NV; (formerly on LJ)

[dawnward]

[A dial tone, a ring, and then silence.]

"Leave a message and I'll get back to you."

--[Click.]

Comments

call;

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

No, it's not. You can yell at me later if you want to and that's fine, but right now—can you come over here? Or I'll come there. I don't want to talk about this over the NV.

[He's well out of the shock of the previous night, but he's still rattled enough that it shows in his voice.]

call;

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[What has him so rattled...?]

Pick one. I can be there in a minute.

call;

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[Glancing around, checking out who's home.]

I'll come there. I don't want the others to hear this accidentally.

call;

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

Okay.

[He'll go get a blanket for the kid and some water for him, but that's all he'll do while he waits for him.]

call;

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[Thirty seconds later, a portal whispers open and he steps out, not bothering with the niceties of arriving outside and knocking. If he's slept at all, it doesn't look like he slept well.]

His name is Vanitas.

call;

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[He turns to Roxas as he appears, watching him, taking the sight of him in. He looks ragged.]

...Latin for 'vanity'. I can see that. He's full of himself. [A beat.] Are you okay? Are you hurt?

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

Not really. He hit me, but I already healed myself. And I hurt him too. But it wasn't much of a fight with the Voids there blocking everything.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[He slowly nods, gesturing for him to sit on the couch.] So what happened?

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[He sits down heavily with a sigh.]

He thought I was Ventus. [It's not said with much upset; he's gotten used to that happening, and as far as the consequences for showing his face...well, what's done is done.]

But he was dressed a lot like Joe when he goes out in the dark. Like you used to, I suppose. He had a helmet—a mask—that covered his whole face.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[Riku had noticed the boots and could only assume. It was so unoriginal, but that meant that he had to be born of darkness. And if he was looking for Ven...]

A helmet? So you didn't see his face?

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[Roxas tenses up noticeably at this.]

No. I saw it.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[He pauses.]

...What did he look like?

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[It's a long few moments before Roxas answers. He stares into the distance, like he's trying to recall the memory and somehow make it not true, before he straightens up and looks at Riku.]

He looks like Sora.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[Riku, for his part, tenses up and stares at him with more unabashed emotion than he's ever probably outwardly shown to the boy. So that was Sora's voice he heard. But just the same...

Sora in a dark suit. Sora. He feels sick.]

How is that even.... How can he look like Sora?

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[It makes part of Roxas feel a little better that Riku is so obviously affected by this; he's not the only one feeling it. But only a little better, because the rest of him feels worse.]

I don't know. His hair is darker, and his eyes are gold, but everything else is exactly the same. If it hadn't been obvious that he's a newcomer, I would have thought that...that Sora died and became one of those creatures in the dark. It's that similar.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[This doesn't make any sense. If he knows Ven, then he's from ten years ago. Ten years ago, he and Sora were safe on his island. Sora never had any older brother that mysteriously disappeared, so there's no way that they could be related.]

...We need to know how and why he knows Ven.

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

...I already know.

[He gets tense again, because as much as he just wants real answers, he can already see what this has done to Ventus in less than a day. Everything keeps getting more and more complicated.]

Vanitas...comes from Ventus. He's Ven's darkness. Xehanort pulled it out of him and made it into a person.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

[But that still doesn't explain why Vanitas looks like Sora and not Ven. Riku pauses to think, mind beginning to race. Ventus and Vanitas. Sora and Roxas. It's not coincidence, but the only thing that could mean is that they're connected somehow by the heart.

That doesn't make it any better. In fact, that makes this revelation worse. He doesn't have any solid proof of his theory, either.]

That's disgusting.

[Xehanort. It's always Xehanort who ruins everything. He's messed with Ven and somehow has messed with Sora. And Xemnas messed with Roxas.

He hates feeling this helpless and responsible. Damn it.]

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

That's about right.

[What kind of person was Ventus before he lost his own darkness, to produce someone like Vanitas? Or did a normal person's darkness grow once let loose on its own, to become the boy Roxas faced? It's just one of many questions he's got.]

Now Ven's talking about going to stop him somehow. He wants to take responsibility. I tried looking for him, but I couldn't find him. He wouldn't listen to me when I said not to do something dumb. He's just as stubborn as Terra.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

The three of them are too used to doing things on their own. Terra won't accept any help either. They believe this is their battle to fight and no one else's.

[He can understand that.]

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

It's stupid. I don't blame them for being worried about their friends, but doing stuff like this is just going to make it worse.

[He clenches and unclenches his fists, then sighs. No use working himself up without an outlet.]

Xehanort's going to know, now. About me and Ven.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

No, Roxas, it's not. It's what people are used to. Aqua, at least, isn't like that.

[And now Xehanort's going to know about Roxas.]

You still need to keep away from him for as long as humanly possible. Keep Xion and Joe away from him too.

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't agree, but it's not worth fighting over.]

I will. He didn't get my name, at least. I'm not that worried about Xion, but Joe...does he know about Xehanort at all? He kept talking to him.

[walkthedawn.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Joe does. If he can't sense that he has a familiar darkness, then Joe is dumber than I thought. You better make sure that he knows.

[pullsheavendown.livejournal.com]

He's not dumb! [Sigh again. The lack of sleep is starting to catch up to him.] I'll talk to him.

Should we tell the others...what this guy looks like? I don't want to freak people out, but he might decide to do it for us.