The cover image is from tntdynamo's tumbler page (deliberately misspelling that as FF has a bad habit of removing all references to other websites, even without hyperlinks). Go give them some support, they could use more love. If that isn't incentive enough, I made the cover image grainy and added a watermark, so no swiping. Thanks, on with the show. See profile for disclaimer.

"Oh, great." Vanitas muttered, staring at the… thing in front of him. For weeks he'd had glimpses of something dark scuttling out of corners and around bends in Sora's head, and had dared to hope some of his Unversed might have made it here too. Anything to get him away from the nightlight Ventus, who by turns clung to him sobbing or babbled about how pure and gentle the light was. And every other moment watched him like he was a lit fuse on a stack of dynamite. Gag him with a spoon, but the blondie was annoying.

But no, turns out this Sora kid was a bit more complicated than he'd thought possible. "I didn't want a pet, kid. What are you even doing to yourself out there?"

There was, as always, no response. Vanitas was pretty certain Sora had no idea he existed. Hah, well, if you'd call this "existence." Vanitas sighed and crouched down, holding out his hands like one might to lure in a scared puppy. "It's okay, kid. I ain't gonna hurt you." He murmured, keeping his pitch low and steady. "You wanna come out?"

Shuffling, and the shadows in the corner moved. Familiar black spikes poked out from the glob of darkness and suddenly orange-yellow eyes pierced the gloom. They squinted at him, and the thing's head tilted curiously. "Hey there, uh… you. Come on out, it's okay."

A single black coated sneaker edged out from the shadow, then pulled back. Vanitas just waited, still holding his arms out. He didn't make eye contact. Whatever this thing was (and he had some ideas), it was clearly more beast than human, and would take eye contact as a challenge. Again the shoe came out, then the other, and then a black hand coated in wispy shadows. That hand hit the ground and Vanitas got his first real look at the other darkness in Sora's heart.

He really just looked like Sora, if the kid had just climbed out of a tar pit. Shadows buzzed around his base form, making him look larger than he actually was. And Sora's carefree grin was nowhere to be found on this creature. He shuffled forward on all fours, carefully, sniffing the air like he couldn't believe there was another thing like him in this sea of light. "That's right, 's okay." Vanitas murmured.

"Vanitas!" The sound of a Keyblade being drawn made Vanitas flinch, and the shadowy Sora dove back into the shadows with a yelp. Vanitas gritted his teeth and stood up, turning around to find his favorite roommate poised to attack in his stupid, nonsensical battle stance. How the hell he fought and actually won backhanded was a mystery. Slowly, Ventus lowered his Keyblade as it became clear the "threat" was gone. "What-what was that thing?"

"Well, Ventus, if you'd bothered to wait a bit before trying to kill it, maybe I'd be able to tell you."

"Get real! It looked like it wanted to eat you."

Vanitas brushed by his other dismissively, striding down the-since when was this a hallway, ugh, mindscapes-and finding the first door that would open to him. "You know, Ventus, that's your problem. You judge far too quickly and don't even try to get the facts first."

"Why do you… always do that?" Ventus asked, so quietly that Vanitas almost didn't hear. He paused at the threshold and waited, even though he should have just slammed the door. "Say my name like it's poison or something."

He did slam the door then, just to take some vicious pleasure in causing the real Sora a mild headache. Damn it. He didn't know Ventus knew he did that. And he'd never, ever tell him why.

This was a closet of sorts, holding racks full of dusty globes. Sora's memories only looked this way because this was how Vanitas imagined memories to look; the mindscape was amenable to imagination, though it always took Ventus's ideas over his when they were both together. He ran his fingers over the orbs, but the dust didn't budge. Of course the illusion was never perfect. He could never forget that this place was nothing more than a gilded prison. Pretty on the surface, but only as big as Sora's heart.

A shelf shifted and some of the orbs clacked together. Vanitas grinned. "He's annoying, isn't he? Don't worry, he's gone now. The dummy thought you were an enemy."

A soft, inquisitive noise. Vanitas squinted through the dim light cast by the scattered memories, and thought he could see where the shadows condensed into a roughly human-shaped ball. "Can you talk?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. It wouldn't be the first time a Heartless could, but it was pretty rare. Another sound came from the shadows, this one low, guttural. It sounded more like a purr than it had any right to, though it still sent a little shiver down Vanitas's spine.

"Hmm, okay." He sat down and leaned up against the dusty shelf, opening himself completely to attack. If that didn't convince this thing he meant no harm, then it wasn't smart enough to bother with. Just to add to the effect, he closed his eyes. When nothing happened, he sighed. "Any day now." He mumbled, trying not to sound annoyed, and tilted his head back to expose his neck.

That got its attention. He heard a little sharp intake of breath, and then the shuffling of shadowy feet and hands on concrete. And then suddenly he could feel misty wisps of shadows and the warm huff of breath on his skin. The shadow creature smelled him carefully, obviously watching to see if he would move, so he kept his eyes closed and hardly even breathed. The exhales moved from his right hand up to his neck, then disappeared. Vanitas counted to three hundred before opening his eyes, and like he expected the creature was gone. Not hiding, actually gone. "...huh."

He found out what happened later, when a wild-eyed Ventus found him and demanded to know why a scared hurt not-shadowy Sora had found him and "tell me what you know, I saw you with that thing!" Vanitas played with his food a bit, letting Ventus think he knew more than he was letting on, but he really only had a theory at this point. When Ventus threatened him with death if he woke up the sleeping Sora back at base camp, Vanitas just sneered and turned away, striding back to the memory closet.

Of course it wasn't there anymore. There was really no way to tell where anything had been in Sora's heart, since it shifted with every memory he made and new person he'd met. But Vanitas found roughly the same area and waited there, wondering how long it would take.

Time was weird in this place, so it could have been a few hours or several days, but finally Sora's Shadow found him again. This time there was no hesitation at all; the creature limped right up to him and buried its face in his chest, clutching at him with claws that pricked through his armor. He didn't move or speak, afraid to startle it, but it purred at a steady low frequency that told him it wasn't about to attack. When he thought it was safe, he said quietly, "Ah, kid, what'd he do to you?"

Sora didn't run away at the sound of his voice, instead pulling back and staring up at him with those yellow eyes. Vanitas broke eye contact first and pulled away, clearing his throat and brushing off his arms. "Not much of a hugger, sorry kid." He said, crouching down again to get a better look. Today, Sora was ragged in a way he hadn't been before. Vanitas's eyes narrowed as he took in the signs of battle. "Didn't that twerp bother to heal you before he shunted you back here?" He asked, not expecting a response. Sora tilted his head again, trembling. He had holes in him, not cool, "real" Sora. "I can't heal you without my Keyblade." Vanitas explained, holding out both hands, "but I know you're scared of them." Sora reached out one hand to touch Vanitas's, staring at the way his armor's gloves wrapped around his fingers. "Yeah, I'm like you." Vanitas said quietly, glancing around to make sure Ventus wasn't anywhere nearby. "You poor thing, you must have been so scared." Everything he saw written in the injuries said Sora'd fought for his life, and with his bare hands.

He laid down, making it very clear he was not going to attack, and held out one arm to summon his Keyblade. It flashed into existence. Much to his surprise, Sora pounced on it, pinning his arm to the ground and knocking the blade out of his hand with his teeth. It spun across the floor and clattered into a corner, but Sora didn't let Vanitas's arm go. If anything, he clutched tighter and bared his teeth at the corner, growling fiercely.

"Well, that's not gonna work." Vanitas said, grinning and flicking his Keyblade back into the aether with a quick twist of his fingers. Slowly, Sora stopped growling and relaxed, fingers loosening their death grip. The shadowy mist around his face almost looked like animal ears, twitching up curiously now that the threat was gone. "You're kinda like a big, dumb dog, ain't you?" Vanitas asked gently, smiling when Sora looked back down at him and sniffed the air cautiously. Sora nudged him, and when he chuckled, nudged him again, harder. "Oh what, are you mad at me or something?"

Sora's face twisted into a pout, and he backed off of Vanitas, moving on all fours and resting most of his weight on his knuckles. As soon as he settled onto them, though, he flinched and lifted one hand up to lick at it. Vanitas sighed. "Don't do that, you dummy. Germs?"

Sora ignored him, so he got up and said, "I could heal you if I had a potion, but the corner store's not exactly open. Sorry, kid." Then again, he was in a mindscape… Vanitas walked to the nearest door thinking about potions in all colors and sizes, and when he opened it, the inside looked like a tiny convenience store. Rows and rows of green and gold potions lined the shelves. "Well whattayaknow." Vanitas said, grabbing one off the shelf. It glittered in the low light, and actually swished when he moved the bottle. "Not bad." He tried to yank the top off, but it wouldn't budge. "Annnd there's the catch."

He glanced over his shoulder to see Sora still licking himself, having moved on to his other hand, and summoned his Keyblade to quickly smash the top of the bottle off. The blade cut it clean off, and the acrid smell of elixir filled the air. He quickly banished his Keyblade and went back to Sora, only slowing down once he was close enough to startle him. He got down on one knee and held out the bottle, saying, "Drink this. It probably won't kill you."

Again surprising him, Sora grabbed the open bottle out of his hands and chugged it, licking at the edge of the broken glass to get the last drops and whimpering when it was gone. And the mindscape didn't disappoint for once; Vanitas watched with fascination as Sora's shadowy flesh knitted itself back together. He let out a breath when the last injury healed and rested a hand on Sora's head, grinning when he got another hug for his efforts. He was warm, completely unlike the cold fishlike Unversed Vanitas was used to. He took the bottle from Sora and flung it across the room, not at all surprised at the way it shattered into fragments of light and drifted away.

He could just sit here for a while with Sora, that would be okay. "Guys like us gotta stick together, right?" He said, grinning when Sora began to purr again and curled up on his lap. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

He lost track of time and was kind of drifting off when he heard Ventus call him. Sora tensed in his sleep and muttered some noises under his breath, but a hand in his hair calmed him back to sleep in no time. "If you wake him up, I'll end you." Vanitas said when Ventus rounded the corner, making his mouth drop open when he caught sight of them.

"Uhh Vanitas? What're you doing?" Well, at least there was no Keyblade this time. Vanitas just scoffed, not bothering to respond. "What is that thing anyway?"

Before he knew it, Vanitas was sneering and saying, "His name is Sora," in a vicious whisper.

"But that's not-" Ventus blinked, and for once in his short life actually used his brain. "Oh. Oh."

Vanitas felt like cursing, but didn't want to wake Sora. He couldn't run away either, which meant things were about to get awkward. God he hated mushy emotional garbage-this is why he'd kept it to himself-Ventus might as well shoot him with a Firaga at this point. "I am not projecting." He said sternly, trying to convince himself as well as Ventus.

The annoying little shit plopped down next to him and smiled, wrapping his arms around his knees. Sora shifted in his sleep and whimpered, and Vanitas realized he was holding onto his hair too tightly. He forced his fingers loose and soothed Sora with a few gentle pats, staring intently anywhere but Ventus's general direction. "You know, I didn't realize it bothered you so much."

Vanitas grunted, trying to convey with every line of his body how much he didn't want to have this conversation. Ventus, as usual, plowed ahead anyway. "I mean I could call you Ventus too if you think that would make a difference."

Vanitas bared his teeth. Looked like they were doing this. "As usual, you miss the point entirely, blondie."

Ventus let out a breath and wrinkled his nose. "Then what is your point?"

"I am you, doofus. Your name should be my name but more importantly, I shouldn't even be here. You haven't accepted me, even after all this time."

"I-it's not that easy." Ventus looked away and bit his bottom lip, squeezing his knees tighter.

"I know, your heart is just so full of light that you can't bear to stain it with me. Right?"

"That's not true!" Great. Sora woke up, blinked sleepy eyes up at Vanitas, and then saw Ventus. His whole body tensed up immediately and he pushed himself away from Vanitas, turning to Ventus and growling harshly. Ventus flinched, and went to summon his Keyblade, but Vanitas stopped him by grabbing his wrist. "Let me go!"

"He's not going to hurt you, idiot! He's scared!" Sora was backing up slowly, teeth still bared, shadows whipping around him. "He's still Sora."

"He's not! He can't be."

"Oh, and you're such a good judge of character, right Venven? Accept it. Your little hero of light has a dark side, just. Like. You. And he makes it do his dirty work, too. Wow! No wonder you two get along!"

On any other day, Ventus's horrified face would have made Vanitas laugh, but today he was just annoyed with him for being so bloody clueless. "If you make me a liar, you'll regret it," he warned Ventus before starting to slide along the floor towards Sora. "It's okay, kid. You just surprised him, that's all. He won't attack you."

Sora's eyes shifted to him briefly, then back to Ventus's wielding hand. His growls slowly ebbed away when Ventus didn't summon his Keyblade, and he tilted his head, murmuring curiously. "That's right, see? No enemies here."

"Why?" Ventus asked, voice broken, from behind him. Vanitas just chuckled. "How can you treat him so kindly? He's not… like us."

"Is he not?" Vanitas mused, holding out a hand. Slowly, Sora came forward and sniffed it, then nudged it with his nose. Vanitas smiled, and looked back at his other. Ventus stared at him with a complicated expression on his face. "Don't think so hard, I can smell smoke." Vanitas joked, making Ventus glower at him.

"It's not that I can't bear to let you into my heart, you know."

Vanitas sighed. "We're still having this conversation. Great."

"Stop that! I'm serious. I don't know how."

"How, what?"

"How to… accept you, or whatever. There isn't exactly a manual for that."

"I'm no expert, Blondie, but I think the first step is probably to stop treating me like a ticking pipe bomb."

"I don't do that!" When Vanitas just looked at him and raised his eyebrows, Ventus relented, "Okay, maybe a little, but how was I supposed to know you weren't going to go all murdery on me again?"

Vanitas pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache coming on. Sora nudged at his fingers, making worried sounds. "Murdery?" He repeated blankly, and Ventus blushed.

"You know what I meant."

"Everything I did, I did to rejoin you. It was my sole driving purpose. I only worked with Xehanort to achieve that end. We are one, and it would be nice for you to acknowledge that at some point."

"I didn't know I had to," Ventus protested, gritting his teeth. "Look, I'm sorry if I've been hurting you. Can you tell me how to stop?"

Vanitas waved a hand. "Just… stop with the darkness equals evil bullshit. That would help immensely." Sora reached out for his hand with claw-tipped fingers and "caught" it, pulling it down and batting at it like a cat with a ball of yarn. Vanitas played along, pulling his hand out of reach and around himself. "And maybe don't pretend like I don't exist except when you need a shoulder to cry on."

"Deal." Ventus stared down at Sora with his brow furrowed. "...he's not really all that scary, is he?"

"Nope."

"Ventus, I'm sorry." Vanitas's breath caught in his throat, and he froze. Sora prodded at his suddenly-still hand, probably wondering what happened to his new toy.

"Ah, it'll get confusing around here if we're both Ventus," he finally said, twitching his fingers to grab Sora's attention again. "Not really my style anyway. You're the airhead, after all."

"Heyyy." Ventus got up to leave. "Well, whatever."

"Hey kid." And this time Vanitas didn't mean Sora. Ventus turned back to him, shocked to not be insulted for once. "...thanks."

Ventus's happy laugh filled the room even after he was gone. Sora watched him go, then pounced back onto Vanitas's hand. Vanitas chuckled.

I could get used to this.