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Sora stood proudly in front of his bedroom mirror and looked himself over. The outfit was skin tight, but for some reason not in the least bit uncomfortable. He could see now why some people would wear this. The boots were pretty cool and sturdy and he could feel that jumping in them wouldn't be so hard at all, even though he still preferred his yellow shoes over these. Those were his trademark shoes after all.
His eyes trailed up to his waist. The little cape-thing around it was a little weird, but he could get used to it. It wasn't all that different from the pouches he normally had around his legs anyway. Further up and he could acknowledge how cool those red stripes looked on him, even if it was a rather bold fashion choice. Red just really suited him. Even higher and he admired the weird chin part of his helmet. It made his jaw look sharp and mean and it gave him a whole different kind of aura, one that said: I'm too cool for you and I'll definitely beat your ass.
That thought made Sora widen his grin even more as his eyes met with his reflection. He fumbled a little with the top part of his helmet, let out a careful sigh, and slowly lifted it up to place it on top of his head. He didn’t have to fight the spikes to fit under it, which was a pleasant surprise. The dark glass of the helmet fully obscured his face from view, and even though he knew he was still himself inside it, it caused chills to run down his spine. He looked exactly like him. Same posture, same height... He already knew that of course, but to see it in his own reflection made it all the more real.
Sora straightened his shoulders and took the most nonchalant stance he could think of. One hand at his hip, one hand loosely at his side, his head cocked and his legs steady and wide.
(And maybe he took some inspiration from a different emo here, one with silver hair, piercing blue eyes, self esteem that Sora could only dream of having his entire childhood long-)
Anyway, it looked convincing enough. He had the stance down—check—and now he only needed one more thing before he would start his master prank. He cleared his throat, coughed a little when he choked on his own spit, and when he had recovered from that, readied himself to start speaking in the lowest voice he could muster.
"Gotta say, that strange facade had me fooled at first, brother."
Sora almost jumped in place at the sound of that sentence, ready to get into battle, his hand open in the air to welcome his keyblade... only, he didn't need it. There wasn't anyone to fight, he just scared himself. Sora chuckled. Silly him, scaring himself with his own voice.
It was extremely convincing though, so that was good. He was ready.
Without allowing himself to rethink his decision (which would have probably been the better choice here), Sora opened the door and resolutely stepped outside. It was Halloween today, and the hallways of Yen Sid's tower had been decorated with pumpkin lanterns and cute ghost garlands across the walls and ceiling. It was meant to be spooky, but really, it only gave the tower a cozy vibe and Sora really liked it. It was warm and reminded him of his many visits to Halloween Town and his spooky friends there.
Sora made his way down the long winded stairs to the entrance of the tower, where he knew some of the others had gathered to put up decorations for the party that evening. He was almost at the entrance doors, just one curve of stairs away from being in sight, when he heard a loud laugh echo between the walls.
"Aqua, we said the costumes had to be scary! This isn't scary at all!" Ventus' voice rose to where Sora had stopped on the steps. He smiled inside his helmet and decided to wait on the stairs for a little bit, see how this would play out first.
"What?" came the perplexed reply of Aqua, " No, Sora and the others said to come in costume, no one said anything about scary!"
Ventus kept laughing and two other voices joined in. It sounded like Riku and Kairi were downstairs as well. Perfect.
Aqua huffed aloud. "Does this mean I have to change then? And to think I put so much work into this..."
Ven's laugh quieted down and Sora could just imagine how he probably had his hands raised behind his head right now, relaxed but still grinning.
"Nah, that's not necessary, Aqua, I like your costume. It fits you."
"Yeah, Aqua," Kairi joined in, "I really love your dress. It's so beautiful."
"Thank you guys, that means a lot. Now, should we get started outside with the lights?"
This time, Riku spoke up. "Let's wait just a little longer. Sora's not here yet, he said he wanted to help."
"Knowing him, he's probably still sleeping," Kairi said, a hint of a smile in her voice, "That lazy bum, should I go wake him up?"
This was his moment to strike. Sora stepped down and descended the stairs until he was in sight. He could see the others were with their backs turned to him, Kairi pointing a thumb behind her as she asked if she should get him. Aqua was indeed in costume, but certainly not a scary one. Instead, she had chosen to dress up as one of her friends from the other worlds, princess Cinderella. Kairi was right; the gown suited her, it looked as if it was especially made for her.
In high contrast with the sparkly princess dress Aqua was wearing, the others had chosen to dress up as far more scary people from other worlds. Kairi looked like a witch, but had clearly taken inspiration from Maleficent's outfit, as her sleeves were ragged and the black of her clothes was decorated with hues of purple and green. Ventus was dressed as an unversed, his outfit all black, the small antennas on his head resembling the ones a typical Flood had.
How fitting, apparently he and Ventus had had similar ideas when they thought of "scary".
In comparison to the other costumes, Riku's was a little disappointing—he'd just grabbed his black coat and thrown it on.
Sora shook his head. He should have known that Riku would go incredibly basic. The platinum haired boy was nothing if not practical and of course he already had a lot of experience fighting in the thing, so it stood to reason this would be what he'd choose. Sora smiled softly and then let his gaze wander around the room. Around them were multiple big boxes, stuffed to the brim with spooky decorations for the outside of the enormous tower. Ventus was already carrying one in his arms and seemed to struggle quite a bit with it. Sora chuckled quietly. He should get this over with so he could quickly help them carry the boxes outside.
Sora quietly breathed through his mouth as he took his practiced stance and morphed his face into a scowl. He knew the mask would hide it either way, but he wanted to really play the part.
Just as Ventus was about to answer Kairi's question, Sora dropped his voice and 'grumpily' interrupted, "Now why would you do that? I'm already here."
Four startled heads shot in his direction, all with faces ranging from fear to furious hatred, Ventus being the latter as he dropped his box and it hit the ground with a loud thud. Oh-oh.
"Vanitas!" Ventus yelled and dropped into his fighting stance, a bright light flashing as his keyblade appeared in his hand.
Aqua had her keyblade out in an instant and Riku had already raised his hand behind him to do the same, when Kairi's fearful voice made them all pause. "What- How did you get here?"
Sora almost wanted to laugh and scratch his head, before he remembered he wore a helmet. His hand was already halfway in the air however, and Aqua had understood it as him starting to summon his keyblade to attack.
"Oh no, you don't!" She yelled and lunged straight for him.
Before Sora could get any words in, he was dodging attack after attack, Aqua's keyblade swift and almost too fast to perceive. How did she still go this fast when she was wearing a full-on ball gown?! Sora bent backwards and just barely avoided a nasty swing of her keyblade. He hadn't won against Xehanort and all his accomplices for nothing—he was just as fast.
“Woah!” A slash to his left had him dodging towards the wall. "Wait guys, I'm not-" he tried to get out, only to be stopped by a swing to his knees that he swiftly jumped over.
A slash just above his helmet made him duck and manouver around Aqua. "You don't understand, I-"
Aqua directed her keyblade straight to his chest, but Sora quickly jumped into the air and landed at the end of the stairs. "Please, just-"
Aqua followed and jabbed at his feet, causing him to jump again towards the door. "-listen to me, I-"
"What is the matter, got cold feet?" Aqua taunted him, Ventus and Riku standing battle-ready at her sides. The three of them closed in on Sora, his mind racing to come up with a way to end this quickly without having to fight. "Fight back, you coward!"
Aqua's keyblade started glowing and she raised it above her head. Sora's eyes widened behind the glass of his helmet.
"Thundaga!" Aqua shouted as a bolt of lightning blasted from the tip of her keyblade. Sora barely dodged it, the place where he had been standing on now a smothering piece of darkened wood.
Aqua was already loading up for another shot and Sora decided then and there that he'd have to make a run for it. They weren't listening to him and right now that meant he should fear for his life.
Without giving any of them a chance to charge another attack at him, he bolted out of the door, making sure to slam it closed as he did so. That way, he would get a few seconds headstart as they had to unlock the door again.
He raced around the tower to the back of the floating island and almost tripped over the edge, were it not for Yen Sid's magic barrier that saved him and gently bounced him back to the ground. Sora glanced around, searching for someplace to hide until the others had calmed down, but then a deafening bang sounded from the front of the tower. Aqua must have blasted the door open. Crap, this was bad. How was he going to get them to see this was all a harmless joke?
Well, they were probably past harmless at this point... he could already feel a few bruises forming from the dodging and jumping. He should have kept up with his training like Yen Sid and Riku always said. If it hadn't been for that helmet-
But of course, the helmet! Sora grabbed it and tore it off his head, letting it fall to the grass next to him. If they could see it was actually him, they'd calm down! For sure! Sora internally facepalmed as he put on his brightest smile and stepped away from his hiding spot. Everything would be fine now.
Riku, Aqua and Ventus stood gathered at the entrance of the tower, Kairi nervously standing in the doorway as her eyes darted around. However, it was just a matter of seconds before her eyes landed on Sora. He could pinpoint the exact moment, since her eyes widened substantially and her finger pointed right at him.
"Guys, there!" she said. Why was her voice still so scared? And why were the three fighters turning around to look at him with still so much anger??
Sora's smile wavered a bit, but he brought it back full force. "Sorry guys, didn't mean to scare you," he said, careful as to not lower his voice at all. Now he sounded a bit higher pitched then he was comfortable with, but he couldn't take any chances right now. He raised his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender as he stepped further out of the shadow of the bushes. "No hard feelings, okay?"
Riku's face was emotionless, indifferent, so very different from what Sora had always seen when his best friend looked at him, while Ven and Aqua looked at him with narrowed eyes. They were obviously still wary. He couldn't blame them—he was an incredible actor.
"See? It's just me, Sora. No Vanitas here." He laughed awkwardly and rubbed his head.
"Really," Aqua said slowly, in a very not convinced manner, "then Sora-" Why the emphasis on his name? "-how do you explain... the unversed around you?"
Sora dropped his hands and looked down in shock. He gawked at the little black creatures that were pooling from underneath his feet. ...How?
Hastily, Sora looked back up to meet three distrustful glares. He flailed his hands in front of him desperately. "They're not with me guys, I swear!"
Ven lowered into his battle stance and readied his feet. Sora facepalmed himself internally for the second time that day. Now he really had no way to let them know it was him. And he would get beaten up for sure...
Unless...
Just as Ven launched into the air to strike at Sora from above, and Aqua and Riku charged at him from either side, a horn honked loudly. There, from the outer space around the flying island, came the magic train at a maddening speed towards the keyblade wielders. The door to the small train unit was open, a certain boy with spiky blond hair standing in its doorway.
"Jump!" Roxas yelled, his hand outstretched.
Sora put all the magic he had into the soles of his feet and threw himself as high into the air as possible, skillfully dodging Ven's incoming keyblade as he twisted mid-air and glided towards the train. He reached with his hand and successfully clasped hands with Roxas.
Roxas quickly pulled him inside the train and closed the doors as the train sped away from the island and left the three confused keyblade wielders behind on it.
That was too close, Sora thought.
After Roxas had made sure the doors were safely closed, he crossed his arms and dropped down on the nearest seat, Sora doing the same on the other side as he quietly catched his breath. A beat of silence followed and Roxas eyed Sora's costume with furrowed brows. Then, he broke the awkward silence.
"So... Why exactly did you think it was a good idea to dress up as Vanitas?"
Sora chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well... he's scary, isn't he?"
Roxas closed his eyes and sighed. A long, long sigh. He looked like a tired parent. He certainly felt like one as he looked at Sora's sheepish grin.
"You'll be the death of me, you know that?" he said as he shook his head. "For fuck's sake-"
"Language."
Roxas shot an annoyed glare at his Other at that interruption, but he continued, "Dressing up like him is one thing, but deciding on acting the part? Dude, you knew Ventus would be at the tower today, what were you thinking?!"
"Apparently I wasn't..." Sora mumbled guiltily. He sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground. He was pouting like a child that had gotten into trouble after doing something inherently stupid—which of course, was exactly what was happening.
It was silent for a bit, but then Roxas chuckled softly. "Did he shit his pants?"
"Roxas!"
"Sorry, sorry, couldn't help it." He brought a hand to ruffle through his blond spikes as he chuckled again. "Still, I wish I could have been there when he saw you for the first time. His face must have been priceless."
Sora shook his head but smiled nonetheless. "You have been hanging with Lea for too long Rox, you're getting mean."
"Not mean, just a little bit salty. Can't blame a guy if he finds it enjoyable to tease his mirror image right?"
Sora chuckled at that. "Well, now I know what happens if I do, and honestly? Not too tempted to try it again."
Roxas smiled. "Good. Wouldn't want Aqua and Riku to put you in an early grave before I've finally beaten your ass in a fight."
Sora huffed and crossed his arms, mirroring Roxas. "See what I just said? You're getting mean."
"Not mean, salty," Roxas corrected him. He stood up and turned to one of the windows as the train slowed down a little. "We're almost there," he said.
Sora looked to the window and saw the telltale tower of Twilight Town come into view. The sun was setting, as it always was, and at first glance it didn't look like anything was different with the orange-coated place. Sora however, knew the citizens in Twilight Town also celebrated Halloween with a passion and that the streets were probably littered with decorations and people in spooky costumes. At least he wouldn't stand out in his costume when they finally arrived.
The train slowed to a definite stop at the station and the doors opened with a soft click. Roxas and Sora stepped out of the unit and into the buzzing mass of people on the platforms. For outsiders, this train unit looked like every other unit, its real appearance cloaked by Yen Sid so people would pay no attention to it or think about stepping inside. Only people that had permission to visit the tower, like Sora and his friends, were able to see the true purple, starry train unit. It also only showed up for them, always magically knowing when they needed it.
Speaking about that...
"Hey, how did you know I needed help?" Sora questioned as he and Roxas left the station and headed towards the Usual Spot.
Roxas briefly glanced at Sora before he walked to the edge of the station plaza and offered Sora a skateboard, grabbing one for himself as well. He shrugged. "Got a text. It said you needed help and that you were at the tower. Went as fast as I could of course, and the train was the easiest way. I don't know who it was from though..."
Sora frowned, but accepted the skateboard and dropped it in front of him. "That's weird..."
"Yep," Roxas said, and stepped on his skateboard. "Come on, we can talk about it more when we're there." He pushed himself forward and quickly gained speed. Sora barely managed to keep up with Roxas as they sped through the streets.
~🎃~
Back at the tower, the group of keyblade wielders were just recovering from the surprise attack of Vanitas.
"How the hell did he manage to sneak into the tower?!" Riku seethed. He was pacing in the kitchen as Aqua was making hot chocolate for the shaken up Ventus and Kairi. Both of them were seated at the kitchen table, Kairi shooting worried glances towards Riku, Ventus focusing on one particular spot on the table as his thoughts were clearly elsewhere.
"Riku, we already checked every inch of Yen Sid's barrier. There was no tempering with it anywhere," Aqua answered, pouring the milk into the small pan, "the only way I can think of how he could have gotten around the barrier is if he..." she trailed off, frowning down into the pan.
"Is if he what?" Riku asked impatiently.
"...Is if he used a connection to someone to open a portal to. That is the only way he could have gotten past Yen Sid's security."
"A connection?" Riku had stopped pacing now and eyed Aqua with confusion. "But who does Vanitas have any connection to besides Ven? We know he didn't use Ven for his portal, so who...?"
Kairi suddenly stood from her chair, the legs scraping over the tiles. "Sora!" she exclaimed and immediately dashed out of the kitchen.
Riku's eyes widened and he was just as quick to follow Kairi out of the room.
The two of them practically flew over every set of stairs in the tower until they finally reached the floor with the guest rooms where they were all staying. Kairi was the first to arrive at Sora's room and immediately pounded on the door. "Sora! Open up!"
No answer came. It only took one worried glance between the two friends for Riku to lift his keyblade and unlock the door. He threw it open and both darted inside... only to be met by an empty room. Clothes were littered on the floor and Sora's bed, but that wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the young keyblade wielder. No, what let Kairi to realize there was something wrong was the item that lay on Sora's pillow: her gifted wayfinder.
Sora never went anywhere without that wayfinder.
"Riku..." Kairi said, her eyes already filling with tears. "Look." She picked the wayfinder from the pillow and hugged it to her chest.
"That's his..." Riku lay a hand on Kairi's shoulder. "Don't worry Kairi," he said with attempted determination, but even to his own ears it sounded laced with worry. "We will find Sora. He's the strongest person I know. Whatever happened to him, I know he will come out of it okay."
Kairi sniffed and nodded. "Ye-yeah."
Riku gently steered Kairi towards the door. "Come on, let's show this to Ven and Aqua. They can help us with a plan to get Sora back."
Kairi nodded again, but this time her eyes steeled into an expression of purpose. "Let's go."
~🎃~
In a matter of minutes after speeding away from the train station, the two young keyblade wielders had made their way to the entrance of the Usual Spot. They dropped their skateboards in front of it, before entering through the ragged curtains.
Sora was just pushing the curtains aside and stepping forward, before he suddenly crashed straight into Roxas, who had frozen directly in front of him.
Sora rubbed his nose. "Hey, why'd you... stop..." The words died on his tongue as soon as he saw what had made Roxas freeze.
No way.
"Long time no see brothers."
There, right in the middle of the Usual Spot, stood none other than Vanitas. He had a smirk plastered on his face, his helmet laying discarded on one of the couches in the room. He had his arms crossed nonchalantly.
"Vanitas," Sora said and narrowed his eyes, slowly lowering into his fighting stance.
Vanitas shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Now, now, is that anyway to welcome me? After all, how well did it go the last time someone wanted to fight 'me'?" He made sure to make airquotes at the "me" part and laughed as Sora's shoulders dropped.
"Don't worry," he said, waving a hand through the air dismissively, "I'm not here to fight. Just... enjoying the show."
"And what do you mean by that?" Sora asked. He straightened himself and cocked his head. If Vanitas didn't come to fight, then he'd believe him. For now. He looked at his darker mirror image questioningly.
Vanitas chuckled, his low voice involuntarily sending shivers down Sora's spine. "Oh, just watching how you attract trouble. Should have known it wouldn't bring you any good if you acted like me. Gotta say though, that outfit? It almost makes you look cool."
Forgetting all hostility Sora had felt only moments prior, he gasped in mock offense and dropped his hands to his sides. He just barely resisted the urge to stomp on the ground with his foot. "Ah! I look awesome in this, thank you very much!"
"Nah, it suits me better," Vanitas taunted.
"Wanna bet?" Sora shot back.
"Too much work."
"Then how about we ask Roxas-" Sora spun around and looked at the blonde next to him. "Rox, you think I look cool in this outfit, right?"
Roxas was met with two annoying faces, exactly the same in almost every way, except they both sported expressions the other would never be able to do. One was quirking an eyebrow nonchalantly and the other was looking at him with the widest, most impossible to resist puppy-dog eyes. Roxas held up his hands in surrender. "Don't bring me into this."
Vanitas shook his head. "See? Not even your own brother thinks you look good."
"Wha- brother- I’m not-"
"Hey, that's not true!" Sora interrupted Roxas' confused mumbling, "He didn't say that!"
"Still heard it."
"Then you're hearing things that aren't there!"
"Whatever."
A beat of silence. Then, both boys looked at each other and laughed, one bursting into giggles and one huffing with a small smile.
Roxas watched the both of them perplexed, totally not following how Sora already got Vanitas to act this non-threateningly around them. Hadn't he been a villain since the moment he was created? Wasn't he the literal embodiment of Darkness?! Roxas had never understood the effortless way in which his Other could worm his way into even the most closed-off or non-existent hearts, but this was taking the cake.
As Vanitas' chuckles died down, he nodded in the direction of the entrance. "So when are we gonna tell those shitheads-"
"Language!"
"-that they were so stupid they almost killed their most beloved 'Hero of the Light'? I should come with you, since it would be pretty hard to confuse us when we stand next to each other." Vanitas shrugged. "Not that I care if they kill you or not, but that goody-two-shoes of a brother will never let me live it down."
Sora grinned and raised his arms behind his head. "You worried about what Ven thinks of you?"
Vanitas' eyes flashed dark for a second before he huffed and redirected his gaze. "You wish," he said.
Sora's grin widened. The two were quiet for a bit, before Roxas decided he'd had enough of this weird conversation and those weird obnoxious identical faces. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, just like he'd seen Lea do when he didn't know what to do with them, and made his way to the entrance. Just before he pushed the curtain aside though, an idea struck him. He smirked.
"Come on, I think we need a little help if we truly want to rub it in that the others made a mistake just now."
He looked back and was met with one smirk like his own, and one confused puppy look. How anyone could mistake those two for the other was beyond him.
"Well, this is going to be fun," Vanitas drawled and followed Roxas out of the Unusual Spot. Sora just scrambled after them.
"Hey wait, what are you guys planning??"
~🎃~
Aqua and Ventus hadn’t reacted well to the news that Sora was missing. Not at all. Ventus had blanched to the point where Kairi was afraid he was one breath away from fainting, while Aqua had almost spilled the entire pan of hot chocolate she was in the middle of pouring into four mugs. She just barely managed to put the pan down before she exclaimed, "He's what?!"
"Missing. And not from his own free will." Riku gestured to the wayfinder Kairi still had pressed against her chest. "He never loses this or goes anywhere without it. Someone kidnapped him."
"Brothers..." Ventus said quietly.
Aqua turned to him. "What?"
"Brothers," Ventus said a little louder, some of the color returning to his face. He looked up to meet Aqua's eyes. "Back at the keyblade graveyard, Vanitas called me and Sora his brothers."
"So that connection..." Riku said.
Ventus nodded. "Vanitas must have used his link to Sora to create a dark portal and break into the tower. He... he probably switched places with Sora. That's why Vanitas must have thought he could impersonate him. We could not have found Sora anywhere in the tower and so he probably thought we would buy it." Ventus clenched his fist in front of him. "And Sora couldn't have interfered, because Vanitas could have sent him anywhere with his portal..."
Riku frowned but nodded. "It all lines up, but... for what goal? Why would Vanitas want to pick a fight inside Yen Sid's tower? If he really wanted to fool us, then he could have at least put on something of Sora's, not just change his hair... Something is still missing here."
Kairi, who had been quiet up until now, softly spoke, "And why didn't we see any sign of struggle?"
"He probably caught Sora off guard. Maybe he was still sleeping," Aqua said and sat down at the kitchen table. She placed the four mugs in front of her. "But I am sure Sora is already looking to find a way back here. He is a keyblade wielder, after all. We must place our trust in him."
Riku and Kiari sat down at the table too and picked up their mugs.
"You're right," Riku said, "Sora is nothing if not resilient. He will come back to us, even if it might take a while. Still, I think it would be best if we sent out search groups for him. I know he can handle himself, but he doesn't need to do everything alone anymore-"
"He never had to," Kairi added, "and he doesn't have to now. You're right Riku, even if he could handle it, he deserves our help. Wherever he is."
And with that, the group made their plan. Every one of them would call in someone and in pairs they would travel across the worlds to search for Sora. Hopefully, they would find him before the Halloween party that night; they knew how much Sora had been looking forward to it.
And how they would deal with Vanitas... that was a problem for tomorrow. Right at that moment, as the four of them finished their mugs of hot chocolate, the most important objective was to find their friend so he wouldn't miss the one party he had been looking forward to the most. The rest could wait.
~🎃~
"You are a crazy genius," Vanitas grinned.
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Of course you would say that."
Sora, Roxas and Vanitas sat on a large couch in Lea's apartment. The latter stood in front of them with a slightly maniacal grin as he came up with the perfect plan to get back at Riku, Aqua, Ventus and Kairi for attacking Sora. Sora had tried to argue that it had been his own fault and that they didn't need to enact revenge for it, but the other three maniacs had ignored his pleas.
"I still don't think this is a good idea..." Sora murmured.
Roxas nudged him with his shoulder. "Of course it is. Those dumbo's deserve it for not seeing through your meager disguise this morning. I mean, you didn't even dye your hair or anything."
"I met a Dumbo once..." Sora mumbled, stubbornly focussing on the one part of Roxas' sentence that was not relevant.
Totally ignoring Sora, Vanitas crossed his arms and nodded with a serious expression. "Exactly. They deserve it for thinking you could ever look as good as me. I am the only one who can pull off this outfit."
"Except that Riku wore it too..."
Again, Sora was ignored as Lea said, "And this would be hilarious! Just imagine the looks on their faces when they realize how hard they've been tricked by you three! I'm betting at least one of them will cry!"
Roxas shook his head. "No wonder Sora said you were a bad influence..."
"He said I'm a bad influence?!" Lea said indignantly.
"Guys, focus," Vanitus cut through them, "Are we going to do this or not?"
All occupants of the room went quiet, and all eyes went to Sora, who shrunk under their stares.
"I... ugh- fine, fine, let's do it." Roxas and Lea cheered. Even Vanitas smirked a little.
"Then let's start this plan already," Lea grinned.
~🎃~
Maybe Aqua and Terra should have changed into their normal attire, but as they’d rushed out of the tower it had totally slipped their mind. Now, walking through the world of the Castle of Dreams, they really wished it hadn’t.
People kept bowing to them.
Wherever they went, whether they searched the market place or the outskirts of the suburbs, people bowed, stopped in their tracks to gawk and then drop low to their knees. Honestly bowed with their heads touching the ground.
“I don’t think we’re going to find Sora like this,” Terra had to admit.
Aqua lifted her giant, royal gown a bit so she could step over a crooked stone. “Yeah, this isn’t going to work.”
~🎃~
Kairi and Xion were causing quite the ruckus in Radiant Garden. Hands cupped around their mouths, their voices sounded throughout the streets, bouncing between the houses and reaching even the farthest limits of the city.
“SORA!”
“SORA, ARE YOU HERE?”
“SORA!”
Once in the city center, a window flew open above their heads.
“Would you stop screaming?! Obviously your friend’s not here!”
The girls shrieked in unison, jumping in their spots as they clutched their hearts.
“Sorry, madam!”
~🎃~
Naminé looked at herself in quiet interest, poking the white fur on her arm.
“If we’re supposed to be scary, shouldn’t we be… less fluffy?”
Ventus shrugged, unbothered by their new appearance. “As long as it lets us blend in, who cares? It’s pretty awesome, right? Look what my new body can do!” He waved his arms at his sides, the joints there so flexible that he created an actual wave motion without problem. “So cool!!”
Naminé snickered. “Don’t get too distracted, silly. We still need to find Sora. Hopefully, these monsters have seen him around.”
Ven’s cheeks flushed. “Right. I didn’t forget that.”
“Of course not. Now, let’s go.”
“Right!”
~🎃~
Riku had long since given up trying to understand every world, but the weirdness of these residents really threw him for a loop.
Luckily, King Mickey seemed to know just what to do. He let out a series of weird sounds, using his hands to mimic more of the story he was telling, and it seemed the people around them understood perfectly.
The tribe leader shook his head, a frown on his face. He responded, sounds warbled to Riku’s ears. Mickey sighed.
“He’s not here,” he said, turning to Riku to translate. “The last time they saw anyone like him was more than ten years ago when Vanitas past by.”
Riku couldn’t help the downturn of his lips. If Sora had been there, he would have (affectionately) called it pouting.
“Alright then, we should head to the next world. No use in wasting our time here.”
Mickey nodded, a knowing glint in his eyes. “Of course, lead the way.”
~🎃~
Roxas carefully put the second lens in and looked himself over in the mirror. It was uncanny, those unnatural bright yellow eyes staring back at him. He blinked once, trying to get used to it, but it didn't work.
"Why am I the only one wearing lenses again?" he said. Behind him stood Sora, fumbling with his cape-"thingy" as he liked to call it, and Vanitas, who slapped Sora's hand away for the second time in only that minute. After Sora's initial "failure" to perfectly resemble Vanitas, the darker haired boy had taken it upon himself to get Sora to a level of perfection. Or at least, that was the plan, if Sora could stand still for even a f*cking second.
Vanitas smirked. "Because, you're the ugliest, so shut up."
"You only say that because I look like Ven."
Vanitas scoffed, slapping Sora's prying fingers from the gloves he was trying to put on him. "Not true. He's even uglier. At least you know how to scowl."
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks." He stood from his chair. "And what now? Is this all or..."
Vanitas pointed at him. "Stay right there, ugly. You're getting a new outfit too."
Roxas fell back in his chair. Meanwhile, Sora was subtly trying to adjust his collar, which was itching against his skin, but Vanitas was fast to slap him away again.
"And you-" he said to Sora, "-need a hairdo."
Sora's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"
Lea, who had been sitting on the couch as he watched in amusement how the three boys bantered with each other, clapped his hands. "I got the perfect thing for that, hold on-" He bent backwards to reach over the back of the couch and tossed the thing he'd grabbed to Sora, who only catched it because of his trained reflexes.
Sora's eyes got possibly even wider when he saw what the tube in his hand was for. "No," he said, his voice almost desperate, "Please say I'm not permanently switching to black hair? I like my brown spikes..."
Lea put his hands up. "It's just temporary, don't worry. You can wash it tomorrow and you'll be back to your happy brown locks before you know it. I promise."
Sora looked down at the tube with an uncertain frown. He hoped Riku would forgive him for changing his brown spikes. The older always had an affectionate word to say about his hair… Hopefully, he could do that even if it was temporarily black.
"...Fine," he said.
Vanitas clapped Sora on his shoulder. "Well, I'm not getting my gloves dirty, so good luck or whatever." He walked over to the couch, shooed Lea away so he could use the piece of furniture in entirely the wrong way, and dropped down on it. With both legs spread wide, one arm resting behind him on the back of the couch and one arm in front of him, Vanitas had the perfect place to look smugly at the other three with just one glance.
Roxas watched all of this and was trying very hard to suppress the slight smile that was threatening to form on his lips. He managed. Barely.
Lea grinned at Sora. "No worries Sora! I know a thing or two about this! Come on, I'll help." He beckoned Sora to follow him to the bathroom, and the two left, leaving the two most uncomfortable boys alone in the living room.
"Sooooo..." Roxas said. Vanitas rolled his eyes, but brought his legs closer in a more proper sitting position.
"What."
"Do you think Lea actually knows how that stuff works?" Roxas asked.
"How would I know? Last time I saw him he was a snot-nosed little brat. No idea if he learned anything useful since then."
Roxas hummed. "Fair."
"Got one of my suits ready for you, by the way. It's in the bag." He nodded towards the bag in the corner of the room. He'd thrown it there when he had gone and collected all the stuff they'd needed for their revenge, and had not bothered to unpack it since. "No need to thank me or anything."
"Wasn't planning to," Roxas shot back. He made his way to the bag and pulled out an exact replica of what Vanitas and Sora were already wearing. "You got a bunch of these? Do you ever wear anything else?"
Vanitas shifted slightly, but huffed to try and go for annoyance instead of showing the slight embarrassment he was actually feeling. "None of your goddamn business."
Roxas nodded in understanding, weighing the fabric in his fingers. "Hey, I can't judge here. I wore the same coat for a whole year, soooo, I get it."
"Oh yeah," Vanitas said, "Weren't you part of the Black Coats?"
"Yup," Roxas said, popping the 'p'. "Didn't really know anything else but them. Thought they were my purpose, but then some stuff happened. Xion got erased from existence, I tried to flee, got beaten by Riku, then captured into a computer and then I became part of Sora for a while. None of it was fun."
Vanitas was quiet for a second. "...That's... rough, I guess."
Roxas shrugged. "All ended well though. I'm my own person now, Xion's back, but... well, you understand why I will never wear the cursed thing again."
"Oh yeah no, I get that." Vanitas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "To tell the truth—well fuck, don't you dare tell this to anyone, but... I'm actually thinking about getting something else to wear too. This thing-" He tugged at his newly dubbed cape-'thingy'. "-reminds me of my—the old man too much."
Roxas nodded. He stood up and stepped towards the mirror, holding the bodysuit in front of him to test how he'd look. "You could go with me and Xion shopping sometime. We're also both still trying out what fits us best. No actual styles found yet, so you'd fit right in." He mumbled something after that, but even with no one else in the room, it was inaudible for Vanitas.
"Speak up dumbass, it's not nice to mumble in front of people."
"I wasn't aware that you wanted me to be nice."
"Tch, smartass."
"But you just called me dumb."
"I swear, you're even worse than Sora."
"Thanks, I do my best."
"Hmhm."
After a beat of silence, Vanitas nodded towards Roxas who was still turning this way and that way to look at the suit hanging in front of him. "So, you gonna repeat what you said or what?"
Roxas sighed and dropped the suit, turning to look at Vanitas. "I said that Xion would finally have someone to search the emo aisle with if you went along."
Vanitas couldn't hold back a snort. "Wouldn’t pick her as the type."
Roxas shook his head, defeated. "No one does when they first meet her, but believe me, she can get really angsty once she's in the mood. I mean, she already experienced a couple of existential crisises, so it was inevitable for her not develop some kind of dark perspective on things."
"She sounds like someone I could tolerate."
"I'll pass that along."
Having had enough of the conversation, Vanitas spread himself horizontally over the couch, and, before closing his eyes, he said, "Now's your time to put that thing on. Otherwise our brother will see you naked for the first time."
Roxas made a disgusted face. "Ewwww. Why'd you gotta phrase it like that?!"
Vanitas closed his eyes. "Just saying, if you don't want him to see it—"
"Stooooop."
"What does Vanitas need to stop?" Sora bounced into the room, making the other two occupants quiet down at the sight of him and his newly dyed black spikes. A grinning Lea appeared from behind him, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms as he looked at his handiwork.
"What'd you guys think? Pretty sweet, huh?" he said.
Roxas blinked once, looked from Sora to Vanitas and back again. "Shit dude."
"Language," Sora said, but it fell on deaf ears.
Vanitas blinked his eyes open from where he lay and eyed Sora. After a thorough staring, he nodded and put his head back down, closing his eyes.
Sora raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that all you're gonna say about it?"
"Nothing more to say," Vanitas said, "You look like me. We all knew that was the plan. It happened. The end."
"Such a colorful way to compliment him," Roxas said.
"Shut it, ugly."
Sora sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "Guys, be nice."
Vanitas snorted. "That rhymed," he said, just as Roxas said, "He started it."
Lea chuckled and pushed himself from the doorframe. "No wonder he keeps calling you brothers. You really act like ones."
"We do not," came the chorussed answer of all three of the younger keyblade wielders.
Lea chuckled again. "Guess not then."
Roxas shook his head exasperatedly. "Anyway, I'm gonna change now, so the bathroom is occupied. Do not come in there before I'm finished."
This time, Vanitas chuckled. "As if everyone in this room except Sora hasn't already seen your di—"
"Shut it!"
~🎃~
After a lot more discussions, teasing, quips and almost started fights, the three younger keyblade wielders were finally ready to head out and enact their plan. All in their disguises, they decided the best way to travel would be through Vanitas' portals, since public transit would probably be a little weird with three almost exact look-alikes. Besides, the portals would probably alert Yen Sid and the others that there was someone breaking in, which could work in their favor. They were going for an impactful entrance anyway.
The first one to step out of Vanitas' dark portal and onto the grassy island behind the Mysterious tower was Lea, who quickly made his way to the front of the tower to act as if he had come by train. There was a party starting after all, one he'd been invited to, so his presence wouldn't raise any questions.
The next to step through was Vanitas, arms crossed as he gazed uninterested at his new surroundings. Next was Sora, looking like an exact copy of Vanitas, even going as far as to copy his stance and expression as best as he could, but in reality, he just looked like a duckling copying his mother. Last came Roxas, who, with the helmet of the suit on, could be mistaken as another Vanitas too.
The three boys made their way to the shadows of the tower. Close to the entrance, but not quite in sight. From this distance, they could hear Lea announcing his presence (“Who’s ready to partyyyy!”) and Vanitas had to send a particularly nasty look to Sora to keep him from snorting.
And then the waiting game began. They had discussed this beforehand: the ‘Vanitas Trio’ as they’d dubbed themselves, would wait until all guests had arrived, and they would make their presence known by bursting from the shadows with an army of unversed. Originally, Vanitas’ plan had been to announce that he had possessed Sora and Roxas and that Ventus would be next until everyone would be consumed by darkness (cue evil laughter and more darkness), but with a reprimanding swat on the back of the head from Sora, that plan had been turned down instantly.
They didn’t want to seriously traumatize Ven, after all.
Roxas’ idea had been just as bad. He’d argued that if “that old bastard Nort” could do it, then why couldn’t they claim to be different Vanitas’s from the past? Shockingly, before Sora could even protest, Vanitas had dunked his keyblade atop Roxas’ head and vetoed it. He also didn’t want unnecessary flashbacks, thank you very much.
And so, with the three boys pointedly ignoring the wide grin Lea had on his face, all eyes had turned to Sora, the last to offer his idea.
“Let’s not say anything and let them think of something,” he’d said, “Less work for us, and I usually don’t understand what villains are doing anyway, so it’s just par for the course for me.”
And they’d gone with that.
After Lea had joined the group, only Xion, Namine and Isa had to arrive still, since all the others had already gathered in the tower’s newly formed ballroom (courtesy of Yen Sid’s magic). By that time, the three young keyblade wielders had fully slipped into character (that is to say, they were scowling very convincingly) and were ready for some action. With a single nod from Vanitas, they were on the move, slithering out of the shadows behind the tower and slipping inside while Lea functioned as distraction.
It took everything in Sora not to break character though, because as soon as he saw his friends, he was amazed by the creativity everyone had put into their costumes. Besides Aqua’s beautiful gown and Ven’s cute Flood outfit (Vanitas had frozen for a second when he spotted that, so Sora had to tug him along), the others had clearly taken inspiration from all of their travels as well.
Terra made the perfect pair with Aqua in his prince costume, colors fitting too well not to be coordinated beforehand, and Naminé had chosen to be a royal too, her hair in a braid and her purple dress reminiscent of Rapunzel’s in perfect detail. The Twilight Town wielders had all gone with a monster theme instead. Isa and Lea resembled a cheesy vampire and werewolf respectively, the fake dripping blood and headband ears not really of the best quality, and in between them a giggling Xion was wrapped from top to bottom in old rags that made her look like a mummy.
Then you had King Mickey and his friends, dressed up as musketeers and damsels (a still protesting Donald belonging to the second group), while Chip and Dale were off in their own little world dressed up as… mechanics?
Not everyone was as creative it seemed.
Past the groups of talking friends and the big standing speakers letting out funky Halloween hits, Sora, Roxas and Vanitas made it to the other side of the room without any problems. They stood ready in the shadows of the curtains and looked at each other with determination. It was now or never. Sora had never seen Vanitas really smile, but he thought this must be the closest to it the boy would ever come; his manic grin gave Sora goosebumps.
With one fell swoop, Vanitas’ hand raised an army of unversed from the dark floor, hundreds of tiny critters rising up around them and stumbling over each other with their uncoordinated little feet. Roxas and Sora took it as their cue to jump from the shadows, materializing their keyblades and letting out battle roars. They didn’t plan on fighting with their all, but… a little bit of a scare wasn’t out of place on Halloween, right?
It was no doubt because the room was full of veterans, but it took only seconds for most of the others to respond, even if some looked startled to suddenly leap into battle without thought. Sora’s heart grew warm at the sight of Riku jumping in front of Kairi instantly, and his smile turned dangerously soft when he saw how Kairi leapt around their friend and stood in front of him instead, flower keyblade ready to strike.
His best friends were awesome.
He quickly turned his smile into an evil grin as his blade clashed with Aqua’s mid-air, the master’s response still the quickest out of all the experienced battlers. They locked eyes and he could see hers light up with recognition.
“You again!” she growled, and pushed him back with her momentum. He skidded along the floor before Aqua landed gracefully in front of him. Her keyblade was pointed right at him, the tip already glowing a bright red in preparation of a magic spell, but without letting her get out a word, Sora jumped into the air again and spun over her head to get behind her. He slashed, fully aiming to knock the blade from her grasp, but she dodged it successfully and distanced herself from him.
They danced around each other for a while, jumping in and dodging just as much, but neither managed to get a solid strike in until Sora got distracted by something at the other side of the room.
“Kairi, move!”
From the beginning, the girl had been wrapped up in a fierce battle with Roxas—although, with Vanitas’ helmet on, she probably thought she was fighting the other Darkness user instead. As she exchanged blows with Roxas—almost evenly matched since Roxas was holding back with only one keyblade—Riku stood behind them with his blade in the air, swirls of Darkness twisting around the length of it. He’d yelled, and like the good team they were, Kairi listened without question, dodging and sprinting away to let Riku use his full attack on their opponent.
Sora couldn’t let that happen. His eyes darted from his own fight to Roxas’, debating whether or not he could make an opening to get over there and push his friend out of the way, but his second of indecision gave Aqua the perfect opportunity to attack. She darted forward, a splash of water hitting his shoulder and cutting through the fabric of his suit like a sharp knife.
“Argh!” He stumbled, gripping his shoulder and holding his keyblade high in front of his chest to block another slash. He looked back at Roxas again, but barely dodged another one of Aqua’s attacks. She was too quick! He didn’t have time to-
A giant Bruiser rose from a black pool on the ground, swaying its massive body in front of Sora as a clear shield between him and Aqua’s relentless attacks. Sora stumbled back and shot a grin towards Vanitas’ direction.
“Thanks!” he yelled, not knowing if the other could even hear him through the chaos of the room. He used the moment of distraction to escape the fight, sprinting across the room towards his Other. “Watch out!”
Riku was up in the air now, his keyblade pointed at Roxas and ready to shoot his dark flames toward its target. Sora tried to push even harder. He wouldn’t make it in time!
“Fuck!” Roxas’ keyblade was crossed in front of him, ready to take the blunt of the fire, but he was clearly struggling not to summon his other keyblade as well.
It was something they had decided on before they started this; as Vanitas was only skilled with one sword at a time, Roxas was banned from using his dual wielding, just like the both of them were blocked from using their light magic for the time being. It was a handicap for sure, and it showed in their painfully one-sided battles.
“Hiya!” Riku’s dark flames were bright and fast as they soared towards Roxas. He was ready to block as much as he could, but again, out of nowhere, a stumbling shield rose up from the ground. Another Bruiser had blocked Riku’s attack and hid Roxas behind it.
Sora finally skidded to a stop besides Roxas, looking him up and down to check for injuries.
“Are you okay?” he asked urgently. Roxas shrugged his searching hand away.
“Fine, you?” His helmet lowered a bit, his eyes finding the tear in Sora’s costume. “Dude! You’re-”
“-Also fine, don’t worry!” Sora interjected. He looked to the wall where Vanitas had taken residence, tentacles of Darkness swirling all around him and mountains of unversed spewing out at a constant pace. “I just hope it won’t take too long now. He’s distracting himself with our fights, but if he’d just focus on his own mission…”
“Yeah, he’s a softie alright, no denying that anymore.”
Sora chuckled. He wanted to say more, complain about Vanitas not letting them fight their own fights, but the duo was quickly separated again when the ground started to shake. Both heads whipped around to see Terra, bulldozing his way through the Bruiser and landing right in front of them.
“Aha! You can’t hide behind your… wait, what?!” The older keyblade wielder stood frozen, his mouth agape as his eyes flitted from boy to boy. “Two? But-How-Is that even possible…?”
Sora grinned, using Terra’s confusion to run past him and find another wielder to fight. Terra was two heads bigger than him, with biceps as big as his own Keyblade handle—it was only natural he didn’t want to fight that. “Have fun!” He still called out to them, grinning just a little bit wider as he heard Roxas curse in response.
A little distance away, Sora spotted his old traveling companions fighting some unversed and immediately made a beeline to them. They would surely bring a fun fight!
“Heya!” he greeted, sweeping in with a twist of his keyblade that knocked Donald’s staff out of his grip.
The magician cried out indignantly. Goofy was quick to dive forward and shield his friend as he retrieved his weapon, and Sora had no problem giving them just a few seconds to get ready. After all, their prank was only meant to get back at the keyblade wielders, not his other friends.
He stood at the ready though, knowing how quick his companions could be if a fight got serious. He eyed them cautiously as they scrambled after the staff, barely holding back a giggle at the sight of them tripping over their own feet.
Meanwhile, small Floods pooled around him and he felt himself get distracted just the littlest bit. If he didn’t want to stay in character so badly, he would instantly bend down and snuggle them up in the biggest cuddle pile the world had ever seen! They were just too cute! He made sure to make a mental note to bring their care up with Vanitas. Did he ever pat them at least? They deserved it!
As soon as Donald had his staff back, he and Goofy wasted no time to attack. Sora easily jumped around and dodged all of their swipes, light on his feet and easy with his counters. He didn’t let it show on his face, but it was actually getting kind of fun too. It was just something about being back in the ring with his friends that made him so happy. Not counting the fact that he was technically the enemy at that moment, it made his heart all warm and fuzzy to be fighting together again.
Goofy thrust his shield forward and Sora easily stepped to the side, also just in time to avoid a beam of lightning that Donald sent his way. He could see the silent communication between his companions happening, and it was weird not to be part of it for once, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t a pro at translating it. They were planning on using Goofy’s spinning attack as distraction while Donald would get a large fire ring ready around Sora and trap him.
He chuckled. That plan wasn’t half-bad, if only he didn’t know they were planning it.
He let Goofy start his spin, the other’s shield thrown outwards and barely scraping against Sora’s blade as he halfheartedly blocked the attack. His eyes were on one, but his focus on the other, the heat of Donald’s spell already starting to build around him.
“That all you got?” he said in a low, taunting voice, just before he pushed his soles from the ground with a push of magic and evaded the explosion of fire that erupted under him. Donald and Goofy gawked at his speed, and he smoothly landed back on his feet again. He shrugged. “I hoped you would make this more… exciting. Too bad.”
“We’re not done yet, Vanitas! Take this!” Donald sent out another wave of lightning, but Sora could hop out of the way with time to spare. Goofy threw his shield out, but that too missed its mark because of Sora’s quick reflexes. They continued this hit and dance for minutes, Sora throwing out some low-level attacks whenever he felt like it, and he almost forgot what the actual goal was of the fight was. He was having too much fun!
Only when the darkness at one side of the room seemed to have grown to cover even the ceiling, did Sora look around again and become conscious of the state of the ballroom. All around, Unversed were scattering about, keyblades hitting and sweeping at them with skilled aim. Darkness was pooling in every corner and in random spots on the floor, sometimes even tripping up feet and distracting wielders in their fights. But even if it seemed that the Darkness was slowly winning ground, Sora could see how the amount of Floods was halved since they’d started. On the other side of the room, he could also see how Roxas was getting tired, his left hand twitching every now and then with the urge to summon another blade. He was holding up against Terra pretty decently though, so that was good.
His gaze turned to the epicenter of it all, where Vanitas stood, eyes closed, hands raised at his sides. In contrast to Roxas’ and his taunting acts, Vanitas was the picture of concentration and silence. Monitoring an entire room full of his creations took a lot of his energy, but that wasn’t necessarily the reason he kept out of the fray.
It was the brewing pool of Darkness in front of him that kept his attention. Sora could just make out white tips of something coming through the bubbling mass, so he knew Vanitas was almost done, which meant he should make his way over when he could. He sent a black flare to the ceiling to alert Roxas that it was time.
Goofy and Donald were fun to fight and easy to dodge, but escaping from them wasn’t an easy task whatsoever. Even if Sora managed to avoid most of Donald’s magic beams (and Goofy couldn’t really do any aerial attacks), he soon encountered his next obstacle in the form of Xion and Isa fighting a horde of Unversed. Their eyes met as Sora ran past and he knew; they wouldn’t let him get back to Vanitas without a fight.
Sora had just the right thing for that, though.
“Interesting. So my brother has decided to finally join the party?” he asked, making his words as low as a growl like Simba had taught him. The words had the desired effect, as Xion immediately spun around to spot whichever brother Sora was talking about (hoping for Roxas, no doubt), but before Sora could slip past, Isa held out his keyblade to block him.
“You’re not getting past us,” he sneered. “Not before you tell us where you took him.”
Sora blinked at the man, before he remembered that Vanitas would not be taken aback like this, and he quickly schooled his expression again. “Never,” he said.
Because what else could he say? Who had been taken? What was Isa even talking about? Had he missed an actual kidnapping while he had been away with Roxas?
Worry was rising in his mind, but he pressed it down.
“Now get out of my way before I make you,” he threatened. That sounded quite villain-esque, right? He didn’t know, but he just went with it, lifting his upper lip into something akin to a snarl. “Move.”
Isa was steadfast in his blocking though, and he only seemed more determined to keep talking after Sora had denied his request so easily.
“Tell me where you took him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Tell us where Sora is!”
The man’s outburst stunned Sora quite literally in his place. His mind did an overhead flip, crashing down into a million pieces and slowly rebooting itself like Tron’s computer. They thought he had been kidnapped? By Vanitas?! How did they ever get to such an absurd conclusion?
“Yeah! And give him back!” Xion had joined the conversation now, done with the distraction of searching for Roxas and instead focussing all her attention back to Sora. “Halloween’s his favorite holiday! It’s cruel to make him miss the party all because of your evil plans!”
Sora actually snorted at that, he couldn’t help it. “Evil plans?” He echoed, too perplexed to even keep up the grumpy exterior of Vanitas. “Me?”
Xion and Isa nodded in tandem, raising their keyblades to point at Sora. The position finally reminded him of his goal of bypassing them, and so Sora only allowed himself a second to realize how ridiculous this entire situation was, before he took on his character for the last time.
He crossed his arms with an exaggerated eye roll. “I know where he is alright,” he said darkly. “But if you want him to come back, you’ll let me pass. Wouldn’t want him to get hurt now, do you?”
“Don’t you dare touch him!” Xion looked desperate. The way she was clutching her blade with both hands belied the tremble that she was hiding.
Sora knew then he had scared them enough—almost felt bad about it too, but a voice in his head (that sounded like his good friend Jack) reminded him that it was Halloween! Scares were part of the fun!
And so, with one last wink, Sora catapulted himself into the air, over the heads of his friends, and straight towards the giant Unversed emerging from the ground. He landed on his tiptoes on top of the Unversed’s left arm, scarily in-sync with Roxas, who had jumped to the other one at the exact same time.
As the finishing touch, Vanitas appeared, standing high and tall on the Trinity Armor’s floating head with a grin on his face. He wiggled his fingers mockingly towards the crowd.
“Boo.”
Sora giggled, Roxas snorted. The latter took his helmet off and rested it under his armpit, revealing blonde spikes and bright yellow eyes.
“Surprise fuckers.”
“Language, ” Sora whispered, before turning towards their gawking audience with a wide smile. “Did we scare you? We got you, didn’t we? That was actually fun!”
Their friends could only stare, utterly and truly perplexed from the sudden shift in atmosphere. Riku looked pale, while Kairi promptly fell on her butt and stayed sitting on the floor, too whiplashed to even function for the moment. Ven, Terra and Aqua all stood, panting from the sudden halt in fighting, eyes wide and eyebrows shot up to their hairlines. Xion groaned, while Isa murmured a surprised “huh…”.
Only Lea, who’d been idly standing against the wall all this time just to enjoy the show, slowly pushed himself upright and clapped his hands.
“Best Halloween I’ve ever had,” he grinned.
“That’s kinda pathetic, old man,” Vanitas snarked. Lea just shrugged.
Terra’s head whipped between the two of them like he was watching something terrible unfold. “So-wait… what? You- but how-How are you even-” He cut himself off with a sigh. “Do I even want to know?”
“I do.” Ven said, his voice low and clearly not amused, his eyes boring into Sora’s. “All this time… Sora.”
Sora felt the hairs of his neck stand upright. He shivered. “Hehe, yeah? Ven?”
Ventus kept staring, but slowly, painfully slow, he dropped into a wide battle stance, his keyblade at the ready. “Sora…”
“Ven-”
“Sora!”
“Ven, wait!” Sora frantically waved his hands in front of him to block the incoming rocket that was Ventus’ rage, but he could do nothing against it as he took the full brunt of the attack, both boys falling off the Trinity Armor and crashing straight into the floor behind it. The impact stole his breath away, leaving him gasping for air as Ventus took his sweet time to sit up.
“Ven, please, you’re…crushing…me!”
He quickly shielded his face with his forearms when soon, hits began to pound down on him. It was as if Ventus was using him as a boxing bag, all the while still sitting on top of him, and the blonde emphasized every physical hit with a verbal one.
“All.” Hit. “This.” Hit. “Time.” Hit. “You.” Hit. “Were.” Hit. “Al-” Hit. “-right?!”
“Ven, I’m sorry, but-! Please, stop, I’m sorry, please-”
“Why didn’t you say something?!”
“Ven, please, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Instead of hitting, Ven’s hands gripped the younger boy’s shoulders tight, shaking him up and down to let all of his frustration out. “We were worried sick about you! Do you know how we’ve been all over the worlds today just to search for you?! And now you just show up and fight us? What is wrong with you?!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” was all Sora could say as his body was shaken again and again and again until his brain rattled against his skull and he knew for sure his heart would never calm down again.
Although, as soon as Ven’s words registered, he felt a lot more coherent again. “Wait, you searched for me?”
Ventus stopped his attack mid-shake and frowned. “Of course we did. You were missing.”
“But… you saw me getting on the train with Rox?”
“No, we didn’t, that was-” Realization seemed to dawn on Ventus, his eyes widening and his hands slackening, falling off of Sora’s shoulders to lay limply at his sides. “...That was you.”
“Yes.”
“And we attacked you.”
“You did.”
“Oh my-” Ven surged forward. “-God! I’m so sorry!”
Again, Sora felt like he was being crushed, but this time it was because two strong arms squished the life out of him in the strongest hug he’d ever had.
“It’s okay!” he tried to placate the other, hoping Ven would let up soon. “I know you didn’t mean it! You were just scared! I mean, I choose this costume for precisely that reason, you know, so I understand!”
“That doesn’t make it okay!” Ventus argued, shaking his head against Sora’s shoulder. “You were trying to explain yourself all that time and we didn’t listen. I’m so sorry!”
“Hey, hey, it’s-” Sora put a hand to Ven’s back and patted him softly. “-alright now. I got you back for it, didn’t I? And you were spooked, yeah? So all’s good now.”
At the reminder of all the craziness that had just expired, Ventus finally let go of Sora and pushed himself off the ground. He held out his hand, which Sora gratefully accepted.
“As long as you don’t disappear like that again,” he said sternly.
Sora chuckled. “Promise.”
Ven helped him up and they smiled at each other, happy they were on the same page again. With that out of the way though, Sora realized he had some more apologies to make. He met Riku’s gaze.
“Riku, I-”
The other boy shook his head. “No, Sora, you don’t need to say anything. I am sorry. I should have known it was you and I should have listened when you tried to explain yourself. You didn’t even dye your hair or do anything with your keyblade, so I should have known that it was you- no, scratch that, I should always know it’s you, no matter what you look like.” Riku hung his head. “So I am sorry.”
Sora smiled softly as he approached his best friend. “Okay, apology accepted.” He stopped in front of Riku. “And I will forgive you, but only… if you answer this super important question.”
Riku looked up, seemingly relieved that he was forgiven that easily. “Yeah?”
Sora pursed his lips and put his fist against his sides with a huff, playing up his pout which he knew Riku was helpless against. “Do I really look that scary?”
Riku seemed to hesitate for a moment, his eyes flitting up and down Sora’s costume unsurely, before he clearly realized what it was that Sora was gunning for. There was this amusement in his eyes…
“Oh. Yeah, super scary.”
Sora’s smile bunched up his cheeks so high that his eyes were merely slits. “Really?!”
“Hmhm.” Riku nodded. “The scariest of them all.”
“Aww! Riku!” And at that, Sora flung himself at his best friend, almost making them crash to the ground too if Riku hadn’t been as strong and experienced as he was. Sora nuzzled against Riku’s cheekbone.
Softly, he said so others couldn’t hear, “Don’t look that scared of me again, please.”
“I won’t. And really, I was more scared for you than of you.”
“Still.”
“Alright.”
The two had their moment, but soon, it was broken by none other than Roxas, who let out an undignified yelp.
“Ouch! That hurt, Xion!”
Everyone turned their heads to see the girl shaking her head at Roxas’ pout. “No excuses for you, mister,” she chided with a pointing finger. “Sora had an actual reason, you are just an asshole who joined along for the ride!”
“Xion, it was just a joke-”
“Yah, can’t you take a prank, little girl?”
“And you-!” She turned on her heel to glare at Vanitas, who’d been watching everything from atop his cozy spot on the Trinity Armor’s head with lazy amusement. “You deserve a scolding that puts these two’s to shame! If you don’t come down here right this second-!”
Vanitas held his hands up in surrender. “Not to point fingers or anything,” he said, “but this was all their idea.”
“Hey!” “No fair!” “You punk!”
For a second, while the others were all indignantly protesting to save their own skin, Vanitas met the gaze of his Other. An unspoken conversation passed between them, over the heads of their younger brothers and good friends. A small smile tugged at Ven’s lips.
You’re not as evil as you like to think you are, you know.
Shut the fuck up, Brother. You don’t know anything.
No, but I think Sora had the right idea. You deserve a second chance.
Tch. Softy.
Oh, shut up.
They smirked at each other, which Sora caught sight of immediately.
“Hey, don’t use telepathy while we’re still in a conversation!”
Xion caught on too. “You weren’t even listening?! Oh, now you’re gonna get it! You can’t escape this!”
Vanitas shrugged nonchalantly. “Like you can catch me.”
“What does that even mean-”
Vanitas saluted, a dark portal materializing behind him as he stepped back right in time. “See ya, losers.”
“Wait, we’re not done here!”
“Van, take me with you!”
“Get your own portal, Rox.”
“Fuck you, I will!”
“Oh no! You don’t get to run from this Roxas!”
“Xion! Please, that hurts!”
“You deserve it for scaring me like this!”
“Ow, I’m sorry!”