@fledglingāemotions continued from [x]
He stiffens at the mention of their last clash. Fine, if Vanitas wanted to go thereā¦ āReally? You call that a full merge? Funny. You told me that the X-blade wasnāt complete.ā
The fire returns to his eyes and he grits his teeth. If thatās how they were playing it? Fine. āAnd we didnāt complete it. I stopped you then.ā Donāt take this as a resignation? Fine. He wouldnāt.
āIn case you forgot, I wasnāt the one who ripped us apart. And no, it wasnāt exactly easy for me either! Oh poor, pitiful Vanitas. All alone while I have my friends? Come on. I made friends. Went out and tried!! No it didnāt feel good to lose you. I nearly didnāt make it! If it werenāt for Sora, I wouldnāt even be here. Then where would your sad backstory be?ā
He balls his fists by his sides, feeling them shake with anger. āYeah, maybe you didnāt get a say. I didnāt either! And Iām sick of you trying to blame me for everything that goes wrong!! Its not my fault youāre by yourself! Have you ever tried to do anything but ruin everyoneās lives?? How selfish do you have to be not to see why they donāt run to you!?ā
He takes a shaky breath. He hadnāt intended to raise his voice, but this was something heād wanted to say for a long time now. Softer again, he continues. Though the fire never leaves his expression.
āI said Iād be there if you wanted to figure things out. But if you just want to complain at me about your life? Iām out. Itās not mine anymore, and its about time you realized that. Iām not yours, and youāre not mine.ā
Vanitas felt his blood run cold and the sharpest stab in his chest. Eyes wide, frozen like heād been shot. It was so rare to have his own words thrown back into his face, scalding him.Ā
āOh poor, pitiful Vanitasāā
Mocking him.Ā
āIf it werenāt for Soraā ruin everyoneās livesāā
Fingers digging into the glass of his maskā¦Ā
āāselfishāā
ā¦threatening to break.
āāIām not yours, and youāre not mine.ā
Cracks forming along the sides. Edges cutting through his gloves. The ringing in his ears numbing the sensation.
What did he have to call his own if not Ventus? If not his own brother?
If he hadnāt proddedā¦if he had just listened when he told him to stopā¦ Why? Vanitas ground his teeth. Why did he come here? Every hand offered to him heād slapped away. Guarded to a fault of self-destruction. Ā
The burn of negative energy flowed out of him, its tendrils uncontrolled. Pools of ink forming at his feet to give way to those vermin. One Flood, then another, darting from himā their stark blue against the white marble. Vanitas winced at the way they tore from him. So very absent-minded in how they targeted Ventus with no directive. He thought he was able to regulate them nowā¦but these, the ones born of organic distress, those were the hardest to controlā impossible to simply dispel. Ā
āDonātāā bracing for the pain their erasure would undoubtedly cause, he called out terse and panicked. A plead against the inevitable. How many had Ventus destroyed in the past? He lived with the chronic pain for years, bearable to handle alone.Ā
Ventus was none the wiser. A weakness he would now be exposed to.Ā
āUnversed!ā
So thatās how it was? His eyes widen as his hand shoots to the side. The Wayward Wind appears, and Ventus could feel its familiar, comforting grip in his grasp. He jumps back, giving himself space, away from his darker half.
With the Floods targeting him, he didnāt have much time to process Vanitasās words. Donāt what? Defend himself? Not likely. Heād come too far to fall here.
So, he gets to work. One swing after another as he attacks the foes. He was, however, keeping a careful eye on Vanitas, in case he wanted to join the fray. Thatā¦ was an outcome heād like to avoid.
āSo thatās it? Nothingās changed after all?! Fine. Iāll take āem!ā
His voice is confident, but an unsettling feeling weighs on the young keybearerās shoulders. All this negativity would just flow back to the source, right? Flow back to Vanitasā¦ If this was an infinite supply, there was a limit to how long Ventus could hold out. And there would be no reinforcements. Heād sent his friends away mere minutes ago. They wonāt be back for a good, long while. āIs this why you showed up today?!ā Had the entire conversation been nothing but a game?
Of course Ventus refused to hold back, snuffing out the Unversed had become nothing but second nature. Simple target practice.
The pain ran through Vanitas in sharp stabs, dulling to only be pierced again as Ventus brought the keyblade down against the Unversed...again and again, the teeth of it digging into themā into him. His breath faltered into a hiss, ragged and unsteady. An outstretched hand, a plea to stop, turning to grasp at his chest. The flow from him and back, the transfer burning under his skin.
The hostile, uncontrolled Unversed and him were never in the seen in the same vicinity for a reason. And now Ventus would seeā exposed to him the limits of his power, itsā impracticality.
āWhy couldnāt you have listened?ā Teeth bared, voice dripping with a worn exhaustion. His eyes stung. āYou just had to push it.ā The moment seemed unreal, fogged over with desperation as Vanitas called Void Gear back to his side and let his legs move on their own. Heavy and so, so sluggish, he closed in on Ventus, the Unversed dancing around him; wholly ignorant to their masterās presence.
They had no reason to expect a hand raised against them.
Vanitas brought the keyblade down onto them, his anger pointed at them had melted into the sickest satisfaction exploding within him as they writhed and squealed. Each one disappearing at every slash. Hurting in the same way ripping off a bandaid wouldā so much easier to do it himselfā¦ Just as he had for years, his vain attempts at ridding them only resulting in worsening the ache. Now, the self inflicted pain had begun to ground him; their fate his to control, their behavior turning to cowardice at the threat of demise. Slowly, they began to return to Vanitas. A few stubborn stragglers remained.
He cast a look at Ventus, and a concern for the obvious was cast on his faceā¦waiting for Vanitas to turn that blade on him again. Expecting it.Ā
The way he tried to hide the worry in his eyes was disgusting. Ā Ā
āThink for once, why donāt you? If I wanted you dead I wouldāve done it by now.ā The empty threat was delivered with less malice than usual, discomfort causing his voice to shake. He pressed a weak hand to Ventusā chest and pushed him aside, going after the remaining Floods. His body became difficult to hold up and he faltered, spots blossoming in his eyes. Vanitas wouldnāt accept the weakness. He was taught better than that. But the last blow slicing another Flood in half sent his knees bucklingā his body putting a natural end to the struggle.
