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Chapter Text

“Okay, Ven… Keep it together.” 

Ven sat by himself at the edge of a small pond in the Kingdom of Corona. The clean, glassy water was decorated by a few flowers and lily pads growing on its surface. Ven sat there in silence, staring blankly at the water’s surface, as he had been doing all day. The only noises filling his ears were the sound of a small waterfall off to his left, the occasional blips and flicks of small fish dashing through the water, and the birds above his head, singing cheerfully and announcing how happy they were to be here to anyone listening. 

Ven wasn't feeling very happy though. His Gummiphone was on the ground behind him - somewhere - completely deactivated. He had shut it off… What was it? Yesterday morning? He hadn't checked on it since he deactivated it, and he had honestly forgotten about it. He'd gone off by himself without telling anyone about two days ago. At least, that was his best guess based on the sun shining above his head, since that was the only way he could tell the time. And he definitely knew that Terra and Aqua were gonna let him have it when he eventually came back. He didn't want to worry them, but he really needed some time to himself, away from anyone else. 

Ever since the three of them had returned from the Realm of Darkness, Ven had been having horrible nightmares, almost every single night for the past week or two, and they were almost always about the same things. 

All the worst events of his life. 

Xehanort splitting his heart in half.

Terra failing the Mark of Mastery exam and leaving home.

Losing to Vanitas and almost getting barbequed. 

Terra and Aqua leaving him behind on their respective journeys. 

Finding out about his past in the Keyblade Graveyard.

The Master trying to kill him and dragging Terra into his mess, before dying at Xehanort’s hands. 

Xehanort freezing him solid and dropping him off a cliff. 

Vanitas trying to kill Aqua. 

Terra trying to kill them under Xehanort's influence.

All of it, and more. And that wasn't even the worst part. 

He also often saw an event that hadn't occurred in his life. 

He was in a dim room surrounded by other Keyblade wielders, crying out of guilt. For what? Ven hadn't a clue, but it must've been awful. 

One of the wielders, a young man with elegant pink hair, was always especially furious at him, grabbing him by the shirt, pulling him up off his feet, demanding to know what Ven did. 

But Ven never answered. He never could answer, even if he did know what was going on. And when he didn't the man pulled out his Keyblade and attempted to strike down Ven. 

And at the end of it all, Ven knew that something was wrong within him, something dark and powerful. He tried to warn the others about it, but all too late, as the darkness escaped from within him. 

But thankfully (was it thankfully? Should he be thankful?) that was always when he woke up. 

He'd shoot straight up in bed, either screaming, drenched in sweat, or swinging around his Keyblade, ready to defend himself. Or a mix of all three. He often would even be doing that while he was still mostly unconscious, so he would wake up to his friends very firmly holding his entire body down and yelling at him to calm the heck down.

It had been freaking the actual hell out of Terra and Aqua, and for good reason. No one likes seeing their friend slowly lose his mind, or as a result, said friend accidentally whacking them in the face with a Keyblade. It had gotten to the point where Terra had managed to convince Ven to start sleeping in his room, back to back like they used to do when they were younger. When Ven would get scared by a nightmare or something and they'd have a sleepover together. That had actually helped quite a bit with these current nightmares, but it definitely didn't fix the problem. 

Thankfully though, they were just that; nightmares. Restricted to sleep. 

Until two days ago. 

Ven had had an episode in the middle of the day, exactly like his nightmares, but much more vivid. It was almost like how he used to occasionally collapse after Xehanort had broken his heart. It hurt so much, not even considering that he'd been outside when it happened and had barely avoided falling head first onto a rock. Thankfully though, he'd been alone, so no one had seen him collapse, and obviously he hadn't told Terra or Aqua about it. 

That was when he ran off on his own, away from his friends. Both so that he could begin to actually wrap his head around what under the light of Kingdom Hearts was going on, and so that nothing would happen to his friends. 

That one scene with the pink-haired man where the darkness overtook Ven… it was really starting to get to him. 

Ven let out a soft exhale and shook himself off as he shivered. It was a warm, beautiful sunny morning, but Ven felt cold and like he was trapped in a dark storm. He clasped both his hands together and rested his elbows on his knees as one of his legs bounced up and down anxiously. His hands were cold and clammy, and his chest felt like a block of straight ice. He'd been feeling like this all day. And it was torture. Ven hated it. It made him feel sick, and honestly, all he wanted was to be back with Terra and Aqua, back in their arms, where he'd feel safe. 

“Okay… ok, ok,” he muttered to himself for about the millionth time. “Keep it together, Ventus. It's just a dream, it's just a really weird dream. We probably just spent a little too much time in the Realm of Darkness. I'll get my head outta the gutter in a few days. Maybe.” 

He'd been telling himself that over and over again all morning, as if saying it would make it so. But it didn't. And deep down, he knew it wouldn't. There probably wasn't anything that could make this agony stop. 

Ven trembled a bit and buried his face in his hands. Those thoughts kept running through his mind, like a wave of ice-cold water washing over his head and weighing him down far below the ocean’s surface. He tried to swim up, to clear his head and escape, but he only seemed to be dragged down and down farther. 

“Argh… What was I thinking? This isn't gonna work. I'm going nuts…” 

“Ventus?” 

Ven almost summoned his Keyblade out of reflex, honestly terrified by the voice of another person, but he stopped himself and looked over his shoulder to see who had spoken. 

It was a blonde girl, about his age wearing a simple white dress with kind, worrying blue eyes. She felt pretty familiar, and looked at Ven like she knew exactly like she knew who she was. 

Like she'd been looking for him. 

“Oh. Naminé, right?” Ven guessed nervously. Yeah… This was Naminé, one of Lea’s friends, and Kairi's Nobody if Ven remembered right. They'd never exchanged words, but they'd seen each other at the party they'd had on the Destiny Islands after the Second Keyblade War, and maybe once or twice more when the Guardians of Light were having meetings together. That meant that Ven's friends definitely had been looking for him, obviously. 

But now he was found. 

What should I do? Ven wondered frantically. Should I run? Hide? Fight? No, what am I thinking?! What is wrong with me?! She's not a fighter, she doesn't have a Keyblade! Maybe… I, uh… 

But as Naminé gave him a warm smile and walked up to stand just behind him, he realized that it was far too late for any of that. If he tried to run or hide - first of all, hide; stupid, no - and Naminé was close enough to grab him. She probably wasn't strong enough to actually stop him, but she almost certainly didn't come here alone. 

……Crap.

Ven was feeling a flurry of emotions in his heart, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything but stare at her with his mouth slightly open. He was glad to see another person, but it also terrified him. He wanted company, but he also didn't want anyone to see him in this state. He wanted someone to help him, but he also didn't want anyone to touch him. He was scared of this loneliness, but he was even more scared of what might happen to his friends if he lost control of himself. He had no idea where these fears were coming from, and he didn't want to find out. 

“There you are,” Naminé said with a warm, gentle smile as she held out her hand. “You know, we've been worried sick about you. Especially Aqua and Terra.” 

“Yeah,” Ven sighed as he turned his back on her and tried to focus his attention onto the pond. “I guessed as much. I'm sorry.” 

“It's okay,” Naminé said softly as she knelt beside him. She could definitely tell that something was wrong. “You should just know that when you disappear without telling anyone and shut your Gummiphone off, well… We all were worried that something terrible had happened to you.” 

“I know. I'm sorry, I just… I needed some time to myself,” Ven explained. “Terra and Aqua won't let me outta their sights. Asking them if I could leave would just make them even more clingy.” 

“I know. They told me,” Naminé said and sat down next to him, hugging her knees just like Aqua always did. The resemblance was just like another jab at Ven's heart. “They said that you haven't been doing well since you got back from the Realm of Darkness.” 

“Yeah,” Ven sighed again and slumped his whole body as he shut his eyes. “That's exactly the reason why I needed to be alone, though.” 

“Huh?” 

“Ever since we got back… I've been having these dreams. Nightmares. About all the worst things that happened and that I caused during my journey ten years ago. That, and more awful things that I don't even remember happening. I've been seeing them every night, and they've only been getting worse and worse. And two days ago… I saw one during the middle of the day, and that's why I left.” 

He shook himself off with a whimper as the memory of the nightmare rose up in his head. And he couldn't push it away, no matter how hard he tried. It clung to his mind like hot glue. 

“Ventus…” Naminé whispered and touched his right hand. 

Her eyes almost seemed to glow and glitter with a strange light, and Ven immediately started to feel warm and calm, kinda cozy. His worries and anxiety melted away, and strangely, he felt like he almost sort of passed out for a second or two, but almost immediately came back to see Naminé raising her other hand to touch his head, but when Ven flinched, she stopped herself and instead lightly brushed his upper arm.

“Naminé?” 

“You're hurting.” 

“What?” 

“You’re hurting,” Naminé repeated as she held his hand with both of hers. Her hands were the polar opposite of Ven's; they were warm, gentle, and comforting. The warmth seemed to spread up his forearm, up his neck, and into his head, and it actually started to calm him down, for the first time in days. “I can feel it. Your heart resided within Sora's for a long time, so you have a special connection with him, and by extension, me. Even if it's not as strong as the ones I have with Roxas or Xion, it's still there. That might be part of why I was able to find you first.” 

“So… you can feel what I'm feeling?” Ven asked. 

“Yes,” Naminé said and gently touched his chest. He felt even more of that warm feeling within his chest, but it was a little different this time. It tickled, and felt like Naminé's hand was literally touching his heart. “Ventus, you shouldn't push all your pain and feelings down inside. It'll only make it worse, believe me.” 

Ven stayed silent and looked down at the ground. He… didn't know how he was supposed to respond to that. 

After a little while of silence, Naminé stood up, still holding his hand. Ven didn't realize it, but he was gripping onto hers so hard it must've hurt. Even though he knew that, he couldn't let go at all. He felt like he needed the warm comfort it gave him; like he needed it to live.

“We should go back,” she urged. “Like I said, everyone's worried about you. You look like you've barely eaten or slept in days. And… Ventus, those dreams, aren't just dreams.” 

“What?” 

Naminé shook her head and glanced around them without letting go. “This isn't the right place to be talking about this. Let's just go back home and get you some help, okay?” 

Ven didn't answer at first, but began to realize that she was right. He'd been completely alone out here for at least two days, he hadn't really slept, drank, or eaten, but most of all, he was lonely. And that was what he hated more than anything. He could handle being hungry, exhausted, even injured, but he couldn't stand being lonely. He'd rather feel any emotion other than loneliness. For him, being lonely felt like his heart was being plucked apart by a sharp-beaked raven and the pieces were scattered all across the entire universe, left to freeze and wither away in isolation. He'd been like this for as long as he could remember, but after his journey a decade ago, this feeling when he was alone had become unbearable. He never wanted to be separated from Terra and Aqua ever again. Ever. 

What had he been thinking? Why on earth did he go off on his own willingly? This had been a horrible idea. All he wanted was to be back with his friends, not collecting dust all alone in the middle of nowhere.

“Okay,” Ven said as he got up too and dusted his pants off. “Let's go.” 

Naminé smiled and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back tightly and didn't let go for at least a minute. He felt that same comforting warmth as before, but it was so much more overwhelming now. Spreading and enveloping his entire body, making him feel like he was going to just melt into a blissful puddle. 

How had he forgotten just how nice hugs were? 

He was so relaxed and distracted that he didn't even realize that he'd started crying. Like, actually sobbing, close to wailing. But this time, they weren't tears or longing or sadness. They were happy. Grateful. Glad to not be alone anymore. 

“Shhh… It's okay Ventus. There you go, let it all out,” Naminé whispered soothingly into his ear. “You’re going to be okay. You're not alone anymore. I'm right here.” 

“I know,” Ven choked out in between sobs. “Thank you Naminé.” 

They finally let each other go, and Naminé still held one of his hands with their fingers intertwined as she helped him wipe some of the tears off his cheeks with her other hand. 

“You… give really good hugs,” he said awkwardly. 

Naminé laughed a bit and pressed his Gummiphone into his free hand. “Here. You dropped this.” 

“Oh, thanks.” 

“I'm not going to ask how you managed to turn the internal GPS system off.” 

“Wait, what?” Ven asked. He only deactivated his phone so that he wouldn't be able to receive any calls, but wha- 

“It doesn't matter,” Naminé said with a shake of her head. She gently laid her other hand on Ven's back and began to gently push him forward, up the pathway that she'd come from. “Come on. Let's get you home.” 

Chapter Text

Roxas and Xion were in charge of the search party on this world, and just about collapsed with relief when they saw Ven and Naminé together, safe and sound, since apparently Naminé had temporarily snuck off as well when she found Ven. 

They brought Ven back to the Land of Departure just as the sky was barely starting to darken, the golden rays of the sunset peaking out from the mountains.. 

“We're really glad you're okay, Ventus,” Xion said over her shoulder with a warm smile. 

“Why… do you need… so many…steps?!?!” Roxas groaned as he practically crawled on all fours up the stairs leading to the front door. 

“Well if you've ever wondered how Aqua and Terra's legs are so strong, now you've got your answer,” Ven chuckled as he drank the last bit of water in about the fifth bottle that they'd given him. 

He kinda forgot to drink anything while he was alone - and he obviously hadn't slept- so according to Lea and Isa, he was dangerously dehydrated and sleep deprived, and he only barely managed to convince them to not drag him to a hospital. The last thing he wanted right now was some weird strangers in lab coats poking and prodding at him and telling him about how he made terrible life decisions - as if he didn't already know that.

Roxas kept on whining until they got up to the doors. When Xion walked up and pressed her hands to it to push them open, Ven stumbled back a few steps nervously. 

He knew that Terra and Aqua would be furious with him for running off without telling them, but just how mad would they be? What would they do to him? Was coming back really a good idea? 

“Hey! Not-My-Twin, you coming?” Roxas barked.

Ven shrank down a bit and avoided his gaze, and Xion gave Roxas a scolding look - which absolutely baffled him - before she walked over to Ven and laid a hand on his shoulder. Ven shied away from her touch a little but didn't try to wiggle out of it. 

“Hey, no one's going to hurt you. I know you're worried about your friends being upset with you, but I promise they're just going to be happy to see you safe and sound,” Xion assured him as she gently pushed him forward. “Come on, they'll know what to do with you.”

The exact nanosecond they walked through the door, Aqua materialized out of thin air and pulled Ven into the single tightest hug he had ever experienced in his life. 

“VEN!!!” she cried, then briefly let go and slapped him in the face before immediately resuming the hug. “You little piece of crap, what were you thinking?!?! You scared us to death…! Don't you ever pull any nonsense like that EVER AGAIN!!” 

“I'm sorry, Aqua,” Ven apologized as he realized that she had tears streaming down her face. “I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left without telling you.” 

“Just be quiet,” Aqua muttered, sounding simultaneously relieved, sad, and absolutely fumming as she let him go and squeezed his shoulders tightly. “I swear, if you ever pull something like that again…” 

Ven wiped his own eyes right as Terra hurled himself down the stairs of the great hall and absolutely bolted right at Ven. Before Ven had even noticed him, Terra swept him up off his feet into a hug that made Aqua's feel like a gentle pat on the back. 

“VEN!!! YOU'RE OKAY!!!” Terra screamed, overjoyed. 

“Terra…” Ven gasped. “Terra, I can't breathe.”

“I DON'T CARE!! SUCK IT UP!!! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH FREAKING TROUBLE, YOU STUPID KID!!” Terra boomed, squeezing him so tightly it felt like his ribs were about to explode. 

“Not a kid…” Ven groaned, and Terra finally seemed to realize that he was being serious and set him down. “I'm really sorry guys, I know I should've at least left a note or something. I didn't mean to worry you, I just… I needed to be alone for a while.” 

“Well you could've just told us that,” Aqua pointed out, a bit hurt. “Ven, we know you're not doing well…” 

She briefly paused and glanced over at Terra, who nodded and walked over to Roxas and Xion, still standing somewhat awkwardly in the doorway.

“Thank you so much for bringing Ven home,” Terra said as he patted Roxas on the shoulder. “It's starting to get late, and the others should be alerted that Ven's found, so you guys can all head home.” 

While he was very polite about it, it was also obvious that what he meant to communicate was, “We need some privacy to talk to Ven about this.” 

Roxas and Xion both nodded and walked back out the door.

Xion paused as she was halfway through closing it behind them and gave a kind smile. 

“Take care, guys. Hope you get well soon, Ventus,” she wished them before closing the door fully.

“It's the dreams, isn't it?” Aqua asked sadly, kneeling down in front of Ven to brush his face with her fingertips. 

Ven gasped and shook a bit before he nodded. 

Terra sighed and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, rubbing circles on his shoulder blades with his thumb. “It's okay, Ven. You're not alone in this, remember that. You know I still have nightmares about-” 

“No, Terra,” Ven interrupted. “It's not like that. Two days ago… The reason why I left was because I… had one in the middle of the day. And it was worse than before. It was almost like when we first met when I would sometimes collapse.” 

“What?!” Aqua and Terra both exclaimed in unison, now very worried. 

“You collapsed?!” Aqua asked, grabbing both his shoulders. “When?! What happened?! Are you okay?!” 

“I'm fine. I think it was about noon, two days ago,” Ven explained, partially - no, completely lying about the first part. “I didn't pass out, at least I don't think I did.” 

“Are you sure you're okay?” Terra asked, moving his head around to check it for injuries. “You didn't hit or fall on anything, did you?” 

“No, I got lucky. I'm fine,” Ven assured him, shaking his head out of his grip. He tried to fake a smile like usual, but… 

Terra and Aqua both shared a worried look, not seeming convinced at all, and Aqua gave him another hug as she stood up. 

“Ven… Why don't you hit the hay a bit early tonight?” she suggested. “You and Terra go up and get settled, I'll make you some food.” 

Ven didn't argue for once. He was starving, and he hadn't really slept, ate, or drank anything in two days. Right now, some of Aqua's freshly baked goods sounded heavenly. 

Ven nodded, and Terra wrapped his arm around his shoulders and immediately led him up to Terra's room. 

Even though Ven had walked this path to Terra's room a million times to go ask to sleep with him after a nightmare or to harass him into getting up so they could start training, Ven still felt lost. If Terra wasn't there to guide him, Ven probably would've just stopped in his tracks and stood there in a stupor, unsure of what he should do or where he should go. So he clung to Terra for dear life, but his older friend definitely didn't seem to mind. 

Compared to Ven's relatively small bedroom, Terra’s was huge. With him being twice Ven's size, causing him to obviously need a bed double Ven or even Aqua's, and not even considering that his bed barely took up a quarter of the space in the room, Terra's room felt like a mansion compared to Ven's. Or it would, if he actually knew how to take care of his room and had literally any sense of organization. His room was almost always a mess, especially now with the Master no longer around to yell at him to clean up his room, but it was a cozy mess, and Ven always felt comfortable here no matter what. Terra's enormous mattress was still laid out in the middle of the floor, where both of their pillows and blankets from the last few days were still in a messy pile on top and beside it. 

“You didn't clean up at all? I guess it really is a good thing I came back, huh?” Ven joked. 

Terra smiled and mused with his hair. “I'm guessing you're pretty exhausted.” 

“Yeah. Couldn't sleep at all out there. Rocks and mud isn't exactly the most comfortable combination,” Ven said with a yawn as he moved Terra's pillow out of the way and laid down on his side of the mattress. 

“You've got a sense of humor. That's a good sign.” Terra was smiling at him, but it definitely wasn't real, and there was an emotion in his eyes that Ven couldn't name. 

That was about when Aqua came in with a plate full of steaming Double Chocolate S’mores cookies. They were some of Ven's absolute favorites, and even just the smell of it was making his mouth water. 

“Here you go, Ven. Fresh out of the oven,” Aqua said with a smile as she set the plate down and handed a cookie to him. “Just make sure to sit up while you eat.” 

“I know, I'm not five,” Ven said through a mouthful of food.

Terra and Aqua both chuckled and Terra mused with his hair a bit. Ven guessed that they were just glad that he was acting more like his normal self. 

“Why don't I go make you boys some tea?” Aqua asked. “I know you're having trouble sleeping, Ven, so hopefully that'll help.” 

“Yeah, thanks Aqua,” Ven said with a nod as he wolfed down a few more cookies. 

“Ok, that's enough junk food, Ven,” Terra scolded as Aqua walked out of the room. “Don't give yourself any stomach issues.” 

Ven begrudgingly set the cookie in his hand back on the plate and began to take his shoulder and torso armor off. He was too tired to undress anymore, but he sure as heck didn't want to sleep on pieces of metal. He just laid down, pulled his blanket up to his chin, and before Aqua had even gotten back with the tea, fell rock into slumber. 

That night, while both Ventus and his protective accomplice slept together, a shadowy figure kept watch over him from afar on the summit. Arms crossed, a black hat worn in a specific position to cast a shadow over most of his face, and black clothes of nearly the same color of his hat and longish hair that made the boy practically melt into the night around him.

“Anything?” 

The boy looked over his shoulder to see that one of his comrades had come to join him, his long, black leather hood blowing in the cold wind and covering his face, not that there would've been enough light to make out his features where he was standing, in the shadow of the mountain. 

“I thought you and your girlfriend didn't want to come anywhere near this world,” the boy whispered with a grin. 

“For the thousandth time, she's not my girlfriend. And I changed my mind,” the man informed him assertively.

“Whatever,” the boy said as he sat down on the edge of the summit. “It seems they've brought Ventus back.” 

“You're sure?” 

The boy nodded and tipped up his hat slightly to get a better look at the castle in the distance. “He came back with his look alike and the dark-haired girl at sunset today. And I saw him and Muscles sleeping together like puppies a few hours ago. It's kinda adorable if I'm being honest.” 

“Same place as usual?” 

The boy nodded and pointed at a specific window on the left wing of the castle. That was where Ventus was right now, in his friend's room. Ventus's room was a few rooms away in the direction of the rest of the castle, and he hadn't actually been staying there for at least a week. 

“Okay…” The man's fingers twitched anxiously, and he squeezed his hands into fists to try and hide it. “And no one saw you, right?” 

“Obviously not,” the boy snapped with an eye roll. “I stayed hidden, and if they haven't noticed any of us snooping around here at all over the past few months, I don't see why that would change all of a sudden.” 

“Alright,” the man said with a small sigh as he stepped forward and stared at Terra's room. “How did Ven seem when they brought him back?” 

“Fine enough,” the boy replied with a shrug, though he couldn't even be sure how much truth was in his words. “He didn't seem to be hurt at all, but he just looked generally in bad shape. And he seemed nervous, but I don't think he was really being forced back into the castle. At the very least, he's better than he was out in the woods.”

The man then sat down next to him, and silently removed his hood. The moonlight now illuminated his face, showing his elegant rose-pink hair, and shimmering blue eyes, almost the exact same color of the water below them, glittering with light like a million diamonds. 

“How receptive will he be to us when he regains his memory?” he asked tiredly, staring up at the stars. “He's already bonded to those two so much… What if they're all he cares about now, and they've completely replaced us?” 

“That's not who Ven is,” the boy answered sternly. “If it weren't for Darkness tampering with his memories, he wouldn't have ever forgotten us in the first place. Ventus was desperate for companionship when we met him. Even if he theoretically hadn't bonded with us, I can't imagine any universe where he'd forget about us just like that. Besides, people can have room in their hearts for multiple strong bonds. Especially, Ven. He'd be friends with a tree if someone told him that was an option.” 

“But what if he doesn't remember everything?” the man asked, a bit louder and more panicked this time, burying his face in his hands. “What if he only remembers the bad stuff? How I hurt him…” 

“We're sticking to the plan. We'll keep tabs on him, and the wielders he's associated with, until we figure out how to restore him to his right mind and former strength in a mostly painless way.” 

The man slouched over with a sigh and held his forehead. “And what about the Darkness? Is it still a part of Ven's heart? What if he succumbs to its influence like before? Ventus is strong, but even the five of us could barely fight back the Darkness on its own. I can't lose him… not again. Not like Strelitzia.” 

“Hey,” the boy said as he laid his hand on his friend's shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes. “We're not going to lose him. Not under any circumstances. I don't care if we have to go up against the freaking Foretellers, nothing's gonna stop us. And we'll make sure to get Darkness out of Ven's heart, and then we'll make that pathetic excuse for a creature pay for what it did to your sister. You got it?” 

The man stared at his comrade for a minute, then nodded with a smile and patted him on the back. “I got it. We should get out of here before either of this land's masters wake up.” 

Chapter Text

Ven had another nightmare that night, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the ones he'd had over the past couple of days. In the morning, he only woke up trembling and drenched in a cold sweat, wrapped tightly in Terra's arms like a stuffed animal. 

Ven didn't feel like getting up, but he also knew that there was zero chance of him falling asleep so he just wrapped himself in his blanket and huddled up tight against Terra's chest, listening to his snoring in his ear for a few hours until his friend woke up. 

“How'd you sleep, Ven?” Terra asked as he rubbed his eyes. 

“Well I didn't wake up screaming, so that's an improvement,” Ven joked lightly. “I was sweating as all be, but being back with you guys definitely helped.” 

In response, Terra briefly sniffed Ven's hair then immediately recoiled and pointed to the doorway. “Bath. Right now.” 

Ven smiled at him and walked back to his room to get some new clothes. Usually, Terra and Aqua would have to pin Ven down and drag him by his ankles to get him to bathe, but right now, he was sweaty, tired, covered in dirt, and a cold shower sounded amazing right now. 

Aqua offered to let Ven skip training today and rest, but honestly what Ven really wanted more than anything else was something to distract him. 

It was very obvious that Terra and Aqua were going easy on him, but he didn't make a fuss about it. He also didn't really blame them either. They were always gentle with him, but he noticed that they were being extra cautious today. Ven guessed that it was because he mentioned that he had collapsed a few days ago, and they were terrified of having a repeat of that.

“You sure you don't need to rest more, Ven?” Aqua asked for the millionth time. 

“Yeah. I told you, I feel fine,” Ven assured her. 

“Alright if you say so… think fast,” she said with a grin as she suddenly fired an ice spell right at him. 

Ven recognized that it was an unblockable spell, so he quickly cast a wind spell under his feet to launch himself out of the way. He somersaulted in midair a few times, then brought his Keyblade down on Aqua's. She held him back without breaking a sweat, but still had a proud smile on her face. 

“Good job Ven,” she said as she threw him off. 

“Thanks,” Ven grunted as he pushed himself back up to his feet. 

Terra and Aqua complimented him during their spars all the time, but unlike a good chunk of the time, it did feel like they were genuinely impressed. 

“My turn,” Terra interjected. “You take a break, Ven.” 

Ven hesitated for a moment, biting back and “I can keep going,” but reminded himself that his friends probably wouldn't listen. So he nodded and sat down in one of the chairs at the back of the hall. 

As Terra and Aqua started their own sparring match, Ven shifted in his seat and made himself comfortable. The chairs weren't made for comfort, and now after ten years of sitting in one of these while in a coma (in the worst possible position too - Light above his neck hurt SO much when he woke up) he had a slight vendetta against these things. But he admitted that despite that, the rest felt really good. He hadn't really gotten much sleep last night, and he was pretty exhausted. 

But as soon as he thought that, on cue almost, an odd creature appeared in a puff of smoke right in Ven's lap. It looked like a mix between a cat and a plush toy, with sewn blue thread as eyes, and both a pink pouch around its neck and a small cape worn on its back. It looked up at Ven, purring loudly as it climbed up his chest by his shirt, and rubbed its comically oversized head into his chin affectionately. A clear indication of what it wanted. 

“No Chirithy,” Ven whispered. “I can't snuggle right now. I have to train. I'm sorry.” 

Chirithy looked up at Ven with sad, sad eyes and rested his soft plushy chin on his chest beggingly. 

“No. I can't. Now shoo,” Ven said as he waved Chirithy away. “Later. Do you understand that? Later as in not now.” 

Chirithy whined softly and looked at Ven pathetically with eyes sad enough to give an elderly man a heart attack. But Ven had already seen them a million times before. He wasn't falling for it.

“No. Hey, no. Don't you dare give me those puppy-dog eyes,” Ven snapped quietly, jabbing his in the chest with his finger. “Now git!” 

Chirithy doubled down and made himself as adorable as possible, making biscuits on Ven's skin, resting his chin on Ven's collarbone to really show off the puppy-dog eyes, trying to guilt trip him into giving in. He even threw in some head tilts! That was like the one thing Ven couldn't deny! And Chirithy knew.

Oof dah… Really? The head tilts? Be strong , Ven. He's serious about this. Seriously annoying.

“No. Get. Out of here,” Ven mouthed as he pointed away from him. 

Aqua and Terra had paused their fight to watch the two of them bicker, and now Chirithy turned to them and gave them the puppy-dog eyes. 

“What?! Don't bring them into this!” Ven shouted. 

But as soon as his friends made eye contact with Chirithy, Terra grabbed his chest dramatically and collapsed, like he had gone into cardiac arrest from cuteness overload, and Aqua barely stopped herself from dropping to her knees. 

“Awwwww… You poor baby,” she said in a gentle voice as she knelt in front of Ven and scratched Chirithy’s chin. “Do you just want your Ventus to love you? Is that what you want? Oh, you are just the single cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life!” 

“You know he's not really desperate right?” Ven asked as Aqua was completely entranced by Chirithy's cuteness. “He's just a little beggar.” 

“How can you say that, Ven?! Look at him! Look at his precious face! Ohmygosh, he's tilting his head and making biscuits on you! How can you just ignore this, Ven?! Oh you're so cute…” 

“And...you already fell for it. Great job Chirithy, you little con cat.” Ven's shoulders slumped his shoulders and sighed in exasperation. Chirithy briefly turned around towards him and stuck his tongue out at him smugly. Why- Why of all things, despite not having a mouth, could Chirithy stick out his tongue?! “Stick your tongue out at me again and you're dinner, Chirithy! I'm serious this time!”

“Ven,” Terra croaked from the ground and pointed to him, then to the door in the direction of his room. “Get out of here and cuddle with that sweet little angel right now, you monster. Great Kingdom Hearts, Chirithy, you're so freaking cute.” 

Chirithy spun around and looked up at Ven with a hopeful look, and he eventually let out a large sigh of defeat and face palmed himself. Aqua and Terra hadn't been living with Chirithy long enough to know to ignore the puppy-dog eyes, and they'd probably burn down an orphanage if Chirithy asked them nicely enough.

“Alright, fine.” 

Chirithy immediately jumped up into Ven's arms and started purring so loud he felt like he was an active bomb that was about to explode. Ven held him with one arm as he got up and turned to Terra and Aqua. 

“Come get me in fifteen minutes, okay?” he said grumbly.

“Sure,” Aqua replied absentmindedly as she rubbed Chirithy's ears. 

Ven groaned as he put Chirithy up on his shoulder and stormed off past his friends and towards his room. Chirithy wasn't actually sitting on his shoulder - he was much too big for that - but instead was clinging onto his entire right shoulder blade with his little paws; that was his favorite spot ever. He loved hanging there so that his head could be right by Ven's, allowing his mess with Ven's hair, ears and face by licking or nibbling on them, just like a mischievous kitten. Chirithy had been doing this since the day Ven got him, long before he lost his memory, so he was so used to the feel of him there that his brain just filtered it out. So occasionally when Ven would be listening to Terra and Aqua teaching him about Keyblade history or something, he would get so bored that he'd end up drifting off, and would wake up to a fuzzy Chirithy in his face, licking his eyelids open while Terra and Aqua were melting in laughter and recording it on their Gummiphones.

“Stop dragging Aqua and Terra into these things,” Ven scolded. “You're my problem, my little nap goblin, not theirs. You know they literally can't process your kind of cuteness. You're gonna give Terra an actual heart attack one of these days!” 

“Well it gets the job done,” Chirithy whispered smugly in his ear and started nibbling on it affectionately, which was another thing he loved doing. Sometimes to show Ven affection, other times just to annoy him. This seemed like one of the latter. “And I know you didn't really want to be doing work today, so really you should be thanking me.” 

Ven responded by tickling Chirithy's tummy, making him lose his balance and almost fall off Ven. He hung by Ven's sleeve and gave him a nasty glare. Well, nasty by Chirithy standards - he hated being tickled. Ven chuckled a little bit and scooped Chirithy back up in his arms as they got to his room, and he let him off on the bed as he took his armor off. He didn't have his blankets or pillows, but he didn't need them right now. Chirithy just wanted him to lie down and cuddle, and if all went in Ven's favor he wouldn't fall asleep. 

He touched the bed with his fingertips, and Chirithy went ahead and grabbed his hand with both paws, Ven couldn't stop himself from smiling and instinctively scratching Chirithy’s chin and neck, feeling his thick, fleecy, warm fur and letting him snuggle up against his wrist. He couldn't deny that he would love to just lie in bed and curl up with Chirithy all day, but he needed to get back to training. If nothing else so that he'd have something, anything to take his mind off the nightmares. Those horrible, dumb- 

“Would you stop moping about your stupid nightmares and get down here?” Chirithy asked sassily, derailing Ven's train of thought. “I'm not gonna snuggle myself. …That came out wrong. Scratch that.” 

Ven blinked at him in surprise, not even processing the second half of his words. “How did you know I was thinking about-” 

“You've got it written all over your face,” Chirithy said with an eye roll. Technically, his eyes were just patches of sewn blue thread so he wasn't actually eye rolling, but Ven just knew. Terra and Aqua wouldn't know, but he would. It was like how a dog owner knew which bark meant the dog wanted a drink, and which one meant he wanted to go outside. “So get down here. Snuggles. Now.” 

“Alright, Mr. Bossy-Fur. Can you let go of my hand now?” 

“As soon as you get down here.”

Ven sighed in defeat and laid down on his bed, and Chirithy didn't waste a second before climbing up onto his chest and curling up into a ball. Ven scratched his soft head gently and Chirithy rubbed into him affectionately. Chirithy felt a lot warmer on his chest than he expected, but not too warm. Just right at the perfect, most comfortable temperature to put him to sleep. 

And he must've been a lot more tired than he thought, because after only a minute at most, his eyelids slid shut and he drifted off. 

Surprisingly, he didn't have any nightmares for once. Instead, he dreamt of when he found Chirithy, right after the Second Keyblade War. 

Ven, Aqua, and Terra were all busy paying their respects to Master Eraqus at his grave, with their Wayfinder charms held up to their hearts. 

“We'll miss you, father,” Aqua said as she hung her Wayfinder on the Master's Keyblade. “Fly high, Master Eraqus.” 

Ven and Terra both bowed their heads respectfully and did the same with their own Wayfinders. 

The Master was gone now. The three of them would always carry the burden of mourning him for the rest of their lives. But they wouldn't do it alone. They were finally all reunited after all this time, and nothing would ever drag them apart again.

They'd go looking for shooting stars together. They'd never be apart again. 

“Terra! Ven! Let's have some tea,” Aqua called with a smile. 

Ven nodded energetically and looked up at Terra. He had a sad look on his face as he looked at the Master's Keyblade. But almost immediately, he fixed it and looked over at Aqua with a pained smile, just like he used to whenever she offered him anything with sugar. 

“I'd like some cake,” he said. “So long as it's not too sweet.” 

“Galactic Caramel Pound Cake then. I haven't made that in forever,” Aqua said with a smile as they all began to walk away. 

Man, that sounds awesome, Ven thought as his mouth began to water a little. I could really go for a Preserved Strawberry Tart. Just like the Master used to love… I'm sorry, Master Eraqus. I'm so sorry… I wish you were still here. I miss you…

But suddenly, he heard something off to his left. Something like the small squeak of a toy. When he looked over in the direction of the sound, he saw something that at first he thought was just a plush toy. Until it dashed back and hid behind the stone wall right next to it skittishly. Its stripped grey tail was still poking out, twitching and curled up into a tight little bundle, almost like a live ball of yarn. 

Aw… It's kinda cute, Ven thought as he tilted his head at where the little creature had been. Why does it feel so… familiar? Like I've seen it before? My head hurts a little, and my chest feels cold and empty… yet warm and tingly. I've got a good feeling about this.

The creature then poked its head out from behind the wall and looked at Ven. Despite it - well, being a toy, and having a less than expressive face, it still showed so much emotion with its beady eyes. It looked really nervous, but it also seemed like it wanted Ven's attention. It looked so sad… yet jittery with excitement.

“Hi there,” Ven whispered kindly and opened up his arms. “C’mere little buddy.” 

The creature hesitated for a second, then immediately hopped out from behind the wall and beelined towards Ven and leaped right into his arms. 

“Whoa!” 

As soon as the creature jumped into his arms, everything just clicked. He had seen this creature before. He couldn't quite pull any real memories of it from his brain, but he was one hundred percent sure that he knew this thing. He knew that it was his friend. 

His familiar guide. His constant companion, for as long as he wielded the Keyblade.

And as he thought that, a warm, happy feeling like nothing else welled up in his chest, filling up the cold scars and empty hollows of his heart. 

“...Chirithy?” 

Chirithy's eyes went wide when Ven said that, and he immediately hugged Ven as tightly as his little stubby arms possibly could. “You remember me!” he cried.

“Of course I do,” Ven said happily. “How could I ever forget?” 

Chirithy didn't say anything else for quite some time. He just gazed up at Ven, looking like he was about to cry tears of joy. And Ven was equally as happy. 

“...I missed you,” Chirithy whispered, his tiny voice breaking. He didn't appear any different, but he was gripping onto Ven painfully hard, like he was afraid if he wasn't holding onto Ven with a death grip, he would vanish again. He'd definitely gone through a lot after all these years, just like Ven had. They were connected, after all.

“I missed you too, buddy,” Ven replied, feeling his smile all throughout his body. 

And he wasn't just saying that. He had always known that something about him was missing. He had always felt a cold, empty, broken feeling in his chest. A constant, chronic ache that was mild enough for it to eventually fade into normalcy, yet at night, when Ven had nothing else to think about, disrupted his rest with a chill that no amount of blankets could warm. Years ago when he had begun to reclaim his memory in the Keyblade Graveyard, he had assumed that it was just because of what Xehanort had done to him; taking his dark half from him. And after he and Vanitas’s hearts had rejoined, he thought that it would've been fixed, and maybe he'd even get his memories back. 

But he hadn't. He had regained some blurry memories of training with Xehanort, but everything before that was just… blank. He couldn't recall anything from the first eleven years of his life. 

Until now. Now, he had Chirithy. Even if he couldn't hold onto any real memories, he knew that his heart remembered him. He might not have remembered when or how he lost him, but he was determined - he swore an oath to himself in that moment, that he would never let it happen again. He and Chirithy would never, never ever be separated again. No. Matter. What. 

“Ven!” Terra called, knocking Ven out of his thoughts. 

Terra and Aqua were both waiting for him a ways away, so Ven ran towards them while he kept Chirithy in his arms. 

“Ven? What is that?” Aqua asked as she peered over his shoulder at Chirithy. 

Chirithy definitely seemed curious of her and Terra, but he nestled down nervously and seemed to hide in Ven's arms. He'd always been a little shy - Ven also didn't know how or why he knew that, but it was hardly a concern right now. 

“It's okay Chirithy,” Ven assured him as he scratched his friend behind the ear. “They're my friends. They're nice.” 

“Aww… Hello there,” Aqua said kindly as she held out her hand to Chirithy. 

Chirithy carefully leaned out to sniff it as Terra leaned over Ven's shoulder to get a better look at him. 

“Hey, what is that?” Terra whispered in Ven's ear. “I mean is it a cat, or an enchanted toy or something? Where'd it come from?” 

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Ven replied. “But my heart remembers him, and I know he's my friend. Isn't that right, Chirithy?” 

Chirithy looked up and nodded happily as his tail wagged and he purred loudly.

“Aww… Aren't you just adorable?” Aqua asked Chirithy as she scratched his chin. “Oh yes you are. Yes you are!” 

“See? I told ya,” Ven said to Chirithy, and he immediately looked up and rubbed his head against Ven's chin, purring like a motorcycle. “Aw, good boy.” 

Terra chuckled and made sure to give Chirithy a good scratch on the head too as they walked back to the castle. 

Ven didn't think that anything could possibly match the joy he felt when he and Aqua finally reunited with Terra after ten years, and then later with the Master's spirit, but this moment when he found Chirithy again was still definitely up there. He was so, so happy, and he could tell that Chirithy felt the exact same. 

Ven slowly peeled his eyelids open and the first thing he realized was that Chirithy was lying half on his face. Predictably. It made breathing a bit troublesome, but he didn't feel like shoving him off quite yet. He was admittedly very cute and comfortable at the moment. Ven would scold him later. 

The golden rays of the sunset were pouring right through his window and warming him like a blanket of light. He definitely had been sleeping for more than fifteen minutes. 

“Gosh darn it… Chirithy. Off,” Ven ordered as he snapped his fingers and waved him off. 

But Chirithy just yawned and shifted around, covering even more of Ven's face with his limbs. 

“Sigh… Alright, fine. If that's how you wanna play…” Ven muttered through all the felty grey fur in his mouth as he gently picked Chirithy up and set him down on the bed beside him, careful not to wake him up. “We're seriously gonna need to have a talk about this.” 

For some mysterious reason, whenever he slept around Chirithy, not only did he fall asleep almost immediately, but that was the only time when he didn't have any nightmares since they had gotten back from the Realm of Darkness. It most likely had something to do with Chirithy being connected to his past. But, it wasn't like there was anything he could do about it. And he most certainly wasn't complaining about it. 

He was going to complain to Terra and Aqua for not doing what he'd asked, though. He honestly wasn't sure if they had even heard him, or if they were too distracted worshiping Chirithy and his all-powerful adorableness. 

As soon as Ven sat up and tried to get back onto his feet, Chirithy immediately woke up and clung to his arm. Ven swore this guy had an intern clock or alarm to always be there to bother Ven when he was trying to be productive. And when he was trying to relax, then that was the to  start acting a fool like the cat he was based off of. 

At least he's not in the mood for stealing my socks right now, Ven thought as he glared at the little plush and lifted his arm up, and Chirithy with it. Now that he's gotten me out of training mode. What is this guy's deal anyway? Why do you do that and make me chase you ‘round the whole castle?

“We have been snuggling for the ENTIRE DAY, Chirithy!” Ven shouted. “You are too desperate.” 

“Ah, fine,” Chirithy muttered as he crawled up his arm and settled himself onto his shoulder. “How'd you sleep?” 

“Like a rock, actually,” Ven admitted as he stood up with a yawn and stretched his arms. “Let’s go, buddy.” 

It didn't take too long for Ven to find Terra and Aqua sitting by one of the windows in the Dining Hall, eating walnut muffins as they chatted in hushed voices and played chess while the tangerine light of the sunset washed over them. 

“Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that it's been slightly more than fifteen minutes,” Ven said with his hands on his hips. 

Aqua took one look at him, and immediately started laughing so hard she fell onto the floor. 

“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that,” Terra chuckled as he scratched his head bashfully. “We, uh… lost track of time.” 

“Sure you did,” Ven snapped and turned to where Aqua was still rolling on the ground. “And WHAT IS SO FUNNY, YOU?!” 

“I'm sorry Ven… I'm so sorry…” Aqua wheezed in between laughs. “It's just… Oh, that hairdo is just fabulous…” 

Ven finally looked at his own reflection in one of the windows near him and saw what Aqua was laughing at. Half of his hair was smashed into his head, and the other half was sticking straight up in spikes and flattened like a piece of paper, right where Chirithy had been sleeping when he woke up. Ven might be notoriously the guy whose usual hairstyle was an eternal bedhead, but this was ridiculous.

“Chirithy,” Ven growled as he slowly revolved his head toward the plush on his shoulder. “I swear, I am going to cook you over a spitfire one of these days.” 

“Sorry about that,” Chirithy giggled. 

“Yeah, I really appreciate it. Thanks for helping me waste an entire day,” Ven muttered as he tried fixing his hair, which was about as effective as trying to push water uphill. “And the hair. Really appreciate it. Remind me to schedule a demolition date for all our hair products.” 

“I promise, we actually did go to check on you after fifteen minutes,” Aqua said once she got ahold of herself. 

“Did you just decide to leave us be just because we were ‘cute?’” Ven asked sarcastically. 

“That, and because you were actually sleeping without nightmares for the first time in weeks,” Terra answered with a proud and slightly relieved smile. “And considering how fast you fell asleep, you must've been exhausted. I know why you wanted to train, you have to admit that this was much better for you in the end. And didn't you enjoy your nap? You sure looked comfortable.” 

“I guess,” Ven murmured as Chirithy nestled up by his neck. He was giving him his “Well? Weeeelllllll??? Am I right?” look, and Ven gave in with a sigh and scritched his ears with his index finger. “Okay. Fine, I'll admit it. You're slightly cute. Just slightly.” 

“Finally. Now I know you're not an emotionless sociopath,” Aqua said as she got up. “Now, would you care for some Wild Nut Muffins?” 

“Yeah, thanks Aqua.” 

Chapter Text

Thankfully, Chirithy stuck around for the rest of the day and even stayed when Ven and Terra went to bed together. And seemingly because of that, he didn't have any nightmares that night either. Instead, his dreams were happy and peaceful, even if he didn't remember the details. Terra ended up waking him up at around 8:45 in the morning - which was wonderful, considering that his nightmares had been causing him to barely get a couple of hours of sleep each night for weeks - for training with Aqua. 

For the first time in weeks, he was completely rested and felt like he had enough energy to run a marathon. 

Ven narrowly dodged out of the way of Aqua's Keyblade, and circled his own blade around in the middle of his dodge and struck Aqua's forearm, knocking her Keyblade out of her hand and sending it flying halfway across the hall. 

“Good job Ven!” she said with a smile bigger than anything Ven had seen in weeks, as if he hadn't just thwacked her arm with a misshapen log of metal. “That was perfect!” 

“So I guess this is the part where I mercifully say that I will spare your life so long as you promise to make me some cake?” Ven joked as he jabbed his Keyblade at her. 

Aqua laughed and messed with his hair. “I think you've more than earned a break and some sweets.” 

Unfortunately, they didn't get a chance for that. 

Almost the second Aqua said that, Terra came sprinting into the room with his Gummiphone still in his hand, nearly tripping over himself like five times on the stairs before finally tumbling onto the flat floor and doubling over, supporting himself with his hands on his thighs.

“Terra?! What's wrong?!” Aqua asked as Terra caught his breath. Both she and Ven sprinted over to him, a million worries flying through their heads. 

“I'm… I'm okay… guys,” Terra panted in between breaths, holding up his free hand. “I'm okay, not hurt. Just… was running. I was out getting some fresh air, when I got a call from Axel. Or, Lea, or… whatever he goes by. Anyway, he called with some bad news, so I ran in as fast as I could.” 

“What'd he say? What happened?” Aqua asked, still not looking fully convinced he was fine. 

“We've got a problem in Twilight Town,” Terra announced, standing up straight.

“What's going on?” Ven asked. “Is everyone there alright?” 

“Maybe you should stay here, Ven…” Terra murmured. 

“Terra, what's going on?!” Aqua demanded, losing patience. 

“Some of the Twilight gang claimed that they saw Organization members in town,” Terra answered. “And Roxas is certain that he saw one in particular: Marluxia.” 

“Marluxia?!” 

“Is that bad?” Ven asked. 

“Marluxia was a very powerful member of the Organization,” Terra explained. “I’d say he even gave Roxas and Xemnas a run for their Munny. Not many people could really stand to top him. He was the man in charge of Castle Oblivion and rewriting Sora's memories, so he and the other members there were the ones that tortured Naminé for weeks on end to force her into doing their bidding.” 

“That's not all,” Aqua added. “He was in charge of Castle Oblivion, and that also means he was in charge of searching for the Chamber of Waking. That's the secret chamber where I kept you hidden while you slept for those ten years, Ven. You understand now? He was looking for you. Whatever he and Xehanort wanted you for, it can't be good.” 

“Exactly,” Terra said with a nod. “And even if Xehanort's gone now, Marluxia was never known for his loyalty. He always does things for his own desires. He could still be looking for you, Ven. And I don't want to think about what he'd do if he got his hands on you. You're special… and not just to us.” Terra knelt down in front of Ven and looked straight into his eyes as he pressed one hand to Ven's chest and gently touched his face with the other. “You're a pure light, Ven. Your heart is like no other in the entire universe, as far as we know. That could be used for great good, or to cause unfathomable catastrophe. And Marluxia most definitely would be planning and wishing for the latter. He is not a good person.” 

“Terra's right. You should stay here, Ven,” Aqua agreed. “You'll be safe, and we'll deal with the problem in Twilight Town. Don't worry, it won't take long.” 

Oh you've gotta be kidding me, Ven thought with a mental groan. No. There's no way that I'm just going to let them ditch me again because it's “dangerous,” while they get hurt. I need to give them a good reason to bring me along though… 

Ven looked up at both of them and shook his head. “Just hear me out,” he said before either of them could say “no way, you're not even tall enough to reach the top shelf.” “This Marluxia guy really hurt Naminé, right? She's probably terrified. So while you guys go and deal with him, I'll stay with Naminé to keep her comfortable. And she doesn't have a Keyblade to defend herself, so I can protect her.” 

“...Okay. That is a really good excuse to tag along with us,” Terra admitted with a grin. “I'll give you that.” 

“Terra, no,” Aqua scolded. “We shouldn't-” 

“Aqua, Ven can take care of himself,” Terra interrupted. “Besides, if I'm not mistaken, didn't he best you in combat right before I got in here?” 

Aqua thought for a minute, giving both him and Ven an “I hate it when you're smarter than me,” face (which was extremely satisfying to see), but eventually, she sighed and gave in. 

“Alright, fine,” she said and turned to Ven with a stern glare and jabbed a finger in his face. “But you stay with Naminé, and do not step a single foot outside of the Old Mansion, or we'll grab you by the ear and drag you back here, then lock you in your room before you can say ‘ice cream’. You got it?” 

“Don't worry about me,” Ven said with a firm nod. 

“Good. We're all on the same page then,” Terra said as he summoned his Keyblade. “Let's get going.” 

When they got to Twilight Town, thankfully there was no immediate danger anywhere in sight. When they explained their plan, everyone unanimously agreed that it was a great idea. 

Except Roxas. He was paranoid about leaving Naminé alone with anyone besides himself, but he was grossly outvoted, and while he still threw a bit of a fit, everyone else managed to finally convince him after about five minutes. He still insisted on being the one to bring Ven to the mansion though. 

“You better be careful with her, got it?” Roxas snapped over his shoulder as they walked through the woods. He was just slightly overprotective of Naminé. And it was obviously because of a very poorly hidden crush. It took all of Ven's willpower to not tease him about it, but he knew better than to poke the bear. “You make sure nothing happens to her, alright?!” 

“Yeah, I've got it,” Ven said, doing his best to keep the amusement out of his voice. “You don't gotta worry about us.” 

Roxas made a slightly upset hrmm of acknowledgement, and didn't say anything else for most of the walk. 

Ven had his usual friendly grin on his face, but as Roxas gave him the cold shoulder, he couldn't help but let it falter. As much as he was always willing to make new friends - Roxas included, he got the impression that Roxas didn't like him very much. He usually wasn't mean per say, but he was often blunt and a little rude. Although, that could just be chalked up to being raised by… less than desirable comrades in the Organization without a heart and still adjusting to normal life and being human. 

But, there was also the glaring elephant in the room. 

It's because we look the same, Ven thought with a quiet sigh, and he hates that. And me, to a slight extent. 

Ven couldn't blame him though, and couldn't help but empathize with him because of the reason why he was like that. 

He'd always struggled with his identity, because of Sora, Xion, his amnesia, being mistaken for and compared to Sora, getting kidnapped and brainwashed by DiZ, being forced to return to Sora… The list went on and on, and Ven couldn't even begin to wrap his head around everything. Not just with Roxas’s life, but also Sora, Lea, Isa, Xion, etc… 

Everything he'd missed during the past decade. 

He wished that he could help and comfort his friends, but with both Roxas and a few others’ hesitance and the problem at hand with Marluxia, he had enough already on his plate at the moment.

Right as they were about to walk through the mansion gates, Roxas suddenly turned right on his heel and jabbed his finger right at Ven, who stumbled back a little in surprise. 

“And don't you get any ideas,” he growled, looking so comically angry that Ven half expected steam to be pouring out of his ears. 

This time, Ven had no hope of not busting out laughing. He doubled over and laughed his head off, which only made Roxas angrier. 

“WHAT IS SO FUNNY?!” 

“Don't worry. It's not like that,” Ven assured him once he got ahold of his giggles. “She's all yours, lover boy.” 

Roxas raised his fist to knock Ven a new one, but then stopped and face palmed himself. 

“No Roxas. Get ahold of yourself. Naminé might be watching,” he muttered under his breath and begrudgingly turned around. “Come on.” He continued to grumble unintelligibly about “even more stupid people that look like me,” as he shoved the doors of the mansion open. 

“Wow, this place is big,” Ven said as he looked around once they got inside the mansion proper. Even though he had been living in the Land of freaking Departure for as long as he could remember, he was honestly just surprised because of how much smaller it had looked from the outside. This place felt vaguely familiar, but he knew that he'd definitely never been here before. 

“Ventus?” 

Ven looked up in the direction of the small, familiar voice he'd heard, and saw that Naminé had come out of her room on the second floor once she heard his voice, and now was peeking her head over the balcony with a smile. 

“Hey Naminé!” Ven called with an energetic wave that Naminé returned shyly. 

Roxas suddenly pulled Ven back by his sleeve a bit more roughly than needed and cupped his hand to Ven's ear. 

“She doesn't know about Marluxia yet,” he whispered. “We haven't told her, and we don't plan to. We're hoping to just deal with this problem without stressing her out. And don't you say a word about me being hypocritical cuz I hate being lied to-!” 

“That was not on my mind, no, nothing like that!” Ven said over him, tugging himself free and taking a few steps back as he held up his hands innocently. “You're fine, Roxas. I don't wanna argue with you about this or anything with anyone, I just…” He paused, noticing how Roxas’s fingers were fidgeting at his side, and risked a brief glance over in Naminé’s direction. “...Why are you keeping her in the dark? Don't you trust her?”

Roxas flinched and cast his gaze downward, his expression turning from tough to something filled mostly with concern, in addition to clear fear, almost terror. It made him look very young. (Was this how Terra and Aqua always saw Ven?) 

“Marluxia traumatized her…” Roxas murmured, shaking his bangs in front of his face, seemingly in an attempt to hide his red-rimmed and watery eyes. “If she finds out that he's this close, she'll be absolutely horrified. I can't… Look, Ventus, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just… Think of this like if Xehanort came back from the dead and came after you. Or after Terra or Aqua.” He obviously noticed Ven's wince, and gave a small nod and look of sympathy. “I just wish that I could be here with her. It's not just to protect her, but to comfort her.

“I know. That's why I'm here,” Ven replied earnestly. “To protect her and keep her comfortable. Don't worry, I won't tell her about ‘him.’” 

“Fine,” Roxas muttered, putting the tough facade back on his face and turning to walk out the door. “Don't burn the place down!” 

“I would think you'd be used to that, living with Lea!” Ven called after him. 

“His name's Axel!!” 

Roxas slammed the door behind him, and Ven finally - now that he was out of earshot - let himself chuckle a little at Roxas's frankly childish antics. Though it was also partially to cheer himself back up and get a genuine smile back on his face for Naminé. 

“What were you two whispering about?” Naminé asked once she got down the stairs and walked right up to Ven. 

“Oh. He was just telling me that I wasn't allowed to flirt with you, and that he'd ‘make me sorry’ if I did,” Ven chuckled. 

Naminé couldn't stop herself from giggling too. “He's so cute when he tries to act tough.” 

“I'll make sure to tell him that you said that.” 

“Oh don't worry, I'll say it to his face myself.” 

They ended up both laughing their heads off for a minute or two, before they finally got ahold of themselves. 

“Make yourself comfortable, Ventus,” she said and motioned for him to follow her. 

Ven smiled and followed her up the stairs, two steps at a time. 

It is kinda nice to feel more normal again, he thought as he went up the last few, calculating if he'd have to end with a single step - and seeing that he would, he pushed off the railing to skip an extra step, just like he would when he was younger, and the Master would scold him for it because he could trip and fall down the mile-long staircases of the Land of Departure. 

Naminé gave him another kind - relieved, more so - (what was she relieved of?) smile as she watched him, and Ven responded with a toothy grin of his own. 

He followed her into a big, long white room, which almost looked like a dining hall with a long table in the middle of the room. The bright white of the walls, floor, ceiling, and the entire room hurt his eyes, but he did his best to hide it to be polite. The only variations of color were a number of colorful crayon and colored pencil paper drawings taped on all parts of the wall. A lot of them looked a little childish, but he could see a number more that were more complex and impressive. They still had plenty of mistakes, but Ven couldn't help but feel amazement and pride for Naminé at seeing her progress through the many drawings. 

“Your art is amazing, Naminé,” Ven said, getting Naminé to jump slightly and look at him in surprise, almost like she was unsure if he was talking about her. “The drawings, I mean.” He pointed to a few closest to them, showing scenes of calm beaches and beautiful sunsets over Twilight Town. “They're really cool. And really impressive! I definitely couldn't do anything like that. Wish I could though. Being able to just… I dunno, just pull an idea out of my head and just bring it out into the world, make it beautiful, and show it to Terra, Aqua, my other friends… That sounds so great!” 

“I guess it is kind of like that,” Naminé said, a bit awkwardly as she brushed her hair behind her ear, then seemed to notice the heated cheeks it revealed and pushed it back. “Th-thank you, Ventus.” 

“Of course! Any time!” 

Naminé’s blush grew a smidge more and she looked away bashfully, but her smile didn't falter. After a few moments of silence, she motioned for Ven to sit down on a bench next to the wall that looked more comfortable than the chairs at the long table. Ven didn't hesitate in plopping down, and a few seconds of awkward silence followed as Naminé stood in place, before she seemed to realize that Ven expected her to sit with him, and she started and shuffled over while muttering a small apology.

“So, how have you been feeling?” Naminé asked as she sat down next to him. 

“Better,” Ven said happily. “I managed to take a long nap yesterday and slept through last night without any nightmares for once. I'm feeling great now!” 

“That's wonderful! You definitely seem a lot more…” 

“Not like I just got hit by a bus?”

Naminé snorted and her shoulders shook as she tried to smother her laughter. “Yeah, something like that. You actually look happy now,” Naminé commented. 

“Yeah. Being back with my friends is really helping,” Ven said. Only he, Aqua and Terra knew about Chirithy, and he was planning to keep it that way for now. Chirithy was pretty timid around people he didn't know, and Ven just wanted him to be happy and comfortable. He didn't need to be exposing his existence to everyone in the worlds. “I'm not sure what I was thinking when I convinced myself that heading off on my own away from home was a good idea.” 

“You were having a severe panic attack,” Naminé said softly as she touched his hand. “And you can't blame yourself for things like that that you can't control. It's something where you just need time to cool off and gather your thoughts. What matters is that we found you before you got hurt, and now you're safe with your loved ones and beginning to truly heal.” 

“Yeah,” Ven muttered and stared at the floor. 

For some reason, the thought of Marluxia was still hanging in his mind. He didn't even know who he was, but just thinking about him made his head ache slightly. And…it made him scared for some reason. 

“Ventus? Is everything alright?” Naminé asked. 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Ven lied without looking up. “Just thinking.” 

He could feel his heartbeat pounding inside his skull, growing louder, and heavier, like a bass drum. He wanted to believe that it was nothing, but it wasn't stopping. And with it, his thoughts began to fly through his head, like a storm or slideshow of images that had no pause or off switch.

Who was this guy? Why was he looking for Ven during those ten years? Was it really as simple as Xehanort's orders? Or was it something else? Ven was pretty sure that Xehanort just wanted him because of his heart, and maybe to extract his darkness again. But what about Marluxia? Was it for a similar reason? And why did Ven's head hurt when he thought that? Did Marluxia want him for his darkness? Or was it something to do with his memories? Or rather, lack thereof.

Maybe Ven did know him, but he just didn't remember it-

But as soon as Ven thought that, a splitting pain pierced through his temples, and he cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his head. 

“Ventus?!” Naminé shouted as she knelt down beside Ven and grabbed his shoulders, trying to calm him down. “Ventus, what's wrong?!” 

No, not again! Ven thought and kicked out without even noticing her right before pain coursed through his head again. 

He screamed in agony as the nightmare came again. 

And it immediately started with the worst part. 

“Ven. What did you do to Strelitzia?” the man asked as grabbed Ven by the shirt. His bright azure eyes were crazed with rage as they bored into Ven's. 

But Ven had no idea why he was mad, or what Ven had done to infuriate him so much. He just knew that he must've done something. Something unforgivable. And he wanted to apologize and say that he was sorry, but he couldn't. He was so scared. His mouth was bone-dry, his throat was extremely tight, he had probably already wet himself, and he was getting quite light-headed from the fear. 

No… it wasn't the fear. It was… something… else…

Oh no… It's coming… That thing, it can't- I-I won't- 

Ven groaned and grabbed his head. It throbbed far too much for him to answer the man, or even from a solid thought in his head. Spots filled his vision, making him unable to see almost anything in the already dim room.

“Ven!” a worried girl's voice called from a ways off. 

“Lauriam, stop,” another voice ordered, but the man acted like he hadn't heard.

“Ven,” he growled as he pulled Ven up off his feet, and almost nose to nose with him. “Answer me.” 

“Stop it!” a new voice shouted as the source of it pulled one of the man's arms off of Ven. “This isn't you!” 

But it only made the man angrier. 

“Stay out of this!” he roared, then in one swift motion, he summoned his Keyblade and swung it backwards to knock off the person trying to help Ven, then brought it around and right at Ven himself. 

No… Everything's spinning, everything hurts… hurts… so much…! I can't do this, I'm not strong enough…

I can't… HOLD IT IN!!!

Ven collapsed to his knees and screamed in agony as the man brought his Keyblade down on him, but someone - or something - protected him and held the man at bay. 

“ANSWER ME!!!” 

And then it was gone. The dream, the pain, everything. Gone like it had never been there. 

Ven was lying on his back, in Naminé’s room like before, with Naminé kneeling beside him and holding his head with both hands. She had that same starry look in her eyes as when she tried to touch his head when she found him alone two days ago. Ven felt like he had white noise in his head, drowning out the painful vision and all his worries and numbing his thoughts. His muscles wouldn't move, like they were paralyzed, but in a weirdly comforting way that made Ven want to fall asleep, there in Naminé’s safe, gentle arms. 

“Nami…né… wha…?”

“Ventus, are you okay?” she asked slowly in a low voice, as if she didn't want to accidentally scare him. He nodded drowsily and shifted his head over to one side, as if he was actively trying to take a nap. And he almost did fall asleep right there, but Naminé shook him gently and said, “Ventus, stay with me, please.” 

He let out a soft moan and shut his eyes, and he actually did fall asleep for a little bit, maybe a few seconds, and woke up to Naminé holding his head up off the floor, and thankfully this time he was fully awake, so he murmured a sorry to Naminé and tried to get his hands underneath himself.

She carefully helped him sit up as he held his forehead with one hand and rubbed his temple with the other. As soon as Naminé took her hands off his head, not only did the strange look in her eyes disappear, but Ven started to slowly drift out of his daze, and after a minute or so his senses fully returned to him, headache and all. 

“Ow… That was it,” he groaned. “That was just like the episode I had when I collapsed three or four days ago. This one wasn't quite as bad, but it still hurt. Argh…” 

He leaned against the wall right by the bench and let out another loud groan. He was in absolute agony from his headache, and it didn't feel like it was fading or going away anytime soon. Naminé knelt down beside him with a tall glass of cold water she'd grabbed from the table. 

“Here you go.” 

“Thanks…” Ven mumbled as he took the glass. “Just take it easy,” Naminé cautioned. “Take some deep breaths and try to calm down. That should help. Are you still in any pain?” 

“A bit,” Ven admitted. “My head's throbbing, but it's manageable. Please don't tell Terra and Aqua about this. They'll go nuts.” 

“Well that's not for no reason,” Naminé pointed out. “I'd go nuts too if Roxas or Xion suddenly had an episode like that.” 

“I know. I just don't want to freak them out,” Ven explained. “Not yet.” 

They fell into silence for a while and just sat there, as Ven drank his water and tried to clear his head. He constantly tried to take in and out small breaths to calm himself, but most of them were shaky and ended up shallow and short. His whole body was still trembling, and his eyes burned with tears. (Why did he still feel so sad and guilty? What did he have to feel remorseful for? He knew)

“...Ventus?” Naminé finally whispered after a while.

“Yeah?” 

“Can you tell me about what you saw during that episode?” 

Ven flinched and turned away from her, hesitating for a minute or two. He had never really talked about his dreams. He had given in when Terra and Aqua asked him about it, but he only shared minor details of the parts he was sure they already knew. He had never ever even considered telling anyone, not even them about the part that he had just seen. 

But… For some reason, he felt more comfortable talking to Naminé about this than anyone else. Maybe it was just her kindness, but something in the back of his head just told him that he needed to talk to someone about this, and Naminé would understand. 

So, he gave in and told her all about the nightmare he had just seen. Every detail he could scrounge up and piece together. 

Naminé held his hand and comforted him all while he explained everything, telling him that everything was okay and to take his time. It made him feel a lot better - both the talking and the cool water - and he made sure to show his gratitude every chance he could, to the point where she had to tell him to shush and just keep talking. 

“I'm so sorry Ventus,” Naminé said softly as she gave him a hug once he had finished. “That's so awful.” 

“It's okay,” Ven replied with a shudder. (It wasn't) “It's just a nightmare. It's not real. It can't really hurt me.” 

Naminé took in a sharp breath and squeezed his hand tightly. She slowly turned to look at her sketchbook lying on the table not far too far from them, then glanced back at Ven. She looked conflicted for some reason, but she didn't say anything about it. 

“Ventus… Remember when I found you in the Kingdom of Corona? And I told you that those nightmares aren't just dreams?” 

“Yes…?” 

“...Ventus, there's something I need to tell you.” 

Before Naminé could get another word in, Ven heard something outside. It very well might've just been a deer in the forest or something, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Both to keep Naminé safe, and to not fail at his one job.

“Hold that thought,” Ven said as he gently removed Naminé’s hand from his own and walked over to the window. 

He poked his head through the white curtain and looked at the outside of the mansion’s wall, right by the woods, just in time to see a blur of movement on the edge of the trees. It looked like a black figure, most likely the donner of a black coat, but it moved out of sight before Ven could get an actual look at it. 

“Darn it,” Ven muttered and turned to walk to the door. “Stay here, Naminé. I'll be right back.” 

“What is it?” Naminé asked nervously. “What did you see?” 

“Some kinda black figure. I'm not sure what it was,” Ven replied and gave her a gentle smile. “I'm just gonna go out and make sure nothing's wrong. Make sure that it's not a member of the Organization or something. I'll be back in five minutes, tops. Just stay in here and be careful around the window, okay?” 

Naminé shivered nervously and looked at him with obvious fear in her eyes. “Promise me you'll be careful, Ventus. Please.” 

“Of course,” Ven said with a nod as walked out the door and closed it behind him. 

As soon as he got down the stairs and was sure Naminé couldn't hear him, he took a deep breath and summoned his Keyblade. He was almost certain that it was Marluxia out there. He just knew. 

He shook himself out and gripped the railing of the stairs to anchor himself and try to quell his shaking. 

He was scared… But he couldn't be. He had a job. He had to protect Naminé. (He had to protect himself.) 

“I got this… I can do this,” Ven muttered under his breath. I'm a Keyblade wielder. An apprentice of Master Eraqus. I fought in the Second Keyblade War, and I came out with my friends, alive. I can do this. I can fight off this one guy.

He ran outside into the courtyard before he could lose his nerve, and looked around in all directions for the figure he saw before. He didn't want to go past the courtyard's gates, since he was worried that Marluxia or anyone he was working with would get past him and go after Naminé. He had a feeling this was a trap… But he didn't care. 

It's not a trap if you know the trap's trying to trap you, it's a face-off! Yeah, that's totally how it works, Ven thought to himself, letting his cocky, childish side take the wheel for a moment. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? …Our deaths, probably, bu- Oh, for light's sake, Ventus, less thinking more protecting!

“Hey! Who's out there?!” Ven called, and when he got no response, he cupped his hands on his mouth and shouted louder. “HEY!!! C'MON OUT AND LET'S WORK THIS OUT!!” 

After he said that, as if summoned, a figure in a black coat appeared out of thin air and stood facing Ven right from the edge of the trees and shadows. 

Ven reflexively flinched back - (Was this the guy he saw? Was this Marluxia? Oh crap, he's a lot bigger and more jacked than I expected) - but quickly regained his composure and readied his Keyblade. 

But the man didn't react at all. He just stared at Ven for at least a minute, then slowly turned around and walked back into the forest without so much as a glance back. 

Ven almost instantly chased after him, but stopped himself. He cast a glance over his shoulder at the window in the front of the mansion, where Naminé still was. He couldn't just leave her unprotected. This man could very well be Marluxia, and whoever it was, they were obviously trying to lure Ven away from the mansion. 

But, that itself could be a reason to go after him; to stop him before he could prepare. And besides, Ven was no pushover. He could hold his own against whoever this guy was. 

So, he hyped himself up and looked back at Naminé’s window once before he ran after the man.

He followed the man's footsteps and what looked like the long black flap of the back of the man's coat as he stayed just ahead of Ven, swerving this way and that for at least five minutes, moving farther and farther away from the mansion and the town. Ven ended up running for so long that after some time, he had to double over and pant heavily for almost a minute to catch his breath. 

But as he did, he sensed something behind him, and he immediately spun around to see the man from before standing right behind him. When the heck did he get there?! 

“Are you Marluxia?!” Ven demanded as he raised his Keyblade. He could feel his eyes scanning him from under the hood, cold and calculating, and Ven clenched his jaw and hand holding his Keyblade tightly, fighting down his fear.

“Possibly,” the man said after a moment’s hesitation and gestured to Ven's Keyblade. “And there's no need for that.” 

Ven scoffed and threw his Keyblade at the man, who suddenly vanished to avoid it and then reappeared barely an inch behind Ven. He jumped back with an embarrassing yelp, but quickly put a brave, venomous glare back on his face. 

“I'm quite intimidated,” Marluxia said sarcastically. 

“Well you should be,” Ven snapped, summoning his Keyblade back to his hand and brandishing it at him. “Try anything and I'll make you very sorry.” 

“Sure.” Marluxia’s tone was sophisticated, yet it also sounded so dry and emotionless, and Ven could feel his eyes rolling as he pointed to Ven's Keyblade. “Now, could you please put that away? I promise you I am not armed. I only wish… to assist you.” 

“Screw. Off.” 

Marluxia let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second. 

“Well at least you've certainly grown a spine after all these years,” he muttered and did an odd motion with one of his hands that felt kinda familiar to Ven, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. “Very well then. It's bedtime for you.” 

“Huh?!” 

Before Marluxia had even finished his sentence, he waved two fingers right at Ven, sending a weird, pinkish gust of wind that whipped around his face, fully filled and blew up his nostrils with an aggressively potent cherry scent, and immediately made him feel so, so tired. Ven’s muscles all went completely slack at once, causing his Keyblade to drop and his eyelids grew heavy as his legs began to give out from underneath him. As soon as his eyes closed and he began to fall over, a pair of arms caught Ven from behind and gently laid him down on the ground as Marluxia’s footsteps approached. 

That was when sleep completely overtook Ven.  

While Ven was asleep, he ended up falling into a dream. But thankfully, it wasn't a nightmare for once. And it just… felt so real. 

It started with Ven blinking awake, like he was just waking up from a nap. He still was so tired and couldn't lift his head up off of whatever it was resting on. He looked around with his eyes, trying to take in his surroundings. He was in a dimly lit room, with tall brick walls covered with large ticking gears leading up to the ceiling high above his head. He was sitting at a huge circular table, and there was an open book in front of him. He couldn't read what it said, and he didn't really care about what it said. He just felt so tired… 

“Ven…” a voice whispered in his ear. It was soft, gentle, comforting, almost like an angel’s. 

And was just so… familiar. He could've sworn he'd heard it before, but he had no memory of it. It was female, and different from any of his friends - Aqua, Naminé, Xion… - and it definitely wasn't anyone from the worlds he'd visited, yet he was just so sure. 

He also then realized that he was resting against someone, almost certainly the same person who spoke to him. He was leaning against her side, resting his head on her shoulder. She was much bigger than he was, so he could curl up into her torso comfortably, like she was twice as big as him. She had long, smooth, perfectly combed raven-black hair, a large lock of which Ven's head was lying on. She also just smelled so familiar. She smelled clean, warm, pleasant. Ven's nose was pressing through her hair, squashing against her black leather sleeve. 

“You always get so excited whenever I ask you to come read with me, and then you start nodding off after fifteen seconds,” she said with a playful slight chuckle as she wrapped her arms around him. 

Ven smiled as he let out a calm, relaxed exhale and leaned into her. He just felt so peaceful, so safe, and happy with whoever this person was. Being with her, wrapped in her arms, filled his chest with a warm feeling, just like when he reunited with Chirithy. 

In fact, this just felt so similar to when he found Chirithy that it was undeniable. He felt safe, content, loved… 

At home. 

No matter what, for literally as long as he could remember, and even longer, he had a broken, lost, forlorn feeling within him. Like an essential part of him has been lost or broken, and he had a hole in his heart that couldn't be filled. 

But this did fill that empty hole in his heart. He felt so safe, loved, and complete. Finally, for once. 

Even though he was happy with Terra Aqua, and the Master back “home” in the Land of Departure, he was always itching to go out to other worlds, not just out of curiosity, but now, years later, he realized that it was because he was trying to find his home. Where he was supposed to be. When he looked up at night and gazed up at the stars, the faraway worlds, he always pondered which one was his. Honestly, after all this time, all he truly wanted was a place to belong. Where he felt like he belonged. He knew that he'd always been welcomed and loved in the Land of Departure, but he knew that wasn't his real home. 

But he did feel home here. He felt like he belonged, like this was the special place he'd always known he'd be taken from, and he'd finally just been brought back. 

But it lasted all too briefly. 

After being here for barely a few seconds, as Ven lifted his head to look at the girl behind him, the floor suddenly gave out from under him. He fell out of the girl's arms and through his chair and the floor as if they were nothing more than gas. Beneath the floor, Ven plummeted into cold darkness, like he had fallen into the ocean. He kept sinking deeper, and deeper, and deeper… the light of the room quickly fading and getting farther and farther away until Ven was drifting helplessly in a cold, pitch black void of nothingness. 

Even though he felt like he was deep underwater, he was still breathing - very heavily - like he had air around him, yet he still seemed unable to suck in a proper breath, and felt like he was drowning. 

However, he was barely in that void for any time at all before a pair of arms scooped him up from underneath him, and began to pull him out of the void. Ven - terrified by this new strange entity - tried to kick out and fight it off, but none of his limbs would move. They felt like they were tied down and weighed a million pounds. So, he shut his eyes tightly and just whimpered and trembled fearfully as the arms wrapped around him even more. 

He kept them shut and tried to stay still for a while longer. The arms didn't let go at all, until Ven felt that he was lying on a solid surface again. Slowly, his senses came back to him and became more vivid. 

He could hear birds singing above his head, could hear and feel the light breeze blowing smoothly across his face, and could feel a few extremely light, thin things - probably leaves or some part of plants - brushing the tip of his nose and his face.

Slowly, hesitantly, he let his eyelids flutter open. 

His new environment was the polar opposite of the void he was stuck in before. It seemed to be a bright, sunny midday, perhaps slightly closer to evening, but most of Ven's field of view was obscured by hundreds - thousands, maybe even millions - of small flowers right above his face, like he was lying down in a wildflower field. He was in fact lying in a field of flowers, but he was also lying on someone, sitting in the nook of their knee, his head pressing up against their chest, their right arm gently wrapped around his torso, and their chin resting lightly on Ven's head. 

This person made him feel so warm, so safe, so comfortable… exactly like the girl did before. 

“Dozing off already, Ven?” 

The person spoke in a soft, sophisticated male voice as they brushed his hair playfully. As his strong fingers combed through his hair, Ven noticed that it was… short. Much shorter than his hair usually was, and it was fuzzy and wavier, like a young puppy's fur. 

Ven smiled and shifted around a little, as much as his exhausted body could. He found it hard to keep his eyelids open as he pressed his face to the guy's chest, breathing in his warm, welcoming scent of fully, beautifully blooming roses and cherry blossoms. The man brushed Ven's back gently and let him rest on him, seeming very happy about that. Ven opened his eyes back up to gaze out at the world around them. 

He knew that it was midday, roughly noon, though to an outsider, it wouldn't look like that at all. The sun wasn't far above the horizon, mostly blotted out, peeking out from small slits in the walls of clouds above their heads, like it was only daybreak. Yet Ven just knew. He knew it in his heart, just like he knew that he was at home here. And he and the young man he was cuddling against were both sitting in the middle of an ocean of wildflowers, blanketing soft rolling hills stretching out far, far off behind and to their right side. To their other side, in the distance was a quaint town. Nearly all of the houses and buildings had mostly identical purple roofs, and there was a massive, majestic clocktower towering over the town. It looked like nothing more than a peg sticking up on the horizon from where they were, yet it still felt so important and imposing. Like a large government building that was in control of this whole town, or even world.

Strangely, almost as soon as Ven shifted a little out of his companion’s arms to look over there - before he could get a good look, the man blocked his view with his hand, lifting his head and pressing it back to the man's chest. 

“Hush, Ventus… Just relax and lean into me. You're okay, you're safe with me. Just sleep… Sleep…” The man's voice was so calming and soothing that it easily would've put him to sleep if he wasn't already actively dreaming. 

He might not have known who this person was, but just like the girl before and Chirithy, Ven's heart knew him. He knew that he was safe with him, and that this man cared about him and would keep him safe. Ven was safe with him. He would protect him and take good care of him. 

Ven smiled and affectionately pressed his head into the chest and neck of the young man, who pulled him up into his arms even more. Ven just felt so happy and content with him… 

He wanted to look back to see his face, to actually know who this person was, who was obviously a part of his life that he'd just forgotten, but he forced himself not to. He feared that if he did, he'd fall out of this dream and become lost in that void again, just like what happened with the girl. He didn't want to lose this comfort, he didn't want to be alone again. 

“Hey… You won't… leave me, will you?” Ven asked the man in barely a whisper. 

The man seemed shocked to hear that, since he didn't say anything afterwards. He held Ven a bit tighter, like he was afraid to lose him. 

“...Right?” 

“Of course not, Ven,” the man assured him. “I'd never leave you alone. It's okay… I'll always protect you, I promise. We'll always be together, won't we?” 

“Yeah…” Ven replied, but cut himself off halfway through with a huge, gaping yawn. 

It was difficult to describe just how tired he felt, even while actively dreaming. He could barely move at all from exhaustion, as if he'd been running for five days straight, and every part of him just yearned for sleep. 

Even if he could move, he definitely wouldn't. Because why on earth would he want to be anywhere other than exactly where he was right now? Here, in this beautiful ocean of flowers, under this jaw-droppingly gorgeous dawn sky, and cuddled up against someone he couldn't possibly feel more comfortable with. 

And he stayed there, for so, so long. For what felt like years, he just stayed cuddled up against the man, safe and comfortable in his arms. 

Until eventually, something seemed… to change. Ven didn't know why or what happened, but the man seemed different. Uneasy, hesitant, almost nervous. Like there was something he had to do, but really, really didn't want to. 

“Hey, what's the matter?” Ven asked in a soft whisper. 

The man didn't answer, but Ven noticed that he was gripping onto Ven, very tightly, like Ven was a precious possession that he desperately didn't want to lose. So, Ven pushed himself up more and rubbed his head into the man's neck and collar affectionately. That seemed to cheer him up a bit, as Ven could sense a smile sneaking its way onto his face and he gently brushed his hair, but then Ven felt himself begin to sink. 

Like, sink through the ground. He felt like he was being lowered, and the world started to darken again. Just like before, with the girl. The man still held onto him, and Ven gripped him back, trying to hold onto the only safety he had. The world was almost pitch black now, the only light coming from this man that he still couldn't look at. He was still afraid that if he did, he'd lose him, just like he lost that girl. But was that just inevitable?

The man then let out the slightest bit of a sigh, and leaned into closer to whisper in Ven's ear. 

“It's okay Ven, don't be afraid. You might not feel me, but I'll still be right beside you. Don't worry… It's not going to hurt. We're helping you, and you'll be back with us soon.” 

Then, he let Ven go. He lowered Ven a little more, and though Ven tried to hold onto him, he vanished, and Ven fell away, down into the darkness. 

The void he became lost in felt slightly different than the one he was in before, after being separated from the girl. This one felt colder, more isolated. Ven felt like he was completely submerged in an ice bath, completely alone, separated from anyone. This time, he truly felt his whole body well up with terror. 

Why did the man let him go? Why did he leave him alone? What wasn't going to hurt, according to him? And WHAT DID HE MEAN “WE”?!?! 

Ven called out for him, once, twice in a soft, forlorn whisper, then slowly louder and louder, until he was screaming at the top of his lungs for the man, the girl, for anyone. He would've been glad to see a freaking Unversed. He just needed someone - something else in this void with him. He couldn't stand to be alone much longer. 

His wishes did end up being answered, but… not in the way he expected. 

At some point, something else did appear in the void. Kinda…

Ven sensed some kind of humanoid shadow looming over him, despite the fact that everything here was pitch black. 

Ven was too unsettled and nervous to make a peep - his neck felt like ice, and he was completely paralyzed with fear - not that talking or fighting would've made much of a difference. 

Please don't hurt me, was the only thought and wish that he had in his mind. 

“Hey there buddy,” the figure said as he knelt right beside Ven on his left side. 

His face hovered right over Ven's, his knees barely a millimeter away from Ven's skin, and his right hand holding something, but it blended in with all the rest of the darkness around them.

“H-h-hi…” Ven stammered, barely at a single decibel. 

The figure’s free hand gently grabbed Ven's left shoulder, his (Ven was ninety-percent sure it was a guy) fingers as cold as ice, even colder than the void itself. Ven couldn't hope to quash down his fear or stop himself from shaking like a Chihuahua. 

“Shh… Don't you worry, Ven. We're not going to harm you.” 

Again, with the WE, Ven thought sarcastically, in stark contrast to the terror overwhelming. Who's “we??” And how do they know my nickname? Please just let this be a dream. It has to be a dream. It can't be real, it can't! It just can't… 

“He's scared.” 

Ven went still when he heard that voice. It was very distant and warped in the darkness surrounding him, but he could've sworn that he knew that voice; the young man who he had been with before. The one who obviously cared about Ven, but let him go and let him fall into this void, alone. 

“Ya don't say,” the other guy muttered. 

He won't hurt me, I know he won't. Maybe he's here to help me! Ven thought, almost gleefully. 

He tried to open his eyes - when had they closed? - and look in the direction of the voice, but then he felt a firm hand grab his right shoulder and press him down - the other guy was still holding onto Ven's left and holding it down to - and placed his other hand over Ven's eyes, squashing any chance of him seeing where he was while also holding his head still.

“Shhhhh… Relax, Ven,” he whispered softly in Ven's ear. 

Or… maybe not. Ven's hope quickly began to fade and be replaced by fear once again as he felt the firm grips on his upper body, and started to put the pieces together. He brought me here, into this void… He's holding me down, talking with this other guy- 

They're working together, he suddenly realized. He shuddered fearfully and tried to shrink down underneath these people’s hold. What… Why…? What do they want with me? 

“Ven… you poor thing…” the kind man said, sounding heartbroken. “I… I-I don't think this is right.” 

“Ya don't say,” his partner said again, much more sarcastic and grumpy than before, tightening his grip on Ven. “I don't wanna question your magic skills, but you might wanna put some more research and practice into this kinda thing later. So long as he doesn't stir too much, he'll be ‘out’ out once I start poking ‘round here.” He poked Ven's chest with the cold metal tool he was still holding as he said that last part. 

Yep. No, nope, I hate this. I don't like this, this is bad. This is really bad…! Oh, why didn't I just listen to my friends and stay in the mansion?! Light, please help me! 

“Then put him under and let's get this over with,” the other man said, sounding more dark and serious now. “Not prolong his misery.” 

“I know, you don't need to tell me twice.” 

How do I know these people? Their voices sound kinda familiar… Or maybe I'm just grasping at straws here. This sarcastic guy might be kinda familiar, but I know I don't have any memories of him… But what about the other guy? That feeling of familiarity is a lot stronger, and I might have actually heard it in recent memory- 

Wait. I do know him. I just heard his voice ten seconds ago! It's- 

He didn't get to finish that thought. Out of nowhere, a fierce stinging pain suddenly poked the side of his neck. He yelped in pain, but as soon as it came, it was washed away by an intense drowsiness. He felt like the world was spinning, like he was going heels over head as the darkness grew in purity and power began to gently envelop him, caressing his skin, wrapping around him as it pulled him down into the depths.

And in that darkness, Ven's mind just went blank. Truly, fully asleep.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he was asleep for, but based on the briefness of his dream, it couldn't have been too long. Maybe twenty minutes or so. 

After a while, he began to fade in and out of sleep, and eventually got stuck in a strange half-consciousness. He could think, and hear and feel what was happening around him, but he couldn't move or open his eyes. Almost like he was paralyzed. And everything was just so strange that Ven - both at that time and in the time after, questioned if it was actually just a dream too.

“Are you almost done?” Marluxia’s voice asked. Did he sound… nervous? And why did he feel so much more familiar now?

“Don't rush me. Barely halfway through,” a boy's voice replied from right above Ven's head as he gave Ven a shot right in the neck. It didn't hurt, shockingly, it just made him feel a bit dizzy. This guy's voice sounded familiar too, but Ven couldn't understand why. He'd never heard it before… “Guess it's a good thing this guy sleeps more than a sloth, huh?” 

“Hmph, yeah,” Marluxia chuckled. “You look away for two seconds and suddenly he's gotten himself into another coma.” 

“Heh, tell me about it. Didn't he just wake up from a ten year coma a little while ago?” 

“Actually it was eleven years. That's why he hasn't aged much.” 

“That's… not how comas work.” 

“I know. Kind of like how, ‘it's not kidnapping if you give him back,’ isn't how kidnapping works.”

“Oh shut your trap.”

Ven groaned softly and tried to move, but he had absolutely no strength to do so. He waited for a second, trying to get his muscles to do something, and he managed to barely flick his eyelids open.

He couldn't see much for the millisecond they were open; everything was still dark and so blurry. He could see that there was grass all in front of his face, since he was sprawled out flat on his back with his head turned ninety degrees, but at the very least, he did have a very comfortable pillow under his head. His face was squashed into the ground, and he could barely make out a few wires that appeared to be attached to his head, and another weird device that was on top of his chest. It seemed to be a chrome device clamping around his bare torso, but he could only see it for a second, then exhaustion washed over him and his eyes shut as he melted into the ground again. 

Silence louder than anything else followed. Nobody and nothing moved, as if Marluxia and whoever this other guy was really didn't want Ven to wake up. 

After a few seconds, the latter carefully poked him in the neck with his finger. He got no reaction, since Ven was paralyzed with exhaustion, like he had been exercising for months on end without a single break. Ven wasn't sure what he'd do even if he could move - attack him? Run? Ask what they were doing? Or just pretend to still be asleep?

But he couldn't do anything. Although as it turned out, he could yawn. Not like a normal, loud, wide-mouthed yawn; it was actually more like a short sigh.

“I don't remember him being such an active napper,” the guy muttered. “You're absolutely sure that he's out of it, right?” 

“Yes. I've used that spell more times than I can count,” Marluxia said. “He should be out for half an hour at least.” 

“Should?” 

“Are you going to do your thing or not?” 

“Yeah, yeah. Naggy, naggy.” 

“Although…” Marluxia didn't finish his sentence, like he was unsure of what to say, but his ally definitely wasn't going to let it slide. 

“Yes?” 

“Well, that spell - and almost all sleep magic as a whole - affects different people differently,” Marluxia explained. “Some people clock out for days on end, others are just out for an hour or two and basically inebriated the rest of the day. It takes quite some time to fully wear off. Also, it's not far-fetched to assume that your drugs - messing with his brain chemistry - might alter the effects slightly.” 

“Oh really? So kind of you to mention that now,” the boy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “You couldn't have possibly thought about that - oh, I don't know - yesterday? Before the plan was full-go and I was in the middle of actively poking through his brain like a filing cabinet?! Great job thinking ahead!” 

“Look, I was stressed. We've all been for weeks,” Marluxia explained, somewhat defensively, “And with Ventus running off and everything seeming to go completely awry… I had a lot on my plate, and it just slipped my mind, okay?” 

Some silence followed between them, until the other guy muttered an “Eh, fair,” and went back to working on Ven. 

Ven could hear the clicking of him picking up and messing around with more new tools, and he could only imagine what nightmares he had in store. Needles, blades, more gadgets, heck, he probably was preparing some kinda machine to scoop out Ven's heart like freaking ice cream! 

And even if he did know what was happening to himself, it didn't make a difference. He was paralyzed, completely unable to move or do anything besides listen and let his fear grow and well up inside his chest, pressing up like something about to burst up through his flesh, but it was stuck on that edge between staying inside, and tearing up out of his body like an alien. He was just stuck there, trapped, helpless, alone… 

No, he wasn't alone. He wasn't sure why, but he just knew that. It was like how he felt in certain parts of his dream and when he found Chirithy. He knew that he wasn't alone, but… Who did he believe was with him? Terra? Aqua? Maybe his other friends? No, it wasn't them. Ven knew that they weren't here, he knew that for sure. He'd just been taken by these people- 

These people. Marluxia and his friend. Ven definitely didn't trust or feel safe with them, but… Now that he thought about it, Ven didn't feel nearly as afraid as he thought he would. Don't get him wrong, he was most definitely still scared, but he was mostly afraid of the tools they were using, not the people. Even though he knew it should be quite the opposite. 

What if… they're not actually trying to hurt me? Ven questioned. I'm not in any pain… I don't hurt at all, anywhere… I just feel a little funny. What if… they're actually trying to… help me? 

“But… maybe use a little chloroform on him, just in case,” Marluxia advised, sounding slightly uneasy. 

His friend immediately paused his work - just as he had touched Ven's face with one hand, and the other one undoubtedly held a tool he was about to use on Ven - and probably was staring at Marluxia in shock. “You said he was for sure asle-” 

“He is asleep,” Marluxia cut him off. “But, as I said, the spell affects everyone differently. It seems like Ven is unconscious, but it's likely he at least has some idea that something is being done to him. Just like he was after… the… ‘incident.’ Just to be safe. We don't want to cause him any pain.” 

“Alright, good point. I got it,” the guy muttered as he gently pressed a moist, strong-scented cloth to Ven's mouth and nose. “Deep breath, buddy. It's going to be okay.”

As he breathed whatever the heck this was, his eyelids somehow became even heavier and the world started to spin as his consciousness started to get pulled away from him again. He tried to move his head back out of the way to get in some good air, but the guy slid his hand under Ven's head and held him still until he finally faded away back into sleep.

The next time he got back into that half-consciousness, probably a little while later, he didn't have anything attached to him, and the boy that was working on him before was dusting himself off as he stood up. 

“Alright. All done. He's all patched and snoozy.” 

“Did you get what we need?” Marluxia asked. “Is he…?”

“Let's talk later,” the boy suggested. “Once we get outta here and regroup with the others.” 

“Okay…” Marluxia's tone was baffling to Ven; it was concerned. He sounded worried, melancholy, like he was upset about being forced to leave a dear friend in a dangerous situation. But why? 

“Hey,” the boy said softly. “I know you don't wanna leave him, but we've worked out the plan, and we're sticking to it for now. But we will come back for him, alright?” 

“...Got it.” 

“Good. Now c'mon. Let's go.” 

They both ran off just as Ven finally was able to peel his eyes open. He was so tired and so dizzy; the whole world was spinning and it took a little while before Ven truly came to and was able to figure out his surroundings. He was lying face up, sprawled out on the forest floor, in a more dark and secluded place than before with nothing around him. The crisscrossing straps that he always wore over his chest were unbuckled, and a lot of his clothes were looser than before, like that guy that was working on him had taken off or at least adjusted his clothes for some reason. Ven slowly looked around, only able to lift up his head, but Marluxia and his accomplice were nowhere in sight. After a few seconds, Ven was already too tired and let his head fall back down. He was exhausted, almost to the point of paralysis, and he had a weird headache that felt like his brain was humming and had been kneaded like pasta dough, but he wasn't in any pain.

He was fine.  

It was weird. Terra, Aqua, and everyone else had been talking about how Marluxia was evil and would do terrible things with Ven if he got his hands on him, but that was exactly what had just happened. Marluxia and his buddy had gotten Ven all alone and knocked him unconscious, but then they both left him be. Ven wasn't dead or trapped in their clutches. As far as Ven knew, he was still in Twilight Town, and no one even seemed to be watching him. And there didn't seem to be anything to trap him here. 

“Oh dang,” Ven murmured and slapped himself in the face. Or at least the best he could with all of his muscles still feeling like tender putty.

I promised Aqua and Terra I wouldn't leave the mansion. They are going to let me have it, he thought with a sigh. I should get back before they light this whole forest on fire looking for me. That's definitely something they'd do. 

Ven heaved him up and supported himself with the trees around him as he stood. Or at least tried to, but he still was just so tired that his legs were nowhere near strong enough to support him, and he collapsed into the soft grass. His whole body felt so heavy… 

Ven let out a defeated sigh and pushed himself to look up at the sky. The sun was still climbing up in the sky, just like it had been when he ran out here. 

He hadn't been out here that long, he wasn't hurt… he was just exhausted and could barely keep his eyes open, so maybe he should just take five minutes to catch some Z's to try and make himself feel better. 

But just as Ven started to lie down and close his eyes, he snapped them back open and slapped himself in the face, much more effectively this time.

Focus, Ventus! Now's not the time for snoozing! You already had ten years of that! Ven scolded himself. What did those guys do to me?

He more determinedly pushed himself to sit up a little. He pulled up his shirt and immediately inspected his torso. It looked fine. Not hurt, bleeding, discolored at all… Most of the rest of his body looked fine too, there were a couple of red dots and tiny scabs barely visible on his arms and neck, probably from syringe needles. Ven already knew he'd gotten stuck at least once, and they looked uninfected and like they were already healing, so they shouldn't be a problem. Only when he looked very closely at his torso again did he notice two small dents in his skin, mirroring each other on either side of his abdomen. They looked like wounds that had very nearly finished healing. 

Did I have those before? Ven asked himself. It was very likely that he'd gotten them during training and just hadn't noticed before. Or maybe there wasn't any real damage there, and it was just his paranoia making stuff up. 

He had just been kidnapped after all. 

And it didn't hurt when he touched it. Actually it was a bit… wet? It felt like there was some moisture in the dents, and it had an odd, strong odor of chemicals, but that also was likely just Ven's imagination, and even if it wasn't, the moisture evaporated almost immediately in the air. 

What am I doing, wondering about all this nonsense?! Ven scolded himself. I gotta get back to the others… They probably worried sick about me…

And Naminé! I left her all alone! I failed at literally my one job! Ventus, you useless numbskull! What if Marluxia went after her while I was out of it?! What if that's what he's doing right now?! I gotta stop him! 

That worry and determination finally gave Ven the strength to heave himself up to his feet and get a hold on the very handy tree trunks around him.

Ven tiredly stumbled through the forest for a while, uncertain of which way to go to get back to the others. He tripped on rocks and roots and fell a number of times, often from not even tripping, but just losing his balance and/or being overwhelmed by his wooziness. Each time he did, even though he probably got a few scratches and bruises from tumbling, he didn't really feel any pain. The forest floor just felt incredibly comfortable and welcoming, and he was very tempted to just stay there and rest. Maybe if he stayed put and didn't wander, that would make it easier for his friends to find him. But thankfully, he still had some sense left in him, and always pushed himself back up and continued walking, occasionally calling out for his friends whenever he found the strength. 

Luckily though, he did eventually see the tall brick walls that protected the town from the outside wildlife and Heartless. At least he knew where he was now. He wasn't exactly sure - he honestly wasn't too familiar with Twilight Town if he was being honest, but maybe he could look for the entrance he'd come from or-

“Ven?!” 

Ven immediately spun around, worried that Marluxia or someone else working with him had come back, but thankfully was met with a familiar face and head of bright, aggressively spikey red hair. 

“Lea! It's so good to see you,” Ven said with a relieved sigh. 

“Where on earth have you been?” Lea asked with outstretched arms. “You weren't with Naminé at the mansion. We've been worried sick about you! Especially with Larxene and whoever that other dude in a black coat was, showing up out of nowhere.” 

“Wait what?” Ven asked. “Who's Larxene?” 

“Marluxia’s partner in crime. And also an absolute turd,” Lea spat as he crossed his arms.“I would've thought that the other chick in the black coat was Marluxia, but they had a Keyblade, so they couldn't possibly be.” 

“Right. How'd Roxas know that Marluxia was here anyway?” 

“We all caught a glimpse of some guy in a black coat lurking around town early this morning. Roxas is the one who noticed rose petals blowing in the wind when they showed up. Marluxia’s signature element is flowers, so it was a dead giveaway. We immediately knew that he'd likely be here for revenge and/or to go after Naminé, so we called you guys for help.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Ven said as he lowered his gaze. “Terra and Aqua were pretty insistent on me staying behind, since apparently Marluxia was looking for me in Castle Oblivion back two years ago, but I managed to convince them to bring me along so I could look after Naminé while you guys did the dirty work.” 

“The Chamber of Waking…!” Lea said half to him as he pressed his hand to his forehead. “That was the main reason we got sent to Castle Oblivion in the first place! Naminé was basically just an added bonus that conveniently was already there. Xemnas was really determined to find that chamber. He never told us that you were taking a nap in there. He just said that ‘the chamber's contents belong to me. What is inside there is rightfully mine, and will be the key to controlling the great Kingdom Hearts.’” 

“Jerk,” Ven muttered. “Acting like my body is just his personal pure light container that he can do whatever the heck he wants with.”

“Tell me 'bout it, man,” Lea agreed and looked off into the vast forest around them. “But, it looks like Marluxia didn't get to Naminé, so I guess it doesn't matter too much.” 

“So Naminé’s okay?” Ven asked worriedly 

“Yeah,” said Lea with a relieved exhale. “She’s scared out of her mind and super worried about you, but other than that she's fine now.” 

“Thank goodness,” Ven sighed and bent over with relief. 

“Are you sure you're okay?” Lea asked as he walked over and supported Ven. “You look like you just got drugged. What happened?” 

“Better question, what time is it?” 

“Quarter to twelve.” 

“Oh good.” 

It was about 11:20 when he had gone after Marluxia, and taking away the time he spent chasing after him and wandering aimlessly trying to find his way back, that meant he was only out of it for about fifteen minutes. So Marluxia couldn't have done too much to him in that short time. 

“Aqua and Terra are gonna let me have it,” Ven sighed in exasperation.

“Well, that's not surprising. Where the heck have you been?” Lea asked again as he put one hand in Ven's armpit and helped him walk. “You just vanished into thin air! It freaked the heck out of us!” 

“It's a bit of a long story.” 

“I've got time.” 

Lea saw straight through his excuse, so Ven just sighed and gave in.

“...Alright. Let's just say, I found Marluxia. Or rather, he found me.” 

“What?!” Lea exclaimed, immediately whirling around to face Ven and held him by his shoulders with both hands. “What'd he do?! Are you okay?!” 

“Well he didn't kidnap or kill me, so that's good,” Ven pointed out. “I honestly have no idea what he did to me. But I feel mostly normal, so that's a good sign.” He'd been fighting back his exhaustion for his entire conversation with Lea, but he couldn't stop himself from letting out an enormous yawn now. “Just… a little sleepy…” 

“Ventus.” Lea knelt down to meet his eyes, giving him a stern look that Ven had never seen before. “I need you to tell me exactly what Marluxia did to you. What do you mean he ‘found you?’ What happened when you two interacted?” 

Ven finally realized the concern that Lea was feeling regarding Ven's situation, so he finally gave in and told Lea everything. How he saw a black cloaked figure outside the mansion (he definitely did not mention the episode he had with Naminé). How he went outside to check it out, planning to only be out for a few minutes. How Marluxia materialized out of nowhere and silently and mysteriously walked off, and Ven stupidly ran off after him, and he made sure to give as many details as he could about when Marluxia knocked him unconscious, since he guessed that was what Lea wanted to know about. Which seemed to be a correct guess. 

Lea looked horrified and terribly worried about Ven as he listened to him explain, but he also seemed like he was trying to keep himself calm. 

“Okay, okay…” he muttered in a low voice, his minty-green eyes looking down and darting back and forth slightly with worry and panic. “So, after he snatched you up, what happened?” 

Ven wasn't sure if he should talk about how he had semi-woken up for a short time while Marluxia and his buddy were working on him. He could barely remember a single detail of anything he heard, and it was so fuzzy in his mind that he was starting to question if he actually just imagined it, so he decided against it. 

“I don't know,” Ven said slowly. “I was fast asleep, and I have no idea what he did to me. But when I woke up, just a few minutes ago, I was okay.” 

“You're sure?” 

Nope, not in the slightest, Ven thought in response, but spoke much different words. “Well, I wasn't in any pain, I wasn't hurt, there was nothing on me, no one was watching me… I'm just - yawn… - really… tired. Aside from that, I'm basically good as new.”

“Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about that,” Lea replied. 

He still looked uncertain and very concerned, and Ven was starting to think that there wasn't anything he could say to change his mind. Ven nodded begrudgingly, but when he took the slightest step forward, his legs wobbled, and all the same weaknesses and dizziness he felt when he first awoke came back with a vengeance, and he collapsed into Lea’s arms.

“Whoa there! Ven, hey, don't try to walk. You'll just end up tripping on yourself. Here, I'll carry you.” Before Ven could protest or even get a word in, Lea scooped him up like a little kid and started walking back in the direction of town. “C'mon. Let's get you back.” 

Chapter Text

*An hour earlier*

Twilight Town was an objectively beautiful place. Nothing too fancy - it was quaint world all around, as calm and peaceful as the warm reds and oranges of the swirly, fire-colored sky that gave the world its name. 

(That nature of the world and the town itself - its sleepy atmosphere, quaint houses and apartments, iconic clocktower watching over the town - was almost undeniably reminiscent of another, similar world. One also named in a similar manner; after the transitional time the sky seemed to show, all day. One couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional. Intended by someone, but who?) 

The town life and townsfolk were much the same. Calm, tranquil, laid-back... unconcerned almost entirely by the dilemma their usual key-slinging guardians were facing as they tore up nearly the whole town, searching for threats. The only exceptions being the trio of children, sticking to their fellow ice cream addicts like glue as usual. 

Though things weren't always as peaceful on the outside of the town's tall, protective walls. 

A purplish-black stain of darkness spread across the fallen autumn leaves and dirt, like an invisible bottle of ink had been spilled on the forest floor. From that puddle of shadow, a blobby, disproportionated ant-like creature slowly formed and rose up. Its bright golden eyes eerily glimmered in contrast to the shadows of the forest and its own ink-black body and its antennae bobbed slightly as it lazily began to approach the walls of the town. 

But the Shadow barely took a step forward before a purple and gold Keyblade wreathed in light came on it, annihilating it; instantly pummeled it into dark dust that slowly faded as it fell and settled to the ground. The wielder of the Keyblade, clad in a long black leather cloak that obscured all features, perked her head up to watch as a glowing heart, released from the remains of the Heartless, shone and floated up from its previous shadowy prison and rose to the heavens. 

They'll be in a better place now. Back where they belong, instead in the form of a mindless shadow monster, only driven by instinct, and hunger. The life of the Heartless can't be a pleasant one. All hearts may go through plenty of darkness in their lives, but they all eventually return to their place. Back to the Great Light… 

“Fly high,” she wished the heart as it passed on - it kept rising and rising in the sky, into the shining light of the bright white clouds near the sun, until it became indistinguishable from the surrounding brightness; faded, into the light. 

She flipped her Keyblade's grip around to lodge it in the soft dirt ground with a quick jab, and rested her hand on it as she pulled down her hood with the other. The relief of finally feeling the gentle breeze on her face and not being surrounded by the same stuffy air anymore was instant. 

She knew this was a risk and her friends would be mad if they saw her right now, especially being this close to town, but she didn't care. Wearing this stupid coat was like fighting with a portable sauna around her whole body that also acted like a parachute as she tried to fight and was forced to run around and chase these stupid Shadows. It was torture. Thank the Foretellers it wasn't summer, or she definitely would be getting heat stroke right now. Running her gloved fingers through her long, straight raven hair only brought her attention to how sweaty and tangled it was. 

Great, she thought with a groan, shoulders slumping. Alright, first thing when this is done: I'm taking a shower. Assuming Elrena doesn't steal my brush agai-- 

"Heeeeyyy girlfriend!" a familiar, annoying friendly voice called from the trees behind her. 

"Speak of the devil," she muttered, rubbing her forehead to try and soothe the headache that was already forming. "Ugh... Of all days to forget my earplugs..."

"Hey, now that's not polite!" Elrena whined, with melodramatic offense. "What's the matter, Skuldsy? Not to see me?" 

Skuld finally looks over her shoulder to give her unlikely ally an unamused glare.

"I told you to stop calling me that, Elrena," she hissed. 

"What? I'm just trying to have some fun, lighten the mood, ya know? We're friends, aren't we?" Elrena asked casually with a wave her hand as she approached. "Can't we have a little banter, then?" 

Skuld have her the cold shoulder, knowing that Elrena was just playing with her; giving a angry response would only encourage her and make it worse. No matter how badly she wanted... 

"What's the matter?" Elrena asked, so obnoxiously...! "Why so ornery?" 

Skuld couldn't help herself, okay? She couldn't! Her head snapped around so fast it was a miracle it didn't snap and began to storm towards Elrena, who immediately folded and threw her hands up innocently. 

"Kidding! Kidding!" she laughed with just a smidge of genuine panic. "Ah, I'm just playing with you, chillax. Friends, right?" 

Skuld held her angry look for a moment more, before sighing and turning her back once again. Yes, she knew Elrena was just teasing; it was a harmless joke. But it was so... annoying...!

"No? Not besties? Not friends? Something else maybe?" 

"Lauriam's patience with you... is extraordinary," Skuld said with a heavy sigh, rubbing her nose. 

Elrena barked a laugh, leaning back against a nearby tree trunk and cushioning her head with her hands behind it in a very laid-back fashion. "Replace 'Lauriam' with 'Marluxia' and congrats, you've successfully recited fifty-percent of all I ever heard while I was in the Organization." 

"Glad to hear how popular you were," Skuld commented dryly. Another Shadow started to peak its head out of the bushes, and Skuld quickly dispatched it with a single Keyblade swipe. Normal Heartless were no match for her, or any of the Union Leaders and Dandelions for that matter. (What've were still left alive.) She heard another Heartless approaching from behind, but before she even turned around it was lost in small maelstrom of electricity. She didn't look up at Elrena; didn't want to see her already obvious and smug 'you're welcome' smirk. Instead, she let out another small sigh and gaze upwards at the sky and treetops. "Lotta Heartless around lately." 

"Eh. Well, it's a twilight world - got a lotta darkness for a world mainly inhabited by people - and it's only consistent protectors against the Heartless are two literal two-year-olds, and a pyromaniac with the maturity of a two-year-old," Elrena pointed out. "Not exactly surprising." 

"Oh come on, give them some sack. That's a little harsh. Lea's got the maturity of at least a kindergartener," Skuld defended in a bit of a lighter tone, getting a laugh out of Elrena. "Although you seriously shouldn't underestimate those two kids either. They may be two, but they're cut from tough cloth, and they're clearly talented." 

"Talent doesn't mean anything if you've got no control over and no clue what the eff you're doing," Elrena pointed out, unimpressed. Pretty rich coming from us, Skuld thought, but bit back interrupting. "I know I didn't work with 'em for long and they've 'had great development and growth, blah ba blah blah blah', but I've seriously seen better survival instincts from a pear!" 

"What kind of survival instincts does a pear even have?" Skuld asked, genuinely curious to hear the answer. 

"Squirting juice into my damn eyes, that what!" 

Skuld had to cover her mouth to hide her smile, especially as Elrena continued to muttered progressively more spiteful and colorful comments about this one special pear under her breath. 

"Still," Skuld brought her attention back. "Doesn't change the fact that if they see us, especially in these coats, we're in for some... real fun." 

"Yeah, guess you got a point," Elrena admitted, crossing her arms. Her eyes then slowly trailed over to Skuld, and a mischievous look that she knew all too well grew in them. "Speaking of-" 

"Yeah yeah, I know," Skuld snapped, already flipping her hood back up before words had even been exchanged. She wasn't going to give Elrena any more things to berate her about. "I only had it down for a second to get some fresh air." 

"I didn't say anything," Elrena said innocently. 

"I know you. And also know that of all people who should not be having their hoods down-" 

"Look girl, put a cork in it for a second, will ya? Lemme talk," Elrena interrupted. "Listen, I wasn't gonna nag you for having your hood down." Even with the hood, Elrena could apparently Skuld's skepticism and unamusement, and tried - and failed - to keep herself from giggling. "Okay, I wasn't gonna nag you that much. You don't gotta give me that glare, it's not that serious, girlypop." 

"...I'm gonna be under your bed tonight," Skuld threatened, fully deadpan and serious sounding. 

Elrena had to practically hug the tree to support herself with how much she was laughing. Skuld wasn't sure why she found that one running joke between them so hysterical, but she wasn't complaining. 

Eventually, once Elrena seemed to quell her laughter enough to breathe properly, she pushed herself back off the tree and stood up straight. 

"Anyways, now where were we? Oh right! I didn't actually come here just to torment you," she said, earning herself another unamused look from Skuld. "Now, speaking of those kids, turns out we don't have to worry 'bout them spotting us with our hoods down out here now. We know they're all together, hanging out in the middle of town with Roxas, and that's what I came to tell you." 

"Roxas?" Skuld echoed, slightly confused. Wasn't Roxas out in the woods taking Ven to the Old Mansi-? "Oh."

She didn't bother asking if Ven was with him. It would've been a dumb question. 

"Yep. Finally, we can get this show on the road," Elrena said with a smirk and cocked her head, motioning Skuld to follow her as she turned and began to walk back into the trees. 

"Yay..." Skuld murmured dryly as she dismissed her Keyblade and reluctantly followed. 

It didn't take a genius to figure out that she didn't want to be here; she didn't want to do this. She hated the idea of fighting the Guardians of Light. The famed light-wielding Keybearers, the victors of the Second Keyblade War, the bane of the Organization, the most powerful warriors in the Realm of Light, at least as far as they knew. Skuld knew that realistically, she shouldn't be too worried about their fighting skills; their ranks were primarily made up of literal children that probably don't even know what a factorial is, and had little to no proper or traditional training. And even the ones that did and the masters could only maybe rival the Union Leaders. Fighting them, especially if they had even numbers, wouldn't be a problem. Honestly, this was a lot more of an emotional struggle for her. 

She didn't want to hurt Ven's friends. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Least of all a bunch of innocent kids who had their childhood ripped away from them and a Keyblade thrust into their hands in its place! Just like Skuld and her friends.

We're not going to actually hurt them, she reminded herself. What we're doing is a glorified - not even glorified, it's just a distraction. They'll be fine, they're capable, no matter what we might be saying behind their backs. And the sooner we get this started and going, the sooner it's done and we get our Ven back. But, that sadly didn't change the unfortunately facts of the unavoidable consequences that their actions would soon bring. 

"They're going to hate us for this, the Guardians," Skuld sighed, half to herself. 

"Wow, really?" Elrena asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Ya know, while we're on the topic of uncovering great mysteries and astonishing, completely unexpected truths, did you know that the sky is blue?" 

"Actually it's almost never blue here. With how much you spend here, Elrena, it's a little concerning how you never noticed or comprehended the color orange," a new voice suddenly chimed in front the branches above their heads with sarcasm rivaling Elrena's. 

They both jumped, but Elrena instantly tried to play it off cooly, recomposing herself and glaring at the dark blur that was their friend in the trees. 

"Shut up, smartass," she snapped. 

"Hey! Language," Skuld barked. (She didn't actually mind profanity - plus she knew that trying to stop Elrena from swearing was like trying to sweep water uphill - but she wouldn't just stand by and let her berate her friends.) 

"Don't sweat it Skuld," her other friend said reassuringly, making her embarrassingly jump again before she finally looked straight up at him. 

"We need to start putting a bell on you, Brain, cause this is getting out of hand." 

There was a brief break in the shadows the branches cast, letting just enough light through at the right spot to allow Skuld to see Brain's signature toothy grin, and even a small glimmer of his stormy grey eyes underneath the wide brim of his fedora. Even without the light and seeing it herself, she would've felt it and known he'd be grinning at her, but she was grateful she could see it herself. Despite Brain's usual coolheaded, reserved, aloof, and even sometimes cold demeanor, he really was one of the single best friends Skuld could have ever hoped to ask for. 

"I see Her Winsomeness delivered you the news," Brain said with a small nod towards Elrena. 

"Ahem. Yeah. Didn't elaborate too much on the details though," Skuld replied after faking a small cough to cover up her laugh. 

Elrena shot them both a warning glare and crossed her arms, looking one bad annoyance away from reaching for her weapons. Quite winsome indeed. 

If Brain noticed the gentle prod in Skuld's words, he seemingly ignored it. "Good thing we're meeting up now to discuss those details. I already bugged Petals, so just meet us there and we'll talk." 

"Excuse me?!?" Elrena groused dramatically, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward to pout at Skuld in an almost child-like fashion. "Are we seriously just going to ignore the fact she just said 'language'? To ME?!?!" 

"That's not going away anytime soon," Skuld mused to Brain, as if Elrena wasn't right next to them. 

"Don't see a high probability of otherwise," Brain agreed with a chuckle and mock tip of his hat from his branch. "I wish you the best of luck for you arduous undertaking." 

He then hopped off to another tree, almost immediately vanishing in the shadows of the trees, like he had just been a ghost who only appeared to give her a riddle or prophecy before fading into the dim night. He was getting concerning good at sneaking around like that in the shadows. Just slightly concerning. Try as she might, Skuld - even actively looking for him, knowing exactly what he looked like and generally where he was - couldn't track him for more than a few seconds before completely loosing track. Maybe that was actually a good thing; a little bit of comfort, knowing that there would be absolutely no chance of any of their adversaries catching him.

Now she was left alone with Elrena once again, who was muttering colorfully under her breath as she kicked rocks in her path. Lucky me.

"Hope I didn't say anything to offend you," Skuld said innocently, earning herself a common lovely, meaningful gesture from Elrena involving one of her fingers. (She gave those out like free samples at a grocery store.) 

"This conversation is not over, Miss Union Leader," Elrena snarled, before sharply turning back forward and walking off without another word. 

Skuld couldn't help but tense a little at her words, and the slightest bit of a sick feeling skimmed the bottom of her stomach before she forced herself to brush it off and shake herself out (the goosebumps on her arms and coldness in her chest wouldn't go away though). 

But why would I feel uncomfortable? I am a Union Leader, aren't I? She honestly wasn't sure why she had to ask herself that. (And she wasn't sure why she couldn't answer that.) I am a Union Leader. I'm a Union Leader. I am a Union Leader. Master Ava chose me, not just because she had to. Not just because her master said so, and it was written in a stupid book. Because she believed in us. In all of the Dandelions, not just the Union Leaders. Aside from the five of us, everyone else she picked with her own hands. Even Elrena. ...Can't help but wonder what she saw in her. Oh who am I kidding? I know why. That whiney, obnoxious... 'dog' isn't who Elrena really is. She's just getting into character. Really, really into character. Good actor, I'll give her that. ...I hope. Hearts, let her please just be a good actor. 

I honestly don't mind her that much, but just wish the others were here. All that work... No matter how hard we tried, no matter how many hours Brain spent burning himself out in the control room, trying to find a way to save everyone, no matter how hard we fought in the end... we only managed to save one single Dandelion. Some leader you are, Skuld. 

But as she thought that, she shook her head, almost being able to her friends telling her that was untrue. Ephemer's never-wavering friendship and kindness, the two's friend's stubborn support and loyalty, Brain's sharp and incredibly annoyingly logical reasons for why she needed to take care of herself, Lauriam's protectiveness and unrelenting big brother love for all of them, and even Elrena's, again, annoying but just common-sense-driven logic for why she shouldn't throw herself under the bus, even if it seemed she was insulting her first. 

And Ven... 

Skuld remembered exactly what little Ven would always do; she swore she could actually feel it now. His scrawny arms, deceptively strong, wrapping around her with the tightest hug he could manage, brimming with warmth and light as he instantly refuted any of her faults or insecurities. Instead spewing out a whole list of all the reasons she was amazing. And brave and smart and strong and important and loving - 

"- and the very best friends I could ever ask for! All four of you!" Ven would cry. "So don't you ever say anything bad like that about yourselves ever again! Never! No one talks like that about my friends! Nobody!! And if they do, I- I'll- I..." He was so, so hurt, like it was the cruelest thing even said to him. And he was always on the verge of tears; a sight that always broke Skuld's heart just a little every time she saw it (which was way more than it ever should've been for someone so precious and innocent), and made her immediately fold and give in. Just made her pull Ven into a full embrace as she comforted him; let him cry into her clothes, and held him in her arms, as if to protect him from the coldness and cruelty of the worlds.

Skuld actually touched her torso - the same place where Ven would always cling to, whether from bad dream, an unusually rough thunderstorm, or a risky encounter with a Heartless or something; whenever Ven was truly terrified (again, way too often. He didn't deserve any of it) - but she of course felt nothing. Nothing but the empty air where Ven's soft golden hair would be, the coldness of self-doubt and loneliness that Ven would always warm away, and the blank, matt surface of her coat. Light, she hated that coat. 

Ven's not here now... She brought her hand off the black leather, and instead curled into a tight fist, shaking, but she didn't care. ...But it won't be like that for long. 

This was her reminder of why they were doing this in the first place. Why they were doing everything they were doing. 

Because they weren't complete. Their family wasn't complete. 

They were still missing their little brother. 

And no one was going to stand in the way of that. Not these stupid Guardians, no one.

Thankfully Skuld had managed to catch up with Elrena before she had a chance to yell at her. Just late enough to earn herself a judgmental side-eye from Elrena when she finally arrived at the small clearing where they had agreed to meet at, but thankfully not late enough to get a lecture from anyone. Still, it didn't stop Elrena from tapping her foot impatiently, as if the others were taking years to show up. 

"Come on... Twelve 'o five, right on the time," she muttered, glancing down at her watch. "Are they just worried to announce their presence or something?" 

"They might actually be. Or, at least one might be," Skuld pointed out. Elrena let out a barely hearable sigh of slight exasperation, while Skuld took a closer look at their surroundings. Here, it was very likely and easy for someone to be hiding just a few meters away from them, specifically someone a slightly reserved plant-head. "Pinky?" 

After just a few moments of hesitation, a tall, slightly imposing figure stepped out from the shadows just next to them, donning another black coat. But any real mysterious intimidation or aloof aura gave off was quickly lost as he raised a hand and gave a small, awkward wave, like a nervous kid greeting his few friends. 

At the same time, another dark and familiar figure dropped down from the branched, landing with grace and adjusting his hat again. "And the Brain."

"Nice of you two to show up," Elrena said, playfully thumping their tall ally on the chest with her fist. "Just having so much fun watching grass grow, Laury?" 

Lauriam lightly laughed along and pulled his hood down. A few lush pink rose petals the same color as his hair flew out from his hood, and he then looked over at Skuld and gave her a warm smile. Skuld pulled her own hood down too so he could see here returning it. 

"I was nearby. Just didn't want any unnecessary risk of getting spotted or messing up anything," he explained to Elrena. 

"Aww... You're so cute when you're a worry rat," Elrena teased. 

Lauriam gave her another bashful smile. Years ago, 'bashful' would've been one of the last words Skuld would use to describe Lauriam. Strong, loyal, reliable, sweet, powerful, maybe just a tad overprotective, but never nervous. At least, not back then. Back when Daybreak town was still here, when they went on missions, didn't have to worry about how to get from world to world, back when Lauriam was short enough that all of them could actually high-five him no matter how high he was raising his arm up if they really tried (except maybe Ven), back when Skuld didn't finch at the sight of Ephemer's sliver hair if he showed up unexpectedly... 

But Skuld knew well that Lauriam wasn't nervous because he had become a coward. Anything but. 

Deep down, even if some of them tried to hide it, they were all terrified of this mission. Even Ephemer and their friend back home, who weren't getting their hands dirty yet. Because the Guardians definitely weren't what they were worried about. 

When we first met, never did I - or, any of us probably - think we'd be shaking in our boots at the thought of just being in Ven's general vicinity, Skuld thought with a small dry laugh to herself. The thought of that - the thought of seeing Ven again (but a different Ven, one who wouldn't know them, one who wouldn't even recognize them-), and the worry of potentially triggering his lost memories and hurting him; that was what really terrified them. What really terrified Lauriam, specifically. 

"I just don't want any more hurt to be caused," Lauriam murmured, his smile dropping and being replaced with a heartbroken, horribly guilt look on his face. Anyone who knew him - who actually knew him, Lauriam - could instantly tell what he was thinking of. "Not more... than I've already caused..." 

He quickly wiped his eyes before any real tears could be spotted, and cast his gaze downwards, as if he was trying to hide from them. 

Poor guy... He blames himself way too much. "Lauriam..." Skuld whispered, reaching out to brush his shoulder.

For a second it seemed that he was going to flinch or push her away, but then he let her, and even rested his hand over hers and gave her a weak smile. She could see the wateriness and sadness in his usually bright and stunning azure eyes, no matter how much he blinked in an attempt to clear it. It just broke her heart, just a little...

"Lauriam," Brain chimed in, looking him down with his "Stop being stupid, or I'm gonna slap you" glare, and stepping forward to stand right in front of him and look him in the eyes. "Listen to me. No matter what you think, no matter what the Guardians or you blame yourself for, you are a good man. Yes, you did some bad things, but it was never really you doing it. You were in anything but your right mind when... when everything just- When crap hit the fan, okay?! And Marluxia? Yes. He was a turd sack. He was horrible, he did all those horrible things, he hurt the Guardians and that little girl." Lauriam winced hard and turned away, but Brain snapped his fingers in his face to draw his attention back. "Hey! I'm still talking to you, Geranium! That. Was. Not. You. That was part of you. All the worst. Weren't you the one who explain this to us a few months ago?

"Lauriam, you are Lauriam, and that was Marluxia. And Marluxia is gone. Yes, the two of you have many similarities, you were originally the same person, but you're not now. And if the Guardians refuse to see that, then that's just going to come back and bite them in the ass later." 

"Well said," Skuld agreed with a reassuring nod to Lauriam. 

He looked at her like he was hesitant to accept it, but was clearly thankful either way. 

"Excuse me? He says ass and you say 'Well said'?! Meanwhile I-" 

"Look, the Guardians are stubborn as rocks and until we get our voucher, I unfortunately don't see that changing anytime soon," Skuld continued, ignoring Elrena's blathering. "And Brain's right; if they refuse to see what's directly in front of them just because of what happened last year, then it'll be no one's fault but their own when things go wrong for them. And no matter what, we'll always be here by your side. We'll always have your back, we'll always be a team, and nothing will ever change that." 

"... Thank you guys," Lauriam said softly, seeming to give up on hiding his feeling and settling on just smiling at them. "I... I don't know what I'd do without you..." 

"Right back at ya bud. We all need each other, but we especially need you," Brain added. "Just think about it; the haunting, nightmarish horrors that would unfold in the kitchen without you!" 

"I learned my lesson very quickly about trusting you guys to be responsible in there," Lauriam confirmed with an exasperated shake of his head. "You can't be. And Ephemer just should never be anywhere near sugar. I thought Ven was going to be the bad one when we first met..."

Skuld and Brain both laughed together, reliving those happy memories. They had made cookies together a total of one time. That was all the experience with them that Lauriam needed. It actually went pretty well! ...Until the flour came out. And Skuld started making puns so bad that if they were in public Brain probably would've been arrested for making terroristic threats. And Ephemer started to realize that Lauriam wasn't quite fast enough to stop him from sneaking little bits of extra sugar into the dough. 'Little bits' that quickly, quickly added up. Good times...

"Alrighty, as much as I love the fluff, we've got kidnapping and assault to both commit in a matter of minutes," Elrena chided with a clap of her hands and turned to Brain, "so why don't we break down the plan, genius?"

"Good idea," Brain said, clearing his throat and repositioning himself so that he could address all three of them at once. "So, Ven's now currently chilling in that old mansion, where there's no one anywhere near, except that girl that... should really be in therapy." 

"Guess we do have some things in common with her after all," Elrena commented. 

"Elrena." For a second Lauriam looked like he was going to hide in his hood again, but he just ended up keeping his head and gaze lowered.

"Too soon? My bad." 

"Regardless, at the moment, that's not something we're worrying about right now," Brain continued, and gave Skuld and Lauriam a slightly complex look before turning to address them proper. "You two, are in charge of baiting Ven out of there - preferably only Ven, but I don't think I need to remind you of that. I also don't think I need to remind you to not let him see either of you guys without your hoods all the way up. And Lauriam, you keep the accent on thick, you got it?" 

Lauriam gave an understanding nod. Brain kept giving him a expectant, and slightly amused smile, until Lauriam eventually gave in with a small sigh and clear "Hearts, forgive me" look on his face. 

"I do. You needn't worry about us, my friend," he said in a sophisticated, yet slithery and sinister voice. Before immediately cringing so hard he probably pulled a muscle in his face and shuddering as he spoke in his normal voice once again. "Kingdom Hearts, why did I ever willingly talk like that?! Blegh!"

The other three all simultaneously burst into laughter. While Lauriam could almost perfectly replicate and mimic Marluxia's speech patterns and mannerisms, he apparently now thought it was the cringiest thing in the world and made him feel, quote, "Like I would roll around naked in a mob of fire ants if it meant I would never have hear or think about that ever again". 

Surprisingly, Elrena for once was the first one to get her giggles under control, at least briefly. 

"Well obviously, you thought it was cool and made you seem really mysterious and badass!" she answered. 

"It makes me sound like a twelve-year-old giving themselves an edgy 'cool' nickname that'll just get them bullied!" Lauriam retorted, and glared over at where Skuld was doubling over like this was the funniest thing ever. "And Skuld, you're not helping!" 

Admittedly, she definitely wasn't. But hearing that only made her laugh harder. Honestly, she didn't even know why she was still cackling so hysterically. 

"Girl, are you okay? You look like you're giving yourself asthma," Elrena said, starting to sound even slightly concerned. "Do we need to get you an inhaler or something?" 

No, no, I'm fine. I'm good," Skuld insisted as she finally forced herself to calm down and stand up straight. "Sorry, sorry. I'm fine, promise." 

Elrena rolled her eyes, and Brain cleared his throat loudly to bring their attention back. 

"Yes. Ha ha, very funny evil voice so hilarious, can we focus now?" he asked. "We've got a Ven to borrow, and Guardians to bully, all on a semi-strict time crunch. So let's just stick to the plan, stay on schedule. Skuld, Lauriam, you two know your jobs: bait Ven outta the mansion, lullaby him, and bring him to me. I'll send you the coords for my spot on your comms on the way, just to minimize risk. Lauriam, keep both the hood and Marluxia act up so Ven won't recognize you, and Skuld..." He paused, which Skuld didn't like, and held his chin, trying to hide his expression, which she liked even less! It looked like he was prudent about something, but was also try very hard to not smile, or at least to hide it. Please tell me this isn't going where I think it is... "You should... maybe just try to stay out of sight. Don't wanna... Ya know..." 

"What?"

His face was turning red from trying to hold in laughter, and now Elrena was snickering too, and even Lauriam was grinning. 

"What is so funny, Brainiac?!" Skuld demanded. "Mind sharing with the class?!" 

 "...Listen," he held his hands out peaceably, like he knew whatever he was about to say was going to offend her, "I know you're already so happy to finally see your boyf-" 

"Kingdom freaking Hearts, are you eight years old?!" she interrupted with a hard facepalm. "Literal millennia later and you're still obsessed with this baseless fanfiction like a bunch of middle school girls?" 

Lauriam sounded like he was trying to say something - something about it being far from a fanfiction, and how those were supposed to be fictional - but he couldn't speak coherently without nearly collapsing in roaring laughter. 

"Come on, Lauriam! You're supposed to be the mature one!" 

"Ooooohh, Skuldsy and Ventu-" 

"I will break your neck like a two-by-four, woman...!"

"Whoa whoa, no need to get so defensive- It's a joke, itsajoke itsajoke! Chill chill chill!" Elrena immediately gabbled with her hands up, trying to de-escalate the situation and shuffle away as Skuld was starting to stomp towards her. 

"That would imply I have something to defend. Maybe, I'm just sick and tired of your endless BULLS-!"

"Ladies! Ladies, relax, it was a bad joke on my part, I take responsibility for that!" Brain interjected, still laughing as Lauriam quickly stepped in between the two young women to hold them apart. "You two can save it for when we're back home, or better yet, just wait ten minutes and give the Guardians a show!" 

"What? Why?" 

"It's very eye-catching, and entertaining," Lauriam explained, with a bit of hesitance. "... from afar." 

"And is the reason why we haven't moved both your quarters to opposite wings of the base," Brain added, with a slight chuckle of unease as he turned to Lauriam. "Do me a favor and please make sure they don't maul each other, would you?" 

"Ha, no promises." 

"Sweet Lux..." Skuld sighed in exasperation, burying her face in her hands. We're all gonna die. 

"And speaking of playing with the Guardians, Elrena, I don't think you need any reminders of your role. You just do what you do best: being-"

"A complete pain in the moneymaker," Elrena finished, grinning ear-to-ear." 

"Exactly," Brain said encouragingly. A bit too encouragingly. Thankfully though, he seemed to notice either Skuld's stern warning look, or Lauriam's sigh of exasperation and quick prayer with his hands (Skuld would've found that absolutely hysterical if she wasn't one more dumb conversation away from mimicking him). "Em, however, while I know this is your specialty, and I don't doubt your experience and evasion abilities, just please for the love of the hearts be smart about this. Until I signal you on your comm that your backup's on the way, try to avoid fighting. If you immediately start trying to pick a fight, they might find it suspicious; might figure you want to fight them."

"Well I do." 

"Kingdom Hearts, Elrena," Lauriam scolded, sounding exhausted with her antics. 

"I know, I know, don't worry 'bout me," she insisted. "I'll just have some fun conversations with them. Ya know, catch up on what they've been up to the past year. They don't need to know we've been stalking them, yet." 

Lauriam met Skuld's gaze, and his exhausted, slightly pleading expression was one of the most relatable thing she'd seen lately. 

"Let's get our stuff done hastily," he suggested. 

"Agreed. Brain?" Brain looked over at her expectantly. "Just to confirm quickly for us; Laury and I pass Ven to you, go help Elrena distract the Guardians for...?" 

"Fifteen minutes, give or take," Brain finished. "Not too long. Just keep on going till I show up and give you the 'get-the-eff-out' signal. Ven should still be completely out of it, so I'll just leave him in my spot. Don't worry, I picked it out with that in mind. The Guardians will find him soon, at least before any Heartless do." 

That probably wasn't one of the best things for him to say in that situation, but he seemed to notice Skuld's face, and quickly gave her an apologetic look. 

"Nothing bad will happen to him. Promise. Not on our watch." 

"...I know," Skuld whispered. 

A bit of awkward silence followed, way too long for Skuld's liking, until Elrena broke it with a clap. 

"Welp, I wish luck to you all! Have fun with nerd Brain things and kidnapping!" she said loudly with a wave as she began to walk off and flipped her hood up with her other hand. "Adios, amigos!" 

"You have fun too!" Brain wished, returning her enthusiasm and wave. "Good thing you're right at home here." 

"Oh yeah. Just like Castle Oblivion all over again! Good times..." 

"You and I remember Castle Oblivion very differently, "Lauriam commented dryly. 

“Let's go, Lauriam,” Skuld urged as she put her hood up too.

Lauriam nodded as they both walked off, while Brain hopped up into the branches again, but paused and looked at Skuld with a bittersweet smile. 

"May your heart be your guiding key," he wished with a tip of his hat, before disappearing. 

"Thank you. You as well," Skuld replied, though not loud enough for him to probably hear with how quickly he vanished into the shadows. 

She turned to Lauriam, but saw him still staring, almost daze-like, at the spot where Brain was just a few moments ago. 

"'May your heart be your guiding key'..." he echoed, lowering his head. He was definitely concerned, but his expression was more complex than just that. Disappointed, uneasy, like he was reliving a bad memory. He was literally looking sick, down to his face turning slightly pale, before Skuld decided that was enough. 

"Lauriam. Hey," she said, gently shaking him by the shoulder. "You-" 

"I'm fine," he interrupted, immediately plastering a confident smile back on his face. "It's nothing. Just... some thoughts." 

There was so much Skuld wanted to (probably should've) say to him. "It's alright", maybe. "You can tell me anything", "I know it's not 'nothing' so just spill it", "We're here for you"... 

Why won't you just let us help you with this kind of thing, Lauriam? You don't always have to be the one helping everyone else. 

But, she knew that Lauriam was many things. And among those such as selfless, protecting, and slight workaholic, was iron-willed; once he was set on something, there was virtually no chance of changing his mind. 

And Skuld knew that better than the back of her hand, it would just be a waste of breath to try and sway him. 

"I know. You're not even remotely special in that department," she said instead, getting a chuckle out of him. "So. Let's go get our friend back." 

Lauriam nodded again, clearly sincere now, and pulled his hood back over his head, restoring that old image of the strong, confident, and smart warrior that every Keyblade wielder on this world knew. 

"Let's."

They hiked in silence for quite some time. Ducking under branches, crunching twigs and leaves under their feet, making terroristic threats at buzzing mosquitos (despite Lauriam famously being the guy possessing closer relationships with certain lichen than with a number of the Dandelions, he wasn't loving of all parts of Mother Nature - and it was good to know now that he still had a bit of a temper). 

That was when it was really starting to sink in and hit Skuld; they were actually going to see Ven again. For the first time in almost eight years. At least, it had been roughly eight years for her. The Lifeboats had all dropped them off in various different times. Lauriam and Elrena were luckily plopped off just a few months apart - having spent around ten and nine years here respectively - so it wasn't very hard for them to find each other. But Ven had been here for over fifteen years. Fifteen years. Alone. (Don't ask her why he still looked like a kid. She still could not even begin to wrap her head around the whole non-aging-coma-thing). Even if it had just been left at that, Skuld could only imagine how hard that would've for anyone, but especially for Ven. She knew how horrible all their lives had been, and while who had it the worst was up for debate, Ven was definitely up there. Just for starters, he was an eleven-year-old kid, alone, with no friends, nothing but trauma, severe separation anxiety, a FREAKING DEMON inside him, and an old, bald, evil and abusive Keyblade master who did nothing but commit atrocities against Ven and his friends. 

Skuld forced herself to shake her head and push those thoughts away, because she knew that if she kept thinking about that, then she'd just keep getting madder and madder, and lose the self-restraint to prevent herself from bolting, pushing past Lauriam, heading straight to the Old Mansion's front door, calling out to Ven, and as soon as she saw him, tearing off her coat and running to pull him into a hug. 

She knew she couldn't do that. It was, in every way, a bad idea. It went strictly against their entire plan, and would therefore put them all in danger and completely train-wreck their thought-out plan for all of this. And there were all the reasons for that plan; all the countless dangerous risks of directly approaching Ven in his state. He could suddenly get his memories flooding back, especially the bad ones, collapse, completely and understandably break down, his friends might show up and blame them for it and try to attack them - not exactly a great first impression - or, Foretellers forbid, the Darkness inside Ven might awaken! Just so, so, so much that could go wrong. The Guardians (honestly, all of them, including the Union Leaders) might not like it, but their plan was the safest option for everyone involved. 

But... that plan only worked if they had Ven back. Their Ven back.

From what Skuld and the others had observed over the past few months from afar, Ven was almost unrecognizable now compared to the Ventus that they were familiar with. Back then, Ven was so painfully timid and had almost non-existent self esteem. He only really felt comfortable around his friends, and any other time he was terrified of doing anything more than walking in the general direction of another person. And was just so heartbreaking because they knew that Ven wanted to talk to people. He wanted to be friendly, he wanted to always socialize and befriend others, but he was just so shy, like a scared little stray puppy that wanted nothing more than to be loved. He always wanted friends, he always wanted family, but he'd always been deprived of that.

But now, he was so bright and energetic, just like he was when he was actually comfortable, but with everyone. Talking and laughing with complete strangers like he didn't have a care in the world. And he had obviously attached so, so much to the new friends he'd met in the time they'd been apart. Especially those two specific ones - Aqua and Terra, if Skuld remembered right.

Even if Ven remembered them, would he want to go back? Or would he just prefer to continue to live his life as it was now? 

"Skuld." 

Lauriam's voice knocked her immediately out of her thoughts, and she almost instinctively insisted that she was fine, thinking she was looking unhappy or brooding and Lauriam had noticed, but a glance up showed why he'd spoke.

Just a few more steps forward and they would've exited the darkness and safety of the woods, and straight out into direct view of the Old Mansion. 

Skuld inhaled a deep breath, and took her sweet time letting it out. No backing out now. 

"Here we are," Lauriam said quietly. 

"Last chance to decide if we really want to do this," Skuld murmured. 

“Oh, I think we're all in agreement that none of us want to be here,” Lauriam said dryly with an emotionless chuckle. “...Except maybe Elrena.” 

“She's just a tad sadistic. Or masochistic. Or both,” Skuld added, struggling to manage a laugh. 

“You're trying to distract me,” Lauriam called her out in a more serious tone. “And you know you're putting the whole plan at risk by telling me this, right?” 

Of course. Of course she knew that she could very well throw off the entire plan by reminding herself and Lauriam of this, but that was just it. This was their last chance to chicken out and turn back before they risked contact with Ven and possibly Naminé, and officially made themselves at odds with the Guardians of Light. 

“I know,” Skuld said in barely a whisper, and reached out and gave his hand a squeeze, casting her gaze down at the undergrowth. “But we know this technically isn't the only way. I know. I know, I'm naive, hoping that we can skip all of this mess and help Ven by just talking to him, but…” 

But it's way too risky, and dangerous. 

They'd already gone over this and said those words so many times, more than Skuld could count. There was no point in wasting her breath on it. 

Lauriam wrapped his hand around Skuld’s, squeezing it firmly, getting her to look up at him.

“I know,” he said with a pained smile barely visible from under his hood. “None of us want to do this. We all agree with you, Skuld. You're just the only one-” His voice broke. “The only one brave enough to voice it. But…” 

“We can't,” Skuld whispered. “Ven's safety comes first.”

Lauriam nodded, placing his other hand on her shoulder. “And not just his. He's not the only loved one put in danger. You, Skuld, and every one of us are just as important and cared for as each other.” His loving and gentle smile and eyes shined in the darkness of the hood, like light at the end of a tunnel; it made Skuld feel like she was fifteen again, being comforted by Lauriam after a nightmare about the war. 

The war… Skuld felt her eyes drawn down to Lauriam’s left arm, the one holding her hand. His skin was usually hidden by his gloves and baggy sleeves, she could see it in the sunlight now. More specifically, the nasty burn scars on his arm. 

(“Don't blame him,” Lauriam always said, avoiding her gaze. “I deserved it. Had it coming from a mile away… Lea was just… following orders. He did a good deed, honestly.” 

“By barbequing you and threatening that girl?!” Brain demanded. “Why do you keep defending that jerk?” 

Lauriam ignored him, avoiding their eyes. “And the war… was a war. People always get hurt.” 

“They didn't, besides one Guardian,” Skuld argued. “And they weren't mind controlled!" 

“They didn't hurt innocents. They didn't cause the war.” 

“They didn't have to participate. They had a choi-” 

“No,” Lauriam stubbornly cut her off. “No one - no one had a choice.”) 

She still didn't believe what Lauriam had said then. None of them did, and honestly, she couldn't completely believe that he did either. 

But we have a choice now. The choice to fight the Guardians, the choice to do the instinctive, reckless thing... or the choice we spent months agreeing was the best and least likely to get us all screwed over. 

She looked back up to meet Lauriam's eyes, and nodded firmly, squeezing his hand. 

"Let's do this," she said. "Before we keep second-guessing ourselves and lose our nerve." 

"Good idea. Smart," Lauriam agreed, and turned his head to give the mansion a hard look. "Now... there's got to be a way to lure Ven out without attracting attention.” 

Right... That was a slight issue. They needed to get Ven out here - do something to antagonize or threaten him, enough to lure him outside and to follow them, but not enough to scare him into calling his friends for help. That was the last thing they wanted. 

A ways away from Skuld was a decently sized branch, probably fallen from a nearby tree during a storm, with sticks jutting out and forking in all directions, just ripe for cracking. 

She gestured to Lauriam to stay put as she stood up, dashed over to the branch, and stomped on what looked like the most crackable part of the branch, then a few more parts, and loudly rustled the nearby bushes until she saw a head poke out of the curtains of the front window. As soon as she caught a glimpse of that, she ducked back into the shadows. There, she was still able to see Ven. She couldn't see him well, of course, but she was still seeing him. Ven. Without being a safe distance away, but instead being straight in from of him. 

As Ven retreated back behind the curtain, Lauriam came up behind her and cleared his throat to alert her of his presence. 

“That works,” he commented with a shrug. 

“Yep. Ven and that girl are the only ones in there, so he should come out any minute now,” Skuld replied. “But we can't just snatch him up right here. What do we do?” 

“I've got an idea,” Lauriam said as he stood up majestically, puffing out his chest and getting into character. “Stay out of sight. I’ll lure him away."

"With your cryptic mystery man hoodoo voodoo?"

"Basically. You be as quiet as possible and tail him. When I signal it, you grab Ven, then I'll put him to sleep and we'll bring him to Brain.” 

“Got it,” Skuld said with a thumbs up. 

Lauriam nodded, then disappeared into thin air right as the doors of the mansion flew open and Ven ran out, Keyblade in hand. 

“Hey! Who's out there?!” he shouted angrily. “HEY!!! C'MON OUT AND LET'S WORK THIS OUT!!” 

Worries instinctively started flagging up in Skuld's mind. (That didn't sound like Ven. It didn't sound like Ven at all. What's wrong with him? What's really been happening in the time we've been apart? Is it his darkness again?!) But these same worries had been a constant presence in her life ever since her amnesia had been cured, and she was very used to them by now. They never seemed to really go away or lessen, but she'd learned to ignore them. 

Lauriam appeared right in front of him, and if Ven was still even slightly as jumpy as how Skuld knew him, he'd probably need to change his undergarments later. The two of them stared at each other - silently, completely motionless (apparently this was textbook perfect Organization... something. Those people were completely beyond her) - for maybe a minute before Lauriam finally turned away and walked back into the forest, though he didn't go far before pausing. Still in Skuld’s sight, but far enough away so Ven wouldn't notice him when he started to follow.

Ven took one single step after him, but then stopped in his tracks and stared at the ground. 

He was having second thoughts; hesitating. More like their Ven. Granted, their Ven would include much more shaking, trembling, running straight back away to get his friends, and trying to hide away in a tiny nook like a little pup. But from what they'd observed from afar over the past months, Ven had become much more reckless and quick to rush into fights, especially when his friends were in danger. Or at the very least, that's what his friends loved complaining about. 

Might be a good sign for us? 

But it wasn't long - like at all - before, after glancing back at the window he was occupying earlier, he took in a deep breath to steady himself before dashing after Lauriam. 

Skuld was caught a little off-guard by the suddenness and had to run pretty quickly to avoid losing Ven. Tailing him ended up being a lot more complex and challenging than she expected. She had to actually run, and at a good pace because Ven was actually trying to catch up with Lauriam (he was probably having to run to maintain his distance too - how in the poutine did Ven get FASTER!?!), and speaking of Lauriam, he was also zig-zagging, which just made Skuld's job ten times harder! 

But, she digressed. When Ven finally stopped to catch his breath and started arguing with Lauriam, Skuld hid herself just a few feet behind Ven in a bush. Lauriam could almost certainly see her, but Ven was completely oblivious. She was definitely close enough to grab Ven, and if she was quick she or Lauriam could cast a sleep spell on him before he could process what was going on, but she ignored her gut's every wish and instinct and held herself back. 

Wait. Wait until Lauriam signals me, Skuld reminded herself. 

“Now, could you please put that away? I promise you I am not armed.” 

“Screw off.” 

Skuld had to cover her mouth and punch the grass beneath her to not laugh and give away her location. She would be astonished if Lauriam didn't see her; she could feel Lauriam's unimpressed eyes scrutinizing her. Ven definitely had grown a backbone, as Brain would say. 

“Well at least you've certainly grown a spine after all these years,” Lauriam muttered as he rubbed his face.

His voice while he spoke to Ven sounded so… unnatural. Wrong, manipulative, almost creepy and just… villain-like was the best way to put it. It supposedly was what he sounded like when he was a Nobody in the Organization, and every time he used it, Skuld could understand a bit more why the Guardians of Light didn't trust him. And it just didn't sound like Lauriam. No matter what the Guardians thought, Lauriam and his Nobody Marluxia were not the same.

Lauriam was sweet, kind-hearted, understanding, and easy going. Even if he was usually reserved around most people, with his friends, on the inside, he was as soft as a marshmallow. He was the glue that held the five Union Leaders together and stopped them from accidentally burning the clocktower down on multiple occasions. He was the one who leaned on the kitchen counters with an exasperated expression as what was originally supposed to be the five of them making their own homemade cookies when the cookie jar got empty, devolved into Skuld, Ephemer, and Brain having an all-out ingredient war, roughhousing and making a mess of the whole kitchen as Lauriam desperately attempted to keep Ven from getting dragged in and protect him from the shots and clouds of flour and confectioner sugar. (None of them were allowed in the kitchen after that without Lauriam watching over them and making sure they didn't cause a grease fire next.) He was the one who would find his friends - usually Ven, sometimes Skuld and occasionally Ephemer or even Brain - crying outside their rooms or wandering the clocktower after a nightmare, and would counsel and comfort them, and sometimes invite the others to bring blankets and pillows to have a sleepover together in the Foretellers’ Chamber. And he was the one to always drag Brain out of his desk in said chamber or the control room by his ankles and make sure he rested and ate breakfast with them, knowing that he would starve and work himself to death otherwise. And if not, when he found him passed out at his desk - and if it wasn't just Brain, but Ephemer and/or Skuld too, he'd at the very least drape blankets over them, gently sneak pillows under their heads without waking them up, and leave hot chocolate and coffee for when they'd wake up.

He was the big brother. Not just to his own biological sister and Ven, but to all the Union Leaders and even some of the Dandelions. 

But hearing him talk like this just didn't feel right. If Skuld didn't know any better, Lauriam would've been at the bottom of her list of guesses for who was wearing that black coat in front of her. 

Skuld was so deep in her own thoughts that she almost missed it when Lauriam signed “Now” in the sign language that the Dandelions had developed after the Keyblade War.

She nodded and silently and slowly snuck up directly behind Ven. He still hadn't a clue. Ven was many things - sweet, innocent, brave, funny, loving, and even nichely clever when it came to survival and fighting - at least when he actually depended on it to survive - but most of the rest of the time... not exactly razor-sharp.

“Very well then. It's bedtime for you,” Lauriam said as he cast a sleep spell on Ven. 

It took effect almost immediately.  For the briefest of moments when Ven was still lucid, he exclaimed and tried to move out of the way even slightly. But then his head drooped. His grip on his Keyblade went completely slack, and it dropped to the ground and dissolved in a flash of light as it clattered against the rocks and dirt. Ven began to bend over with an involuntary, soft exhale, so Skuld gently caught him in her arms. 

He was so small... For a second, she wasn't here in Twilight Town anymore. (She was on the hilltop, overlooking all of Daybreak Town. But at the moment she didn't see anything but Ven in her arms. He was conscious, but he wasn't with them. He was clutching his head with both hands, moaning and writhing in pain while gripping his cranium so hard his fingernails were drawing blood from his scalp. 

"Ven! Ven, stop! you're hurting yourself! What's wrong?! Tell us!" she shouted at him as she shook-)

No, Skuld. You're not there anymore, she thought, knocking herself out of her daydream. Don't shake Ven; you want him asleep. He's okay, he's not in pain. He's fine. But he still needs our help.

She carefully laid him down on his side, and even though his body was totally limp and his eyes almost completely shut, just in case she gave him a bit of space as Lauriam came up beside them. But thankfully though, after less than a second, Ven's eyes were fully closed shut and his chest rose and fell with calm, even breaths as he snoozed peacefully. 

“Good job,” Lauriam whispered, pulling off his hood. “He should be out for more than long enough for Brain to do his thing.” 

"Right..." Skuld nodded half-heartedly as she pulled hers down as well, her eyes never moving from the unconscious Ven. 

(Back on the hill, again. Just moments before, Skuld was holding her small, writhing friend in her arms. He was clearly trying to fight through the pain for the sake of his friends, but he was struggling; he was struggling hard, but still pushing himself. 

Skuld opened her mouth to call out to him again as he began to scream again- 

Before he suddenly stopped. He cut off mid-scream, and immediately went completely limp. So limp that as Skuld shook him and called out his name, she worried if he was still even...) 

"Skuld?" Lauriam asked. 

"I'm fine," she quickly brushed off his concern. She did feel a little bad, seeing the genuine worry and slight hurt in Lauriam's face though. "Sorry, I'm just thinking." 

“I feel the same,” Lauriam sighed empathetically as he laid a hand on Skuld’s shoulder. “Come on. Let's get this over with.” 

“Right,” Skuld murmured. “It's just… Ven being unconscious like this just reminds me of…”

Lauriam winced and looked away. Even though he didn't know any better back then... he still felt such heavy guilt for hurting Ven after he found out the truth about his sister. Honestly, 'guilt' wasn't even the word. Nor was shame, regret, sorrow, remorse, penitence... None could accurately justify just how much shame and remorse he felt for all his wrongdoings. Not just from the Organization, but from even before that. Possibly even more so for back then. 

(Just later that day - that awful, awful day of disaster that none of them would ever even begin to forget - Ven was out of it, again, and again at the fault of the Darkness. This time, Skuld wasn't holding the dormant Ven, but Lauriam was. 

After he'd done whatever the hell he did with Darkness, before any of them even had the slightest fraction of a chance to stop him, he collapsed, completely unconscious again. Lauriam rushed immediately to his side, moving faster than Skuld had ever seen him move. He cradled Ven in his arms, calling out to him with heart-wrenching desperation in his voice. Screaming "No!" a million times, calling out Ven's name, telling him how sorry he was, how much he need Ven in his life, begging him with all his chest to wake up and stay with them; to not leave him like Strelitzia did.

Over and over and over and over again, until Brain and Ephemer finally told him to stop; he didn't; he didn't even seem to hear them. They had to physically separate them so that Brain could properly assess Ven's condition, not that that did much for them. And thankfully, despite Lauriam's recent... outburst - which made them very cautious to touch him - though he clearly didn't like it, he didn't fight or resist as they took Ven out of his arms. He just froze, and stared blankly at Ven for minutes on end, without uttering a sound. 

Not until Brain had concluded that Ven wasn't physically hurt, but seemed to be in a coma, and Lauriam volunteered to carry Ven to rest in bed and watch over him. 

There was hesitance from the others, with Skuld herself admittedly leading the charge, but it thankfully ended up working out. At least as well as it could with literal Armageddon outside.) 

That was why he was so afraid to go near Ven. Because of what he'd done to Ven. He was worried that even Ven just seeing him might trigger his memories, specifically... the bad ones... Skuld felt the exact same, but she shook herself off and decided to change the subject and distract the two of them. 

"Nice job on the Marluxia act, by the way," she complimented. 

Lauriam snapped his head up to give her an entirely disgusted and unamused grimace. Skuld burst out laughing so hard she nearly fell over - which only offended Lauriam even more - but she quickly forced herself to cover her mouth and try and get control of herself. Even though Ven was sound asleep, and there was a very, very small chance of someone else hearing them, they didn't need to take too many unnecessary risks. 

"The minute we're done with this, I am going to bleach my earlobes," Lauriam hissed flatly under his breath. If his goal was to have Skuld stop laughing, he was extremely bad at achieving that.

"You have to admit, it is an objectively sexy voice." 

"Objectively, it's embarrassing and cringey and you will hear me admit no such thing. Not so long as my heart is still beating in my chest."

Serious. He was so bad at trying to get her to not laugh. He was speaking completely deadpan and seriously, but honestly that was what made it so funny. 

"I'm serious, Skuld! I don't find this funny!" 

"Then stop making me laugh by making fun of it with such poetry in humor!" she countered. 

Lauriam opened his mouth to continue arguing, then shut it. Thought for a moment, opened it back up, but closed it again and turned away from Skuld with a scowl. 

"Look, even if you hate it, I actually think it's pretty cool," Skuld offered. "You're a really great voice actor! Maybe after all this mess, you'll come around, even just a little bit. Maybe you could just do it as a party trick or something." 

"Over. My dead. And composted. Body." 

"Alright, alright, fine." Skuld finally quelled down her chuckling from seeing Lauriam's continued unamusement. "I was just trying to lighten the mood, sorry. We can get back to the unfun stuff, Mr. Joyful." 

"Great." 

Skuld let out a small sigh, trying to make sure Lauriam didn't hear as she gently scooped Ven up into her arms. To her surprise, he was completely relaxed and even leaned into Skuld's chest slightly. Almost like he did remember Skuld, even though he was completely unconscious. Even though she was worried about Ven regaining his memories, this made her remember the fond time that they had spent together before everything went to crap. Ven was a few years younger than the others, and was only ten years old when the war happened. Even if he was far more mature than someone his age should've had to been, he was just a kid, and he did not deserve anything that happened to him. He deserved to have had a real childhood, not to be forced to go out on his own and spend his days fighting Heartless and collecting Lux. The Union Leaders might've done their best in their short time together to help with that - the five of them having sleepovers together, Ephemer letting him eat cookies and ice cream for meals, Skuld tucking him into bed and reading him stories whenever he wanted, Brain teaching him all about science, computers, and playing video games (even if he absolutely swept poor Ven like a pile of dust any time he stopped completely holding back), and Lauriam, well, being Lauriam with Ven - as much as they wanted, they couldn't give him everything they'd hoped. 

Impressive and lovable or not, he was still a child. In an authoritative position. Not exactly a winning combination. Even though she knew it was impolite and the wrong thing to think it about her friend, all four of them were all plagued by that question since the moment they met Ven: "Why on earth would Master Ava pick a shy little kid like Ven to be a Union Leader?" 

...Guess we got the answer to that question soon enough, Skuld thought bleakly, involuntarily giving Ven a gentle squeeze in her arms. It almost felt like being back in time for her now, holding Ven sound asleep in her arms, with him smiling just slightly and leaning into her chest, blissfully unaware that he was being kidnapped. Not kidnapped, Skuld corrected herself. We're just borrowing Ven for twenty minutes. We're not taking him, not yet. But still… Is it possible at all that Ven does remember us? 

“I'll take him,” Lauriam said, startling Skuld slightly. 

"Huh?" 

 “You're the one who knows where Brain is, and I'm stronger. So, you'll lead the way while I carry him. Okay? Sound good?” Lauriam's face was gentle and understanding, messaging that he was willing to do otherwise, but Skuld knew he was right. 

"No no, you're right; good idea; fair," she insisted, standing up. 

Despite all her muscle memory making her arms cradle and grasp Ven like a fragile beloved possession, every part of her heart telling her to not let go, to never let Ven go ever again, she uncurled her arms towards Lauriam. Lauriam very gently took Ven out of Skuld's arms. Ven tensed up ever so slightly during the exchange, like he knew he'd been take from someplace safe and warm, but as Lauriam shifted him around a bit and got his head to rest against his chest, Ven's nose twitched as he smelled Lauriam’s strong, pleasant scent and a warm smile creased across his face. Just like Ven's sleepwalking episodes all over again; the earlier ones, at least, where he still recognized his friends around him.

“Aww…” Skuld whispered happily without even realizing it.

“You know, sometimes I genuinely have to wonder whether we made friends with an actual person, or just adopted a Golden Retriever puppy that looks like a human,” Lauriam chuckled, overhearing. 

Skuld was a bit startled at being heard at first, but she quickly joined in and started laughing along with him. Even on this unfun mission, she was very thankfully they could still have some laughs together. Together. Not just one-sided (not pointing fingers, or anything - ahem, ELRENA). It took a while for Skuld to get her laughter under control and remind herself that they were on mission. 

“We should get going,” she urged. “Don't want to hold Brain up.”

“Right. Lead the way.” 

Skuld nodded and pulled her right sleeve up to check her communicator; a dark grey, surprisingly comfortable wrist cuff with a detailed screen going along with the curve of the device itself around her arm. They were objectively much more effective and convenient than the Guardians' Gummiphones (boy, that name created an amusing image in Skuld's mind when she first heard about them); he'd managed to cook them up in just a matter of days for all of them, and managed to make them faster, more comfortable, detailed, useful, and much easier to conceal to the literal nut-coded bricks they called phones.

Sure enough, Brain had texted “Meet here” along with a set of coordinates leading to a secluded section of the forest that wasn't actually that far from Twilight Town proper, but Skuld guessed that it must just be really well hidden. 

“Follow me.” 

They stayed in almost complete silence as they walked. The forest was full of life, birds singing, squirrels scrambling along branches in the trees, they even saw a small group of deer grazing and wandering around a ways away from them. The deer picked their heads up and gave them what almost looked like human judging faces as the two dark cloak-dawning individuals carrying an unconscious boy through the forest (that's probably not bad omen or something). Neither of them exchanged much of any words as they walked. Most of the conversation, interestingly enough, was from Ven, mumbly sleep-talking what sounded like unintelligible nonsense to Skuld. But apparently, someone else did understand it; nearly every time he said something, Lauriam would smile and whisper something to him in kind. Skuld couldn't properly make out any of what they were saying, but either way, it was adorable. 

After an actually surprisingly short walk, probably only a couple minutes, they reached the coordinates that Brain had sent, signaled by a buzz from her comm. They led them to a dark clearing in the trees, but seeing the lack of Brain, equipment, light to be able to see and work in, everything... she was pretty darn confident this wasn't the exact spot. The only sign of sentient life was the quiet chirps and song of a blue jay above their heads, but when Skuld looked up in its direction, she only caught a tiny flash of fall-sky-blue and cloud white as the small corvid flapped out of sight. 

Oh... That must've been Brain's little spy. Seeing that little blue bird around was a dead giveaway that their team's, well, Brain, was nearby. 

Skuld whistled a certain set of notes into the open space, and almost immediately someone else played a different set in response. Then, Brain materialized out of thin air and walked up to them, almost giving both her and Lauriam a small heart attack.

“Took you guys long enough,” he teased with one of his signature toothy grins.

“Well maybe you should do the dirty work next time,” Lauriam replied.

“Ha! Yeah, no. I'll pass.” 

“So, you're ready?” Skuld asked to bring them back to attention. 

“Yep. C'mon,” Brain said as he turned around and walked back in the same direction he came from. 

Again, he seemed to just melt into the shadows, almost as if he had used a Corridor of Darkness. But, trusting their friend, Skuld and Lauriam followed in his footsteps, and found themselves in a much darker clearing of trees - only really lit by a lamp that was tied up in the branches not far above their heads - with a soft patch of grass cleared along with a pillow at the head of it specifically for Ven to lay down on, and Brain's equipment and tools readied and set down in a loose ring around it.

“Set him down here,” Brain said and nodded at the grass patch as he knelt down. 

Ven yawned and shifted around in Lauriam’s arms, nuzzling his head into Lauriam's neck just like a puppy. Lauriam gave a pained smile and brushed his hair as he knelt down across from Brain. 

It was obvious that it hurt a lot for him to let Ven go. Finally, after searching for him being separated for over a decade, Lauriam had him back in his arms, just like old times, and now he had to let him go after less than five minutes together. Skuld felt the same, even if she wasn't the one holding him right now. Just like Lauriam, she didn't want to run off and beat Ven's friends senseless. She just wanted to be with her friend.

But, unfortunately they had a job to do. And they needed to do this job if they wanted their Ven back.

“Be careful not to hurt him, okay?” Lauriam asked. He held Ven tightly in his arms, as if he was afraid someone would try to take him. 

“Of course,” Brain replied sincerely. “Remember, Ven's my friend too. We're all in this together."

"Right," Skuld murmured, trying to keep the worry and disappointment of leaving Ven out of her voice. Just set him down and walk away. He's in good hands with Brain, he'll be fine. The faster we get this over with... Just do your job, Skuld.  “Well, I guess we should get going, Lauriam.” 

“You go help Elrena. I'll stay here.” 

“What?” 

Lauriam didn't answer her question at first. He softly whispered something gentle that no one else except Ven would understand in the boy's ear, and despite the clear pain seen in his eyes - wet and crinkled in the corners - he gently set him down. Ven let out a small noise of displeasure, like he already missed the comfort of Lauriam's arms, and his hands even flexed and reached out slightly, but Lauriam only gently set his head on the pillow and averted his eyes, instead looking up directly at Brain. 

“I don't want to leave Ven again. At least not so soon. Is it alright if I stay here?" he asked. Of course Lauriam, being Lauriam, also made sure to make himself not sound demanding. "Assuming you don't explicitly need privacy, of course.” 

Brain thought for a moment, considering Lauriam’s words as he scrutinized Ven. The smile had faded from his sleeping face when he left Lauriam’s hold, and now he just looked overcome with sleepiness, like he had all his energy just drained from him. He didn't look like he'd wake up anytime soon.

“Sure. Why not?” Brain finally said with a shrug. “Just try to be quiet and don't touch anything. It wouldn't hurt to have a bit of extra security in case someone stumbles onto us.” 

Lauriam gave a pleased smile as Brain looked up at Skuld. 

“Sorry Skuld,” he apologized. He had his usual, joking grin on his face, but his stormy grey eyes glittered with genuine worry, for both Skuld and Ven, though he tried to hide it. "Looks like you and Elrena are going alone." 

Hazzua... Skuld fought to not dramatically throw her head back and make the loudest groan of exasperation ever heard. But that's exactly what Elrena'd do. Just do your damn job, Skuld, do your JO- 

“Don't worry about it,” she said instead. She was admittedly very jealous that Lauriam got to stay with Ven, but he honestly deserved it, with how close he and Ven were and how much this obviously meant to him. And hopefully, Ven would have his memories back soon, and they'd all get to spend all the time they wanted together. All of them. “Good luck. See you in twenty minutes.” 

"You two be careful," Lauriam ordered as she stood up, "I mean it. Capiche?" 

"Capache. At least as much capache as I can manage," Skuld replied with a wry smile. 

Lauriam sighed and rubbed his face with both hands as Brain chuckled a little at their exchange and turned to Skuld. 

"May your heart be you guiding key." 

"You as well."

She meant to walk off with that, but he couldn't quite pull her eyes off of Ven. Even sleeping... he was so cute and precious... 

Seeing her, Brain gave a silent, understanding nod. Despite what Skuld meant to portray as a confused, "what the heck are you talking about? - I'm totally not thinking about that" look, he didn't buy it. 

Giving in, she gave a small sigh and knelt back down next to Ven, adjusting his pillow to make sure he was as comfortable as possible, just like when he was younger and Skuld would tuck him into bed when he was so exhausted after a mission, and brushed his fluffy golden bangs. "Sweet dreams, Ven. See you soon." 

She got up and gave Ven one more pained, kind look before she flipped her hood up as she turned away, ducking back down and through the dark bushes and groves that hid her friends to back in Twilight Town's forest. 

At least Brain and Lauriam didn't make any jokes about me... doing nothing with Ven! Nope, nothing at all! Welp... now's the real fun part. Time to see if Elrena's gotten herself lynched yet, she thought as she jogged off towards town, towards the Guardians, towards a likely very bad time.

Chapter Text

It was admittedly a little difficult to find her way back to Twilight Town proper, but Skuld actually took only a few minutes to get there. Maybe her stress was to blame, but walking through the woods felt like wandering an endlessly repeating maze. Every tree looked the exact same...!

But thankfully, the town's almost comically huge walls were a much more obvious landmark, and she could easily find the single human-sized opening in the town's defense. That small gap in the wall technically wasn't the only way in; there was obvious the normal way in, through gates and standard security that most people went through - obviously, the Union Leaders didn't do that - as well as the lovely sewers. Sometimes, they had to go through there when local businesses and traffic near the wall was too busy to get through unnoticed, but going through those egregiously loud and fragrant tunnels was just... so much fun. Every time Skuld went through there, she'd end up smelling like a level four biohazard for at least two days. That was one of the times she was incredibly thankful for Lauriam and all his weird rosey scent magic. 

Ducking through the slightly tight and rough hole in the brick wall, she could already hear the sounds of an intense struggle not too far away. Keyblades clashing, lightning and other magic crackling, and grunts and roars of exertion, frustration, and exhaustion. Skuld still stuck to the shadows of nearby building as she cautiously approached, but that didn't last long. 

After just passing and turning a few blocks, she caught a glimpse of the Tram Common, already torn up and trashed by Keyblades and other weapons, and even from there she could see and even identify each of the participants of the brawl. Dashing, ducking heads of bright red, royal blue, blond-gold, jet-black, bright yellow-

That yellow was supposed to have a hood covering it...!

Oh, damnit Elrena...! Skuld thought angrily with a growl. She honestly didn't know why she'd had even a sliver of faith in Elrena following orders. Skuld probably could've been named an actual Foreteller and Elrena wouldn't have listened to her! Well, guess my babysitting shift starts now. 

She summoned Starlight to her hand and slowly charged it with light as she ran in to join the fray. 

Elrena had just gracefully landed a backflip to avoid a sweep from a blazing Keyblade, not that it did much to deter the furious blonde shooting through the air towards her. Skuld dashed in front of her ally as Roxas swung his Keyblades, catching Oblivion's downward strike with Starlight and diverting Oathkeeper's thrust with her free hand. 

"What the-?!" 

Roxas's exclamation and flabbergasted expression only lasted for a blink before Skuld released the light chambered in her Keyblade and used it to blast him back, sending him flying heels-over-head. He flew a mile, and even upon landing rolled and tumbled on the ground, all the way back to his friends' feet to the soundtrack of his Keyblades bouncing and clattering on the stone street. 

"Roxas!" 

"Two!?!" his redheaded friend exclaimed, throwing both hands up. "Are you kidding me?!" 

"Roxas, are you alright?" the blue-haired scarred man asked Roxas, already pulling him up by his armpits before he'd even caught his breath enough to say anything. 

"I... I'm- I'm okay..." Roxas panted breathlessly. "Thanks, Isa. I owe ya." 

"You may repay me by staying on your feet and not charging so recklessly," Isa scolded. 

"R-right," Roxas stammered, a little caught off-guard by his sternness, but quickly swept it under the rug and replaced it with confident aggression towards their opponents. "Where'd that weirdo come from?" 

"Excellent question," Isa replied. 

Isa...

He still really was the same, after all this time. Still always fiercely stone-faced, with that venomous glare he always gave to any and everyone who might've posed a threat to those he held dear. Once upon a time that used to be Skuld, but now she was on the receiving end of those sea-green dagger eyes.

And it wasn't just him. Lea, though taking this much less seriously as he spun his chakrams around like toys, his mint eyes were trained on the two cloaked warriors without a hint of warmth. Even if he and Isa could see past the hood, would that change anything? Even if they recognized her, would that do anything to deter the blades pointed under her chin? 

Just forget it, Skuld scolded herself. Fight. They won't really get hurt, not physically, and they'll stop being hurt emotionally when we get this done and this whole mess over with. She could just focus on other things for now. Like her ally; the world's single greatest distraction in all ways.

"Where is your hood?!" she barked over her shoulder. 

Elrena shrugged and sharpened her knives absently. “It's hard to fight with it on. Besides, they recognized me in two seconds even with it on, so I didn't see the point. Guess my recognizability is something we kinda overlooked. Ya know, with my mouth and all.” 

 "Ah yes, that mouth, that wonderful, eardrum-bursting mouth! How, oh how we did not miss that!" Lea spouted melodramatically with a wave of his hand. 

“Have it your way,” Skuld muttered, ignoring him as she raised her Keyblade. “Just don't do the stupid thing.” 

What she meant was “Don't summon your Keyblade,” which hopefully Elrena caught onto. And hopefully she could keep her horrible impulse control in check for fifteen seconds. It already wasn't great that the Guardians knew that Lauriam and Elrena were back from the Organization and working on their own objectives again. They definitely didn't need to know that they were ancient Keyblade wielders. They didn't know what would happen, but most of them weren't particularly keen to find out. 

“I know, I know, I have a little thing called common sense,” Elrena said with a heavy eye roll turned grin as she readied her blades. “Now, let's make the most of our afternoon, shall we?” 

Skuld let out a small, exasperated sigh, then looked back at the Guardians, identifying and weighing each of them in preparation for their fight. The Union Leaders already knew quite a bit about each of their fighting styles from their observations - Roxas; dual-wielding, and notoriously reckless and aggression-driven, with basically no real training. Xion; mostly well-rounded in her skills and more cautious and tentative in her combat and attacks. Lea and Isa; fast, fiery and aggressive, and cold and slow but with sheer, unrivaled power respectively... 

...That was four of them.

Excluding Ven, there were six Guardians on this world. 

And the only two that were missing, were the only two that would actually be a problem in the plan. 

“Where the hell are Terra and Aqua?!" Skuld demanded, spinning to face Elrena. “Ya know, the two we're actually worried about? The two masters?!" 

"Eh? Oh right, them, Mr. and Mrs. Funtimes. Yeah, they both ran off to go check on their pet Venty,” Elrena explained with a shrug.

“They. Ran off?" Skuld echoed, and kicked her in the leg, getting a nasty glare in return from Elrena. “You have a single job. To be annoying, obnoxious, distracting, and to just keep the morons in check! Just be you! Or, in other words, DON'T JUST LET TWO OF THEM WANDER OFF!!” 

Elrena shrugged, as if this was a standard, completely understandable oopsie-daisy. Meanwhile the Guardians were... very, 'interested' in the two's interaction. Roxas raised one eyebrow, looking to Xion for an explanation perhaps, who was tilting her head curiously at them. Isa's eyebrows were also up, but his expression was still cold as he paced and watch them, as if he were watching two animals fighting over territory. And Lea looked seconds away from busting out popcorn. Or, ice cream, more likely. He was clearly find this quite entertaining. 

“Listen, as soon as I showed up, they were immediately like ‘Oh no! If Larxene’s here alone, that must mean that super scary evil Marluxia is attacking Ven right now nooo!’” Elrena retelled exaggeratedly, in a hilariously accurate imitation of Aqua's voice. “So they scampered off to go check on the mansion. Which means less work for us. It's nothing but a wild Ven chase. Those idiots ain't gonna find anything there.” 

Skuld nodded, and that became something the Guardians clearly understood. Faces of amusement and confusion turned to horror and worry, then mostly to anger. 

“What have you done with our friends?!” Isa demanded angrily. This was far from the first time Skuld had heard him yell like that, but hearing it directed at her for once made her wince.

“Nothing,” she said flatly, hiding her emotions. “I promise no harm will come to any of them. You have my word.” 

“Yeah, as if your word's worth anything more than a single Munny,” Lea snapped. He then stepped forward, brandishing a chakram, and Skuld tensed before realizing that he was set on Elrena. "I see you and Marly have been busy this past year, getting back to your old tricks. Didn't realize you were working in a trio now. Speaking of which, where's your partner Larxo?" 

"He's busy, Flamesylocks," Elrena shot back. "Not that that's any of your concern." 

“If our friends are in danger because of you, that is very much our concern!" Roxas shouted angrily. "What do you want with Naminé?!"

Elrena glared venomously at him to hide the pained look of guilt on her face. Skuld held her hand out in front of her as if to hold her back to really sell it. 

“Bold of you to think we'd make the same, predictable mistake twice,” Elrena spat. "She's not a part of this." 

"Yeah. We've got more important things on our agenda,” Skuld added. “Not that it's any of your business.” 

"Who are you again?!" Roxas asked, looking just as genuinely confused as he was furious. 

Skuld pointedly ignored him. When he opened his mouth to talk again, Lea clapped a hand on his shoulder and stepped forward to take the lead. 

"Axel..." 

"Don't sweat it, I got this. I'll do the talking," Lea said cockily. Despite the clear hesitance from his friends, he turned to face Skuld and gave her a wide grin. "Heya. First thing's first, the name's Axel. Get it memorized. Got one of your own?" He again got no seeable reaction from her, but didn't seem to mind it. "No? Alright, don't need to share if ya don't feel like it. Secondly, I'll say, you have fantastic taste in fashion - lovin' the coat - but horrible taste in friends, lady. I get it; Marly’s remarkably charismatic and good-lookin’, but trust me, he and that…" He paused and glanced back at his two younger friends, getting a warning look from Isa," um, woman behind you are not folks you wanna be in cahoots with. And I see you've got a nice shiny Keyblade, and you've probably got it for a reason. Point is, speaking from experience, these jerks don't care about you, they just want your well-earned Keyblade for them-”

“Blah blah blah blah, yadda yadda, 'we wanna use the Keyblade for ourselves cuz we're too big of turd burpers to be worthy of them ourselves' - we already heard this stupid spiel!” Elrena mocked loudly over him. “I know this might be an abstract concept to you glue-eaters, put we don't constantly withhold important information and lie straight to our allies' faces! Isn't that such a thought, Axel? She’s already heard that same nonsense before, and does she care?”

“No, I don't because it's not truthful,” Skuld said with her arms crossed and her eyes rolling so hard they felt like they were wearing away at their sockets. “I am here of my own volition and my own will, for my own reasons. And because frankly, you guys suck.”

“Hey! That's mean!” Axel whined. "What did we do to you?" 

"Attacked my ally. AND- Ah ah ah!" Skuld continued loudly as Lea opened his mouth to argue, and waved her finger at him like she was scolding a child. "Being annoying absolutely does not count as a justifiable reason for attacking someone! Do I understand it? Yes." 

"Girl!" Elrena interrupted. 

"Does that make it right?" Skuld continued. "Obviously not. I guess being 'good guys" and getting to do whatever you want on any world doesn't require any sense of maturity." 

Lea was clearly upset and wanted to continue to argue, but thankfully for him, Isa sighed and tugged him back a bit as he stepped forward. He flipped his giant weapon around to lodge its spiked end into a softer part of the wrecked pavement, and rested his hands on its pommel as he stoically met Skuld's gaze. 

"I apologize for my friend's struggle in knowing the difference between talking sense and flirting,” he said calmly. “Perhaps it would actually work if I translated. What he meant is, for your own sake, please defect from these scum that you call your allies. They don't care about you; only their own agenda. They only want you for your Keyblade. And if their goals require turning on you, abandoning you, stripping you of your very identity, your heart, yourself, they would not hesitate. They only see you as a tool. A weapon. And you're better than them. You're stronger, I know you are. I believe in you. That Keyblade is enough proof of your heart's strength. If you turn on them, you can be free-” 

“Yeah well, being ‘free’ doesn't pay the rent,” Skuld cut him off snarkily, mainly because his persuasion was working; the sincerity, passion, and even plain logic behind it, along with the memories she'd shared with Isa twisted a tight knot in her chest and stung her eyes, threatening leakage from her tear glands. She couldn't bear to listen to anymore... “And I like my job. Beating up and exterminating gremlins like you is a lot more fun than whatever you do in your weird ice cream and light club. Not interested in joining a cult. Wouldn't mind a workout though.”

“See? So there,” Elrena said, the raw smugness on her face nearly enough to make Skuld gag. She and Lauriam were seriously good actors. “She’s on our side. Our girl friend. You babies have plenty of other fellow clowns to run your circus with. No need to get all grumbly, Isy, we've got nothing against you. Well, actually we've got quite a bit against you, but that has nothing to do with why we're here today. ...Ya know, speaking of workouts-” 

“Does anyone ever tell you you talk too much?!” Roxas interrupted, practically shaking with anger. 

“All the time,” Skuld chimed in, shaking her head in exasperation. Elrena and Larxene were not the same people, but they very clearly weren't complete opposites. The Guardians weren't the only ones who found her annoying...

“It's come up,” Elrena said at the same time, still grinning. 

“Fine. You don't like how we work, but could still do a lot better than them,” Xion said, jabbing her Keyblade at Elrena.

“You know,” Skuld said over her shoulder to Elrena. “I’ll admit, I'm not insanely fond of you, Sparky.” 

“First of all, never call me that again unless you want a buncha knives up where the sun don't shine, and second of all, I don't love you either, sister,” Elrena snarled. “Why don't we just get this job over with before I change my mind about this?” 

Roxas and the girl were both covering their mouths, trying to suppress laughs when Elrena bared her teeth and gave them a nasty glare as she pointed to them and slid her finger across her neck. 

Just in case, Skuld grabbed her wrist and shook it slightly. “Collateral damage minimized!” 

“THIS is a gesture,” Elrena growled as she did the same thing about five times more. “A gesture, not a freaking bomb!” 

“I mean don't go around stabbing people! Least of all children!” Skuld shouted. 

“I told you, I promise I'm getting better at that!” Elrena insisted. “I've only stabbed two people in the last six month, and I promise they were both absolute turds. Plus I checked to make sure they didn't die!” 

“Did you stab either of them in the place where the magic happens?” Skuld asked with crossed arms. Elrena opened and closed her mouth a few times and scratched her head, unable to answer. “Argh... come on El- dude! I thought we talked about this! What if they wanted to have kids?!” 

“I swear they deserved it! I promise I'll get better at that! Besides, they woulda been shit parents anyway.”

The Guardians now were basically all busy laughing their heads off from listening to their exchange. Even Isa couldn't hide his amusement, chuckling quietly to himself -- for him, that was like the equivalent of him doubling over with laughter. And Lea was laughing so hard Skuld was shocked he was still standing upright. 

Guess this is what Brain and Lauriam meant by us being "entertaining," she thought with an eye roll.

She scoffed and turned back to the Guardians, spinning her Keyblade in her hand as she got into a fighting. “Fine. If you're gonna do it anyway, then you're not leaving me out.” 

“Whoa, whoa whoa whoa, hey calm down there,” Lea yelped as he placed his chakram-filled hands in front of his junk protectively, looking hilariously genuinely terrified.

“Even if they're not after Naminé, they can't be here to do anything good for the world,” Isa said, lifting his claymore and addressing both Roxas and Xion. "You two, be careful. I have a bad feeling about this..." 

Xion nodded in agreement (she wasn't sure to which part) and raised her Keyblade in sync with Roxas. "Got it. Ready, Roxas?" 

"Born ready." 

Skuld stepped a few feet closer to Elrena, so that she could talk to her, surely out of earshot of the Guardians. 

"Let me take the kids," she whispered to her. "The other two..." 

Technically, she didn't know for sure if these were the exact same Lea and Isa who'd befriended her while she was... held in the Radiant Castle's basement, but it was all but confirmed. They'd never actually seen each others' faces before - her cell window was too high for either of them to see through, with the exception of a handful of times when the two boys decided to try standing on each others' shoulders (that always went about as well as you'd expect). But even then, that only allowed them a brief, split-second glimpse into her cell. They never saw her. Even if she wasn't too short to be seen up against the door, it would've been too dark to make out any details of her appearance anyways.

But here, it was them; the only two friends she had up until a few months ago. The one, small break of mercy she got in between the endless hours of torture, experiments, and constant poking and prodding at the hands of the scientists there. What she had to thank for keeping her from completely losing her mind down in that dark hell. 

She couldn't hurt them. Not even pretend. She couldn't bring herself to even begin to raise her Keyblade towards them. Besides. As mentioned, they'd never actually seen each others' faces before; they'd only heard each others' voices. Even with her hood up, if anyone was going to recognize her and make her blow her cover, it was these two.

And Elrena…

Even though it wasn't uncommon to hear jokes between them about what happened in Castle Oblivion, it was no secret that that both Lauriam and Elrena were absolutely crushed by guilt for how they treated poor Naminé. It was indescribable, just how sorry they were. Yet would the Guardians care if they knew? ...Well, that's a question for later. And especially Elrena, was not taking it well. She already wasn't exactly the epitome of a healthy mental state, quite the opposite actually, much like most of the rest of them. Good thing they were here to stop her from... doing... something drastic. 

Because of everything, all that happened, after she got her memories and heart back, Elrena swore on her life that she would never strike or harm a completely innocent person, nor any child ever again.

“Oh!” Elrena said with a nod, briefly showing a kind smile in front of the Guardians. “Don't worry. I won't hurt them. Promise.” 

Skuld could tell that it was genuine this time, so she silently thanked her with a smile of her own under her hood. Because while Elrena was many things - annoying, sarcastic, a tad selfish, owner of a mouth the size of a small freighter - she was not one to back on promises. Never. She took those very seriously. She rarely made any promises to any of them - even Lauriam had to practically pull her arm out to get her to swear something besides profanity - but when she did, she'd honor it like the fate of the universe depended on it. That was one thing Skuld could trust her for.

Even right before Skuld showed up, when Elrena was fighting all four, or probably at one point all six, Guardians at once, she never raised her blades against Roxas or Xion. Even when they were absolutely out for her neck, she'd just dodge or gently push them away like harmless, misbehaving puppies. 

Oh, right. Work; beating up those kids. Fun. 

"Thanks, Volt. Have fun smacking the man-children," Skuld said confidently, raising her Keyblade as she turned towards her targets. "I got the actual children." 

"The what?" Lea asked. 

She immediately dashed right at Roxas and Xion with blinding speed. Though Roxas saw her coming and held his Keyblades up in an X block, he did not anticipate her power. His block only barely held, and he was nearly knocked cleanly off his feet by the impact. He quickly recovered and tried retaliating with a flurry of attacks, almost all of which Skuld either parried or deflected, just as she'd done a million times with her fellow Keybearers back in Daybreak Town. The classic "Windmill Strategy" could be effective when it wasn't expected, but a skilled wielder could parry it all with some good reaction time. She knocked Oblivion out of Roxas's right hand, sending it flying a mile away and into the road once again. He used both hands to bring Oathkeeper down with a scream, but Skuld almost effortlessly held it at bay with Starlight. Sparks flew between them, some undoubtedly flying in both of their faces; Skuld's, calm and stoic under her hood, and Roxas's, ferocious with teeth bared and eyes burning with passion and anger. 

Roxas wasn't weak, but he obviously had little to zero formal training. He only had himself, and his anger. Which wouldn't truly do him much good, especially not here. And there was also the fact that even a decade ago when Skuld was his physical age, she was one of the best wielders around, being hand-picked by the Master of Masters to be a Union Leader. How much of that actually was because of the Book of Prophecies, she obviously didn't know, and didn't care. (Why should a stupid book get to decide the fate of the worlds and everyone in them? Everyone Skuld knew and held dear?)

Xion came swinging her blade at Skuld's open side, but she noticed out of the corner of her eye, and took that opportunity to redirect Roxas's Keyblade and momentum, sending it in the direction of his friend, forcing her to block instead. Caught clearly off-guard and very unbalanced, Roxas stumbled, nearly doubling over, giving Skuld the perfect opportunity to sweep him off his feet. As she was finishing the spin of her sweeping move, Xion tried to strike downwards at her. Skuld rolled out of the way, getting behind them. Both were briefly incapacitated; Roxas still recovering from getting knocked off his feet, and Xion trying to free her Keyblade wedged in the ground. Before either of them could fully recover, Skuld rose and thrust out her free hand, using a powerful blast of magic to throw both of them flying, head-over-heels, a mile back. 

“Ow…” Xion groaned as she slowly sat up and looked at Skuld in awe. “How is she so strong…?” 

"Urgh, dunno, don't care," Roxas spat, summoning Oblivion back to his hand and shoving himself up with both his Keyblades. "All I know is she's bad news. For Naminé and the others, and for us. C'mon, let's put a bit more work into this.” 

“I wouldn't mind that at all,” Skuld chimed in, absentmindedly flipping her Keyblade in her hand. “I'm getting kinda bored over here.” 

“Rrrr...! Fine! You asked for it!” Roxas shouted as they both charged. 

Xion came at her straight on, firing a blast of magic that Skuld effortlessly sliced in half. The two halves flew past her on either sides before fading off into nothingness. Xion started swinging her Keyblade wildly in every direction, seeming desperate to just get at least a single strike to connect. Skuld still avoided every single one and just blew her away with a blast of magic to get her out of the way. At the same time, Roxas threw a Strike Raid attack at her head. Skuld flipped her Keyblade up to deflect it, successfully, but Roxas kept up the attack; slashing one Keyblade first, then both in multiple directions once his other returned to him. Skuld took to quickly parrying what she could, but with only one Keyblade, there was only so much she could do. It was a good thing that Roxas was basically just blindly swinging, so she could usually step back or quickly phase out of the way; that was a fun trick to use on Roxas. 

"Burn!" Xion shouted as she brandished her blade, its tip and teeth glowing with white-hot fire magic. She shot forth a Fission Firaga spell towards Skuld. Okay, I've actually gotta focus on this. 

She halted Oathkeeper with a lightning-fast flick-parry, catching Roxas off-guard and stumbling again. She side-kicked him straight into the gut, pushing him to land on his rear, then pointed Starlight at him and cast a bind spell on him. 

"What the-?! Oh you...!"

"Stay," Skuld ordered, waving a finger at him like disciplining a child throwing a tantrum, then turned back to Xion and the quickly approaching fireball careening towards her. Instead of running, she dashed straight at it, leaping, and slashing the fireball as she twisted around it. The contact caused the fire to combust and split into three smaller orbs of flames that started wheeling around her, too fast for her to hit all three of them like she did the first. She opted to summon a water spell, bringing forth a small airborne wave swirling around her offhand. She swiped at the flames in front of her, the wave growing exponentially in a few moments, big enough to now hit two of the three, extinguishing them effortlessly before the wave crashed on the ground and split off in all directions at Skuld's feet. The final fireball, orbiting her at blinding speed now, Skuld caught in her own metaphysical net of magic; she caught it - letting it hover with a few inches of space between it and her palm - and kept it moving as she powered it up and added her own magic to it until it had at least tripled in size, before launching it back at a very surprised Xion. 

For kids who were raised entirely by a pyromaniac, you'd think they'd know the classic "stop, drop and roll", Skuld thought a disapproving sigh as she watched Xion hop around and frantically try to put out the flames on her clothes with the tail of her cloak. 

That was when Roxas came up behind Skuld and whacked her across the jaw with a scream of rage. Even though Roxas had obviously put a lot of power into it, it barely did a thing. Don't get her wrong, it still hurt - she was still human, and getting smacked in by a metal weapon - but it wouldn't leave much actual damage. A bruise, most likely. She slowly revolved her head towards Roxas, who suddenly looked much more like a kid, and gripped her blade tighter. 

"Ow."

“Sorry,” Roxas squeaked with a nervous smile. The reminiscence of Ven he showed - the innocence, the genuine fear in his expression, all of it - just about broke Skuld. "No hard feelings?" 

"'Course not," Skuld said, hiding her emotions as she patted Roxas on the shoulder, much to his surprise. “You gotta work on putting your heart into your strikes though. Like this.” 

She then slammed Starlight into his chest, at what she intended to be... roughly seventy-something percent of her max power. That apparently was still a tad too much mustard, as it was already more powerful than Roxas's strike by at least ten-fold, and sent him flying straight back at the speed of light, flipping heels over head about a thousand times, before he crashed into a building's brick wall, creating a crater so massive that Skuld was surprised the rest of the building didn't collapse. 

"Roxas!!" Xion screamed, sprinting over to her friend's side and placing herself in between him and Skuld protectively. She quickly glanced back and forth several times between her, and where Elrena had both Lea and Isa's hands plenty full. 

"Guys!" Lea shouted as he attempted to abandon his own fight to help his friends. 

But Elrena then teleported right in his path and hit him with a painful looking kick to knock him straight back onto his rear. "And just where are you going? Don't you know it's rude to leave without being excused?" 

Lea wasn't having it at all. He immediately scrambled back up to his feet, and dashed back at her, weapons, and eyes burning with rage. "Outta my way!!" 

Despite how hard he and Isa tried, both to attack and try to get past her and to their friends, Elrena was just too fast. She was just too fast for them; always able to hit them back and out of the way, and to get out of the way to leave them to stumble and eat dirt and asphalt. 

Skuld, despite preferring pacifism most of the time, usually didn't mind fighting less skilled wielders. She actually really enjoyed teaching, especially like with Ven. But this? This was just wrong - taking candy from a baby; it made her feel awful. 

Xion's expression wasn't angry or frustrated, but instead completely terrified. Roxas too, still lying on the ground, breathing heavily and wincing through the pain he was in. Yet somehow his fear was still so obvious. They were starting to realize that they were completely in over their heads, and Skuld was infidelity more powerful than them. 

The moment Skuld seemed to be barely lifting her Keyblade, Xion threw her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs, “GUYS!! AQUA! TERRA! HELP!!!” 

...What? Weren't Terra and Aqua elsewhere? 

But seconds later, the sound, and vibrations in the cause caused by heavy footsteps rapidly approaching from behind Skuld gave her the answer to that question. 

Shit. 

She spun around and brought Starlight up just in time to block the gigantic, dense Keyblade that was brought down at her head. The impact made her arms go numb, the ringing of the clashing metal made her ears bleed, and if she hadn't had her legs in the right position - spread wide, just barely bent - she had little doubt they would've been destroyed and smashed down like thin sheets. 

But those were all inconsequential, compared to the real problem this presented. 

Struggling to stay standing, she cracked her eyelids open-

And regretted it immediately. She recognized the face inches away from her, full of anger and hatred. 

(Gleaming, sharp golden eyes, burning, contrasting with the darkness that always surrounded and smothered her as well as his long silver hair, always scrutinizing her. Whether it was through the bars of her cage, the glass wall of one of the experiment rooms, or just glaring down at her, disapproving, disappointed, displeased- Or worse, interested; excited, with more experiments and torture in mind for her tomorrow. And then the next day. 

And the next one. And the one after that, and next one, and the next, andthenextandthenextandthenext- 

He couldn't be here. That was there, that was then, it was in the past. She was free now, wasn't she? Could she never truly escape him? Was it a fruitless effort after all, just like he said it'd be?)

Should I just accept it? Just stop running? Would it be easier? Maybe- 

NO. Snap out of it, Skuld!! she screamed at herself. She couldn't freeze up, not now. Open your eyes, you're outside. You're outside. You are outside. He's gone. Open your eyes. It's not him.

It was one of the most terrifying things she made herself do in years, but she forced herself to leave the darkness, open her eyes, and look up at the man still pressing down against Starlight. 

Blue eyes, not gold, not even a spec in them. They were burning with rage, but not evil. Furious, a little hateful, but not glimmering with that sinister malevolence and twistedness. And he was brunette, not white-haired. His hair also wasn't long enough; only chin-length. Even his skin was a slightly lighter shade. 

It's not him. It's not- It's not Xehanort. He's gone. It's just Ven's friend. It's not Xehanort. It's not Xehanort, it's not Xehanort, it's not Xehanort, it's not Xehanort. 

Wasn't Xehanort - thank Kingdom Hearts - but still not a friend. 

Terra, at least at the moment, sort of hated her. At the very least, the bared teeth, growling and Keyblade pressing against her face highly suggested that. As far as first impressions went... they could probably be doing better. 

"Hey... Terra, right?" Skuld asked in a strained voice through grinding teeth. “Kingdom Hearts, whaddya eat for breakfast? Straight steroids?” 

Terra ignored her and only pressed down on Starlight harder. Skuld felt nothing but pins and needles in her whole arms, and her back felt moments away from breaking backwards and turning her body shape into a V. She knew that trying to out-muscle Terra was like challenging Elrena to a race - indescribably stupid, and destined to end in nothing but failure - but what else could she do? 

As if on cue, she then heard another new pair of metal shoes approaching from behind her, and the lightbulb she need in that moment lit up. She let Terra have a bit of way, then before he could folding-chair-ify her, she twisted to the right and with a scream of exertion, sent Terra and all his semi-truck-like momentum off to her side, straight back towards his friend. His blue-haired girlfriend just managed to react and side-step out of the way before he plowed into her, but couldn't do anything to stop him from crashing headlong into another building.

“Terra! Are you okay?” Aqua shouted worriedly.

“Yeah!” Terra shouted as he quickly dusted himself off stood up shakily from the mound of dust and concrete, holding his head. “Sorry, Aqua!” 

Man, now I know what a flip phone feels like. Skuld thought as she bent over and rubbed her spine gingerly. She'd really need a massage when she got back home.

“It's fine, don't worry about it,” Aqua replied over her shoulder as she ran over to Roxas and Xion and cast a strong healing spell on them both. "Xion, Roxas, are you two alright?" 

“We are now, thank you!” Xion said and bowed her head gratefully as she pulled Roxas up. “Get up, lazy bum!” 

"Yes ma'am!" Roxas said with a serious looking salute, which got some giggles out of both Terra and Aqua. 

But the giggles and smiles quickly ceased like they had never been there as Aqua turned toward Skuld and jabbed her Rainfell Keyblade at her. 

“You! What did you do with Ven?!” she demanded.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Skuld said evenly, but did sneak a glance at the clock tower looming over the town. 

It had been about seven minutes since she left Ven with the others. And no messages or anything her comm. She still had to stall a lot longer. 

Hurry up, Brain, Skuld thought anxiously. 

"You didn't find him?" Xion asked Aqua. "He wasn't at the mansion?" 

"What?! What about Naminé?!" Roxas joined in with the questions, even more passionately. "Is she okay? Did they get to her? What'd the-" 

"She's fine," Terra answered gruffly, his eyes and blade still trained on Skuld. "Alone and scared half to death, but unharmed. Physically, at least. The mansion's locked - she'll be fine. What matters most right now is what you did with Ven!" 

"I didn't do anything." Skuld knew she wasn't doing a great job of sounding convincing, but she didn't really care. She knew Terra and Aqua probably wouldn't have believed her even if she handed Ven straight to them right then. 

"Are you even going to try to lie?!" Roxas shouted. 

“We're not stupid!” Aqua snapped as she raised her Keyblade. “We know you took him! Where is he!?!” 

“You've got about ten seconds to start talking before you start getting your teeth knocked out like bowling pins,” Terra snarled as he got into a firm fighting stance, and Roxas and Xion immediately followed suit. 

“Yeah!” 

“It's time for you guys to pay!” 

"...So that's how it's gonna be. You fight and beat anyone who doesn't heed to you. Typical; just how I thought you were. No problem. I can work with that." Skuld breathed deeply and closed her eyes as she raised Starlight in front of her and calmed herself.

She was calm. She was ready. She was strong. She was a Union Leader, she could fight, and she was ready.

"May my heart be my guiding key," she whispered, then snapped her eyes open, swung Starlight down and charged. "C'mon, let's dance!"