Vanitas chuckled, a sharp, almost barking laugh, even if it was kept quiet and knowing. Let Ventus think he had hurled some wounding insult; Vanitas knew that he was empty. Naught but a hollowed out being of negativity, with a purpose purely for pain.
No… Not quite… How could he be hollow, when he had come from something else? No, he was the piece scooped out of the hollow being. He supposed either idea existence lent itself to a sense of incompletion. But, at least he was aware enough to understand that. Embrace it, even; what purpose did he have without that feeling of missing something? The need to fix it?
Why Ventus couldn’t simply pick up that drive, himself, and run with it as he had was beyond the comprehension of the darker half.
“I go where you go; you know that. Somebody’s gotta keep an eye on you, pathetic as you are.” And he did look pathetic. Vanitas could feel through their bond just how weary Ventus was. Ready to keel over. Drop. Not like the shell he had been, but he could almost say the light was on the verge of a break. It would be so easy - almost too easy - to finish him.
When he should have drawn his blade, Vanitas instead stepped forward, muscles tight with tension. He could blame it on the exhaustion in the blond’s face, but the lack of aggression was almost surprising to Vanitas, when his very presence almost encouraged violence. He didn’t sit, but he stopped beside his brother, and though his head was turned towards the dark, sleepy little town, golden eyes never moved from the boy at his feet.
Again, he laughed. “We were made for our struggles,” he murmured, and in a moment of dark humor, he added, “you think I wouldn’t take the opportunity to knock you from this tower? We’re pretty high up. It’s bound to do some damage.”
Ven wondered the same, but did not voice this challenge aloud. They both knew the answer. To extinguish such a weak light brought nothing to the cause. Snuffing out a dim flickering light was not Vanitas’s style. He wanted to fight a radiance. Such bright Light only made the Darkness deeper. The starkness made both stronger where it mattered.
If the blonde’s heart wasn’t in it, they’d both get nowhere. Vanitas could sense the stirrings of his wary heart. Only away from everyone and only with his darkness could he decompress. Still, the feeling persisted as Ven stared below. So, why didn’t he? So, why didn’t he? It’d be easy to excuse the fall as a push from the darkness.
“It’ll probably hurt you more than me, “ Ven chuffed weakly. He pulled his gaze away from the town and flopped back. . “You wouldn’t have anyone to fight with anymore, and you’d be more alone than before.” His attention went from the overhang over to the other boy, but his thoughts still drifted.
So far up, he would get those moments of peaceful free falling. Close his eyes and feel the comforting wind through his hair and tug at his clothes. Maybe he’d fall back to that quiet place of rest from before everything happened. Back when his heart was broken and there was only rest. It was better than dealing with the future and putting on a face that everything going forward would be ok.
“What do you think’s gonna happen now, Vanitas? “ Ven piped up, gesturing with his chin. He put his hands behind his head. Maybe it was best to try and understand now. “ How long has this been going on? Everything. Darkness versus the Light. What sort of stuff did Master Xehanort tell you to keep at it. Don’t you hate him?”
