, Aqua and Master Yen Sid when he officially switched sides following the keyblade war. ‘Everyone else in the Organization had strict orders never to interact with Vanitas as well. Though we never had the slightest clue as to why.’
The mystery of it all had left the Masters reeling. To date Vanitas was the only one of the Organization’s ranks that was still a complete mystery. And now learning that he had somehow come back to life was beyond concern.
Sora still opens his mouth to protest, though, visibly upset that decisions are being made over Vanita’s head without his consent.
However, Riku cuts him off.
‘Look,’ Riku says with a sigh. ‘I talked with Mickey and Master Yen Sid. We haven’t told Aqua yet, and we don’t plan to for now.’
‘Well yea, that wouldn’t go over well.’ Sora agrees. ‘So then, what have you guys decided?’
Riku crosses his arms and gives Sora a look, as if his next words are inevitable.
‘Master Yen Sid wants to meet him.’
‘Oh, look there she is! You see her there?’ Suzume gasps excitedly and holds the frame steady for Vanitas to see. ‘She’s got a blue dot on her back. And she’s bigger than the rest.’
‘What’s she doing?’ Vanitas mumbles, watching with trained eyes as the bee seemingly walks around mindlessly along the frame.
At this point, Vanitas doesn’t even try to mask his curiosity. Suzume had already explained the ins and outs of a beehive in such a way that he could easily understand and quickly grow engaged in. Apparently, she owns her own at home business here, which finally answered the mystery of what that blue building is off to the right side of the house, and what the logo on her hat stands for. It’s an all-in-one shop for beekeepers, where they do hive removals, honey processing, grow pollinator friendly plants, and even teach beekeeping classes.
A twinge of something bitter had come over Vanitas as he heard her mention being a teacher. Suzume was so unlike any teacher he had ever interacted with. Even the seemingly nicer one, Master Eraqus, had threated to kill his own student just to keep the peace.
If his own Master had been even the slightest bit like her, maybe he would have done better. Learned faster. But there’s no way of knowing now.
‘She’s laying an egg. You see she’s going into the cell?’ Suzume adjusts the frame and tilts it a bit towards the sun. ‘And if you look really closely at the right angle, you can see what look like little grains of rice in there.’
‘I see them…’ Vanitas hums.
‘Those are the eggs. They’ll hatch in about three to four days and will grow into worker bees like all the others.’ Suzume smiles and turns to put the insects away. ‘But the Queen is special, she’s the only one who can lay more worker bees. So, we make sure to check on her whenever we open up a hive.’
Vanitas watches as Suzume returns the lids to their rightful place, before cocking his head as she leads him to another part of the yard. This time, though, she pauses to grab a suit of her own to match his.
‘We just recently started doing wasp removals too.’ Suzume mentions while zipping up her suit. Before long they come up to a particular tree on the far side of the backyard. There’s a weird upside-down cone shaped thing hanging on one of the low branches. ‘Though, they’re not nearly as nice as the bees are.’
As the two of them approach further, the wasps immediately respond to the noise of their boots against the grass and fly out to defend themselves. Vanitas watches as they tirelessly try to sting him through the mesh hood covering his head, half listening as Suzume goes on to explain more about them.
Wasps… they’re relentless little creatures. Doing everything they can to cause harm in order to protect themselves.
Vanitas can’t help but notice the clear contrast between them and the much gentler bees, his mind trickling to a train of thought comparing them to Sora and himself.
They’re nothing alike. Sora grew up here, where he was sheltered and cared for. He has no need to hold such hostility as the wasps do to protect himself. Instead, he’s more like the simple bees. Drifting along the wind to help others in his ever-growing circle. Vanitas on the other hand, has no reason to help anyone, as he’s never received help himself. He has no one like Suzume in his life, and had to fight for survival at every turn.
He can’t help but bitterly wonder what would have happened if he had ended up here instead of in the wastelands of the Keyblade Graveyard. What if he had a mom like Suzume? Or even a dad? How different would his life be up until now?
The question eventually leads to another as Vanitas finally looks at Suzume, taking in her demeanor before looking back towards the house. Come to think of it, where is Sora’s dad anyway? He had to be around here somewhere. That’s what families were right? A child, a mother, and a father?
‘Hey.’ Vanitas gets Suzume’s attention. ‘So, where’s Sora’s dad anyway?’ He speaks his mind, never being one to let his curiosity stop him.
Suzume’s face falls, though, and he quickly regrets the question.
‘He…’ She pauses, turning to Vanitas fully. ‘He died, when Sora was about ten years old.’ She says, looking far away with a sad smile. There’s so much pain in that single glance that it almost takes Vanitas’s breath away. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what that type of loss must feel like.
Vanitas pauses, the silence hanging heavy between them. How is he supposed to respond to that?
‘Oh.’ He eventually settles to say. ‘That sucks.’
Suzume shakes her head, her smile turning a bit more genuine.
‘It was an accident. No one means for these things to happen.’ She says and motions for them to head back towards the house. ‘Now it’s just me and Sora, but I enjoy having you here with us Vanitas.’ He doesn’t respond, though does give her a sideways glance. ‘Speaking of, have you given any thought about what you’d like to do now?’
It’s Vanitas’s turn to falter, and he grimaces.
‘I don’t know.’ He confesses to her the question that he had refused to answer for Sora yesterday. ‘I’ve never thought of the future. I never had one.’ His face twists with a bitter expression. ‘I was born to be a weapon and nothing else.’
Suzume is silent next to him, neither of them saying anything, before she stops walking to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. Surprisingly it doesn’t take a lot of mental willpower to stop himself from flinching at the foreign touch.
‘Maybe that’s what you were born to be.’ She starts. ‘But that doesn’t mean that’s who you are.’
Vanitas looks at her, unsure of how to process her words. Be something else other than the apprentice of his Master, and one half of the X-blade? There’s no way.
The sound of Sora calling them from the porch catches his attention before he can respond.
‘Hey Vanitas! Come on, we gotta go!’
Vanitas only raises a dark eyebrow. Go? Where?
Suzume’s expression, though, downturns in a knowing expression as she turns to Vanitas.
‘Here, let’s get you out of that.’ She says, gesturing for Vanitas to remove his suit. ‘You shouldn’t keep them waiting.’
The Gummi Ship ride to the Mysterious Tower is quiet and far too long, though Vanitas does get some form of amusement from seeing precious Master Riku looking so on edge. Neither he nor Sora had told him exactly why they were going to see the old geezer, but he could only guess that it wasn’t just to spend time amongst Vanitas’s glowing personality.
The Mysterious Tower, though, is honestly kind of beautiful. He’d heard about the home base of the Guardians of Light from Xemnas, though he never described the thousands of stars that shine overheard. Vanitas takes some time to watch them dance across the sky as he exits the ship, and inhales a deep breath of the crisp midday air as he gazes out at the sunset opaque clouds surrounding the mountain tops near the island tower.
When Vanitas finally turns back to Sora, the other boy has an easy expression, as if he would let Vanitas gawk all day if he wanted to. But Riku has a sterner look upon his face as he nods towards the entrance of the tower.
Master Yen Sid sees them without ceremony as the three of them finally finish traversing those god-awful stairs and enter a blue hued room with looming windows of stars and moons. There’s an old wooden desk in the middle of the room, with an even older geezer sitting behind it. Donald and Goofy are there also, along with another familiar face.
Vanitas can’t help but grimace as he and King Mickey lock eyes. He never did like that rat very much…
‘Ah, Vanitas. It is good to finally make your acquaintance.’ An old man sitting behind the desk says as a sort of neutral greeting.
Vanitas narrows his eyes. Master Yen Sid, rumored leader of the Guardians of Light. He never thought they’d meet face to face one day.
‘Cut the flattery.’ Vanitas scoffs. ‘And get to the point already.’
Donald and Goofy have a look about them as if they want to scold Vanitas for his disrespect, but Master Yen Sid only hums and strokes his beard.
‘Very well then.’ The wise wizard says and proceeds with his third-degree initiative.
To his credit, he keeps it to brief, basic questions. How Vanitas came to be back, how he ended up under the care of Sora’s mother, and the current state of his physical injuries etc.
Vanitas doesn’t see a reason not to be truthful with the old man. Not when he’s outnumbered in a tiny room while still recovering from death. The only question he struggles with is that same damn one that keeps getting thrown back in his face.
‘What do you plan to do now, Vanitas?’
‘Ugh, why is everyone asking me that.’ Vanitas complains with a scowl.
‘It’s an important question, and will determine the future ahead.’ Yen Sid says with no remorse.
‘Yea.’ Sora agrees with a nod. ‘If you want to turn over a new leaf, we could help you. Like we’ve done for Isa, Axel, and everyone else that used to be in the Organization.’
Vanitas looks to Sora, and something in his expression causes the lighter boy’s smile to slowly fade.
‘I can’t answer you.’ He says bitterly to the old man. ‘I have no plans, because I have no future.’ Vanitas then looks to Mickey and Riku. ‘And if you Masters brought me here to kill me, go ahead. But the Unversed will only pull me back together, and we’d be right back here having this stupid conversation again.’
‘Gosh, we don’t want to do that.’ Mickey says, and Vanitas glares at him, having a hard time believing the royal mouse after everything they’ve been through.
‘Then let’s flip the question backwards.’ Riku suggests. ‘What don’t you want to do now?’
Vanitas stares at him, considering the question. Something he doesn’t want to do in the future. He can only think of one thing.
‘Keep Ventus away from me.’ He spits out the name with such disdain that it’s perfectly perceptible to the other people in the room.
‘That will not be a problem.’ Yen Sid agrees easily. ‘We have already discussed that should be for the best, if you intend to stay in the realm of light. The history between the two of you is questionable at best. No doubt add more unnecessary stress onto Ventus in parti-’
‘Stress? Yea right. That loser wouldn’t know stress if it hit him in the face.’ Vanitas scoffs. ‘Let him deal with Xehanort for a few years that’ll straighten him out.’
‘You said something about him yesterday.’ Sora says, remembering back to their conversation. ‘Did you even want to be part of the Organization at all?’
Vanitas stares at Sora for a moment too long to be comfortable before turning away.
‘The first time was willingly. The second time not so much.’ Vanitas admits with barely contained wrath. ‘But tell me. How would you escape a delusional cult when you’re the old man’s favorite and he watches everything you do, just waiting to put you in your place should you try and escape?’ Vanitas turns his gaze to the floor, his expression beyond furious. He unceremoniously holds up one of his arms, the short sleeve fabric barely covering the angry red and purple handprint embedded into his skin.
Everyone’s seen it by this point, but not ones dared to ask. Vanitas’s gesture makes no mistake on where exactly it came from.
‘If he’s dead like you said, then I couldn’t be happier.’
The room goes into a palpable silence in the wake of Vanitas’s words. Sora looks taken aback, and there is pity showing in his blue-eyed gaze. Donald and Goofy have a similar look of shock and horror that Xehanort would do something like that to his student. Riku can only stare at Vanitas owlishly, at a loss alongside King Mickey.
Master Yen Sid is the only one of them to deeply consider Vanitas’s words and digest them for what they are.
‘I have heard enough.’ He says, gathering everyone’s attention. ‘Vanitas, you have clearly been through many trials, and are currently still recovering from the most recent keyblade war. I think it best that the scientists at Radiant Garden look over your heart and body, and provide anything necessary you may need to make a full recovery.’
Vanitas pauses. That sounds an awful lot like…
‘I’m not going to a doctor.’ He sneers, crossing his arms.
‘But Vanitas…’ Sora speaks up, his concern overtaking his shock. ‘You told me yesterday that your heart’s in pain. Don’t you want any help to at least make it feel a little better?’
Vanitas glares at him, clearly upset that his words are now turned against him.
‘Come on, don’t give me that look.’ Sora protests. ‘Maybe the guys at Radiant Garden can help.’
Vanitas stays silent for a few moments, the two having a sort of staring contest. The longer Vanitas stares into those blue eyes, though, the more that weird feeling churns in his chest, and in the end, Vanitas relents with a sigh, not having the will to bicker.
Something about Sora is just inherently charming. He’d heard about it in passing from other members of the Organization. The boy’s skills at forming connections is truly unmatched, and even Vanitas can acknowledge that there is no denying Sora when he turned on that charm.
‘Fine…’ Vanitas bites out, trying to ignore the other boy’s triumphantly smug smile.
Master Yen Sid proceeds to wrap up their meeting from there as Vanitas ponders on that strange bond once more, barely hearing when the old man grants Vanitas sanctuary on Destiny Island to live alongside Suzume and Sora. They will be seeing how things progress for now, but should Vanitas show even an inkling of betrayal, all of the guardians of light will not hesitate to interfere.
Sora, for his part, looks happy about this development, though Vanitas can’t fathom why.
About an hour or so later, Riku, Sora and Vanitas arrive in Radiant Garden, with the latter sporting new clothes courtesy of the Three Good Fairies. Master Yen Sid had said they would prevent further injury and would repair themselves in battle just as his dark suit did. But Vanitas wasn’t stupid. He knew that the clothes were mostly to keep civilians from running away at the sight of him.
He never did have the best rapport in Radiant Garden, even over a decade later.
The clothes ended up being more similar to Sora’s than he would have liked, though, with the theme of red and black being the apparent connection between the two of them. Though Vanitas’s red is more on the burgundy side than anything else, and his jacket extends longer to his knees, with golden accents while Sora wore white.
Sora had been noticeably delighted when Vanitas had walked out of the changing room, even going so far as to try to wrap an arm around Vanitas’s shoulders.
‘Hey, we match!’ He had exclaimed, though not getting very far as Vanitas unceremoniously shoved him away and strutted out to where Riku was waiting for them by the door to the stairs.
Now that Vanitas had spent some time in the new clothes, though, he had to admit they were pretty comfortable. They were smooth, while the clothes he had been borrowing from Sora had been scratchy against his sensitive skin. His jacket was more versatile also and could easily go from long to short length sleeves via the hidden zipper inside. The golden necklace is kind of annoying though as it jangles against his skin whenever he walks, even if it is lightweight and shaped as the symbol for his Unversed.
He was honestly still deciding on whether to trash it or not.
The scientists Ienzo, Even and Ansem the Wise are waiting on standby upon their arrival to Radiant Garden, having apparently gotten a call from Master Yen Sid. Without much ceremony, Vanitas finds himself ushered into the lab, and although their examinations are quick, Vanitas unabashedly complains throughout the whole thing.
‘Don’t pull it so tight, moron.’ He protests as the cuff around his arm inflates against his upper arm like a vice.
‘Only one moment more.’ Ienzo says with a neutral tone.
Through their short time together, it seems the guy has already learned to let Vanitas’s words in one ear and out the other. Nothing he tried seemed to affect him. It left Vanitas feeling annoyed, but somehow a little bit impressed.
Diverting his attention elsewhere across the room, Vanitas can see that Sora is being a much more fitting subject. He has an easy smile on his face and is talking about some story involving a big city and robots while the scientists poke and prod him.
Initially Sora had been surprised when they asked to examine him as well but was more than happy to help when it was explained they were hoping to get more up to date information to compare with Vanitas’s results.
Vanitas himself couldn’t say he wasn’t curious about what they would find, and he knew Sora was too from the way his big dumb blue eyes lit up at the prospect. Perhaps they could even explain why both he and Sora continue to look the same even after the connection that tied them together, Ventus, was no longer a variable.
‘Alright, we’re almost done.’ Ienzo hums as he removes the cuff and jots something down onto his clipboard. ‘Just lean back Vanitas. We’re going to take a full-body scan.’ Ienzo instructs while pointing to the laser device hanging overhead.
‘What?’ Vanitas crosses his arms, refusing to budge.
‘Basically this machine will take an in depth scan of your body using a laser grid. Though not to worry, you won’t feel any pain.’ Ienzo reassures him, offering Vanitas a few moments to contemplate the request before the teen begrudgingly complies and lies back.
You can always feel pain, is what Vanitas wants to say, though keeps it to himself as Ienzo steps back and activates the machine. The lights inside the barrel of the laser twirl hypnotically as Vanitas stares at it with a curious gaze. In one swift up and down motion, a green light sweeps over his body, before disappearing back from whence it came.
‘Alright, Vanitas, we’re finished.’ Ienzo says before Vanitas can even fully process what happened. ‘You can join Riku in the waiting area as we go over the results.’
Knowing a dismissal when he hears one, Vanitas hops off the examination table. He casually strolls to the next room down the hall, where Riku is sitting by himself. The older boy is looking at his Gummi Phone, appearing lost in thought with furrowed silver brows.
Riku looks up though, his concentration broken as Vanitas takes a seat in an empty chair. He purposely picked the one two chairs down, so there is an empty spot between them.
‘How’d it go?’ Riku casually asks.
‘Don’t know yet.’ Vanitas shrugs, not particularly wanting to talk. The two of them have already gotten off to a bad start this morning and he doesn’t care enough to fix it.
Riku, however, seems to care enough for the both of them.
‘Look, Vanitas.’ He sighs and turns to the other boy. ‘I think I owe you-‘
Riku is cut off however, when Sora comes loudly bounding around the corner to join them.
‘Hey guys, I’m done!’ He grins. ‘They’re going over the results now. Said it should only take a few minutes.’
Riku hums in response as Sora takes a seat in between them, effectively shutting off the wall of communication. Vanitas can feel Riku’s eyes peeking at him from over Sora’s shoulder as the two of them lapse into conversation.
Vanitas tries to ignore it until Ienzo, Even and Ansem arrive.
Ienzo has a perplexed look on his face when the three scientists eventually join them in the waiting room. The expression is mirrored by Even, though Ansem’s gaze is more thoughtful than anything else.
‘We’ve gone through both of your scans, mainly looking for abnormalities in Vanitas’s heart and perhaps a connection explaining why you two have similar appearances.’ Ansem starts, his voice calm and contemplative. ‘And it seems we’ve found something rather startling.’
Sora sits up a bit straighter in response while Vanitas merely raises an eyebrow.
‘What’d you guys find?’ Sora asks a bit apprehensively.
The three scientists look at each other, unsure of how to break the news.
‘Vanitas.’ Ienzo says, gathering the dark-haired boy’s attention. ‘I heard you once stated that you and Sora look the same due to your connection with Ventus. That you both hold a piece he needed for his heart to be whole once more.’
‘That’s right.’ Vanitas says, though now with everything that’s happened, he’s no longer sure that theory holds any truth. ‘What about it?’
‘Well, from what we’ve found, the truth couldn’t be further from that train of thought.’ Ienzo flips over some pages of the test results. ‘We first went over the existing scans we have on file for Ventus and compared them to yours.’ He explains. ‘When two people have a notably strong connection, it should show on our heart scans, but we discovered that the two of you don’t have any connection like that at all. Not even before the incident you described in the Keyblade Graveyard, from the looks of it.’
‘What?!’ Vanitas raises an eyebrow, confused. He sits up straighter in his seat. ‘But I came from Ventus. That doesn’t make any sense!’
‘I concur.’ Even hums, mulling over the same copy of scans he has on his own clipboard. ‘We then proceeded to compare your results with that of Sora’s, and the two of you are more connected than we ever might have thought.’
‘That’s right.’ Ienzo says, pausing as he shares a look with Even and Ansem.
The lapse in speech has both Vanitas and Sora tensing, instinctively knowing the scientist’s next words will be something they can never unhear.
‘Vanitas. Sora. We’ve found that the two of you share DNA. As in that of siblings. Twins related by blood.’
Ienzo looks perplexed as he explains further that they’ve never seen this type of blood relation, not even when doing the exact same procedure on the other guardians of light.
All the while, Vanitas can’t hear his words anymore.
Blood relatives? Twins?
Where in the worlds had that come from? He and Sora haven’t even met until recently.
Speaking of Sora, at some point he had gripped Vanitas’s hand so hard it was a wonder it didn’t break in half. He seems to have done so unconsciously, as unlike Vanitas, Sora’s eyes are still on Ienzo, absorbing every word.
Vanitas comes to his senses, though, and pulls his hand away as if he’s been burned, causing Sora’s blue eyes to dart to his. Vanitas pointedly looks away, though, ignoring him for now as Ienzo next moves on to explain the findings regarding his fully body scan.
‘Vanitas, your heart is jagged, as if Xehanort had not made a clean cut when he tore you and Ventus asunder.’ He hums, flipping over a few pages on the clipboard before showing a copy of the scan and pointing to the affected area. ‘But while Ventus was able to heal through forming a bond with Sora, yours still remains shattered, causing the chronic pain in your chest and other areas of your body.’ He then puts the pages back down and tucks his clipboard under his arm. ‘We’d like to research this further and get back to you with some sort of solution on how to ease the pain.’
‘Don’t bother.’ Vanitas rolls his eyes and stands up. ‘Are we done here already or what?’
Sora grows visibly upset by Vanitas’s answer and stands up as well.
‘What do you mean ‘don’t bother?’ Sora asks incredulously. ‘Why wouldn’t you want to fix this? They can help you-’ He reaches a hand towards Vanitas as if to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Vanitas glares at him and steps back.
‘Listen.’ He says, his frigid tone causing Sora to stop in his tracks. ‘I called you my brother once as a joke in that monster world. But that doesn’t make us family and neither does any stupid scan.’ Hatred forms in his eyes, causing hurt to appear in Sora’s. ‘The fact is that we barely know each other. So you can cut the act and stop pretending like you care already.’
Vanitas is done with all of that. He doesn’t need a brother, whether it be Ventus or Sora. Ventus had practically resigned Vanitas to death back in the graveyard. He never thought of Vanitas as his own person. And it hurt. It hurt more than any pain Vanitas could ever feel from any of Xehanort’s punishments or the shattered glass edges of his heart.
And now just because Vanitas had been deciding to play nice for the past two days doesn’t mean he’ll allow Sora to get any closer and hurt him like that too.
Sora can only stare at him, mouth agape and eyebrows upturned with rejection as Vanitas turns to Ienzo.
‘Well?’ Vanitas snaps.
‘Oh! Um, yes we are finished for today.’ Ienzo assures quickly. ‘But we can prescribe medication now if you’d-‘
‘I’m FINE.’ Vanitas growls before taking his leave without another word.
He makes it down the hall and out into the courtyard, barely setting foot onto the ramp leading up to the Gummi Ship when he can hear Sora’s loud, ridiculous yellow and black shoes thundering out of the castle doors.
‘Vanitas, wait!’
Vanitas once again ignores him, though, and enters the ship. He pushes a button he had seen Riku use earlier, hoping to slam the door in Sora’s face.
Sora, though, quickly clambers onto the ship regardless, and Vanitas silently curses as the other boy puts a hand on his shoulder and roughly spins him around.
‘Don’t touch me.’ Vanitas hisses, slapping his hand away.
‘What do you mean, stop pretending like I care?’ Sora demands an explanation. ‘I do care about you!’
‘Oh please. You’ve only known me for two days.’ Vanitas scoffs and stares at Sora, his eyes giving away his mistrust. A mistrust that has spent years growing so deep that nothing and no one can ever how to breach it.
Sora’s face falls as he notices it.
‘Vanitas… don’t you feel anything when we’re together?’ Sora asks while putting a hand to his heart. ‘I do. Mom does too. Remember that day at the graveyard? And when you and mom met on the beach?’ His brown eyebrows upturn earnestly. ‘This has gotta be why we’ve all felt it! It’s like we’ve finally found you. Like you’re the missing piece we’ve needed all this time in our family.’
Vanitas makes a face and looks away at the mention of Suzume. Sora stands up a bit straighter, his telltale smug smile once again on his lips.
‘See? You do feel something.’
‘How does that change anything?’ Vanitas furrows his brows with a glare.
‘It changes EVERYTHING!’ Sora exclaims incredulously. ‘Vanitas, you can have a home. A family. You don’t have to go back to the way things were. You don’t have to keep living in the darkness by yourself.’
‘So what?’ Vanitas asks. ‘I’m just supposed to drop everything that I am to be your ‘missing piece’ and fill some kind of void in your family?’ He turns away and goes to sit down in one of the chairs in the cockpit. ‘I always have to be something for somebody.’ He mutters to himself.
Sora hears it though and runs a hand through his brown locks, feeling frustrated.
‘No!’ He backpedals ‘That’s not what I meant, Vanitas.’
Vanitas is saved from this conversation, however, as Riku chooses that moment to climb aboard the ship. The tension must be palatable in the air, as the Keyblade Master pauses, looking between the two of them before clearing his throat and approaching Vanitas.
‘Here.’ He says, handing over a funny looking device. Vanitas raises an eyebrow, though takes it anyway. ‘It’s a Gummi Phone. Even had a spare that no one was using.’
Vanitas pokes and prods at the device before touching a button on the screen. It lights up in response, showing a display with pictures he’s never seen before.
‘Here’s the instructions on how to use it.’ Riku hands over a small booklet. ‘Figured you might want something to do on the way back.’
Vanitas hums and takes the offered distraction, thoroughly content to ignore Sora for now as Riku pulls his best friend aside.
Vanitas can hear Riku mutter something to Sora, who only shakes his head and looks back at Vanitas with noticeable hurt in his eyes. Riku seems to repeat his words, however, and Sora sighs before letting the matter go as the two of them head to their seats to begin their journey back to Destiny Islands.
The ride is quiet and awkward, with the eventual long walk to Sora’s house even more so. Riku parts ways with the two of them on the front lawn, the colors of the early ocean sunset peeking through the horizon of houses and trees on the suburban sidewalk.
‘If anything happens, I won’t be too far away.’ He says, and Vanitas can pick up that his words having two different meanings, one for Sora and one specifically for him. ‘Mickey won’t be too far either, and just because Master Yen Sid decided to lend an olive branch doesn’t mean that you’ve earned our trust.’
Vanitas only grunts in response to confirm he’s understood. He honestly couldn’t care less what kind of threat they pose. The masters don’t scare him. The only one who ever did is dead.
Riku parts ways with them without any further fuss, and Sora is the first to head inside with Vanitas reluctantly tailing behind.
Vanitas does catch Riku’s eye before the door closes, though, and the older boy looks like he wants to say something, but Vanitas only looks away and disappears inside.
Suzume can be heard in the backyard, her voice loud and authoritative sounding as Vanitas steps foot onto the porch and catches sight of her giving a class. His eyes lock with hers for a moment, and she doesn’t seem at all surprised to see him there as she smiles and continues with her lesson.
Vanitas has a moment’s thought of maybe sneaking into her class to listen, but thinks better of it as he catches sight of Sora sitting on the nearby porch swing. The two of them look at each other for maybe half a second before Vanitas glares at him and retreats inside.
Sora sighs, choosing not to follow him and instead opt to wait for his mother to finish her class.
Or, technically, should he be referring to her as their mother now? All of this is so hard to grasp.
The Gummi Phone in his hand chimes, signaling a response from Riku.
“You can’t expect him to suddenly be okay with the news. Sounds like he has enough trouble trusting anyone, not just you.”
“I know! But still, he didn’t have to say it like that.”
“Sora, just give him time. I think he’ll come around.”
Sora huffs and sits back, chewing on his bottom lip in thought until Riku replies again a minute later.
“Anyway, Ienzo asked if you guys can bring your mom in too. Something about wanting to test the blood line. They seemed really amazed by everything and wanted to explore it more.”
“Okay… I’ll have to think about how to tell her. I honestly don’t know how she’s going to react.”
“Maybe you should ask Vanitas to do it. When he’s ready, that is.”
Sora ponders over this suggestion, lost in thought until his mother dismisses her class for the day and comes to join him on the porch.
‘Sora? Are you alright, sunshine? What’s wrong?’ Suzume asks, brushing some brown spikes of hair away to look in his troubled eyes.
‘Huh? Nothing’s wrong.’ Sora says sheepishly.
Suzume gives him a look. Sora is infamously bad at lying, especially to her. He never got away with anything as a kid.
‘Where has Vanitas gone off to?’ Suzume grants him mercy though as she peers into the house through the screen door. ‘He was here just a few minutes ago.’
‘Oh uh.’ Sora stands up and shuffles in place. ‘That’s kind of what happened today. We uh, got into a fight.’
‘A fight?’ Suzume raises a brow.
‘Yea, uh but not like an actual fight like with keyblades or anything.’ Sora is quick to explain. ‘So don’t worry, we’ll get over it.’
Suzume looks at Sora with suspicion, and then back towards the house.
‘Well, come on. Let’s head inside. You boys must be starving if you just got back.’ Suzume says, to which Sora eagerly agrees.
She proceeds to set Sora up with simple instructions to begin cutting up vegetables and toppings for their dinner, causing him to groan. He never did like cutting up ingredients, not even when Little Chef was doing most of the work.
Suzume only ruffles his hair, sets out some dough for their pizzas, and preheats the oven before heading upstairs.
‘I’ll be right back. I just want to make sure Vanitas is alright.’ She hums, taking in how Sora tenses but nods in response.
She raises an eyebrow, her suspicions growing further as she heads up the stairs.
‘Vanitas?’ She calls and knocks on the office door before entering the now empty room.
While Sora and Vanitas were gone, she’d gotten a call from Donald and Goofy. They explained that the boys were off in a world called Radiant Garden, and that Vanitas had been granted sanctuary to live with them for the foreseeable future should she choose to accept him.
Of course, she readily agreed in a heartbeat, and had sought to the task of clearing out the office of everything besides the pull-out couch. Honestly, she had been more than happy to do it. The office had grown to be out of use anyway as her business has been ever expanding.
She catches Vanitas admiring the big blue building from his perch in the window nook. Jewel is once again by his side, having been there all day curiously watching Suzume move things around. The dalmatian is curled against Vanitas’s legs in the window nook, though he doesn’t make an effort to look at either her or Suzume.
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ Is all he says, tensing as she enters the room.
Xehanort was always like that. Vanitas could never keep his own thoughts and secrets to himself.
Suzume only hums, though, and changes direction towards the mostly barren closet across the room.
‘I don’t want to hear about it then.’ She shrugs while gathering a few files and spare electronic equipment from the shelves and putting them into a box on the floor.
Vanitas raises an eyebrow and turns to watch her out of the corner of his eye, feeling intrigued but no longer threatened by her presence.
When Suzume finishes her task and sets the box out in the hallway, she places her hands on her hips and looks about the empty room.
‘So… since this is your room now, what do you think of the wall color?’ She asks, missing how Vanitas’s eyes widen as she runs a finger down one of the walls. ‘We could always change it.’
Right now, the room was a lighter shade of burgundy with a cream-colored trim. Perfect for an at home office but maybe not for a teenager’s bedroom.
‘Huh?’ Is Vanitas’s intelligent response.
‘Oh, Donald and Goofy called me and explained you would be staying with us.’ Suzume says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. ‘I cleared out the office space today. I haven’t been using it anyway since we got the shop all set up, so now it’s yours.’
Vanitas looks at her with an odd expression, as if she were crazy to offer this to him for no reason.
The notion causes something in her heart to break.
Part of her wants to go over there, envelop him in a hug and tell him that he can have things. That he doesn’t need to look like he’s undeserving whenever she puts food in front of him or offers him her time or attention. But she also knows that he’s been through so much more than any other boy his age should have. And coddling him would not help in the slightest.
‘So, the color?’ She gently changes the subject. She knows already from their short time together that he tends to do better with a distraction when conversations go down a road he’s not comfortable with.
‘Oh.’ He looks around the room. ‘It’s fine I guess?’
The color is inoffensive enough, and sort of matches his new shirt anyway.
‘Okay, we’ll keep it as is then.’ She says and places her hands on her hips. ‘Burgundy really brings out of the color of brown eyes anyway. I’m sure it’ll do wonders for you too.’
Wait. What?
‘I don’t have brown eyes.’ Vanitas looks at her like she’s an idiot. ‘My eyes are gold.’
Suzume cocks her head and approaches him, looking closer.
‘Your eyes are definitely brown Vanitas. Here, look in the mirror.’ She says, gesturing to the one hanging near the closet.
Vanitas quickly stands up, unbothered as Jewel huffs at being displaced, and moves to look at his reflection. Everything about him is the same. Same hair, same nose, same mouth and expression. But his eyes, they don’t shine gold anymore. They dazzle in the low light of the sunset streaming in through the windows, a warm brown color staring at him through the mirror.
Vanitas tentatively puts a hand against his cheek, his fingertips gingerly touching his bottom eyelid. He hadn’t noticed the change when he last saw his reflection in the dark waters.
‘Why?’
Suzume hums from behind him, wondering as well.
‘Were you born with gold eyes?’
Vanitas ponders the question. Was he born with golden eyes? He never had a mirror back then. And the other members of the Organization… their eyes were never gold until Xehanort influenced them.
So maybe, just maybe, these were the eyes he was born with.
After being lost in thought for a few minutes, Vanitas looks up when he notices that Suzume has gone silent. He catches eyes with her in the mirror, noticing that her expression has grown soft as she looks at him.
‘What?’ He asks, a bit startled from having such an expression sent his way.
It’s the same look he’s seen her give to Sora.
Suzume blinks, coming back to her senses before a sad smile graces her features.
‘Oh. Sorry Vanitas.’ She apologizes. ‘It’s just, Sora’s father… he had brown eyes too.’
Vanitas turns around to look at her fully, but she has this far away glance, as if lost in distant memories. The notion of her words and what they imply quickly overwhelm Vanitas, and he turns to hastily leave the room, only to smack right into Sora, who had been coming to ask what else needs to be done for dinner.
Vanitas glares at Sora, who glares right back.
‘Watch where you’re going.’ Vanitas snarls.
‘You’re the one who ran into me.’ Sora points out.
Before either of them can say anything more, Suzume interjects, placing herself in between the two teenage boys.
‘Alright, you two.’ She says, looking between them with a raised brow. ‘I don’t know what happened today, but let’s just head downstairs and get some dinner, okay?’
Sora is the first to listen to his mother’s suggestion, with Vanitas reluctantly trailing along after.
Dinner is an awkward affair, much like all the other meals Vanitas has had in this house. Suzume and Sora fill the silence, talking about her latest class and how the students are progressing. Vanitas feels incredibly out of place, watching the two of them naturally interact.
If he and Sora really are blood related, would that mean he and Suzume are related also? Would he even want that?
He feels sick to his stomach with intrusive thoughts. He’s not sure if he can ever be comfortable here. Everything is happening too fast. But he’s stuck, at least until he gets his full strength back and can summon dark portals again.
Maybe he should just leave. Get a taste of freedom for the first time in his life. A chance to do all the things he’s never hoped to dream of. But somewhere deep down that gnawing feeling in his chest hurts at the idea, and he still can’t understand why.
So, with no preferrable option in sight, Vanitas resigns himself to playing nice in this family home for now.
Bonus Scene:
It’s odd. Living in a home. There are noises, the sound of people talking, objects being moved, and endless paw prints against the floor. There’s always something going on, someone around visiting, doors being opened and shut. Nothing like the isolating wasteland of the Keyblade Graveyard.
Sometimes Vanitas would catch himself listening, tuning in to Suzume’s humming as she works or Sora and Jewl playing catch. Sometimes the house creeks at night, and it takes him longer than he’d ever admit to relax afterwards.
One time there was a loud beeping noise that went off in the kitchen, a result of something accidentally burning on the stove. There had been yelling. Windows were slammed open, and apologies thrown, but he never figured out what it was.
The room he was given slowly turned into his sanctuary. It was filled with things, stuff to make it less barren and lifeless as Suzume had put it. A proper bed, softer than the couch.(Vanitas had yet to sleep on it.) A warm rug for the floor.(He still chose to step on the hardwood.) A bookcase, dresser, desk, lamp, a weird lump of beans that is apparently used for sitting.(He’s still not sure exactly what it is.)
All things he’s never needed but somehow ended up there regardless.
He still doesn’t call the space his. He thinks of it as a loan, one Suzume is merely sharing with him and would one day take back. It’s easier that way, to not get attached, but still… he’s glad it’s there all the same.
Dream Eater Allyphant Creations 
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