Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ven tried not to fidget too much, he really did, but he was nervous. He paced the ferry deck as it swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the waves.

“Relax, Ven,” Aqua said with a smile. She was perched on the hood of their car, gazing out at the bright blue ocean that rushed around them. Her fancy witch robes almost seemed to glow the exact same shade under the warm sunlight. Chirithy was sprawled out on her lap, purring as she scratched his chin. “I know you’ve never been to a clan meeting before, but there’s no need to be nervous. You’ll do fine. I promise.”

“Have you been to a meeting before?” Ven asked.

“Master took us a few times,” Aqua said, “but our coven hasn’t been to one since you got here.”

“Were we not invited?”

“We were busy.” Eraqus was unusually subdued. Both he and Terra were brooding inside the car. Terra was in the driver’s seat with his eyes screwed shut as he rubbed the chunky necklace he always wore. Ven bet he was seasick. “But now our coven has received a direct invitation.”

Ven frowned. “Are we in trouble, Master?”

“I don’t think so,” Eraqus said. “But the summons were unusually vague.”

“Are they always on the mainland?” Ven asked. He switched from pacing to running his fingers over the soft sleeves of his prairie-green robes.

“They usually are,” Eraqus said. “The location of yearly meetings changes, but it’s never been this early before, and never so far into the desert.”

“The desert?” Terra’s eyes snapped open. “You didn’t tell me it was going to be in the desert.”

Ven wrinkled his nose.

“We’re having a meeting in the desert?” Ven asked. “With these robes?”

At least their brimmed hats would shade them, but they were heavy and hot too. Ven hadn’t had to deal with dry desert heat for years, since he had been drifting from foster home to foster home, but those memories were as fuzzy as they were painful.

“I understand why they chose the desert,” Terra said. “There are rock formations out there that are good for magic circles. I guess it depends how deep into the desert we go. I brought amulets and stuff just in case.”

“In case of what?” Aqua asked.

“You’ve been to the desert?” Ven asked Terra. “When?”

“Years ago,” Terra said. He cracked a smile. “But don’t worry too much about the heat. There are way worse things to wear out there than fancy linen. Besides, it’s not hot at this time of year.”

There was a story there, one Ven was dying to know, but before he could ask about it, Aqua pointed at the horizon. “I think we’re almost there,” she said.

“Aw,” Chirithy grumbled from Aqua’s lap. “I don’t wanna move.”

Unfortunately, since he was Ven’s familiar, Aqua couldn’t understand him, but she probably would have picked him up off her lap even if she could. The captain made the same announcement. Ven got back into the car, fastened his and Chirithy’s seat belts, and waited for the ferry to stop.

A few minutes after they drove onto the mainland, Eraqus’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

The phone wasn’t on speaker, but since Ven was sitting behind Eraqus in the back seat, he could faintly hear the other side of the conversation.

“Greetings, Eraqus. I was just calling to make sure you are prepared for what lies ahead.”

Ven could hear the scowl in Eraqus’s voice. “Pardon me, but I was under the impression that this was a clan meeting.”

“Who’s the master talking to?” Ven whispered to Aqua.

“It’s probably Yen Sid,” Aqua said, “since he’s the head of our clan.”

“Have you met him before?” Ven asked.

“Mmhm,” Aqua said. “He’s nice.”

“Xehanort’s been arrested?”

Eraqus’s shocked question reverberated through the car. Terra’s hands tensed on the steering wheel. Ven narrowed his eyes. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place the memory…

“Aqua, can you take over?” Terra asked tersely.

“Sure,” she said. “Pull over.”

They swapped places. Normally, Terra would complain about being forced to fold his long legs and wide frame into the small space behind the driver’s seat, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere as he gripped his necklace.

Ven focused back on the conversation Eraqus was still having over the phone.

“Was he arrested by amagicals, or did the clan arrest him?” Eraqus continued to the phone.

“Well, therein lies the complication,” Yen Sid said. “I will explain the rest to you in-person. The real reason the clan summoned you was out of desperation. Xehanort himself surrendered quietly to the amagicals, but his apprentice refused to go quietly.”

“Don’t tell me the amagicals tried to arrest a child just for associating with Xehanort,” Eraqus said quietly.

“It wasn’t a matter of wouldn’t, it was a matter of couldn’t,” Yen Sid said. “Myself and the rest of the clan have been trying to get him under control, but he is stubborn. We were hoping that your experience with exorcism and Xehanort would bring new light to this situation.”

“Exorcism?” Eraqus asked. “Did the apprentice summon a ghost or spirit?”

"The apprentice is a ghost."

What? Xehanort had made a ghost his apprentice? Ven had no idea ghosts could be solid enough to do magic at all, even if they were witches in life.

Eraqus scowled. "I wish I had heard all of these details beforehand. My apprentices and I are dressed for ceremony, not combat."

"Believe me, it was not my intention to keep you in the dark," Yen Sid said. "Would your garments impede too much?"

"No," Eraqus said. "Anything else?"

“No, that is all.”

“Farewell then. We can speak more once we arrive.”

He hung up the phone.

"Aqua, Terra, Ventus," he said in the voice that Required Attention. "I need you to listen carefully. I don't know how much of that conversation you heard, but we were not invited for a clan meeting. A... prominent witch who used to hail from our coven has been arrested. Although he is currently in custody, his apprentice is still fighting clan officials. Apparently, Xehanort managed to apprentice a ghost."

Terra's face turned stony. “They really arrested Xehanort?”

Eraqus's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't aware you knew of Xehanort," he said quietly.

"Who's Xehanort again?" Ven asked. Now that Terra brought attention to it, the name sounded even more familiar, but-

"He was once part of our coven and a close friend of mine," Eraqus said. "No longer. I had to banish him years ago for using dark magic."

"If he’s banished, why did the clan send us to take care of his ghost apprentice?" Aqua asked. "He's not our responsibility anymore."

"Xehanort will always be my responsibility," Eraqus said sadly. "It’s my burden for allowing him to fall to darkness."

Ven could see Aqua's face soften in the rearview mirror.

"We'll take care of this quickly," she said.

"I hope it's that simple," Eraqus said. "Exorcists far more powerful than I have attempted to exorcise this ghost-witch, and failed."

Ven didn’t even know there were exorcists more powerful than Eraqus. Maybe he was just being humble.

"There's no harm in trying," Terra said, but his face said otherwise. Nerves didn't belong on Terra's face, but there they were.

Ven ran his fingers through Chirithy’s fur. He wished that the butterflies in his stomach could have been from meeting clan leaders and not from whatever this ghost held in store.

The ghost-apprentice was making his last stand in the middle of the desert badlands. Crops of stone dotted the landscape. When Ven looked closer, he noticed scorch marks on the stones and scars in the earth from spells that missed their marks. There was a faint sickly-sweet scent under the smell of dust and ozone.

Eraqus pointed to the distance. "There. Do you see him?"

There was nothing on the first two planes of existence, but on the third, a small silhouette stood against the burning desert sky.

"Yes," Aqua said.

Chirithy stirred and nudged Ven.

"Hey, Ven," he said. "Do you feel anything?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm not a prophet like Terra. I'm nervous, but that's normal. I've never exorcised a witch's ghost before."

"I mean with your heart," Chirithy meowed. "There's something on the seventh plane between the two of you."

"What do you mean? Like a curse?"

"Like a thread," Chirithy said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Before Ven could ask more, Aqua put her hand on his shoulder.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. "Are you nervous?"

"Yeah," Ven said.

"We'll be fine, Ven," Terra said. "We'll wrap this up and get out of here as fast as possible. Does that sound good?"

It sounded like Terra wanted to get out of there, but Ven could understand the sentiment.

"Are you ready?" Eraqus asked. "I will draw his attention while you three form a circle. Together, the four of us should be able to help him move on to the Other Place."

They nodded and quietly moved towards the ghost. As soon as they were in range, Eraqus raised his hand, and one of the chains on his hand glowed and shot towards the ghost.

Ven didn't stick around to see how the ghost responded or even what he looked like. As the fastest, it was his job to get behind him. Ven made a fist and kissed the tin ring on his left hand.

"As fast as the wind," he whispered, before grabbing Chirithy and taking off.

The dry desert wind hummed around Ven’s ears as it propelled him further forward. The air buffeted him like his kid siblings trying to push him down with mischievous smiles and giggles.

Ven skidded to his position in seconds. His chest heaved and he resisted the urge to collapse onto the ground.

Chirithy leapt from his arms and waited.

"Aqua and Terra are in position," he finally said.

Ven reached down and grabbed the bright green Wayfinder charm hanging from the belt of his robes. He knew that Aqua and Terra were doing the same with their respective Wayfinders, even if they were too far away for Ven to see.

"Dancing water forms bonds," Aqua's voice chanted from everywhere and nowhere.

A blue slice of light erupted on the second plane, right where Aqua was standing. If the ghost noticed, he didn't care enough to take his attention off of flinging dark lightning at Eraqus.

"Vast earth protects bonds," Terra's voice chanted.

The gold light drew the ghost's attention.

"Swift wind returns to bonds," Ven chanted as he thought of his love for Terra and Aqua. He sliced the ground in front of him with two fingers. Green light erupted in a barrier, trapping the ghost and Eraqus inside their magic circle. The warm connection between Ven and his best friends sang through the planes.

"LIGHT!"

If Eraqus hadn't braced for it, the light magic would have hit him too, but even if it had, it wouldn't have hurt him nearly as much as it hurt the ghost, who hissed and fell to a single knee. Eraqus held out his hands, and before the ghost could cry out, chains wrapped around his limbs.

"And with the bonds connecting me to the World, I release yours. Go in peace.”

With the last words, the ghost should have at least begun to fade away, or maybe cry out, but instead, he threw his head back and laughed.

Ven's blood ran cold. He knew that laugh. He hadn't heard such a cackle in four years, but he recognized it instantly.

"Vanitas?"

"Did you really think that would work?" the ghost jeered, and Ven's hands started to shake, because it was Vanitas's voice. "Your own clan leader couldn't get rid of me. Face it, you're out-"

Ven raced forward. His side of the barrier shattered, and the magic circle fell with it, but he didn't care.

"Ven!" Chirithy cried, but Ven didn't care. He was busy racing towards his brother, his dead twin brother, who he hadn't seen in four years.

Vanitas finally turned, and their eyes caught.

"Vanitas," Ven said, because he didn't know what else to say.

Vanitas's face melted from arrogance to soft shock, but it hardened again to what most people might have seen as contempt but Ven knew was fury.

"How dare you?" Vanitas hissed. "How dare you traitors use my brother's face?" The chains snapped from his writhing and he pushed Eraqus back with a full-face blast of wind. Lightning erupted from his hands. "I'll kill you for that."

"Vanitas, wait!" Ven cried. "It's me! It's really me!"

Vanitas just scoffed. If Aqua hadn't sent a rain-cool magic barrier his way, Ven would have taken a face full of lighting.

"Stop, Vanitas!" Ven shouted again. "Why won't you believe me?"

Vanitas didn't even bother answering. Fire flared into his hand with a short scoff. Ven gulped. The barrier withstood the first hit. It wouldn't withstand another.

"You look just like Sora now," Ven blurted out without thinking. "Or, um, Sora looks just like you."

Vanitas’s hand froze, but the fire didn't leave it.

"Maybe you looked up our records," Vanitas said with narrowed eyes.

"Our fourth birthday isn't in any records," Ven mused out loud. "Dad baked us a cowboy cake, remember? With sugar sand and chocolate cacti?"

The fire faded, and Vanitas's face relaxed again.

"Ventus?" he asked quietly.

"Vanitas," Ven breathed. "I found you."

"I thought you were dead," Vanitas said as he stepped closer.

Ven walked through the remains of Aqua's barrier.

"You are dead," Ven said quietly.

He reached for Vanitas, now close enough for Ven to embrace him or bump their foreheads together, but his hand passed through. Vanitas really was a ghost.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked. “Don’t tell me that old man is your master.”

“Of course he is,” Ven said. “And what about you? Didn’t your master get arrested?”

Vanitas’s eyes narrowed, and for the first time, Ven noticed they were tarnished gold instead of the sky blue they used to be. Had Vanitas been using dark magic?

“Some petty nagics are blaming the Master for something he didn’t do. The rest of your stupid clan wants to throw him under the bus for it rather than fight them on it. It’s bullshit.”

“What’s going on?” Aqua asked. Her hands were out, ready to shoot a spear of ice at Vanitas at the smallest movement. Terra was next to her, looking at Vanitas with something akin to horror on his face.

“This is my twin brother Vanitas,” Ven said. He still couldn’t believe it. “Vanitas, this is my master, Eraqus, and these are Aqua and Terra.”

“That’s your twin brother?” Aqua’s hands dropped. “Oh, Ven.”

“Forget this,” Vanitas said. He turned to Ven and bored those gold eyes into his. “You mentioned Sora.”

“Yeah! I found him- I found all of them! Sora and his friends even train with us! A family on-island adopted him, Roxas, and Xion. Oh, um, Shio goes by Xion now. Uses she and they pronouns.”

Vanitas’s face trembled in a way that precluded tears. “You found them? They got adopted? Into the same household?”

“Yeah! Look, stand down, and we can take you to them.”

“Hold, Ventus,” Eraqus said. “We still have business to take care of here. Besides, he is a ghost. You know what that means.”

“You couldn’t exorcise him before,” Ven said. “And if we can’t exorcise him, we won’t.”

“That’s not how we do things,” Eraqus said. “He does not belong here.”

“Don’t worry about it, Venty,” Vanitas said. Every trace of sentiment on his face had twisted into a smirk. “He can spend the rest of his life losing his head over this, but if he can’t do it now, when they’ve destroyed all my Unversed, he won’t be able to do it ever.”

Ven hated when Vanitas called him that, but he didn’t realize how much he had missed hearing it after four years without it.

“Can we take this inside?” Terra asked.

“I’m not moving until your clan agrees to treat my master like they would any other witch and make the nagics drop these stupid charges,” Vanitas said.

“Because amagicals listen to witches,” Aqua muttered under her breath.

“We were brought here unaware of the entire situation,” Eraqus said. “We would be willing to listen to your side of the story, but, as Terra said, it would be easier to do so inside.”

“Fine,” Vanitas said, “but I’m not going into your clan’s tent. Master’s house is close by. I’ll trust you as far as the entryway.”

The “house” in question was closer to a mansion than a house. It was short and box-like, fitting into the desert landscape like it had been placed there by a giant hand. A stone wall surrounded it, only giving way to a spiked metal gate in the front. Vanitas stepped through the gate like it was nothing, but Ven and the others paused in front of it.

“Can you open this for us?” Ven asked.

Vanitas paused.

“Are you able to?” Ven asked. “Or can you not because-”

“I can open the gate,” Vanitas said. He sounded just as fifteen as he looked. “You’re always so impatient, Venty.”

His voice was more fond than usual, but he doubted Terra, Aqua, or Eraqus could tell. He made a gesture, and the gate began to slowly open itself up to them.

“Woah.”

They moved to follow Vanitas through the warded threshold and into the property itself. Desert flowers bloomed in sandy garden soil. Spiked succulents circled the house like guardians of a moat. Wards painted the inside of the stone wall. There was an odd grace in their asymmetrical lines of black, deep purple, and what Ven really hoped was just blood-red paint.

“Hey, Ven,” Chirithy meowed. “Terra didn’t come inside.”

Ven turned and, sure enough, Terra was lingering outside the gates with a scowl carved into his face. Vanitas noticed Ven’s gaze and strode back over to Terra in a few strides.

“You can’t come in, can you?” Vanitas’s smug grin made his teeth flash in the blinding desert sun.

“I didn’t want to go inside anyway,” Terra said. His voice was darker than Ven had ever heard it. “Go on without me.”

Ven looked between the two of them.

“Vanitas, can you-”

“It’s his own damn fault he’s sitting out there,” Vanitas said as he turned away. “The ward wouldn’t be keeping him out if he didn’t mean harm to my master. Didn’t your master teach you anything?”

Both Eraqus and Ven looked at Terra with new eyes.

“Harm your master?” Eraqus echoed softly.

“Do you not know what a ward is, old man?”

At the entrance of the house, Vanitas made a similar gesture with the same energy as sticking out a middle finger, but the door opened anyway. A chill greeted Ven the second he stepped foot inside the house. The air conditioner was a relief after the strain of an exorcism, but it wasn’t the air conditioner that made him shiver. The looming walls cradled a high ceiling painted with silver runes. Animal-head masks, elaborate clocks that ticked in perfect unison, and mirrors that didn’t reflect Ven’s face hung on the walls above polished ebony furniture. The whole place smelled sickly-sweet, but masked with sandalwood incense. The air was as sterile and cold as an art museum’s.

“Welcome,” Vanitas drawled. “Now, are you going to help my master or aren’t you?”

“It depends,” Eraqus said. “What happened?”

“Some nagic mayor bit the dust,” Vanitas said. “The nagics around here knew my master, and hated him for his power. All they needed was an excuse to arrest him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed him themselves as an excuse to put him under arrest. I’d almost admire them if they hadn’t-” Vanitas’s face became a blank mask. “They surrounded the house and shouted for him to come out. He could have killed them all, or waited them out, or just fled, but he didn’t. He stepped outside, just like they asked, and do you know how they repaid his courtesy?”

“I can guess,” Eraqus said quietly.

“They slammed him to the ground, shouting obscenities.” Vanitas’s emotionless mask cracked. “I thought it would be more satisfying to watch than it actually was. When your clan heard about his arrest, instead of offering to pay his bail or even hearing his side of the story, they tried to exorcise me.” The mask fell away completely by the prideful smirk splitting Vanitas’s face open. “They couldn’t even do that right.”

“Forgive me,” Eraqus said, “but I know Xehanort has done… less than scrupulous actions in the past.” He rubbed the scars on his face. “I need to know the truth. Did he kill this man?”

“If he really had, you would have never suspected him. He’s not nearly as sloppy as you all.”

“You make a fair point,” Eraqus said. “He always was clever. Doubtless he has a few plans in motion, even now…”

“If he does, he didn’t share them with me, and he shares almost everything with me,” Vanitas said. “Maybe his plan was for you to help him, since no one else seems to want to. Once his bail is set, he can pay it no problem, but-”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Eraqus said. “I would like to speak to your master directly-”

“Get in line.” Vanitas’s voice was terse. Ven supposed he’d feel just as stressed if his master was put in jail.

“-but I don’t know how possible that would be at the moment. The others in my clan may know more details.”

“We can check with them,” Aqua said. “Ven, you can stay with your brother while we do. Does that sound alright?”

Ven grinned. “Yeah.” He turned to Vanitas. “We can catch up!”

“Sure.” Vanitas was oddly subdued. “I’ll show you my room.”

Ven grinned.

“Very well,” Eraqus said after a pause. “We will return when we’ve finished speaking.”

They left the house. Ven turned to Vanitas.

“Come on. You have to show me everything.”

Chapter Text

Vanitas couldn’t stop looking at his brother. Seeing him stand in the cold hallways Vanitas had lived (well, not lived) in for four years was more mind-boggling than any of the magic he had seen or done during that time. It was exactly the kind of juxtaposition Master Xehanort had warned him against during his foolish sentimental moods when he wanted to contact his other siblings.

“Don’t touch that,” Vanitas snapped as Ventus leaned towards one of the masks hanging on the walls.

“I wasn’t gonna,” Ventus protested.

His nosiness hadn’t changed in the four years they had been separated. It gave Vanitas an idea.

“Follow me,” Vanitas said. “I’ll show you my room.”

Ventus practically jumped in excitement. The cat in his arms (probably his familiar) squeaked quietly in protest. Ventus must have noticed Vanitas’s glance, because as they were walking, he held out the gray tabby and showed him to Vanitas. The cat’s legs and torso drooped from his grip

“This is Chirithy. I found him a year after I started training with my master. Isn’t he cute?”

Cute. Now that was a word Vanitas wouldn’t be caught using.

“Sure,” he said in a razor-even voice.

“Do you have any familiars?” The smile dropped from Ventus’s face. “Or is it impossible because you’re dead?”

“It’s a little bit of both,” Vanitas said. “I’ll show you sometime.”

“Please do!”

He was so damn excited to see Vanitas. A part of Vanitas wanted to let himself get excited too, and actually catch up with his brother, but he couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear what the other witches would say about him and his master. He led Ventus through the endless marble halls and into his room.

The bed was neatly made in the exact same way it had been when Vanitas first walked into the room four years ago, but everything else had been changed. The floor was painted with a variety of ritual circles adorned with arcane runes. Piles of animal bones were stored on black shelves next to leather-bound tomes, chunks of obsidian, and bottles of nightshade and crude oil. A bundle of dried gray-green sage hung above the lightswitch. Its musty scent filled the expanse of the room instead of that of a living teenage boy. Aside from it and a single tarot card taped above the desk, the walls were bare.

“Woah,” Ventus said as he looked around at everything. “What does this do?” he asked, pointing at one of the racks of animal skulls. “Are those just for decoration?”

“No. I have to grab something. Don’t touch anything, and don’t snoop!”

“Wait, where are you going?”

Vanitas didn’t answer, just walked back out the door and returned to the darkness of the fourth plane. His ghost settled like he was a magnet returning to his correct polarity. While the lower planes were defined by scattered light and color, the fourth was an endless sea of shadow. Most ghosts were torn apart by the whirl of death and oblivion. The few that didn’t lost the majority of what they were.

For Vanitas, on the other hand, existing in and navigating through the fourth plane had been easier than learning to walk, despite the fact that he had never plane-walked even on the second plane before his death. He wasn’t foolish enough to think the plane liked him. His presence was nothing short of defiance of the very void he stewed in. The end was inevitable. Vanitas simply refused for it to happen that day or the next.

Translating between the shadows of the fourth plane and the geometry of the first had been difficult to master once upon a time. But being dead had given Vanitas nothing but time. Leaving Xehanort’s house was a simple matter. Ventus may have become less nosy in four years, but the temptation to snoop through Vanitas’s room would be so great he’d have to wrestle with it and not worry about where Vanitas was. And since Vanitas never tired, he could catch up with the older witches-

Chirp.

Vanitas looked down.

“Darkness and void between,” he muttered with a grimace.

He had forgotten about the cat. Familiars, especially cats, could see onto the fourth plane just as well as he could.

“Don’t you dare snitch on me.”

The cat meowed and sat in front of Vanitas.

“Don’t try to stop me, either. I’ll be your anchor on the third in exchange for your silence.”

The cat nodded, so, after a moment’s hesitation, Vanitas flickered to the third plane, lifted the cat, and held him in an approximation of Ventus’s cradle. The cat squirmed, but Vanitas just tightened his grip.

“You wanted to be picked up, didn’t you?”

Vanitas took off again. He and the cat were walking alongside the older witches in less than a minute. A silence had descended on the three of them, so thick Vanitas figured he could poke at it with the Keyblade hanging under his shirt.

The old man, Ventus’s master, looked like he would be the first to break it. He kept glancing at the young man with eyes the color of worn iron. He was wearing more chains around his neck, wrists, and fingers than a washed out eboy. Unlike an eboy, however, the old man actually had a use for the links draped on his body, as Vanitas had learned the hard way.

“So,” the old man finally said. The younger man, the one who was so pissy he had to stay outside, tensed. “You’ve met Xehanort?”

“Yes.” The younger man’s response was growled through clenched teeth.

He only had a smattering of jewelry: a total of three ear piercings, a nose ring, two rings on his fingers, and a single necklace with links so big Vanitas could spot a sigil engraved into at least one of them. The nose ring gave Vanitas pause, and not just because it, combined with the younger man’s mountainous figure, made him look like a bull; it was made of tiger’s eye.

Interesting choice.

Aside from a suspicion based on his choice of stone for a nose ring, Vanitas couldn’t intuit the man’s specialty. The woman in blue beside him was dripping with so much silver jewelry and piercings of colorful stones that Vanitas could immediately understand that she was an elementalist and a barrier-conjurer. The old man’s chains spoke for themselves. But the young man… well, if Vanitas’s hunch was correct, he couldn’t blame him for hiding his specialty.

After a deep breath, the young man’s jaw relaxed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You mentioned that Xehanort used to be part of our coven,” the woman said. “What happened?”

The Master used to be in their coven?

Vanitas wondered if that meant they had Keyblades tucked under their robes like he did.

The old man tightened his lips. “He used dark magic. It made him a danger to the coven and clan. I had to banish him for it. There isn’t much else to say.”

The younger man’s face crumpled at that. Silence descended and strangled them until they reached the other witches.

Their tent had been set up just outside of Xehanort’s property. It was surrounded with a barrier against attack spells on the second and third plane. There was a ward at the entrance, but it didn’t extend to the walls, so Vanitas just phased through the side of the tent. He wouldn’t harm anyone in the tent, but not because he had no desire to.

The interior of the tent resembled the war tents of old, complete with tapestries, floating lights that cast a musty glow on the make-shift room, and a polished hardwood table inscribed with what must have been the clan’s insignia. Vanitas was grateful he didn’t have to breathe the dense, stuffy air in the tent, but the witches seated around the table didn’t seem to mind it. Every single one was dressed in some variation of formal witch robes that they probably never took off.

“Welcome, Eraqus,” an old man said. The table was a round one, but he sat across from the entrance to the tent in a position clearly indicating he was a leader. He had the most stereotypical witch beard that Vanitas had ever seen. “It has been quite some time since we have seated a member of your coven here. Aqua, Terra, it is good to see you again.”

“Thank you, Yen Sid,” the two quietly chanted in unison as they took their place on both sides of their master’s seat.

“Let’s get to the point,” an old woman next to Yen Sid said. The lines on her round face suggested she smiled a lot, but there wasn’t a single smile to be found in the room. “Eraqus, a former member of your coven has been arrested for murdering an amagical official. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how severe of a crime this is. The amagicals-”

“I have good reason to believe he did not commit the crime in question,” Eraqus said. His voice was quiet, but firm.

“Regardless of his innocence vis-a-vis the murder, this incident has brought disturbing news to light,” another old man said. His beard wasn’t quite as ridiculous as Yen Sid’s, but it was a close call. “We had known, of course, that Xehanort had used dark magic, but we can see that his banishment has done nothing to curb such disturbing behavior.” Vanitas resisted the urge to throw a jinx at him. “If anything, it seems that it has lifted any inhibitions he may have possessed earlier.”

“Is there protocol for this?” a middle-aged woman asked. She was one of three middle-aged women clothed in matching garish robes. While their clan-mates mostly wore muted colors like dark or light blue, they stood out with bright colors that might have suited them forty years ago. Vanitas knew he could pull off the bright red better than she could.

“Is it even our place to take care of this?” another woman, draped in an obnoxious blue, shot back. “He’s been banished for years. Wouldn’t involving ourselves negate the purpose of banishment?”

“Are you joking?” A third robed woman asked. Her apple-green robes were nauseating against the red of her coven-mate beside her. “Dark magic is a threat to the World. It doesn’t matter which coven or clan a dark witch hails from- it’s every witch’s responsibility to stop them.”

“But he’s already been banished,” Second-Worst Beard said. “Is there really no protocol for this situation?”

“Of course there isn’t!” Obnoxious Blue exclaimed. “Legally, banished witches no longer exist- that’s the entire point!”

And so on and so forth. Vanitas could tell that the witches of the clan were like his master in their inability to get to the point, so he leapt onto the table and plopped down. The cat wriggled from Vanitas’s arms and settled beside him. Vanitas must have moved a little too quickly, or a little too close to Terra, because his eyes glowed gold for a second and focused on Vanitas.

Thought so. That explains the tiger’s eye.

Vanitas smirked and replied with a cheeky wave. Deep down, he was impressed Terra had the gall to use dark magic in a tent full of such close-minded witches, even if it was just a quick glance onto the fourth plane, but there was no way Terra could snitch without telling everyone he could use dark magic, too. The other witches were too stupid to see or understand the signifier literally hanging off his face.

Vanitas kept his gaze on Terra. The man clearly knew Xehanort and dark magic, a combination that was almost certainly not a coincidence, but Vanitas had never seen him before. Maybe he looked vaguely familiar, but he definitely wasn’t someone Xehanort had met with in the four years Vanitas spent under his tutelage. But the way that he had looked at Vanitas during their desert standoff made Vanitas think that maybe Terra recognized him- but how could he know Vanitas and not the other way around? Maybe it was just because Vanitas had the same face as Ventus.

“The situation is clear,” Yen Sid said, finally drawing Vanitas’s attention back to the conversation. “Xehanort’s use of dark magic has exceeded our initial understanding. However, his ability to work said magic is currently hampered due to his arrest. We must take this opportunity to investigate the extent to which he has conducted forbidden magic.”

“It’s a shame you exorcised his apprentice, Eraqus,” one of the witches said.

“I failed to exorcise him,” Eraqus said, “but one of my apprentices managed to pacify him.”

Vanitas resisted the urge to step back to the third plane and show them all how pacified he wasn’t.

“I don’t think he’ll cooperate with you,” Terra said to Yen Sid and the others. “Leave him to us.”

“Why should we trust someone so important with your coven?” Bright Red snapped.

“His apprentice managed to pacify Xehanort’s, so I see no better candidate at this table for dealing with him,” Yen Sid said. “Besides, there is no one else in the World who knows Xehanort like he does.”

“I have an idea on how to exorcise him as well, should the need arise,” Eraqus said.

“Then it is settled,” Yen Sid said. “Eraqus, you will take Xehanort’s apprentice. As for the rest of us, we need to investigate Xehanort’s activities, beginning with this apprenticeship in question. We will keep in touch. That will be all for now.”

“Good riddance,” a witch muttered.

Vanitas scowled. They were just like the foster agents, discussing his fate like he had no part in it. Well, the joke was on them. Vanitas wasn’t leaving his master. No apprentice worth their magic would. He wasn’t just some foster kid they could shove from home to home- not anymore.

Vanitas snatched the cat up and jumped off the table.

“Let’s go,” he growled.

By the time Vanitas returned to his room, Ventus was flipping through a book with the forced nonchalance of someone who definitely had not been reading in the last minute.

“What did you think of my room?” Vanitas asked, flickering onto the third plane without warning.

“I dunno,” Ventus said. “I didn’t poke around too much.”

“Did you find the dead body?” Vanitas joked.

Ventus held out his arms. Right, Vanitas was still holding his familiar. He tossed the cat back. The cat must have returned to the first plane as he did.

“Vanitas! Don’t throw him like he’s some sort of stuffed animal!”

“You caught him, didn’t you?”

Ventus scowled and readjusted the furry bundle in his arms. “That’s not the point.”

“You’re right,” Vanitas said. “The point is that you were snooping in my room.”

“I didn’t snoop that much! Well, except for the book.”

“Really? If that’s true, what were you doing while I was gone?”

“Listening to the meeting, stupid. I thought that was why you took Chirithy with you.”

Okay, maybe Vanitas should have realized that Ventus could listen through his familiar.

“Well, what did you think?” Vanitas asked with a sardonic smile. “Truly, your clan’s most noble representatives. You could tell they were petrified with concern over my master.”

“Don’t care about them. But you get to come with us, right?”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “Get? Those self-righteous bastards have no say over what I do or where I go. I’m staying here and waiting for my master to pay his bail like any good apprentice would. Did you really think I’d go with you?”

Ventus’s heartbreak was plain as day on his face.

“Yeah, I did! My mistake for thinking you missed me even half as much as I missed you!”

“This isn’t about you, Ventus. My master needs me here.”

“To do what?”

“To wait for him. I don’t need food or water, and I’ve lived for four years without anyone else. There’s nothing I need from anyone else, and the Master knows that. Wouldn’t you do the same for your master?”

“Master would never make me stay alone in an empty house,” Ventus said. His voice crackled like rustling foil. “He’d want me to stay with someone, anyone, just to talk to.”

“Your master’s a little bitch, anyway,” Vanitas said. “My bad for bringing him into this.”

“Don’t you want to see our siblings again?”

Ventus’s question was so out of left field that Vanitas’s mouth hung open for a split second. He closed it.

“Master wants me to stay here,” he managed to say.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Of course I want to see our siblings again!” Vanitas snapped.

He seethed internally. He had done so well for four years. With Master Xehanort’s help, he was able to pretend that they were dead to him and had never meant anything to him anyway. He had been able to pretend that he had no siblings, that he had never been anything other than Xehanort’s apprentice. And then Ventus had to show up and tear that illusion to pieces by standing there with those baby-blue eyes that used to mirror Vanitas’s own.

“Then come with us. Please.” Ventus’s voice was closer to the soft, quiet one that used to be the only thing he managed to squeak through. “It won’t be like those witches said. We won’t use you for the investigation. And I know you don’t want to leave your home again, and move to a new place again, and learn new rules with new people, but it’ll be different this time- I’ll be there.” His big eyes began to fill with tears. “Don’t you want to be able to live with me again? I thought I’d never be able to see you again!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Vanitas spat. “Of course I want to go with you.”

“Then come with us,” Ventus pleaded. “Once your master manages to pay his bail, we can take you back. Even if it’s just for a few days, I want to be able to see you. I want you to be able to see Sora and Roxas- and you haven’t seen Xion yet. She looks just like Mom.”

“Fine,” Vanitas said before he could stop himself.

Ventus lit up. “Really?”

This was a huge mistake. It was going to be a trainwreck for everyone involved.

But the temptation of being able to just watch Ventus have breakfast was too much, Xehanort be damned.

“Are you deaf or something?”

Ventus put his familiar down on the bed and raced towards Vanitas, forgetting or ignoring the planes between them, and tried to place his forehead against his. It passed through, but Vanitas tried to put the tip of his head against where Ventus’s was anyway.

“Thank you. I missed you.”

“Missed you too, stupid.”

Vanitas didn’t mean to say that, but he didn’t mind that it slipped out

Chapter Text

“Welcome home!”

Ven made a grand gesture to the storefront as Eraqus unlocked it, but he was keenly aware how average it looked. Enchanted jewelry sat in enchanted display cases that cast the store walls with a kaleidoscope of colors on the second plane. Rows of dried herbs and flowers hung from the ceiling. Tables with trays of amulets and cut stones were squeezed between shelves stuffed with more herb bundles, candles, and small bottles of oils and potions. Witch crafting was different than amagical crafting, so the entire workbench could fit behind the shimmering bead curtain separating the shop from the rest of the building. While the shop was neat enough, behind the curtain, the workbench was sprinkled with a layer of sawdust and metal scraps.

Vanitas visibly wrinkled his nose from the strong scent of incense, even though they hadn’t burned any that day.

“You live here?” Vanitas asked.

Ven gestured to the wooden staircase tucked against the wall. “Our apartment is upstairs.”

The apartment was much messier than the shop and gave the workbench a run for its money. The main room was a kitchen, a living room, and a dining room all at once. The walls were dotted with spirit tags and prints of various sizes and colors. There was an island surrounded by rickety stools and covered in jars, vials, and used tea cups. The coffee table was also cluttered, but with stones, a pendulum, amulets and talisman at various stages of completion, and a map Ven had forgotten to put away. There was another table in the corner of the room that resembled a proper dining room table, but it was so covered in worn spellbooks, leather-bound grimoires, and scattered papers that Vanitas probably couldn’t even tell.

If Ven had known they would have returned with another person, they might not have left the house looking so bad. Eraqus’s grimace told Ven that he was thinking the same thing. Ven grabbed the map from the coffee table and put it away as if that alone could make a difference.

“Change out of your robes before you start cleaning,” Aqua said gently.

“Right,” Ven said.

It was late enough that instead of slipping his clothes on the floor back on, he put on a pair of pajama pants and a tank top. When Terra finished changing into sweatpants and a t-shirt, Ven opened the door and, after remembering to put his dirty clothes into the hamper, gestured to Vanitas.

“This is our bedroom. There aren’t enough bedrooms for all of us, so we have to share it. It’s the best one, though. We even have a beanbag!”

Vanitas stepped into the room. He looked so transparent compared to the shimmer of the hanging prisms, the posters and charts plastered all over the walls, the plants growing in the windowsill, the two dressers stuffed until they were overflowing, and the trophies and ribbons from Bonfire festivals crowded on top of the dressers. He looked every bit like the ghost he was.

Ven must have been staring at Vanitas, but Vanitas was staring back at Ven’s shoulder. He followed his gaze to the tattoos that were there.

“Oh yeah,” Ven said. “You never got to be old enough to get sigil tattoos.” He pointed to the largest one at the top of his shoulder. “This is mine. These two” he gestured to the ones midway between his elbow and the top of his shoulder “are Aqua and Terra’s. Master Eraqus’s is right below theirs, but it’s also kind of our coven’s sigil. When our siblings come of age, I’ll get theirs too.”

“Between yours and the others?”

“Nah.”

“Why’d you leave a gap, then? It looks dumb.”

“The gap is yours, stupid,” Ven said without venom. “You never made a sigil, but I figured it would be wrong of me to leave you out.”

“That’s cute,” Vanitas said, “but I do have a sigil.”

“Really? What does it look like?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Can you even draw it?” Ven blurted. It was a bit rude, but he didn’t realize until he had already asked it.

“Of course I can,” Vanitas said. Thankfully, he sounded more cocky than offended. “But I’m not going to. If your master finds it, he’ll try to use it to exorcise me.”

Ah. Right. The unfortunate fact that Vanitas was dead and therefore didn’t belong in his room, but in the Other Place. He needed to move on. It was Ven’s duty to help him do that.

But Vanitas was right. If Eraqus couldn’t exorcise him, how could Ven? Nevermind the fact that Eraqus had mentioned he had an idea at the clan meeting. Ven just needed to enjoy the time with his brother instead of dreading when he might have to exorcise him.

“Cheer up, Ven. It’s not like he can get your sigil tattooed on his arm,” Terra said.

Ven blinked. Despite the fact that he was lounging on his bed, Ven had forgotten that Terra had been right there the entire time.

“Do you always butt into conversations that don’t involve you?” Vanitas shot at Terra.

“Hey!” Ven exclaimed. “Don’t be mean. This is Terra’s room, too.”

Terra smiled and waved. Vanitas scowled.

“I don’t appreciate other people interrupting private conversations,” he said.

“Alright. Next time you won’t even know I’m here.”

But Vanitas was already leaving the room. Ven huffed and collapsed on the beanbag.

Typical.

After a minute or so of staring at the ceiling, Chirithy came padding into the room and crawled into Ven’s lap. He was asleep within seconds. After the day they all just had, Ven couldn’t blame him.

Ven’s phone buzzed. He managed to fish it out of his pocket without disturbing Chirithy.

Ven scrolled through the texts he had missed in their group chat with her, Ephemer, and Brain. They were all brainstorming when to next meet for the assignment they had received in their computer science class.

‘Of course I am,’ Ven wanted to respond.

Had he really never told them? Skuld, Ephemer, and Brain were some of his best friends.

Wasn’t that the question of the day?

Ven smiled. There still was a burst of excitement from the knowledge that he could actually see his brother again.

“Ven?”

The sound of Terra’s voice made Ven look up from his phone. Terra was looking up at the underside of Ven’s bunk with eyes that seemed to stare years into the past.

“Yeah?”

“What was Vanitas like?” Terra asked. “I mean, before now.”

Ven paused. Of course they didn’t know what Vanitas was like. They had never met him. It was obvious.

But the realization that none of his friends had never really perceived Ven as a twin before was a lonely one. Vanitas was like an entire side of Ven that they had hardly even known about.

“He isn’t that much different, to be honest,” Ven finally said. “If anything, he’s… more confident in who he is than before.”

Terra sat up with narrowed eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. It was hard when it was just the two of us going from foster home to foster home. Sometimes he’d practice his elemental magic on me but then he’d get mad if I practiced it on him.” Ven frowned. “It sounds bad now that I say it out loud, but those foster homes weren’t nice places. Vanitas wasn’t exactly polite before, but they made him turn from grumpy to cruel.” Ven sighed. “He kept us safe. He was scary so I didn’t have to be.”

“Were you ever scared of him?” Terra asked quietly.

Ven paused.

“Not scared,” he finally said. “But it was annoying when he insisted I was the one who had to be the target for his lightning spells. The smaller ones. They still hurt.” He paused again. “Now that I say these things out loud… it really was messed up, wasn’t it?”

“Everyone has at least one asshole phase when they’re younger,” Terra said bluntly. “Aqua bossed me around when we were in middle school. She thought that if she just told me what I was doing wrong, people at school would find me less weird and I’d have more friends.”

“What was your phase?”

“It was much worse,” Terra said. “Anyway, even if you’re mean when you’re younger, you have to grow out of it. But I’m worried Vanitas might never have grown out of it.” Terra’s face darkened. “He wasn’t in a situation that encouraged growth like that.”

Ven ran his fingers through Chirithy’s fur with a grunt. If Vanitas crossed the line from mean to cruel, would Ven really have to exorcise him after all? It wasn’t a pleasant thought.

“Ven.”

Terra’s voice was much gentler this time. Ven looked up.

“Take it easy,” he continued. “It’s been a long day. Want me to grab you a book or something?”

“That’d be great. Thanks.”

After all, if Terra was right, the days ahead would be no shorter.

Ven awoke to the nudge of a soft cat muzzle.

“Morning, Chirithy,” Ven murmured.

“Feed me,” Chirithy meowed. “I’m hungry.”

“Is it sunrise?”

“It will be in ten minutes.”

“Really?”

“Would I lie to you?”

Ven grunted and scratched him behind the ears before getting up and climbing down the ladder. On the way down, he nudged Terra’s shoulder with his foot.

“Morning.”

Terra opened his eyes, got up, and stretched. “Morning, Ven.”

Ven put a scoop of cat food into Chirithy’s bowl and got dressed. On the way to the bathroom, he passed an already-dressed Aqua in the hallway.

“Good morning, Ven.”

“Good morning, Aqua.”

He stared in the mirror. The face that stared back didn’t resemble Vanitas’s as much as it used to. Most of that was due to the fact they had different colored eyes now, and Vanitas had started stealing black hair dye since their third or fourth foster home, so their hair hadn’t been the same shade for even longer. But now there were even more differences. Ven’s cheekbones were the slightest bit more defined, and he had to deal with facial hair now.

“Terra,” Ven called as he started putting on shaving cream. “Have you shaved yet?”

“No, but-”

Ven interrupted him by covering his face in the excess shaving cream still on his hands. Terra scowled but endured it.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “Shaving cream is really cheap. No shame in just washing the excess off.”

“It’s more fun this way,” Ven said with a cheeky smile.

Terra didn’t argue with that.

Ven finished getting ready and trotted down the creaky stairs and out the back door, into the garden. Apparently, when Eraqus had first moved in, it was a little-used dirt parking lot shared with the barber shop and the bakery on either side of them. However, as the years passed, potted herbs and colorful flowers slowly overtook it until everyone knew it was their garden. Shop employees began to eat their lunches on one of the wooden benches that Terra had carved and snuck fruit from the trees and bushes scattered throughout the lot.

These days, parking was a much more precious commodity, but no one suggested turning the garden back into a parking lot.

Ven put on a bucket hat embroidered with bees and his pair of too-big gardening gloves. Eraqus was already in the garden, sitting on a bench and looking at the early morning sun-lit sky.

“Good morning, Master!”

“Good morning, Ven. Have you seen Vanitas?”

Ven stiffened.

“Not since yesterday,” he said. “He’s still here; well, not here-here, but I don’t think he’s gone to the Other Place.”

“I see.”

Ven turned to tend to the plants. The soil was dark and rich from the compost pile Terra so-lovingly tended. Not many of the plants needed water… The rosemary stood, tall and proud in its pot. Ven debated whether or not to trim it back, but the summer solstice was close enough that he decided to wait; herbs harvested then were extra potent. The mint, on the other hand, was beginning to spread again. It was constantly challenging the household in an endless turf war as it spread from the pot to the scattered dirt outside of the building. Even as the household cut it back for fresh tea, sweet lemonade, and fragrant oil, it stubbornly refused to stop expanding outside of its pot.

The sage stretched in the sun. Ven didn’t really have a favorite plant, but if he did, it might have been sage. He removed a glove to brush its soft leaves with his hand. Its sweet scent reminded him of the desert where he had last seen his brother. The plant almost glowed with affection and care. Ven wanted to believe that was because he was a good enough gardener to foster a plant out of its favored habitat, but he couldn't deny the effect of the various charms and stone amulets pressed into the soil-

“I almost forgot!” Ven yelped.

He raced back inside, discarded his gloves, and grabbed the crystal charm and the small white candle he had left on the work desk Terra had carved for him. Ven hoped it wasn’t too late in the morning to finish his plans for it.

Aqua frowned as she saw him race in.

“I meant to remind you about that. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Do you think it’s too late?”

“Not at all,” Aqua said. “It’s still in the golden hour. You’re lucky it’s sunny today.”

“Sweet!”

Ven raced back outside and forced himself to take calming breaths. The candle flickered into living flame in his hand. With the other hand, Ven held up the crystal to the sky. The almost-spring sunlight lit the crystal with a bright glow. He closed his eyes and basked in the warm caress of the morning sun.

“I dream every night and I think every day of a far-off meadow that is thick with flowers,” Ven chanted, “which is yours… which is ours…”

His words rang through the garden like a bell. Magic from the fire in his hands and the endless light of the sun lazily trickled through Ven and into the amulet. Finally, just when Ven’s arms were starting to quietly ache from holding the position for so long, Ven felt the crystal begin to pulse with power like a beating heart. If he had been watching it, he would have seen it glimmer on all of the planes he could see.

“Yes!” he hissed. He blew out the candle and returned inside. He raced up the stairs and placed the newly-charged crystal in the pot with his sickly dandelion plant.

“There we go,” he said with a smile. “That should help.”

The dandelion perked up a little, like it was smiling back at him.

Ven returned downstairs and put his gloves back on from where they had been discarded on the floor.

Oops. Ven fervently hoped Eraqus or Aqua didn’t notice.

“Ven,” Eraqus said when he returned outside.

Ven jumped.

“Yes, Master?”

If Ven had been in trouble, Eraqus would have used his full name, but maybe he saw that Ven had left the gloves on the floor inside…

“I don’t think you needed the candle,” he said.

Ven relaxed in relief and then understood what Eraqus had said.

“You think I could have done the spell without it?”

“Yes,” Eraqus said. “Try charging your next charm without the aid of a candle. I’m certain you will be able to do it.”

Ven nodded his head. “Thank you, Master.”

He returned to gardening with a smile on his face.

“You need some water,” Ven murmured to the basil. “You always do.” He looked at the blueberries. “You do, too. And someone’s been munching on your leaves…”

Ven hummed as he worked. Mornings in the garden reminded him of his childhood in Daybreak Town, where his father would labor over soil beds and seeds. Their father, amagical though he was, thought there was magic just in how plants transmuted sunlight and water into food for him to cook. Ven couldn’t help but agree. Vanitas, on the other hand, had always hated gardening. Ven wondered if that was still the case...

Birdsong shook him out of his memories. Ven echoed the song, and they sung together for a while, human and bird.

He was almost done weeding when an unfamiliar chirping drew Ven’s gaze upwards.

“Oh, you’re new. I don’t think I recognize you.”

The bird’s chirping was off in a way Ven couldn’t put his finger on it. Once it landed on the tree branch, every other bird in the vicinity took flight. Ven narrowed his eyes. It didn’t look like an evil spirit, just a bird, and it didn’t look like there was a concealment on it. Faintly, he could see something red glowing on the second and third planes…

“Master, do you think there’s something… off about that bird?”

Eraqus squinted up at it.

“Yes. Copy down the sigil on its chest. Your assignment today is to tell me what that sigil means.”

“Do you not know, Master?”

“I simply hope I am wrong,” Eraqus said. He got up and walked back inside.

Ven grabbed a notepad and a pencil and copied down the sigil onto it. He frowned down at it. It was time to get to work.

After breakfast.

Ven groaned in frustration and plopped his head on the book. The table underneath it thudded in response. The fact that it was a table again instead of a collection of texts and the rest of the room was just as clean was because Eraqus expected a clean house. It had nothing to do with Ven’s dread for fruitlessly searching through symbol encyclopedias.

Eraqus wouldn’t give him any hints, Terra said that the symbol was only vaguely familiar, and Aqua had never seen it before. Chirithy was curled on a chair next to his, sleeping deeply. Ven’s teacup was long empty, and sleep was tugging on his eyelids. Maybe the answer would come to him in his dreams.

“Giving up on life? Can’t blame you. The afterlife has its perks.”

“Vanitas!”

Ven stood so quickly that the teacup would have spilled if there was anything left in it. Chirithy jumped up with a small hiss. Vanitas had just appeared on top of the table, a smug grin on his face.

“Good morning.”

Seeing his brother again filled Ven with relief, foreboding, joy, frustration, and worry. He resigned himself to the same whirlwind of emotions whenever he saw Vanitas.

“Where have you been?”

Vanitas plopped down on the table and crossed his legs. “I didn’t realize I answered to you.”

“You were gone. I was worried.”

“I can take care of myself, Venty. I was adjusting to my surroundings. That’s the good thing about being a ghost- you learn how to kill time very easily.”

Ven put the encyclopedia he had just finished into the ‘read’ pile on the other side of the table.

“Well, good morning, Vanitas.”

When was the last time he had been able to say that? Four years ago? It was a habit Ven wished he could keep forever.

“What are you doing?”

Ven held up the symbol. “Looking for this. It’s my assignment from the Master today.”

Vanitas raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? That’s easy.”

“You know what it is?”

“Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t.”

“Vanitas-”

“Your first mistake is looking in light magic anthologies. Is that all the old man has?”

“Duh. We’re not dark witches,” Ven said.

Vanitas smiled darkly. “Know thy enemy.”

“You’re not my enemy.”

“But I am a dark witch. I work on the spooky, evil fourth plane. Hell, I exist on it. I’m a walking nature taboo.”

“Well, dark magic is dangerous,” Ven said with the same bluntness as if he had just said ‘the sun rises every morning.’

Vanitas rolled his eyes. “Any magic is dangerous in the right hands.”

“Speaking of hands…” Chirithy mused. “Ven, Vanitas’s hands smell like death.”

“Don’t be rude,” Ven chided. “He’s a ghost.”

“No, he smells like death more than he did yesterday.” Chirithy sniffed. “He should probably get off the dining room table.”

“It’s not like we eat there anyway,” Ven said.

Vanitas fixed his glowing eyes on Chirithy. “I’d pay money to know what he’s saying.”

“Like you have any money,” Ven retorted.

“True. Anyway, get a dark magic book. You’ll find it almost immediately, I bet.”

“Can’t you just tell me what it is?”

Vanitas smiled. “What’s the fun in that? I’m sure your master wouldn’t want me to just give you the answer.”

“He says I’m allowed to use any resources I have available,” Ven grumbled.

“Why didn’t you just google it?” Vanitas asked

Ven gestured to his gummiphone. “Already tried. Reverse-search didn’t work.”

“There are other ways, but it’ll be easier to just use a dark magic book. If you don’t have any, then ask me again. I’ll tell you if you pay me 5000 munny.”

“No way,” Ven said. “Besides, what would you even do with it?”

Instead of answering Ven’s question, Vanitas disappeared.

“Come on!”

“Do your homework, Venty,” Vanitas’s disembodied voice taunted.

“What am I supposed to do if he doesn’t have any dark magic books?”

“I guess you’ll die.”

“Vanitas, that’s not funny!”

“Of course it is. I’m hilarious.”

Ven grumbled and went to find Eraqus.

The only dark magic book in the house was on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in Eraqus’s room. When Ven pulled it out, his fingers were immediately stained with dust. After lying on his stomach and carefully flipping through the yellowed pages, he finally found the symbol near the back.

Ven frowned as he read and reread the passage. He picked up the book and took it to Eraqus downstairs. Chirithy followed.

“I found the symbol,” he said. “That bird was an Unversed. There’s a necromancer in the neighborhood.”

“I was afraid that was the case,” Eraqus said. “And I don’t wish to point fingers, but-”

“It’s Vanitas,” Chirithy said. “No doubt. That’s why I smelled death on him. And he has a bunch of connections similar to the one he has to you.”

“I didn’t see anything like that,” Ven said.

“Of course you didn’t,” Chirithy said. “They’re on the sixth and seventh plane. I doubt even Vanitas can see them. I think they’re to his Unversed.”

Ven translated for Eraqus. He tightened his lips.

“This shouldn’t be a surprise. He did mention that he had Unversed yesterday. And considering Xehanort is his master… Well, that doesn’t matter. Follow me, Ventus.”

Ven followed Eraqus back to the garden. The Unversed hadn’t moved. In fact, now that Ven knew what to look for, it looked like a dead animal, but when they stepped closer, its head snapped towards them. It took off, but Eraqus was faster. Ven blinked. When he opened his eyes, Eraqus’s hand was held out. One of the chains on his wrist glowed and shot towards the Unversed.

“Begone,” Eraqus said.

By the time the bird fell to the ground, it had crumpled to dust. Ven heard a yelp.

“Darkness and void between!”

A few seconds later, Vanitas appeared in front of the two of them, eyes narrowed in irritation and hands covered in dark lightning.

“What the fuck, old man?”

Eraqus hardly blinked. “I do not allow dark magic in my house, no matter the form.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have invited a dark witch to live with you! Maybe I should break some of your things enchanted with light magic. Then we’d be even.”

“Do not draw a false equivalency between dark magic and light magic.”

Vanitas looked at Ven. “Are you going to back me up?”

Before Ven could answer, Terra walked out the back door.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Your stupid master killed one of my Unversed for no good reason,” Vanitas spat.

“I will not allow dark magic on the premises,” Eraqus repeated.

Vanitas pointed at Terra. “What about him?”

Ven blinked. “What about him? Terra doesn’t do dark magic.”

For some reason, that made Vanitas laugh. The lightning disappeared from his hands.

“Fine. Have it your way. No more Unversed around the house.”

Vanitas disappeared inside the house. Ven sighed. He had hoped they could manage at least a day without a fight, but maybe that was too much to hope for. And it wasn’t like Vanitas was really going to obey. Unless he had undergone significant personal transformation (and it didn’t look like it), all he would do would be to hide his Unversed and only avoid dark magic when Eraqus wasn’t watching.

Well, at least Ven knew it was really Vanitas. And having Vanitas back in his life would be worth all of the headaches and arguments.

It would.

Chapter Text

Vanitas was settling down for the night when he heard the cat yelp.

“I’m sorry!” Ventus yelped in response.

Vanitas perked his ears and barely heard a grumble from the cat.

“I can’t see in the dark, sorry,” Ventus replied. “Besides, what do you expect when you stretch out on my bed like a croissant?”

Vanitas couldn’t help but chuckle at that. The cat must have been far less amused, because Vanitas heard him climb down the bunk bed’s ladder and stretch out on the couch next to him.

“Even you’re diurnal?” Vanitas asked him. “That’s a shame.”

The cat didn’t bother responding, or if he did, Vanitas couldn’t understand him. He grabbed a large book (on tea magic, apparently) off the shelf, quickly tossed it onto the couch before it could fall through his hands, and settled down for the night.

Vanitas wasn’t used to quiet nights anymore. He was used to feeling the night air stir through his ghostly form as he felt the magic of the World itself. But only dark witches were nocturnal, so unless he wanted to create more Unversed (and he didn’t really feel like it that night), all he could do was while away the hours. At least he didn’t need the lights on to read.

Vanitas was three-fourths of his way through the spellbook when he heard someone stir.

Terra emerged from the bedroom hallway with pajama pants and the wide, alert eyes of someone who had jolted awake from a nightmare.

“Good morning,” Vanitas said, showing himself on the third plane without warning.

Unfortunately, Terra didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even look twice at the way Vanitas’s eyes glowed in the pre-dawn shadows.

“Morning,” he replied. “Figures you’d be up. What time is it?”

“Almost five.”

“I see,” Terra said. “And you can interact with the first plane enough to read?”

“I can’t pick up the book, and sometimes it’s a pain to flip the pages, but I make it work. I don’t even need lights.”

“That’s just because of your dark magic.”

Vanitas looked up from his book, the smallest of smiles on his face.

“Most witches don’t know that.”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “Most don’t.”

Terra left. At first, Vanitas thought he had fled the conversation, but he returned with a laundry basket filled with dry clothes. He flipped on the lights (despite Vanitas’s grumbling), sat down on the couch between where Vanitas had been reading and where Chirithy was stirring, and started folding clothes.

Chirithy woke up, stretched, and jumped into the laundry basket and onto the soft clothing.

“Chirithy, I’m folding these,” Terra muttered, but he made no move to knock the cat away. Instead, he scooped up as many clothes as he could tug out from beneath Chirithy’s paws, dropped them on his lap, and started folding those. Vanitas plucked a pair of socks from beneath Chirithy’s tail. They fell through his hands before he could move them to his lap.

Disappointed, but not surprised, he moved faster, folding the socks into each other in one smooth motion before letting them fall to the couch.

“Not bad,” Terra said. “Here.”

He handed him all of the small pieces from the pile. Vanitas wrinkled his nose.

“I’m not folding underwear,” he said.

“What are you, eight?” Terra asked. “It’s clean. Didn’t you fold your master’s underwear?”

“Ew, no. We had one of those new-fangled folding machines. All I had to fold were socks.”

“If you’re that scared of little bolts of cloth, I can-”

“I’m not scared,” Vanitas said. “It’s just gross.”

“So you think underwear is gross, but not dead animals?”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “My Unversed are marvels of magic. This is someone else’s underwear.”

Terra shrugged.

“What do you specialize in?” Vanitas asked.

“Earth magic and amulets,” Terra said.

“Of course you would specialize in dad magic,” Vanitas said.

“I have two apprentices, so if the shoe fits, I’ll wear it,” Terra said with a tiny smile.

Ugh.

“Well, at least I’ve never heard of a dark amulet. How do you manage to use dark magic on one? I’m curious.”

Terra stiffened. “I would never use dark magic on an amulet. They’re supposed to be protective.”

He folded the shirt. The movement of his wrist revealed a small tattoo on its inside: Do no harm.

Vanitas scoffed. “I hoped that at least you would be better than your master, but you’re worse than the rest of your clan put together.”

Terra put down the shirt he had been folding. “What?”

“Your master and the rest might be squeamish about the fourth plane, but at least they’re consistent about it. You look at the fourth plane one day and curse its existence the next.”

“That’s because I hate dark magic more than the rest of them put together,” Terra said darkly. He picked up another shirt and began folding it with quick, jerky movements. “I only use it if I have to, and hate it even then. I don’t like the person I am when I use it.”

“Don’t blame your self-esteem issues on the fourth plane. Your magic is a gift; all of it is a gift, and yet you scorn it. Pathetic.” Vanitas paused. “Didn’t our master teach you better?”

The shirt dropped from Terra’s hands. Vanitas had never seen a big man look so small.

“I knew it,” Vanitas said. “You were his first student. The one who ran because he was too much of a coward.”

“I ran because of what he did to you!”

The cat stirred.

“Easy,” Vanitas said with the snidest smile he could conjure. “You’ll wake the rest of the house. Wouldn’t want your precious friends to know about all of the evil dark magic you know.”

“They already know,” Terra said. “We just don’t talk about it. And if there’s a way to use dark magic that doesn’t involve hurting people or breaking a nature taboo, maybe I'd consider learning more.”

“That’s a little difficult when people like you claim the whole art is a nature taboo. Besides, don’t pretend the best way through life is with clean hands. What’s wrong with hurting people or spirits who hurt you or the people you care about? Even you have to admit that there are times when causing harm does more good in the end, the tattoo on your wrist be damned.”

“I don’t like hurting people anymore.”

“Well, that sounds like your problem,” Vanitas said. He folded the last of the socks and threw the pair at Terra’s head. Terra’s face scrunched into a scowl when they bounced off his thick skull. “Who knows? Maybe if you grew a pair, you’d be less of an ass about everything. Until then, it isn’t like the fourth plane is going to stop calling you.”

Terra frowned. “I wish it would.”

Vanitas smiled nastily. “It won’t, and we both know it.”

Terra looked like he was considering throwing the pair of underwear in his hands at Vanitas’s head, but folded it and put it down instead.

Honestly, Vanitas had no clue why Ventus had made friends with such a prick.

Chapter Text

Sora’s favorite part of the day was always directly after school. He knew that it wasn’t too unusual; school was boring and the relief of being free from it was nearly universal. After-school clubs and activities were always more fun. But for Sora, the best part of those minutes after the final bell rang was the flurry of friends around him. Both Kairi and Roxas were in his class, but since Roxas had other friends, Sora usually didn’t really see him until they had both returned home from the day. Kairi, on the other hand, usually stuck by Sora for the rest of the afternoon.

Riku was waiting outside their classroom, as usual. Sometimes Sora swore he raced to the doorway the second class ended, but he was never out of breath, and Riku denied it. Still, how else could he get there so quickly? As usual, there was a small group of people who wanted to pet Mickey, Riku’s mouse familiar, before heading out for the day. Sora waved to them and waited with excited feet as they got their pets in.

Once Riku put Mickey back into his shirt’s front pocket, they didn’t get more than a few feet away before someone else waved at them.

Sora smiled and waved back.

“Hey, Beat!”

“‘Sup, Sora? Me and Phones were gonna hit the skate park. Do you and Roxas wanna join?”

“We’d love to,” Roxas said, “but we didn’t bring our boards. Besides, our big brother wants us at his shop. Says he has a surprise for us.”

“Yeah,” Sora said. “But say hi to Neku for us!”

“You know it!” Beat said with a wave. “Hope it’s a good surprise!”

Riku glanced at Roxas. “Is that why Roxas is joining us today?”

“It wasn’t because I have a burning desire to see your face,” Roxas replied without missing a beat.

Sora moved between them and quietly hoped neither of them would start anything. Luckily, a distraction caught his eye.

“Selphie! Wakka!” Sora called. “What’s up?”

Selphie and Wakka looked up and waved.

“We’re headed to the play island,” Sephie said. “I’d ask if you’d like to join us, but-”

“Yeah, I have training,” Sora said with a shrug and a smile. “Have fun.”

“We will!”

His most favorite part of after school was stepping out of the school gates.

“Donald! Goofy!”

Every day, without fail, the duck and dog that had been grumbling at passersby (in Donald’s case) or enjoying a pet or two (in Goofy’s case) stopped what they were doing and raced towards Sora, who welcomed the furry and feathery embrace with open arms.

“Sora!” Donald squaked.

“Did you have a good day at school?” Goofy asked.

“I dunno,” Sora said. “Ven sent us a text this morning. Something about a surprise. I couldn’t pay attention to anything the teachers said after that.”

“Like you can pay attention anyway,” Donald grumbled.

Sora laughed. “Guilty!”

The freshmen of their little group were already waiting at the bus stop. Xion was showing something on her phone to Naminé. Nixio, Riku’s little brother, was as far away from the rest of them as he could while still being part of the bus-mongering crowd. Sora gave him a smile and a wave anyway.

“Hey, is your master cool with us taking Xion for the afternoon?” he asked.

“I dunno,” Nixio said. “Want me to ask?”

“I already asked Even,” Xion said as they ruffled the fur around Goofy’s ears. “He said it’s fine.”

“Great! Any idea what Ven’s surprise is?”

“No idea,” Xion said. She smiled cheekily. “But I guess that if you knew, we’d all know already.”

“Nuh-uh!” Sora protested. “I’m, like, the best secret-keeper ever.”

“Twelfth birthday,” Roxas said with a gently teasing smile.

“That doesn’t count! Quit bringing it up!”

The bus driver didn’t even look twice at Donald and Goofy as they all piled into the bus. The seats near the back door of the bus weren’t always free, but when they were, they were theirs. Sora leapt into his favorite grubby plastic seat. Donald insisted on having the entire seat next to Sora to himself, while Kairi took the other one. Goofy sat at Sora’s feet, and Riku grabbed the rail in front of him and leaned forward.

“I did some road trip math,” Riku said, “and I think I have enough money for a few weeks of driving, but it’d last longer if we slept in the van.”

“Is the Highwind warm enough for us to sleep in it?” Kairi asked. “The mainland’s a lot colder than the islands. In warmer areas, we could maybe sleep outside if we brought sleeping bags.”

“Well,” Sora said, “Ven said that the last foster home he and Vanitas shared was in the desert. You know, the big one right off the coast of the mainland. Since we’re going during summer vacation, we’ll probably have the opposite problem.”

“I wouldn’t trust the van’s AC that much,” Riku said. “I’ll triple check that it’s working before we set off.”

Somewhere closer to the very back of the bus, Roxas laughed at something Naminé said. It reminded Sora of the thing he had been putting off since he conceived of this road trip.

“Look, I know you and Roxas don’t get along,” Sora said, “but I need to invite him and Xion anyway. Vanitas was- is their brother, too. If they want to come-”

“I know,” Riku grumbled. “Ask ‘em. If they want to come, I’ll live with it.”

“They’ll probably say no,” Sora said. “Xion wouldn’t want to miss any work at the lab, and Roxas wouldn’t want to go an entire summer vacation without hanging out with his friends. But we should ask anyway.”

“I’d ask if we could bring Naminé, but Father would never let her go,” Kairi said.

“Speaking of parents, have you asked yours?” Riku asked.

“Mom already said yes,” Kairi said. “I’m going to spend all weekend with Father for the next few weeks so I can give him as many visitation hours as he’d want over the summer.”

“Forget parents,” Riku said to Sora, “have you told Ven what you’re planning on doing?”

“Have you told Terra?” Sora retorted.

The bus stopped. Nixio and Xion stood up from their seats, but Roxas nudged Xion’s shoulder.

“Not today, remember?”

“Right!” Xion looked at Nixio. “Tell Even that I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Nixio said. “Enjoy your surprise.”

Sora looked out the window instead of continuing their earlier conversation. There was the purple house with the weird sphere bin and the apartment building with the plants growing all over it. There was the coffee shop with subpar drinks that tourists flocked to. Sora had ridden the bus route so many times that he knew every quirky feature on the way. He was glad he and his siblings were able to finally be able to stay in one place long enough to learn its ins and outs. It was nice to know for certain that he would be going to the same school the next day and the next year. But at the same time, Sora longed to see the world outside the islands and learn their quirks on his own terms. He’d be driving the van, not some foster agent.

(Well, only Riku could drive, so Sora wouldn’t actually be driving the van, but it was the thought that counted).

Their stop was at the gondola station at the end of the line. Sora tugged his wallet out of his pocket and prepared to swipe for his second form of public transportation for the day.

The view as the gondola ascended the mountain never got old. It was a completely different world than the bright beach that surrounded Sora’s neighborhood. The trees were thick-needled and dark. In the winter, mist and rain clouds circled the summit like silver serpents. Even in the spring, the mountain itself seemed to muffle the tourist-packed clamour of below with its forest-fragrant air.

In Sora’s opinion, it was the perfect place for a witch shop to be. Sora picked up Donald and let Goofy trot behind him. As their gaggle ambled to the shop, Sora let his friends’ chatter settle around his ears and enjoyed the sunbeams peeking through the clouds.

Suddenly, Riku held his hand out and stopped Sora in his tracks.

“Wait. Something is wrong.”

Goofy sniffed the air.

“Gawrsh, Riku is right,” Goofy said. “Something smells funny.”

“I can’t feel anything,” Naminé said.

“Neither can I,” Kairi said.

Riku pointed to the ditch to their left. “There!”

Everyone looked. Donald fluttered his feathers.

“There is something there!” he squawked.

Roxas marched closer to the ditch. “It’s just a rat, idiots.”

“It’s a cool rat, though,” Xion said.

Sora took a closer look. It was, indeed, a rat, but it looked different than most rats. Its fur was rattier (no pun intended), its eyes were blanker, and it was constantly twitching.

“You’re the idiot,” Riku said. “Look on one of the higher planes.”

Sora peered onto the third plane. Sure enough, there was a glowing sigil on its back.

“There’s some kind of link to it,” Donald said. “Is it a familiar?”

“I don’t think so,” Sora said. “It doesn’t feel like a familiar.”

The rat turned and bolted. Xion chased after it.

“Wait!” Roxas shouted. “What about the surprise?”

Xion stopped and turned around. She was pouting slightly.

“It better be a good surprise,” they said.

“Following it might have been a trap, anyway,” Riku said. “We can ask Terra and the others about it after this surprise of theirs.”

Their gaits were all a little faster as they finished the walk to the shop.

They were less than a block from the shop when Sora heard a mew.

“Chirithy!”

Chirithy meowed a greeting.

“Telling Ven we’re almost there?”

Chirithy nodded and bolted back to the shop.

“Something’s still off,” Riku said.

“Off how?” Sora asked.

Riku paused, as if to fish for the right words. “Something’s here that normally isn’t.”

“Okay, wise guy,” Kairi said. “What is that something?”

Riku tensed. “I can’t tell you.”

Sora wanted to press him, but the tantalizing possibilities of Ven’s surprise drew him into the shop without a second thought.

At first glance, everything in the shop was how it should have been. Ven was petting Chirithy at the shop counter. Aqua, Terra, and Eraqus were elsewhere. It took a second for Sora to follow Ven’s gaze to the figure leaning against the counter.

“If I hear the word surprise one more time, I am going to hit you,” said a voice unfamiliar only by technicality.

The stranger looked intimately familiar, but Sora had never seen that black hair or gold eyes before.

“Sora?”

Sora’s heart stopped.

He had spent the bus ride over planning to find him, and he was standing in front of Sora.

“Vanitas?”

He was older than the last time Sora had seen him seven years ago. His eyes had changed color, but Sora looked into them and suddenly he was eight years old and the foster agents were telling them that the home only had room for three and the grown-ups had decided that the youngest three would go because at least none of the twins would be separated and they had to say their goodbyes now and-

“Look at you,” Vanitas said quietly. “Last time you three were snot-nose brats. Now you’re actual people.”

It was like a spell had been broken.

“Vanitas!” they cried as they rushed forward to him. Sora was closest, so he was the first one to-

His arms phased through Vanitas like nothing was there.

Something within Sora twisted as he added the pieces together: the fact he was only visible on the third plane, the fact that his twin brother looked older than him, the fact that Sora couldn’t grab him.

“You’re dead.”

“What?” Roxas breathed.

Tears leaked through Sora’s eyes. “You’re dead!”

The worst part was that part of Sora had always known. He remembered sitting in class four years ago and being struck with the feeling that Vanitas was dead. He had known he was looking for a gravestone, not a brother who would have aged out of the foster care system years ago anyway. He had never forgotten the way Ven’s face had broken the first time they had reunited and Sora had asked “where’s Vanitas?”.

But seeing Vanitas’s teenage ghost made it real.

“I was too late,” Sora heard himself say. The tears came harder. “I’m sorry. I should have-” a sob overtook him. Roxas wrapped Sora in a hug. Sora could feel his shoulders shaking, too.

“What the fuck are you babbling about?” Vanitas asked gently. “You three were always such crybabies.” He looked at Xion. “C’mere. You go by Xion now, right? Ventus was right. You really do look just like Mom.”

Xion was crying too hard to respond.

Sora moved out of Roxas’s embrace to get a better look at Vanitas, but stayed clutching his hand.

“What the fuck are you crying about?”

Ven was wiping his face. “It didn’t really hit me before, I guess. The fact that you’re dead.”

Vanitas scoffed. “Quit making a big deal out of all of this. I’m on the fourth plane, but I’m here. Calm down.”

“Maybe I’m just happy to see you, stupid,” Roxas said.

“Oh yeah?” Vanitas retorted. “Maybe I’m happy to see you too.”

An afterimage of tears shone on Vanitas’s ghostly face.

“I missed you,” Xion sniffed.

“I- I missed you, too.” Vanitas’s voice was devoid of any mockery.

Sora distantly noted that Riku, Naminé, and Kairi were gone. They must have gone upstairs to give them some privacy.

“What happened to you?” Sora asked. “How did you-”

“There was a bit of a mishap,” Vanitas said with a shrug. “I’m more interested in what you guys have done. Ventus mentioned someone adopted you three?”

The rest of the afternoon melted away as Sora told him about their adopted dads, Leon and Cloud, and his friends Riku and Kairi. Roxas told him about their babysitter-turned-friend Lea and his husband Isa who used to be part of a cult. Xion told him about her time apprenticing with Riku’s little brother at a magical laboratory. Even Ven told a few stories about Aqua and Terra.

“Oh yeah, how the hell did you end up here?” Vanitas asked Ven.

Ven shrugged. “Destiny. They found me at the hospital and knew I was meant to join them.”

“Where was this hospital?” Vanitas asked. “On the island or the mainland?”

“Island, I think. Does it matter?”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes.

Sora’s phone buzzed.

“It’s Leon,” he said. “Wondering if we’ll be home for dinner.”

“It’s no problem if you want to stay for dinner,” Ven said. “We can all eat together, just like old times.”

Just the idea made Sora tear up all over again.

Chapter Text

By the time Ven got home from his walk, the sun was far below the horizon and there was a small wreath frame in his hands. He was greeted at the door of the shop with a tidal wave of a hug.

"There you are!" Aqua cried. 

"Ack. You're crushing me."

She let go and looked him up and down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine,” Ven said. “I just went for a walk. I told you guys I was going for a walk, remember?"

"That was three hours ago, Ven!"

Ven held up the wreath he had made. It had survived Aqua’s ferocious embrace. "I found some ivy. I know it's invasive, so I pulled it, and then I realized it could make a cool wreath. I know it's nowhere near Yule, but maybe I can make a sort of flower crown for-"

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Ven pulled it out. There were 6 missed calls from Aqua alone, and several others from Terra and Eraqus. Even Sora had sent a few messages.

"It was on silent," he said. "Sorry."

"You can't do that again," Aqua said. "You have a phone so we can contact you."

"He's okay, Aqua," Terra said quietly. He hadn't spoken since Ven had entered the shop; Ven hadn’t even noticed him. "Take it easy on him."

"You don't get to take his side on this," Aqua snapped. 

Ven took a step back. If Aqua was snapping, something was seriously wrong.

"What gives, Aqua? Don't be mean to Terra just because you were worried."

"No, she's right," Terra said. "Try to be more careful next time, Ven."

Ven frowned. Not this again.

"I can take care of myself. I'm an adult, not a little kid, so quit treating me like one!"

"You're not too old to wander off," Aqua said. 

"Maybe not, but I'm old enough to take care of myself if I do. Just leave me alone!"

Ven stormed upstairs, Chirithy at his heels. He slammed their bedroom door closed and threw his wreath on his dresser. It landed between two trophies that held it aloft like a lopsided crown.

"What is her problem?" Ven shouted.

"She was really worried, Ven," Chirithy said, even though Ven didn’t really ask the question for it to be answered.

"You were with me the entire time," Ven said. "I hate when she gets like this. She and Terra aren't that much older than I am. I wish they'd start trusting me like an equal."

"Maybe they will once you finish your apprenticeship," Chirithy said.

"But I'm already an adult! I have sigil tattoos, for crying out loud."

"I know," Chirithy said. He leapt onto the dresser and looked out the window. "I wonder where Vanitas is."

"Probably making Unversed somewhere to spite the Master," Ven muttered darkly. "Wish he'd quit being such a jerk about it."

"I guess neither of you are particularly obedient," Chirithy said.

"That's not true at all! There's just a difference between being disrespectful and just having independence. Are you really taking their side on this?"

"No," Chirithy said. "I just think you and Vanitas have a lot in common that way."

"In what way?"

"Neither of you like being..." Chirithy stopped to fish for the right word "restricted."

"Maybe so," Ven grumbled. 

There was a knock at the door.

"What?"

"May I enter?"

It was Eraqus. 

"Sure," he said, but made no movement to open the door for him.

The door opened anyway. To Ven’s surprise, instead of staying in the doorway, Eraqus rushed into the room and snatched Ven’s shoulders in a vice grip.

“Are you alright?”

Ven bit back a snap. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just lost track of time.”

Eraqus didn’t let go. “It’s good to see you home.”

“Sorry for not answering your calls,” Ven said. “My phone was on silent. Next time I’ll keep the ringer on.”

“I would appreciate that,” Eraqus said. His fingers relaxed into a softer grip. “Would you like to help me with dinner?”

Ven would rather do anything else, but it wasn’t a real question. Besides, maybe it would take his mind off of their stupid fight.

Still, Ven was surprised that even Eraqus had been so frazzled. 

Dinner was stir fry. Since that mostly meant chopping vegetables, frying them, and serving them on top of rice that was already in the cooker, Ven wondered why Eraqus had recruited him to help in the first place. The steady thunk of Eraqus’s knife slicing onions meant they were all chopped before Ven could even rinse the peas. He joined Ven at the sink to help him scrub dirt from the leafy bok choy and mushrooms. Ven’s knife slid through the mushrooms much slower than Eraqus’s did, but it did the trick. He was on his last mushroom when Terra sat down at one of the island stools to face him.

“Ven, can I talk to you for a second?”

“I’m making dinner,” Ven said.

“I have it from here,” Eraqus said. “Talk.”

“Fine,” Ven grumbled as he passed the last mushroom to Eraqus. “What’s up?”

“You should take it easy on Aqua.”

Eraqus tossed some of the vegetables into the wok. The hiss of sizzling oil filled the air as the vegetables began to wilt under the fry of the cooking flame. 

Ven scowled. “Why? She’s so overbearing sometimes. She even does it to you! She shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

“She was right,” Terra said. 

Ven almost growled in frustration. “You don’t trust me either?”

“Look, Ven, it’s not about trust. It’s…” Terra sighed. “When I was seventeen, I ran away from home. I didn’t come back for more than two years. So when you didn’t come back and we couldn’t locate you…”

Oh.

That was… kind of nuts, actually. How was it the first time Ven had learned about that? He’d been living with them for almost half a decade. 

“So you ran away.”

Ven turned his head. Eraqus’s words were even enough, but his entire body had frozen in the process of adding more vegetables. The stir fry sizzled in the wok.

“Wait, not even the master knew? How?”

“It is as he said,” Eraqus said. “One day, Terra failed to return from his shift at work. He was gone for a long time. We heard nothing from him.” He paused and tossed the rest of the vegetables in. The crackle of frying roared in Ven’s ears. “Then he returned. Terra never liked talking about it, and I never saw the need to push him to.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Master,” Terra said. “I was stupid.”

Eraqus put a lid on the stir fry. The cacophony muted into a quiet hiss.

“The important thing is that you’re home. Both of you.”

“Yes, Master,” Ven said. He turned to Terra. “I'll apologize to Aqua.”

He went back into his room and picked up the wreath he had made. There were enough dried flowers and herbs hanging through the house that Ven quickly filled the entire wreath with a cornucopia of colors.

Aqua was still downstairs. She was staring off into space with a half-formed pendant in front of her. The small work light haloed her against the empty darkness of the shop. If Ven hadn’t lived above the shop for years, he would have had to watch his step to prevent himself from tripping in the dark.

Aqua was completely frozen until Ven placed the flower crown on her head.

“Sorry for being a jerk,” Ven said. “I didn’t know about Terra and stuff.”

“You weren’t a jerk,” Aqua said distantly. “Sorry for getting so worked up.”

“Don’t be. I mean, I kind of get it. I didn't really know what had happened to Vanitas until we found him." He paused. “It couldn’t have been easy. Do you want to talk about it?”

Aqua looked up. She looked younger than Ven had ever seen her. 

"It was awful." Aqua's voice broke. Ven pulled her into a hug. "We had no idea what had happened. We didn't know if he had been kidnapped, or if he ran away, or if he had been killed. Dowsing didn’t work, clairvoyants were useless, and no one in the clan had heard from him. The amagical police didn't do anything. I spent so much time begging them to look for him, but they didn't care. We’re all witches. They had better things to do than bother with us."

"Did you know he ran away?" Ven asked quietly.

"No," Aqua said. Her grip on him tightened. She started to shake. "He really left on purpose? Why?"

"Dunno," Ven said, "but it wasn't your fault. Not yours or the Master's. He was very clear about that."

Even without seeing her face, Ven knew Aqua didn't believe him.

"Why did he leave?" she asked quietly.

The question fell unanswered in the dark room.

"He's back now," Ven said, "and so am I. I won't ever leave you." He pulled out his Wayfinder. “And, hey, even if I mess up, I always carry this with me. The magic you cast on it means we’ll always find a way back to each other.” Something hit him. “That… that’s why you gave them to us, isn’t it? So we wouldn’t disappear on you.”

Aqua nodded.

Ven smiled. “Well, I know Terra keeps his with him all the time, and I keep mine with me, and you keep yours, so you never have to worry about us leaving. Not really.”

Aqua didn’t return his smile. “The spell never specifies when you return. I realized that after I cast it. It could be a year, two, maybe even ten.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” Ven said. “After all, I can’t promise not to leave. I don’t know the future. But I can promise that I’ll always come back, especially when you need me. I know Terra feels the same.”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“Well, I don’t want to leave either,” Ven said. “Especially not right now, or anytime soon.” 

“Do you want to travel after you finish your apprenticeship?”

“Maybe,” Ven said. “I haven’t thought too much about it. But I can’t see any reason why you and Terra can’t come with me if I do.”

Aqua sniffed. “Thank you.”

“It’s not like I’m doing you a favor. I’d love to have you guys come.”

“No, thank you for everything. Thank you for being here. You were light in a very dark time for us. You brought Terra back.”

What does that mean?  

Ven was dying to know what she meant by that, but it wasn't the time. He was content to just stand in Aqua's arms and listen to her breathing. It sounded like ocean waves rocking towards and away from the shore. The sound filled the dark of the lower floor. Streetlights and Aqua’s work light were the only reasons he could make out the shapes of the shop on the first plane. The equipment and everything it had made settled still on the first plane. In the rainbow glow of the higher planes, the mosaic of auras pulsed to the rhythm of their gentle breathing.

“Aqua?” Ven’s whisper was so quiet he could barely hear it.

“Yes?”

“I don’t want you to leave me either. I don’t want anyone else to leave.”

“I will never leave you,” Aqua murmured. “I promise.”

Ven tightened their embrace. “Thank you.”

"Dinner's ready," Terra finally called.

Aqua squeezed him once more before letting go.

"Let's eat," she said.

On the way to the kitchen, Aqua pulled out her phone to look at the crown on her head. The second her eyes caught on it, Ven saw her face light up in a smile.

Chapter Text

The rain poured from the heavens. Even huddled under Riku’s umbrella, Naminé knew she would be sopping wet by the time she made it to the shop, but by moving her bag under the center of the umbrella, she could at least spare her sketchbook from the wrath of the storm. The thud of the raindrops against the vinyl canopy over Naminé’s head made them sound as large as thimbles. She was glad Mickey had stayed off the mountain with Sora’s familiars.

Naminé’s clothes and shoes were already a lost cause, so she contented herself with gazing at the peaceful gray around her. Rain painted a soft quiet over the world. It wasn’t an impenetrable quiet, but since it was just her and Riku walking to the shop that day, there was no one to break it.

Riku’s thoughts meandered in the comfortable silence. Memories bubbled closer to their surfaces on quietly rainy days. A memory of him jumping over puddles with Sora while trying to shake off the attention of his younger brother floated through him. Naminé could tell it was a fond one, but it wasn’t one that emerged often.

“Did you tell Terra we’re on our way?”

Riku’s question made Naminé blink. She was more lost in his memory than he was.

“Not yet.”

Terra responded to her text almost immediately.

The workbench they usually worked at was too cluttered- at least that was the excuse Terra gave for inviting Naminé and Riku upstairs to their apartment’s big table. Eraqus, who was sitting behind the shop counter, might have normally made a comment about unproductive training, but he was staring at an inventory spreadsheet on the shop’s ancient computer. Naminé didn’t need to look too closely at the screen to know that the cursor had been still for a long time- the rain was drowning him in old memories from decade-dead friends.

Once they made it upstairs, Terra frowned at the mud stains on Naminé’s socks and Riku’s pants and reentered the room with an armful of old sweaters, fuzzy socks, and soft pajama pants. Naminé couldn’t access her own memories as easily as she could access others, but she didn’t think that was why she couldn’t remember her father ever even acknowledging her rain-soaked clothes, except for maybe a reprimand to not let anything drip on the carpet.

It would be hard to get into the clear state of mind required to work new magic while wrapped in an oversized hoodie, but Naminé didn’t object.

“The World settles like blossom of chamomile,” Terra chanted. The teapot flashed on the higher planes. He poured the water into three different cups and plucked an embellished silver spoon from the counter to stir each cup. “Clockwise to add good luck,” he muttered, “counterclockwise to take away the bad.” He tapped the spoon on the side of a cup three times to seal the magic and handed it to Naminé. “There you go.”

“Thank you.”

She stared at the warm cup of camomile tea in her hands. The tea’s pale gold shimmered on the higher planes from the spell Terra had cast on it. She could smell the calming chamomile and the barest traces of yarrow petals.

A single clove sat on the bottom of the cup. It had annoyed Naminé, at first, that Terra always put in a single clove in every cup of tea he brewed for them, regardless of the blend or the spell on it. It was too little to affect the taste most of the time, but it was annoying to filter out every time she took a sip, and Terra looked hurt every time she had fished it out of the cup entirely. Eventually, in a completely different lesson, he taught her that cloves were used in protective spells. She kept them in after that.

The first sip of tea drew the last chills from Naminé’s body. Her mind stilled and sharpened. It tasted nice, too, like honeyed flowers.

“I was originally planning on having us work on magnet amulets today,” Terra said as he settled into his chair, “and maybe we will later, but I want to start with a lecture today.”

Naminé’s sketchbook had been spared from the majority of the rain, so she pulled it out, grabbed her box of colored pencils, and flipped to an empty page. Riku did the same with a lined notebook and mechanical pencil.

“What do you two know about the planes?”

They knew plenty, and Terra knew they knew, but that wasn’t why he asked.

“They’re like layers of reality, except superimposed on each other,” Naminé said. She doodled layered domes, but that wasn’t really correct.

“Amagicals can only see the first plane,” Riku said. “Mickey says there are five in total, but witches can only see three.”

“It’s a good thing Ven isn't here right now,” Terra said with a small smile, “because Chirithy claims there are seven planes, and then we’d be arguing about how many planes there are all day.” The smile on his face faded. “But what do you know about the fourth plane?”

Riku tensed. The tea in Naminé’s cup no longer felt as warm as it had a second ago.

“Why do you ask?” Riku asked slowly.

“It’s important to know about it,” Terra said. His face was as stormy as the winds outside. “Especially now that Vanitas is hanging around us all. He mostly resides on the fourth plane. It takes energy for him to materialize on the third plane. He’s a strong ghost, so it’s easy for him, but most ghosts can’t cross over easily.”

Naminé doodled a bedsheet ghost leaning against an invisible wall.

“How can you keep track of a weaker ghost during an exorcism then?” she asked. Riku had joined Terra for a few, but Naminé’s magic rarely involved the third plane, let alone the fourth.

“Most witches have their familiars look out for them in the short term,” Terra explained, “since they can naturally see the higher planes. We usually have to pull more aggressive ghosts to the third plane so we can see them. It has the bonus effect of making them weaker so they’re easier to deal with. But it can be tiring for us, too.”

“All you have to do is draw the right circle and lead the spirit to it, right?” Riku asked. His voice was slow and careful. “That’s what you guys did.”

“That’s what most people do,” Terra said. “But there’s another way. An exorcism will work no matter what plane a ghost is on, so all you really have to do is make sure you can track it.”

“You mean looking into the fourth plane,” Riku said.

Naminé stiffened.

“Yeah,” Terra said. “The fourth plane isn’t like the others. It leaves a mark. So if you ever see someone’s eyes flash yellow, it means they’re dealing with the fourth plane. They might just be looking, but they might be doing more.”

“Is it possible to reach onto the fourth plane?” Riku asked. His pencil hadn’t moved in his hand. “To exorcise ghosts and stuff?”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “But don’t ask me how.”

“You know how?” Riku asked.

Terra looked away.

“I’m not telling you this to teach you dark magic,” he said. His voice was cold as steel. “I’m just telling you because we have a ghost in the house right now. I know I don’t have to tell you guys how dangerous and corrupting dark magic is, but it’s worth repeating. Do you understand me?”

“Y-yeah,” Riku said quietly.

Naminé looked down at the sketch her hands had made. Yellow eyes stared back, framed by dark hair in a familiar style. She slammed the cover of her sketchbook closed.

“Is it time to work on magnet amulets now?” she asked.

“Yeah, if you want,” Terra said. He stood up and poured warm tea into their cups. “Magnet amulets are good at absorbing unwanted darkness. Powerful ones can even negate curses…”

The magnet amulet in Naminé’s hands was definitely not powerful enough to negate curses. The only thing mildly impressive about it was the rune she had scratched into it with a steady hand. Riku’s, on the other hand, shone and sparkled on all the planes Naminé could see. Terra had sent him downstairs to give it a final polish.

“Not bad for your first try,” Terra said when he noticed her staring at the amulet in her hands.

“Thank you,” Naminé responded automatically.

If she were perfectly honest, she doubted she would ever make a second try. Amulets were Terra’s specialty, not hers, but she held the knowledge close anyway, because it was something a witch knew.

But the same pang of guilt still ran through Naminé.

You don’t belong here, it hissed. Your master teaches you things you have no intention of using. You waste his time and energy.

Terra already knew my specialty when he took me in, Naminé tried telling it. I already know how to make tattoos. He’s here to teach me what Father and Lauriam never bothered to.

Ungrateful child. He pulled you from that horrible tattoo shop, and you repay him with disloyalty?

Her guilt always spoke with her father’s voice. Naminé opened her sketchbook in an effort to block it out. The good news was that it worked. The bad news was that the snake-yellow eyes that mercilessly bore into her gaze were even worse. Naminé must have made a sound, because Terra looked down at the sketchbook with concern. She scrambled to hide the face she had drawn.

It was his, after all.

“I’m sorry,” Terra said. “I know you don’t like people looking in your sketchbook.”

He poured her another cup of tea.

Naminé looked down in her lap where the sketchbook had fallen. The yellow eyes stared back.

Did Terra really cast dark magic? Did he stain his eyes yellow looking into the forbidden plane? There was no way Eraqus would let him do such a thing once, let alone frequently enough for Terra’s eyes to change color. There was only one way to find out, but it was far more intrusive than looking through someone’s sketchbook.

Naminé took a deep breath and looked past the yellow eyes she had drawn into the memory they had emerged from.

A young man sat at a table with a cup of cold chamomile tea. Naminé knew, without checking, that there was no clove in it. The cavernous room swallowed his body. He was slightly coiled from directionless fear. The table he sat at was empty and polished enough to have functioned as a colossal black mirror. The cup in his scuffed hands was the only sign anyone had ever used the mausoleum dining room.

Terra looked up, and his yellow eyes locked onto her.

Naminé’s heart stopped. His face softened with wonder at the sight of a girl the same age as Aqua had been the last time he had seen her, looking back through his memories as he looked forward into his future.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

Naminé was taken aback. She was in his memories. He shouldn’t have been able to see her at all, let alone speak to her. It must have already happened years ago, so how-

The miraculous bridge between time of memory and vision slowly began to close; miracles could never last. Naminé felt her presence gradually fade.

“Wait!” Terra cried. He grabbed her ghostly hand and squeezed it so hard Naminé winced. “Don’t leave me! Please!”

Naminé’s heart cracked. Maybe she should have been afraid of the Terra she hadn’t met yet with his eyes stained yellow and nails that weren’t quite scrubbed clean of blood and knuckles rubbed raw from countless thrown punches, but he was gripping her hand with the desperation of a man finding the smallest of ledges after plunging from a cliff.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and she had never meant the words more. “I can’t stay.”

Terra swallowed.

“Can you at least tell me who you are?”

Naminé tried to smile. The effort was herculean under the strain of existing where she had no right to.

“I’m your apprentice,” she said. “Or I will be, I suppose.”

Her words seemed to strike Terra. He closed his eyes and let her hand slip through his.

“Go,” he said quietly. “And I hope I never see you again. For your sake.”

“What?”

The memory began to flicker around Naminé. She mustered all of her magic to keep it in her grasp.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you, too.”

“No- wait! Terra!”

The memory flickered away. The last thing she saw was Terra’s pained grimace as he squeezed his eyes shut. Naminé desperately reached out her hand-

-and someone grasped it. Naminé felt a gentle pull back to the present by familiar clove and granite magic. Yellow eyes were replaced by warm brown ones.

“Terra,” she said.

He smiled, but all Naminé could think about was how hurt he had been alone in that cold room. She did the one thing she had wanted to then, and ran over to throw her arms around him- a hug years in the making.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” she managed. “I shouldn’t have looked through your memories. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Terra pressed the tip of his forehead against hers.

“Don’t be. I’m glad it wasn’t just a dream.”

Naminé closed her eyes. She never thought she’d ever receive any affection from a master of hers, let alone the most sacred gesture between witches.

“Where were you?” Naminé asked. “What happened to make you so upset?”

“I spent two years under the instructions of another master,” Terra said quietly. “I don’t like talking about it too much.”

“Can you at least tell me why you said you didn’t want to hurt me?”

“My master from then hurt me.” The brutal admission made Naminé tense. “He made me hurt other people. He said it was to teach me how not to be weak. I was afraid I’d teach you the same way.”

“You’re a good teacher. You haven’t hurt me at all.”

You’re the only adult who hasn’t.

Terra closed his eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

And, at that moment, Naminé remembered that Terra was less than a decade older than she was. In the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t a very large gap at all.

Footsteps made Naminé look up from their embrace and wipe the tears from her eyes. Riku appeared on the stairwell and rushed over to them.

“Is everything okay?” He turned to Naminé. “Did you accidentally get caught in a bad memory?”

“No,” Terra said, “it was a good memory.”

Naminé still didn’t quite understand how it could have been a good memory, but he was so sincere she couldn’t help but believe him.

Night fell. Any aesthetic benefits of looking out at a rainy day were completely eclipsed by the reality of soggy weather. Naminé had changed out of the fuzzy sweater and back into her stiff, not-quite-dried socks and mudstained skirt in preparation for the arrival of Kairi’s mother, who would take Naminé and Kairi to their father’s house. Terra was picking up Nixio and dropping him and Riku off at their house. Only Naminé and Eraqus remained on the first floor of the shop.

The memories of his dead friends were still close at hand, close enough that Naminé could flip past the yellow-eyed sketch and start an entire new page with flashes of Bragi’s curly hair, Urd’s pinched smile, Hermod’s kind eyes, Vor’s playful pout, and Xehanort’s-

Naminé heard the second Eraqus’s eyes landed on her sketchbook; the silence from his caught breath and stopped heart was deafening even beneath the drumming rain. She grimaced.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“No, please…” Eraqus didn’t sound like the grandmaster that led her coven. “May I see them?”

Naminé hesitantly handed the sketchbook over. Eraqus brushed his fingers over the colored pencil strokes.

“It has been so long since I have seen their faces,” he whispered. “I have a picture of the six of us, but you… I haven’t been able to see them alive in so long.” He gestured to each of the faces. “This is Hermod. He was like Terra, so kind, so gentle. Urd- Aqua reminds me of Urd. Such sturdy hearts, both of them, and so fond of ice, oddly enough. And Vor-” Eraqus smiled wryly. “I always teased Vor. She was the youngest of us all, but she was a prodigy. If only she had been able to grow up… You’re nothing like her- you’re older than she ever got to be- but sometimes, when I see you in the corner of my eye, just for a second, I think that she’s…” He trailed off.

“What happened to them?” Naminé asked quietly.

The raindrops nearly drowned the question from the air. Naminé almost immediately wished that they had; it wasn’t one of the smartest questions she had ever asked. The memory of shattered glass and the iron stink of blood and how Hermod’s lifeless body was reached towards Vor’s in a vain attempt to-

Naminé reached out, stopped the memory, and shoved it back into the depths of Eraqus’s heart. She gasped for breath and tried to scrub the images from her head.

“Forgive me,” Eraqus said. “I didn’t mean for my memories to overwhelm you.”

“It’s okay,” Naminé said. “It’s my fault. I should have expected it. If it’s too painful to tell me more...”

Eraqus’s eyes grew unfocused.

“Xehanort and I played hooky from lessons one day,” he said. “When we came back, Vor and Hermod were dead.” His eyes blazed with fury and grief. “Nagics broke in and shot them. The police never found out who. Some days, I doubt they even looked.”

“I’m so sorry,” Naminé said.

“Urd got sick and didn’t get better,” Eraqus continued, as if she had said nothing at all. “We took her to the hospital too late. Master Odin’s heart gave in. Bragi… he took his own life. I could never blame him for it. Xehanort and I were the only ones who ever got to be old enough for sigil tattoos.”

The pain in Eraqus’s voice was as fresh and ancient as the rain that fell outside. More memories flashed: graves, tears in the rain; Xehanort walking away and returning as a different person; a clan that kept its distance from the coven that had made a dark witch; a lifetime of sorrow, regret, and loneliness until the day a bright-eyed witch boy collided with him on the street.

“Our coven died with them,” Eraqus said. “Before, I wanted nothing to do with our traditions, our past. It bored me. I felt shackled to it. After that horrible, horrible year, I wanted nothing else but the preservation of our traditions, but I fear they will die with me.” He chuckled dryly. “I wonder if this is something all old people fear. Vanitas carries neither our clan’s mark nor its traditions, so I have no need to ask Xehanort’s feelings on the matter. But, then again, he may still carry a Keyblade around his neck. Tell me, child, have you materialized one yet? Have you decided if you want to?”

“I think I do,” Naminé said. “I just haven’t found the right time.”

“I have no desire to rush you,” Eraqus said. “Summoning a Keyblade binds you to the higher planes and the role of witch forever. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly.”

Naminé nodded. “Yes, Grandmaster.”

Eraqus smiled faintly at the title. “Remind me, what do you plan to specialize in?”

“Tattoos,” Naminé said. “I know Terra doesn’t know anything about them, but Lauriam, my first master, taught me enough. I already gave Terra one, remember? The words on his wrist.”

“I remember now,” Eraqus said. “Very impressive for your age.”

“Thank you,” Naminé said. “I want to specialize in sigil tattoos, specifically. When I come of age, I’ll tattoo my sigil on myself. Maybe I’ll learn how to make amagical tattoos when I’m older.”

“Ah, yes,” Eraqus said. “Sigil tattoos. When I was your age, no one had their own. They just carried their coven’s and maybe their clan’s. These days, every witch has their own sigil. My apprentices carry our sigil, but I fear that they see it as my sigil and not our sigil. I don’t blame them. I am the only us they know. How can they understand the multitude of histories contained in our sigil?”

Naminé flipped to a new page and drew it. She had seen it enough to do from her memory alone. When she was done, she looked at it, really looked at it. Would it reveal itself to her?

It looked like a sharpened heart emerging from a… plane of some sorts. The three points at its base looked bigger than they actually were, like arrows stretching forever. The heart was still attached to its base, inescapable as a shadow. Infinite chaos, infinite darkness, but the heart emerged from it, strengthened by... something.

Suddenly, Naminé felt it. She felt the sigil’s memory. It wasn’t like a person’s memory, it was longer, complicated, even contradictory, and it stretched on for what felt like forever.

“We used to be a clan,” Naminé heard herself whisper. “The most powerful clan of them all. Almost- no, everyone had Keyblades. Then there was a… war? Our coven emerged from the darkness of that war, the only remnants of the Keyblade-bearing witches.”

“Incredible,” Eraqus breathed. “You learned this all from the sigil? I’ve never seen anything like it. To even speak of the war is… frowned upon.”

“I’m sorry,” Naminé said automatically.

“No, it’s quite alright. You didn’t know. And it’s best that you know that much if you wish to be a part of our coven. I only told Aqua and Terra when they finished their apprenticeship. I think some witches in our clan see Keyblades as antiquated tokens of a dark time period.” Eraqus closed his eyes. “Sometimes I agree. Our history is such a burden.”

“I don’t think so,” Naminé said. “If we can survive a war, we can survive anything. I’m glad I got the opportunity to learn about it.”

A car pulled up to the shop. Even through the fogged window, Naminé recognized it as Kairi’s mother’s. She nodded her head to Eraqus.

“Kairi’s mom is here. It was nice speaking with you, Grandmaster.”

Eraqus smiled at her. “Thank you for listening. Not many have the patience for an old man’s ramblings.”

“No,” Naminé said, “thank you for your stories.” She carefully removed the page with Eraqus’s friends from her sketchbook and gave it to him. “You should have this. If you want it.”

He took it with trembling hands.

“Truly, child, I cannot thank you enough.”

Naminé stopped at the doorway and looked back one last time. Eraqus was cradling the picture in his hands as if, at any second, his friends would come back to life on the page.

She slipped out of the shop and ran to the car. The back door was already unlocked. Naminé entered and closed the door in one fluid motion.

Kairi turned from her position in the front seat as Naminé buckled her seatbelt.

"How was training today with just you and Riku?" she asked.

I discovered Terra’s darkest secret, fulfilled a time paradox, and accidentally unearthed our grandmaster’s childhood trauma.

"It was good," Naminé said instead. "I spoke with with Grandmaster Eraqus."

"Really?" Kairi asked. "It's funny. He's always around, but I've never really talked to him. I always figured he didn't really like how loud we could be."

"I don't think he wants to interfere with his student's teaching," Naminé said. "But he's very interesting. I can see why Terra, Aqua, and Ventus like him so much. How was the field trip?"

"The play we saw was really boring," Kairi said. "Honestly, I almost wish that we had class instead. But Sora cried at the end! He was a mess. Roxas had to give him a ten-minute hug."

"That sounds like Sora," Naminé said.

She fished through her bag for a permanent marker. As Kairi's mother made sure Kairi hadn't forgotten anything for the weekend, she pulled up her uniform sleeve and drew the coven’s sigil on the inside of her arm. It looked nice there.

"I got some new nail polish," Kairi said. "Want me to do your nails?"

Naminé didn't like the feeling of nail polish weighing her nails down, and Kairi was really bad at painting nails, but Naminé nodded anyway. It felt like a normal Friday-night thing to do with one's sister.

As Kairi's mother pulled into their father's driveway, Naminé pulled the sleeve back down. Father would not be happy if he saw the sigil on her arm.

"Bye, Mom," Kairi said with a last hug. "Love you! See you on Monday."

"Love you too, sweetie."

Naminé grabbed her bag and slipped from the car. Cold rain fell around the porch overhang. It flooded down like a chilling roar. Naminé started to shiver. But she still hesitated before at the front door.

“What’s wrong?” Kairi asked. “Is the door locked?”

The car was still in the driveway as Kairi’s mom waited to see her daughter safely enter inside.

“I don’t know,” Naminé said.

“Then why won’t you open the door?”

Because the rain is warmer than Father.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Kairi asked.

“It should be,” Naminé said without thinking. “Father’s always nicer when you’re around.”

“What does that mean?” Kairi asked wearily.

Oh, no.

The front door was unlocked after all. Naminé slipped inside.

“Don’t let anything drip on the-” Father’s voice lightened when he noticed who Naminé was with. “Ah, hello, Kairi. How was school today?"

"School was fine," Kairi said evenly. "But I have a lot of homework."

"It's a Friday," Father said. "Why don't you tell me more about your day?"

"I'll get all my homework done tonight and tell you all about it tomorrow," Kairi said.

Father's lips pursed. His eyes closed in disappointment.

"Very well. I’ll start dinner soon."

“Alright.”

The second the two of them entered their room, Kairi closed the door and turned to Naminé.

“What did you mean?”

“It’s nothing, really,” Naminé said. “I live with Father all the time, so he’s a bit harsher sometimes. But it’s fine, really. Will you paint my nails?”

“Okay,” Kairi said. “But if there’s something you want to tell me… well, there’s a reason my mom didn’t get married to him.”

“What nail polish colors did you bring? I can paint yours, too”

Kairi accepted the change of subject and rummaged through her bag.

Naminé closed her eyes as her sister brushed the formaldehyde-laden ooze onto her nails. Only 1389 days until she turned eighteen. Only 1389 days until she would be free of her father. Only 1389 days until she would turn the drawing on her arm from a temporary sharpie scribble to a true sigil connecting her to her true forefathers. Only 1389 days until she could emerge from the darkness like all the others who had worn the sigil before her.

Chapter Text

After four years of existing only on the fourth plane, Vanitas had mastered the art of being a ghost. He used to pride himself in not being as goddamn nosy as Ventus, but one of the few things he could do really well was go into rooms and amuse himself by scoping out places he never gave a shit about when he was alive. Ventus’s master’s room normally? Boring. But as a ghost, it was a treasure trove that he had waited to enter so he could savor it.

The first thing he noticed was that it was definitely an old man’s room: small, neat, and filled with the scent and je ne se quoi of old people. It was cramped compared to his master’s room. The small, neatly-made bed was almost flush with a bookshelf stuffed with various boring-looking magic books and charms. Both the bedside table and a larger table under the window were covered in chains, more charms, and amulets that would be charging in the moonlight of the window if it weren’t early afternoon.

A few picture frames were scattered about the room. Vanitas recognized a young Terra and Aqua, a more recent picture with Ventus in it, and an ancient-looking photograph of a bunch of kids about the same age as Vanitas’s younger siblings. One of the kids looked like Eraqus, and another might have been a younger version of Xehanort, but he didn’t recognize any of the rest.

Eraqus and my master were childhood friends? That would explain a lot.

Magic coated almost everything, blazing on the higher planes with its glow but leaving the first plane dark enough to sleep in. The sheer concentration of the protective amulets made the hair on the back of Vanitas’s neck stand straight up, but he knew how to avoid activating any of them. The drawers were closed and engraved with Eraqus’s sigil, as well as some anti-snooping runes. He couldn’t blame him if he lived with Ventus for several years. If Vanitas really wanted to, he could have disabled them, but he doubted he was solid enough to actually open and investigate them.

Vanitas tilted his head. The room was quiet. That was unusual in the house. Normally daytime hours meant he had to hear people working or singing or talking or spellcasting, but in Eraqus’s room, the air was still and disturbance-free.

Vanitas jumped onto the bed. He couldn’t sleep anymore, but if he closed his eyes, he could let his thoughts drift a little, and that was as close as he could get.

Some time later, the sound of the door opening made Vanitas’s eyes shoot open.

“Vanitas, are you in my room?” Eraqus asked.

Vanitas flickered onto the third plane. “So what if I am?”

Eraqus paused. “Please get off my bed.”

“Make me.”

Eraqus scowled, but made no movements to do any such thing. “Why are you in my room?”

“I thought I could get some alone time,” Vanitas said. “This whole building is so cramped I can barely hear myself think. Yours is the quietest room in the house.”

“Well, I was looking for you,” Eraqus said, “even if I didn’t quite expect to find you in my room.”

“Yeah? What for?”

“I just got a call. The court declared your master a flight risk. He was denied bail.”

Vanitas jolted upright. Fury pooled into his arms and hands until they flickered with fire, but the amulets scattered around the room crackled in response. He killed the spell with a small hiss before schooling his face. Vanitas wanted nothing more than to destroy the room with a thousand bursts of flame and wreck the entire apartment, but he’d be damned if he let Eraqus know that.

“And what is the rest of your clan going to do about it?” Vanitas asked tersely. “Help him fight in court? Or ransack our house for a bullshit investigation?”

Shit, Vanitas needed to go. He never should have left. His master needed him to defend their house from Eraqus’s damn clan. He had seen Ventus and the rest of his siblings, and they were fine, so it was past time to go.

“If Xehanort was so worried about being the subject of an investigation, he never should have dabbled with the fourth plane in the first place.”

Vanitas didn’t justify that stupid comment with a response. He got off the bed (just like Eraqus had wanted in the first place) and strode out of the room.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

“That’s none of your business,” Vanitas said flatly.

“Since I promised to keep an eye on you, it is my business,” Eraqus said.

Vanitas scoffed. “You’re not my dad. You’re not even my master. Looks aside, I’m an adult. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.” He smiled and turned. “I bet that annoys you more than you’d like to admit.”

If it did, Eraqus’s stern face didn’t show it.

“At least tell Ventus where you’re going,” he said. “I don’t want him to have to worry.”

Vanitas made no such promise as he walked away. Ventus was probably too busy playing with his friends, anyway.

One of the many advantages of living on the fourth plane was that dense jungle underbrush meant nothing to him. He could walk right through it on his way to the ferry, reviving anything he found on the way. His senses first led him to the half-eaten carcass of some sort of bat. If Vanitas had to guess, he’d guess the cause of death was a cat, but he didn’t care enough to double check.

“Would you like to live again?”

Normally Vanitas whispered the question with a smile on his face, but he was so emotional he spat it from his lips.

Something within the corpse responded anyway. The bat's ghost fluttered into Vanitas's hand. Vanitas pushed the ghost against his heart, feeding it with the fury coursing through him before cupping his hands in front of his lips and blowing life back into the carcass. Vanitas had more than enough energy to stitch together its broken wing, but he didn't bother with repairing its fur.

“By the wind of death I wake you, Unversed to that which lies after life.”

The bat bore its teeth and flew away. Vanitas let it. When he needed it, he'd call.

For an instant, Vanitas was almost grateful to the shitty witches of Eraqus’s clan for not respecting him and his master. The bat had enough anger inside it to make it the most powerful Unversed he had around.

Of course, that wasn't all. There were far too many emotions for Vanitas to leave it at that. Luckily, the freeway provided him with another gift, as it was wont to do. A bloodied hog practically appeared at Vanitas's feet.

"Would you like to live again?"

The hog very much wanted to live again. It was a rare occasion when they didn't.

“By the wind of death I wake you, Unversed to that which lies after life.”

The hog sprang up with a gleeful snort, rearing its tusks in a mockery of a smile.

Vanitas returned it. His shitty master was in jail. It'd be good for the bastard to learn the humility he was so fond of showing Vanitas.

Vanitas picked up the pace across the freeway and towards the coast. He kept his senses tuned for the slightest whiff of a dead animal. The problem with emptying out his emotions was the ones that remained.

His steps became faster. If his heart still beat, it would have been a single unending rhythm. Sick butterflies fluttered in his stomach.

Finally, blocks away from the coast, Vanitas found it in a gutter.

Drowned bunny.

"Wanna live again?"

The ghost sprang into Vanitas's hands, but he would have revived it even if it hadn't.

"By wind of death I wake you, Unversed to that which lies after life."

Vanitas had to concentrate on steadying his voice as he spoke the spell. Messing up after countless revivals never felt good.

The bunny blinked and trembled. Vanitas scoffed and snatched it up by its scruff.

"What are you so afraid of?" he spat.

His brief flash of corporeality faded, and the bunny fell to the ground. It bounced away.

Vanitas noticed that it had never stopped shivering.

Well, it didn't matter. He had made it to the coast. The ferry had to be somewhere. He could even look for more Unversed to make as he circled the island.

Vanitas!

Vanitas stopped in his tracks and blinked. That was Sora's voice.

Sora? How the hell-

I reached you! I was so worried I wouldn't.

I have to go, Sora. Vanitas tried making his thoughts as even as possible. With his emotional maelstrom now pacing in various furry cages, it was easier than it would have been just a few minutes prior. There's no one to protect the Master's home.

Can you at least come to say goodbye?

That depends. Where do you live?

Well, you have to be pretty close if we can communicate like this. Our house is just a few blocks from the beach, on Ocean Avenue.

Alright. I'll look for it. But you better tell me where the ferry is.

Deal.

Sora was right. Their house wasn't too far away. Sora's stupid duck found him first, and Vanitas reluctantly followed him to a nondescript townhouse. Sora was waiting on the porch, but the second Donald (that was its stupid name) squawked, he jolted to his feet.

"Vanitas!"

Vanitas didn't know if Sora forgot that Vanitas was dead or he just didn't care, because the idiot tried to hug him again. There was a bit of resistance, but Sora's gangly arms passed through Vanitas like nothing was there at all.

"You found him?" a tinny voice asked.

Vanitas frowned. He hadn't noticed the phone in his hands at first.

"I'm not your responsibility anymore, Ventus," Vanitas said. "Master needs me, so I'm going. I don't really have time to say goodbye."

"Look, I'm sorry that your master didn't get bail," Ventus said with a tone of someone who wasn't very sorry at all, "but don't just leave like that."

"Every second I waste here talking to you is another second one of your stupid clan members gets to run their grubby hands all over my master's stuff."

"Don't you want to talk to him?"

"What, you have him on the phone?"

"Master said he was going to visit him as soon as he could. Don't you want to be able to ask your master what to do? Don't you want to see him?"

"I didn't think you had it in you to hold him over my head like this."

"What? Hold him over your- never mind. Bet you don't know where he is. If you come back, not only will the Master tell you, he'll take you to him when he goes."

"Fine," Vanitas said.

"It'll be good to see you, too," Ventus grumbled.

Sure.

"Wait, Ven," Sora interjected. "Can Vanitas stay with us, just for tonight?"

"You'd have to ask him," Ven said. His voice was far gentler than it had been with Vanitas. "But I don't see why not. It'll take at least a few days for things to get sorted enough for Master and Vanitas to visit, so there's no rush."

"Yes! Thank you, Ven!"

Sora hung up and looked up at Vanitas with a wide grin.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Vanitas asked.

“Like what?”

“What if I don’t want to stay?”

"Nah," Sora said. "I know, in your heart, you're happy to see me."

"Wrong," Vanitas said in a deadpan. "Xion's my favorite sibling these days. Where is she? And Roxas, for that matter."

"They're hanging out with Lea," Sora said. "He's one of our neighbors."

"The one that was in a cult?"

"Yeah! Anyway, he babysat us when we were younger, but Xion and Roxas still hang out with him."

"This guy spends his time willingly hanging out with kids your age?"

“What do you mean, ‘our age’? You don’t look that much older.”

Vanitas raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t?”

“Nope,” Sora said. “Not at all. In fact, I almost look older than you do.”

Sora’s smile blew away the pacing thoughts of his master as if they had never been there at all. Vanitas could never help but return it.

“Well,” Vanitas said as his smile grew more teeth, “maybe I should show you how much older I am.”

Sora had enough instincts left over from their childhood to start running.

Chapter Text

Vanitas figured that driving all the way to the correctional facility holding his master with Eraqus and Terra would be unpleasant. He predicted that he’d be stuck in the car with two judgemental pricks while his stomach twisted from imagined carsickness (and definitely not nerves) and they blasted garbage music.

He overestimated their taste. When their car departed from the ferry and the car radio crackled back to life, it wasn’t even a music station; it was public radio.

“Are you serious?”

“It’s very informative,” Terra said.

“It’s boring.”

“Figured it’d be more interesting than reading a spellbook cover-to-cover.”

“If I didn’t like learning magic, I’d be a shitty witch,” Vanitas said. “But this is swill. Do you even know what music is?”

“No, I’ve never heard of this music you speak of,” Eraqus said. “Now try to speak quieter. This is my favorite show.”

It was a quiz show about the week’s news. Vanitas spent the rest of the ride trying to kick the back of Eraqus’s seat. He was only solid enough for it to work a few times.

If Vanitas had one consolation, it was that both Terra and Eraqus looked far worse than Vanitas felt. As they pulled into the facility, they were both scowling so hard that their faces could cut stone.

When they entered, their shoulders tensed as much as their faces. Vanitas couldn’t blame them. Even after four years of death, just seeing someone in anything that resembled a police uniform made him wary. He would have even preferred wards that made the hair on the back of his neck stick up and his skin prickle.

“We’re here to visit Xehanort Pouli,” Eraqus told the man at the front desk.

“Inmate number?” the man at the desk barked.

Eraqus sighed. “3292007.”

“Go in the first door on the right.” The secretary eyed their piercings and jewelry. “Might as well start taking those off now, or else we’ll be here all day.”

Terra narrowed his eyes. “Why? It’s not made of stuff that’ll make the metal detectors go off.”

“No weapons in the facility.”

Terra scowled, but even he knew better than to attempt to explain to the damn nagics that most of it was defensive or augmenting, not offensive, in nature.

“Hey,” a guard in the next room barked. “Hag shit off.” He held out a dish. Eraqus took it with gritted teeth as he and Terra began the herculean procedure of removing the various rings, earrings, and (in Eraqus’s case) chains they kept on their person. Once the last amulet was in place, Eraqus pointed to the dish, which glowed on the second plane.

The two of them looked naked and helpless without their wards, but Vanitas supposed that was the point.

“How long is this going to take?” Vanitas grumbled.

“Probably a while,” Terra said in an undertone.

“Stay with us,” Eraqus said. “I know you can skip all of this, but I don’t want you to get lost.”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “You think I can’t navigate this place by myself?”

“It would take you time. I would prefer to be rid of the place as soon as possible.”

Eventually, after a run through a metal detector and a pat-down that made Terra stiffer than a statue, a correctional officer opened the door and beckoned for them to follow.

Vanitas steadied himself. He was finally seeing his master. It was nothing like seeing Ventus or his siblings again again. Whatever happened, he couldn’t show weakness.

The room they entered with the correctional officer was small, white, and empty. The only thing of note inside it was Xehanort. They had stripped him of his amulets and forced him into a jumpsuit, but they couldn’t take away the calm sharpness in his eyes.

Xehanort sized up the room and the men in it with a single sweep of his eyes.

“Eraqus, old friend, it is good to see you again. Thank you for taking care of my apprentice.”

Vanitas stood by his master’s side because it felt like the right thing to do. Besides, he could tell that he wouldn’t want to miss a single second of the conversation that was about to happen.

“It is my duty to assist my former coven member,” Eraqus replied stiffly, “banishment aside.”

Xehanort raised an eyebrow. “So the rest of the clan has been giving you trouble in my name? I think that’s rather unfair of them.”

Terra glowered at Xehanort for the duration of their terse exchange. Instead of answering, Eraqus noticed the tension and glanced between the two of them.

“Xehanort, this is my student Terra. He finished his apprenticeship some years ago. Terra, this is Xehanort, a former member of our coven.”

“We’ve met,” Terra growled.

Vanitas bit back a laugh. It was hilarious to see how Xehanort turned Eraqus’s respectful, soft-spoken, mature student into a seething mass of fury just by standing there.

Xehanort looked at Eraqus with falsely mournful eyes.

“So Terra was your student. I must admit, I had my suspicions when I encountered him a few years ago, but I regret not reaching out then. I was too remorseful over the terrible harm I inflicted upon you during our petty difference in opinion. Terra and I, too, had a disagreement-"

"DISAGREEMENT?"

Even Vanitas flinched at Terra's furious roar. The correctional officer that was supervising them jumped in front of Terra.

"Settle down," the officer said. "If you lose your temper again, I'll be forced to make you leave the room."

Terra closed his eyes and took a steadying breath.

"Alright," he muttered through clenched teeth.

“I had no idea you two had such a history,” Eraqus said quietly.

“I’m sure you didn’t come all this way to rehash old points of tension,” Xehanort said.

“Not specifically,” Eraqus said. “I want to understand what transpired. Your apprentice informed me about some things, but I would like to hear from you.”

“Of course,” Xehanort said. “After our disagreement so many years ago, and my subsequent banishment, I felt lost. You treated me as dead, as was your duty.” Vanitas begrudgingly gave his master credit for completely keeping any resentment he may have harbored out of his voice. “So I took refuge in solitude, in the old magic of the desert. These days, unfortunately, such solitude is an illusion. Amagicals are everywhere. The small community close to my house was useful for grabbing food and the like. However, even my proximity was vexing to the amagicals near my house. They were scared. You know how that can end.”

Eraqus’s face was unusually mournful. “Of course I do.”

“These amagicals had a different strategy than others I have encountered before. They’re a very tight-knit community. They blamed me for their mayor’s death. The little evidence they have is a half-hazard plant. My lawyer is working right now to overturn the arrest because of insufficient evidence.”

“Is this the same lawyer that failed to acquit Xemnas?” Vanitas asked.

Xehanort didn’t acknowledge the question. “I have no idea what the prosecutor was thinking. Even if my lawyer can’t get this case dismissed for insufficient evidence, any judge in their right mind would throw out the case.” He looked directly at Eraqus. “I cannot thank you enough for taking in my apprentice during these difficult times. It was never my intention to burden you.”

“It really is no burden at all,” Eraqus said.

Xehanort turned to Terra. “It is good to see you as well, Terra. Perhaps, we, too, can start over.”

“Fuck you,” Terra spat. “How can you just stand there and pretend that nothing happened? How can you act like you didn’t do anything?”

“How can you?” Xehanort asked evenly.

Terra flinched and looked away.

“I didn’t go as far as you did,” Terra managed. “Don’t pretend we’re the same.”

“Perhaps neither of us are perfect,” Xehanort continued, “but I am willing to move on if you are.”

“I’ll never forget what you did,” Terra said quietly. “And I’ll never forgive you for it.”

“It was an accident,” Xehanort said. “Surely you won’t hold an accident against me? Especially after everything you’ve done?”

Terra couldn’t even answer him. Vanitas couldn’t keep a small chuckle from escaping his lips. It was genuinely awe-inspiring how his master played Terra with the ease of a professional violin player warming up.

“I digress,” Xehanort said. “Eraqus, please be patient with my apprentice. He’s had a troubled past, but he’s a good child at heart.”

Vanitas scowled. A good child? What the hell was his master playing at?

“Of course,” Eraqus said. “Is there anything else?”

“I would like some time to speak with my apprentice alone. Other than that,” he looked Eraqus straight in the eyes “we should catch up some time. Just the two of us.”

Vanitas could see the steel of Eraqus’s eyes soften. “I wish I could. But the laws are absolute. Even now, I speak to you as a stranger. You forsook friendship the instant you chose the fourth plane over your own coven.”

Was Xehanort’s disappointment genuine? Even Vanitas couldn’t tell.

Eraqus turned and left without another word. Terra moved to follow, but turned, as if to say one last thing to Xehanort. Instead, he closed his mouth and looked at Vanitas. His eyes were storms of anger and pity.

“Be careful,” he said.

Vanitas scoffed as Terra followed his master out of the visitation room. Careful?

The officer within the room blinked. “I thought you wanted to speak to the younger one alone?”

Xehanort smiled placidly. “Oh, never mind that.”

The officer looked at Xehanort with suspicion, but as a nagic, he had no way of even knowing that the apprentice in question was on another plane.

Vanitas quietly followed his master as he was escorted back to his cell. Other inmates and officers glanced at Xehanort, but as Vanitas passed through them, they shivered and looked away. A few even reacted without Vanitas stepping through them.

He faltered the second he stepped into his cell. There was already someone sitting on the bottom bunk with a book in his hands. He looked up briefly before returning to it.

“You have a cellmate?”

The second the door closed behind them, Xehanort reached under his cellmate’s nose and snapped his fingers. The man dropped the book and collapsed onto the bed. He didn’t even snore.

Vanitas relaxed. “Finally. If I had to hear any more of that sniveling bullshit I was going to set the entire room on fire.”

“Not there you wouldn’t have,” Xehanort said. Just hearing the rasp of his real voice was a relief, even if it was a scold against Vanitas. “I have appearances to keep.”

“Not that it did you any good,” Vanitas said.

“Eraqus is a sentimental fool. He’ll cave eventually and justify it as part of the investigation.”

“Nice job with Terra, by the way,” Vanitas said. “What happened to make him such a mess, anyway?”

“That matter is irrelevant,” Xehanort said. “Forget about Terra. He is a foolish coward who I regret ever training. I knew he was weak, but I was in denial. I thought I could make him strong. But, in the end, he just slinked back to Eraqus with his tail between his legs.”

“Do I really have to stay with Eraqus?” Vanitas didn’t whine. “He’s one of those holier-than-thou witches with a stick up his ass. All of his students are the exact same way.”

“I cannot train you here,” Xehanort said with a gesture to the cell around him. “And I know Eraqus. He may hold an antiquated value system, but he’s predictable. He may try to ‘save’ you from using dark magic. Ignore such efforts.”

“Believe me, I had no desire to listen in the first place.”

“Other than that, try not to make too much trouble. If Eraqus decides you’re too much trouble, he may attempt to pass you off to one of his colleagues. I doubt he will swallow his pride enough to do so, but the possibility does exist that he will if you cross too many lines.”

“Yes, Master. By the way, do you know about the investigation the others in Eraqus’s clan are conducting?”

Xehanort didn’t scowl, but it was a close thing. “No. I am not surprised that the others in the clan would take this opportunity to snoop around my affairs. I’ve prepared for this moment, of course. All of the information I need is saved in my brain or the cloud. You can’t hack paper-”

“-but witches can’t hack,” Vanitas finished for him.

“You know what you have to do,” Xehanort said.

“Yeah, yeah. Afterwards, I just stay with Eraqus until this is all cleaned up?”

“Yes. I trust you can deal with any nosy clan officials who try to question you?”

Vanitas nodded. “Anything else?”

Xehanort smiled. “Say hello to Ventus for me.”

If Vanitas’s heart still beat, it would have skipped one.

Chapter Text

Ven leaned back on the stool behind the shop counter and sighed. He had made more progress on his broom than he would have liked. Early afternoon was usually one of the busiest times of the day. Whether it was a neighborhood witch looking for an extra candle or an amagical tourist who wandered too far from the beach, every new person through the door meant another story to hear, another potential friend to make, and another potential customer who could ease the worry lines that appeared on Eraqus’s face whenever he was on the phone with their landlord.

“Are you going to keep leaning back until you fall over?” Vanitas did the thing where he appeared suddenly on the third plane in a futile attempt to startle Ven.

“No," Ven replied petulantly. "I'm not going to fall over."

Vanitas grinned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure- as long as you don't knock the stool from under me. That would be cheating."

Chirithy stirred from where he had been sleeping on the counter.

"Sorry," Ven said.

"That's alright," Chirithy said. "Wanna play?"

There was a feather sitting at the counter that had fallen off of something. Ven threw it in the air. Chirithy snapped to attention. His eyes grew wide as he watched it slowly drift back down. He coiled, flicked his tail-

Ven blew it away with a small shot of wind before Chirithy could pounce. He chased the feather through the air as Ven did his best to use the wind to keep it away without making something so powerful it would knock anything over. It made Ven bite his lip in concentration. Finally, Chirithy faked a swipe, leapt, and caught the feather before Ven could knock it away. He was panting.

"Nice job."

Ven blinked. He didn't expect those words from Vanitas.

"Are you talking to me or Chirithy?" Ven asked.

"Both. That's impressive control you have over your wind spells, but you were outsmarted by a cat."

"Chirithy's not just a cat, he's my familiar. There's no shame to losing to a familiar."

Vanitas stared down at Chirithy with raised eyebrows.

"Normally I'd agree with you, but yours seems too much of an airhead. Just like his witch, I suppose."

Ven stuck his tongue out at him. Vanitas settled down on the counter next to him instead of returning the favor. It made Ven look at him carefully.

"What's your specialty?" Vanitas asked. "You were always good at wind spells. Are you considering becoming a wind elemental?"

"I don't really know yet," Ven said. "I like wind spells, but not enough to make them my specialty. I like light spells, and exorcisms are exciting-"

Vanitas tensed. "Exorcisms?"

Ven cringed, but Vanitas just laughed.

"Well, you shouldn't specialize in those if you can't even exorcise me. Unless you manage to outdo your master. From what I've seen, that doesn't look too hard."

"Shut up!" Ven snapped. "Why are you so mean to Master Eraqus?"

"I'm not being mean. I'm just stating the facts. He failed to exorcise me."

"That's the first time I've ever seen him fail to exorcise anything," Ven said. "Besides, you don't count. You're not like any other ghost I've seen. You're... awake and talkative and stuff. You're still you."

Vanitas's smile turned dark. "Well, that's just because of all of the evil dark magic I've done. If I didn't take to the dark plane as well as I did, I'd be like every other ghost you've killed."

"It's not killing them if they're already dead," Ven muttered, but with the ghost of someone he cared about sitting right next to him, he couldn't muster up enough energy to give the argument weight.

Chirithy yelped. Ven noticed that Vanitas was running his fingers down the fur of one of his Unversed. Its eyes were blank and it was twitching, but Ven had no way of knowing if that meant if it liked it or not.

“You should get that off the counter,” Ven said. “It’ll scare the customers.”

“What customers?”

“Ones that would enter if they didn’t see a dead rat on the counter!”

“Undead rat.”

“It still might scare away the customers.”

“Might? Besides, if your mangy animal gets to stay on the counter, why can’t mine?”

“Chirithy’s not mangy! He’s my familiar.”

“And my Unversed are like my familiars.”

Ven took a closer look. The rat looked like nothing but a moving corpse to Ven. Its eyes didn’t have that extra spark of intelligence that most familiars did, but when he looked closer, he could see… red? Something looked back at him.

“Does it have a name?” Ven asked.

Vanitas rolled his eyes. “Of course you’d ask something so dumb. It’s not smart to get attached to an undead animal.”

“So can I name it?”

Vanitas paused.

“He already has a name. Flood.”

“You just said-”

“It makes things easier. I have to differentiate them somehow.”

“Suuure,” Ven said with a small roll of his eyes.

He put his hand over the rat Flood. After hesitating for a second, he ran his fingers across his fur. Flood began twitching in double-time. Ven resisted the urge to wipe his hands on his pants.

“If a customer comes, can you make sure he-”

Suddenly, Flood scuttled away. At the same time, Vanitas disappeared onto the fourth plane. Ven could still sense him, but he couldn’t see or hear him.

“What gives?”

The opening of the shop door answered his own question.

“Welcome,” Ven started to say automatically. “Is there-”

He stopped once he saw who had stepped through the door. Ven recognized the old man from the clan meeting in the desert, but the long, blue robes and pointy hat he wore told Ven everything he needed to know anyway. He gave a polite nod.

“Good afternoon. My master isn’t here right now, if you’re here on clan business.” There was no way he wasn’t, dressed as he was on a normal day. “Would you like some tea?”

“That’s quite alright,” the man said. “I am here on clan business, but it is not Eraqus I wish to speak with. You are Ventus, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m here to speak with your brother, Vanitas.”

Ven’s stomach dropped. He fiddled with the rings on his hands.

“Why, sir?”

“We have a few questions for him regarding his master. I assumed he’d be more comfortable answering them here.”

Bold of you to assume he’d be comfortable answering them at all.

Was this the investigation they said they were going to conduct? Ven sighed. He didn’t want to tattle on his brother, but this was an official of the clan. Complying with him was the right thing to do, but with Vanitas literally by his side...

“What do you want to know?” he asked cautiously.

Vanitas reappeared on the third plane so fast it was like he had never left.

“I’ll answer my own questions,” he said.

The old man was so startled by Vanitas’s appearance that he stumbled backwards into the door. The crash made the window display wobble. Vanitas laughed. Ven rushed forward.

“Are you alright, sir?”

Ven didn’t see Vanitas rolling his eyes, but he knew that he had.

The old man managed to stand up by himself and fixed the displaced merchandise with a wave of his hand.

“Yes, my boy. I was merely startled.” He looked at Vanitas. “Would you like to answer questions here, or would somewhere else do?”

“I don’t care,” Vanitas said.

“Very well. My name is Merlin. I’m-”

“A clan official sniffing around about my master. Get on with it.”

“I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t interrupt me,” Merlin said tersely, as if he were speaking with a young child.

Ven grimaced. That tone was a mistake around Vanitas, but he didn’t react.

“How about we make a deal?” Vanitas asked. His face was a blank mask again. “I’ll answer a question, then I’ll ask one. Otherwise, I won’t answer anything.”

Ven bit back a sigh. That was Vanitas, all right; never giving anything to adults without taking something for himself. His master had to be an exception, though. Ven resolved to ask later.

“Well, I suppose it depends on the questions. For now, it seems like a fairly reasonable agreement. Now, for my first question: did you perform dark magic?”

“Nope. I have never sullied my hands with the horrendous fourth plane. I’m as clean as fresh snow. I even go to church.”

Honestly, Ven might as well have been fourteen again and standing by as Vanitas was chewed out by a teacher or foster parent. He really hadn’t changed that much. At the same time, it was refreshing to be able to be annoyed by his brother again. He had officially re-entered Ven’s life, and that was worth the annoyance.

“I would appreciate it if you kept your answers genuine,” Merlin said.

“I’m sure you would!” Vanitas leaned forward. “My turn. What is the worst thing you can do to my master?”

“Well, that depends,” Merlin said. “In cases such as these, the normal course of action would be banishment from the clan, but in this case, since he’s already been banished- never mind. Now, to what extent did you partake in dark magic before your death?”

Vanitas visibly pondered the answer.

“I think I’ve always used it. Some of the elements didn’t come to me in the traditional way.” He called his purple lightning into his hand. Ven narrowed his eyes. Was that why his magic was always different from Ven’s?

“The fourth plane has always called me,” Vanitas continued. “It never stops.” He stretched. “Well, it has now. I’ve answered the call the best someone can.”

Merlin, meanwhile, had taken out a yellow legal pad and started taking notes.

“So you were never coerced into performing dark magic?”

Vanitas just laughed.

“My turn. Why do you hate my magic so much?”

Vanitas’s eyes were narrowed with the curiosity of a jaguar sizing up a human from a tree. Ven’s hand stopped where it was petting Chirithy’s head.

“Because it’s a nature taboo,” Merlin said.

“But why is it a nature taboo?”

“It’s an offense to the natural order of things. Witches have honed the gift of seeing and interacting with the other three planes of reality, and that alone has caused countless social, political, and economic repercussions. What little we know about the fourth plane is that it is a corrupting force that has the potential to completely change the fabric of reality along with witch and amagical society.”

“So you’re scared.”

“We are cautious, my boy. There is a distinct difference. And if you know anything of the history of your master’s former coven, you would be, too.”

“Are you talking about the Keyblade War? Please, that thing had so many causes that it would have happened even if the clan had been made of no one but hedgewitches.”

Ven racked his memories, but he couldn’t remember anyone mentioning any kind of civil war with a witch clan, let alone their own. Then again, history wasn’t his best subject...

“Now for my question,” Merlin said. “You have admitted to using the fourth plane for basic spellwork. What other forms of dark magic have you done?”

Vanitas grinned and spread his hands. “Why, I’ve done everything. I’ve drained the blood of children and used it to wake the dead. I’ve spoken curses so horrible the words alone would curdle an entire dairy aisle. I’ve even channeled the fourth plane’s energy into a human shape and fucked it!”

Ven burst out laughing. He knew he shouldn’t encourage his brother, and dark magic was a serious matter, but holy shit. Vanitas even lost his composure and laughed along.

Merlin was significantly less amused. He looked at the boys with a blank look and crossed out a few lines of his notes.

“I’m sorry,” Ven managed, “but PFFFT-”

“I would appreciate it if you boys took this seriously.”

Ven felt bad for Merlin, he really did, but it felt so good to be able to laugh with Vanitas again. They had a good laugh, too. It took them almost two minutes to finally calm down. Chirithy sighed and crossed his paws. Ven felt a little bad for him, too, since the ruckus meant he couldn’t take a catnap.

“Last question,” Merlin said. “A few days ago, the house where you and your master resided caught fire. After some preliminary investigation, it seems that your master’s office was the center of the blaze.”

“That’s not a question,” Vanitas said.

“Are you the one who set the blaze?”

“Why in the World would I set my own house on fire? It was probably the local nagics. There’s a window in my master’s office. It’s not a bad place to throw a Molotov. If I were a nagic, there aren’t many other places I would try.”

Merlin scribbled one last thing on his notepad. Ven took a peek, but it was enchanted so he couldn’t see what he had written.

“That will be all for now,” Merlin said. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“I get one last question,” Vanitas said. His pupils dilated like he was locking onto prey with those golden eyes. “Do you really think that throwing us under the bus will earn you respect from the nagics?”

“Vanitas,” Merlin sighed, again as if lecturing a child, “a representative such as myself has duties to witches as a whole and the World we live in, not just the members of the clan. I frequently meet with amagical authorities. They confess to me their fears of what magic can do. How are the rest of us supposed to peacefully live in society when all of us are accused of raising the dead or spitting curses? Your magic undoes all of the work people like me have done to show the amagical community that we are regular people like them.”

“The nagics won’t be satisfied until we’re all dead or amagical like them. Will you go after the clairvoyants next?”

Ven had never seen Vanitas so passionate about anything before.

“You claim it’ll be a slippery slope? That is a fallacy.”

“No,” Vanitas said, “it’s history. Now leave. I have nothing else to say to you.”

“Have a good rest of your day,” Merlin said with a tight smile. He immediately turned and made his way back outside.

“Where did you learn all of that?” Ven asked the instant Merlin left the shop. “Your master?”

“It’s just history, Ventus.” Vanitas shifted with a smirk. “So, how did the old man’s boots taste?”

“Delicious,” Ven responded in the same deadpan. “Boot is my favorite flavor of ice cream.”

“No wonder, considering who your master is.”

“Seriously, what is your problem with my master? Is it because he tried to exorcise you? Because-”

“I don’t give a damn about that,” Vanitas said. “It’s actually hilarious. The man takes himself so seriously and obviously has done a lot of exorcisms, but couldn’t even get rid of me. The thing that really pisses me off about your master and every other goddamn witch in your clan is the way they look at dark magic like it’s evil and persecute my master over it. He’s not even part of their clan anymore. They have no business telling us what to do. We have the same right as any other witch to use our magic as we see fit. At the end of the day, it’s just magic. The nagics see it the same. They’ll hate us no matter what we do.”

“A lot of dark magic is evil,” Ven said. “Like curses and stuff. They hurt people.”

Vanitas scowled. “This is what I mean. Witches like you and your master call everything they don’t like ‘dark magic.’ Most jinxes, hexes, and curses don’t even involve the fourth plane, especially the ones cast accidentally. What do you think a ward or protective spell is? They’re just jinxes or hexes with conditions on them. And sometimes not cursing someone would cause more harm than cursing them.”

Ven blinked. “I never thought of it that way. But the fourth plane corrupts people.”

Vanitas grinned in the way that always made the hairs on the back of Ven’s neck stand up. “Normally I would agree with you. I’ve never been a good boy. But your best friend is a walking counterargument.”

Ven narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? Terra and Aqua would never use dark magic!”

“Hah! I guess Terra never told you after all.”

“You’re lying,” Ven said.

“He’s not,” Chirithy said quietly. “I heard them fighting about it.”

Ven faltered. Vanitas using dark magic was one thing, but Terra?

“What? Does the master know?”

“Dunno,” Chirithy said.

“Why?” Vanitas asked. “Are you going to tattle on him?”

“No way,” Ven said. “I’m sure he knows already.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Vanitas had turned that leopard stare at Ven.

“I dunno,” Ven said. “It’d depend a lot on the situation.”

“How?”

“Why do you care?” Ven snapped.

“I want to know whose side you would take,” Vanitas said, “your master’s or your brother’s.”

Vanitas was talking about Terra, but at the same time, he really wasn’t.

“We aren’t in foster care anymore! You don’t need to worry about sides or alliances.” Ven seethed. “I hate when you get like this. I’ve always hated it. We’re not out to get you, Vanitas! No one is.”

“Your master and the rest of your clan is,” Vanitas said simply, “and I guess that’s all that really counts. I could tell you were waiting to tattle your guts out the second that shittily-bearded idiot asked.”

“So, what, you’re saying you don’t trust me anymore?”

“I wish I could,” Vanitas said, “but unless you mean to tell me that you’d take my side over your master’s, I can’t.”

“We’re family. There aren’t any sides to take.”

Vanitas barked a bitter laugh.

“If you really believe that, then you’re either stupider or more naïve than I even thought.”

He disappeared into the fourth plane and walked away.

“Fuck you too!” Ven shouted.

He collapsed back into the shop stool.

“Is that what it’s always like with your brother?” Chirithy asked quietly.

“I guess it is now,” Ven said sadly.

Chapter Text

Ven knew something was off the second he and Chirithy stepped into the apartment.

“Ventus. Please, sit.”

Eraqus was sitting at one end of the dining room table. The wax drippings from dozens of lit candles had been cleaned off. Ven sat at the end that had his favorite teacup. Chirithy joined him on the chair. Ven’s stomach twisted itself into knots. Terra, Aqua, and Vanitas were nowhere to be found.

Ven poured himself a cup, grabbed some milk from the fridge, and poured some milk into his tea. He blew on it and tried a sip. Delicious.

“Would you like some milk in your tea, Master?”

“No, thank you,” Eraqus said. “Milk would make it too sweet.”

“I thought you liked sweets,” Ven said.

“I do, but I don’t believe green tea is supposed to taste sweet.” He took a sip from his teacup. “Thank you, though.”

Ven put the milk back in the fridge. He paused. Why in the World had Eraqus cleaned the dining room table, made him tea, and pulled him aside? Every step back to the table felt like his shoes were iron. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“What’s wrong?”

“You know Vanitas must be exorcised,” Eraqus said. “He’s lingered in the World far longer than he should have.”

Ven gulped some tea without blowing on it. It scalded his mouth, but he swallowed it anyway.

“But if even you and Yen Sid couldn’t do it, how could anybody?”

Eraqus turned to Chirithy.

“If my hunch is correct, there should be a link between Ventus and Vanitas on the higher planes. Am I correct?”

“Yup! How did you know?”

Ven translated.

“It is as I suspected,” Eraqus said. “Vanitas has a twin bond with you. That was the reason that no one could exorcise him before.”

“Wait, what’s a twin bond?”

Eraqus began speaking in his lecture voice. Ven instinctively reached for a pencil to take notes, but there was none. He settled for focusing on every word that exited Eraqus’s mouth while he fiddled with the spinner rings on his hands.

“A twin bond is exactly what it sounds like. Twins, over the course of their childhood, often form close connections. Most siblings have a close connection, of course, but twins have a unique connection due to their close ages. A twin bond, despite the name, is not exclusive to twins, nor does one form between all twins. It can form between any siblings close in age, but tends not to-”

Ven’s concentration slipped. He took another drink of tea. The clatter from setting his teacup down caught Eraqus’s attention.

“So we have this twin bond. So what?”

“You are the only person who can exorcise Vanitas,” Eraqus said gently. “So you are the one who must.”

“No,” Ven shot back automatically. “I can’t! You can’t make me do that!”

“Be reasonable, Ventus,” Eraqus said. “You’ve exorcised ghosts before.”

“That was different,” Ven said. “They were ghosts. They didn’t talk. They were dead. Vanitas is different, Master. He’s alive.”

“He’s dead, Ventus.”

“That wasn’t what I meant. He’s awake. He’s himself. He’s more than a ghost. Exorcising him… that would feel like killing him again.”

“You know that every loved one of every ghost we have exorcised has felt the same. You are not entitled to keep him here.” Eraqus’s face softened. “I know what it’s like to lose family to the pain of death and fates worse than death. But take heart in your opportunity for closure. I never got to say goodbye to the ones I lost, but both you and your siblings will.”

Oh fuck, his siblings. What were they going to say?

Hi, Sora, Roxas, Xion- you know how Vanitas is back and you can see him for the first time since you were actual kids? Not for long!

“What if I don’t want to?” Ven’s voice cracked. “What will you do to me?”

Chirithy crawled into Ven’s lap, but even his velvet purrs couldn’t calm Ven down.

Eraqus sighed and took a drink from his teacup. “I cannot force you to do this, but your brother’s time in this world has passed. You must let him go. Nothing good comes from clinging to times that have already passed. Besides, he has no life to live. A bare handful of people can even see him, and he cannot eat or drink or sleep or feel the wind on his face; he has not even aged. Do you really want to live the rest of your life with a fifteen-year-old by your side as you grow and change? And what will happen when you die? Will he be trapped in this world, forever isolated from you and the rest of your family? Vanitas has lingered here far too long already. He is dead. The best thing you can do for him is help him move on to the Other Place.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Ven said bitterly.

“I know it will not be,” Eraqus said, “both emotionally and magically, but we will help.”

Ven’s hands started shaking so hard he couldn’t hold his teacup.

“This isn’t fair,” he said.

“It is not,” Eraqus said, “but it is your duty, and I know it’s a duty you can do.”

Ven managed to take another sip of his tea without spilling it. It was bitter and cold.

“Yes, Master.”

Ven forced himself to take deep breaths and rearranged Chirithy in his arms until he had enough of a free hand to knock on the door.

“Hi, Mr. Strife,” Ven managed.

“Hi, Ven,” Cloud replied. “Dunno what’s wrong, but the kids are waiting in their room for you.”

“Thanks.”

Ven kicked his shoes off at the door and stumbled to their room with pure muscle memory. He didn’t even wave to Donald and Goofy as they watched him pass. He only started looking once he reached their room, but that was just to navigate his way across the strewn clothes, shoes, and spellcasting gear between Xion’s bed and Sora and Roxas’s bunk. The three of them watched Ven with wide eyes. Chirithy jumped onto Xion’s bed and reached his head out for Ven to rub his ears.

“What’s wrong?” Sora asked.

Ven took a deep breath.

“Vanitas is dead,” he began.

“We know that already,” Xion said.

“He’s a ghost,” he tried again.

“Is it just now hitting you?” Sora asked gently.

Ven balled his fists and sat down on Xion’s bed hard enough to make the bed creak. Chirithy flinched, then pressed against Ven’s side.

“You guys don’t get it! He’s a ghost!”

“So, what?” Roxas asked. “Are you going to try and exorcise him or something?”

“Yeah,” Ven said. “That’s my duty.”

Roxas barked a laugh, bitter as oversteeped tea.

“You’re joking.”

“You know I’m not,” Ven said.

“You’re joking,” Roxas growled. He stepped towards Ven threateningly. Chirithy hissed. “You better be joking. Because otherwise…”

“I’m serious. It’s my duty to exorcise him. I’m literally the only one who can. ‘Cuz we’re twins.”

Ven saw where that comment hit Roxas, and the horror and the fury it summoned in his little brother.

“What, you’re gonna kill him?” Roxas shouted. “Split us up again? Because your old fart of a master asked you to?”

“Leave my master out of this!” Ven shouted back. “Vanitas doesn’t belong here anymore! He’s a ghost! What part of this don’t you understand?”

“But he’s back,” Sora said. “Why do you have to exorcise him?”

“Because he’s a ghost, Sora. He’s not really alive. He can’t eat or sleep, he can’t even grow up. It’s good to see him, it really is, but it’d be cruel to keep him here like this.”

“Shouldn’t it be up to him?” Xion asked.

“If we left it up to ghosts, they’d never leave,” Ven said.

“That’s not true,” Sora said. “Don’t some of them move on if you fulfill their final wishes?”

“That doesn’t happen that often,” Ven said. “And I could try that, but do you really think Vanitas is only one wish away from exorcising himself?”

“No, and that’s the goddamn point!” Roxas shouted. “There’s no good reason for you to do this!”

“Did you not hear a word I just said?”

“I was listening carefully,” Roxas seethed, “and all I heard was bullshit parroted from your master.”

“I told you to leave him out of this!”

“Why should I? He’s the one who planted this stupid idea in your head!”

“Well, he’s right,” Ven said. “And you know he is, too. Vanitas is a ghost. He’s dead. He doesn’t belong here anymore. He has to move on. It’s our duty to help him do it, or else he’ll be stuck here as a fifteen-year-old forever.”

“I still think it should be his choice,” Xion said, but their words fell on ears deafened with emotion.

Roxas stuck his chin out defiantly. Even with the angry streaks of tears that matched Ven’s own, he looked more like Vanitas than he ever had before.

“If you do this, I’ll hate you forever.”

Roxas’s words hit Sora like a blow.

“Don’t say that,” Sora said between clenched teeth. Ven could see tears begin to form in his eyes.

“If I didn’t, I’d be lying,” Roxas said coldly. “I thought I’d never hate anyone more than the foster agents that ripped us apart in the first place. But at least they had a somewhat decent reason for doing it.”

“Stop it!”

“At least they tried to look for a place that would take five kids, or at least they said they did. If you do this, I’ll hate you more than I ever hated them.”

“I said, STOP IT!” Sora screamed. He grabbed Roxas’s shirt and yanked it towards him. Xion rushed over and pushed them apart.

There was no need. Ven saw Roxas falter under Sora’s teary gaze.

“Do you think I want to do this?” Ven asked hoarsely. “Vanitas is my twin brother. You, of all people, should understand how much this hurts.”

“Yeah, I do,” Roxas said, “which is why I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

“Because it’s not about me,” Ven said. “How I feel doesn’t matter. This is bigger than me. The only thing that matters is that it’s the right thing to do for Vanitas’s sake.”

“And you really believe that?”

“I do.”

“So that’s the problem,” Roxas said. “You believe the stupid shit your master says over your own heart.”

“When?” Xion asked.

“What?” Ven sniffed.

“When are you going to exorcise him?” She was the only one in the room with dry eyes, but they were distant. “Tomorrow?”

“Vanitas’s master is in jail,” Ven said. “From what I hear, the case is pretty weak, so it’ll get thrown out, and Vanitas would, in theory, return to his master, but… that’s when I’ll do it. So we can have as much time as we can with him.”

“When’s the case gonna get thrown out?” Sora asked. “And what’ll you do if it doesn’t?”

“I don’t know,” Ven said. “It could be weeks or months. Probably less than a year.”

“So we don’t really know,” Xion said.

“It could happen at any time,” Ven said. “Just like our parents, except we know it's coming.”

Ven knew, objectively, that mentioning their dead parents in the context of their dead brother was a horrendously bad idea, but it wasn’t something that passed through his brain on the way out his mouth.

“Get the fuck out of my room,” Roxas spat.

Ven went. He didn’t even bother closing the door behind him.

“Is everything alright?” Cloud asked as Ven shoved on his shoes without bothering to undo and redo the laces.

He had a Dad Face on. If Ven wanted, he would sit down at the table, listen to his problems, and give advice Ven wouldn’t want to listen to.

“You’re not my dad,” Ven croaked.

Tears welled up in his eyes for the infinite time that day. He didn’t see Cloud’s face as he ran out the door and closed it behind him.

Ven wanted to sit down at the front steps and lean against the door. He wanted to sit down in their yard somewhere. But it wasn’t his house. He was just a guest. He knew Cloud and Leon would let him sit anywhere, and that he was welcome at any time under any circumstance, but he was still a guest in his own family’s home.

The concrete curb was empty. It was a bench that accepted everybody. Ven sat down and dug out his phone. He didn’t even bother with a text.

She picked up on the first ring.

“Aqua?” he sobbed.

“Master told me the situation,” Aqua’s cool voice replied without hesitation. “Where are you? Cloud and Leon’s?”

“Mmhm.”

“I’m on my way,” she said gently.

“Thank you.”

Chirithy had crawled onto Ven’s lap and was purring on his chest before the phone even disconnected.

“What do you think, Chirithy?” Ven managed through sobs. “Think it could have gone worse?”

“I think it’s definitely possible,” Chirithy said weakly.

The hard cement of the curb made Ven ache. It was a cold reminder that he was still in the world he had entered seven years ago when their parents left them, and soon, it would become a world without his twin.

Ven grimaced as tears soaked his face. He had given up on wiping them off.

Had it been easier, before, not knowing what had really happened to Vanitas, knowing that there was no use looking for him but not knowing how he knew that? It hadn’t been that long ago, but Ven could no longer remember. All he could see was a dark portal approaching him, ready to transport him into another, darker world, one where he had to remove his brother from it.

Chapter Text

Vanitas sat in the middle of the kitchen and laid against the cool tile. He slowly let his head and shoulders phase through the tile. He was almost hanging completely upside down when Ventus walked upstairs.

“What’s going on?” Vanitas asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be watching the shop?”

“Sora texted me,” he said. “He’s asking for you.”

“Isn’t he at school?”

“Yeah,” Ven said. “He wants you to meet him at school. The three of them- well, it’s closer to everyone in our coven their age- go to school in the Twilight District.”

Vanitas got up. “The Twilight District? Tell Sora I’m on my way, but it’ll take an hour or so- Unless you’d be willing to give me a ride.”

“Do you even know where the Twilight District is?”

“Of course I do,” Vanitas said. “Do you think I spend nights just waiting for you to wake up? I probably know the island better than you do at this point.”

“Do you know where the high school is?”

“Well, a street name wouldn’t hurt.”

Vanitas made a face the second he stepped onto the campus. Death itself was better than the endless revolution of nagic schools he and Ventus had been shuffled through. He had hoped it would have meant he would never have to return to one.

Vanitas followed the scattered black trail of ancient chewing gum spat onto the sidewalks by hundreds of pubescent mouths. He figured the gum trail would be the easiest way to figure out which areas were the most trafficked, but classes must have been in full swing, because there wasn’t a student to be found. He couldn’t see any kids ditching class or even walking to the bathroom. It wasn’t until Vanitas stuck his head into a classroom that he saw a student. They were all clothed in white button-ups and blue plaid shorts and skirts.

Vanitas made a face. Dress code had always been a pain in the ass. Even goody-two-shoes Ventus had taken detention rather than follow it and take the piercings from his ears. Once Ventus managed to sweet talk the school into giving them enough uniform clothes that they could actually wear different pants within a school week, they would switch schools and have to start all over again with a new arbitrary dress code that viewed every other school’s uniform as an affront to their aesthetic sensibility. And that didn’t even begin to describe the pain that was the nagics in the uniforms.

Vanitas made sure to keep himself as far on the fourth plane as possible to avoid any unnecessary contact with even the path he was following. He had no idea why Sora, Roxas, and Xion would willingly attend one when they could apprentice full-time.

One of the students in the classroom Vanitas was looking at raised his hand, asked to go to the bathroom, and got up. To Vanitas’s surprise, he recognized the kid in question. It was Riku, Sora’s friend.

The second Riku stepped outside the classroom, his eyes flickered to and fro, as if he were searching for something. It couldn’t have been Vanitas he was looking for, because he was deep in the fourth plane.

Unless…

A nasty smile grew on Vanitas’s face. He tailed Riku as he circled the building, swiveling his head and avoiding the windows of the classroom he just left. Finally, he leaned against a wall and narrowed his eyes. Vanitas took a position right next to him. If he was right, all he would have to do was wait.

He didn’t have to wait long. Riku’s head looked to the side. His eyes glowed gold. Even if Vanitas had missed them, there was no way he would have missed Riku’s surprised jolt.

“I thought I felt something on the fourth plane,” Riku growled.

Vanitas grinned. “Surprise. You’re Terra’s apprentice, aren’t you?”

“So what if I am?”

Vanitas couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his throat even if he wanted to. Riku bristled.

“What’s so funny?”

Vanitas stopped laughing, but still couldn’t contain his smug grin.

“Does your master know you can look onto the fourth plane? By your sensitivity, I’d guess you’ve done much more than just look, too.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Riku had his hands in his pocket and had wiped his face of emotion, but Vanitas could tell the idea scared him shitless.

“And ruin the fun? No, this will be fun to watch. Just be sure to tell me if you ever decide to tell him. I’d pay money to watch that conversation.”

Riku didn’t answer. Vanitas raised his eyebrows.

“Are you planning on telling him?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Riku said. “I don’t think I should. His master might report it to the rest of the clan.”

“I was working on the assumption that you weren’t stupid enough to tell Eraqus. Was I incorrect in doing so?”

“If I tell Terra, he might tell Grandmaster Eraqus. Then I-” his stoic mask fell “then I would be banished.”

“You never know,” Vanitas said. “Especially since your master is Terra and not Aqua.”

Riku narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”

“I’m sure you’ll find out one day,” Vanitas drawled. “Now, aren’t you supposed to be in class? Or do you really have to take a piss?”

Riku got up and returned to the classroom without another word.

Luckily, not long after Riku skulked back to his classroom with his tail between his legs, a bell rang and students began to flow from the classrooms. Vanitas reluctantly emerged to the third plane so Sora could find him.

"Vanitas!"

Vanitas wondered if Sora would try to hug him every time, regardless of how dead he was. He then realized that it was a stupid thing to wonder- of course he would.

"Hey, idiot," Vanitas greeted. "You know, no one else can see me. People might think you're acting weird talking to something that's not there."

"I don't care," Sora said with a lopsided smile. "If they really knew you were there, they would understand."

I missed you so much.

Vanitas shoved the thought into a deep corner of his mind.

"So, what did you call me out here for? One of the best parts of being dead is that I've never had to return to school before now."

"Follow me," Sora said. "And school is fun!"

"School is fun?" Vanitas echoed in disbelief.

"Well, school itself isn't great, but I've made so many friends here! And since we've been adopted, I don't have to worry about leaving them behind for a while."

Another set of thoughts and feelings to shove away for an indefinite period of time. Sora himself was thankfully a very distracting presence, waving and greeting almost every group they passed with a cheerful grin. Everyone loved Sora and Sora loved everyone. It was good to know that time, separation, and the foster system hadn't changed that.

"It's over here," Sora said. "Goofy found a dead bird. I was wondering if you could... well, you mentioned you're a necromancer, right?"

Vanitas blinked. "You called me over here with the express purpose of performing dark magic?"

Sora shifted. "Well, it's good to see you, too. It's really cool that you could visit during school. I'm sorry- I should have invited you over before now."

Vanitas laughed.

"You missed the point entirely, little brother," he said. "You really don't care that I use dark magic?"

"Well, it's not hurting anyone, is it? Does it hurt you or the animals?"

"Witches with sticks up their asses like Eraqus claim that dark magic hurts the World and 'natural order,'" Vanitas said. "It's bullshit. They're just scared." He smiled. "Never thought you'd be the one to buck all of that, crybaby."

Sora puffed his cheeks. "Are you going to revive it or aren't you?"

Vanitas chuckled as he crouched over the dead bird. It looked like it had run into one of the railings on campus and had quietly bled out. He was surprised no one else had spotted it until he noticed the glamor covering it emerging from the second plane. It felt like Sora’s magic, which was exactly the same fruit-sweetness it had been in the brightness of their childhood.

"Would you like to live again?" Vanitas whispered to the bird.

He resisted the urge to look back at Sora's expression as the bird's ghost hopped into Vanitas's hands. He already knew he was transfixed in adoring rapture.

"By wind of death I wake you, Unversed to that which lies after life."

The bird jumped up and flew into Sora's hands.

"Whaaa?" Sora cooed at the bird as if it were a lump of diamond he found on the sidewalk. "It's alive! It's really alive! How?"

Vanitas stood up and brushed non-existent dust off his ghostly thermal.

"Necromancy."

"Yeah, but how? How do you do necromancy?"

Vanitas blinked. He'd never had to explain it before.

"Well, you know that when you die, your spirit goes to the fourth plane? A necromancer takes a spirit from the fourth plane and shoves it back to the first. You have to work some magic on the body, of course, because there's a reason the spirit left in the first place. The rest is semantics."

"So, in theory, all you need to bring a ghost back to life is to pull it to the first plane?"

"Yeah," Vanitas said, "but it's a lot more complicated than it sounds. It took me more than a year to be able to revive a slug. It helps if you imbue its spirit with an extra kick of emotion."

Sora cocked his head like a confused puppy. "Huh?"

"I guess this is getting a little too technical..."

"Nonono, tell me."

"Nagic school is wasted on you. You have the makings of a great witch."

"Can't see why I can't learn both!"

"Hmph. Even pulling a ghost back into its own body takes a lot of magical energy. I usually give it one of my emotions. It has the benefit of tying it to me in a way that it can't refuse.”

Sora turned his attention back to the bird. "So is this really alive now?"

"Yes and no. It's mostly sentient, but most animals don't have a purpose once they die, so they follow me without complaint.”

Vanitas could practically see the information leaking out of Sora’s ears.

“Woah…”

“So, how about it?” Vanitas purred. “Want to try?”

“Nah,” Sora said without hesitation. “I don’t think it’s my thing. But it’s cool!”

“You’d be the first to think so around here.”

“Really?”

“Well, necromancy is dark magic, so everyone at the shop loses their shit about it.”

“Well, I think it’s cool,” Sora said.

Something warm and bright bubbled up from within Vanitas. A soft smile floated onto his face before he could stop it.

“You really think so?”

The bell rang.

Sora handed the Unversed back to Vanitas. Vanitas sent it to the roof of the nearest classroom building.

“Gotta go,” Sora said. “Love you!”

“Love you, too,” Vanitas said before he could stop himself.

“Wait- one last thing. Do you have a sigil?"

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Well," Sora said, "I kinda wanna see it."

"I'm not stupid, Sora. What do you want to use it for?"

"Nothing! Well, I do want to use it for a spell I'm thinking of working on."

"What kind of spell?"

"I can't tell you yet! It'll be a surprise."

"I don't like surprises, Sora," Vanitas said wearily.

"'M sorry, but I think you'll like this one. Please?"

Vanitas sighed. "Look, I can try to use the bird to scratch it into the dirt, but it'll take a while. You can take a picture of it, but only if you promise not to show Ventus. Or anyone else." He bored into his little brother's eyes with all of the intimidating energy he could muster. He even drew a bit of energy from the fourth plane. "I'm trusting you with this. I'm a ghost, Sora. My sigil can be used to exorcise me. Is that what you want?"

"No," Sora said. "It's not."

"I'm choosing to believe you," Vanitas said, "against my better judgement. Now get out of here. Slink back to your stupid nagic class. I'll come and get you when I've managed it."

Sora smiled. Its brightness cleared Vanitas's shadows of paranoia. "Right! Thank you, Vanitas."

"Get out of here."

Vanitas knew it was a bad idea to draw his sigil out.

He did it anyway. The bird Unversed grabbed a stick and, after some finagling and scratching, managed to scratch Vanitas's sigil into the dirt.

Sora's classroom wasn't too hard to find. He stepped into the classroom in the middle of some nagic lady's history lecture. Vanitas didn't care enough to listen to the specifics of whatever she was saying.

Sora lit up the second he saw Vanitas. He got up and slipped out of the classroom. The teacher looked at him.

"Bathroom," he said.

Vanitas followed him and watched him take a few pictures of the sigil.

"Will that work for whatever you're planning?"

Sora smiled. "Yup! Thanks, Vanitas!"

"Make sure you wipe it out completely."

Sora did. The only sign something had been there were the imprint lines from Sora's sneakers.

"There! Thanks for coming over!"

"Don't ask me to do it again," Vanitas grumbled as they began to walk back to Sora's classroom. "The best part of death is the fact that I never had to step foot in one of these places before today."

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever. Get your ass back to class."

"That's the plan. Any reason in particular you're still following me?"

Vanitas didn't answer.

When they re-entered, Roxas perked his head up. Vanitas waved.

Roxas stared through him.

Vanitas made sure he was on the third and stepped in front of him. Finally, Roxas jumped.

"Vanitas? What are you doing here?" he hissed.

"Your brother wanted me for something."

"Well, hi," Roxas said. "Good to see you, I guess."

"You guess?"

Vanitas looked around. There was a whiteboard on the side of the classroom, between a pair of windows. It was blank except for a few reminders about homework. He touched the whiteboard markers where they were resting.

They slightly budged to his touch.

Vanitas, quickly as he could, uncapped one of the markers.

No one noticed. They were too busy staring at the teacher's lecture or their phones.

Vanitas smirked. With one fluid motion, he picked up the uncapped marker and drew a giant phallus on the whiteboard. The marker clattered out of his hands before he could set it down properly, but the job was done.

Roxas noticed first and burst out laughing. Everyone followed his gaze to the whiteboard. WIthout fail, every single boy started giggling, while the majority of the girls rolled their eyes. Aqua's apprentice even glared at Vanitas through the third plane.

"Roxas?" the teacher asked with a dead voice. "Care to explain this?"

"It wasn't me!"

"It wasn't him," Aqua’s apprentice said. "It's... hard to explain."

"I'll clean it up," Sora offered.

"Don't bother," the nagic teacher said. "Anyway, back to what I was saying..."

Roxas and a few of his classmates couldn't stop giggling. Vanitas smiled. Mission accomplished.

Roxas looked at him, looked around at the nagics in the classroom, and left the classroom without a word. Vanitas tailed him to the bathroom.

"Any reason in particular you decided to show up today?" Roxas asked.

"I told you- Sora asked for me. He wanted me to revive a dead bird."

"Huh," Roxas said. The bathroom he had chosen had a lock, so he turned it. Vanitas figured it was a bit overkill, but if Roxas was self-conscious about talking to someone that none of the nagics could see, that at least made him smarter than Sora.

"He was pretty interested in how it worked," Vantias said. "I could show you, if you want.”

"No, thanks," Roxas said. His face was oddly blank. Vanitas narrowed his eyes and leaned in.

"Alright. What kind of magic do you do? I haven't really seen you around the shop since the day Sora dragged you over to see me."

"I don't really do that much magic," Roxas said under furrowed eyebrows. "Not outside of circles."

"I'm sorry," Vanitas said cooly, "what did you say? You don't do magic? Roxas, you're a witch."

"What if I don't want to be a witch? Look, I can still see the planes and stuff, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing magic."

"You want to be a nagic?"

"Nothing wrong with that."

Vanitas yanked Roxas's shirt towards him. He was only solid enough to jolt him.

"I don't want to hear this self-hatred bullshit. You are a witch, our mother was a witch, her mother was a witch, and all of your siblings are witches. You can't just 'not do magic.' It's who you are."

"Maybe it's not who I want to be!” Roxas seethed. “You know, I might be fucking pissed at Ven right now, but you're seriously contending for most hated sibling right now."

Vanitas raised his eyebrows. "What in the World did Ventus do to make you so mad? I'm the one you fight with."

Roxas wilted a bit.

"If it makes you feel better, my friend Lea is a witch, and we hang out all the time. Sometimes we even do some magic. He's a fire witch. Is that good enough for you?"

"It doesn't matter, since your stubborn ass insists on being the teenage rebel."

"Look who's talking! Have you ever considered the fact that the reason you still look fifteen after being dead for four years is because you haven't grown up?"

"I'm still older than you, Roxas. I know that if you stop practicing magic, you'll regret it."

"I told you- I still go to circles and stuff. But I've tried being a witch, and I don't like it. Every other one of our siblings is doing witch stuff. I don't see the need to join them just because Mom and Grandmother were witches."

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. "You have no respect for them."

"Take it back!" Roxas shouted. "I've actually visited Mom and Dad's graves! Can you say that?"

"Sorry I was a little busy being thrown from foster home to foster home to be able to pay my respects."

"Well, you've been dead for four years! Couldn't you have made the effort!"

"That wasn't possible because- unlike you- I've been training. And be honest- the only real reason you managed to visit their graves was because you got a cute little couple to adopt you."

"Is this what this is about?” Roxas asked. “You're jealous because we got adopted and you two didn't?"

"Please,” Vanitas spat. “I'd rather stay with my master than be adopted and trapped in a house with a white picket fence."

"Well, at least I was able to visit Mom and Dad."

"Don't be stupid, Roxas- you were visiting their graves. Mom and Dad are dead and gone! Take it from the ghost. Those graves are just their names carved in stone that will eventually erode away. They're gone, and they're not coming back.” Vanitas’s voice faltered despite his best efforts. “There's no point in visiting their graves. There's nothing there. The best way to honor their memory is to continue on as a witch."

"Fuck you!" Roxas shouted. "They're my parents too! Don't tell me how to grieve, you bossy jackass of an older brother! I can't believe I missed you! Maybe you're better off dead!"

If Vanitas had breath, he had the feeling it would have been knocked out of him.

Roxas faltered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"Didn't you?"

Roxas was seven years old again. "I didn't. I'm sorry, Vanitas. I'm glad you're here, even if you're a jackass.” He sniffed and laughed quietly. "Nothing’s even changed. We fought just like this, right before everything went to shit, didn't we?"

"Probably," Vanitas said. "I'm surprised you remember."

Roxas grabbed his own arms. "I spent so much time thinking about what I would say to you if I ever saw you again and regretting always getting into fights, but the second you show back up, I remember why we fought in the first place."

“Maybe I should disappear again to keep you in my good graces,” Vanitas said.

“That’s not funny, asshole. I don't want you to leave."

Vanitas softened. "I'm not planning on leaving any time soon."

For some reason, that seemed to make Roxas more upset.

"I wish that mattered," he said quietly.

Vanitas swallowed and looked away.

"Yeah. Me, too."

Chapter Text

“Aqua!” Ventus called.

Intrigued, Vanitas followed him into her room. The lights were off and the seafoam curtains covered the windows, but Vanitas could still see everything perfectly. It was messier than the last time Vanitas had snooped through her room. Clothes were strewn on the ground, pliers and wires were scattered on her desk and dresser, the trophies and ribbons from past Bonfire festivals were dusty, and she still hadn’t fixed the drooping anime poster with the blonde guy with a mechanical arm. Aqua herself was curled into a fetal position on top of her comforter. Her hair matched the shade of the comforter so well it looked like she was melting into it until she poked her head up.

"What's up, Ven?" she murmured.

"Don't you have work in 45 minutes?"

Aqua closed her eyes and grumbled. "Yeah."

"You okay?" Ventus asked softly. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," Aqua lied as she pushed herself up. Her eyes were blank and her hair stuck up. "I'm not sick or anything."

"Terra left the car for you."

Aqua jammed on shoes, not even bothering to tie the laces.

"That's good," she said.

Ventus looked at her like she was a sacrifice walking up the altar. "Look, if you don't feel up to work-"

"If I used a sick day every time I felt depressed, I wouldn't ever go to work."

Ah. That explained the way the fourth plane clung to her.

Aqua left her room and stumbled down the stairs. Ventus followed her like a lost puppy, just like he used to with Vanitas. Right before Aqua walked out of the door, he kissed her cheek.

"Love you," he said. "Have a good day at work."

And because Vanitas had nothing better to do, he slipped onto the fourth plane, stepped into the backseat, and let Aqua take him to wherever she worked.

“The Colosseum" was one of those restaurants that couldn't decide if it wanted to be a family restaurant or a sports bar. A few TVs were scattered around the walls, but they were drowned out by the radio music blasting through the speakers. Families and a few couples were already having an early dinner when she clocked in.

Aqua managed to clock in, get changed, and paint on a plastic smile like she had done it a thousand times before. Her eyes were so blank Vanitas wondered if she had put a glamor on to make it look like she was smiling.

Vanitas settled into one of the booths and watched as she flitted from table to table like a bluebird, flashing that plastic smile at everyone. Most people looked at the menu more than they looked at her.

There were a few exceptions.

"Does your nose ring hurt?" a middle-aged blond woman asked with a nasty smile.

Aqua’s cheeks stretched into her imitation smile. Vanitas could tell she didn't have the energy to tighten her hands around her pen.

“Wow, professional standards have really… changed over the years,” the woman said with a fake laugh. “Or maybe it’s just people on the island.”

"Will that be all for you this evening?" Aqua asked as she looked around to the other people at his table.

"I think we're good," the kid at the table said shyly.

"I'll bring your food right over."

The second Aqua turned her back, Vanitas made up his mind. She might be a prick, but she was a witch prick. He flipped off the woman with his left hand.

"Shit yourself," he spat.

The fourth plane reflected off the obsidian ring on Vanitas’s left middle finger. It reached out and curled around the woman like a plume of smoke.

The woman shuddered.

"Excuse me," she said to her family before waddling off to the bathroom. She didn't notice Aqua, but she watched him go.

Vanitas laughed. Unfortunately, it must have been so loud that Aqua heard it, because she stalked over to the booth where he was lounging under the guise of cleaning it.

"I know you're here, Vanitas," she muttered.

Vanitas showed himself. "Alright- I'll bite. How did you know?"

"Master Eraqus taught us all how to recognize and trace a hex. Now explain what the hell you're doing here."

Vanitas scoffed at her bossy tone.

"Excuse me for looking after you."

"Looking after me? I'm an adult, Vanitas, I can look after myself."

"You were letting that woman step all over you."

"Because I need this job, Vanitas!” Aqua swiveled her head to make sure no one had noticed her outburst before returning to her cleaning. “You might have the luxury of being able to childishly snap back at everyone you want to, but guess who that woman is going to suspect if she figures out there's been a spell cast on her? My manager won't take 'the bratty ghost of my friend's brother did it' as an excuse."

"Do not treat me like a child."

"Then stop acting like one!" Aqua took a deep breath and picked up the rest of her cleaning supplies. "Besides, that was far from the rudest customer I’ve ever dealt with. I don't know why you decided to follow me here, but if you act up again, I will leave you here."

"You won't be able to stop me from grabbing a ride anyway."

Aqua looked at him with hard eyes. "Want to find out?"

It was the most alive she had looked since Vanitas had spied her sinking into her comforter like she wanted it to never let her go. The fourth plane loosened its hold on her. Vanitas leaned forward with a smile.

"Maybe I do."

Unfortunately, the energy drained from her eyes as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by the drag of the fourth plane. "Go away, Vanitas. I don't want to have to deal with you, too. And get out of the booth. Some people might need it."

"No."

Aqua huffed one last time before turning and leaving.

Unfortunately, the woman’s ‘accident’ did not improve her mood, and so when Aqua refused to give her a discount because she was a tourist, she snapped and asked for the manager. The kid at the table looked like they wanted to melt into a puddle onto the ground.

The manager, a short man with a pot belly, did not take the woman’s shit. Vanitas would have respected him for it if he hadn’t noticed him shamelessly oggle Aqua every time he saw her. He tripped in the kitchen later when Aqua wasn’t looking.

After a few hours of eavesdropping on nagic conversations (and doling out karma as he saw fit), Vanitas spent the rest of her shift reviving the dead vermin in the neighborhood. Just in case Aqua was serious about warding the car to keep him out, he decided to return to the car at the end of the night instead of to the restaurant. Vanitas was just about to give up and check what was taking her so long when the door opened.

"Did they make you lock up?" Vanitas asked as he flashed onto the third plane.

Aqua flinched and summoned ice on instinct before relaxing.

"Yes."

"Going to give me a ride home?"

"Sure," she said blankly. "You're not giving me much of a choice." Her eyes gleamed, once again loosening the choking aura. "Besides, you were a good-"

She bit her lip. Vanitas narrowed his eyes.

“I was a good? Come on, what were you going to say?”

“I was going to say, ‘you were a good boy,’ but I didn’t want to sink to your level.”

Vanitas scowled. “I’d prefer it if you did.”

“I know.” There was the barest trace of smugness in her voice.

Vanitas had to bite back a smile.

Silence descended onto the car. The fourth plane descended with it.

Outside, the bright lights of bars and tourist-traps zoomed by the car window. Vanitas watched it with more rapture than he would ever admit. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been in a car at night. It was something he never would have thought he would miss.

"Vanitas?"

Vanitas looked over at Aqua. The energy had once again dissipated from her eyes. She looked more dead than Vanitas did.

“What?”

"What’s it like being dead?" she asked.

"You’re going to have to be more specific," Vanitas said.

"Do you still worry?"

"Worry?"

"About your siblings,” Aqua clarified. “About your brother."

“Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering.”

“Stop wondering while you’re driving a two-ton death machine,” Vanitas snapped. “If you want to kill yourself, do so in a way that can’t possibly take anyone out with you.”

Aqua tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "I never said-"

"You didn't have to,” Vanitas seethed.

Thinking about death normally didn’t bother him, but in a car, of all places...

“Do you know what will happen if you do?” Vanitas continued. It took all of the effort in the World to school his face and keep his voice even. “Ventus will lose his mind. Terra and Eraqus will never recover. Do you want to break them forever? It is impossible to move on from the death of someone so close.” He turned his head so she couldn’t see him blink away the pinpricks of tears at the corner of his eyes. “You will hurt them forever, and even worse, you’ll do it on purpose."

"Sometimes I don't care," she said quietly. "Sometimes I wonder if death would be a relief compared to this." She waved her hand. "No more earthly worries. But I figured I would consult an expert."

"Here's what will happen when you die. The fourth plane will eat your spirit, just like it did with my parents. There is no Other Place. The best case scenario is you disappear. But, from what I can see, the fourth plane clings to you too much, or maybe your feelings would be too much."

"What do you mean by the fourth plane clings?" Aqua asked wearily.

"It looms over you," Vanitas said. "It doesn’t call you like it calls me and Terra, but it clings to you and is dragging you over. The nagics call it depression."

"I see."

"The other possibility is that your spirit would be too powerful for the fourth to eat. Maybe your regret and feelings would be too strong, but you're not nearly as acquainted with the fourth plane as I am, so you wouldn't be able to keep yourself together. You would become a mass of regret and love that would haunt Eraqus and Terra and Ventus in an attempt to keep them safe. You'll want to stay in their life even when yours is over. Do you understand? That fear and sorrow won't go away. You'll just dump it on them and force your master to kill you."

Aqua visibly pondered her next words.

“‘A mass of regret and love,’” she echoed. “Is that what you see yourself as?”

Vanitas barked a bitter laugh. "Do not put words into my mouth. Do you even know what this is?" he asked as he gestured to his ghostly form.

"Death."

"Yes, death, but not the kind you're thinking of. You're a witch, so I assume you have a basic understanding of tarot."

"Basic is right," Aqua said. "Terra is the only one out of us that would have a reason to use them, and he finds them too vague and open. You can read almost anything in them, and their aesthetics rarely match the intended meanings in most decks."

"I hate them too," Vanitas said, "except one. The tarot kind of death is different from most people's understanding. It is not an end; it is a new beginning." He lifted his chin. "I am not dead. I have merely undergone Death."

"Would you come back if you could?"

"I don't bother asking myself such questions," Vanitas said. "But, sometimes, when I manage to move something on the first plane-"

He shut his mouth so fast his teeth might have clicked together. Aqua was the last person he wanted to spill this to.

"So you're happy with how you are?"

"I accept it," Vanitas said. "That's all that matters. I get to see the five people I care about. That's good enough for me."

Aqua paused.

"Who's number five?" she finally asked.

"What?"

"You have four siblings. Do you mean your master?"

"I meant four," Vanitas said.

Deep down, Vanitas knew he was lying. Aqua probably knew it, too.

Chapter Text

“Ven, are you ready to go?”

"One sec!" Ven called back.

He looked to make sure Aqua wasn't coming into his room and opened the closet. Under a pile of intentionally scattered clothes was Ven's prize: a pack of energy drinks and a small bottle of vodka filled to the brim.

Well, at second glance, almost to the brim.

"Terra!" Ven hissed.

"Secret-keeping tax," Terra said from the beanbag without looking up from his phone. "Better hurry if you don't wanna get caught."

“When did you even get into it?”

Terra’s face turned stony. “Visiting Xehanort in jail made me feel like shit. Figured a shot to take the edge off wouldn't hurt, but it didn’t really help. But, seriously, hurry. Aqua’s waiting for you.”

Ven knew he was right, so he opened one of the energy drinks, took a sip, and filled the can to the brim with vodka. The entire can went down in a few rounds of chugging.

"That should be enough to loosen you up, you lightweight," Terra said. "You all set?"

Shorts, tank top, backpack with water, and enough cheap amulets around his wrist and neck to open his own shop.

"Yeah. Have fun at the beach with everyone else!"

"Actually, almost everyone canceled. I'm picking up Naminé and we're going to just make a magic circle with the master."

"What?" Ven asked. He hoped he didn’t sound too drunk already. "Everyone canceled?"

"It was a while ago, actually," Terra said. "Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Roxas wanted to do their own thing on the beach, and Xion and Nixio are at their master’s lab, as usual."

"Oh," Ven said. "Well, I hope a small Beltane circle is good."

"I'm sure we'll make some cool spells," Terra said. "Have fun at the party."

"I will," Ven said.

He grinned at the very thought of the party. It was only his second Beltane rave, but if it was anything like the first, he was going to have a great night.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" he called to Chirithy as he passed him.

Chirithy's face answered the question, but another voice did, too.

"I don't know," Vanitas said. "Come to what?"

"There's a giant Beltane circle concert. Wanna come?"

"Sure, but I have no idea you'd keep a circle that big stable enough to keep any of the magic."

"That's not really the point," Ven said. "You'll get it when you get there."

"Alright."

They went down the stairs and jumped into the car, where Aqua was waiting. She was wearing shorts, combat boots, a pink-gradient tank top, and even more bracelets and necklaces than Ven.

"Are you sure you want to come?" she asked Vanitas. "It's loud."

"I have nothing better to do," Vanitas said.

“You can always stay with Terra, Naminé, and the Master,” Ven said, but he didn’t need to see Vanitas’s face to know how he felt about that.

Ven pulled out his phone, plugged it into the car, and played his favorite upbeat playlist. Aqua quietly sang along. Ven's eyes were glued to the view outside the window. The lights of the stores and cars weren't pronounced without the dark of the night, but to Ven, they were brighter than glowsticks. The second they got off the freeway, he rolled his window down and stuck his head out with a whoop.

"We haven't even gotten there yet," Aqua said with a laugh. "Save your energy for the party."

Ven wanted to reply, but the whir of the wind speeding past him would have cut it off.

Ven looked back to Vanitas. He had been quiet since they got in the car, but he was half-phased out the window with a quiet serenity on his face that Ven hadn't seen in years. His hand aimlessly drifted in front of him.

Ven's smile grew even wider. If even Vanitas felt it, everything was going to be great.

Despite Aqua's prodding to leave and Ven's excitement, by the time they arrived, the party was almost already in full swing. Ven could feel the pulse of the bass from the security line.

"Are you sure this is a circle?" Vanitas asked.

"It's not a traditional one," Aqua said. "No one could harness this much magic, so it swirls around everyone."

"It's like the best part of a magic circle, but all night!" Ven exclaimed.

"All night?" Vanitas asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you going to be on cocaine?"

"Close enough," Ven said, "I drank a can of redbull and might get more inside."

"No wonder you're so manic."

"Hey, you guys!"

Ven perked up at a stranger's shout. They were covered in as much cheap jewelry as Ven and Aqua were.

"Let's trade bangles!"

"Fuck yeah!" Ven shouted. He was definitely at least tipsy. He pulled off a random bracelet and put it on their wrist. They gave Ven a necklace and Aqua a bracelet.

Ven held the necklace up to the light. Its neon pulse on the second plane .

"How about you?"

Vanitas jolted.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, Mr. plane-walker," the witch said. They pulled off a bracelet-

"Wait," Aqua started, "he's a-"

The witch put the bracelet on Vanitas's arm. It didn't fall to the floor.

"I knew that bangle was going to be special," the witch said. "I'm so glad it's your first! Enjoy the circle!"

Vanitas looked at the bangle on his wrist like it was going to bite him.

"Don't worry," Ven said. "Bangles are part of the tradition. Aqua and I spend all year using scrap material to put these together. They're not very good talismans or amulets, but they're some of the best parts of the Beltane party. Look, see this one?" He pointed to a necklace shaped like ice cream. "Some people were throwing tennis balls at the wall, and I managed to hit the target someone made, so they gave me this bangle."

Aqua held out her wrist to show one of her brighter bangles.

"See this fruit-looking one? A woman gave it to me because I kept tossing her the beach balls that were floating around. She was so short I was surprised the crowd didn't crush her."

"Next in line," the security guard called. "Have your ID ready."

Vanitas disappeared. Ven presumed he stepped onto the fourth plane and phased through the walls, because he was waiting for them when they emerged from security.

Ven grabbed Vanitas and Aqua's wrists.

"C'mon!"

A distant part of Ven was surprised his grip managed to grasp Vanitas's wrist, where the bangle still hadn't fallen off. Ven knew he was probably too drunk to figure out why; even the planes were drunk on Beltane.

"We're here!"

It looked like every witch of age in the country had flown from the mainland to crowd into the stadium. Bangles of every conceivable color were pulsing on the planes, casting all the witches and performers in an otherworldly glow and refracting off the magic of a thousand witches. Ven's heart beat in giddy rhythm to the music’s call.

"That's a lot of magic," Vanitas said in awe.

"Told you so," Ven said with a crooked smile. "Man, I could watch it all day, but it's even better when you're in it."

"Yo!" a man shouted, dressed in shorts and enough bangles to give Aqua and Ven a run for their money "Bangle trade?"

"Here," Ven said.

"What's the story with this one?" the man asked.

"Uh, I don't know, actually," Ven said. "I think it was my friend's, actually."

"Terra came to one of these circles years ago," Aqua explained, "but got so overwhelmed that he just traded bangles and watched our stuff all night while I danced."

"So that's why he stayed at the shop," Vanitas said.

The man looked at Vanitas for the first time.

"You two know about the-"

"Yeah, we know about the ghost," Ven said. "This is my twin brother, Vanitas. He only has one bangle."

"Well, I don't know if I have any that could stay on a ghost," the man said. "Sorry."

He walked away and merged with the crowd.

"So this is it?" Vanitas asked, looking around. "A pretty-looking concert and a playground trading game?"

"A concert?" Aqua echoed with a smile. "You don't get it." She pulled Ven's wrist. "Where's your energy from earlier? Let's go dance!"

"Think you can handle it?" Ven asked with a smirk over his shoulder at Vanitas.

"I think I can manage," Vanitas said. "Lead the way."

Throwing himself into the mosh pit wasn't unlike a cannonball into an icy pool, but instead of cold, Ven could feel nothing but the rush of life around him. His heart couldn’t resist the call of the bonfire of magic swirling around them. Ven released a ribbon of his magic into the tumbling fray. He could feel Aqua release her own magic, a swirling river of steely ice that wrapped around Ven with its comforting shimmer. After a moment, Vanitas released his: oversteeped tea spilled on a rot-blackened skull, as familiar to Ven as his own shadow.

Ven whooped. His thoughts narrowed down into the sheer feeling of the moment. A thousand hearts beat as one to the beck and call of the whirl and music. The sparkling joy of it all bubbled around him like champagne.

“I wonder if this is what LSD is like,” Ven shouted into Aqua’s ear in an attempt to communicate over the music. “Or shrooms.”

Aqua shrugged and continued to twirl in time to the music. The thrum of the beat and the kick of the drums and the heated tangle of dancing bodies melted time.

Or maybe it was the alcohol.

Through the blur, Ven remembered grabbing Aqua in a dance, bobbing up and down next to Vanitas. Aqua and Vanitas even danced together for half of a song, to Ven's ecstasy.

"This next song is dedicated to the ghost hanging out on the third plane. Partying's not just for the living, man!"

The crowd started swiveling their heads to look for the ghost in question. People started pointing, shouting, and waving at Vanitas. Vanitas bristled and must have tried to jump to the fourth plane, but he stayed visible.

"Damn Beltane's cutting me off from the fourth," Vanitas hissed.

Ven grabbed Vanitas's wrist and navigated expertly through the crowd, singing along to the song thrumming through the speakers under his breath. As they went, a few witches tried to touch Vanitas and delighted when they got contact. Ven even felt the beginnings of an exorcism spell by the time they made it to the bathroom. It was quieter and the two of them pointedly ignored the small gaggle of young witches dosing up on whatever magic-spiked party drug they were doing.

"I'm sorry," Ven said.

"I need to get out of here," Vanitas said. His hands flexed, barely perceptible to the unfamiliar eye.

"Are you okay? That spell didn't hit you, did it?"

"Wouldn't have mattered even if it had. I just need to make sure the fourth still listens." Vanitas closed his eyes. “It does now.”

Ven tapped his shoulder. “You’re still solid… has this happened before?"

"I have only done magic circles with other dark witches. I didn't know Beltane would cut me off in a circle like that."

Someone entered the bathroom and yelped.

"Sora?" Ven asked with a blink. He turned to Vanitas. "I think I'm hallucinating, but I only had alcohol, not weed or anything."

Vanitas gave him an amused look. "So you are drunk. That explains a lot. But no, Sora's really here."

Ven walked up to Sora and poked him in the chest.

"Ow," Sora said.

"Sora!" Ven threw his arms around him. "It's so cool to run into you here! I- wait a second." Ven wriggled out of the hug to look at him. "You're not old enough to be here!"

Sora laughed sheepishly and moved to bolt out of the bathroom, but Vanitas stepped behind him and grabbed him in a headlock.

"Nope! Not getting out of this!"

"Seriously," Ven managed. "You're not old enough to be here. Are you with friends, at least?"

"Riku and Kairi," Sora said. "And Roxas found out, so he made us bring him." He wriggled out of Vanitas’s grasp and grabbed his hands. "Hey, wait a second- you're solid!"

"Side effect of the circle," Vanitas said through his teeth. "Don't get used to it."

Sora practically tackled him in a hug. Vanitas tensed, but visibly forced himself to relax.

"Finally, I can give you a hug again!" Sora cried.

Vanitas sighed. "Sap. Are you drunk, too?"

Vanitas wrapped him up anyway. They stood there for almost a minute until Vanitas let go.

"I have to go," Vanitas said.

"Is it too much for you?" Sora asked.

"Something like that."

Sora pressed his forehead to Vanitas's.

"I missed being able to give you a hug," he said quietly. Ven barely heard it over the beat of the music outside.

"Get outta here," Vanitas said.

“But I gotta-”

“Wait until Ventus is out, at least. And, hey.” Vanitas’s face softened ever-so-slightly. "Have fun. And don't get caught. Aqua's a stickler for these kinds of rules."

Sora gave him a crooked grin. "That's the plan. I love you!"

One of the druggies started cheering, and the rest joined him.

"I... I love you too."

Sora disappeared from the bathroom.

"My turn!" Ven shouted and tackled Vanitas with a hug of his own. Vanitas staggered and slammed his solid fist into Ven’s stomach. Ven coughed and stumbled back.

“The hell was that for?” he asked as he caught his breath

"It was cute when Sora did it," Vanitas said through gritted teeth, "but I'm not feeling very huggy right now."

"Aw, I wanted to give you a hug, too."

Vanitas sighed and pressed his forehead to Ven’s. It was slightly cool, but not quite clammy. Ven pressed back with a smile.

"I love you,” Ven said.

The druggies cheered again.

"I love you too, too. Now please let me leave. Jeez, you two made this a giant scene in the bathroom."

Ven removed his forehead from Vanitas’s.

"Can you manage to get out of here? I can always call Terra to pick you up."

"I can walk back," Vanitas said. "I want to."

"Sorry you gotta go," Ven said. "Did... did you have fun?"

"A little," Vanitas said with a small smile. "But the longer you cling-"

Ven pressed his forehead against Vanitas's one more time before finally stepping back.

"Have fun," Vanitas said. "Goodbye."

He ran towards the far bathroom wall. By the time he hit it, he had phased through back to the fourth plane. The druggies lost their minds.

Ven felt Vanitas leave the stadium. He took care of the business that a can of energy drink required of him, washed his hands, and re-entered the crowd.

The second he stepped back into the thrall, the rush took him once more. Ven closed his eyes and let the magic flow through him. He danced through the crowd, letting his heart lead him to fruit-sweet and burnished copper until he shouldered Roxas.

"Rox!"

Sora made noise when he noticed Ven, but immediately returned to grabbing Kairi and Riku's hands and jumping to the beat.

"You really are drunk," Roxas shouted into Ven's ear.

"I won't tell about sneaking if you don't tell Aqua about this."

"Tell me what?"

Ven, Roxas, Sora, Riku, and Kairi all froze (as much as was possible in a moshed crowd of jumping witches) at the sound of Aqua's voice. Aqua laughed.

"I've trained you for years. Did you think that I wouldn't feel your magic here?"

"You... you're not mad?" Kairi asked.

"What?"

Kairi moved closer to Aqua.

"You're not mad?"

"As long as you stay safe and sober, I don't see a problem," Aqua said.

Roxas cackled and elbowed Ven in the ribs.

"Now are we at a tea party or a circle rave?" Aqua took Kairi's hands. "Let's dance!"

The rest of the night passed in a colorful blur of dancing in the crowd, chugging water on the edges of the crowd, and trading bangles. Sora, Roxas, and the others left soon before midnight lest they get punished for breaking curfew, but Ven and Aqua stayed until the very end.

The concert ended with a final burst of magic that made fireworks look cheap and dim. The instant the circle released, energy drained out of Ven like a bucket with no bottom. He stumbled, and Aqua caught him. A few of the other witches around him weren't so lucky.

"Think we can still beat the rush out?" Ven tried to ask. His voice was drained from shouting all night, but he was covered in almost all new bangles and couldn't manage to wipe the smile off his face even if he wanted to.

He still squinted and grumbled as the house lights flickered on.

"I might nap in the car a bit," Aqua said. "We can leave after the rush. Does that sound alright?"

"Mmhm," Ven said. He had sobered up over the night, but sheer exhaustion made his limbs feel even more uncoordinated than they had felt when he was drunk. Aqua almost had to drag him to their car.

Ven collapsed in the front seat the instant Aqua opened the door for him. She crashed into the driver's seat a few seconds later.

"Do you have any water left?" she asked.

"Forgot to fill up before we left, but I’ve got an extra energy drink," Ven said.

"That'll probably be better," Aqua said. She gestured to the brightening clouds. "The sun's going to be rising soon."

"Mmhm," Ven grumbled. He managed to reach into his backpack and hand her the can.

"Did you have fun?" Aqua asked.

"Yeah," Ven said. "Did you? How was… y’know, your Beltane experience with that pretty girl?"

Aqua blushed. “I uh… had fun.”

“Good! ‘M glad.”

She took a sip of her energy drink. Ven let his eyes drift shut. The quiet dark of sleep rushed in a wave to overtake him.

"Ven?"

"Mm?" Ven cracked his eyes open.

Aqua was sitting as if the can in her hands was lavish tea at a royal tea party.

"Did you drink tonight?"

Ven's heart still managed to have enough energy to let his eyes fly open and force himself to sit up.

"What?"

"Ventus, did you drink alcohol?"

Ven scowled. "It was just a little," he said. "Please don't tell the Master! I know he has that stupid rule about alcohol in the house, but he won’t even tell me why! I heard that getting tipsy makes parties more fun, and it kinda did. And I know I'm technically not old enough, either, but I'm close enough. Besides, it’s Beltane!"

Aqua's eyes grew distant. She took another sip of her energy drink.

"I'm the reason he has that 'stupid rule,'" she said quietly.

Ven blinked hard. "Wait, what?"

"I'm the reason he doesn't allow alcohol in the house," she said.

"Why?"

Aqua grimaced and took a long swig from the energy drink before continuing.

"My mom was an alcoholic," she said blankly. "I don't know when she started, but I always associate the smell with her. It got so bad the government had to take me away. She was never able to get sober enough to take me back."

"Did I smell like that?" Ven asked. "I'm sorry."

Aqua almost cracked a smile. "If the smell alone was too much I'd never be able to get within a hundred meters of this place." Her grip around the can tightened.

"Is it the association?"

"In a way," Aqua said. Her eyes grew distant again. "When I was little, I told myself so many times that I would never drink. Mom was drunk so often, and I hated it, and I never wanted to turn into that person." She swallowed. "Then Terra ran away."

Ven's heart twisted.

Oh.

"You don't have to tell me more if you don't wanna," Ven whispered hoarsely.

“Don’t drink,” Aqua said, “or if you do, don’t get caught.” The can in her hand reassembled an hourglass more than a can. “Don’t let the Master find you like he found me. I hope you never have to see the Master with that look. I wish he had yelled at me, or even hit me, or anything, but he just looked at me and” -her voice crackled like foil- “he said, 'Please, I can't lose you, too.'" Aqua’s turned head didn’t quite hide the grimace of shame on her face. "And that is why there are no drinks allowed in the house."

Holy shit.

Ven realized that it was the second time in the span of months that Aqua- kind, calm, collected Aqua, who finished her apprenticeship when she was younger than Ven was and had mastered half a dozen forms of magic- had faltered under the weight of trauma that had been hidden from him for almost half a decade.

"Does Terra-"

"You can't tell him!” Aqua almost shouted. She took a steadying breath and looked Ven straight in the eyes. “Promise me, Ven. Please. If he finds out, he'll blame himself, and that's the last thing I want."

How much shit like this was just buried from Ven? How many secrets had been swept under the rug? First Terra might have dappled in dark magic, then there was the fact that he ran away, then there was this? How many more secrets were there? How many more could a family fit? Ven didn’t mind the weight of the secret. He would gladly take a thousand more for Aqua and Terra; the weight he couldn’t bear was the nagging feeling that it wasn’t the last one.

"I don't want to keep this secret from him," Ven said. "I think he'd want to know. But I promise not to tell him or anyone."

"Thank you."

She finished the can of energy drink, crushed it in her hand, and stuck it in the glove compartment.

“I’ll get rid of the alcohol,” Ven said. “Just in case.”

“Thank you,” Aqua said. “I know you would be able to handle it, but I don’t need the temptation, especially not these days.”

“‘These days’?” Ven echoed. “Is having Vanitas around really that bad?”

He sadly thought back to the half of a song where they managed to dance together.

“Well, his personality is hardly charming,” Aqua said, “but his eyes alone bring back memories of bad times. I don’t want him to bring up parts of the past Terra’s not ready for. I don’t want him to bring up parts of the past I’m not ready for.”

“I get it,” Ven said. “Well, he won’t be around forever.”

“I’m sorry, Ven.”

“I just-”

I wanted all of us to be a giant family. I wanted you to love each other the way I love you and you love me.

I want my family back.

Ven scoffed at himself. He might as well wish for his mom and dad while he was at it.

“Ready to go back?” Aqua asked. “You can nap on the way there.”

Thank goodness. He shut his eyes and sank back into the carseat.

Aqua’s whisper softly trickled into Ven’s ears.

“Ven?”

“Mm?”

“Have I ever told you the story about how Terra and I met?”

“No… I don’t think so.”

Aqua smiled and brushed the hair from his face with a soft touch that wiped away the remaining tension within Ven’s body. “Remind me to tell it to you some time. It’s a much nicer story.”

Chapter Text

The second Ven woke up, he felt that something was off, but he couldn’t figure it out. The sun was shining through his window, which meant that Terra, Chirithy, and Eraqus had let him sleep in, but that was normal after a Beltane rave where he hadn’t slept all night. Ven climbed down the ladder and shoved on the first clothes his hands found in the drawer..

It was when he stumbled into the bathroom and tried to turn the light on that he realized what was wrong.

The light won’t turn on. There’s no power.

It also explained why the living room was so dark and empty. Ven lumbered down the stairs into the shop, rubbing the last of the sleep from his eyes. It was brighter than upstairs, and not just because of the daylight streaming through the shop windows. Small glowing spheres lit it on every plane, including the first.

“Woah.”

“Good morning, Ven,” Aqua said as he descended.

“Morning, Aqua.”

The circles under her eyes suggested the energy drink she had chugged had prevented her from getting sleep like Ven did. Chirithy got up and wound his way around Ven’s legs. Ven picked him up out of habit.

“Feed me, Ven.”

“Nice try,” Ven said. “The only reason you would have let me sleep in this long is if Aqua or Terra had already fed you.”

“Terra fed him for you,” Eraqus confirmed. He pressed his hands together and closed his eyes. When he re-opened both, more spheres of light flew from his hands. Vanitas, who was lounging on the counter, batted half of them out of the air, causing them to shrivel into nothingness.

“Watch where you throw your light spheres,” he snarled at Eraqus.

“Good morning, Vanitas,” Ven said.

“Well, well, well,” Vanitas drawled. “Look who’s awake. I’m surprised you’re not clutching your head and begging for water.”

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Ven grumbled. “What, did you have too much fun last night and have to make it up by being an ass?”

“Yeah, I had so much fun losing access to my magic.”

“Did you get it back, at least?”

“Yeah.” Vanitas’s eyes flicked to Eraqus. “To his displeasure.”

“Not just mine,” Eraqus said evenly, sending another wave of light spheres in the opposite direction of Vanitas. “The entire island’s.”

Ven narrowed his eyes. “You think he caused the blackout?”

“Just because I could have doesn’t mean I did, old man. It was Beltane last night. Any number of drunk witches could have done it.”

While Vanitas had a point, Ven knew from experience that he wasn’t exactly the type to fess up to anything.

“Where’s Terra?” Ven asked.

“He’s helping out at the bakery next door,” Aqua said. “I revived their freezers and ovens as best I could. Terra insisted on being the one to lug equipment and supplies around.”

“Can’t blame him,” Ven said. “Did you manage to get any sleep?”

“I’ll take a nap later. Here, they gave us some fresh pastries.”

Aqua gestured to a bag, and Ven set Chirithy down to tear into it like the starving animal he technically was. The buttery, flakey croissant was still warm from the oven.

“So good…”

“Master managed to make some tea, too,” Aqua said. “It’s on the workbench, so be careful not to spill it.”

Ven eagerly poured himself one of the cups that was set out. The bright scent wrapped around him like the spell on the tea did. It warmed him in a way that had nothing in common with the warmth of the early summer morning shimmering around him.

“When you’re done with that,” Eraqus said, “come here. I’ll teach you how to make these.”

“What for?” Ven asked through a mouthful of croissant.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Eraqus chided. “And if this blackout continues, which I assume it will, our neighbors and community will begin to remember that there are witches in the neighborhood and come to us for help.”

“Typical nagics,” Vanitas spat. “Snub us right up until they need us.”

“While you are not incorrect,” Eraqus said, “remember that witches have always served their communities. What is the purpose of magic if we don’t use it to help others?”

“And when they feel the slightest bit threatened, or feel like we have too much power, what good does it do us? Just admit that you’re afraid of a backlash if the blackout continues after the sun sets.”

“We have a grate, and the wards don’t let nagic weapons or guns through,” Eraqus said tersely. “I’ve checked.”

Vanitas smirked, as if he had won something. Ven supposed he had- he had never heard Eraqus use the word ‘nagic’ before. It was uncharacteristically informal, to say the least.

“How do I make the light spheres?” Ven asked, putting down the last of his croissant.

“It’s a very simple spell,” Eraqus said. “I’m surprised I have yet to teach it to you; it was the first spell I taught Aqua. Close your eyes and put your hands together.”

Ven did.

“The rest is lighting the world with your heart: your hopes, your dreams, your love.”

Ven opened his hands and eyes and gasped. Soft firefly lights poured from his hands like wind-blown dandelion seeds. They lit the whole store with their quiet twinkle.

“Pretty,” Chirithy said. He batted at one with his paw.

“Wow,” Aqua murmured. “That’s a lot.”

“I’m not surprised,” Eraqus said quietly. “Your heart is good at lighting the lives of others.”

Vanitas blew a raspberry.

Ven scowled. The mood was sufficiently ruined.

“I bet you couldn’t make one of these even if you tried,” Ven said.

“No need to antagonize him, Ven,” Aqua said.

“Wha- he started it!”

“That’s enough,” Eraqus said. “Make sure the store is in order. People may be coming soon.”

“Yes, Master,” Ven said. “I’ll sweep the floor.”

Eraqus was right, as usual. Ven had barely enough time to finish his croissant and tea before an older woman walked through the door.

“Oh, good,” she said. “Glad to see the tradition is still alive.”

“How may I help you?” Ven asked.

“The last time the island had a blackout a few years ago,” she continued instead of answering, “I came here, but no one was home.”

“That was a bad night for us,” Aqua said stiffly. “One of the worst, in fact.”

Was that the night Terra had disappeared? Ven couldn’t imagine it being anything else.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the woman said. “I hope everything is alright now.”

“It is,” Aqua said with a softer smile. “If you would like to take some lights with you, would you want to trade or buy?”

The old woman took out a large chocolate candy bar.

“Last time you were here, you were young enough that this was more than enough,” she said. “I suppose I should have known you would have grown up since then.”

“I remember that,” Aqua said with a soft smile. “Terra let me have the bigger half.”

“I’ll pay this time,” the woman said.

“I’ll take the candy bar,” Ven said.

The old woman looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“My name is Ventus. I’m Eraqus’s newest apprentice. Terra and Aqua finished their apprenticeship years ago.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ventus,” the woman said. She put the candy bar on the table. Ven handed her a bag in exchange, and she corralled a few lights into it. “I’ll give you some money as well.”

“Thank you very much,” Aqua said.

“Would you like anything else while you’re here?” Ven asked as she handed money to Aqua. “Good luck charms?”

“No thank you,” the woman said tightly. “Have a nice day. Stay safe.”

“You, too,” Aqua said.

The second she left, Ven grumbled and put his head on the counter.

“Try not to push people too hard today,” Aqua said. “Our customer base is… wider than it normally is. Most people are probably just here for the lights.”

“Alright,” Ven said.

“I’m bored,” Vanitas announced. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Go check if Terra is done with the bakery,” Aqua said.

“Fine.”

As he walked away, Aqua turned to Ven.

“Is it just me, or is he in a worse mood than usual?” Aqua asked.

“It’s not just you,” Ven said. “You have any idea why?”

“No,” Aqua said, “he’s been like this since he got back.”

“Maybe he’s still stressed from the circle,” Ven said.

“Maybe,” Aqua said. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have your magic blocked. Even if it were dark magic.”

“Me neither,” Ven said.

Another customer appeared, promptly ending the conversation there.

There was a steady stream of customers all day, just as Eraqus had predicted. When there was finally a dip in traffic, Ven got up to stretch his legs and ran his fingers across Chirithy’s sleeping body. He ambled towards the backyard.

“Did you cause this?”

Terra’s soft question made Ven freeze in his tracks.

“Not you, too,” Vanitas groaned.

They were both in the backyard. Terra was preparing a space in the garden for a campfire.

“Did you do it?” Terra repeated.

Ven could practically hear Vanitas roll his eyes.

“Why would I cause a blackout like this?” he asked.

“I don’t think you would have done it on purpose,” Terra said. “Look, I’ve caused a few myself when I was upset or overextended myself. If you did do it-”

“What, you would go and help the electricians fix it? They would spit at you for even approaching them.”

“Did you do this, Vanitas?”

“No,” he said. “Are you sure you didn’t cause it?”

“I’m pretty sure, yeah,” Terra said.

“But not certain.”

“Maybe it’s just a normal blackout.”

“Maybe,” Vanitas said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”

“You do?”

Vanitas disappeared instead of answering Terra’s question. Once Ven was sure he was gone, he stepped into the backyard.

“So Chirithy was right,” he said. “You have done dark magic.”

Terra tensed and whirled around.

“I guess you would have found out sooner or later,” he said quietly. “Especially with Vanitas around. If it makes you feel better, I haven’t used it since...”

“Since when?”

“Since I returned,” Terra said.

“Aqua said there was a blackout like this the night you disappeared,” Ven said.

“She did?”

“Well… I figured it out from context. And then you said that you’ve caused blackouts when you were upset. That means you were upset that night. You didn’t want to leave.”

“Stop, Ven,” Terra pleaded. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t! Okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Ven said, “but you should tell Aqua.”

“She already knows,” Terra said darkly.

“She knows you didn’t want to leave?”

“No, I meant she knows about the dark magic. I came back with yellow eyes, Ven. That’s how bad it was!”

“I don’t care about that,” Ven said.

“You don’t care? Ven, Master Eraqus should have banished me that night,” Terra hissed. “It’s his duty.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Ven said. “You should tell Aqua that you didn’t want to leave. She deserves to know that.”

“Fine,” Terra said. “Now is there anything in the shop that needs to be restocked?”

“A few of the herbs are running low,” Ven said. “Oh, and ward stuff.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Terra said.

Night fell. Eraqus slammed the shudder down over the windows the second the sun set.

“Now what?” Vanitas asked when they had finished their campfire food and the embers ran low. “Are we going to pick off attackers from the upper windows?”

“I don't think that will be necessary,” Eraqus said, “but I would rather be cautious in a situation like this one.”

“Is everyone closer to the beach alright?” Aqua asked.

“Yeah, I checked up on them this afternoon,” Ven said. “They’re mostly just happy they don’t have school. Oh, that’s right, they invited us to a bonfire.”

“Although I appreciate the thought,” Eraqus said. “I, at least, would prefer to stay here for the night. You all may go if you wish.”

“I’m not going anywhere tonight,” Terra said.

“Neither am I,” Aqua said. “It’s almost time for bed, anyway.”

“Especially for you,” Terra said. “Have you slept at all in the last twenty-four hours?”

“I’m not tired,” Aqua said, but she wasn’t very convincing. “Let’s build a blanket fort upstairs.”

“Hell yes!” Ven shouted. “That sounds awesome. We could watch a movie or something.”

“That sounds like a waste of phone power,” Aqua said. “But the blanket fort sounds fun.”

“Yessss.”

“You four go ahead,” Eraqus said. “I’ll stay down here for now. Terra, did you take care of the fire?”

“Yes, master. Do you want me to double check?”

“I can take care of that. Have fun upstairs.”

“Call us down if anything happens,” Ven said.

“I will.”

It was still dark upstairs, but Ven just put his hands together and thought about how much fun they might have, and the firefly lights practically bubbled from his hands.

“I haven’t seen that spell in a long time,” Terra said.

He and Aqua made a few of their own. Vanitas made a point of extinguishing at least one from each of them.

“I’ll get the blankets,” Terra said.

“I’ll get the chairs,” Aqua said.

“I’ll make sure Vanitas doesn’t get rid of all the lights,” Ven said.

After a few blankets and shifted chairs, the blanket fort was built. It was a tight squeeze thanks to Terra’s giant frame, Aqua’s long legs, and Chirithy’s stubborn insistence on joining them, but Ven grinned.

“Yay,” he said. “Now what?”

“You have a ghost in the house, the power is out, and you aren’t even considering bringing out a Ouija board?” Vanitas asked.

“Get in here, Vanitas,” Ven said.

“I will if you bring a Ouija board,” he retorted.

“We don’t have a Ouija board,” Aqua said. “Besides, what would you say, ‘Terra smells’?”

“Do I smell?”

“No,” Aqua said. “I was making a point. Vanitas, get in here.”

“Fine,” Vanitas said, but Ven narrowed his eyes at the grin in his voice.

Ven felt Vanitas move behind the couch, then race towards the fort.

“No!” Ven shouted.

Vanitas landed on the very top of the blanket.

“See, the wonderful thing about being a ghost is-”

The blanket sank beneath him, and he tumbled to the ground, yanking the blanket down with him.

“How?” Vanitas yelped.

Aqua groaned and stood up. “Well, that was fun while it lasted. I’m going to bed.”

“Aw, already?” Ven asked.

“Ven, she hasn’t slept all day,” Terra said.

“Right. Forgot about that.”

Aqua ruffled Ven’s hair, then frowned.

“You need a haircut,” she said. “You’re getting scruffy.”

“So are you,” Ven retorted playfully.

“I think even Vanitas looks scruffy,” Terra said. “We all need a haircut.”

“And how will you manage that?” Vanitas asked. “Will you enchant a pair of scissors to reach into the fourth plane?”

“Good night,” Terra said. “I’m going to bed, too.”

“Diurnal witches are so boring,” Vanitas said. “Are you going to sleep, too, Venty?”

“Not yet,” Ven said, “but maybe soon. I haven’t quite recovered from Beltane, either.”

“Fine,” Vanitas said. “If you need me, I’ll be looking for trouble downtown.”

He disappeared.

Ven turned to the blanket fort. Terra and Aqua always cleaned up after him; it was only fair that Ven did the same. He folded the blankets as best he could and put the chairs back to their normal places.

He was moving to put the blankets back in their room when Ven heard something from the bathroom, where he could see the faint silhouettes of Terra and Aqua finishing brushing their teeth.

“Aqua?” Terra asked softly.

“Mmhm?”

“I didn’t want to leave.”

Aqua, who had been slouched with exhaustion, stood straight up.

“Then why did you?” she demanded.

“I thought it was a good idea. I thought things would be better that way.”

Aqua paused.

“Will you ever tell me the whole story?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Terra said.

Aqua put her toothbrush back in its cup and grabbed him in a hug. He gripped her just as fiercely.

“Will you leave again?”

“I don’t want to,” Terra said quietly. “But even if I do, I’ll come back to you. Always.”

Ven set the blankets down and headed downstairs. Eraqus was connecting silver chain links together with practiced ease. The steady thrum of his metallic magic drained the tension from Ven like a hug from his dad would have.

Eraqus looked up when he heard Ven descend.

“Done with the blanket fort already?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Ven said. “Aqua was really tired.”

“She had a long few days,” Eraqus said.

“How about you?” Ven asked. “It doesn’t look like anyone is around. You can go to sleep, too.”

“It is kind of you to worry about me,” Eraqus said, “but I don’t think I’ll be sleeping very much tonight.”

“Because the last time there was a blackout was when Terra left?”

Eraqus stopped threading the chains in his hands.

“Who told you?” he asked sharply.

“No one,” Ven said. “I just kinda figured it out.”

“Interesting,” Eraqus said.

Ven sat down on the stool next to him. “Last night, Aqua told me why you don’t allow alcohol in the house.”

“Did she, now? What did she say?”

“Well, I told her I wouldn’t tell anyone, but you were there for it.”

“I see,” Eraqus said. “I am proud that she had the courage to tell someone.”

“Master, I…” Ven started playing with his rings. “Why does our family have so many secrets?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, I only learned about Terra running away a few months ago,” Ven said. “And yesterday, I learned about the fallout from that, and today I learned that Terra did dark magic in the past. And I just know, in my heart, that there are more secrets, but I don’t get why. Why don’t we just talk about these things?”

“Most of the time, it’s irrelevant,” Eraqus said. “All of us have been through so much pain, only a fraction of which I know of, and it’s crippling. If we dwell on it, it will swallow us alive.”

“I’m not saying we should dwell on it,” Ven said, “but shouldn’t we talk about this stuff more? I just don’t get why these things have to be secrets. I think if we all just… talked about these things openly, a lot of problems would be solved.”

“Do you want to talk about the day you lost your parents?”

Ven froze. Tears immediately pinpricked his eyes. He swallowed thickly and flexed his hands as he tried to blink them away.

“I see your point,” he said, voice crackling like tin foil.

“I have lost so many people, Ven,” Eraqus said. “I lost my entire coven when I was younger than you are now. You, Aqua, and Terra are all that I have left.”

Ven was speechless. Eraqus had taught them the proud history of their coven, but he never wondered why such an old and important coven had so few members. If it used to be bigger, it would make more sense, but...

Ven always saw Eraqus as someone who was there for Ven and his friends to lean on. He never even considered that Eraqus relied on them just as much.

“I know more than most how quickly you can lose the people in your life,” Eraqus continued. “And when someone returned to me for the first time in my long life, I knew it was a gift I could never squander. I know that the past holds pain for Terra, but it’s his pain. If he wants to face it, or move on without doing so, that is his choice.” Eraqus cracked a ghost of a smile. “It’s not as if our family enjoys creating intrigue or drama, but that it is doing its best to move past what has already happened, and that involves silence with regards to certain subjects. Those become secrets in your eyes.”

“Isn’t it impossible to move past something you don’t face?”

“You cannot move past things like this at all,” Eraqus said. “They become part of you. The best you can hope for is to make sure you still move, regardless if you glance towards or away from them.”

“That’s… profound,” Ven said. “You’re a very good teacher.”

Eraqus’s eyes crinkled into one of the biggest smiles Ven had ever seen on him.

“Thank you, Ven.”

“You might have made a pretty good therapist in another life,” Ven said.

“I don’t know about that,” Eraqus said. “It isn’t as if I’ve ever been to therapy. I think we could all use some, but an appointment for each of us would be almost a quarter of a month’s rent.” Eraqus scowled at the chain in his hands for a moment as if it was their landlord. “Perhaps you are right, and facing these things would help us all move on. If that’s the case, then Vanitas’s presence is fortunate.”

“Vanitas? What does my brother have to do with this?”

“His very presence reminds us all of our pasts in different ways,” Eraqus said, “and I’m sure you know more than I about his tendency to prod at everything he can. For better or for worse, he’s testing us”

“You can say that again,” Ven said wearily.

“I almost wished I could have met him before…” Eraqus said, before trailing off.

“Before he died?”

“Before he began to use dark magic. I wonder- what sort of man he would have become without its influence?”

“Dunno,” Ven said, “he’s always used it in some form or another.”

“It’s a shame,” Eraqus said. “Truly.”

Crickets chirped in the warm spring night. The humid air wrapped itself around Ven and tugged at his eyelids.

Ven stood. “I’m going to bed. Good night, Master.”

“Good night, Ven. Sleep well.”

“Thank you. Are you sure you don’t want to sleep, too?”

As soon as Ven spoke, the shop lights flickered on. Ven smiled.

“I suppose this is the World telling me to go to sleep,” Eraqus said as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. “Go ahead. I’ll turn off the lights as I go.”

“Alright. See you in the morning.”

Ven made sure to tiptoe as he entered his and Terra’s room, but to his surprise, Terra wasn’t in the bottom bunk. It was warm enough that Ven just shucked his shirt and slipped on an old pair of gym shorts. He had just finished brushing his teeth when footsteps made him look into Aqua’s room.

The lights had flickered on when the power was restored, but Aqua and Terra were sleeping too deeply to notice. Aqua had thrown her limbs around Terra like a koala clutching onto a branch. Terra had gently rested his arms around her shoulders. Their gentle breathing was the only sound in the room.

Eraqus quietly approached them and adjusted the sheet around them. Just before Ven turned off the lights, he saw that all three of them were wearing the same smile.

Chapter Text

“Hey, did someone use my rainwater?”

Ven poked his head out of his room. Aqua was frowning at the opened fridge door like it was a meditation candle.

“I’m sorry,” Terra said with a grimace. “I was wondering why there was water in a jar. I came back from the gym last night and was really thirsty.”

“You drank my rainwater? Terra, I was going to use that.”

“I’m sorry,” Terra said. “But why would you put spell water in the fridge?”

“I was hoping to play with the temperature and see if that changed things.

“I’m sorry.”

Aqua closed the door. The photos and phone numbers stuck on it fluttered.

"Next time I'll label it."

"Careful," Ven said, "if you write 'do not drink,' Vanitas might drink it out of spite."

"Well, it's a good thing he can't drink, then," she said. She looked at Ven. “Do you have everything ready for your group meeting?"

Ven froze. "Oh no. I forgot!"

"I can give you a ride," Terra said.

"I think I still have enough time to catch the bus," Ven said as he started stuffing what he needed into his pockets.

He raced down the stairs and passed Vanitas, who got up and loped at the same pace with infuriating ease.

Stupid ghost brother.

"What are you in such a hurry for?"

"I have class," Ven panted. The bus stop was only a block away now, but he could already see passengers lining up to board.

"Class?" Vanitas's smug smirk fell. "Are you in school or something?"

"I'm taking a community college class," Ven said. "Computer science. I'll tell you once I catch the bus."

"No need to run, idiot. Doesn't that charm on your keychain ensure you'll always catch the bus?"

"Yeah," Ven said, "but it'd be rude to make people wait."

"Suck up."

Once Ven had collapsed onto one of the grubby seats, caught his breath, and let his friends know he was on his way, he turned back to Vanitas.

"I've been taking community college classes with a few friends of mine. Well, we weren't friends before, because we met-"

"Just get to the point."

"That is the point. I'm going to be at class for the next few hours. It’s not even class; we're just meeting to work on a project together. It's our final, actually. They're all amagical, though, so they won't be able to see you. If you get off now, the walk back won't be too long."

"Does the college you’re going to have a library?"

"Yeah, why?"

Vanitas settled into the seat. "I'll come with you."

"You’re going to the library?" Ven asked in disbelief. “For fun?”

"Maybe. Depends how boring you and your friends are."

"I bet we're pretty boring."

"I suppose we'll see."

Vanitas had hung around as a ghost for a while, but that was the first time Ven really felt haunted by him.

Despite everything, Ven wasn't even the last one there. He certainly wasn't the first (Ven sometimes thought Brain lived in the computer lab, and Skuld was punctual), but Ephemer entered last.

"Alright," Ephemer said, "let's boot this up."

"We haven't looked at the program for a week," Skuld sighed. "At least I haven't."

"Me neither," Ephemer said. "I've been too busy."

Brain, instead of answering, pulled out a box of chocolate-covered espresso beans. "We have until tomorrow at midnight," he said. "And we only have to do... just a few functions?"

"We haven't started debugging yet," Ephemer reminded him.

"Well, how bad could it be?" Ven asked.

Time passed. Ven had intentionally diabled the computer clocks and refused to check his phone so he didn’t know how much time had passed, but the last faint echoes of sunlight had long since faded. The only light came from the white burn of the overhead fluorescent lights and the neon glow of the screens around Ven. He resisted the urge to slam his head against the keyboard.

"Stupid bug."

He scrolled down the code and read one of Ephemer's tired comments.

"Comment your code, jackass," Skuld muttered from another computer.

"I do," Brain replied. She didn't have to specify who she was talking to.

"'This stores data'," Skuld read. "What kind of data? You cannot get more vague."

Brain shrugged and popped another espresso bean. "Dunno. Ask my past self."

"Your past self is a dick."

Ven read one of Brain’s comments:

He couldn’t help but agree with Skuld.

Another failed attempt at debugging made Ven sigh and rest his head in his hands.

"Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?" Vanitas called from the back row of the computer.

And because he hadn't spoken up for the entire time, Ven forgot to censor himself and said, "That's not how it works, Vanitas."

His three groupmates stopped typing and looked at him. Vanitas cackled.

"Are you okay, Ven?" Skuld asked softly. "You mentioned you were going through-"

"I'm fine," Ven said.

"Right, you're a witch," Ephemer said. "Does that mean you can see the ghost too?"

Brain blinked. Skuld jolted. Vanitas jumped out of his seat.

"What did the nagic boy say?" he asked slowly.

Ephemer chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry. Yeah, my parents worked in a mortuary, so I learned how to see ghosts. Can't hear them, though."

Skuld started looking around. "There's a ghost in here?"

"Back row of the lab," Ephemer said. "He was using the farthest computer." His eyes locked straight onto Vanitas. "I’ve never seen a ghost use a computer before.”

"I'm not a normal ghost," Vanitas said. "Tell him that, Ventus."

"He's not a normal ghost," Ven repeated. "It's... complicated."

Vanitas glanced back at the computer he had been using. "I think that's enough for now. I'll be at the library. Don't be a dick and leave without me."

"Same," Ven said. "We might be here a while."

Brain and Skuld watched with stunned disbelief as Vanitas closed all the windows on his browser (after a few misclicks where his ghostly fingers phased through the button) and shut down the computer.

"Bye."

Ephemer waved. Vanitas ran off.

Silence descended on the computer lab.

"What was that?" Brain finally asked flatly.

“That was Vanitas,” Ven said. “My twin brother.”

“That’s your twin?” Brain asked incredulously. “You mentioned it was complicated, but… man.”

"He's a ghost, and you're a witch," Skuld said. "Does that mean you're going to have to exorcize him?"

Ven's fists tightened. "Yeah. At some point."

Ephemer's face fell. "Man, I'm sorry."

"Me too," Ven said. He sucked in a breath. "We have code to debug."

It took a very long time for his thoughts to circle back to their assignment.

"Yes!"

Ephemer whooped and high-fived everyone.

"It works!"

"Once we turn this in, we're done for the semester," Ven said, "right?"

"Hell yeah," Brain said. "Summer vacation. Or at least it would be if I weren't working."

Speaking of... it was the one thing Ven had been avoiding.

"We'll see each other next semester," Skuld said. "You're taking networks, right?"

"Yeah," Ephemer said. "We should hang out before then, though."

"Oh, absolutely," Brain said.

"Are you taking networks, too?" Skuld asked.

"Can't get the degree without it," Brain said.

"And are you sure the registrar won't let you skip any classes?"

"Believe me, I've tried," Brain said wearily. "They won't give me the degree without the classes, and I can't get a real job without a degree. So I'll see you all in networks."

"If you weren't self-taught," Skuld sighed, "maybe you'd write better code."

"Hey, if it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid. Besides, whose code helped us all ace the final?"

"All of us," Ephemer said. "All of our code. And we all had to debug each other's. No need to show off."

Brain pretended to turn away flippantly, but he was smiling.

"How about you, Ven?" Skuld asked. "You're taking networks next semester, right?"

Deep breath in, deep breath out. "No, actually. I can't. I've had to drop out. I have a scholarship, but we’re behind on rent, so I need to start picking up extra shifts at the ice cream parlor. I didn't think I'd have enough time to do that and class and, y'know, apprentice."

As if on cue, everyone's face drooped in disappointment.

"That sucks," Ephemer finally said. "I don't know if we'll find a group member nearly as good as you are."

"I hear that networks doesn't have group work," Ven said. "So it's not like I'm missing too much."

Just group chats about homework. And the solidarity of manic fluorescent all-nighters. And conversations that drifted from class to coffee shop.

Ven wouldn't be missing a thing.

"Look, we should still get together some time over the summer," Skuld said. "I hear there's an arcade opening soon."

"That sounds fun," Ven said with a smile. It did. It really did. "Vanitas might even come."

"Man, does a ghost mess with electricity like they do in the movies?" Ephemer asked. "Could he hack it and give us a high score? I saw him working on the computer earlier."

There was a tension of forced cheer to his words.

"He's a necromancer, not a technomancer," Ven said. "Besides, magic works really weird with computers. There's a reason grimoires are all paper."

"Lame," Ephemer sighed.

“Wait, did you say your brother was a necromancer?” Brain asked.

"I have to go," Ven said

Brain squished his cheeks. “Don’t avoid the question.”

“Yes,” Ven managed. “It’s complicated.”

“Let him go, Brain,” Skuld said, but as soon as he did, she picked Ven up in a giant hug. “Goodbye, Ven! See you soon. It was a fun semester.”

Ephemer and Brain joined her in a giant group hug. If Ven were Chirithy, he’d be purring.

"Vanitas is waiting for me in the library,” Ven finally said.

“We’ll let you go,” Skuld said, but she gave him one final squeeze. “Text us if you need anything.”

“I will,” Ven said. “Bye.”

Ven, as a part-time student who only took one class at a time, never had a reason to go to the college’s library, but he knew where it was. It helped that it wasn’t too far from the computer lab.

The real problem was finding Vanitas within it.

If I were a ghost looking for… I don’t even know what he’s looking for. If I were a ghost, why would I even want to go to a library?

Maybe he wanted to use another computer. Ven didn’t get why, but it was a start. Unfortunately, there were computers dotted through the entire library.

He’d probably want a private one, so not in the computer lab area…

Through a mixture of logic and following their twin bond, Ven finally found Vanitas staring at a computer on the second-highest floor.

Vanitas spotted him with a flick of his eyes.

“You’re faster than I was expecting, Venty,” Vanitas said.

Ven took a peek at the computer screen.

“What are you doing?”

“Reading,” Vanitas said. “Duh.”

Ven took a closer look at the screen. It was a pdf with the title:

“What the hell does that say?” Ven muttered.

“Can’t you read, idiot?”

“I can see it says a lot of jargon, but I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes. “You know what a martyr blessing is, right?”

“Uh, that’s when a witch confers a blessing after death, right?” Ven asked. “Like making another witch bulletproof on the battlefield if they die by taking a bullet for them?”

“At least you know that much,” Vanitas said. “This author speculates that martyr blessings are technically dark magic since they may involve the fourth plane.”

“What?”

“Pure sacrifice magic involves death so therefore involves the spooky dark plane,” Vanitas translated sarcastically.

“I got that much,” Ven said with an annoyed elbow into Vanitas’s ghostly ribs. “But why does the author think that?”

“By definition, a martyr blessing only happens after death,” Vanitas said. “Since death is mostly defined as a ghost moving to the fourth plane, that means the blessing must either somehow happen before said move to the fourth plane, which the author argues is highly unlikely, or it is the ghost transmuting itself on the fourth plane into the ‘blessing.’”

“Why are you reading about this?” Ven couldn’t help but ask.

“My master told me to.”

“Well, what’s the point?”

“Like you care.”

“I do,” Ven said. “I’m curious.”

“You’ll just rat me out on your master,” Vanitas said.

“I don’t really see the point in that,” Ven said. “It’s not like you’d let him get you in trouble.”

Besides, it wasn’t like Vanitas would actually be able to finish his assignment, because before he could return to his master, Ven would have to-

“Well, alright,” Vanitas said. “If you’re really curious, and I know you are, I’ll tell you. The author implies that martyr blessings should be seen as curses instead of blessings because of their likely involvement with the fourth plane. I’m interested in this because it implies that souls on the fourth plane are transmutable.”

“So instead of doing… whatever you do to revive dead animals, you want to use their souls for something else?”

“Yes,” Vanitas said. “Good job, Venty. I can’t think of a use for a soul that would be better than Unversed, but it would be interesting to experiment with.”

Ven took another glance at the headache-inducing wall of jargon that Vanitas waded through like it was nothing.

“Is this how you figured out how to make Unversed in the first place? Reading shit like this?”

“Yes,” Vanitas said wearily. “Well, it took more research and experimentation on my part, but Master made me write about it.”

Ven blinked. “You wrote a paper like this about necromancy?”

Vanitas opened a new tab and navigated through a series of folders on a cloud. Ven’s eyes glazed at the countless folders within folders of grimoire pdfs and articles.

“Are all of those dark magic texts?” Ven asked quietly. “I had no idea so many of them existed.”

“They’re mostly old, translated texts,” Vanitas explained. “People here and now don’t like dark magic, but other parts of the World have experimented with the fourth plane throughout history. Did you really not know that?”

“No,” Ven said. “I didn’t.”

“Not even in Egypt?”

“No.”

“Damn, your master’s worse than I thought.”

Ven balled his fists.

“My master taught me plenty of history,” Ven said.

“But not on dark magic. Huh, I finally get why Master never shuts the fuck up about it. Here.”

Ven looked at the screen. “Is this your necromancy paper?”

“I pulled it up in another tab if you want to read it,” Vanitas said, “but this is a short review of dark magic throughout history. It’s old, so it’s hard to read, but it’s gotta be more than you’ve ever seen.”

“What, you want me to read it?”

“Remain ignorant if you want,” Vanitas said snidely. “I’m going to see if there are any interesting grimoires here.”

“This is an amagical college,” Ven said. “I don’t think you’ll find anything.”

“I haven’t seen an actual library for years,” Vanitas said. “There’s no harm in looking.”

“I guess,” Ven said. “Fine, I’ll read your papers. Have fun looking through the stacks.”

“Thanks, I will.” Vanitas smirked. “Have fun with the review.”

“You smug little shit,” Ven muttered as he walked away. “I’m going to understand this better than you did.”

The next hour was a losing battle between Ven’s spite and his boredom. Every time he tried to dive into the paper, his mind bounced off the wall of superfluous text or avoided it like oil sliding through water.

I can do this.

Ven awoke to a cackle on the higher planes.

“I knew you would fall asleep,” Vanitas laughed. “How far did you get?”

“First few paragraphs,” Ven muttered as he flipped Vanitas off and rubbed his eyes.

“I’m impressed you made it past the abstract,” Vanitas said snidely.

“Fuck off,” Ven said. “I was debugging all night and it's” he checked the time “3 AM.”

“Sleep deprivation,” Vanitas said distantly. “I can barely remember how that feels.”

“You always had trouble sleeping when we were kids, remember? Mom used to joke that I slept enough for both of us.”

Vanitas’s insomnia had become chronic after a few years in foster care. Sometimes his nightmares would wake everyone in their bedroom.

But Ven didn’t mention that.

“Well, unless that charm of yours can summon a bus,” Vanitas said, “you’re stuck here for a while. As I see it, you can either try to sleep for a few hours on a couch, or you could buy something sugary and caffeinated from a vending machine and look through the grimoires I found.”

Ven blinked. “You actually found some?”

“I did,” Vanitas said. “The collection isn’t nearly as big as my master’s- or even your master’s- but there are interesting tomes here. Want to check them out?”

“As long as they are easier to read than this academic jargon,” Ven said.

“Well, no promises,” Vanitas said with a smug grin.

Ven shoved him and looked for the nearest vending machine.

He was so busy flipping through the tomes and grimoires he missed the first bus back home, and almost missed the second.

Chapter Text

“Vanitas?”

Ventus’s hesitant whisper echoed through his room. Terra snored softly from the bottom bunk with the extra weight of Chirithy on his chest. Midnight moonlight mixed with the soft glow of streetlights and glistened in the crystal prism hanging in one of the windows. Vanitas flailed in an attempt to sit up from the plush black hole that was their beanbag. Luckily, Ventus didn’t seem to notice.

“What’s wrong?” Vanitas asked.

Did Ventus have a nightmare? Did he want Vanitas’s company, like when they were little? Did Ventus still need him, after all?

Vanitas’s hope drained when he saw the curious gleam in Ventus’s eyes as he propped himself up.

“If you revived something’s spirit, could you still revive its body after and have two versions of someone walking around?”

“You woke up for that?”

“I wanna know,” Ventus whined.

Vanitas rolled his eyes. “Technically, it is possible to separately revive a ghost and its original body, but it’s not worth the effort.”

Ventus shot into a full sitting position.

“Really? So you could have two versions of the same creature walking around?”

“No. The body version has no autonomous control. It’s more like a puppet. I’ve done it a few times, but it’s not worth the effort. What makes you ask?”

“Ever since we spent the night at the library, I’ve been thinking about dark magic. It’s kinda cool.”

Vanitas perked up. “You’re joking.”

“I mean, I don’t want to do any, but it’s just magic, isn’t it?”

Vanitas smiled. “Yes. Your master is wrong.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far-”

“Go back to sleep, Ventus. Don’t you have to be up early tomorrow to pick all of the herbs?”

“I can’t sleep,” Ventus said.

“Why not?” Vanitas asked. “Is the fourth plane that intriguing to you?”

“Nah. I’m too excited about tomorrow.”

“I don’t understand what you’re so worked up about,” Vanitas said. “You guys are working at the Bonfire festival, so you aren’t really attending it, right?”

“Kairi is competing for the title of Princess of Heart this year! Besides, only one or two people really need to work the booth, so we take turns walking around. I can’t wait for you to see it! We have one of the biggest Bonfire festivals in the country.”

“The last time I went to a festival I lost access to the fourth,” Vanitas grumbled.

“There isn’t going to be a magic circle this time,” Ventus said.

“Really? I figured witches like you would be tripping over yourselves to do a magic circle during the summer solstice.”

“I think it would be fun,” Ventus said, “but we never have the time or energy after being at the festival all day. But everyone comes. Besides, once the festival is over, the Princess of Heart blesses everyone with the magic from the Bonfire. Maybe that’ll do something, but you don’t have to take the blessing. Are you going to come with us?”

“I don’t have anything better to do,” Vanitas said. “Now go to sleep. Do you need me to cast a sleep spell on you?”

“Nah, I can-”

Vanitas bolted up the ladder and snapped his fingers under Ventus’s nose before he could react. He was snoring before he could even finish his sentence.

Vanitas gave a pleased chuckle as he looked at his hand. He’d never admit to his master how cool that trick was, let alone thank him for it, but he was glad to know it nonetheless.

After picking as many herbs as they could under the light of the rising sun and hanging them up to dry from every hook, rack, and light fixture in the building, Eraqus and his pupils piled what seemed like their entire inventory and themselves into their car. After a moment of hesitation, Vanitas decided to slip into the middle seat, on top of a box they were forced to place in the middle between Aqua and Ventus. Ventus had glared and grumbled at him once he managed to pry his eyes open from the effects of the sleep spell, but his excitement beat away the fatigue and grumpiness and he began chattering about all of the cool things he had found at the Bonfire festival the previous year as he buckled his familiar into his tiny cat seatbelt.

Eraqus drove and Terra sat in shotgun, but Aqua decided she would choose the music. The most generic breakup album Vanitas had ever heard played on the speakers. The entire car ride was filled with songs about how the singer missed her boyfriend but also didn't because he cheated on her or something. The cat tried to chirp along.

It made Vanitas long for public radio.

When they finally arrived at the fairground, it was already bustling. The bonfire at the center was nowhere as mountainous as it would become by nightfall, but it was already larger than a nagic bonfire would be thanks to the input of the witches running around to set up the festival.

Vanitas figured they would all put some of their fire into the bonfire, but instead, they all were focused on setting up tables and the tent under which they placed all of their wares. The jewelry sparkled in the morning sunlight, the amulets and charms glowed almost as bright, potions quietly shimmered in their glass bottles, and cut stones were placed into trays for children and likely more than a few adults to stick their hands in, but still, they did not leave the tent. Eraqus even went through the effort of making a ward around it.

"Aren't you guys going to add your fire to the bonfire?" Vanitas finally asked.

"We'll each make our way there eventually," Aqua said. "Right now we need to focus on getting ready for the rest of today."

"Stay out of sight, Vanitas," Eraqus said. "I don't want there to be trouble if people realize there's a ghost walking around."

"No. Half of the people thought I was just a plane-walker on Beltane," Vanitas said.

"Until the band guy realized you were a ghost," Aqua said. "It'll be safer if you mostly stay on the fourth for today."

"Aw," Ventus whined, "I wanted to show him around."

"You still can," Aqua said. "He just has to stay out of sight for most of it."

Vanitas figured it would be more trouble than it was worth to stay on the third, at least at that moment, so he slipped onto the fourth. Besides, it meant he could sit on the table and do everything he could to get in Eraqus's way, and Eraqus wouldn't be able to do anything about it besides look vaguely in the direction where Vanitas was sitting and sigh.

They finished setting up about forty-five minutes before the fair opened to the public.

"I'll watch the stand," Terra volunteered. "The rest of you can go visit."

Visit?

Eraqus rose, thanked Terra, and walked to the booth next door, which advertised soothsaying services. Vanitas wrinkled his nose, and not just at the almost-overwhelming scent of the ocean that emanated from the booth. Ventus and Aqua followed him like imprinted baby ducklings.

"Ah, Eraqus!" The booth vendor, a woman draped in shells, greeted. "It is good to see you again."

"How have you been? How are your apprentices?"

"Both of my apprentices finished their apprenticeship some time ago," the witch said. "The house still feels so empty without them. I can see your apprentices haven't left you. It is good to see you again, Aqua."

"It's good to see you, too," Aqua said.

"Where is Terra?"

"He's watching the booth."

"Tell him I send my best."

"I will," Aqua said. "Have you met Ventus?"

"I don't believe I have," the witch said. "I am Tía Dalma. It is nice to meet you. I watched Terra and Aqua when they were younger, before I got apprentices of my own."

"It's nice to meet you, too," Ventus replied. "I'm sure you have lots of funny stories about Terra and Aqua when they were younger."

"Well, Ven," Aqua said with a grimace, "we have to go greet everyone else, so we have to go!"

Everyone laughed, but said their farewells as Eraqus, Ventus, and Aqua moved to the next booth to begin an almost-identical conversation.

Vanitas understood why Terra had volunteered to watch the stand. Though he would never admit it out loud, he had the right idea. A cursory glance around the row of tents revealed nothing more interesting than his master had on his shelves, and the witches were bored enough for a few of them to vaguely sense and react to Vanitas’s presence. He made a note to make a more complete sweep of the wares when everyone was too busy to notice him.

By the time Vanitas returned to Eraqus’s tent, he realized that Terra was no longer alone.

“I always keep some carving to do in-between customers,” he was saying to Naminé. “If you don’t have a carving project on hand, repair some jewelry. Work on anything that we sell here. It gives everything a sense of authenticity. If you sit on that stool that Chirithy is currently using to groom himself-” Terra looked up in Vanitas’s general direction. “Welcome back, Vanitas,” he said. “See anything interesting at the booths?”

“Vanitas is here?” Naminé asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Terra said.

It looked like he wanted to say more, but decided against it. Naminé turned to the sketchbook she always carried around.

“What’cha drawing?” Vanitas asked as he leaned forward into the third plane.

“Quit bugging my apprentice, Vanitas,” Terra said.

“I can harass the other one, if you would prefer,” Vanitas said. “He’s more interesting, anyway.”

Did Terra pick up Vanitas’s insinuation about the fourth plane or was he just annoyed? Either way, he scowled.

“Don’t,” he said. “Besides, Riku’s not even here yet. He’s catching a ride with your younger brothers. Apparently they all got caught in the morning rush. I hope they manage to make it before the fair opens.”

“Just my brothers? What about Xion?”

“She and Nixio sleep over at their master’s lab on the solstice,” Naminé said. “They’ve been working since sunrise, but they’ll join us at some point. After they finish with the data, the whole lab comes to the Bonfire festival.” She turned back to Terra. “Did Lea and Isa let you know when they would arrive?”

“I’d have to ask the Master,” Terra said. He looked back up at Vanitas. “Have you met Lea and Isa yet?”

“I’ve heard plenty about them, but I still have yet to have the pleasure,” Vanitas said.

“I’m sure they’ll stop by,” Terra said. “But for now, if I were you, I’d go back to the fourth plane. The fair is going to open soon.”

Eraqus, Aqua, and Ventus returned a few minutes later. Vanitas slipped back to the fourth plane.

“How was everyone?” Terra asked.

“Tía Dalma’s apprentices completed their apprenticeship and Sadria is having a child.”

“Wow,” Terra said with the voice of someone who didn’t remember or really care who those people were.

“Everyone sends their regards,” Aqua said.

"That's nice of them," Terra said evenly.

Eraqus finally noticed Naminé behind the shop table.

"Hello, Naminé. Where is your sister and the others? I was hoping to speak to them before the fair opened."

"Kairi went looking for you all," Naminé said.

"And the others are stuck in traffic," Terra said.

Ventus's phone buzzed. "But they just arrived!"

"I'll wait until everyone arrives," Eraqus said.

The rest of the apprentices (and Roxas) arrived in a giant wave led by Sora's pure infectious excitement on par with that of his duck and dog bounding beside him. Riku looked in Vanitas's general direction, but wasn't stupid enough to take a peek into the fourth in front of Eraqus to check that he was there. The mouse on his shoulder flicked his tail and perhaps gave him the specifics.

"Ven!" Sora rushed into Ventus's arms like they had been separated for months and not hours. Ventus grabbed Roxas and pulled him into the hug. Roxas didn’t even pretend to resist.

Vanitas noticed Kairi and then wondered how he hadn’t earlier. While everyone else was in tank tops or short-sleeved shirts, she was in formal witch attire with a seashell-shimmery hat that shaded her face and a dress the color of pink pearls. What really caught Vanitas’s attention, however, was the way the planes, especially the fourth, warped around her and the jewelry she wore. He could tell that any jinx or hex that anyone threw at her would be instantly repelled.

“Aqua,” Vanitas said, reappearing on the third plane and ignoring how half the coven jumped, “why is your apprentice bulletproof?”

Before anyone could answer his question, Vanitas had to go through hugs and greetings from Sora and Roxas while half-heartedly pretending that he was annoyed by the whole song and dance.

“I told you,” Ventus said, “she’s competing for the title of Princess of Heart. Contestants are only allowed to wear amulets that protect against jinxes or hexes, just in case jealous competitors might cast them by accident.”

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. “Is this a beauty pageant or something?”

“No,” Kairi said, “but it’s good to dress up anyway. Have you never gone to a Bonfire festival before?”

“Not since I was little,” Vanitas said. “I don’t think I cared about other people’s competitions then.”

Eraqus turned to Kairi. “I wish you all the luck in the World, child. I hope our coven can welcome our third Princess of Heart.”

“Third?” Vanitas echoed.

Ventus grinned and pulled out his phone. “Yup! I won the title a few years ago. Man, that was so much fun. I still have pictures!”

Vanitas swiped through the pictures. A slightly younger Ventus grinned next to Terra and Aqua. A brooch sparkled off his formal robes. Another picture showed him next to the Midsummer bonfire.

“Well, now I definitely know it wasn’t a beauty pageant.”

Ventus smacked him on the arm.

“Aqua won once, too,” he said, scrolling through his phone again.

Aqua’s picture was a cold contrast to Ventus’s. She was alone and her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Vanitas swiped both ways, but there was only a picture with her master with a similarly mournful gaze.

“Funny,” Vanitas said slowly, “I don’t see Terra in any of these pictures.”

“I couldn’t make it that year,” Terra said. He took the phone from Ventus and gazed at the picture of sixteen-year old Aqua like she was a beloved dead relative who only existed in photographs. Suspicions about where Terra had been at the time began to click into place. Vanitas pushed them aside for later.

“So, Terra,” Aqua said casually. “Do you think Kairi is going to win?”

Terra returned the phone to Ventus. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re the only person here who can see the future!”

“It doesn’t work on trivial stuff,” Terra said.

Aqua gasped in mock-offense. “You think that my apprentice’s accomplishments are trivial?”

“Well, compared to the things I tend to see, a competition like this is trivial.”

“Don’t listen to him, Kairi,” an unfamiliar voice said. “I know you’re going to knock them dead.”

Kairi gasped and rushed into the newly-arrived man’s arms. “Lea!”

The infamous Lea was a beanpole with a mane of fire-red hair and a warm laugh that crackled to life when Roxas rushed him with a hug of his own. He ruffled Roxas’s hair before turning his attention to Kairi.

“I’m glad I caught you before you checked in,” Lea said. “I wanted to wish you luck, but I don’t think you’ll need it.”

“Lea, Isa, I’m glad you could make it,” Eraqus said.

Isa was a cool contrast to his lively husband. His gaze locked onto Vanitas between an x-shaped scar on his face.

“Does anyone else see the ghost?” he asked.

“That’s Vanitas,” Roxas said. “Ven’s twin.”

Lea looked over. “So you’re Vanitas. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I can say the same,” Vanitas said.

“I should get going,” Kairi said. “I don’t want to be late for check-in.”

“One last hug!” Sora exclaimed.

Kairi withstood the bombardment of embrace after embrace by Sora, Riku, Lea, and Naminé. Eraqus put his hand on her shoulder.

“In this competition, as in life,” he said, “you represent not only yourself, but your entire coven. You represent all of us. Do so with pride.”

“Yes, Grandmaster,” Kairi said with a smile and nod. Eraqus smiled back.

Aqua practically bowled Kairi over with the force of her hug.

“Oh, look at you,” she cooed as she leaned back to look at Kairi. “You look beautiful! And, more importantly, you look ready. I know you’re going to do great. Do you want me to walk you to check-in?"

"No thank you," Kairi said.

"I wish I could watch you the whole time," Aqua said. "I'll be there when they let me in for the final rounds."

"That's if I make it to the final rounds," Kairi said.

"None of that now. I know you’re going to make it." Aqua put her hand on Kairi's cheek. "I'm so proud of you. Lea was right, for once; you're going to knock them dead!"

"Thank you," Kairi said.

"Good luck," the coven chanted back.

Kairi strode away with the poise of someone who had already won. Her dress, slightly mussed from the half-dozen hugs she received, seemed to glow on the higher planes with the warmth of love and pride.

It was then that Vanitas understood why Kairi had to be bulletproof. He would have hexed her to the fourth and back if she were anything but.

"As much as we would all like to watch Kairi," Eraqus said, "we have another job here. As we discussed earlier, I want each of my students paired with one of you at the booth at all times. I will likely be here as well, if you need anything, but I have faith you all can run the sales by yourselves. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Grandmaster" the students chanted back like good little parrots.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Isa asked.

"Thank you for the offer," Eraqus said. "I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but if one of my apprentices... ah, yes, Aqua might be watching Kairi during one of her shifts. Would one of you mind working during that time?"

"I will," Isa said. "If you show me the ropes, I can work the booth if the rest of you want to support Kairi as well."

"I’m going to look around," Ventus called as he scooped Chirithy into his arms.

“Wait for me,” Aqua called back.

"Vanitas, you should come, too!" Ventus exclaimed.

"Stay out of sight," Eraqus warned before turning back to his discussion with Isa.

"Make me," Vanitas said with a cheeky grin.

Ventus practically pulled Aqua away to the rest of the market that sprawled before them. Tents advertised divination, spell bottles, toys, lenses, sunscreen, textiles, leather goods, and everything in-between. Rats, cats, toads, and dogs ran through the pavement alleys on the heels of their witches, perched on their shoulders, or nipped at the ravens and owls that flew through the air. Music from speakers and practicing performers mixed with the excited chatter of the early-arrivers. A cacophony of incense wove through the air. Witches in formal dress like Kairi passed witches wearing almost nothing but their sigils and the enchanted jewelry dripping from every appendage. It was as if the Bonfire festivals of Vanitas’s childhood leapt from his memories and came to life.

The last time Vanitas had attended a Bonfire festival was just as chaotic. His parents were too busy juggling three elementary-aged kids to care that Ventus had wandered off on his own (again) as long as Vanitas followed him like he always did. The two of them tore through the festival, gorging themselves on the contest food, admiring the spell-adorned artifacts that had felt impossibly powerful beneath their child hands, and staring in awe at magic demonstrations that had blown their inexperienced minds.

A darkly glinting mirror drew Vanitas's attention. He debated on whether to take a closer look, but Ventus and Aqua were still walking ahead, so he made a note to return and followed them.

Why am I bothering to follow them? Am I doing this just because Ventus asked?

"Aqua, come take a look at this!" Ventus held up a crystal.

"Don't touch it without permission," Aqua chided.

"C'mon, I'm not a kid. But what do you think?"

"It looks nice," Aqua said evenly.

Her tone indicated she thought it was nothing to write home about. Vanitas agreed. The rest of their inventory was of similar caliber. Casual witches who couldn't charge their own crystals as well or who were seduced by the aesthetics may have been impressed, but witches on the caliber of Vanitas (and, although he was begrudged to admit it, Aqua and Ventus) had no need to spend marked-up prices on crystals that were only alright. Even the cat looked unimpressed. Ventus, however, was drawn in, moth-like, by the sparkles and colors like the fucking child he was and stared at them for another two minutes before finally moving on.

"I can smell the food coming up," Ventus called as he ran ahead.

"Ven, wait up!" Aqua called back.

The scent of incense mixed with and was eventually replaced by the stench of fried food and the more subtle scent of sizzling spices. A booth handing out slips of paper had the heading "Bonfire cooking contest". Vanitas remembered this part from his childhood, too: the different categories for taste, magic, and presentation; the occasional nagic food booths hawking nagic fair food; the way the smoke traveled through the planes so intently Vanitas could practically taste the food from the air.

It made him wrinkle his nose and wish for the over-abundance of incense. Food hadn’t appealed to him since he had died.

Ventus dove head-first into the food samples, just as he had when they were children. Vanitas recognized booths from restaurants around the city. He had no idea they were witch kitchens. A booth handing out ratatouille even had someone's rat familiar help out with the cooking and tasting.

Vanitas wished that the rat would die during the fair so he could make him one of his Unversed. Unfortunately, any trace of dead animals were cleared out before the festival, and even if they weren't, a familiar wandering even a bit too far from their witch's watchful eye would have swallowed it without hesitation. There was nothing to do but follow Ventus and interact with the fair as much as he could.

"Cotton candy!" Ventus cooed.

"Do you want some already?" Aqua asked. "The fair's barely opened."

"Why not?" Ventus asked. "The stuff's super cheap!"

Ventus hadn't looked at Vanitas the entire time he had followed him. Did he slip into the fourth plane without noticing?

No, he was still on the third. Maybe they would notice if he did slip into the fourth.

"One cotton candy, please," Ventus said to the person selling it as he dug through his pockets for money. "And could you make it fresh?"

"Sure thing," the seller said. "One fresh cotton candy, coming up."

They grabbed a cone and carefully swirled it around the machine. Within a minute, a fluffy pink cloud of spun sugar appeared around the cone. The only thing keeping it together was its own sticky mass. Ventus cooed at the size of it.

"Thank you!"

Ventus and Aqua began tearing off bits of the cotton candy and throwing it in their mouths. Chirithy must have asked for some, because Ventus grabbed a small chunk. The heat of his hands shrunk it to the miniscule lump of sugar it really was as he fed it to the cat.

Neither of them had noticed Vanitas had gone back to the fourth plane. If they did, they didn't care.

Vanitas didn't understand Ventus and Aqua's delight. Cotton candy looked substantive and massive and visible, but a few drops of water or a tug with a human-warm hand made it melt into nothing. Sugar stretched into something that never was disappeared almost effortlessly. The cat didn't even like it, if his wrinkled face was anything to go by.

Why did people bother making it? Why did they bother eating it?

Vanitas turned and strode away. There was no need for him to be there among the food he couldn't eat and the smells that made his non-existent stomach turn. Ventus had Aqua and Terra to chase after him now. He had a whole coven to chase after him.

He doesn't need me anymore. Maybe he never did.

Vanitas froze in the middle of the path. People passed through him without even blinking.

He had never felt like such a ghost.

Ventus already moved on from me. Do I need to move on from life?

Every story like Vanitas's ended the same way: either the evil ghost was exorcized, or the victim accepted their sad fate and dissolved into nothing. Eraqus and the rest of his clan had already tried and failed the first method; Vanitas had never considered that he would befall the second fate. He had never even imagined moving on.

Is that what I'm destined for?

Vanitas kept walking. The mirror that caught his eye before managed to reflect him despite the fact he was solidly on the fourth plane.

He stepped closer. When was the last time he had seen his own reflection, his brothers' faces notwithstanding? He saw the child he hadn't been for a very long time. Vanitas was nineteen years old, damn it, so why did he still look seventeen?

Why don't I look fifteen? Why are my roots growing in? I dyed my hair almost just before I died. How come I look older than I was when I died, but not as old as I really am?

His head began to spin. There Vanitas was, stuck at an intensely bright festival packed with witches on the longest day of the year, having his first existential crisis since he up and fucking died. He missed Xehanort's endless barrage of reading assignments that, he belatedly realized, kept him too busy to dwell on his death.

What does it mean? What am I supposed to do? What am I going to do?

He managed to stumble back to their tent. Eraqus was sitting on a stool in the front, working on some sort of chain.

Spiteful fury flooded through Vanitas. He flickered onto the third plane and pressed himself against it so hard he felt himself fall to the second for a split-second. Eraqus sensed it, because he looked up and his face immediately hardened with displeasure.

Vanitas grinned.

He was a dark magician, chosen by the forbidden plane, gifted the power of Darkness. His parents had named him after art that defied death. The only thing keeping him from succumbing to the abyss at any given time were the two words that burned deep within whatever remained of his heart: not today.

I will not fade today.

He might not know what to do, but he refused to finish what Eraqus had tried to do all those months ago.

"I thought I told you to stay out of sight," Eraqus said.

"And I thought I told you 'no,'" Vanitas replied. "I'm here now; you volunteered to take me in, so now you have to deal with me. If my presence stirs trouble, it's your problem."

Eraqus put his chains down for a moment to consider Vanitas's words.

"Very well. I suppose you have a point," Eraqus said as he turned back to threading the chain.

Naminé emerged from her seat to watch him work. Eraqus moved his hands closer to her view and quietly began explaining the ways he was weaving the magic into it.

Vanitas plopped down on the pavement and leaned back against one of the legs of the tent. He floundered in a pit of emotions. Sitting down allowed them to circle around him instead of overwhelming him.

I wish there was a dead thing I could force these feelings into.

There was no real point in brooding. Ventus had replaced him and it sucked. Vanitas was a ghost who could have melted into nothing right then and there. But even if Ventus didn't need him, Vanitas refused to quietly move on.

You're stuck with me for a while. You all are.

The defiance warmed his dead bones.

Excited cooing drew Vanitas from his reverie. A young man and woman approached the booth with wide eyes and cautious steps. Naminé trotted back behind the cashier table. The woman had one pair of piercings; both of their arms were bare of tattoos.

What the fuck are nagics doing at a Bonfire festival?

"Do not judge by their appearances," Eraqus said under his breath. "They could be witches."

Vanitas scowled. He hadn't realized he had muttered it aloud.

"So are you two witches or not?"

Neither turned. Neither reacted.

"Nagics," Vanitas said smugly. "I told you so."

Eraqus gave them a flick of his eyes.

"Amagical money pays the rent just as well as witch money does," he said. "So I welcome them just the same."

"I can understand that sentiment with regards to your brick-and-mortar store," Vanitas said, "but I don't understand why they're coming to a Bonfire festival. It's not like they can add to the Bonfire." To add to Vanitas's point, they began asking rudimentary questions about the labels on the goods that a five-year-old witch would know the answers to. "Have they come to gawk? To look at the weird witches that shoot fire and see things they cannot? To laugh at the freaks?"

“They may be here to support a friend or loved one.”

“Or maybe they just want to join the party. Who cares if it isn’t about them?”

"If they come with open hearts, I cannot fault their presence," Eraqus said. "People fear what they do not understand. Amagicals are no different. If they understand us, they will see us as people." His hands tightened around the chains he was holding. "Only horrors come from amagical fear. You should understand better than anyone after what happened with Xehanort."

"Are you blaming my master for what happened to him because he scared the local nagics? Because he refused to tame himself and cower before them? That wouldn't have helped at all!"

"Do not put words in my mouth," Eraqus said in what was almost a snap. "If the amagicals who framed him had gone to a Bonfire festival, maybe they wouldn't have feared him in the first place."

"A festival wouldn't have made a difference," Vanitas spat. "It's fear or be feared in this world. That fear is the only thing that kept the nagics away from us for years."

"Fear is not a sustainable way of keeping peace. Understanding is."

"They'll fear us either way. They always will. There's no way to make them understand. Sure, those nagics are cooing at the shiny objects you made, and might even buy some, but it's not going to stop their fear. They'll give themselves an excuse to take away our rights and persecute us the second they can to regain the power they never really lost. Backlash is the only constant for us, not progress."

"No. When the time comes for them to decide if we are worth saving, their knowledge will beat their fear. Light will triumph over the darkness."

"I don't want to hear this self-righteous bullshit from someone who's willing to disown his own coven-mate to suck up to the rest of his clan because you didn’t like the magic he uses!"

"Silence!" Eraqus hissed. "You know nothing of what you speak!"

The nagics turned to him with wide eyes.

"Um, is everything okay with him?" the man asked Terra in an undertone.

Vanitas laughed.

"He's fine," Terra said. "He's just arguing with a poltergeist."

That made Vanitas laugh even harder.

The pair looked around wildly. "Where?"

"You can't see or hear him," Terra said, "but he won't hurt you."

Vanitas had half a mind to prove him wrong for the sake of it.

"Um, okay," the woman said. "Can you tell me more about these earrings?"

"Of course! My friend Aqua made them. They can actually help repel jinxes and hexes. I think they would work better if you had magic-"

“Terra is far too honest to be a good salesman,” Vanitas said quietly. He didn’t have the energy to restart their previous spat.

“I’ve learned over time his earnestness has a charm factor of his own,” Eraqus said. “But there is a reason he took the morning shift, since it is the least busy.”

Vanitas closed his eyes. How was it still morning?

“There you are, Vanitas!”

His eyes snapped open at the sound of Ventus’s voice.

“Finally noticed I disappeared?” Vanitas asked snidely.

“I just thought you didn’t like the crowd or got bored or something,” Ventus said. He turned to his master. “Would you like some cotton candy?”

“Yes. Thank you, Ven.”

Eraqus took a large chunk of the cotton candy and split it up bit by bit. Meanwhile, Naminé bagged the earrings the nagic woman purchased and handed them over with a smile. The nagics left the booth. Ventus offered Naminé some cotton candy, which she took. Only whisps remained on the paper cone.

“Are you not going to ask Terra?” Vanitas asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t like sweets,” Terra said. “The rest is all yours, Ven.”

Ventus licked the cone clean.

“Did you find anything cool on the way back?” Ventus asked once he threw away the candy-less cone.

“I did, actually,” Vanitas replied.

Ventus held out his hand. “C’mon, you gotta show me!”

Vanitas took it and made Ventus pull him up with his warm, living hand. Despite everything, he had a smile on his face.

Chapter Text

Eraqus emerged from his room. His eyes were distant.

"Hi, Master," Ven said. "How was the big clan meeting?"

"Where is Terra?" Eraqus asked. His face was stiff with forced composure.

"I think he's downstairs sanding something," Ven said. "Why?"

Eraqus walked past him. Ven looked at the pile of clothes he had been packing into his duffel bag, and debated staying to finish, but quietly crept down the stairs to watch what Eraqus wanted. Chirithy, who was sunning himself on the shop counter nearby, offered his ears, an offer which Ven gladly took.

"Terra."

Terra barely looked up from the amulet he was sanding and continued singing under his breath. "Hey, Master."

"Terra, look at me."

Terra put his work down. "Is something wrong?"

Eraqus put a hand on his shoulder. "Have you used dark magic lately?"

Terra looked away. Eraqus's hand tightened.

"Just a bit, Master," he admitted. "I looked into the fourth a few times to look for Vanitas."

"Have you done anything with it?"

"No, Master. Not since I came back."

"Terra, listen to me."

Terra moved his face towards Eraqus, but his eyes looked past him. "I'm listening."

"You cannot use dark magic ever again. Do not even look at the fourth plane. This is important, son- do you understand me?"

Ven realized a little belatedly that the conversation was none of his business and he shouldn't have eavesdropped. He and Chirithy stayed in place anyway.

"Yes, Master. I'll try."

"You have to do better than try," Eraqus said, and Ven heard the barest edge of fear in his voice. "You cannot practice dark magic under any circumstances. Do you understand me? The consequences have intensified."

"Yes, Master," Terra said.

Ven, even with the help of Chirithy’s sensitive ears, could barely hear him.

"Ven, your siblings are here," Terra called a few minutes later. "Are you packed?"

"Almost," Ven called back.

He hadn't made any progress since he had slunk back upstairs. He couldn't stop running the conversation he had overheard in his mind again and again.

What did Eraqus mean by ‘intensified’ consequences? What could be more intense than banishment?

In all of Ven's stewing, he had only managed to get a few things packed. He grimaced and went down the list he had made, shoving things into his bag at double-time.

Roxas, Xion, and Sora were all waiting in Leon's car. Leon himself was standing in front of it.

"Thank you again for letting me borrow your car for the weekend," Ven said as Leon handed him the keys.

"Of course," Leon said.

"Do you need me to give you a ride home?" Ven asked.

Leon glanced at the stuffed backseat. "No, thank you," he said. "I'm meeting Cloud at a restaurant near here."

"I hope you enjoy your date," Ven said.

"Thank you. We will."

Ven put his bag in the trunk and waved to the backseat window.

"Hi, Ven!" Xion said as she waved back.

"Took you long enough," Roxas said without looking up from his phone, but he was smiling.

"Sorry," Ven said. "Does everyone have everything packed?"

He mostly addressed the question to Sora in the passenger's seat.

"I double-checked," Sora said.

Something stirred in the backseat. Ven didn't see it, but he felt it.

"Well, even if we are forgetting something, it must not be important," Ven said.

Vanitas reappeared between Roxas and Xion. "Oh, really?"

Roxas yelped.

Ven grinned, triumphant. "I knew it! I knew you were hiding in the backseat."

"Sure you did," Vanitas said.

"I did," Ven said. "I wasn't going to leave you on a family camping trip."

"Who's willing to bet Ventus forgot something?" Vanitas asked.

"I'll take it," Sora said cheekily.

"Well, you checked the list, didn't you?" Xion asked.

"I'll do that now," Ven said.

"Cheater," Sora grumbled.

Everything was in its place. He remembered packing everything.

"Yup, I have everything."

"We'll see about that at the campsite," Vanitas said. "Don't withdraw your bet, Sora."

"How much are we betting with?" Sora asked.

"2000 munny for you," Vanitas said, "and I get to punch Ventus."

"You're on," Ven said. "I doubt you'd be able to punch me anyway. Now, has everyone gone to the bathroom?"

"We aren't four," Sora said.

"I'll go again," Xion said.

Five minutes later, they really were ready to go. Ven's stomach started fluttering.

"Alright," Ven said, "let's do this."

For most families, those words might have been encouraging or exciting, not tense. Other families might blast exciting music to keep spirits up on a long drive.

But the car was silent. Everyone quietly did their own thing. Ven was too busy focusing on the road to even know what those things were. Not even Vanitas complained or spoke the entire time.

No one wanted to distract the driver.

The World changed from a living place with people and places into a series of signs, cars, and potential dangers. Ven was focusing on the road too much to get a good view of the jungle around them. From the way even Vanitas stared out in rapture, it must have been beautiful. As Ven began on the curved mountain pass, his knuckles turned white, but he got a glimpse of the sea sparkling in the sun. Ven was just glad it wasn't sparkling too brightly for him to see the road.

They made it, if an hour later than planned, at the campsite.

"Alright," Ven said as he stopped the car and got out. "Here we are. Sora, Roxas, Xion, help me with setting up camp. Let's start with the tent."

"What should I do?" Vanitas asked.

Ven raised his eyebrows. "You're volunteering to help?"

"It's not like there's anything else to do."

"Well..."

Ven's mind blanked. He was supposed to be the oldest; he was supposed to have everything under control, but he couldn't think of anything his ghost brother could do.

"I'll figure something out," Vanitas said.

Ven swallowed and began unloading the tent. Vanitas did his best to clear the tent ground with a few spells while their other siblings built the tent up. As the tent got taller and taller, Ven got the sinking feeling that it wasn't big enough.

It was fine. Ven could sleep under the stars. He'd figure out a way to keep the bugs away.

"Okay, so the tent is up," Ven began.

"Roxas and I can put the rest of the stuff in the tent," Xion said. "You and Sora can start with dinner."

"I'm hungry," Roxas added helpfully.

"Who put you in charge?" Ven asked cheekily.

"Do you have a better idea?" Xion retorted just as cheekily.

Ven poked them on the nose. "No. I'll start the fire."

Vanitas laughed quietly.

The next step was to make the fire as Sora began prepping the food.

"Vanitas, can you help me look for some firewood?" Ven asked.

"Why?" Vanitas asked.

"To make a campfire," Ven said. "Duh."

"You don't need wood to make a fire," Vanitas said, "we're all witches." He looked pointedly at Roxas. "Well, most of us are witches."

Ven nudged Vanitas with his foot.

"Don't be an ass. Just because Roxas doesn't apprentice doesn't mean he can't make fire. Actually, considering who his friend is, he might make better fire than all of us. But it's not as fun without making a real campfire."

"Fine," Vanitas said. "I'll look for firewood."

Ven figured he would grab the flint and steel-

-but it wasn't in the front pocket of his backpack.

Or the main pocket.

Or anywhere in the car.

"Shit," Ven muttered. Louder, he called, "has anyone seen the flint and steel?"

"You mean you forgot it?" Sora called back cheekily.

"Shut up! Have you seen it?"

Capricious laughter indicated Vanitas had returned from searching for firewood- or that he had never left in the first place.

Ven shot him a dirty look.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you? You took something so you could win the bet. You're the one who suggested it, after all."

Vanitas socked Ven in the arm. Ven wasn't expecting an impact, so it made him stumble.

"Nope!" Vanitas cackled. "I considered it, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I’m not going to lie- I thought I lost it for a few minutes there."

He held up his hand for Sora. Sora high-fived him with a wide grin. Vanitas yelped and moved his hand away.

“What the-”

Sora grimaced. “Sorry. I guess I still have chicken brine all over my hands.”

Vanitas wrinkled his nose and tried to shake it off. Sora leaned closer.

“Hold on- did it really stick to your hand?”

“Yes,” Vanitas ground out.

“But I’m on the first plane,” Sora said. “And you’re not.”

As soon as Sora finished his words, the brine fell through Vanitas’s hand and splashed on the ground. Roxas and Xion looked up from where they had been working and stared with unblinking sapphire eyes.

“I have my solid moments,” Vanitas said quietly. “Like on Beltane. But don’t put too much stock in them. I don’t.”

Sora, Roxas, and Xion all exchanged glances to communicate something that even Ven couldn’t translate. He looked over at Vanitas.

“Fuck off,” Vanitas’s gaze told Ven.

At least he wasn’t the only one out of the loop. Besides, it was nice to have his old conversation partner back.

For now.

“What are we going to do about the campfire?” Ven asked as he shoved that thought from his mind.

“You have to ask?”

Vanitas threw a bolt of fire into the fire pit. It crackled and danced even without viable fuel.

“We’re witches,” he continued. “Why should we have to camp like nagics?”

“Are you going to be able to keep that up all night?” Ven asked.

Vanitas looked at Ven like he offended him. “Of course I can. I managed it four years ago, remember?”

Ven looked at him blankly. “What?”

Vanitas returned the look.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Remember? When we were camping in the desert?”

Ven racked his memory.

“Was this with Mom and Dad?” he asked quietly.

“No, idiot, this was after we ran away from our last foster home, but before Xehanort found us.”

“Xehanort?” Ven echoed. “I don’t remember ever meeting your master.”

“Do you remember any of it?”

Ven thought long and hard.

“I think I remember some of the foster home.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s this about?” Xion asked Vanitas.

Vanitas sighed. “I guess I’d have to tell you all the story of how I died eventually.”

“You died then?” Sora and Roxas asked at the same time.

“You died camping?” Ven asked.

“No. I’ll tell everyone the story after you eat. I’m only telling it once, so you better listen up.”

“I’m almost done preparing dinner,” Sora said, “but I need actual coals, Vanii. I can’t cook with this much flame.”

“Fine,” Vanitas muttered. He made the flames die down until Sora gave him a thumbs up.

There wasn’t much discussion after that. Roxas and Xion quickly spread out the pads and sleeping bags inside the tent, and Sora fretted over the kebabs as if it would make them cook faster.

Ven dug through his wallet for 2000 munny.

“Are your hands clean?” Ven asked.

Sora nodded.

“Here.”

Sora blinked.

“You don’t really have to pay me for losing the bet,” Sora said. “I was just trying to have some fun since you called me out for always forgetting stuff.”

Ven smiled softly.

“Nah, I thought it was funny. Everyone had a good laugh out of it. So, here.”

“Thanks, Ven.”

Ven was sure Sora’s kebabs must have tasted good, but he wouldn’t know, because he scarfed them down his throat so quickly he could barely taste them. He would have felt bad if Sora hadn’t practically swallowed the kebab chunks whole. The four of them managed to eat every last bite of kebab in less than ten minutes.

"We're done," Roxas said the second Xion finished the last of her kebab. "Now talk. What happened?"

"Jeez, you guys really made light work out of all of this," Vanitas said. "But a promise is a promise." He paused. "Where should I start?"

"Why were we camping in the desert?" Ven asked.

"We were running away from our stupid foster home," Vanitas said. "Duh."

Ven thought back to what he could remember from that home.

"Was it that bad?" Ven asked. "I remember it being one of the better ones."

"The home itself was fine," Vanitas said, "but it was the one after that I was worried about. You told me that someone told you that they were planning on separating the two of us.” Vanitas’s voice wavered at the thought. Ven didn’t blame him. “We decided that we would rather take our chances in the middle of the fucking desert than have to go through that again. It wasn't that bad. We could make our own water, and that was when I learned how to make a campfire without any fuel."

"It's a neat trick," Sora said. "Mind teaching it to me sometime?"

"There's nothing to it,” Vanitas said. “Just add some fire to the pit and you'll see. All you have to do is hold the fire in place."

Everyone added a bit of their own fire to Vanitas's, including Roxas. It was kind of like a miniature version of the fire at the Bonfire festival. Ven looked into the swirling flames-

Suddenly, he remembered the cold of the desert. He remembered looking into Vanitas's campfire and thinking...

"Marshmallows," Ven said.

"What?"

"I just remembered something. I remember looking into the campfire and wanting marshmallows." Ven stood up. "I'll be right back."

Luckily, he remembered the marshmallows and the rest of the s'mores supplies. Ven grabbed them and ran back to the campfire.

Vanitas raised his eyebrows. "You want to roast marshmallows while I tell you the story about how I died?"

"Not specifically," Ven said, "but we didn't have marshmallows then. We have them now."

He started passing them out to his other siblings. They each propped them onto the skewer and half-heartedly moved them towards the fire's heat.

"Well, it's not a bad idea," Vanitas said. "I think I like it better that way. Anyway, we were a few days in and almost out of food when Xehanort found us."

Ven rubbed his head. "He found us? What are the chances of that?"

"He's been in the desert for a long time," Vanitas said. "He found our trail pretty quickly. It wasn't camping season, and most of the local nagics do everything they can to stay away from him."

"So, what- he picked us up and took us in as apprentices?" Ven asked.

"Yeah, but" Vanitas narrowed his eyes "this is where my memory starts getting fuzzy. Xehanort, as you know, does dark magic. He wanted to do a spell that would help us connect with the fourth plane easier." His eyes grew distant. "But the Master miscalculated. I took too well to the fourth plane. I woke up like this. You were gone. The Master said you had died."

"That's it?" Roxas asked. "It was just a magical accident?"

"That's what my master said," Vanitas said. His face was wiped blank. "And that was the last time I saw Ventus until he showed up with his master after my master got arrested."

The sun had descended past the horizon. The only sound audible was the quiet crackling of their fire and wildlife that chittered in the trees around them.

No one spoke for a very long time other than asking the others to pass s'mores supplies. Roxas kept incinerating his marshmallow and eating it layer by sugary layer. Sora kept trying to hold it over the fire, but got impatient, stuck it in, blew it out, and immediately smashed it on a s’more with a double layer of chocolate. Ven, after spacing out and burning his marshmallow, did the same thing, except he didn’t even bother with the graham cracker. The chocolate grew soft from the heat of the marshmallow and his fingers, but Ven shoved it into his mouth before it made too much of a mess. The rush of sugar in his mouth was exhilarating. Xion was the only one who managed to toast her marshmallow without burning it, but she ate the marshmallow straight off the skewer.

After the four of them made their way through half the bag (minus the one that Ven had thrown at Vanitas just to see the offended look on his face), their energy began to fade. Sora turned in first.

"I'm going to get stuff ready for breakfast in the morning," he said.

"I can help," Roxas offered.

"I might start getting ready for bed," Xion said. "Oh, that reminds me- I don't know if we have room for all of us in the tent."

Ven grimaced. "I was worried that would happen. Put my stuff outside. I brought stuff that'll keep the bugs off me. Besides, it'll be nice to sleep under the stars."

"Okay,” Xion said. “Where’s the bathroom?”

Ven cursed under his breath. "I didn't look for it while it was still light out. But..." he rummaged through his backpack "-here." He held out his jasper pendulum. "You can use this."

"Alright," she said. To the pendulum, she chanted, "Hear me now; open your ears. Find for me what I now seek: the bathroom."

The pendulum floated slightly to their left.

"Do you want someone to go with you?" Ven asked.

Xion scowled. "I can take care of myself."

"Be careful," Ven said anyway. "Make sure no one sees the pendulum."

"I doubt they'll care."

"You can never be too sure. Especially not out here."

"I'll be careful," they promised with a roll of their eyes. "Be right back."

Vanitas hadn't looked up from the fire.

"What's on your mind?" Ven asked him.

"None of your business," Vanitas shot back automatically.

"Alright. Are you going to search for some dead while we sleep?"

"Maybe," Vanitas said. "The jungle eats the dead pretty quickly, but I'll see if I can manage anything."

An easy silence settled on the two twins as they watched their younger siblings disappear, one by one, into the tent. When Roxas zipped the tent up behind them, Ven let himself stretch and yawn.

"Mm, I'm exhausted."

"Lazybones," Vanitas muttered. "You've barely done anything."

"I drove all the way here," Ven said. "It's more tiring than it looks."

"Mmhm."

The fire whirred like a stovetop. Ven put a stick into it just to hear the sound of it crackling the way a proper campfire would. It was pleasantly warm, too. Content, he leaned back and craned his neck up at the stars.

"This is how things should have always been," he said.

"What do you mean?" Vanitas asked.

"The five of us doing things together," Ven said. "The two of us leading the way as the oldest. I'm surprised we didn't fight too much, but this is perfect. I just wish our entire childhood could have been moments like this."

“They wouldn’t be nearly as peaceful,” Vanitas said. “I think we’d all fight and hate each other until Mom or Dad strangled us all in our sleep with a pillow.”

“You’re so morbid.”

“Of course I am. I’m dead.”

Ven paused.

“Do you really think the only reason we’re so close is because of what happened with our parents?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Vanitas said. “Probably. But I don’t care. I don’t care how things ‘should’ have been, because they’re good now. Life is made of these moments, these conversations here. I think if Mom and Dad hadn’t died, we still would have had these conversations. Maybe we would have had more moments like this. But I don’t think you all would be as close.”

“‘You all?’” Ven echoed with a frown. “Do you feel left out?”

“I only just returned. You four have had years to reconnect.”

“You got the hang of it much faster than I did,” Ven said. “I wasn’t really… here for the first few months. The coma really took it out of me. It took more than a year to return to normal.”

“You were in a coma?” Vanitas asked. “You never mentioned that.”

“What does that matter?”

Vanitas smiled. “For a while, you were dead, in a way.”

“Maybe. But when I woke up, it was like our siblings had moved on without me. Roxas and Xion are best friends, and Sora and Roxas adore each other. They all live in the same house and go to the same school. Sora comes over for his apprenticeship, but if I didn’t plan moments like these, it feels like I’d never see Roxas or Xion.” He looked at Vanitas with a smile. “It’s good to have you here again. I don’t feel isolated as the oldest anymore.”

“Sap,” Vanitas retorted, but there was no venom. He looked up at the stars with an expression more vulnerable than Ven had seen in years. “You’re a good older brother,” he said softly. “Better than I am.”

“Give yourself more credit,” Ven said. “Sora adores you. And without you, we wouldn’t have a fire.”

“Sora adores everyone, and you would have remembered that you can make fire at some point. Not even you’re stupid enough to forget that.”

“Aw, shucks,” Ven said sarcastically. “No need to flatter me with high praise.”

“On second thought,” Vanitas said, “I can imagine you forgetting.”

Ven flicked him. “Jackass.”

Vanitas nudged Ven. Ven pushed Vanitas and dodged his counter-attack.

“C’mon,” Vanitas said. “One more and I’m even.”

“But you don’t play to get even,” Ven said. “You play to win.”

Vanitas grinned.

“Yup.”

He threw a weak bolt of electricity at Ven. He flinched, but an amulet on one of his bracelets absorbed it.

Vanitas glared at the offending bracelet. “I’ll get Terra for that.”

“If you start walking now, maybe you’ll get to him by the time our trip is over.”

“Revenge is best served cold,” Vanitas said.

“Or you could let it go,” Ven suggested.

“Nah.”

Ven rolled his eyes, but moments like that reminded him Vanitas was really there with him. He picked up another marshmallow with a smile. He had Vanitas, Roxas, Xion, Sora, and marshmallows. There was nothing else they needed to complete the picture.

Except for their parents.

Ven’s smile vanished.

There's always something missing.

Chapter Text

Terra plopped down on the couch next to where Vanitas was reading.

"Want to go grocery shopping with me?" he asked.

"No," Vanitas said without looking up from his book.

"Are you sure? When's the last time you've been inside a grocery store?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter," Vanitas said. "Out of all the things in life that I long for, a warehouse full of produce and other foodstuffs is not one of them."

"I could use the input," Terra said. "It's my turn to plan the next few meals this week."

"I definitely can't help you there," Vanitas said. "Nothing has sounded appetizing to me since I died. The very thought of food churns my stomach."

"I bet I can get something out of you," Terra said with a challenging smile.

"I bet you can't," Vanitas said. He still didn't look up from his book, even though he hadn't been reading it for the past minute.

"There's only one way to find out," Terra said.

"You think I'm so childishly petty I'll go with you just to try and prove you wrong?" Vanitas asked. He finally closed the book and put it on the coffee table.

"Yeah."

Fuck it.

"Fine," Vanitas said. "I'll take your bet. What do I get if I win?"

"I don't know," Terra said. "But if I win, you have to help me with the dishes."

"That'll be a complete disaster," Vanitas said. "I agree to your terms."

The last time Vanitas had been properly inside of a grocery store, he and Ventus had been dragged along by their dad in-between the end of their school day and an appropriate time to swing by the elementary school to pick up the rest of their siblings. The memory slammed into him like a stray grocery cart just by the way the high-hanging fluorescent lights shone on the products below. Every grocery store was similar enough that Vanitas could almost see Ventus tagging along with their dad, eagerly absorbing whatever knowledge one needed for grocery shopping while Vanitas dragged his feet behind them.

Terra cleared his throat. He had already grabbed a cart and was preparing to weave through the aisles.

"The bet doesn't count if you just stay here the whole time," Terra said.

"Those weren't part of the terms," Vanitas replied, but he vaulted inside the shopping cart anyway. He couldn't remember the last time he had ridden in the cart.

"Where should we start?" Terra asked, mostly to himself, as he looked at the grocery list. He shifted his gaze towards Vanitas. “What was your favorite food when you were alive?"

Vanitas raised his eyebrows and almost laughed. "You're planning on making my favorite food when I can't eat it? I underestimated your cruelty."

"I figured if you can't eat it, you might be able to smell it at least," Terra said.

"Tough luck," Vanitas said with a smirk. "I haven't been hungry in years. The very thought of food is repulsive.”

“That sucks,” Terra said. It even sounded like he really meant it. “When you were alive, did you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate?”

“Is that even a question? Dark chocolate, obviously. Are you going to try to make dinner with that?”

“No, just curious.”

Terra placed a bag of dark chocolate chips into the cart with Vanitas before continuing on. Campy music played through the crunchy store speakers. It sounded like someone had blasted the original song recording from three rooms away while someone else recorded it on a first edition Gummiphone, further compressed it, and gave it to a broken store employee whose only desire in life was to make customers suffer as they had suffered.

“What do you think?” Terra asked Vanitas. “Soba or udon?”

“Why not both? Well, it’s getting too cold for soba.”

“I’m surprised you can still feel the cold.”

“What can I say?” Vanitas leaned back against the wall of the cart. “It’s so cold you can feel it on the fourth plane.”

“Well, I think we’re running low on mirin,” Terra said, mostly to himself, “so I’ll have to get some more to make a good dipping sauce. If I’m right, there should be some somewhere around-”

Terra faltered. Vanitas followed his gaze to where his hand had stopped.

“That’s hot sauce, not mirin.”

“I know,” Terra said. His voice was flat. “Xehanort’s favorite brand.”

He found the mirin, put it in the cart, and stepped as far away from the hot sauce as he could with a single bound. The speakers ceased playing music and started playing compressed static with the barest semblance of a melody.

“How does Xehanort treat you?” Terra asked.

Vanitas scanned the store to see if Ventus and Aqua were hiding right behind one of the shelves. “You want to have this conversation here?”

“Why not? We have more privacy than we would at home. Amagicals will only hear half of the conversation and probably wouldn’t understand it anyway.”

“I guess,” Vanitas replied. “As for your question, Xehanort is stingy, uptight, and on the cruel side of stern, but he’s still better than at least a third of the foster parents Ventus and I ended up with. And he teaches well enough.”

Terra looked at Vanitas with concern. “You two had foster parents worse than Xehanort? Doesn’t he hit you?”

“What, training? Please- why do you think I’m solid enough to interact with the first plane at all? Xehanort isn’t that bad. I felt more like a ghost in those foster homes than I do with him. I don’t understand your problem with him.”

“My problem with- he killed you, Vanitas! That’s my problem with him.”

Vanitas scoffed. “It was an accident. Our welcoming ritual went sideways because I took to the fourth plane too well. The Master was right: you were a coward who found the first excuse to run away with your tail between your legs.”

Terra faltered.

“You don’t know,” he said quietly. “I’m stupid- of course you wouldn’t know.”

Vanitas knew Terra was begging for him to ask what he meant. He refused to give him the pleasure.

Terra continued anyway.

“Ven got spooked during the ritual. He tried to protect you by holding you back to the first plane. The pull knocked you both out. But it didn’t kill you.”

The store speaker was blasting nothing but an audible headache.

“What’s next on the list?” Vanitas asked. “Do you have all of your groceries? Mabon is approaching. Do you have any special dishes you need to prepare for.”

“Xehanort killed you on purpose, Vanitas. He said, ‘this one is interesting,’ and then he…” Terra’s face collapsed under the force of his own sentimental cowardice. “I just stood there and watched it happen.”

“Does it feel better to have that off your chest?” Vanitas asked with a smirk. “Were you hoping that would make me renounce my master and the fourth plane? Do you think I haven’t held my own suspicions for years that the one time he ‘made a mistake’ it resulted in my power? Do you think I’ve ever been fond of him? He is the only one who can or will teach me what I want to learn. The rest is irrelevant.”

Terra’s brow furrowed. “It’s not.”

“It is to me. Now are you going to buy that hot sauce? Or can we move to the next aisle?”

“At least you know now. Let’s get some vegetables.”

“Buy green peppers. Ventus hates them.”

“Master Eraqus has never been fond of them either. I’ll get red and yellow. Are you going to return to Xehanort when he gets out of jail?”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “Do you not know when to drop a conversation?”

“No,” Terra said, “I don’t.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” Vanitas said. “But to answer your asinine question, of course I’m returning to him. I’ve fallen behind already. My apprenticeship isn’t finished just because I’ve developed skills as a necromancer.”

Terra’s eyes bored into Vanitas. His face was painted with a mixture of wonder and confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Vanitas asked. “Does my answer displease you that much? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He chuckled at his own joke despite himself.

“No,” Terra said quietly, “I didn’t.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.” His face was back to normal. “You know, you never answered my first question.”

“Of course I didn’t,” Vanitas said. “I don’t even remember what it was.”

“If you could have any food, what would it be?”

“I don’t know. Something comforting… and warm. Fresh brioche?”

“With dark chocolate chips?”

“Why not?” Vanitas leaned back. “But that’s enough thinking about food for today. Going to make some brioche and make me hate it?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Never mind.”

Silence descended on them for the next three aisles.

“I’m sorry, by the way,” Terra finally said.

“What for?” Vanitas asked, despite himself.

“I shouldn’t have left you with him,” Terra said. “I thought you were gone. But if I had known-”

“If I had gone with you, your master would have exorcized me and I never would have been able to learn necromancy. Are we done here?”

By the time the two of them made their way to the checkout, the speakers were playing actual music again. Maybe the employee who put whatever there was before was fired. Maybe they had fixed a broken speaker. Vanitas didn’t care either way.

"Thanks for your help," Terra said as they slid into the check-out line. He didn't seem to notice or care that others in the line were giving him sidelong glances for appearing to talk to himself.

"I didn't help you at all," Vanitas said. "You ignored all of my 'suggestions,' so I guess you'll have to do the dishes yourself. Even if I did, you guys would have to clean pottery shards from every available surface when all of your plates and cups would inevitably fall through my hands.”

Terra pointed at something towards Vanitas’s feet. The chocolate chips he had placed there at the beginning of their trip had been leaning against his leg the entire time.

“That doesn’t prove anything in either case.”

“Whatever you say,” Terra said with a teasing smile.

That night, Terra and Vanitas did the dishes together. Songs from when he and Ventus were children played through a speaker that connected to Terra’s phone.

They did not speak.

Chapter Text

The call came on a rainy day.

Rain, at that time of year, was as common on their part of the island as finding leaves on the ground. It was the weather that had Ven going through more cups of warm tea than usual as he read Eraqus’s assignments and beckoned Chirithy to huddle on his lap to share some of his body heat. Terra sat to Ven, outlining some lesson plans for his apprentices and sipping some tea of his own. Dusty lo-fi music played through the creaky shop speakers. Aqua, who was at the cash register fiddling with the charm she was making, picked up their landline when it rang.

"Tabidachi Magic Shop, how may I assist you today?" It was a perfect customer service voice: crisp, professional, and with a touch of genuine friendliness. The person on the other line must have been a person instead of a robot, because Aqua continued, "yes, we do."

Ven closed his book and began gathering amulets, potions, vials of salt, and Chirithy’s pouch stuffed with herbs and stones. It was time for an exorcism.

"I see. We'll keep our eyes out. Expect us within the hour."

Terra looked up from his notes in handwriting that was almost as messy as Ven's. "Do you want me to man the desk?"

Aqua looked straight at Ven. "Where's Vanitas?"

"Upstairs," he replied. "Why?"

"Someone needs to keep him here and man the desk, but I have a bad feeling about this job. I think it'll need all of us."

"Do you think the Master can do that?" Terra asked. "We should text him."

“I’ll do that,” Aqua said. She handed Terra a faded paper map of the city and a pendulum. “Check that the location actually has the presence of the fourth.”

Terra unfolded the map and hung the pendulum over it. He muttered a spell. The pendulum swung aimlessly until it froze over a spot on the map.

Ven had double-checked that they had all of the supplies they needed when he saw Eraqus’s response.

He knew better than to ask why they needed Vanitas distracted, or maybe he didn't care what the reason was and just wanted to keep him out of trouble. Either way, Ven wished him all of the luck in the World. As they began to drive off, Eraqus was already calling something up, and Ven felt Vanitas rush downstairs in response to whatever Eraqus had said.

The antique shop where the ghost was located wasn't that far from the shop. It was definitely within walking or bus distance, but with Vanitas around, Ven felt a sense of urgency to get the job done as quickly as possible that Aqua must have shared.

"I forgot to warn you guys about the bat," Aqua said as they walked to the shop.

"The bat?" Ven asked.

"The shop owner said there's been a bat hanging around the shop for months. It doesn't move much, but whenever she calls animal control, they're unable to find it." Aqua locked eyes with Ven. "She mentioned that it looks dead."

Ven’s stomach plummeted. He tightened his grip around Chirithy’s furry body.

“You think it’s an Unversed?” Ven asked.

“I can smell one up ahead,” Chirithy said. “And I can see the thread that connects it to Vanitas.”

“We don’t know if Vanitas has anything to do with this,” Ven said weakly.

“Very few people actively practice dark magic,” Terra said, “and out of those, Vanitas is the only necromancer I know of. It can’t be anyone else.”

“But why would Vanitas be messing with an antique shop, of all places?” Ven asked.

“Your brother likes to make trouble,” Aqua sighed. “Besides, most antique shops feel haunted even without dark magic. Maybe he wanted to hide something here.”

Ven wanted to protest some more, but they had already arrived at the antique shop. He could barely see inside it. He tried to take a closer look, but Terra grabbed him on the shoulder and Chirithy yelped. Ven followed their gaze to the overhang of the shop door.

It was an Unversed bat, alright. Ven's heart sank in disappointment.

"What is it doing here?" Ven whispered.

The bat opened its eyes and shrieked. Ven instinctively covered his ears and winced as Chirithy fell to the ground. Chirithy landed on his feet like the cat he was and jumped away from the bat.

"Go to the second!" he urged. "I've got you!"

Ven touched Chirithy with his foot to ground himself before leaping to the second plane. It felt dizzying as it always did as the edges of reality warped and reconfigured around him. The blast of wind Ven threw at the bat stopped its shrieks long enough to let Terra and Aqua follow him.

Terra leapt into action. He clapped his hands together and punched the air in the direction of the bat. Glowing chains shot from his rings. The bat flew around them and dove straight at Chirithy.

"Chirithy!"

Aqua clapped her hands together. A barrier bubbled around both of them. A normal bat would have been able to fly through it, since the barrier didn’t exist on the first plane, but the Unversed was forced to spring off of it to dive at Ven again.

Its shadow elongated to cover Ven's. Before he could react, he felt his feet wobble.

"Ven!" Terra shouted.

Terra reached for the bat and grabbed it with his bare hand. He cried out in pain as the bat bit into his soft flesh.

Ven's phone buzzed. He knew better than to check it in the middle of combat.

"Enough," Aqua said in a way that made the planes tremble slightly.

She held out her hands. Chains shot from four of her fingers and looped around the bat. It had no choice but to drop down to the ground. Before it could fly back up, Ven pelted it with another wind blast. Somehow, the bat was able to resist it.

Ven made the wind blast stronger. It slowed long enough for Ven to take a deep breath.

His body began to glow. He opened his hands, and countless blades of light echoed around his body.

"By the bonds that tie me to the World, I release yours," Ven chanted. "Go in peace."

The light circled around Ven. It was so bright Aqua, Terra, and Chirithy had to close their eyes. But the bat did not go in peace. Its scream of rage knocked Ven to his feet. The bat, visibly slower, attempted one final dive as it dissolved into shadow.

"Begone!" Terra shouted.

The bat crumpled away.

Ven panted. He picked himself up from the sidewalk before Terra or Aqua could offer him a hand.

"Let me see your hand," Aqua said to Terra. "That was reckless."

"I wasn't thinking," Terra said.

"Clearly."

Terra's hand was covered in a dark blight that made Ven wince to look at. There was a chance it would be nothing but a small gash once they returned to the first plane, but none of them would take that chance. Aqua pulled out a bottle full of a shiny green potion, uncorked it, and dumped its contents onto Terra's hand. Terra hissed as the blight bubbled away.

Aqua took another look at it when they had returned to the first plane.

"You're lucky we weren't on the first plane," she said after she re-corked the empty potion bottle. "If it had bitten you there, we would have had to take you to urgent care to get a rabies shot. Think about that next time you have the urge to grab an undead animal."

"I'm fine, Aqua," Terra said. "You would have done the same thing in my place."

Aqua didn't deny it. Ven touched the Wayfinder in his pocket and then remembered his phone.

It was a text from Eraqus.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged woman with graying hair. When she saw the three of them, her eyes grew wide.

"Are you three the exorcists?"

"Yes," Aqua said. "We took care of the bat for you."

"So it was a demon of some kind?" she asked.

"Something like that," Ven said. He held Chirithy close to his chest.

"Well then," the woman said, "I suppose I should pay you now."

"No," Terra said. "Whatever you called about is still here." He looked at Chirithy. "Am I right?"

"Yeah," Chirithy meowed. He jumped from Ven's arms and sniffed the air. "It's another Unversed."

"Another Unversed?" Ven asked. "It's not a ghost?"

"I don't think so," Chirithy said.

"Should we plane-walk again to make sure we don't disturb any of the merchandise?" Ven asked.

"You two go ahead," Terra said. "I'll make a salt circle and look for any signs on the first plane." He turned to the woman. "You should leave."

The woman blinked. "Excuse me?"

"What Terra means is that things might be more complicated with more people around," Aqua said with a polite smile. "It will be safer if you leave the building."

"Alright," the woman said. "I'll be in the coffee shop next door if you need me."

The second she left, Ven leapt to the second plane.

"We need to hurry," he said. "I don't want Vanitas to show up in the middle of this."

"Let's split up," Aqua said. "Chirithy, stay with Terra just in case this Unversed goes for you, too."

Ven scowled. So he hadn't imagined that. He didn't know if Vanitas had gone for Chirithy because he knew none of them wanted him hurt or because he knew he was the only thing tethering them to the first plane, but either way, it was a ruthless strategy.

He took a deep breath and fidgeted with his rings. If a creature as strong and ruthless as the bat was standing guard, what kind of creature was it watching? His only source of comfort was the size of the shop. Whatever Vanitas was hiding couldn't have been big.

Ven crept through the aisles of the shop. The shelves, stacked with ancient devices from people long-dead, towered above him. The scent of dust, stale cigar smoke, and a familiar sickly-sweet stench floated through the air. Ven could hear Terra’s movements from the aisle beside him. The tick of mahogany grandfather clocks matched the jackrabbit tempo of his heart. The further he traveled into the shop, the fainter the gray light from the shop window became. Lamps with warped glass paneling cast deep shadows throughout the shop.

Chirithy meowed quietly.

“Chirithy?” Ven whispered.

“I’m coming.”

Chirithy’s voice came from the other direction of the meowing. Ven heard it again and realized it wasn’t meowing at all. It was faint, squeaky crying.

Chirithy walked in front of Ven.

“It’s close,” he said. “Follow me.”

Chirithy made his way closer to the sound. Ven began swiveling his head for any trace of it. He could have sworn the eyes of a portrait followed him as he moved, but on closer inspection, it was just a normal painting.

The corner Chirithy was leading to him was surrounded by lamps with dead bulbs. There was a rocking horse with faded paint, a toy car with a slightly dented body, and a toy cradle with sheets yellowed in age. The hair on the back of Ven’s neck prickled. He peeked inside the cradle-

-and met glazed plastic eyes.

Ven fell back with half a scream. His chest heaved. His stomach turned. It took all of his focus to not retch on the cold stone floor beneath him.

“What is it?” Aqua was at his side in an instant.

Ven pointed at the cradle with a trembling hand. Chirithy hissed at it.

Aqua approached with her hands ready to shoot a spell at a moment’s notice. When she looked inside, her hands dropped and her face drained of color.

“By the stars,” she breathed.

“What is it?”

Unlike Aqua, Terra wasn’t moving from where he had rushed to Ven’s side, so Ven swallowed the bile in his throat and forced himself to speak.

“The Unversed is a baby. And Vanitas put it in a doll.”

“Darkness and void between,” Terra hissed. His fists clenched.

The baby’s cries became louder.

Aqua moved towards the cradle.

"Wait," Ven said. "We don't know if it's safe."

"We need to exorcize it, Ven," Aqua said.

"But what if it's secretly really powerful or something?"

"It's a baby, Ven," Aqua said.

"That bat was just a bat," Ven said, "but it was hard to fight."

"I'll be careful."

Slowly, Aqua bent down and picked up the doll. Something larger wriggled on the third plane. The ghost wasn't a baby- it was a toddler. Vanitas had just stuffed him into a baby doll's body. Ven’s stomach quivered.

"Why would Vanitas do this?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know, Ven," Terra said. His face was hard, like he was preparing to do something to Vanitas.

Aqua hushed the kid in her arms.

"Maybe we can give him what he wants," Ven suggested. "Can we exorcize him that way? Please?"

"We can try," Aqua said gently. To the boy, she asked, "what do you want?"

The boy cried wordlessly. Either he was too young to talk, too far gone to articulate his emotions, or too upset to want to.

"Give him here," Terra said. “Maybe he just wants to sleep.”

Aqua handed the doll to him.

Terra tried rocking the boy in the doll's body.

"Try to go to sleep," he said. His voice was getting rough with emotion. "We're going to help you go to sleep. Okay, kiddo?"

The boy's cries got a little quieter.

"There we go," Terra cooed. "Like that. Just like that."

He moved to hand the doll back to Aqua, but she shook her head and motioned at Ven.

"He should do it," she said.

"W-why?"

Aqua smoothed hair from his face. "Because out of the three of us, you're the one that's going to have to exorcize another human ghost. You should practice."

Ven seized up. "I can't. I-I don't want to."

The baby started crying louder again.

"You have to," Aqua said. Her voice was gentle and hard at the same time. "He's suffering. Who knows how long he's been stuffed into that doll's body like that? You need to free him."

Ven took a deep breath.

"Alright," he said. "I'll do it. Give him to me."

The doll was so light for the weight of the soul within it. Ven's vision started blurring from tears.

"Hey there little guy," Ven cooed. "I'm just going to put you to sleep, alright?"

The boy wasn't fighting it. He wasn’t even cognizant enough for words.

So this was dark magic’s true form. Eraqus had been right all along. Anything that could cause something as evil as a suffering child didn’t have a right to exist in the World.

Ven sucked up a deep breath. He steeled himself.

Would it have been better if the boy started fighting back? Would Vanitas fight back, when his time came? Or would Ven not give him a chance to? Which one was crueler? Which one was kinder?

It all felt horrible. His heart didn't know which way to turn.

"With the bonds-"

The door to the antique shop crashed open. Ven heard the shattered glass clatter to the ground.

"Stop!" Vanitas's voice shouted from the entrance. "Don't do it!"

Aqua put up a barrier. "Ven. Now."

"With the bonds that connect me-"

Vanitas's lightning shattered the barrier in one strike. The blast distracted Ven.

"Vanitas, don't interfere," Terra said. He moved himself in front of Vanitas. Vanitas blasted him with all of the lightning in his heart. Terra stood there and let his amulets absorb it all.

"Ven!" Aqua shouted.

"With the bonds that connect me-"

"Ventus, please!"

Ven looked up. "I have to do this, Vanitas. I have to give him peace."

Vanitas was shouting something -a threat, a plea, a defiant expletive- but Ven couldn't hear it. He had turned all of his attention to the boy in his arms.

"With the bonds that connect me to the World, I release yours. Go in peace."

Ven watched on the third plane as the boy's eyes closed. He faded away peacefully, as if he was going to sleep. A tear dripped down onto his plastic face.

The Unversed symbol dissolved from the doll's chest.

Vanitas dropped to the ground as if he had been struck. Ven could hear him taking deep, shaky breaths, which didn't even make sense because he was a ghost. He writhed and bit his lip as if trying not to scream.

Ven remembered the yelp of pain he had heard when Eraqus had first exorcized on of Vanitas's Unversed. The hissed whimper coming from Vanitas's clenched teeth felt infinitely worse to hear, especially mixed with the pangs of grief.

Terra looked down on him.

"Why would you do this?" he shouted. Tears ran down his face.

"I did it because I could," Vanitas said with a smile. "I wanted to see what would happen."

The smile was too wobbly. The voice wasn't confident enough to match his words.

"Xehanort made you a monster," Terra said quietly. "Or maybe he didn't stop you from becoming one."

Vanitas’s grin grew, but it still lacked its usual enthusiasm.

“No,” Ven said. “He’s lying. You were trying to save him, weren’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be so desperate to stop the exorcism.”

The bat’s attacks on Chirithy weren’t ruthless, they were desperate.

Terra relaxed.

“I’m sorry for saying that,” he said. “That’s why the power went out during Beltane, isn’t it? You over-extended yourself.”

Vanitas wilted. He finally wiped the fake grin off his face

"I was stupid,” he said quietly. “Beltane is the worst day of the year to try any sort of dark magic, but I thought because I was nice and solid that day, I would be able to make someone else solid."

"What happened?" Aqua asked.

“Why do you care?” Vanitas retorted with a knife-sharp voice. “Do you need the full story for the report you write to your master?”

“We just want to know what happened,” Ven said. He hugged the lifeless plastic doll closer to his chest. “For the kid’s sake.”

“There isn’t much to say,” Vanitas said. "I tried to recreate his body. It didn't work. The spell took too much energy. The only way to not fade away was to give the kid some kind of vessel.” He looked up to glare at them all. “It was supposed to be a temporary measure. I knew I could finish the job on Samhain. I know I could have! But you three had to kill him!"

"What were you going to do if you had done it?" Aqua asked. "Don't tell me you were planning on raising him."

Vanitas scoffed.

"Of course not. Babies like him get plucked out of foster care within a month. He could have had a new life. He could have had a life. It wasn't fair that he died so young."

"Death isn't fair," Aqua said.

"You think I don't know that?" Vanitas snapped. "Don't you dare lecture me on death, you-"

"Vanitas." Ven tried to put his hand on his shoulder. It phased halfway through it. "That must have been awful. I can't imagine how guilty you felt."

Vanitas painted his face blank. "Don't patronize me, little brother."

"I'm sorry."

There it was again, that leopard stare with glowing-coal eyes. "Do you really regret the exorcism?"

Ven could feel Terra and Aqua's eyes on him.

"I'm sorry you couldn't tell me about any of it. I'm sorry you had to bottle those feelings-"

"Oh, I didn't bottle them. The Unversed are powered by my emotions, remember?"

"I'm sorry you couldn't trust me."

Vanitas picked himself off the ground. "If this experience taught me anything, it’s that I made the right choice not to."

Ven felt like his heart had ripped in half. He could do nothing but cry as Vanitas walked away without another word.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed.

Two hands and warm fur wrapped around him.

"You did nothing wrong," Aqua said. "I know it was a hard choice, but you did the right thing.”

Ven didn’t know if he believed her, but he let her and Terra wrap him up and cried into their shoulders.

His phone buzzed again. He pulled it out, looked at it, and grimaced beneath his tears.

“My shift starts in half an hour,” he croaked.

“Maybe you should call in sick,” Aqua suggested.

“We need all the shifts I can get,” Ven sniffed.

Terra and Aqua looked at him like they would take his place if they could.

“I can drive you,” Terra said gently.

“Thanks.”

“I don’t think your shift will be too busy today,” Aqua said. “People won’t want to buy ice cream in this weather.” She looked out the shop window to the gray sky. “Not with all of this rain.”

Chapter Text

"Oh yeah, Aqua."

She looked up from where she was lounging on the couch to look at Ven. Her legs took up half of the length. Terra was sprawled across the other half. Ven nestled his way between them.

Vanitas silently sat cross-legged on top of the coffee table. They hadn’t talked about the exorcism. Vanitas had barely returned to the shop since that horrible, rainy day. Ven was glad he had made an exception that night.

"Yeah, Ven?" Aqua replied.

"You said you were gonna tell me about the first time you met Terra."

She had said it was a nice story. Maybe it would ease the tension crystalizing between them.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard this story before," Eraqus called from the kitchen as he put the rice he had just washed into the cooker.

"It's pretty funny," Aqua said with a smile. "Let's see... I think I was eight, because I had just been removed from my mom's custody. I was at recess. I had just transferred to the school, so I didn't have any friends. I didn't have anything else to do besides walk around. There was this chain-link fence that separated the playground from the street. I was looking through it when I noticed this boy a few years older than me. I thought it was kind of strange, because it was the middle of the school day and he was on the sidewalk instead of in school. But he noticed me and beckoned me, so I went over. Then-" Aqua was starting to bite back a laugh "he said, 'hi, my name's Terra. Are your parents dead?’"

"What?" Ven exclaimed. Eraqus was laughing. Vanitas laughed, too, but it was drenched in scorn that was a cold contrast to the mirth in Eraqus’s chuckle.

"In my defense," Terra said, "it was a logical question to me. What Aqua never mentions is that I have prophetic visions, so when I first saw her, I knew she was going to be important to me. I saw that she was going to be a witch, and that we were going to train together. Eraqus had adopted me because my mom had died a few years back. So I figured 'hey, if her parents are dead, Master Eraqus could adopt her, too, and we'd train together, just like I saw.'”

"Anyway," Aqua continued, "Terra kept asking me about my parents, which was a sore subject at the time. And when he told me I was going to be a witch, I thought 'no way would I ever be a creepy witch.' But Terra went on about how he saw me becoming a witch, and I figured that if this kid wasn't making any sense, maybe that dad he mentioned would explain what he meant. So I jumped the fence-"

"Hold on a second," Vanitas said. "You jumped the fence in the middle of recess, and no one noticed? I call bullshit."

Aqua shrugged. "I was fast enough, I suppose, or just lucky. Maybe it was destiny. Anyway, I jumped the fence, and Terra took me here."

"Does that mean that the elementary school we pass on our way to the grocery store-" Ven began.

"Yes, it's the very same school," Aqua said.

"I went there, too," Terra said, "before Eraqus started training me."

"So you came to the store," Ven said. "How'd the Master react?"

"He didn't notice at first," Terra said. "I think he was on the phone or busy with a customer or something. But I was so excited to tell him about my new friend. He scolded me for interrupting him, then-" he laughed, so Aqua picked up the story.

"I'll never forget the look on his face," she said, grinning ear to ear. "When he learned that I had jumped the fence at school and that I was still supposed to be there, he said” -Aqua dropped her voice into a gravely imitation of Eraqus’s- “'Terra, you can't just kidnap kids from school!'"

A laugh finally bubbled its way from Ven’s heart.

"It never occurred to me that it was against the rules for Aqua to leave," Terra said through his own chuckle.

"Sometimes I hear amagical parents complaining about their children bringing home pets," Eraqus called from the kitchen. "I have to resist the urge to tell them that's it's better than their child bringing home another child."

"So that was why you were okay with me bringing home Chirithy," Ven mused.

"Yes," Eraqus smiled at Ven. "It wasn't even the last time Terra brought home a child. But yes, I was very concerned that my ten-year-old apprentice had managed to kidnap an amagical- well, you were then- child right under the noses of the rest of the school. So I told this child that she was more than welcome to stop by after school with her parents before dragging her back to school."

"They didn't even notice I was gone," Aqua said. "I managed to get back just as recess- or maybe it was lunch- was over, so perhaps the teacher thought I was late. It wouldn't have been the first time. But a week later, they called every kid in the school into the auditorium for this assembly on street safety and not walking away with anyone you don't know. Everyone in my class knew they were talking about me. I was so embarrassed." Aqua laughed quietly. "Terra was right, though. I ended up going to the shop on a regular basis, and a few years later, the Master had adopted me, too."

"Did he adopt you, Ventus?" Vanitas asked. His voice was still.

An unfamiliar rumbling emitted from the rice cooker.

"No, he just fostered me until I turned eighteen," Ven replied. "I considered it, but they would've made me get a new birth certificate, and I didn't want that."

"Sap," Vanitas spat. "Five years ago we would have killed for someone even passable to adopt us, and you stuck your nose up the chance? For sentiment?"

Ven bristled as the warmth in the air shattered. "Well, I found Sora, Roxas, and Xion not too long after that."

"And they're adopted, aren't they?"

"Let's talk about something else," Ven said.

Vanitas’s specialization wasn’t necromancy, it was ruining good moments.

"Have you ever heard how me and the Master met?" Terra asked.

Ven perked up. Maybe Terra could restore the warm, peaceful feeling that had descended. "No, I haven't."

Terra smiled sheepishly. "There isn't much to tell. One day, I was walking from school to my foster home at the time, and I ran straight into him. Then I looked up at him and I knew he was supposed to be my master. He adopted me not long afterwards."

"Hold on," Ven said. "That means we've all been foster kids at some point, right?"

"Yes," Aqua said. "The sad solidarity of abandoned children."

"We should share stories," Ven said.

"We should," Vanitas said.”There’s a story I want to hear.”

Ven tensed. It wasn't the words themselves that put him on edge, but they were spoken with a leopard purr that only ever proceeded trouble.

"What story?" Terra asked.

"I want to hear how you three met Ventus."

Ven frowned. "I've already told you. They found me in the hospital."

"An island hospital, correct?"

"Yeah. Why does that matter?"

Vanitas's eyes bored into Ven's. "If the accident happened on the mainland, then why did you wake up in an island hospital? I doubt it’s because of the island’s fantastic medical infrastructure."

The noise from the rice cooker intensified. Eraqus raced to it as scalding water bubbled through the air vent.

"I- I don't know," Ven said. "I never thought of it."

"You press into everyone else's business, but not your own?"

"Stop!" Ven shouted. "Why do you always do this? We were having a good time. We were having fun. Why do you have to ruin things when they're not about you?"

"You're acting like a child," Vanitas said calmly. "Quit flipping your shit and think. Can't you see that your friends have been lying to you?"

"That is enough," Eraqus announced from the kitchen. The rice cooker was covered in viscera of rice water.

"Can you explain the discrepancy?" Vanitas asked smoothly.

"Why is this so important to you?" Terra asked. "Why do you care about such a small detail?"

"Because you're hiding something from my brother," Vanitas said. "And I think he has the right to know the truth."

"And you think you know the truth?" Aqua asked coldly.

"I have a good guess," Vanitas said. "And even if it's wrong, you just admitted you were hiding something from my brother."

"This has nothing to do with me," Ven spat. "You just want to make trouble. That's all you ever wanna do."

“That doesn’t change the fact that I have a point,” Vanitas said. “Everyone here is so happy to sit around and play family, but you do nothing but lie to each other’s faces and pretend nothing’s wrong.”

“Every family has secrets,” Eraqus said. “Frankly, it’s not your business.”

“Like hell it isn’t,” Vanitas said. “My master told me that Ventus was dead and gone. You might be happy enough to keep all of this under wraps, but I, at least, have the right to know how he ended up here, with you.”

That was a lie. All he wanted to do was cause trouble. In foster homes, Ven always figured it was a defense mechanism so people would fight each other instead of them, but he knew the truth now: Vanitas just liked sowing discord.

“You’re jealous,” Ven said. “You see something nice, and you want to destroy it.”

“No, you’re too naive to face the possibility that Terra kidnapped you!”

Ven was launching himself at Vanitas before he could even blink. They slid off the table and crashed onto the floor together. Ven landed on top of Vanitas and pinned him to the ground.

Vanitas cackled.

“What the hell’s so funny?” Ven seethed.

“Everything,” Vanitas said. “But mostly the fact that you managed to knock me down. You’ve finally grown some teeth, little brother.”

“I’m older than you!”

“By four minutes,” Vanitas sneered. “I’ve always had to be the older one. I’ve always had to be the stronger one. I always had to be the better one!”

Ven tightened his grip.

“I never asked you to protect me!”

“What else was I supposed to do? You were too pathetic to protect yourself,” Vanitas spat.

Ven distantly noticed his body start to glow.

“That is enough!” Aqua commanded in the voice of steel she had inherited from Eraqus. A faint barrier flickered between Ven and his stupid brother. “Ven, get off of him. Vanitas…” she made a face instead of the rest of her sentence.

Ven begrudgingly let go of his brother. Vanitas scoffed and flipped Aqua off. She flipped him off right back. Vanitas laughed quietly, as if the whole thing had amused him.

“No wonder you’re so nosy, Venty,” Vanitas mused aloud. “Just asking the right questions makes everyone a lot more interesting.”

“I don’t even understand half of what you’re saying,” Aqua said in an icy voice. “Accident? Kidnapping? You’re making things up.”

“Vanitas is talking about the magical accident that killed him,” Ven explained. “It’s what put me in that coma. But I don’t know why you would think Terra kidnapped me.”

“Maybe because Terra was there,” Vanitas said.

“And why would Terra be there?” Aqua asked. She sounded exasperated.

“Yeah, why would Terra be there?” Ven asked.

Terra refused to look at any of them

“Are you two really this dense? He was learning all of the horrible dark magic you also refuse to talk about from my master. And after I woke up as a ghost, Xehanort told me that his spineless, cowardly apprentice had run away with my brother’s body and didn’t return.” Vanitas turned to Terra with a fire-bright grin. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“I didn’t kidnap your brother,” Terra said. “Xehanort wasn’t your legal guardian. That means it wasn’t kidnapping.”

“But you took him away,” Vanitas said.

“I did,” Terra said. “Master Xehanort told me to get rid of Ven’s unconscious body. I followed that order. It was the reason I needed to finally leave. Now, let’s stop talking about it- unless you want me to tell them exactly what drove me away in the first place.”

Vanitas faked a bored stretch.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said. “My point stands. Now you all can stop pretending to be so perfect.”

Vanitas preened like a cat full of cream.

Ven looked at Terra as if he was seeing him for the first time.

“You knew what had happened to my brother the entire time? And you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m sorry, Ven,” Terra said. “I would have told you if you asked.”

“I would have asked if I knew you knew.” Ven turned to Aqua and glanced at Eraqus. “Did you guys know?”

“No,” Aqua said. “Terra showed up out of nowhere one night, carrying you.” She distantly reached out and brushed Ven’s cheek, as if he were still lying unconscious in Terra’s arms. “He told us you were a runaway. We didn’t ask any more questions.”

“When the World gives you a gift,” Eraqus said, looking straight at Ven, “you do not question it.”

Ven didn’t know what to say to that. No one else did, either. Terra and Aqua began to pick up the books and amulets he and Vanitas had knocked from the coffee table. Eraqus began to wipe down the unplugged rice cooker with a paper towel. Its gurgle was the only sound in the room until it, too, settled down.

Chapter Text

Xion grumbled as they walked from the lab. Nixio looked to be in a similarly bad mood. They trudged through the frigid wind that cut through them. Xion’s vision fuzzed with wisps of her short hair and the glare of the lowering sun. Their master’s lab felt like a far-off paradise that only existed in their memories now.

“Do you think Ansem will stop kicking us out of the lab if we tell someone?” Xion asked.

“Even’s always going on about how lucky we are to be able to apprentice at his lab,” Nixio said. He looked even crankier than Xion felt. “Getting kicked out every once in a while because the PI doesn’t like us being there isn’t that big of a deal. I asked Braig once, if we could sue Ansem for discrimination since apprenticing is a witch thing, and because he sucks, but he said that since witchcraft legally isn’t considered a religion, there are no anti-discrimination laws on it.”

Xion blew a puff of hair out of their face.

“At least he hates us equally,” she said, “so he’s not transphobic.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Nixio said quietly. “I think he’s meaner to you. He’s never called me a ‘nobody’.”

Xion heard Ansem call Nixio 'worthless,’ but she wasn’t going to share that with him if he didn’t already know.

Fuck that guy.

Every day Xion considered hexing him, or at least jinxing him, but then she remembered who he was. Everything Naminé had told them about her father would have made Xion hate him even if he were the nicest man in the World to them, but it wasn’t their fight.

Nixio pulled out the hair tie from where it had been keeping his hair in a lab-safe ponytail and handed it to Xion. The wind tousled it into a half-tangled mess within seconds.

“Can you re-tie it?” he asked.

Xion hesitated for a moment. She knew he was able to tie his own ponytail, but he insisted that she did it better than he could.

“Sure.”

Nixio narrowed his eyes just as they were tugging his ponytail into the center of his head.

"Hey, do you feel that?" he asked in an undertone.

"Feel what?"

"Something on the fourth plane. I can't shake the feeling like something's following us."

Xion felt it too. She kept looking around for things she couldn’t see. The back of their neck prickled, and, most tellingly, there was the faintest sickly-sweet smell that they had assumed was from their lab.

"Well I definitely feel something on the fourth," Xion said.

Xion squeezed their eyes shut. Looking at the fourth plane was much harder than looking at the third. They didn’t remember the third being very difficult to learn how to see when they were a child, but if Xion had learned one thing during their apprenticeship with their master, it was that the fourth was the exception in many ways.

Xion opened her eyes and yelped.

“What a pleasant surprise, little sister,” Vanitas said with a grin.

“How long have you been following us?” Nixio demanded.

His eyes had turned as golden as Vanitas’s. Xion knew theirs looked the same.

“I caught you as you two were leaving the lab,” Vanitas replied. “Shame. I was hoping I’d be able to see what you were up to. Where are you going now?"

“It’s none of your business,” Nixio muttered.

“I’m going to see Lea and Roxas,” Xion said. She pointed at the clocktower that they were approaching. "We hang out up there."

"That sounds dangerous and slightly illegal," Vanitas said. "I approve."

Xion smiled at him.

"I'm going home," Nixio said. "It was nice to meet you, Xion's brother number four."

"His name is Vanitas!"

"Hold on for one second," Vanitas said. "Does your master know you two look into the fourth plane?”

“He’s the one that taught us,” Xion said. “It helps with our research.”

“One more question.”

The golden eyes that locked onto Nixio looked more natural on Vanitas than on either of them, like he had been born with them, even though Xion knew for a fact that wasn’t true.

Nixio met his stare.

“What is it?”

“You're Riku's little brother, aren't you?"

Nixio balled his fists. "And so what if I am?" he spat.

"Vanitas, he really doesn't like being compared to Riku," Xion said.

"I don't see why," Vanitas said. "Your brother is a coward, his master is a coward, and his master is a coward. You two and your master are the most sensible people I've met since my master with regards to the fourth plane.”

“Call my brother a coward again and you’ll regret it, you stupid ghost,” Nixio growled.

Vanitas smiled.

“Cute! Do you know any hexes?”

Nixio flipped him off and stormed off to the bus stop. Xion saw Vanitas wave off the jinx that had come with it. She nudged Vanitas to follow her.

“What was that for?” they asked. “You don’t need to antagonize him. Nixio’s nice once you get to know him.”

“It’s not my fault he took the truth so personally,” Vanitas said.

“You think Riku is a coward?”

“I know Riku is a coward.”

Xion decided to drop it.

“Want to come with me to the clocktower?” she asked. "We usually grab ice cream.”

“Even in this weather?”

“Yeah. Want some?"

"I would, but-" Vanitas passed his hand through Xion's arm.

"Oh. Right."

"But I'll still join you," Vanitas said. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

Xion bought ice cream for the two of them anyway at the stand where Lea and Ven worked. Unfortunately, neither of them were working, so she had to actually pay for it. They climbed the stairs to the top of the clock tower. To Xion’s surprise, neither Roxas nor Lea was waiting for them. The wind was even more intense at the top of the clock tower, but they had all stubbornly eaten ice cream in worse weather.

“They’re not here yet,” she said. They sat down, gestured for Vanitas to sit down beside them, and handed the lemon ice cream to him. He looked at it like it might bite him if he weren’t careful.

"I guess I can try to eat it," he said. "Maybe I’ll be solid enough to try.”

The bar of ice cream stayed in his hand for exactly one second before falling through and splattering on the sidewalk below.

“Like I said, you shouldn’t have bothered,” Vanitas said with a scowl.

Xion took a bite of their ice cream. She didn’t buy it for him to eat it; she wanted it as a memorial of sorts. On second thought, however, it was a little rude to make a memorial for someone who was standing right next to them.

He might not be next to me for long.

The thought made Xion tighten her grip on her ice cream. Maybe if the worst happened, she would sit up on the clocktower again, except the ice cream would melt right next to her until it was nothing but a puddle with a wooden stelae.

“So,” Vanitas began conversationally, “do you like Nixio?”

“Sure,” Xion said. “We’re friends.”

Vanitas paused.

“Do you like like Nixio?”

Xion took an angry bite of their ice cream bar.

“You don’t have to try so hard, you know.”

She surprised herself with how aggressive she sounded.

“Excuse me for trying to start a conversation with my little sister for the first time in years,” Vanitas said with more bite than Xion had ever heard from him. “This is even the first time I’ve spoken to you as a sister.”

“And I’m happy to be able to talk with you,” Xion said, “but you don’t have to try so hard to play the big brother.”

“What the hell do you mean?”

“Walking me from the lab, asking if my friend is a crush… it’s like you read a manual for how to play the part. I already have Ven, Lea, Roxas and Sora, and sometimes even Nixio plays the chivalrous knight whenever I have a dizzy spell-”

“You still have those?”

“The point is that you don’t need to fill that niche.”

“You replaced me.” Vanitas’s words were metallic and even.

Xion felt like they had been punched in the stomach.

“No, I didn’t mean-”

“Are you mad at me, Xion?” Vanitas’s face was free of mocking or teasing.

“No! It’s just- you were supposed to be here to fill that niche naturally!” Xion threaded her hands through her hair. “You were supposed to take me lightning catching way too early and teach me how to curse and try to obnoxiously threaten anyone I brought home and help me sneak into the house if I ever snuck out only to blackmail me with it forever!” She took a final angry bite of her ice cream. “And I know that Ven would take me lightning catching if I asked, and I already learned how to curse from Lea, but you were supposed to be there too! You were supposed to be the obnoxious one, the bad cop to Ven’s good, my eternal tormentor! But you weren’t there!”

The boy that shimmered in the setting sunlight was the ghost of Xion’s older brother in so many ways.

“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Xion threw her popsicle stick onto the balcony behind them.

“That’s just it- you shouldn’t be sorry! This wasn’t your fault. Sora’s grandmaster and witches like him are always talking about taking care of the World and protecting the sanctity of the World, but why the hell should I do that when the World TOOK YOU FROM ME?”

Xion’s voice was hoarse from shouting. The wind died down.

“I hate the World,” they continued in a croak. “Maybe that’s why I don’t care about our lab technically doing dark magic. Fuck sanctity.”

Vanitas was looking at Xion like she was a precious gemstone he happened to find on the sidewalk. His smile was softer than they had ever seen it.

“I am so proud of you,” he said quietly.

Xion blinked. “You are?”

“Of course I am. It takes courage to challenge that sanctimonious paradigm, let alone shout it from the rooftops.” He ruffled her hair. “Look at you go! Atta girl!”

“I’m not a girl,” Xion grumbled.

“Atta… little sister?”

Xion nodded.

Vanitas spread his arms wide. “C’mere.”

Maybe it was because Xion acted as an anchor to the first plane, but Vanitas was solid enough to hold her for an entire minute. Xion smiled the entire time. Maybe they couldn’t have the relationship she had expected when she was younger, but she didn’t think that moment would be one they would have been able to share in that childhood. It was something Xion could only share with the ghost of their older brother.

Chapter Text

Vanitas missed the sweltering desert in the same way he missed his master: he didn’t. If he were a complainer, he would complain about them nonstop, but, despite that, there were times when he would have liked them in front of him. Desert rain was not an oxymoron, but a special event that invited rapture from even the most hardened nagics. Island rain, on the other hand, was pervasive, gray, and unpleasant for everybody. The only good trait about island rain was that it was localized to the mountain where the shop was, so if Vanitas was willing to take the trip, he could easily escape it.

But that day it hadn’t rained in the mountains at all. The gray blanket of clouds had even torn in patches to let pale sunlight percolate to the land below. Vanitas was hardly ecstatic about the weather- it was still mostly cloudy- but it looked like Eraqus, Aqua, and Terra were out in it anyway. If Vanitas remembered correctly, Ventus had a shift at the ice cream place that Xion had shown him. By the time Vanitas made his way over to the shop, it would be over, so he had nothing better to do than to follow the others to wherever they went.

Where did they go? The shop was closed, but usually at least one of them was inside working on something or doing miscellaneous chores, but the shop and apartment were both empty of everyone except the cat.

Vanitas called to his Unversed. The bunny was close enough to a field where it could hear them. Vanitas, not having anything better to do, followed where the bunny led him.

The un-Ventused trio had stopped in the middle of the field. The grass had been stomped into a flat enough terrain by a few mats and likely a spell or two. Eraqus was standing on the side watching Aqua and Terra. The two of them wore thick, padded protective gear. Terra shouted and hit Aqua in the chest.

"Point!" Eraqus called.

They were fighting. Vanitas didn't see any spells. On closer examination, he could see the second plane glow where they had discarded their enchanted jewelry. They were fighting for fun. From what Vanitas could see, they knew what they were doing, too.

"Vanitas. I didn't expect to see you here."

Vanitas half-scowled at Eraqus's voice.

"I had nothing better to do than come find you three. What are you doing?"

"Sparring," Aqua said with a stretch. "We have to do something besides magic. And we get exercise, too."

"It's been raining so often we haven't been able to do this in a while," Terra said.

"Does your master fight?" Vanitas asked.

"On occasion," Eraqus said. "But for now, it's Terra and Aqua's turn. The first person who earns three points is the winner."

Terra grinned through his helmet. "I have two points. Aqua has one."

"Every landed hit is a point?" Vanitas asked.

"Head kicks are two points," Eraqus said. "Other than that, yes." He stood a bit taller. "Ready?"

Aqua and Terra reset themselves into fighting positions.

"Yes, Master," they chanted.

"Fight!"

Terra attacked first with a powerful side kick that Aqua dodged easily. She tried for a hit to Terra's ear, but his hands were up, so she didn't land it. Aqua jumped back and narrowed her eyes in thought.

"So you taught them martial arts as well as magic?" Vanitas asked.

Eraqus nodded without taking his eyes off his students. "I spent much more time instructing them when they were younger. They had a lot of energy to work out before they could focus on magic. There was a time when Aqua did ballet as well, but for the most part, this has been our only consistent outlet for years."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Ballet, huh?"

As if Aqua had heard him, she shifted her weight on one foot, and, with the ease of swatting a fly, kicked Terra's helmet clean off his head.

Terra stumbled back. Eraqus looked at Vanitas with what he swore was a smirk of his own.

"Yes. Ballet." He turned back to Terra and Aqua. "Two points, Aqua."

Aqua lifted her helmet with a joyful shout. "Yes!"

Terra shook his head as if to dislodge the blow. "I'll get you next time."

They bowed and bumped fists with cheery smiles.

"Did your master teach you anything like this?" Aqua asked.

"He taught me self-defense of a kind," Vanitas said, which was really a euphemism for shooting enough lightning into a nagic to kill them or casting a hex that would jam their gun or scare them away.

"I wish I could go a round with you," Terra said.

"It looks fun," Vanitas said without thinking about it too much.

Terra handed his helmet to his master. "Teach Aqua a lesson for me."

"I make no promises," Eraqus said as he put it on his head. He took the helmet right off with a scowl, toweled off all the sweat that Terra must have emitted into it, muttered a spell, and put it back on.

"Terra, if you would keep score," Eraqus said.

"Yes, Master."

Aqua and Eraqus bowed and touched fists in the same way Terra and Aqua had.

"Fight!" Terra shouted.

Eraqus struck first with a lightning-fast strike to Aqua's ribs and a sound that resembled a dying old tomcat's last yowl.

"What the fuck?" Vanitas whispered.

"Point!" Terra shouted. He turned to Vanitas. "Making weird noises is a viable strategy. Master Eraqus really likes it. I think it’s cheap."

Eraqus playing cheap? Vanitas never thought he would see the day.

"Ready?" Terra asked.

Aqua and Eraqus squared off again.

"Fight!"

Vanitas was in the middle of laughing at something Aqua had said when Ventus made his way upstairs.

"Hey, guys," he greeted.

Terra and Aqua lit up at the sound of his voice like he made the air taste sweeter with his very presence. Vanitas was less enthused to hear his brother’s voice.

"How was work, Ven?" Aqua asked as she ruffled his hair.

"It was fine," Ventus replied. "How was sparring? You gotta tell me everything."

Eraqus smiled. "Vanitas was in the middle of disparaging Aqua's ballet experience when she landed a clean head kick on Terra."

Ventus laughed and elbowed Vanitas for good measure. Vanitas elbowed him into the counter in retribution, but he took it in stride. "Never underestimate Aqua!” he chirped. “Ballet is the most dangerous martial art, I swear. Stupid head kicks all day long."

Aqua lifted her leg up so her knee was touching her nose, just to show off. Terra pushed her, and she stumbled with a yelp.

"No horsing around in the kitchen," Eraqus chided.

"She was asking for it," Terra said half-heartedly. He walked over to Ven and ruffled his hair. "Was Lea on your shift?"

"Yeah. The stand was busier than it normally is this time of year. It was like every sports team in the area decided that today was the perfect day to get ice cream after practice. At least I got to say hi to Xion, Lea, and Roxas.”

“Aw, I’m sorry things were busy.”

Vanitas could not tell if Aqua’s saccharine sympathy was genuine. Knowing her, and judging by her face and the way she touched Ventus’s shoulder, it probably was. Ventus pouted and soaked it up like a dry sponge.

“I can’t believe I had to miss sparring, too,” he whined. “I would’ve paid money to see that head kick.”

“Well I don’t have it on video,” Aqua said as she moved towards the refrigerator, “but since I knew you would have to miss sparring today, I made you a treat to make up for it.”

Ventus literally jumped for joy. Vanitas swore the higher planes brightened slightly from the force of his excitement.

“Really?”

Aqua smiled. “Mmhm.”

She touched the counter and, suddenly, a basket of buttery English-style scones revealed themselves from where they had been magically veiled. Ventus cooed.

“Those look incredible!”

Aqua’s smile grew. “That’s not even the best part.” She reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of what looked like whipped cream and some strawberry preserves. “I made clotted cream to go with them.”

“And you brought strawberries,” Eraqus said. He fixed the strawberries with a hungry gaze. “I knew I raised you well, daughter.”

Aqua’s smile turned shy. “Thank you.”

Ventus turned back to Aqua. His eyes were literally shining in the bright kitchen light. “You really made these just for me?”

“Of course!”

“Just because I couldn’t make it to sparring?”

“Mmhm.”

Ventus pressed his forehead to Aqua and (Vanitas could not, on his best day, make this up) nuzzled her. And Aqua nuzzled him right back! Terra even ruffled his hair again!

“Darkness and void between.”

The three of them looked at Vanitas like he was the weird one for speaking up.

“What?” Aqua asked.

“I knew you coddled your apprentices,” Vanitas said to Terra, “but-”

Terra looked at Eraqus before saying, “I don’t coddle my apprentices.”

“Yes, you do,” everyone in the room responded.

“They seem to be excelling regardless,” Eraqus said, “so I saw no need to comment before.”

“Thank you, Master,” Terra said sheepishly.

“As I was saying,” Vanitas continued, “you coddle your apprentices, but you,” he pointed at Aqua, “seem to have some level of sternness towards yours. You take after your master that way.”

“You don’t think I take after Master Eraqus?” Terra asked.

“Oh, you do, but only in the most obnoxious ways.” Aqua and Ventus choked with laughter. “You, Aqua, take after his more neutral traits.”

Eraqus raised his eyebrows. “You mean my good traits?”

“No such thing.”

“I’ll take the compliment,” Aqua said with a smile.

“It wasn’t meant as one!”

Aqua stuck out her tongue. “Too bad.”

“It doesn’t matter either way, because you both coddle Ventus so much it’s disgusting.”

“They don’t coddle me,” Ventus protested weakly, but it was further weakened by the fact that he was snuggled between Terra and Aqua despite the fact they were all still standing.

“What’s wrong with that?” Terra asked, as if Ventus had said nothing at all.

“Look at how soft he is,” Vanitas said with a wrinkled nose.

“You’re just jealous,” Ventus retorted. He stuck out his tongue for good measure.

Aqua hugged Ventus close.

“The World needs more soft men,” she said. Vanitas hated how serious her voice was.

“We’d coddle you, too, if you let us,” Terra said.

Vanitas jolted like a cat that had unexpectedly stepped in an icy puddle. He had to be joking, but it was Terra.

What would a coddled life with them even entail? Vanitas hadn’t worked a craft since elementary school, his customer service skills were worse than non-existent, and collecting contest prizes from sabbat festivals could only go so far. His only ‘marketable’ magic were the jinxes and hexes he knew, and no one in the shop would allow him to sell those. None of them were interested in his necromancy to prolong their lives the way Vanitas knew Xehanort was. They had less of a reason than Xehanort to invite him to stay, and Vanitas had almost zero reasons to accept such an invitation. Even if, somehow, Terra’s ridiculous offer was genuine, Vanitas couldn’t trust any of them.

“Can we have scones now?” Ventus asked.

“Of course. I think they’re still warm.”

The scones must have been made of pure magic from the way they all reacted to the first bite. Even Terra, who detested sweets, was fawning over the separate savory batch Aqua had made just for him. Terra was the elder of the two, but Aqua must have started her career as a coddler early in life.

Ventus, on the other hand, would not shut up about the clotted cream Aqua had made.

“This is sooooo good! It’s so sweet and creamy and perfect.” He blinked out of his ecstasy to look at Vanitas. “I wish you could try some.”

Vanitas wrinkled his nose. “I’m not one for sweets.”

But, though he would never admit it out loud, he thought it looked delicious.

Chapter Text

The sound of dough beating against the walls of a bowl drew Ven from where he was reading in his room. Just leaving his room and seeing the house decorations brightened his mood. The apartment and shop had been dotted with pumpkins, sheaths of wheat, dried apples, corn, and garlands with autumn leaves since Mabon. Every time he saw them, Ven was reminded that Samhain approached. That was doubtlessly why Aqua was mixing something.

“What’cha making?” Ven chirped.

“Cookies, but they’re for Samhain, so you can’t have any yet.”

Ven pouted. He knew it, but...

“Not even one?”

“You can lick the mixing instruments,” Aqua said, “but nothing more. I want to send some to Xion’s master since they’ll be working in the lab then.”

“Aw, really?”

“I know,” Aqua said, “but you know Samhain is a big deal for their lab. They’ve been preparing for it since before Mabon.”

Ven morosely licked cookie dough off the mixer. It was delicious, as always- sweet butter complemented warm spices- but the knowledge that Xion would be celebrating Samhain somewhere else dampened his usual enjoyment. Aqua noticed and poked his shoulder.

“Buck up,” she said. “You two can go to a movie or something.”

“But this is probably the last Samhain the five of us’ll be able to spend together.”

Aqua’s face fell.

“Oh,” she said. “That’s right. Well, I’m sure Even will understand if you tell him the situation.”

“I guess I’ll text Xion.”

“Xion says she’s coming with us after all,” Ven reported. “So, does that mean-”

Aqua moved the tray of uncooked cookies out of his reach. “No. I’m sending some to Even and the others anyway.”

“Aw.”

“Chirithy, have you seen my hat?”

Ven glanced in the mirror and adjusted the sash around his waist. He was in his formal green robes, but without his matching hat, they kind of swallowed him, so he couldn’t just forget about it. Besides, he had sworn he had put it right on his dresser…

“Vanitas is playing with it in the living room,” Chirithy reported.

“Thank you. Can you watch downstairs for guests?”

Chirithy nodded and ran downstairs. Ven moved to the living room where Vanitas was standing. He was closing his eyes in concentration in an attempt to keep Ven’s hat on. Ven pouted, snatched it up, and put it on his own head.

“Oh, come on,” Vanitas whined. “I was at a whole minute.”

Ven adjusted his hat so that the coven’s sigil was in the front. “Trying to see how long you can remain solid?”

“It’s Samhain,” Vanitas said. “I bet I could manage to wear your hat all day.”

The sound of Chirithy racing up the stairs made Ven turn.

“You’re siblings are here!”

Ven flew down the stairs with a grin on his face. Chirithy was at his heels.

“Sora! Roxas! Xion!”

They were dressed in robes and hats of red, gold, and purple respectively. Ven ran towards them with arms outstretched, but Sora yelped and held up the soup pot in his hands.

“Careful!”

Ven skidded to a stop with a sheepish grin on his face.

“Sorry! Go put that in the kitchen so I can give you a hug. As for you two…”

Roxas and Xion stepped into his embrace. Ven smiled as he pulled them closer.

“Thank you for coming,” he murmured.

“Of course,” Xion said. “You’re going to be really happy I’m here soon.”

“Xion, shush!” Roxas hissed.

“Is this about the surprise?” Ven asked as he pulled away.

Xion looked at Roxas. “I think we should tell him.”

“No way,” Roxas said. “He’ll hate the idea.”

“What are you talking about? He’s going to be so happy!”

“If it works. Fine, when it works, but if he finds out beforehand…”

“Alright, I’ll wait,” Xion said.

Before Ven could dwell too long on what that could mean, Roxas and Xion saw Vanitas.

“Vanii!”

Xion and Roxas managed to actually hug him. Vanitas patted their shoulders with a smile. Maybe Vanitas was right, and he would be solid like he was on Beltane.

They all headed upstairs before Ven could dwell on the implications of that. Roxas and Xion dove head-first into the snacks laid out on the kitchen island, and normally Ven would do the same, but he hadn’t properly said hi to Sora. Sora, for his part, was frowning over the pot of soup, adding seasonings and sneaking tastes.

Vanitas had headed straight for the soup pot.

“No way,” he said. “Is that our grandmother’s recipe?”

Sora looked up with a grin. “Yup!”

Collectively, Ven and his siblings knew two things about their maternal grandmother: she and their mom were estranged to the extent they had never met her and didn’t know if she was even alive, and she had the best recipe for Samhain soup in the World.

“I’ve never wished that I could eat more,” Vanitas said. “I missed this soup. My master just used canned chicken noodle soup.”

Ven made a face. Vanitas’s master was a banished practitioner of forbidden dark magic who had taught him necromancy, but the idea of eating canned chicken noodle soup on Samhain was what made Ven shudder. Even in foster care, on years when Ven hadn’t made friends with any witch kids that would invite them over, he and Vanitas managed to scrape together enough food to make their own soup.

Sora looked up and finally noticed Ven standing there. He put the spoon down and ran into his arms.

“Happy Samhain, Ven!”

Sora was almost exactly as tall as Ven was and very good at giving hugs, which made for a lovely combination that just made Ven’s smile grow even more.

“Happy Samhain, Sora. How’s the soup?”

Sora held up the spoon to Ven’s mouth. “Here! Try some!”

Ven blew on it and took a sip. Sweet and savory pumpkin blushed with earthy spices. “Mm, delicious as always. I don’t think you need to fuss over it any more.”

“I wanna try some!” Chirithy meowed.

He leapt at Ven, who caught him and placed him on his shoulder.

“Chirithy wants to try some,” Ven translated.

“I don’t know if you’d like this,” Sora said. “It’s human food, not cat food.”

“I wanna try!”

Ven dipped his finger in and held it up to Chirithy’s mouth. He took a careful sniff before licking it off his finger. He wrinkled his face immediately.

“Bleh. Human food is gross.”

“Told you so,” Sora said without malice.

Ven’s phone buzzed. He looked down to see ‘Happy Samhain’ messages from Skuld, Brain, and Ephemer, as well as a reminder they were hanging out on Saturday.

“Helloooo?” A voice called from downstairs. “Anyone home?”

“Lea!” Roxas cried. He and Xion raced down the stairs.

Ven looked at Chirithy. “Hey, it was your job to watch the door.”

“Technically it was your job,” Vanitas said. “Don’t blame the cat.”

Lea and Isa’s heads slowly appeared as they were dragged upstairs by Roxas and Xion.

“Happy Samhain!” they called.

“Happy Samhain!” Ven and the others called back.

Isa’s eyes locked onto Vanitas, just as they had on Midsummer.

“I forgot about the ghost.”

“They haven’t managed to get rid of me yet,” Vanitas said.

Ven couldn’t tell how much he was joking.

Everyone else arrived quickly after. Riku arrived, dropped a quick “Happy Samhain” at his master, and glued himself to Sora’s side. Ven headed downstairs to watch for Kairi and Naminé just in time to see them waddle out of Kairi’s mother’s car. They buckled under the weight of a canvas spell circle tarp in a futile attempt to take it inside by themselves and keep their hats on their heads.

“Need a little help here!” Ven called.

“That’s alright,” Naminé said as she and her sister managed to rest it on the workbench, right next to the sabbat spell tarp. The movement made Naminé’s hat slide to the floor. She put it back on her head without missing a beat.

“Is that for the surprise?” Ven asked. “The Samhain spell you guys are doing?”

“Yes,” Naminé said. “Please don’t touch it. I spent weeks on it.”

They all came upstairs to the sound of chanting.

“FIVE… SIX…”

Lea was shoving meatball skewers into his mouth one at a time. When Aqua saw, she scowled.

“Go ahead,” she muttered under her breath. “It’s not like Terra worked hard on them so they’d taste good.”

Terra was among those chanting, so Ven didn’t get what all the fuss was about. Lea’s lips trembled as he tried to fit in a seventh skewer into his already stuffed mouth.

A door opened.

“What’s going on?” Eraqus asked as he entered the living room, steely eyes even sharper under his silver hat.

Lea’s eyes widened. Ven could see his mind struggling to create a way to make himself look even slightly dignified, but before he could, Eraqus spoke again.

“I see. Well, I hope we are all mature enough to avoid making low-effort jokes about phalluses.”

Lea sputtered. For a moment, his lips and his hands managed to keep the skewers from falling out, but the force of Eraqus making a dick joke was enough to destroy any and all composure. The skewers tumbled from Lea’s mouth and onto the floor. Ven felt like someone had punched him directly in the soul. From the look on everyone’s faces, they all felt the same way.

Ven laughed. It was so stupidly beautiful, and beautifly stupid, but it was really just the joy of all of his friends and family gathered in one place. The room has transformed into a rainbow of witch hats. Even Chirithy preened under his fancy cape that tied onto his spell pouch. Vanitas wasn’t wearing his witch robes, just the dark clothes he had died in, but he made the rainbow more complete than it had ever been, and Ven couldn’t be happier.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Ven asked the people he loved most in the World. “Sora’s soup isn’t going to eat itself.”

Sabbat meals in their apartment were an exercise in spatial management. Everyone packed shoulder to shoulder onto the couches and stools they relocated to the table. Their wide-brimmed hats had to sit on the coffee table instead of their heads.

Vanitas perched onto one of the arms of the couch in the middle of their siblings. He had rested his feet on the table for approximately ten seconds before Aqua, Isa, and Eraqus’s stares persuaded him to roll his eyes and keep them on the floor instead.

After they had scraped the bottom of the soup pot clean and cleared the snack plates of the last crumb, the coven left the shop in a giant crowd. Eraqus took the spell tarps (and Naminé, who still refused to let anyone else touch hers) in their car. Slowly, the rest of them ambled over to the field where they always made a magic circle. On the way, amagicals stopped and stared at the gaggle of witches strolling through the streets in full garb. Ven and Sora waved at them, and the amagicals hesitantly waved back. Ven couldn’t wipe the giddy grin off his face if he wanted to. The sun began to descend below the horizon, painting the World an autumn gold and dyeing the scattered clouds red and orange. Goofy, Donald, and Mickey chased each other between their legs while Chirithy lounged, purring wildly, in Sora’s arms. The evening couldn’t be more perfect.

“What kind of spell are you planning on doing with the magic boost?” Ven asked Vanitas.

He immediately grimaced and looked away. The celebratory Samhain glow had burned away the shadow of that rainy day.

“You ruined my original plan.” Vanitas’s voice was even, but Ven knew that didn’t necessarily mean his emotions were.

“I know,” Ven said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

The blaze of Vanitas’s stare was intensified by Samhain magic- or his emotions bubbled stronger than Ven detected.

“Are you sorry for killing the kid or just sorry for ruining my Samhain plans?” Vanitas asked.

Ven looked around. Huddled on the hard floor of the antique shop, cradled between Aqua and Terra, he had been convinced he had done the right thing. If they or Eraqus were anywhere in earshot, he would have said so out loud. But…

“You would have been able to revive the kid.”

It wasn’t a question. Vanitas nodded.

Ven had always admired his brother’s poised confidence in magic. He would never tell him that, but when Vanitas said he could have revived the child, Ven implicitly knew that he would have. Maybe Ven had spared the child from some unknown side-effect of human necromancy, but he had definitely snatched even the possibility of a second chance from him.

But was leaving the ghost imprisoned in the doll anything but cruel?

“I don’t know if I regret the exorcism or not,” Ven said. “It was hard, so I want to believe it was the right thing to do,and. Eraqus and Aqua and Terra say it was the right thing, but I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

“Only if you’re a goody-two-shoed suck-up who cares about doing the right thing.”

A teasing smile was painted on Vanitas’s face. Ven accepted the peace offering, as temporary as it might have been, with a smile and elbow of his own.

“Yeah! ‘Cuz I’m not a jerk like you! Now, have you planned another Samhain spell?”

“You think your master will let me in the circle?” Vanitas asked.

“I kinda assumed you would make it in regardless of his approval,” Ven replied.

Vanitas gave Ven a conspiratorial smile. “And you’re right to do so. There’s a cougar that died not too far from here. All of my Unversed are guarding it.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen you revive anything,” Ven said. “Can I watch?”

Vanitas paused.

“Sure,” he said. “What are you planning on doing? Does it have anything to do with the broom you’re lugging around?”

“Mayyybe,” Ven drawled.

“I have no idea what kind of Samhain spell you can do with a broom. Are you going to enchant it so it’ll sweep the shop for you?”

Chirithy looked over from his perch.

“We’ll show them.”

Ven smiled and nodded.

“You’ll have to see,” he told Vanitas.

Thankfully, he would see soon- they had arrived. The blades of grass in the field glowed in the setting sun like tiny shards of stained glass. Ven was almost disappointed that they had to flatten it with a spell tarp. Eraqus and Naminé had already begun the process of holding down the tarp with large black candles. A fire extinguisher was the only thing that stood out from the traditional image.

Lea looked at the fire extinguisher with a scowl.

“Really, old man? You brought the fire extinguisher again? Do you not trust me?”

Eraqus didn’t even frown at the moniker or look up from aligning the final candle. “Your mastery and control over fire is the only reason I light candles in the middle of a grassy field in the first place.”

That seemed to please Lea enough to silence him.

Ven put his foot on the tip of the spell tarp. He couldn’t help but admire Naminé’s work every time he saw it. The canvas portrayed the wheel of the year with detailed circles for each of the sabbats. Ven’s miniature circle, representing Ostara, was circled with flowers, dandelion leaves, and eggs; the other sabbats, major and minor, were represented with miniature circles of similar detail. Further inside the tarp, the cycles of the moon circled the center, where the coven’s sigil shone in silver paint.

The familiars all gathered in the center of the tarp and sat down. Ven took a deep breath. His entry into the circle had to be more deliberate. The emergence of the spring equinox’s representative signaled the beginning of a sabbat’s magic circle.

He stepped forward.

Eraqus entered next in his position of Midsummer, Aqua followed in Mabon, and Terra ended the major sabbats with Yule. Traditionally, witches filled the major sabbats from youngest or least experienced in spring to oldest or more experienced in winter, but because of Terra’s connection with the fourth plane, the positions of the other three finally made sense to Ven.

Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Naminé filled the position of the minor sabbats between the major ones. Sora took the Beltane position, which meant he got to stand next to Ven during the circle. They traded smiles as he stepped into his circle.

Once Naminé stepped into the Imbolic position, the magic circle was technically complete. However, even if their spots weren’t demarcated on the tarp, the other witches of the coven deserved to be part of the magic circle. Lea stepped between Midsummer and Lammas, smiling at Kairi as he did so. Vanitas slipped between Ven and Sora with a smirk at Eraqus.

“You’re steadying the circle in a major sabbat position?” Vanitas asked Ven in disbelief as he turned away from Eraqus.

That was right- he hadn’t been at their last magic circle on Ostara.

“Yeah,” Ven said.

“I’m impressed,” Vanitas said. “It looks like my little brother is growing up after all.”

Ven resisted the urge to elbow him. His role was too important to mess around at the moment.

Isa took a position between Terra and Naminé, while Roxas and Xion took either side of Riku. That made Ven’s eyebrows raise.

“That’s weird,” he said quietly.

Vanitas followed his gaze. “Yeah. The circle is balanced for darkness.”

Ven blinked. “What? I meant Roxas standing next to Riku. He doesn’t like him.”

Though, on second glance, Vanitas was right. While Vanitas’s presence technically balanced Roxas’s and Isa’s position (perhaps intentionally) balanced his husband’s, Xion’s position between Riku and Terra gave more weight to the darker months between Samhain and Yule.

“I hope Eraqus is too busy to notice,” Vanitas whispered. “It’ll be much more interesting that way.”

“Is everyone in position?” Eraqus called.

“Yes,” everyone chanted back.

“Then let us begin.”

Vanitas grinned.

“May this circle be unbound,” Eraqus called.

“Oh planes of the World,” the rest of the circle responded, “open to us.”

The lines of the tarp glowed. Ven took a deep breath.

The World exploded into swirling color. Ven tried to dedicate all of his focus to passing the energy of the magic to Eraqus through Vanitas and Sora, but he couldn’t help but grin in exhilaration. The planes crystallized around them in a perfect fractal vortex. Ven’s lungs labored under the buffet of magic strong as the gusts at the summit of a mountain. Each witch in the coven pushed and spun their own magic through the circle. Ven’s heart alit from the power of it all.

Ven looked at Vanitas. His face was split open with the widest grin Ven had seen on him since he had returned. The swirl of color reflected in his golden eyes.

Vanitas’s hand tightened in Ven’s. Ven instinctively squeezed back. Was it too much, like on Beltane? Had Vanitas ever been in a magic circle with more than a few witches?

“Are you really spacing out now?” Vanitas asked quietly. “Pay attention to the circle, dumbass.” He closed his eyes. “It’s a nice one. You’re doing a good job.”

That made it hard to breathe for a completely different reason. Ven blinked the tears from his eyes and concentrated back on the flowing magic. Its circling increased in intensity. His feet shifted below him. More and more magic flowed through from all conceivable planes. Ven’s heart raced.

Just when it was starting to become too much, Eraqus began to close the planes. Aqua, Terra, and Ven followed his lead, and everyone else followed their lead, until the planes separated once again and the World returned to normal. Everyone let go of the other’s hands and stepped out of the circle.

Then the chatter began.

“I haven’t been in a circle that intense since our Organization days,” Lea said.

Naminé practically raced to the car to grab her other spell tarp. Riku was close at her heels.

“You’re all glowing!” Chirithy meowed as he leapt into Ven’s arms. “I’ve never seen your auras so bright.”

“That means our spells are going to be extra powerful,” Ven said.

Chirithy jumped back out of Ven’s arms. “I can’t wait.”

Sora tugged Vanitas towards where Kairi, Roxas, and Xion were preparing another spot in the field for the spell tarp. The adults, meanwhile, were extinguishing the candles and rolling up the main spell tarp. Ven felt a pang of guilt and considered helping them, but they didn’t seem to need another pair of hands.

Maybe Ven just wanted an excuse to try the spell he had been preparing for months. He picked up his broom and held it parallel to the ground.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

“Help me slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the stars,” Ven chanted.

The magic that had been swirling around Ven flowed into the broom. It flashed and settled with a shimmer on the second plane.

Without wasting a second, Ven jumped on the broom, waited for Chirithy to hop on behind him, and leapt.

The sensation was not unlike the rush of a magic circle, but instead of around, the feeling flowed below Ven’s feet as the ground got smaller and smaller.

“Ven!”

The chorus of voices below shouted his name in one singular shout. Ven grinned and waved.

“Get down here!” Aqua shouted.

“Slowly!” Eraqus added.

“I’m not that far up,” Ven called down. He willed the broom forward, and it moved on his command. “How are you feeling, Chirithy?”

He didn’t answer, too enraptured by the view below them. Ven couldn’t blame him. They floated so high that he could see the building where their shop stood and the buildings around them. Clusters of amagical people dotted around the local bar to celebrate Samhain with an excuse to drink. However, once he glanced back at their coven, he no longer had the desire to gaze at the town. The warm glow of his family outshone that of the streetlights flickering to life.

Sora’s project slowly came into view as Ven and Chirithy descended. Ven figured since he drew all of the attention from the adults, the least he could do was pay attention to what the kids were doing.

Not a single one of them had glanced up at Ven. Vanitas was the exception; Ven was willing to bet his broom he was thinking of a snarky remark about Ven’s spell. The six kids linked hands. The spell tarp Naminé had made for their project was more muted compared to the vibrant sabbat tarp, with dark ink accented by the occasional brush of red or gold. Vanitas stood on a giant sigil emblazoned in the large center circle.

“That’s Vanitas’s sigil,” Ven murmured.

“How do you know?” Chirithy asked.

“I don’t know,” Ven said. “But what else could it be?”

“I see your point.”

The kids began to chant. The words were lost to the wind, but with a quick spell and a deep breath, Ven changed that.

“Air is what you breathe. Earth is where you stand. The World is bright as bronze.”

Vanitas got a funny look on his face. His brow was furrowed in thought. It couldn’t have been about a snarky remark about Ven’s spell; those always came without thought. It was probably about the kids’ spell.

“You knock on the doors of death.”

“I know this.” Vanitas’s mutter was carried by the wind. “How do I know this?”

“You wander into the fields to stare at the sun and lie in the grass, ripe as a fig.”

Ven began to discern the individual symbols painted on. There were hieroglyphs, Xs, runes Ven didn’t recognize, and-

“Chirithy, that’s the Unversed symbol, isn’t it?”

Chirithy looked down.

“Yeah, you're right.” He looked at Ven. “Why would they use the Unversed sigil?”

The realization struck Ven. His stomach dropped like he had fallen off his broom.

“Because they’re trying to bring Vanitas back to life,” he whispered.

Vanitas’s eyes widened.

“That’s the Book of Coming Forth by Day. Sora, stop!”

“Yours is a heart of carnelian, blood red as the crest of a phoenix.”

The planes trembled. Riku’s eyes ignited into a yellow glow that mirrored Vanitas’s. He held out his hand.

“Take my hand.”

“Riku?” Ven could hear the cold horror in Terra’s voice.

“CEASE THIS AT ONCE!” Eraqus roared.

A flash of blinding light made Ven wince and cover his eyes. When he opened them and blinked the spots out of his eyes, his broom was only a few feet off of the ground, the kids had been knocked to the ground, the spell tarp had been burned neatly in two, and Vanitas was still a ghost.

“Is everyone alright?” Ven asked as he hopped off the broom.

The kids nodded and got back to their feet. Vanitas, the most dazed out of all of them, managed a heavy blink and shook his head like a wet dog.

Eraqus strode over. Ven could tell that disrupting their spell had taken a lot out of him, even with his Samhain magic, but righteous fury fueled his steps.

“Sora.”

His voice made Ven gulp and straighten as if he had said his name. Sora, however, met Eraqus’s gaze unfazed.

"Grandmaster Eraqus."

"Do you know what you could have done?"

Sora raised his chin. He looked just like Vanitas.

"I could have brought Vanitas back from the dead," he said calmly. "And I think we would have done it if you hadn't interrupted."

"Sora!" Ven hissed.

Terra had ignored everyone else and ran straight for Riku. He grabbed his shoulders with unnerving intensity and spoke to him in a desperate, pleading voice. Ven turned away.

“And you,” Eraqus said to Vanitas. “Did you know about this?”

Vanitas looked far less miffed. He scowled at Sora.

“No, I didn’t. If I had, his technique would have been much more dignified than piecemeal translations of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.”

Sora buckled under Vanitas’s scowl.

“I’m sorry. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“This is why I don’t like surprises, Sora,” Vanitas said wearily.

“That is what you are sorry about?” Eraqus hissed. “Do you fail to understand the scale and significance of your misbehavior?”

“I’m not sorry about that,” Sora said.

Ven distantly wondered if Vanitas was jealous of how well Sora was winding Eraqus up without trying.

“The six of you just performed dark magic! And, on top of that, you used the magic of the sabbat and that of your fellow witches to do so. If you fail to understand the gravity of your actions, I will permit your instruction no longer, and that punishment pales in comparison to the laws of the clan itself!”

Ven looked to see if Vanitas had a snappy comeback, but he wasn’t there. He had turned and was walking away from the field and towards the shop. Ven hopped on his broom, gestured for Chirithy to do the same, and floated after him.

“Vanitas!”

After a few slip-ups and speed mishaps, Ven managed to catch up to him at the edge of the field. Vanitas’s wrist, when Ven reached for it, slipped through his fingers.

“Are you alright?”

Vanitas looked up at Ven with disdain. “For the record, I think your magic is more ridiculous than Sora’s attempt.”

“Well, at first I imagined a flying skateboard,” Ven explained, “but I gave my skateboard to Roxas years ago.”

“Why did you choose a broom, out of everything?”

“It was the only thing in the house that wanted to fly.” Ven patted the space between where he was sitting and the broom bristles where Chirithy perched. “I can give you a ride to wherever your mountain lion is.”

“You still want to watch me revive it?”

“Of course!”

Vanitas stared at the broom. For a second, Ven thought he was going to refuse, but he hopped on.

“It’s not too far. I’ll give directions.”

“Alright!” Ven’s broom floated towards the shop. “You know, you never answered my question.”

“Which one?”

“Are you okay, Vanitas? You seemed pretty shaken up by Sora’s surprise.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Vanitas said sarcastically. “Using bits of the Book of Coming Forth by Day to drag a spirit through the planes without a body is like trying to light a candle underwater to power a spell. Besides, not only has Egyptian necromancy been considered old and outdated for millennia, it only powers material necromancy. If Sora had told me what he was planning, I could have told him that, or at least not to attempt necromancy within ten feet of Eraqus!”

“So it wouldn’t have worked?” Ven asked.

Vanitas grew quiet.

“It would have,” he said softly. “Sora didn’t know any of these things. He and his friends could have pulled me onto the first plane.”

Ven readjusted his grip on his broom and swallowed.

“He would have brought you back to life?”

“Yeah. But there’s no use dwelling on it. I doubt they’d be able to even try it again until the next Samhain.”

And by then, it’ll be too late.

Ven gripped his broom and forced himself to focus on anything else. He looked up.

A pumpkin-orange moon floated into the darkening violet sky, unbothered by the small smattering of clouds. Streetlights and the last rays of sunshine made the town faintly glow a soft yellow. Red leaves trailed behind Ven as he zipped through the streets. Nagics stared at him in awe as they flew by.

“Man, is this the perfect Samhain weather, or what?” Ven asked in wonder.

“You’re right,” Chirithy said. He settled down on the broom. “I can’t remember a Samhain that’s been so clear.”

Vanitas didn’t respond.

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Happy Samhain, Vanitas!”

“Why are you telling me that? It’s not quite the same when we live in the same place.”

“I haven’t wished you a happy Samhain all day,” Ven said. “I wanted to. I was worried I would forget.”

Vanitas smiled.

“Happy Samhain, Ventus.”

Chapter Text

Terra wasn't even paying attention when it had happened.

He knew that a good master would watch his apprentices work on their Samhain spell, and he had planned to, but he blinked and Ven was in the sky! Aqua had always joked that Ven’s boots were the only thing keeping him on the ground, but that clearly wasn’t true; they didn’t even slow him down from leaving it without hesitation.

Cool pressure and a sickly-sweet taste in Terra’s mouth finally drew his attention back to the spell circle. His face scrunched into a scowl. Did Vanitas have to work his Samhain dark magic so close to Terra when he had the rest of Samhain night to deal with how unpleasant the call of the fourth plane wasn’t?

The scowl fell away from his face when he saw Vanitas. His eyes were distant, and although the fourth plane bent towards him as usual, it wasn’t channeled through him the way it would if he were the one working the magic.

Then Vanitas’s eyes went wide.

“That’s the Book of Coming Forth by Day. Sora, stop!”

Terra blinked. That was a necromantic text. Vanitas was the expert in such things, but that couldn’t be right. The apprentices in their coven would never mistakenly homebrew a spell with a necromantic text. Even Terra wasn’t that incompetent when he apprenticed.

They intended to call the fourth plane, and, somehow, Terra knew Riku was the witch calling the dark magic an instant before his eyes ignited into that terrible yellow.

“Take my hand,” Riku intoned. The echoes of his words rang through the fourth plane.

“Riku?” Terra whispered.

He raced to Riku, whether to break his concentration or burn the spell tarp or wrestle the fourth plane away, he didn’t know. Eraqus broke the spell in an eruption of light magic and righteous fury. It was the appropriate course of action, which was to be expected of the coven’s Grandmaster, but Terra didn’t stop running until his hands were on his apprentice’s shoulders and he could see the color of his eyes.

"Why did you call the fourth plane?"

The sea-green of Riku’s was the same shade it had been when he first wandered into Terra’s dreams all those years ago. That gave him no comfort when he had seen their yellow shine only seconds earlier.

"I wanted to show you that dark magic wasn't all bad," Riku said quietly. "I wanted to help someone with it."

Eraqus’s steely tirade rang in Terra’s ears. He might have winced in sympathy for Sora and the others if he had any mental energy to spare. He didn’t. He just stared at his apprentice and distantly felt his hands tighten on his shoulders. Eraqus’s words tumbled through Terra’s brain in the same sandstorm that contained the cacophony of an entire coven celebrating a sabbat in the same room and the deep call of the fourth plane that ground through Terra’s bones for all of Samhain night and the echo of his apprentice answering the call in front of Eraqus.

"Is Naminé involved with the fourth plane as well?" Terra asked.

"No," Riku said. "She painted the circle we designed. That's it. I don't think she's... like us."

"Walk with me," Terra managed. A gag of concrete began to solidify on his tongue.

As they walked by Eraqus, his eyes locked Terra into place.

"Terra."

I know, Terra wanted to say. I'll fix this somehow. I won't make you banish my apprentice.

But the words couldn’t escape the gag. He hoped his nod conveyed at least part of his sentiment to his master.

Terra managed to lead Riku to the other side of the field before collapsing onto the ground in what was technically a sitting position. Cars roared by on a distant road, but no one from the circle could see them. Riku joined him on the ground.

Weariness spread from the gag and encased Terra’s entire body like a thick plate of armor. Moving his body would be hard. Moving his tongue was impossible.

But Terra didn’t always need a tongue to speak. He closed his eyes and sank to the fourth plane.

Knew you would return.

It wasn’t Terra’s own thoughts and it wasn’t an outside voice; it was something in-between.

“This isn't about me. What did you do to Riku?”

Chose Riku long ago. He chose. Why do you think you saw him in the dream?

Terra would never forget the dream where Riku had found him. He would never forget the terror that siezed him when he realized the boy who danced through dreams with gossammer wings would fall under his apprenticeship, just like the girl who had defied time and memory not one week prior. He had forgotten the looming chill of the fourth plane; it had been constant in those days.

“You're the only reason he found me?”

You two are connected.

"Terra?" Riku asked. "Are you okay?"

Terra opened his eyes, but he couldn’t have formed the words to answer even if he wanted to.

"Oh, there you are."

Riku’s eyes shone yellow again. The sight would have made Terra jump if he weren’t shut down.

“How long?”

Terra's question, not made from his mouth, wasn't quite on the fourth plane, but Riku heard it. He wondered how long he could manage communication that required such intense concentration when his body was already petrified from exhaustion.

"A long time," Riku answered with both his mouth and his heart. "As long as I could remember. It took a while for me to realize that it was the fourth plane that called to me."

“And you tried to push it away?”

"No," Riku said. "Not unless I was with you."

“You know this is dangerous. You know the consequences.”

"Are you going to banish me?"

Even Terra heard the fear in Riku’s voice under the proud mask of his steady face.

“I didn't want this for you. I never wanted this for either of you. This is all my fault. When I ran away, I thought I could leave dark magic behind forever. I thought I would be able to spare you of its taint. That was stupid of me. I wish you would have told me about this earlier.”

“But you get why I didn’t, right?”

“Of course.”

"I had so many questions about dark magic," Riku said. "I still do. So if you're going to banish me, can I ask these questions first? I didn't want to ask Vanitas."

"I'm not going to banish you,” Terra imbued his words with as much conviction as he could muster. “I could never."

"Your master could. Your master might."

"He might. But I'll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. What are your questions, Riku?"

"Why do you hate dark magic?"

Terra paused and gathered the right words. It took a long time to force them out.

"I... had another master. He told me there was nothing wrong with dark magic, that I had as much of a right to it as any other witch did to their magic.” The words tumbled through the fourth plane like a boulder rolling downhill. “He was happy to teach me how to use it, but I had to pay him back. All students pay back their teachers. You and your friends work shifts at the shop, and Aqua, Ven, and I help keep the house together. But Xehanort had lots of money. He made that money by using the fourth plane to curse whoever clients wanted.”

“So it’s because your master cursed people for money?”

“No. Well, that’s part of it, but he didn’t need me to help around the house. The only way I could repay him was…”

Terra’s words stopped. He didn’t want to tell Riku. He was his master. It was his responsibility to teach him the magic of the World, to guide him, to teach him right from wrong. He had already failed in so many ways, but he still didn’t want to tell Riku how little right he had to be a teacher.

“I had to repay him by doing his dirty work.” The words disappeared almost immediately, swallowed by the fourth plane. “I’ve only ever used dark magic to hurt people and do bad things.”

Riku didn’t even blink. “Do you think it’s impossible for dark magic to do good?”

“Good is a hard word, Riku. I thought I was doing good when I used it to protect my master. It took me a long time to realize that I was being tricked into hurting people who didn’t deserve it. Master Xehanort never needed my protection.”

“But what if someone really did need protection? It’s not wrong to use lightning or fire to protect someone, so why should dark magic be any different?”

“It changes you. I hope you never have to understand how it does, but it does.”

“It makes you a bad person?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why did you leave?”

Terra paused

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Well, if you really were changed by dark magic, would you have left your other master at all? Wouldn’t you have not cared what he did? But you left him. Your eyes were still yellow then, right?”

“I never thought of it like that.”

“So do you really think I’ll become a bad person if I don’t stop using dark magic?”

“I don’t know.”

Riku looked straight at Terra.

“Am I really going to be banished for this?” he asked quietly.

Riku was older and taller than the dream-walking boy Terra had first met, but his words were even smaller than that child. Was that what Terra looked like in Eraqus’s eyes- eternally vulnerable to a harsh World that he couldn’t protect him from? Did Eraqus always hear weary hypervigilance in his voice and movements? Did he notice the same fear that had consumed him so long ago before a gravelly voice sharpened that fear into cruelty?

I don’t want Riku to be taken in by a Xehanort. I don’t want him to go through what I did. I don’t want him to be scared anymore.

Perhaps a proper master, like Eraqus, would have been able to calm all of his fears. A proper master wouldn’t have sunk into a shut-down in the first place. But Terra had no more words left. His piecework attempts at communication had completely drained him.

He ran his fingers over the chain link around his neck, the one Eraqus had linked together when Terra was small and new to magic. It felt nice to run his fingers over its thick, cool segments and the symbol of their coven carved into one of them. He loved the comforting reminder that all the witches who had come before Terra were linked to him like Naminé said memories were linked to each other.

Terra had no words, but he could undo the clasp that was so unused he was distantly surprised it worked and redo it around Riku’s neck. He could touch the top of his forehead to Riku’s.

Whatever happens, I’m with you.

He hoped Riku understood.

By the way he smiled, Terra figured he did.

Terra was able to hold the embrace for a few moments before he sank back into a kneeling position.

“Are you okay?” Riku asked.

Distantly, Terra burned in shame over his apprentice having to worry over him. It wasn’t his job. But Terra was an empty suit of armor. He could barely move.

“Do you need me to get Aqua?”

Terra managed a nod.

“I’ll get her.”

The earth settled quiet beneath his knees. It shifted and creaked beneath the roar of engines on crusty asphalt. Earthworms slid and turned topsoil beneath. Gophers strolled through their burrows. A yellow-eyed snake lay in his hole very, very far away.

Terra closed his eyes and sank further into the breathing bedrock. He traced the edge of their mountain beneath the sea and along to its next peak, where the moon shone down on cold stone that crumpled into desert sand.

“There you are.”

Aqua’s voice pulled Terra back to the topsoil of the field and the bones above it. His eyes focused on her familiar silhouette.

“Are you still shut down?”

“Home,” Terra managed.

“We’re all heading back,” Aqua said. “Do you need a hand?”

He didn’t have the energy to refuse it. As he rose to his feet, he noticed that the dirt stains on his orange circle robes. They looked better that way.

Terra and Aqua slowly walked back to the car that, hours earlier, had shuttled the tapestry Naminé, Riku, and their friends had spent so long on. The excitement from the moment was as spent as the energy in Terra’s body. Eraqus sat in the driver seat.

“Riku?”

“Kairi’s mom is taking him and Naminé home,” Aqua explained. “Lea and Isa are taking the siblings. Ven, Vanitas, and Chirithy haven’t returned yet.”

Eraqus saw Terra. For a second, he thought he was going to ask him about dark magic, but instead, what came out of his mouth was, “ah, a shutdown? I’ll keep the radio off.”

Terra managed a smile. The fourth plane, the darkness, and the politics behind it all could wait. The next morning, Eraqus would warn Terra that everyone makes mistakes, but a second use of dark magic is true contempt of the World; do you understand me? and Terra would nod, reach for the chain links that he had passed onto his apprentice, and miss their familiar weight. But then, on that Samhain night, Terra could lean against the window and relax as a child only could with their parent. They could play a cooking show that would let Terra unwind as Ven, Vanitas, and Chirithy joined them. He could pour the coven’s magic into the amulet he hadn’t quite finished carving just before climbing into his bed and finally getting some sleep.

He could be at home, with his family.

Chapter Text

Aqua sang as she worked. All of the witches in the coven, even the apprentices, sang folk songs as they worked on whatever craft they were weaving magic into. Did it help them focus? Did it provide a boost to whatever they were working on? There was no way the songs related to the spells in question, unless the ear cuffs Aqua was working on were for some kind of ‘lemon boy,’ but it was such a prevalent practice Vanitas was forced to learn to tune it out. None of the jinxes he flung at them could make them stop.

The clouds outside coelesed thick and fluffy in a way they couldn’t in the desert, tucking away the late afternoon sunlight. A few nagics strolled by in jackets and shorts. It was the perfect weather to read a spellbook inside. Various half-made talismans held the book open for Vanitas. He stared at a passage on counter-circles, circles drawn on top of inscribed magic circles to negate their effect. They were far simpler than he remembered. Was there a way to prevent counter-circles?

Vanitas moved to flip the page. Most of the talismans moved without issue, but one slipped through Vanitas's hand.

Aqua's hand caught it and set it down where Vanitas wanted it. Vanitas scowled. Things didn't usually pass through his hands anymore.

"You're welcome," Aqua said with a teasing smile. She hadn’t looked up from her work once.

Vanitas flicked her.

"You're not nearly this sassy with Ventus," he said.

Aqua put the ear cuffs down on the shop counter to look at him.

"Why do you call him Ventus?"

"Huh? That's his name."

"It's not what the rest of his friends call him."

"I don't need a stupid nickname to feel close to my brother," Vanitas said. "He's my brother."

"But 'Ventus' is so formal," Aqua said.

"I've heard you call him that before," Vanitas said.

"Yes, when I was mad at him. You always sound like you're mad at him."

"I don't care what you think. He's Ventus. He always has been, and he always will be."

Aqua fixed him with a blueberry stare.

"I don't understand you."

"Likewise."

Vanitas was about to go back to his book when the air shifted on the first plane. He hopped over the shop counter and outside the store. Water plopped on the sidewalk like the slap of bare feet on pool concrete.

"You can feel it, too?"

Aqua had followed him.

Vanitas took a deep breath through his nose. Instead of answering, he waited. The rain on their part of the island usually smelled soggy. The storm brewing was the first one that tasted of the energy of a desert storm.

Thunder rumbled in the thick clouds ahead. Vanitas smiled.

"Impressive," Aqua said. "Not even Eraqus can feel storms as well as I can. Ven can't feel them unless they're wind storms."

"It's a damn shame," Vanitas said. "Your cohorts shun the elements. Most witches do. We teach them to children and let them forget them."

"Not all of us," Aqua said.

She reached out. Lightning crashed into her cupped hands. Its pale glow lit the wonder in her eyes.

"Have you never gone lightning catching before?" Vanitas asked. “You’re looking at it like it’s the first time you’ve ever caught lightning.”

"I’ve caught lightning many times," she said. “On Terra’s first time lightning-catching, Eraqus let me hold some of Terra’s lightning- well" her face morphed into a smile "the first time he managed to catch it. The first time it struck, he let the lightning flow straight through him. If he had been an amagical kid, he would have died right there! It almost gave us a heart attack."

Vanitas scowled. No wonder he had taken a full face of lightning without hesitation at the antique shop.

Aqua must have misinterpreted his face. "Have you ever gone lightning catching?"

"I went as many times as I could. Ventus was too scared to go with me. I assume you took after he turned sixteen?"

"Yes," Aqua said. "He was nervous, but most people are."

"Were you?"

Aqua's smile faded again. The rain picked up and ran down her face. "I didn't have enough within me then to feel nervous. My sixteenth birthday was awful."

"Because Terra left you."

"Yes. Because he ran away to your master." She looked back into the lightning. "Do you think he took him lightning catching? Did he take you?"

"I doubt he took Terra if he came to him when he was older. But, yeah, he did take me."

"What was it like?"

Vanitas looked up. "The desert doesn't rain- it monsoons. Rain is magical there. Even the nagics can feel it. The Master didn't care about age or instruction. The first time it thundered, he told me to catch it, and expected me to do it on the first try. And I did."

If he closed his eyes, he could still see the way it glowed in his ghostly hands, the first matter he had controlled since his death.

When he opened his eyes, Aqua was holding out her lightning to Vanitas. Vanitas curled his lip.

"Do you really think I can't catch my own lightning?"

Aqua tilted her head. "I know you can. I just wondered if you wanted to hold it anyway."

Vanitas took the lightning without thinking about it too much. It flickered into the violet his own lightning often became. He couldn’t take his eyes off its glow.

"I had no idea you were such an elementalist," Aqua said. "I suppose I thought necromancy would take all of your time and energy."

"Necromancy didn't always work. This did."

Vanitas passed the lightning from one hand to another with the fixation of a moth. It sparked and frizzed.

A passing nagic saw the glow, yelped, and ran away. Vanitas laughed.

He turned back to Aqua. "Would you like it back?"

Aqua was looking at him oddly. Slowly, she reached out her hand to his head. Vanitas jumped back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry,” Aqua said. “It's just your hair."

"What about it?" Vanitas asked.

"It's wet."

Vanitas shoved the lightning back to Aqua. Instead of brightening back to its original white shine, it procured a golden sheen. Vanitas carded his fingers through his hair and watched it fall limply to the front of his face.

"What the... did you do this?"

Aqua released the lightning back into the air. It crackled and dissipated into small blue sparks.

"No,” she said. “Did you not want this to happen?"

"I didn't step out into the rain wanting my hair to be wet," Vanitas snapped. "This hasn't happened since I died."

"Vanitas." Aqua said his name slowly. Vanitas turned to her.

"What?"

"May I ask something?"

"Whatever,” Vanitas said. “Go ahead."

"When you first came to us, your hair was completely black. Now it's longer, and has blond roots. You've been more solid lately. I can’t remember the last time you disappeared to the fourth plane.”

“What are you saying? Get to the point.”

“Are you coming back to life?” Aqua asked.

Her face was completely serious.

“That’s ridiculous,” Vanitas managed.

His tone convinced no one, least of all himself.

“Is it? You’re a necromancer, and you’ve made a point of how different you are from other ghosts. You were the one who told me you were undergoing Death, not death. Has human necromancy never succeeded?”

“It depends on how you define ‘human,’ ‘necromancy,’ and ‘success’.”

“Has a ghost such as yourself ever managed to return to the first plane?”

Vanitas grabbed his arms. His hands trembled as if the cold rain sucked the non-existent heat from his incorporeal body. Trepidation remained the only other explanation for his shivers. Neither conclusion was acceptable.

“What would you do if I were returning to life?” Vanitas spun to Aqua. “Would you report it to your master? Would you help him rip apart my ghost in an effort to prevent such a travesty from occurring in his territory? Or would you cross your fingers that my master takes me away before you have to deal with it? Are you going to sweep it under the rug and not talk about it like everyone in this stupid coven does?”

Aqua didn’t even flinch. Vanitas wished she would start caring about how the rain soaked her hair and dripped on her soft sweater. She would track water into the house like a wet sponge if she did nothing.

“Are you scared?”

If anyone else had asked that question, Vanitas would have laughed it off as a childish challenge, but Aqua was serious. Her voice held genuine concern.

“Am I scared?” Vanitas echoed. “I’m the necromancer. You were raised in a coven whose identity relies on shunning anything remotely connected with the fourth plane. Don’t tell me the idea doesn’t disturb you at all.”

“I’m not as surprised as I should be,” Aqua admitted.

Vanitas flexed his hands. His dead stomach churned like stormy waves. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“You can’t prove that’s what’s happening,” Vanitas said with all the bravado he could muster. “You can’t prove I’m coming back to life. It’s a ridiculous idea.”

“I don’t think it is,” Aqua said, “but you can trust me with it.”

Vanitas hated how he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Now that you believe your own ridiculous idea, what are you going to do? Are you going to run to your master like a good little student?”

“I’m going to ask Terra some questions.” Aqua finally returned back to the shop and removed her rain-soaked hoodie. Vanitas reluctantly stepped after her. “But I’m not going to tell the Master. It’s his discovery to make or your secret to tell. He taught me to follow the flow of Destiny where it leads us.”

“And where do you think it’s leading you?”

“Where do you want it to lead you, Vanitas? Which plane would you rather exist on? Do you even know the answer to that question?”

Vanitas looked down at his rain-soaked hands. They were less transparent than they had any right to be.

“No.” Vanitas hated the vulnerability in his voice. He hated that, despite everything, he was trusting Aqua with it. “I don’t.”

Chapter Text

Ven should have known it was coming. He did know it was coming, but it felt like a distant, uncertain event in a hazy future.

“Xehanort is being released due to a lack of evidence.”

The instant Eraqus’s words hit Ven’s ears, he berated himself for not mentally preparing for them. Xehanort had languished in jail for months without any basis. It was only a matter of time before justice actually did its job and realized there was no justifiable reason for him to sit in a cell that could be occupied by another unlucky soul to be exploited for money and labor. And Ven knew that when that day came, he could delay the inevitable no longer.

"You have to exorcize Vanitas before he can return to his master," Eraqus continued. His voice left no room for pleading or negotiating. "I hope you have prepared for this day."

Ven nodded and touched the pendant he kept under his shirt, next to his Keyblade. While he hadn’t mentally prepared, his friends had ensured that he was magically prepared.

"Aqua helped me,” Ven said. “We used Naminé's tarp from Samhain to find Vanitas's sigil. She and Terra helped me make the pendant."

Ven reached under his shirt and displayed the pale sliver of nephrite engraved with Vanitas’s sigil. Eraqus nodded in approval.

"This is remarkable craftsmanship and spellwork. I could expect nothing better. Well done."

"It'll help me exorcize anything," Ven said, "but because it has Vanitas's sigil on it..."

"It should help you cut the twin bond between the two of you and send him to the Other Place, where he belongs. He can finally rest."

"Yes, Master."

"I have faith in your sense of duty, Ventus. Do not let me down."

Ven sniffed. "I won't. Um, is it okay if my siblings came over to say bye? He doesn't have to leave right away, does he?"

"Vanitas is set to return to his master in three days," Eraqus said. "Tomorrow is a good day for you and your siblings to say goodbye. You must exorcize him the morning after that, and no later." His eyes softened from steel to marble. "Take heart in your ability to get this closure, Ventus."

"Yes, Master."

"Our baby sibs are here," Vanitas called.

Ven took a deep breath. "Right."

He stared in the mirror. The marks under his eyes, even if hidden beneath the layer of foundation and concealer from Aqua’s room, would dam his tears from overflowing. Ven didn’t know if he wanted to thank or curse Lea for teaching him the spell. He did know that if he thought about the hole that was going to exist where Vanitas currently occupied, he would never stop crying, and then Vanitas would know. He had already explained the problem to his siblings: if Vanitas figured it out, Ven would have to exorcize him then and there. There would be no goodbyes, no closure, no-

"-making pasta."

Ven blinked hard and stepped out of the bathroom. He hadn’t seen any of his siblings since Eraqus implemented his month-long ban on training as punishment for their Samhain spell. They drooped like wilted lilacs. The bounce in Sora's hair deflated, Xion wouldn’t stop blinking hard and fast, and Roxas flexed his hands like a lion cub testing his claws.

"We're making pasta?" Roxas echoed flatly.

"Yeah," Vanitas explained. "I don't know if you remember, but we made it with Mom and Dad when we were little. Ventus was feeling sentimental, so, in his infinite wisdom, he decided my last day with you guys before I return to my master would be spent making pasta. Eraqus, Aqua, and Terra are generous enough to give us the whole apartment to trash in the attempt."

They were running errands. Long ones. All day.

"I've made pasta before at home," Sora said. His voice rang with cheeriness so forced Ven could only tell because he knew Sora so well.

"You have?" Ven asked. "That's great. We have a recipe, but it's been so long I could use some help."

Ven had already gotten out the flour and the eggs. He chastised himself for it. It was one less task they could do together.

"There are two stages," Sora explained, "mixing and shaping. We mix the pasta dough together, then we roll it out until it’s noodle-thin. It's that simple. The dough is super easy, too-"

Roxas tugged on Ven's arms. "I need to talk to you. Downstairs."

The anger behind Roxas's eyes told Ven exactly what he wanted to talk about.

"Fine," Ven said. "Let's make it quick."

Ven spoke before they made it down the stairs.

"I know what you're going to say already. I already know that you don't understand yet. A part of me hopes you'll never have to understand."

"I have one thing to say," Roxas said. "If you do this, I will never forgive you. And do you know why?"

Ven shook his head. He didn't have the energy to try out his few guesses.

"Because Sora will never forgive himself."

Ven squeezed his eyes shut.

"This isn't Sora's fault," he began, but Roxas just turned and skulked back upstairs.

Deep down, Ven knew he was right. Sora would always blame himself for failing to bring Vanitas back on Samhain.

"Do we even have any sauce to go with this?" Vanitas asked as Ven trudged back to the kitchen.

Shit.

"Um, I don't think so," Ven said.

"If the garden has excess basil, we can use it to make pesto," Sora said.

"I'll get it," Xion said. "We've made it before."

She fled downstairs. Vanitas gestured at the dough that used to be loose ingredients.

Another step finished. Time ticked onward.

"This is a lot of dough." Sora chittered aimlessly. "You guys are going to have leftover pasta for days. Or maybe- Ven, if the counter is clean, we should all have room to knead our own dough."

"You mean you guys aren't going to take any home?" Vanitas asked. "You guys have more mouths to feed."

Sora and Ven exchanged a quick glance. After that day, neither of them would be able to eat a single noodle.

"There are a bunch of different shapes we can make," Sora continued, as if Vanitas had said nothing at all. "Linguini is the easiest shape, but it takes a lot of rolling, and-"

"We're making gemelli," Ven said.

"The 'little twins,'" Vanitas said. "Subtle."

"How do you know what it's called?" Roxas asked.

"My master likes Italian," Vanitas said.

His master, who he wasn't returning to. Would Xehanort miss his student? He had to be so lonely after banishment, and to make matters worse, he was emerging from institutionalized hell for a crime he didn't even commit, only for Ven to take his only companion from him.

It has to be this way. The dead have to move on. We can’t be selfish anymore. Xehanort has to live with this just as much as the rest of us do.

Sora handed Ven a chunk of the pasta dough. It oozed through his clenched fingers. He slammed it onto the counter and pressed it into the floured counter over and over and over again.

“So, Vanitas.” Xion returned from the garden with a large bunch of basil and red-tinged eyes. “Are you looking forward to seeing your master again?”

“‘Looking forward to’ is a stretch,” Vanitas said with a grimace. He worked his own lump of dough into the countertop. “But it’ll be nice to go home.”

“Is your master’s house home to you?” Sora asked.

“Not really. I haven’t had a home since we were kids. The Master’s house is the closest thing I could get. It’s familiar.”

“Did you feel at home here?” Ven asked.

Vanitas didn’t answer, but if the answer was no, it was something he would have spat with a smug smile.

At least, that was what Ven hoped.

“You don’t need two strands of dough to make the noodle?” Ven asked. “I thought, for sure, the shape came from two pieces melded together.”

Xion held up her phone, where a chef on video was rolling a single strip of dough into gemelli.

“Yeah,” Roxas said, “that’s one piece.”

“It looks like she used both hands to shape it,” Sora said. “One hand rolling one way, and the other hand rolling the other way. So if Roxas rolls upwards and I push downwards…”

His twin obliged. The dough twisted into the familiar shape, albeit much more unevenly than the woman in the video.

Xion twirled the dough with their own two hands.

“It works better by yourself,” she said.

“But it’s more fun with two people,” Roxas said. “Here, I’ll do it with you.”

Ven gestured to the other side of his dough strip.

“Want to try?” he asked his twin.

Vanitas obliged in uncharacteristic sentimentality, rolling it down while Ven rolled it up. The resulting pasta was uneven, but good enough, just like Sora and Roxas’s pasta. At first, the noodles looked like two strands intertwined, but with the entire noodle in front of him, it was much more obvious as a single lump of dough only twirled around itself.

“‘Little twin’ is a misnomer,” Ven said. “It’s just one piece that looks like two pieces. That’s not what being a twin is like.”

“What is being a twin like?” Xion asked. “Is it something you can only explain with your language?”

“What are you talking about?” Roxas asked. “You speak more languages than I do.”

“I remember reading about it somewhere,” Xion said. “Twins make their own language with each other before they learn their parents’ words and speech.”

“Huh,” Sora said. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Me neither,” Ven said.

“There’s always been something between the four of you,” Xion said. “Even if it’s not a language, there’s something that I’ll never be able to understand… Can you explain it?”

Ven and Vanitas looked at each other. Sora and Roxas looked at each other.

“‘A piece of myself’ is a cliche,” Vanitas said. “But there is something missing without him by my side.”

“I’m so used to having him around,” Sora said. “I exist separate from him, but I’m never really apart from him.”

“You get so used to having him as part of yourself you forget that there are people who know you and have never met your twin,” Ven said.

“We’re not the same person, or co-dependent, or anything ridiculous like that,” Roxas said. “We’re not one lump of dough twirled into an illusion of two.”

“But a life by his side feels right,” Ven said. “Maybe that’s just because it’s familiar.”

“I don’t think I would mind living with you by my side, Ventus,” Vanitas said. “But I have to learn things that I can’t learn by your side. The World is bigger than you. My place in it isn’t limited to you. That’s why I’m going back to my master. He’s the only one who can teach me what I want to know. I’m leaving, but that doesn’t mean I won’t come back. Besides, the Internet exists. You can always contact me.” Vanitas looked up to their other siblings. “The same goes for you three. I’ll leave my email. Checking it without my master looking over my shoulder is obnoxious, but it would be nice to hear from you.”

Every single one of his siblings tensed, Ven included. In less than twenty-four hours, there would be no one to check that email. The ghost email would languish without its ghost to tend to it.

“I’ll keep in touch,” Sora said. Ven hated and admired the sincerity with which he made the promise he could not keep. “Now, let’s start boiling the water. I think we’re almost done with the pasta. We can work on the pesto while we wait for the water to boil. Oh, wait!” Sora dug out his phone with his flour-covered hand. “Let’s take a picture first!”

Ven grimaced. “Cameras only work on the first plane,” he said. “Vanitas won’t show up.”

“Take the picture anyway,” Vanitas said. “All of you working on pasta is still worth photographing.”

Sora turned his phone and held it away. “Cheese!”

Ven tried to smile as Vanitas squeezed between him and Roxas. They all must have. But when Sora sent the image to the family group chat, Ven refused to check what he looked like. The visualization of the hole Vanitas was going to leave wasn’t something he wanted to see with his own two eyes.

The pasta must have been delicious, but Ven couldn’t say for sure. While Sora and Roxas managed to finish their portions, the only person who ate less than Ven was Vanitas, who ate nothing.

Sora, Roxas, and Xion’s phones buzzed as they finished washing the dishes. Roxas checked his and paled.

“Cloud and Leon are here to pick us up,” he said.

Xion’s hand tightened. “It’s time to say goodbye.”

They rushed into Vanitas before he could hold out his arms. Tears flooded down their cheeks. Ven’s baby siblings gripped Vanitas like they could keep him with them if only they held him tightly enough.

“You three are still crybabies, I see,” Vanitas said, his voice drained of venom or levity.

“There’s still so many things I wanted to show you,” Roxas sobbed. “I wanted you to come to one of my Struggle matches.”

“I’ll come next time,” Vanitas said. “Make sure you practice for me.”

Roxas’s sobs eclipsed any more words from his mouth.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” Xion sobbed. “More than last time. I wanted to keep telling you what our lab found.”

“Just email me, Xion,” Vanitas said. “You have it, right?”

Xion checked their phone for the millionth time and nodded.

“I’ll email you,” she said. “I promise.”

Vanitas looked down at Sora. “Anything you want to say?”

“I love you, Vanitas,” Sora sobbed. “I’ll love you forever.”

“I love you, too,” Xion cried.

“Me too,” Roxas sniffed. “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it before.”

“I love you all,” Vanitas said. “Keep in touch. I’ll get back to you eventually. And who knows? Maybe I’ll manage a visit soon. Think you guys will cry even more then?”

Ven could barely hear him over their siblings’ sobbing.

Vanitas ripped them from where they clung. His little siblings left him with the reluctance of a fingernail torn from skin.

Ven turned away. His mouth tasted as dry as his eyes.

Ven washed off the makeup and the marks that evening. He couldn’t keep his eyes on his own reflection. Would he cry himself to sleep? He couldn't. Then Vanitas would know. But he couldn't keep the marks on forever.

Ven made up his mind.

"Vanitas?" His voice rang small in the expanse of his bedroom. He could barely hear Terra and Chirithy's breathing.

"Yeah?" Vanitas replied, without missing a beat.

"I can't sleep," Ven whispered.

"You can't sleep?" Vanitas echoed.

"Can you do the sleep spell again? The one you did the night before Midsummer."

"Sure."

The ladder creaked as Vanitas climbed it. Ven curled up beneath his sheets and burrowed his head into the pillow. A gentle hand brushed the hair from his face.

A snap rang through his ears.

Then Chirithy nosed Ven awake.

"It's morning," Chirithy said.

Ven fluttered his eyes before squeezing them shut.

"Want some food?"

"Terra can feed me," Chirithy said. "You should get ready for the rest of the day."

Ven groaned and settled back into bed. Staying in bed for the rest of time and overheating from his blankets sounded much better.

Chirithy bumped his head against his cheek so hard Ven had to sit up.

"Get it over with, Ven," Chirithy said.

What was worse, the waiting or the inevitable not-waiting? Ven could only stew on the question itself, not any answers, as he shoved clothes on and stumbled to the kitchen where Terra and Aqua collaboratively examined a bowl of dough.

“Whatcha making?” Ven asked.

"We're making brioche," Terra said.

"Both of you?"

"Yes," Aqua said. "Terra mentioned that he wanted to make some brioche. I offered to help since he can't bake to save his life."

"It's for Vanitas," Terra said. “He said it was something he’d like to eat.”

Ven's whole body froze. They were baking something for his memory already? Their cruel perfection of timing meant the bread would emerge from the oven the instant Vanitas faded to the Other Place.

Aqua reached into her pocket and handed Ven a chain. "Here. Eraqus told me to give this to you. He left to give you space."

Their master’s wisdom rang true and faithful as it always had. Ven didn’t know if he could look at him until it was over.

"He wants Vanitas gone by the time he comes back?" Ven murmured.

"Probably."

Ven started shaking. "I don't want to do this."

Terra put his hand on Ven's shoulder. Aqua knelt to his eye level and put her hand on his cheek.

"Be strong, Ven," Terra said. "Trust your heart."

"I know you'll do the right thing," Aqua said.

"How do you know?"

Aqua hesitated.

"Whatever you do will be the right thing," Aqua said. "He's your brother."

Ven strung the pendant that would exorcize Vanitas on Eraqus’s chain. The whole necklace glowed through Ven’s shirt on the second plane.

"Vanitas is waiting for you downstairs," Terra said. "I suggested that the two of you spend some time together before he leaves."

He squeezed Ven's shoulder. Aqua gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"We love you. Good luck."

Ven took a shaky breath and forced himself downstairs.

"Let's go for a walk," Ven said the instant his eyes caught on his brother.

Vanitas's face was a mask even as glass. Ven couldn’t force himself to examine it further.

"Alright,” Vanitas said. “Where to?"

Ven shrugged. Vanitas followed him anyway.

Where should my brother's last moments be? And why didn’t I plan that ahead of time?

The wind paced and howled with the restlessness of Ven’s thoughts. Storm clouds coalesced into a dark, clumpy coffin overhead.

Vanitas noticed and commented on neither.

Ven’s feet took him to the field where they had celebrated Samhain together. The grass spat on the cuffs of his pants with their soggy tendrils. The trees wept under the air’s moisture. An ugly black scar still marked where Eraqus had destroyed Ven’s last way out.

"It's really pretty here, don't you think?" Ven asked as he looked around. The storm drained the gold and light from their shared memory. "The weather isn't- why are you laughing?"

Laughing was an understatement. Vanitas cackled hysterically, as if Ven had said the funniest thing in the World.

"Are you really going for such a cliche?” he sneered. “I thought you would have a better sense for these things. I should have known better. Of course you would try to exorcize me with petty prose on the World’s beauty."

Vanitas’s words sucked the heat from Ven’s body.

"W-what? You knew?"

"Of course! Do you think I’m as stupid as you are? I heard Eraqus say he had another plan. Roxas has been pissed at you for months, Sora tried to bring me back from the dead, and I haven't seen you all so upset since our parents died. Did you expect that I wouldn't figure it out? Or did you hope that I trusted you too much to suspect that you would try to kill me after all?"

The sky turned to black. The wind turned to chill. Ven narrowed his eyes.

"You're already dead, Vanitas!" he snapped. "You died when you were fifteen years old. It’s unfair that you died so early after going through so much pain, and I’m sorry. I really am. I wish you hadn't died.” Ven’s voice broke. He took a shaky breath. “But the truth is that you did. And I loved having you around for the past few months, but I can't be selfish and hold onto you forever. You have to move on, Vanitas. Even if I have to make you do it myself."

Vanitas coiled into an eerie calm and stared Ven directly in the eyes. He refused to blink or look away.

“You speak as though I’m denying the inevitability of oblivion. I- who was born so close to death that our parents named me after its certainty. Nothing lasts forever. I will fade into the long dark of the fourth plane.”

Lightning shot down into Vanitas's awaiting hands and glinted off his teeth. His eyes glowed in the storm the two of them had created.

"But not today."

Ven rolled to the side and popped to his feet. The lightning singed in the spot he stood the moment before. Ven directed the full gale of winds towards Vanitas’s feet. Vanitas stumbled, but before he could completely lose his footing, movement above caught Ven’s eye.

He instinctively covered his head an instant before a whirlwind of grimy feathers pushed Ven to his knees. Crows, sparrows, and finches in various states of decay screamed.

Ven called to the necklace warm against his chest. A thousand arrows of light shot from his heart pulverized the Unversed into dust. He spent an instant too long watching them scatter through the air.

Vanitas’s kick smacked the air from his lungs. Ven coughed and let the force of it send him back. It gave him an instant to gasp for breath. Chittering shadows flashed through the surrounding grass in a wave.

Rats.

Ven could almost feel their claws entangled in his hair and teeth snapping against his skin. He grabbed the amulet. Its smooth texture beneath his fingertips was almost as comforting as the rat-shaped piles of dust it made.

Vanitas winced. Ven saw his eyes lock onto the necklace in Ven’s clutched hand and then a burning shot of fire at his face. Terra’s amulet on his wrist was the only thing that prevented it from burning his skin off.

Ven forced himself to focus on Vanitas instead. His eyes were closed in concentration. Ven didn’t waste time wondering why. He took a deep breath and drew the amulet’s magic into his heart. The tips of his fingers tingled as wings of light alighted from his back. They lit the storm-torn field like sunbursts on the second plane.

Vanitas’s eyes flicked at his wings for an instant before returning to the amulet resting over Ven’s shirt. Ven’s wings flapped and aimed blades of light at Vanitas’s knees.

A tan mass loped into Ven’s field of vision. Powerful muscles rippled beneath ratty fur.

It’s the mountain lion Vanitas revived on Samhain.

The blades of light skewered the mountain lion mid-pounce and pushed it back. It locked onto Ven with Unversed eyes instead of crumpling into ash and opened its mouth. Fire roared from its maw. Ven scrambled back.

I didn’t know Unversed could do magic!

“Begone!” Ven shouted. The beam of light from his outstretched hand pulverized the remains of the mountain lion. Ven looked back at Vanitas-

A sharp thump smacked the flat of Ven’s leg. He stumbled. Briefly, he saw what looked like an undead rabbit and a feral boar dissolve from Ven’s instinctive retaliation. He shifted his weight to try and regain his balance.

Then his back thudded onto the packed ground. Gravel sharp as broken glass pressed into the soft flesh of his arms. Vanitas’s boot followed Ven’s shoulder all the way down.

“Gotcha,” Vanitas snarled.

He bent down and snatched the amulet off Ven’s neck with a cobra-fast swipe. Ven’s glow disappeared.

“Well, well, well, Venty.” Despite Vanitas’s smug words, he was panting. “What are you going to do without your little necklace?” Ven could barely see Vanitas’s victorious smirk in the dark of the storm. “Scared?”

Vanitas was a good witch. He was a damn good witch. He raised the dead and played with the elements like children’s toys, but he didn’t know exorcisms. He didn’t know that the necklace in his hand still had enough power to break his bonds to the planes.

I am scared. You think you’ve won. I have to exorcize you now.

“I knew you were planning this for days now,” Vanitas continued. “But I still hoped, for some stupid reason, that you wouldn’t go through with it.”

“I didn’t want to!” Ven cried. “I still don’t!”

“Then why would you try this?” His brother’s panther eyes burned. “If you wanted me to get out of the way of your perfect life, all you had to do was ask. I get that you were stuck with me before and found better replacements. I get that you outgrew me. I get that if we weren’t born by the same parents, we wouldn’t even have a reason to talk to each other. But you don’t have to destroy me to make me go away!”

Vanitas was always the tough one between the two of them, the one who refused to cry, the one who solved things with violence first and words last. The teartracks streaked down his face like scars made him look like a stranger.

“I can’t outgrow you. You’re my twin.”

“Then why are you so focused on making me move on?”

“Do you… do you really think I want you gone?” Ven managed. “I want you to be here forever. But I-” A sob crawled its way up his throat and choked him with the taste of tears. He forced breath into his heaving lungs and screwed his eyes shut and wished he were anywhere else in the World. “I can’t be selfish, Vanitas! I can’t let you do this to yourself! I can’t let you live half a life, where- where- where less than a dozen people can see you, and- and you can’t eat or sleep, and you never grow up! I have to give you peace! I have to!”

“I am at peace!” Vanitas seethed. “I don’t care about any of that stuff. You and your master are the ones trying to force me to follow the rules that witches have never followed in the first place. Your ideals of how I should exist aren’t objective. They aren’t even that old. You don’t get to decide what kind of existence I get.”

Ven wiped his eyes and sat up. Vanitas reluctantly removed his boot to allow him to do so.

“I just want to help you, Vanitas,” he whispered.

“Then stop this.”

Ven closed his eyes. He could exorcize Vanitas and re-open a brother-shaped hole without the haze of a coma to hide it. The dead would stay dead. Eraqus would praise him for doing the right thing. Vanitas could rest. Ven and his siblings could move on, just as they had been doing for four years.

It was the last thing Ven wanted to do. Did he have other options?

In theory, Ven could fake the exorcism. Vanitas could run back to his master and Ven could lie to his. But when Eraqus found out (and it would be when, not if), his disappointment at Ven’s failure would make Samhain seem like a raised eyebrow-

Wait.

Samhain.

Ven looked at his brother. He knew what to do.

“Vanitas?”

Ven stood up and held out his hand. The wind swirled around them and thinned the gathered storm clouds.

“Take my hand.”

Vanitas hesitated. He still gripped Ven’s necklace in his hand like he would be exorcized if he loosened his grip even a little.

“You have to trust me,” Ven said.

“What are you doing?” Vanitas asked wearily.

“It’s a surprise.”

“You know how I feel about surprises.”

“Trust me,” Ven said with a smile.

Vanitas relaxed at their smile, a piecemeal remnant of their language that told him everything, and slowly took Ven’s hand.

The words and magic flowed effortlessly. The amulet burned brilliant in the gaps between Vanitas’s fingers.

“By wind of life I wake you, Unversed to that which lies after death.”

Ven shifted onto the slightest of tip-toes and pressed a feather-soft kiss to Vanitas’s forehead. The light and wind faded. Breath flowed in and out of Ven’s lungs. A patch of sunlight tore through the blanket of gray clouds.

Vanitas’s eyes fluttered. He flexed his fingers and examined the hand that was not in Ven’s.

Then he laughed.

“Ventus!”

His eyes sparkled with happy tears and he was smiling wider than Ven had ever seen him.

“You did it! I- I’m alive!” He cackled, but it was a joyous sound. “You brought me back to life!”

Ven pulled back and looked his twin up and down. He was solid.

He was alive.

“I… I did.”

Ven pulled him into a hug. They fit together perfectly, like gears in a clock. Vanitas sobbed in pure joy, a far cry from the pale visage Ven had tried so hard to embrace on their first reunion. For a long time, Ven just felt Vanitas’s living heart beat solid and warm and let the happy tears run down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” Ven finally sniffed.

“You brought me back to life, Ventus.” Vanitas pulled back and looked into his eyes. “I don’t think you understand how miraculous that is.”

“So we’re even?”

“No, I’m holding the fact that you tried to kill me against you forever. But you have the right to hold this over my head, too.”

Ven snatched him back into a hug and buried his face in the crook of his neck.

“I love you so much.”

Ven felt tears from Vanitas’s face stain his shirt.

“I love you too, Ventus.”

Chapter Text

Vanitas forgot how loud a living body was.

Breathing was a hiss that never ended, and if he focused on how it worked, it became that much harder and he would worry- for an instant- that Ventus would have to start all over again. His joints creaked and clicked and shifted beneath his skin. He swore he could hear every organ grumble about having to work again after four years off. His stomach was loudest of all, protesting that he hadn't eaten in literal years and that might be worth doing now that he was alive. The loudest part was his heartbeat. Vanitas didn't remember his heart being so loud when he was alive before. Maybe it was because he hadn't heard it in a while, or maybe it was because his heart was still moving jackrabbit fast from the excitement of being alive again.

He grinned at Ventus. His brother had grabbed his hand as they walked back to the shop, like they were still little kids trying to hold onto each other lest they be lost to the throngs of the World. Vanitas let him. Such a dramatic expression of sentiment could only be appropriate for the occasion of necromancy performed by Ventus to bring Vanitas back from the dead, but that was the occasion of the day. Sometimes one of them would remember that Vanitas was alive again and start crying all over again. Vanitas would have given Ventus so much shit if it didn't happen to him just as much.

Ventus froze as they reached the entrance of the shop. His hand tensed in Vanitas's.

"What am I going to tell Terra and Aqua?"

"What are you going to tell your master? When he hears you did necromancy, he'll have a heart attack."

"I dunno where the Master is," Ventus said. "I asked him to give me space today. He said he'd be back in the afternoonish. But Terra and Aqua are here."

Vanitas opened the door and gestured inside. "Well, then, let's not leave them waiting."

Ventus practically ran upstairs, perhaps out of pure habit, dragging Vanitas along. The sweet scent of fresh soda bread floated from the kitchen.

"Just in time," Terra said. "We just took the brioche out of the oven."

"We're supposed to let it cool for at least two hours," Aqua said.

"What do you think, Vanitas?" Terra asked. "I think it'd be better warm."

Ventus drew his gaze between Terra and Vanitas. "You're not surprised to see him?"

"I told you the brioche was for Vanitas," Terra said. "He said he wanted to have brioche with dark chocolate chips."

Ventus gaped. "You knew this would happen?"

Terra turned to slice the brioche. An eggwash gifted the golden loaf a soft sheen beneath the kitchen lights. Vanitas could spot a few chocolate chips scattered against the crust.

"I'm a clairvoyant, Ven,” Terra said. “Of course I knew."

Ventus froze in shock for a full second.

Then he exploded.

"You BASTARD!"

He leapt at Terra fist-first.

"No fighting in the kitchen," Aqua chided, but Terra put the knife down and absorbed the punches Ventus laid on his hip with a good-natured laugh.

"I was scared, and stressed, and filled with dread for days, and you knew this would happen the entire time? When did you know? I know brioche takes hours to rise!"

"A few months ago," Terra said with a grin. "We were grocery shopping together. I saw a living Vanitas in front of me. It wasn't hard to put it together."

"A few months... that was before you started helping me with the necklace!"

Vanitas pulled out the necklace from where he had stuck it in his pocket. Now that it couldn't be used to wipe him from existence, he could admire its craftsmanship. The chain itself shimmered gossamer on the second plane, and the pale stone pendant perfectly captured the likeliness of his sigil.

Aqua laugh drew a half-hearted glare from Ventus.

"Did you know, too?" he demanded.

"I figured it out a few days ago," she said. "I noticed Vanitas was coming back. I asked Terra if it was possible, and he told me what he saw."

"So I'm the only one who didn't know," Ventus grumbled. Terra pulled him in for a hug.

"Sorry, Ven. You get why I couldn't tell you, right?"

"Yeah," Ventus mumbled. "But why did you help me work on a necklace that you knew wasn't going to work?"

"It was good practice," Terra said. "Here, I'll make it up to you."

Terra finished slicing the loaf of brioche. Vanitas's stomach rumbled like thunder.

"I give the first piece to you," Terra said. "Happy-"

Vanitas snatched the bread from Terra’s hands and shoved it into his mouth before he could finish his sentence. His taste buds jolted. The brioche was warm and sweet, but the softness of fresh butter and yeast ensured it wasn’t too sweet. The rich press of chocolate made Vanitas feel like he had returned to life all over again. It all enveloped his tongue like a soft blanket. Vanitas grabbed a second slice just as Ventus got his first.

"This is so good..."

He got it. He understood why they all worked themselves into a frenzy over Aqua's baking. Vanitas scarfed down the second slice almost as quickly as he swallowed the first.

"Slow down," Aqua chided. "You'll make yourself sick."

Vanitas couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed.

"That's my right," he mumbled against another mouthful.

"You're not going to save any room for the leftover pasta that you and your siblings made?"

Vanitas exchanged a glance with Ventus.

"Our siblings!" Ventus exclaimed. "We have to tell them!"

“We do, but consider-” Vanitas paused to take another bite of brioche “-we can only tell them once.”

“Do you think they got it?” Ventus asked ten minutes later, when even Vanitas had eaten his fill. “They haven’t responded.”

Aqua looked at the time. “They might be in class right now.”

Terra grimaced. “You think they went to school today?”

Aqua shrugged.

“Maybe I’ll text them again-”

The shop door crashed open. Three pairs of feet stomped up the stairs. Six identical eyes pierced Vanitas where he stood on the first plane.

Sora broke first.

“You’re alive!”

Vanitas had barely gotten to his feet when he was swamped by three kids shrieking in joy. The embrace was no less desperate than it was the day before, but the tears were joyful, and Vanitas felt his eyes moisten for what felt like the millionth time that day.

“You guys are still crybabies,” he managed.

Sora leapt from Vanitas to Ventus.

“You didn’t exorcize him! I knew you wouldn’t! I knew it!”

Ventus graciously took the hug but shot a glare back at Terra and Aqua.

“You weren’t the only one.”

Terra and Aqua just smiled in response.

Vanitas maintained that Ventus was a coddled little shit, but he had a point about physical affection. Vanitas was trapped on the couch by a heated blanket of three teenagers. Sora and Roxas burrowed beneath each of his arms and curled in towards him. Xion perched on his lap like she was four and not fourteen. Vanitas’s newly revived legs groaned like they had died again. Ventus pouted at his feet, like he felt excluded by the cuddle pile.

“Do you have a clever plan for how you’ll tell Eraqus?” Aqua asked.

Vanitas grumbled and sank back into the couch. He couldn’t find it in himself to care at that moment. He wanted to do something clever and smug, to show up Eraqus in a way that would have him reeling in shock and awe, but he was too busy sinking into the weight of the couch and feeling its softness with the weight of his living (LIVING) body to give too much thought into it. At some point, his eyes might have slipped shut into a warm, shallow nap from the haze of comfort all around him.

"Welcome home, Master."

Terra's words sharpened the soft glow of contentment into thick tension. Chirithy meowed something at Ventus. A dozen eyes fixed onto Eraqus. Vanitas's eyes were not among them.

"So who's going to tell him?" Vanitas asked. "Is it going to be me? I can't see his face. He's not expecting me to be here. Well, I doubt he's expected you three to be here either, unless you had planned-"

"What is the meaning of this?" Eraqus's voice was soft, cold steel.

Ventus stood up and looked his master right into his eyes. The fuzzy cat in his arms ruined some of the impressive effect he was probably going for.

"Master, the World is bigger than the rules you taught me. Vanitas taught me that. So I brought him back to life."

Eraqus choked like he was about to have a heart attack. Vanitas couldn't keep the grin off his face even if he wanted to.

"You reached onto the fourth plane-"

"Not the fourth," Vanitas said. "The fourth doesn't like him. He can't go anywhere near it. He... met me halfway."

"You performed necromancy?" Eraqus asked. His voice was deadly soft. "The greatest taboo there is?"

Ventus raised his chin. "I did."

"Master, it's not what you think-" Aqua began.

Eraqus turned to his elder students.

"And you two did nothing to stop this?" he asked in a way that would have unnerved even Xehanort.

"Master, this was destined to happen," Terra said slowly. "I saw it. I saw Vanitas alive. I didn't tell you because you would have tried to stop it, but it was destiny. The World willed this to happen."

Vanitas managed to wiggle out of his siblings’ embrace enough to look at Eraqus’s face. It had drained of color. His eyes were glazed. Vanitas distantly wondered if he was in shock.

“What are you going to do now, Eraqus?” Vanitas asked. He tried to make a smug, intimidating look, but the three kids clinging to him spoiled the effect. “Are you going to try to exorcize me again? I’m fairly certain that’s considered murder now” -he gave a meaningful look at Terra- “and I hear that’s frowned upon in these parts.”

"I should have never brought you back with us," Eraqus said slowly. "You normalized dark magic in my coven. You wore down my apprentice’s- and their apprentice’s- natural revulsion towards necromancy and other unclean magic from that accursed plane. I should have let someone else take you and keep his influence as far from my coven as possible."

"But you didn't," Vanitas said smugly. "And you can’t blame me for Riku’s connection to the fourth plane. As for Ventus’s necromancy- well, half of a necromancy- the truth is that I've been brought back to life, and the only thing you can do is deal with it."

"What am I to tell the rest of the clan?" Eraqus whispered, likely only to himself.

It was an interesting question. The truth would almost certainly get all of them in trouble. Vanitas wouldn’t be surprised if the whole coven got banished. Sora’s lack of anxiety at the question told him that he, at least, wouldn’t care about that with Vanitas back. The thought warmed his (beating) heart.

"Tell them the situation with Vanitas has been resolved," Aqua said.

"You think we should lie to them?" Eraqus asked.

"It's not a lie," Terra said.

"The omission of the truth that one of my apprentices committed the gravest taboo imaginable by breaking the World’s natural line between life and death would be considered a lie, no matter how many technicalities I sprinkled in," Eraqus said.

"Don't get mad at Ventus," Vanitas said. "I would have come back eventually with or without him."

Ventus looked at him. "What?"

"You didn't figure it out? Well, that’s not that too surprising." Vanitas looked at Eraqus. "You, on the other hand, definitely should have noticed the signs. Am I to believe you didn't notice how solid I was becoming? You didn't notice I was aging? You didn't notice that my blonde roots were growing in? Or did you just hope that wouldn't matter if Ventus had killed me like you asked him to?"

"You cannot kill someone that is already dead," Eraqus said.

"Well you certainly can't now," Vanitas said with a smirk. "Unless you would risk murder. I can't tell with you."

His siblings tightened their vice grips on his limbs. Vanitas tried not to grimace under their teenage weight. The feeling in his limbs began to tingle away.

Eraqus stared at Vanitas for a long time, as if forcing himself to accept he was there. Vanitas didn't look away. Eraqus did.

"I will be in my room if you need me," Eraqus finally said. "There are many things I must think about."

He went into his room and closed the door. Vanitas perked his ears, but he heard nothing.

"I take it that's a no on murder, at least," Vanitas said.

Chapter Text

“Are you ready to go?” Ven asked.

It was a bright day at the dock for a farewell. The sun shone on the bright sea and warmed the clean air. Each breath came easier to Ven now that he didn't have to worry about exorcizing Vanitas anymore. The elation of having his brother back (again) dimmed with the twinge in his heart that knew they would all miss Vanitas. Ven and Vanitas's kid siblings had already said their goodbyes (again, although they were much less painful). The time had arrived for Vanitas to really return to his master.

"I don't really have anything to bring with me," Vanitas said. "I suppose being a ghost for a few years makes you forget the idea of material possessions."

Aqua frowned. "We should have gotten you a few pairs of new clothes."

"My master will buy me plenty," Vanitas said. "You don't need to worry about me anymore."

"You're my friend now," Aqua said. "I will anyway."

"I am?"

"Here." Aqua handed Vanitas a pair of ear cuffs. "They're a gift."

"So the lemon boy earrings really were for me? Does that make me a lemon boy?"

"What?" Ven asked.

"What do they do?" Vanitas asked, completely ignoring Ven.

“They boost your lightning spells,” Aqua said with a smile.

Vanitas smiled back. Ven was confused, because he assumed he would take the gift as an insult to his formidable abilities, but he was glad he had his own bond with Aqua.

"Thank you, Aqua," Vanitas said. "You're exactly as bad as I thought you were for the first few months, but you’re not that insufferable all the time."

"I can say the exact same to you," she said.

Terra's face was stony. He kept grabbing at his neck for his necklace, but it seemed to have disappeared. Ven made a note to ask about it.

"Here," Terra said. He handed Vanitas a tiger’s eye amulet bursting with enough magic to make Ven gasp. Its glow on the second plane was so bright that Ven kept his eyes on the first so he didn’t have to squint.

Vanitas raised his eyebrows. "This is a powerful amulet. And made of tiger’s eye, of all things. Is there any reason in particular you want to give it to me?"

There was a challenge in his voice Ven didn't understand the context for.

"Protection."

"Protection against what?"

"Xe-"

Vanitas scowled. "Just checking. It's not necessary, but I'll take it if you insist."

Terra's face softened. "I do. Make sure Xehanort doesn't find it."

"I'm not exactly going to present it to him at show and tell."

Vanitas put it in his pocket with Aqua's ear cuffs.

"Now I feel bad," Ven said, "I didn't get you a gift."

"You brought me back to life, Ventus," Vanitas said. His voice burned with uncharacteristic sincerity. "You couldn't grant me a greater gift."

"Yeah, but still."

They smiled at each other.

"Vanitas."

Ven whipped around. He didn't expect Eraqus to say goodbye. He went with them to the dock, but Ven thought it was just to make sure no one from their clan saw Vanitas.

"This is your last chance to wipe away all evidence of your apprentice's necromancy," Vanitas said.

"I told the clan that the matter regarding you was finally resolved," Eraqus said. "Try to keep your head down. I trust your master will do the same."

"We've never had the desire for the spotlight," Vanitas said. "If the clan thinks I'm exorcized and gone, I'll do my best not to correct them." His golden eyes glittered. "Do you have any messages for my master?"

Eraqus hesitated.

"I have no need to say anything to him," Eraqus said. "The matter is resolved. We are strangers once more."

"I'll tell him what you said as such," Vanitas said.

"It matters not," Eraqus snapped in an unusually emotional voice. He took a deep breath. "Still, I wish you safe travels."

Vanitas looked just as surprised as Ven felt about the blessing that shimmered to life on the second plane.

"Thank you," Vanitas said cautiously. "But now I must go."

Ven grabbed him for one last hug.

"Ventus, they'll be announcing the last call soon," Vanitas said.

"Wanted to give you one last hug," Ven said. "And to tell you I love you."

"I love you, too," Vanitas said. "And cheer up. I know I'll see you again."

Ven squeezed him, pressed his forehead against Vanitas's, and finally let go.

"Goodbye. Safe travels."

“Wait.”

Ven blinked. Out of everyone, he least expected Terra to be the one to stop Vanitas.

“What is it? I don’t want to miss the ferry.”

“Are you sure you can’t stay with us?”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes.

“You’re being more sentimental than Ventus,” he scoffed. “Of course I can’t stay. My master doesn’t live here.”

“Please,” Terra said, “don’t go back to him.”

“Even if there were another dark witch for me to apprentice under, which there isn’t, Eraqus would never tolerate my presence longer than he has to.”

“He would,” Terra said, looking back to confirm.

“He doesn’t tolerate my magic,” Vanitas said, “and that’s all that matters. Goodbye, Terra.”

“Wait! Please!”

They watched as Vanitas wordlessly strode up the gangplank and onto the ferry. He didn’t look back once.

The ferry undocked and began its journey across the sea. Ven and Aqua waved at it even though they knew Vanitas wouldn’t be waving back.

“I hope you’re happy.”

Ven swiveled his head. Terra’s voice rumbled between a low growl and a spit at Eraqus.

Eraqus blinked. He looked just as surprised as the rest of them. Ven couldn’t blame him; he had never seen him so mad at Eraqus. No, it wasn’t just that- he had never seen him so mad. Anger pulsed from Terra’s heart and seeped into his limbs like an infection. The planes warped. The earth beneath his feet crackled.

“Excuse me?”

“Vanitas just gladly returned to his murderer. Because of you.”

“What?” Ven’s yelp was in his own voice, but it sounded like a stranger’s. “Vanitas’s master murdered him? I thought it was an accident!”

“How do you know that, Terra?” Aqua asked.

“Because I was there! I had to see Xehanort...” Terra grimaced. “I had to see it.”

“Why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Ven asked. “Were you waiting for me to ask about this too?”

“No, Vanitas would have retaliated if I had told any of you,” Terra said. “But that’s beside the point.” He locked his ferocious gaze onto Eraqus. “The point is that I can’t do this anymore.”

Eraqus’s eyes widened in horror. Ven was about to ask why when he noticed a shimmering aura around Terra warping the third plane.

His eyes glowed yellow.

“I didn’t ask for this, Master! I didn’t seek the darkness. But it found me. And no matter what I did- no matter what I do- it won’t leave me. I’m done with being afraid of it all the time. No longer.”

Eraqus narrowed his eyes.

“So you choose the darkness, Terra? In front of your own master?”

“I do! I’m going to teach Riku how to control it. We’ll master it together. And if Vanitas decides to leave his murderer, we will make a place for him.”

“Stop this!” Eraqus cried. Horror possessed him like he was watching his worst nightmare come to life in front of him. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I do,” Terra said bluntly. “If you don’t agree with my choice, then you should do what you should have done the second I returned home and banish me.”

Eraqus’s face shook in a way Ven had never seen before. “Xehanort once told me the same thing. He said he would control the darkness, but it controlled him enough to- if you are right- kill his own apprentice. Do you want Riku’s blood on your hands?”

Terra faltered.

“I won’t let that happen,” he managed.

Eraqus put his hand on Terra’s arm. “Let’s go home and work this out,” he murmured. “You had it under control once-”

Terra ripped Eraqus’s hand off of his arm so quickly Ven was worried that he had snapped his wrist. “Don’t you get it? I never did! Why do you think I ran away from home in the first place?”

“Stop it, both of you!” Aqua stepped between them. Terra let go. She turned to face him. “Now, tell me what you mean by that.”

Her voice broke mid-sentence.

“We were at a clan meeting,” Terra said. “I can’t remember why, but I accidentally reached out to the fourth plane. It wasn’t the first time I had, but it was when I was surrounded by people who could have banished me right there. I was scared. That just made it worse. Then Xehanort found me. I don’t know how, or why he was in the area, but he found me. He calmed me down and told me that everything was going to be okay, and there was nothing wrong with me. I was sixteen, Master, and I was terrified! He gave me his phone number, and he eventually convinced me that it would be safer for everyone if I left to train with him. He said it would be temporary, just until I got my darkness under control.” Terra’s eyes turned distant. “I almost didn’t leave. I didn’t want to leave. But when my meltdown knocked out the power of the entire island, I knew I didn’t have a choice, not if I wanted to keep you two safe.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Aqua asked quietly.

“You would have told him.”

Aqua looked like she had been stabbed in the stomach.

Terra’s anger faded into regret. “Xehanort failed me. He taught me how to be more dangerous, not less. But I refuse to fail Riku. I refuse to let him feel the fear I felt for years. So banish me, Master. Just like you banished Xehanort.”

Eraqus narrowed his eyes. “No,” he said. “We are returning home and discussing this.”

“We just did,” Terra said.

He turned and began to walk away. Aqua grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going?”

He didn’t answer.

“Get in the car.” Aqua’s voice was glacial. “Eraqus hasn’t banished you yet.”

Terra turned, and Ven could see the desire to refuse just to be contrarian in his eyes and teeth. It was so much like Vanitas. Ven supposed it was fair. After all, they shared the same master-

And their master was the one who murdered Vanitas.

“Terra?”

Ven hated how weak his voice sounded, but it made Aqua and Terra’s faces soften and turn to him.

“Did Xehanort… was it really on purpose?”

Terra walked over to Ven and put his hand on his shoulder. Aqua let go of his arm so he could do so.

“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t stop it.”

“My brother was murdered?”

Terra’s face crumpled. “Yeah.”

“And he just went back to his murderer?”

Terra just nodded. Aqua knelt to his eye level and put a hand on his cheek.

“Let’s take you home,” she murmured.

Ven stumbled back to the car in a numb haze. He collapsed into the back seat. After a moment’s hesitation, Terra joined him. The silence that wrapped around the car was exactly the same as the one wrapping around Ven’s heart.

Chapter Text

The eggs boiled in the pot. Ven stared as they bubbled, tumbling in the turmoil of the water. It choked them with its inescapable pressure. As Ven watched, the soft whites tensed into an uneasy solid around a yolk. One wrong move, one stray bubble, and the shield would fracture, letting the yolk bleed out until there was nothing left.

"How do the eggs look?" Aqua asked.

Ven moved aside to let her peer into the pot.

"It looks like they're almost ready," she said. "We can take them out soon."

"Are we out of eggs?" Ven asked.

"No, why?"

"There are only two in the pot, and I don't see any more on the counter," Ven said.

Aqua smiled.

"That's because these are just for us," she said with a smile. From just out of Ven's view, she pulled out a tupperware container with toasted English muffins and ham. "Let's go to the beach."

"By ourselves?" Ven confirmed, hope in his voice.

"Just the two of us," Aqua said.

Ven had the urge to press his forehead to hers in pure gratitude, so he did.

"I think the eggs are ready now," she said.

The two of them carefully navigated the eggs onto their waiting beds. Aqua stabilized them with a spell muttered under her breath. Ven ran to his room to grab a hoodie.

He wished he didn't have to. Terra's clothes were out of their drawers and stacked in an unzipped suitcase.

Waiting.

Ven had never thrown on a hoodie so fast in his life. He raced out of the room and fled down the stairs.

"Where are you two going?" Eraqus asked as they passed him behind the shop counter.

Ven tensed. It wasn't that they weren't allowed to leave, but every word Eraqus said made him tense these days. He had been avoiding Terra for the last few weeks. Ven was almost impressed, considering their cramped living conditions. Sometimes, when Eraqus's eyes did land on Terra, or after a meal filled with bedrock-dense silence, he thought Eraqus would begin to speak the words of banishment. Ven took small comfort in the fact that he never did.

"We're having brunch by the beach," Aqua said evenly. "We shouldn't be gone for too long."

"Will Terra be joining you?"

"No," Aqua said. "I think he's with Riku."

"Practicing dark magic?" Eraqus asked.

The lesson ban had effectively ended the instant Ven brought Vanitas back to life. Terra’s declaration was its death knell.

"I don't know," Aqua said. "Let's go, Ven, or the food will get cold by the time we get there."

Terra had enchanted the tupperware to keep food warm a long time ago. Everyone knew it.

"Do you need me to drive?" Ven asked.

"I should be fine," Aqua said.

The tension from The Situation followed them into the car like always. Ven scowled and watched the rest of the World crawl by. The tip of his tongue begged to talk about anything other than the naked sword hanging over them, but he couldn't think of anything. The idea that his best friend might be permanently cut off from him made it hard to breathe.

Should I ask how Kairi and Sora's training is going?

No, because everyone's training was weird since no one wanted to train in the shop, which was Eraqus's domain.

"This sucks," Ven said.

Aqua looked over at him.

"Yes, it does. But I can't remember the last time we had brunch at the beach."

"It was a restaurant, I think," Ven said. "The Master's birthday," he muttered.

Even small talk led back to The Situation.

"The weather is lovely," Aqua said with half-hearted cheerfulness.

"I think it's going to be windy at the beach," Ven said. "I don't really have the energy to prevent my emotions from kicking everything up. Hopefully sand won’t get into our food.” He looked back at Aqua. “It's super amazing that you can hold it in."

Aqua's smile was a little thinner. "We're almost there."

The soft murmur of the ocean's waves did make Ven relax a little. The lull whisked away his worries just long enough for him to unpack the blanket and food. The wind didn't whip around as much as Ven feared it would as he unfolded the gingham picnic blanket and opened the still-warm tupperware.

"This is a nice spot," Aqua said.

"I don't think there are any bad spots," Ven said, "especially now that most of the tourists aren't here."

"It is a little chilly," Aqua said.

"Want me to grab a hoodie from the car?" Ven asked.

"That's nice of you," Aqua said, "but I don't think it will help much."

Ven noticed the ice crystals dotting her arms.

"The eggs look really good," Ven said. "Can't wait to try it!"

"I haven't made hollandaise sauce before," Aqua said, "so I hope it turns out alright."

Master Eraqus was always the one who made hollandaise sauce.

Fuck, it really was inescapable.

No, he was at the beach, eating delicious food with his best friend. He just needed to focus on how pretty it was, how nice the waves sounded, and how tasty the food was.

Ven poured the sauce over the eggs. It spilled over them. He started cutting around the yolk, trying to get sauce and ham in the process. Aqua cut straight into her egg. The yolk burst out and oozed around the muffin bed. The entire container was filled with egg yolk. There was nowhere she could have put the muffin where it couldn’t be soaked. It surrounded the food in an inescapable flood.

"There's a reason I brought you out here today," Aqua said.

"To get away from things? I think it helps. I really needed this."

"I wish I could say that, Ven," Aqua said. "But we have to talk about this."

Ven scowled and stabbed his egg. Yolk burst forth and soaked his container. It no longer looked as appetizing as it did a second ago.

"Fine. I don't know what there is to talk about. This sucks and I hate it. I... I just want him to do it already! I don't want Terra gone, but maybe it'll be better than the waiting. What is he waiting for?"

“I don’t know,” Aqua said. “That wasn’t what I meant. We need to talk about what we’re going to do if the Master banishes Terra.”

“No. I don’t wanna.”

“Ven, we can’t avoid this forever.”

“Why not? Maybe it’ll just go away.”

“Do you really believe that?” Aqua asked.

Ven shoveled a bite of muffin soaked with runny yolk into his mouth.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Ven said when he had finished chewing. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“We should make a plan. Just in case.”

“Fine. What were you thinking?”

“Well, how much do you know about banishing?”

“Not much,” Ven admitted. “It wasn’t important until now.”

"I've been doing research," Aqua said. "The spell itself is quite simple. All it does is mark the banished person with an X on their chest on the higher planes. They call it the Recusant's sigil. It's not like a witch's sigil; it can't be concealed by spells or clothing. It's designed to be a simple spell anyone can do, so its effect is mostly social." She swallowed. Her egg sat practically untouched. "Any witch who sees it, even those from other clans, knows what it means, or they have it explained to them rather quickly. Most witches don't ask why someone has the Recusant's sigil, they just fear them and shun them. And that's the point."

No wonder Xehanort lived in the middle of nowhere; he had no choice.

Ven stabbed his egg so hard the yolk spurted up and splashed his hand. Xehanort had murdered his brother. Ven didn't want to give him an ounce of pity.

"How could the Master even think about doing that to Terra?"

"Because it is his duty." Aqua's voice took Eraqus's steel tone. "He is a witch. Witches protect and serve the World. Dark magic hurts the World, or so he’s always said, and so it is his job to make sure people don't use it."

"Do you really believe that, Aqua? Even after Vanitas’s accident with the kid, I don’t think it hurts the World any more than any other magic does."

"I think I agree with you now," Aqua said. "I think banishment hurts the World far more than dark magic. I think it’s a curse. But the Master has taught us that dark magic is a great threat to the World. His opposition to it is part of who he is and part of who he taught us to be. But even if we don't agree with him, we still have a duty to him. He's our master."

"Where are you going with this, Aqua?"

"If the Master does end up banishing Terra, one of us needs to stay with him and take care of him. The other can go with Terra."

Ven’s breath froze in his lungs like he had been submerged in icy waters.

"No! Nonononono NO! You promised me we wouldn't be split apart. You promised I would never have to go through with that again." Ven pulled his Wayfinder from his pocket and grabbed it so tightly it dug into his skin. "You promised!"

"I'm so sorry," Aqua said. Her eyes welled with tears. "I didn't think this would happen. It's all of my nightmares rolled into one. My family's being split apart, too. But the Master needs us, Ven, and we have a duty to him."

"I don't want to leave you two," Ven said. "I don't want to be left behind."

"Then go with Terra," Aqua said. "I'll stay with the Master."

"No!” Ven felt like a toddler having a tantrum, but he didn’t care. “That's worse!"

"I did it once, Ven," Aqua said. "I'll be okay."

Ven remembered the way her voice shook when she had told him about home without Terra before. He remembered the way the aluminum can crumpled in her hand when she told him about her relationship with alcohol. He remembered every time she had stayed in bed for the entire day or only slunk out of it to crawl to work- and that was with a functional family.

"Will you?"

Aqua lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. "Yes. Because I have to be. I'm the okay one. I always have been."

"But that's horrible!" Ven exclaimed. "You're not okay now; I know you're not. You don't have to pretend to be okay with me."

Aqua's shoulders trembled. "If I fall apart now, I might never come back together. I don't think I'm strong enough."

"You are strong," Ven said. "You're the strongest person I know."

"But you don't think I could manage being alone with the Master for years on end again?" Aqua asked with a faint, wry smile.

"That's not the point. The point is that you shouldn't have to." Ven put aside their food and wrapped her in a hug. "Whatever happens, we should face it together- all three of us."

The crashing of the waves grew louder in Ven’s ears.

"Ven?"

He could barely hear Aqua's voice beneath the roar and whir of the sea gale.

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course. You can tell me anything."

"Promise you won't be mad?"

"Promise."

"I'm mad at Terra," Aqua said. "I wish he could just repress it and things could be normal again. But that's horrible, and I know he never really could, but I wish he would keep trying. I wish he'd give into the Master instead of waiting for the Master to give way to him."

Ven didn't know what to say. A part of him was a little mad that she was mad at Terra for sticking to his beliefs, but he promised not to be.

Aqua's tears began to stain Ven's shirt.

"Where did things go wrong?" she asked quietly. "My family is falling apart all over again. When I was little, I thought that if I had been better, my mom wouldn't have drunk. So when Eraqus adopted me, I tried to be even better. I was perfect. I followed every rule, because I thought that if I did, everything would work itself out. But the rules were part of the problem. I didn’t see that until now."

"It wasn't your fault your mom was an alcoholic," Ven said. "None of this is your fault."

"But if I had just-"

"Terra made his choices. So did the Master. You aren't responsible for either of them."

“You know that’s not true,” Aqua said. “They’re our family. They’ll always be our responsibility.”

Ven remembered life as the eldest of five siblings. He remembered putting aside his third-grade homework to watch Sora and Roxas because Vanitas was in trouble again and Mom was talking with his teacher and Dad was finally getting some sleep after Xion had fussed all night. He remembered feeding Vanitas and helping the younger foster kids with their schoolwork because no one else would. He remembered gratitude characterizing his fuzzy first memories of Terra and Aqua and Eraqus because, even in the fog after the coma, he relished being the one being taken care of for once. He imagined what it was like for Aqua; how the system took her away from her family because she couldn’t take care of her eight-year-old self and her single alcoholic mother; living as the younger of two children in a new family but learning to ensure Terra was emotionally stable enough to keep forbidden magic at bay; being an only child once more with the knowledge that she was all that an aging Eraqus still had.

“Do you think there’s anything you can do?”

Ven meant to assure her with the question, but instead it made her grab him tighter and cry harder.

“Everything is falling apart and there’s nothing I can do about it!”

The roar of the waves stopped as suddenly as a paused song. A faint tinkling sound floated towards them. Ven looked up from his embrace with Aqua and was met with endless white.

The surf had frozen as far as Ven could see.

The churn of the waves started to break up the ice almost immediately; even Aqua’s magic outburst couldn’t stop the sea. The sight of the magic brought a ghost of a smile to Aqua’s face.

“I can freeze the tides, Ven, but I can’t keep a family together.” She made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a cry. “I can’t even keep myself together. I need to be okay, but I’m not.”

Ven took her hand and squeezed it. "That's okay. Neither am I, to be honest."

They watched the gray water swallow the ice that had burst from Aqua’s heart. The few tourists and beachgoers that were there began to notice the ice sheet that had appeared out of nowhere. There were shouts and pointing fingers.

“Let’s go back,” Aqua said, like a general announcing a suicide charge. “And whatever happens… we’ll deal with it when we have to. Together.”

In the car, Ven pulled out his phone and sent an email to the string of numbers Vanitas had left him.

The eventual response read:

Chapter Text

"Welcome back, boy."

Vanitas grinned at the cold rasp of Xehanort's words.

"It's good to be back."

Xehanort grabbed Vanitas's wrist and turned it over. "So you're back alive? How did you manage that?"

"I pulled myself from the fourth plane."

"Fascinating." Xehanort's eyes glittered. "We'll have to run some tests once we return home."

"Yes, Master."

As Vanitas hopped into the shiny car that had driven Xehanort to the ferry port (his favorite of many), he marveled over the feeling of the clean leather under his fingers. Now that he was alive again, he would be able to appreciate the benefits of his master's expanded bank account.

He couldn't help but think back to the last time he had done the drive from the ferry dock to Xehanort’s mansion. The readings Xehanort had handed Vanitas the instant he had stepped into the backseat- “to make up for lost time" -were infinitely more interesting than the public radio quiz show, the car was more elegant than Eraqus's beat-up sedan, and he much preferred Xehanort's company.

Vanitas didn't know why he thought of Terra and Eraqus. He would never have to think of them again. Besides, he was excited to see his master again.

"How was jail, old man?"

Xehanort’s cold eyes met him through the rearview mirror. "Because of that inopportune trip, you have wasted almost a year without proper training. We have lots of catching up to do."

"Yes, Master," Vanitas said. "It'll be a relief to do some proper magic."

"Have you tried using your magic since you've been revived?" Xehanort asked.

Vanitas closed his eyes and reached out to the fourth. "No, but the fourth doesn't feel any farther. I'm sure things will be fine."

"I want to be certain. Let me know the instant you sense a dead animal. I want to make sure you haven't lost anything."

"Yes, Master."

Vanitas was halfway through the second of the readings Xehanort had given him when he directed him to a dead raven on the side of the road. Luckily, it was just as easy as every revival before it.

I'll name you Archie.

Vanitas directed Archie to the foot of the seat next to Vanitas. There was so much empty space in the car that he could have fit an entire murder of crows into the car and not feel a difference.

He stretched his legs out as far as his muscles would let him and basked in the legroom.

The black mansion had never looked so inviting in Vanitas's life. He could still see the scorch marks from where he had torched Xehanort’s office to cover their tracks, but other than that, it hadn't changed since the arrest. The entry hallway looked just as spotless as it had the last time Vanitas had stepped foot in it.

"It really is good to be back."

"Your new form seems to resemble that of a normal nineteen-year-old's. How is your appetite?"

"I'm not hungry, but I think it's because Terra and Aqua insisted on feeding me before I left."

Vanitas tensed. He had let his guard down. That stupid household had gotten him out of the habit of watching his words. It was unbelievably foolish for Vanitas to even mention them.

"I can see that you’ve developed attachments to Eraqus’s apprentices," Xehanort said evenly.

“Nah,” Vanitas said. “They might have gotten attached to me, though. Might be useful if you want to get to Eraqus.” Vanitas watched Xehanort’s face carefully for any reaction at the name, but his face remained even.

"What is in your pockets, boy?"

Vanitas didn’t freeze. He didn’t tense. He just emptied his pockets. Terra’s amulet was so stupidly powerful there was no way he would have been able to hide it, but Vanitas debated slipping Aqua’s ear cuffs under his sleeves. He decided the risk wasn’t worth the implications Xehanort would draw if he was caught, so he presented them to Xehanort along with the amulet and cursed himself for not putting them on the second he got them.

“Gifts from Terra and Aqua, I presume?”

“Hardly,” Vanitas said. “I stole them right before I left. They were left on the workshop bench.”

“I’m surprised Terra didn’t present the amulet to you as a gift,” Xehanort said evenly, “especially considering it has your sigil on it.”

It did?

It did.

“I didn’t notice,” Vanitas said. He had stuffed it in his pocket so quickly he never got a chance to examine it.

“Terra always was sentimental,” Xehanort said. “Amulets are apropos for a coward like him.” He narrowed his eyes at the amulet. “It does seem somewhat powerful. Keep these, if you think you need them.”

“I don’t,” Vanitas said. “Might as well get rid of them here.”

Terra’s amulet incinerated almost instantly under the force of the fourth plane. For all of its protective powers, it wasn’t designed to protect itself. All of the energy from the Samhain circle they had stood together in dissipated into the planes in an instant. Aqua’s earrings lasted a little longer, but they, too, crumpled to ash.

Vanitas dusted his hands off. His face was a perfectly blank mask.

“So, do you have tests you want to run on me?” Vanitas asked.

“You assume correctly,” Xehanort said. “We have a lot to catch up on.”

Something occurred to Vanitas as he followed his master further into the house. Terra and Aqua’s gifts, intentionally or otherwise, left a message: if Vanitas suddenly disappeared or died, it would no longer go unnoticed. The amulet still protected Vanitas as a pile of inert dust on the floor.

He told himself he didn’t need it either way.

Xehanort measured Vanitas's endurance, strength, pain tolerance, speed, and practically every other possible measurement possible on a human body.

"This is acceptable," Xehanort said when he finally finished.

“Are there any more tests you want to run?"

"Not for now,” Xehanort said. “Get some sleep. Your body requires it now. I will wake you at sunset to run through your arcane sets."

"Yes, Master."

Vanitas’s room, unlike the rest of the house, was different than it had been when he showed it to Ventus. The tarot card of Death that had been fastened to the wall above the desk had slipped so it hung inverted. The worn orange comforter that was probably Terra’s, once upon a time, had been replaced with crisp red sheets. His old dresser had also been re-placed into the room. Vanitas opened the drawers. They were filled with nondescript clothes about Vanitas’s size. He was changing into a pair of pajamas when something in his back pocket poked him.

It was the broken necklace Ventus had used to try to exorcize Vanitas. He held it up to the light. Of course the one trinket that managed to slip through Xehanort’s attention was completely useless to him.

Well, maybe there was a use for it. If Vanitas tried to hide it in his room, he could discern Xehanort’s will and ability to snoop through his stuff.

The necklace disappeared a week later.

Vanitas’s life returned to studying dark magic and little more. He was too swamped with assignments and practice; he barely had time to think about anything else.

There were a few times when, despite his best efforts, thoughts of the islands and the people on them flashed through his mind. Vanitas smugly compared Xehanort to Eraqus every chance he could. Sometimes he would be reading and he would think about how Ventus would never be able to understand the magic Vanitas text was reading like a recipe. He wondered if his elemental magic was strong enough to outshine Aqua's. The short thoughts of Ventus’s friends surprised him. He hardly remembered anyone from all of his previous foster homes. Ventus was the one who made friends and regretted it when they inevitably moved.

Maybe that was the difference: Aqua and Terra practically forced their friendship onto him.

But they were gone. Vanitas berated himself for getting attached and returned to whatever reading assignment he was wading through.

Vanitas had figured out a long time ago how to communicate or research without fear of Xehanort looking over his shoulder. The house had Internet (the best money could buy), but Vanitas knew Xehanort was good enough with computers to be able to use it to trace Vanitas's activity, so he had been in the habit of using the ancient computers at the dusty, faded nagic library for activity he wanted to keep away, even as a ghost. The email Vanitas had provided to Ventus was perfectly serviceable for contacting him or the others, but actually checking the email involved waiting until his master was asleep and trekking through the dry desert streets for fifteen minutes. It was even more obnoxious as a living person because he had to interact with the nagics running the library and sign in. He felt the eyes of the librarians bore into the back of his neck every time he sat in the computer chair.

Sora emailed him every day with small updates on his life: he passed an exam, he did a really hard spell, he went to a school dance with Riku and Kairi. Roxas emailed him once to apologize for Sora’s flood of emails and send his own ‘how are you? I hope you’re doing well.’ Xion updated Vanitas on their lab’s findings, just like they promised. Vanitas gave short replies to Sora’s emails and sent longer updates (usually about a paragraph long) to his siblings as a whole.

Sometimes, thoughts crossed his mind on comments he would make if the person were in front of him, but they weren’t worth the effort it would take to actually write them down, let alone spend over an hour doing so.

Only one thought that crossed his mind as he ate Xehanort’s leftover pan-fried udon stayed long enough for Vanitas to actually send it.

To Vanitas’s surprise, Terra wrote back by the next time he had checked his email.

Vanitas replied the only way he could think of.

The thread took more than two weeks to complete. If Vanitas reread the entire thing with a smile every time he opened the email… well, only the nosy nagics would know.

Ventus emailed him once and exactly once.

Calling Ventus would cut into the precious little sleep he got.

He set up a time anyway.

"Hello, Ventus." Vanitas blinked. The library computer screens were so ancient that Vanitas could practically count the pixels with his naked eye, but something was immediately noticeable. "You look horrible."

"Thanks," Ventus said. "It's been rough here for the past few weeks."

"Miss me that much already?" Vanitas asked.

"No, that's not it," Ventus said bluntly. "I mean, part of me wishes you were around so I could talk to you about this more easily, but at the same time, you would probably just make this a million times worse. I dunno. Maybe you'd break the tension. I can't stand it anymore. I'm going crazy."

"Did something happen?" Vanitas asked.

Ventus laughed bitterly, almost hysterical. It wasn't the type of laugh that was supposed to come from his brother's mouth.

"Yeah, you could say that! Right when you left, Terra said he was going to start using dark magic again and teaching it to Riku."

"He said this in front of Eraqus?"

"He said it to Eraqus."

"Void between," Vanitas muttered. Louder, he said, "good for him. I was worried he'd never stand up for himself."

"It's not good for him," Ventus said, "or us."

"Is Eraqus taking it that badly?"

"That's an understatement," Ventus said. "Terra dared him to banish him right then and there. They haven't really spoken since. Terra's been packing and getting ready for Eraqus to banish him, but nothing's happened for weeks. Neither of them look like they're going to change their minds. It fucking sucks!"

"Any reason in particular Terra felt inspired to finally put his foot down?” Vanitas asked.

“He blamed the Master for not liking your magic,” Ventus said. “He said that if our place had been a better place for dark magic, you wouldn’t have…”

“That’s awful sweet of Terra,” Vanitas drawled, “but even if Eraqus had embraced the fourth plane with his entire heart, it wouldn’t change the fact that Xehanort is the only experienced teacher of dark magic. It’s not like Terra could teach me. I’ve been practicing longer than he has.”

“You don’t think you could teach yourself?” Ventus asked. “I’ve seen the stuff you read in your free time. You don’t need Xehanort.” The expression on his face wobbled. “In fact… Vanitas, I have something important to tell you."

Darkness and void between.

"What?" Vanitas spat.

"You know how you died in that magical accident? Well, um, Terra told me... he told me it wasn't an accident." Ventus bore his baby-blue eyes right into Vanitas's. "Your master killed you on purpose, Vanitas."

"I know," Vanitas said with a roll of his eyes. "Terra told me before he told you, and I figured it out long before then."

"You knew? Then why did you return to him?"

"He's my master, Ventus! We’ve already had this conversation."

"But what if he kills you again?"

Vanitas supposed he should have expected the question that kept him up at night more than Xehanort’s ceaseless assignments, his body's lack of adjustment to sleeping, the habit of trekking across town to check his email, or the nightmares that reintroduced themselves the very night he returned to life. It burned in the back of his mind constantly. When Xehanort became especially displeased, or pushed him especially hard in training, it flared into a bonfire.

"He has no reason to kill me again," Vanitas recited the way he had a thousand times before. "I'm more useful to him alive. He needs me as an undead apprentice more than he needs me as a dead one, especially considering there's no guarantee I'd be able to stick around twice. Besides, he knows you guys know I'm alive now and will immediately suspect him if I suddenly die one day."

"But you really want to be apprenticing with someone who killed you?"

"Do you want to apprentice with someone who would banish their best friend and their own fucking child? Let's not pretend Eraqus is perfect."

"He hasn't killed anyone!” Ventus exclaimed. “The comparison isn't fair at all!"

"If he does banish Terra, he will have to treat him as if he were dead. I think that's close enough."

"He hasn't banished Terra yet."

"But he will," Vanitas said. "I don't know what's taking him so long, but once the clan sticks their nose anywhere near him, he'll banish Terra and wipe his hands of the whole thing."

"That's not true!" Ventus exclaimed.

"Where is your master, anyway?" Vanitas asked. "I can see you're at the shop. Talking shit about your own master while he's in earshot is bold for you."

Ventus didn't even flinch. "The Master took the car out this morning. He said he would be gone all day."

"What is he doing?"

"He didn't tell me," Ventus said.

Silence floated between them.

“Why did you wait this long to tell me all of this?” Vanitas finally asked. “It’s clearly been weighing on you for weeks.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you until it resolved one way or another,” Ventus said. “I didn’t want it to stress you out, too. But yesterday, Aqua took me to the beach for a talk. She said we're going to have to split up. One of us has to stay with the Master, and the other gets to go with Terra.” His voice began to shake. "But she promised me that I wouldn't have to go through this again! She promised!"

"That was stupid of her," Vanitas said. "You got too attached. Everyone's company is temporary. The only person you'll have for your whole life is yourself. Loving everyone who spends time in your company is a waste."

"That's harsh."

"It's true. Friends are great, but lifetime friends don't exist. Don't ever rely on anyone else's company again."

"That's bullshit," Ventus said. "We're going to be lifetime friends because we're brothers."

"You say this now," Vanitas said, "but what if you die tomorrow? What if I do something that offends you so much you would feel immoral to speak with me? Unconditional love is only admirable to a fault. You love people too easily. You need to learn to not get so attached and live without them."

"I just want something constant," Ventus said. "I want someone I can rely on to be there by my side after all of the shit we’ve been through. Aqua and Terra promised they would be there for me. Aqua even put a spell on it."

"Then you have nothing to worry about, then," Vanitas said with a roll of his eyes. "That magic charm will keep you three together no matter what. Lucky you. I just hope those bonds don't turn into chains. Forever is a long time. What if you outgrow each other? What if you don't want to be friends anymore?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it," Ventus said. "They're not just friends to me. They're family. I love them.”

His words shouldn’t have hurt, but they did. If he had powered an Unversed with the emotion he had felt in the moment Ventus had said those words, it would make the bat of anger look as pitiful as the first slug that had wriggled back to life beneath his hands.

He never denied that he replaced me. He just brought me back to life because he felt bad.

Vanitas wouldn’t show it on his face. Ventus didn’t notice any difference, or if he did, he was too wrapped up in his own problems to care.

“And what good is that love doing now?” Vanitas asked.

"I can't believe I called you because I thought you might make me feel better," Ventus said with a scowl.

"I can't believe you called me for that either," Vanitas said.

"But," Ventus's face softened, "it is good to see you're doing okay. Even if you are still an asshole."

"Always and forever, Venty-Wenty."

“I love you, you piece of shit,” Ventus said. “I might call again soon.”

“I look forward to it, you baby-faced loser,” Vanitas replied. “And I love you, too.”

Less than a minute after Ventus had hung up, Archie, who was sitting watch on the mansion’s gate, tugged at Vanitas through whatever magical bond connected them. Vanitas looked through his eyes and-

"No way. No fucking way."

Vanitas sprinted back to the house. He had to make sure someone hadn't enchanted his raven, because that would have made more sense than the person that was loitering outside of the gate, careless of the triple-strength ward.

He skidded around the corner.

His raven was not tricked. There was no illusion.

Well, Venty, I found out where your master went.

"What the fuck are you doing here? My master's asleep. He'll be asleep for a while."

"I know," Eraqus said. "I came here for you."

Chapter Text

"You came here for me?" Vanitas echoed.

Eraqus just nodded.

"How did you know I wasn't home?"

"I didn't," Eraqus said. "I was trying to figure out which room was yours."

"Were you planning on throwing rocks at my window?" Vanitas read between the lines. "Are you sure you don't want to speak to my master at all?"

"I'm sure." Eraqus's voice was firm.

"I don't want you to come into our house," Vanitas said. "There's a diner nearby. Pay for my food, and I'll talk with you."

They trudged along. Archie perched on Vanitas's shoulder. His talons dug into his skin, which made Vanitas bite back a wince, but he was well-aware of how cool it looked, so he told him to stay.

"Is this place good?" Eraqus asked.

"I've been to a few places," Vanitas said, "moving from foster home to foster home and whatnot, so I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this diner serves the worst hamburger ever."

Eraqus tightened his lips. "I see."

He still kept walking with Vanitas. Despite himself, he was dying to know what the fuck drove Eraqus, king stick-up-the-ass himself, to drive hours into bumfuck nowhere to speak to Vanitas. But he wasn't Ventus. He was patient. If Eraqus wanted to make him squirm with anticipation, he wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Besides, Archie seemed to make Eraqus want to squirm, and the satisfaction sated his curiosity.

Vanitas stormed through the doors like he had returned to his house after school.

"Table for two," he announced.

As usual, his entry into the diner silenced the chatter of the other patrons. Vanitas assumed that people would adjust to his presence, but they still looked at him like walking through the doors was the most audacious thing imaginable, and a few still reached for what Vanitas knew were concealed gun holsters. Maybe they were extra surprised that he had brought a guest with him. Vanitas wondered if they knew he was the same poltergeist that had tormented the entire town for four years. They treated him like they did, even though Vanitas was fairly certain they had no way of knowing he was. It was probably all the same ‘witch stuff’ to them.

One of the waiters glanced at Archie nervously.

"We don't allow animals in here," he said.

Vanitas scoffed. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Vanitas," Eraqus said in his I'm-an-old-man-so-I-think-you-should-listen-to-everything-I-say voice, "leave the bird outside."

"You're siding with them?" Vanitas sneered.

"This isn't about sides. This is a restaurant. That is a dead bird. Leave it outside."

"Well, when you put it like that..."

Everyone in the restaurant seemed especially unnerved by the revelation that Archie was dead.

Good. It made their flinch when he flew out the door even more satisfying.

"I apologize for his behavior," Eraqus said.

"No problem," the waiter said in a voice that indicated it was a huge problem, actually, but he was too exhausted by Vanitas’s presence to complain. "We have open seating. You should know that by now,” he said to Vanitas. “Take a seat anywhere."

Eraqus took the chair against the wall and closest to the exit before Vanitas could.

"Are you going to attempt to engage in small talk?" Vanitas said as he slid into the chair across the table. "Don't bother. Ventus filled me in on the situation. I never thought things would turn more chaotic without me. I’m almost jealous. Do you want to know what I think?"

“No.”

“Too bad. I think it’s about time Terra stood up to you. The fourth plane will never stop calling him. I can’t imagine how stressful it must be to consciously reject it every second of every day.”

"I didn't come here to speak about the situation with Terra,” Eraqus said. Vanitas detected the slightest tone of impatience within his voice.

“May I take your order?”

The wait staff was fast, as usual whenever Vanitas came. They really wanted him gone.

“Two hamburgers,” Vanitas said. “And water. Make it snappy.”

Eraqus didn’t object, so the waiter left.

“Have you ever considered there’s a reason you get served the worst burgers?”

“Yes,” Vanitas said icily, “but I don’t care. These bastards made my master go to jail for months. A little rudeness is nothing compared to what I’d like to do. But that’s enough about them. What inspired you to drive for hours to speak with me, of all people?”

Eraqus pressed his lips together.

“I would like to see you... revive something for me.”

“You want to watch as I bring something back from the dead?” Vanitas clarified.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

"I would like to understand dark magic better."

"And so you chose the darkest, most taboo form of magic to do so. Interesting."

Eraqus did not respond.

"If I refuse," Vanitas continued, "you will have driven hours for absolutely nothing."

"No," Eraqus said. "There is something else I must tell you. Perhaps I should have told you earlier, but... no matter."

"Hm," Vanitas said. "I'll think about it."

He weighed his pros and cons as he sipped the chalky tap water the waiter set down. If he refused Eraqus, he would have more time to close his eyes and might even get a few hours of sleep. There was also the sadistic joy that would come from shoving Eraqus's request in his face after coming all the way from the islands. Vanitas was under no obligation to show his magic to anyone who asked.

Besides, what if it was a trap? What if Eraqus wanted to get rid of Vanitas when there were fewer people to miss him? The evidence of Ventus's half-necromancy would be gone forever. The more Vanitas thought about it, the more ingenious it was, especially since, if Terra had told them all how Vanitas had died the first time, the blame for Vanitas's second disappearance would naturally fall on Xehanort.

On the other hand, the revival would probably scare Eraqus much more than Archie resting on his shoulder.

"I'll do it," Vanitas said right as the waiter brought them their burgers.

"Thank you," Eraqus said. "Would you like to finish your burger first?"

Vanitas looked down at the sorry excuse for a meal in front of him. Grease dripped down the burnt burger meat and onto the stale bun. It all rested on a tasteless tomato and limp lettuce. Vanitas was willing to bet his favorite ring that someone had spat in it. The fries were a soggy garnish to the sad affair. Even the ketchup smelled weird, and he knew for a fact it came from a bottle.

He picked up the burger and wolfed it down without putting it down once.

Eraqus observed him with raised eyebrows.

"You consume the food quite heartily for someone with your reservations."

He hadn’t touched his food.

Vanitas shoved some of the fries into the shitty ketchup and swallowed them whole. "There are better restaurants here, but they won’t let me ten feet near the door. This place is so low-brow they'll even serve me."

"Why not order something else, then?"

“I couldn’t eat for four years,” Vanitas said. “Bad food is almost more interesting than good food.”

"Has Xehanort's cooking grown even worse?" Eraqus asked.

Vanitas almost choked on his fry. The question was six different kinds of unexpected.

"It's still horrendous," he managed. "Did you do the cooking between the two of you?"

"Do you prefer the burger to Xehanort's cooking?" Eraqus asked in an obvious attempt to dodge the second question. "Does he cook for you?"

"I eat his leftovers. He hates it. Maybe that's why he cooks so poorly. Too bad. It won't stop me."

Eraqus had nothing to say to that.

A combination of Archie's bird's-eye view and Vanitas's sense for finding dead animals led Eraqus and Vanitas through the desert. Eraqus had not come equipped for a desert trek; he had come in loafers. Luckily for Eraqus, the dead dog wasn't too far off the road. It probably got hit by a car and limped away to die. It was short and stocky, but its matted fur told Vanitas either it was a stray or freed by death from another unpleasant situation. There were a few holes in its skin, too, where the first round of scavengers had nibbled before Archie scared them away.

Vanitas knelt in front of the dog, keeping his eye on Eraqus the entire time. Further reflection told him that murder wasn't Eraqus's style for cleaning up messes (at least not with his own hands), but he couldn't be too careful. Eraqus wrinkled his nose at the scent of dead dog.

"Would you like to live again?" Vanitas asked the dog's ghost.

It (he) leapt at Vanitas. Eraqus watched with steady eyes.

Vanitas pushed the ghost into his heart. He summoned all of the emotions that Eraqus stirred through his presence, all of the anger, contempt, fear, and hate, until, when he had channeled it all into the dog’s body, all that remained was the modicum of respect he had for him.

"By wind of death I wake you, Unversed to that which lies after life."

He decided to heal up some of the skin patches along with fixing the body. The dog jumped up, and Vanitas rose with him.

Eraqus shuddered, though he visibly tried to hide it.

I think I'll name you Stitch.

"Well?" Vanitas asked. "What did you think?"

Eraqus’s face was wan. Vanitas understood why he hadn't really touched the food he had paid for. The old man had some wisdom.

"Was that material necromancy?" he finally asked.

Vanitas blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Was that material necromancy, or was it something else?"

"Uh-"

Is he quizzing me? Darkness and void between, he never stops teaching.

But with all of his usual contempt inside of Stitch, all Vanitas felt was a grudging sense of respect for it. He did his research. No wonder he had been friends with Xehanort. In some ways, they weren't too different after all.

Eraqus never hit his pupils.

That's not important right now.

"Yes," Vanitas said. "Material necromancy derives its name from a host vessel that is present on the first plane. The creation of Unversed is an example of material necromancy. Sora's attempt was a rare example of attempted immaterial necromancy, which is only considered theoretical within ancient necromancy literature."

“You sound just like your master,” Eraqus said.

Vanitas’s breath caught like he had been slapped in the face.

“How so?” he asked carefully.

“You are both passionate about the topics you’re knowledgeable on.”

Did I pick that up from him? What else have I picked up from him?

The thought was as gaping and vertigo-inducing as jumping head-first into the fourth plane.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Eraqus continued. “What powers the Unversed?”

“My emotions,” Vanitas said. Normally he wouldn’t say it so carelessly, but he preferred anything to his previous train of thought.

"Dark ones," Eraqus said with a scowl.

"Yes, my dark emotions. They connect the body and ghost to the fourth plane through me, which fuels their life without the need of food. This one was powered by all of my emotions towards you. It’s quite powerful. I wouldn’t go near it if I were you."

Eraqus hadn't taken his eyes off of Stitch. Smart.

"What is it like for these... Unversed? I noticed you asked the ghost permission before the ritual."

"They listen to what I tell them to do, mostly out of boredom. Most animals don't know what to do without eating, sleeping, or mate-searching in some form."

"What if one of your Unversed doesn't want to listen to you?" Eraqus gestured to the dog. "This one doesn't look particularly obedient."

"Their connection with me teaches them the idea of a fair deal if they had no understanding of one before. They get to live again. That's good enough."

"And what about you?"

Vanitas blinked.

"I beg your pardon? What about me?"

"Are you Ventus's Unversed?” Eraqus asked. “He did not have your body, and so was not material necromancy as you have described it, so was it the previously only-theoretical immaterial necromancy?"

I don't know.

The best guess Vanitas had was an extreme form of Unversed creation where Vanitas slowly recreated his own body until Ventus pulled the body onto the first plane, but Ventus had no tie to the fourth plane to sustain Vanitas, who needed food, unlike the Unversed.

"Why do you want to know?" Vanitas asked instead of answering.

"I came here to understand the darkest of magic as well as I could before casting judgment."

There it was: the entire reason Eraqus had crawled his way to bumfuck nowhere.

"Well, I'm dying to know," Vanitas said with a grin. "I doubt my presentation magically changed your mind. You just came here to confirm what you already think: dark magic is a disgusting abomination that’s worth estranging your own child to keep away from you."

"The situation with Terra is far more complex than you imagine it to be,” Eraqus said. “But it does not change the fact that death is not supposed to be undone."

"And who says this? You and witches like yourself? I don't see you objecting to the medically-induced comas nagics sometimes perform during heart surgery."

"That death is not final. The ghost doesn't cross to the fourth."

"My death wasn't final either."

"The elements, growth, protection, and luck all are things present in the World. Witches augment or imitate them. You augment and imitate nothing. Your magic is unnatural."

"Is the fourth plane not part of the World?”

Eraqus opened his mouth, doubtlessly to define the World, as if there was only one perspective, but Vanitas had enough. He drew himself up, evened his voice, and let his face become blank.

“I won't sit here all day to argue with you about this," Vanitas said. "People don't change. I know exactly what is going to happen. You're the only one who can stop it, but you won’t."

"Oh?"

"You're going to banish Terra for dark magic use. Your identity is built on your coven's generation-spanning crusade against the darkness of the fourth plane. Your sense of duty won't allow Terra to remain and stain that reputation, so you'll banish him, just like you banished my master.”

“Xehanort’s banishment is also far more complicated than you paint it to be,” Eraqus said through clenched teeth. “You think I banished him for a mere look into the dark plane? I let him travel down the dark road for far too long before I realized what had happened. By the time I finally confronted him about it, it was too late. My caring, supportive best friend had been replaced with a monster with yellow eyes. He proved how dangerous he was” Eraqus rubbed the scars on his face “and I knew the only way the clan would be safe was without him in it. The fourth plane took my best friend from me.”

“Have you considered the idea that Xehanort was always a bad person, and the fourth plane just gave him the power to be himself?” Vanitas asked.

“It was the power that made him monstrous,” Eraqus said.

“Aren’t you worried that you’ll become a monster?” Vanitas asked pointedly. “A connection with the fourth plane is hardly a prerequisite for that. Unlike Xehanort, you’ll be a stupid monster, because instead of being able to blame the fourth plane for your unhappiness, all you’ll really be able to blame is yourself. If you banish Terra, Ventus's family will be torn apart for the third time, but that won’t matter to you. It probably should, because he won't stay with you. He and Aqua will follow Terra, Aqua and Terra's apprentices will follow them, and the others will follow them. And just like that, the entire community you were lucky enough to build around yourself will be destroyed.” Vanitas grinned. “You'll feel sad, but deep down, you’ll bask in the warmth of vindictive spite. Maybe you'll play nice with the rest of your clan and find others with your mindset, but they won't replace the family you threw away. Then you will die alone. We both know that day is coming sooner rather than later. As you die, maybe you'll call for them, and they will go to you, but either way, you'll die with the exact same remorse. The last thing you will feel is the regret that you had a good fucking family, and you threw it away!"

His roar echoed through the desert. The lack of sleep and stress of the dry desert sun and all of the reading he still had to do back at Xehanort’s house snapped the deadly calm Vanitas had built up. He took a deep breath. His words were even, with the barest trace of smugness, once more.

“Then, you will die, and the whole history of your coven that you're so proud of will die with you."

Vanitas blinked away angry tears and bore his gaze into Eraqus’s. His face kept its composure, but the steel in his eyes trembled. The unforgiving blaze of the desert sun cast his skin feverish. A car roared past the road behind them.

"Are you a clairvoyant?" Eraqus finally asked in a voice rough from dehydration.

"I am a necromancer, ” Vanitas said. “I know death and darkness. Don’t pretend that you’re above either."

“Your darkness blinds you to the good in people,” Eraqus said.

“Then prove me wrong, Master!” Vanitas snarled. “Show me that people can change after all, even if they’re as old as you are. Accept that our magic isn’t any different than yours and stop using the same arguments that have been used against all of us to make you feel better about yourself! If you don’t, you will tear your own family apart, and if Ventus weren’t part of it, I would never stop laughing.”

“My coven may fall apart regardless of my feelings towards the fourth plane,” Eraqus said. “My ultimate fate is factoring very little into my decisions.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, for the second reason I have come here today. There is grave news I must deliver. I waited before because I did not want this news to travel to Xehanort’s ears, but I have changed my mind. The sooner I wait, the more likely it is that irreparable harm may befall the World.”

“Well, what is it?”

“Shortly after Lammas, there was a secret meeting between the heads of the largest clans in the country. Our coven’s past as a clan and our history meant I was invited as well, as the topic in question was the use of dark magic. Xehanort’s arrest and the discovery of his dark magic demonstrated that banishment was not a useful deterrent for practicing dark magic. The heads of the clans chose a new one. They voted to make it the law amongst every witch within the continent, even those not usually subject to their law.”

“And what is this deterrent?” Vanitas asked. “Quit beating around the bush.”

“One of the clans claims to have discovered a theoretical method for cutting off an individual’s access to the higher planes. In other words, they have found a way to remove a person’s magic.”

It took a second for Vanitas to truly understand Eraqus’s words.

Remove a person’s magic?

“Xehanort would never cross that line,” Vanitas scoffed, “and he killed me out of pure curiosity.”

“This, I believe, presents a far greater threat to the World than dark magic does,” Eraqus said. “I told them as such, but they waived my concerns due to my connection with Xehanort.”

Why wouldn’t they trust him because of his connection with Xehanort? He had nothing to-

The realization made Vanitas cover his mouth. A thousand pins shot through his skin. Blood roared in his ears.

“They’re going to test it on us, aren’t they?” Vanitas could barely hear his own voice.

“Yes,” Eraqus said. “Soon, the clan will meet to share its findings for the investigation into Xehanort. In essence, it will be a trial in absentia. I believe they intend to make examples out of Xehanort. However, they do not know of your continued existence.”

“What are you here for, Eraqus?” Vanitas snapped. “Are you offering to shelter me from the rest of your clan? I doubt hiding underneath the bull’s horns is my safest option at the moment. Besides, we both know you wouldn’t hesitate to sell me out if it meant Terra’s safety.”

“I see no reason for you to go down with Xehanort,” Eraqus said.

“If Xehanort goes down, I’ll go down with him no matter where I am,” Vanitas said. “I don’t know how Terra managed to repress his connection with the fourth plane for so long, but I can’t. What I am is darkness. If they manage to enforce this, I will never be safe. Terra won’t either.”

“What do you choose to do?” Eraqus asked.

Vanitas paused.

“I’m going to tell my master what you told me.”

“And then?”

“I don’t know,” Vanitas said. “I’m sure I’ll see you on the battlefield one way or another. Try to keep Ventus and the others away from it.”

“You overestimate my ability to do so,” Eraqus said.

Vanitas had nothing to say to that.

When Vanitas told him the news about how they were targeted for a fate worse than death, Xehanort merely tightened his lips and rubbed his goatee. He didn’t know why he expected anything else.

“I always suspected something like this might happen one day,” Xehanort said. “Just as I hoped, it was on my terms.”

“On your- you expected this?”

“I knew we would catch the attention of my former clan the instant the nagics showed up at the gates regardless of my actions. It was a matter of whose custody I would enter. Allowing the nagics to arrest me provided numerous advantages, chiefly among them, time and protection away from the eyes of the clan.”

“Was it worth it?” Vanitas asked with a snide grin.

“Eraqus’s sentiment has provided us an advantage I wasn’t expecting,” Xehanort said in lieu of a response. “I prepared several plans. Most of them involve what I am about to show you.”

Xehanort led him down to the basement. Vanitas could count the number of times he had descended the hidden staircase on one hand. There were no lights in either the stairwell or the basement itself. Vanitas squinted a little, but he knew he could see it far better than witches without golden eyes.

“You are now ready to handle what I am about to show you.” It was the closest thing to praise Xehanort had ever given him. Vanitas hated the way his heart purred as a result. “If you manage to master this tool, I will consider you on your way to completing your apprenticeship.”

Vanitas was about to light up like a child when Xehanort opened the giant freezer they kept there. After Vanitas blinked the bright freezer lights out of his eyes, he almost squeezed them closed again.

He wasn’t expecting that. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing Xehanort would keep around. But Vanitas was a necromancer. He understood there was no need to get flustered or sentimental. It was nothing more than a tool they could use to save themselves.

“You understand what to do?”

“Yes, Master. I’ll get to work.”

Chapter Text

"Ventus."

Ven immediately straightened. As usual, a flood of apprehension hit him the second he heard his full name. It was always a reminder that things were serious, whether it meant Aqua was mad at him, he was in a formal situation, something was seriously wrong, or Vanitas was speaking. Ven never understood why he never called him ‘Ven.’ He might have mentioned once that it was to distinguish himself from the other friends Ven made, but maybe he didn't use Ven's nickname because he liked the way Ven immediately straightened at the sound of his full name. Bastard.

"Ventus." Eraqus's voice was a bit more insistent. Ven blinked and looked at his master.

"Yeah?"

"Could you help me put on a pot of tea?"

"Yes, Master."

Ven fetched the kettle painted with runes for tranquility and focus from its spot on the shelf. Eraqus insisted on only using filtered water in tea, so Ven poured water into the kettle from the pitcher they kept for that exact purpose. Eraqus got his favorite green tea blend from the cabinet and slowly portioned it out.

Tea-making was an art and a science. Ven couldn't allow himself to space out until the kettle whistled, because boiling water would damage the green tea and make it bitter. It took a while for Ven to be able to determine the difference between not hot enough and too hot.

To Ven’s surprise, Eraqus continued to bring out tea equipment: a set of fancy European-style tea cups painted with dainty flowers that had their own matching creamer and saucers. Eraqus cleaned the dust off from all of them with a tiny wind spell and a rinse under the water.

Ven couldn't remember the entire fancy tea set ever being used. The cups themselves only appeared on Yule and maybe Eraqus’s birthday.

It's happening. Whatever the Master is deciding, it's happening right now.

Ven's stomach churned. He might have made a strangled noise, because Chirithy padded his way to Ven's legs from the couch, where he had been lying previously without a care in the world.

The water began to quietly simmer beneath the heat of the stovetop.

"That's a lot of fancy tea equipment," Ven said in a strangled voice. "Is something special happening?"

"I'm calling a family meeting," Eraqus said.

Well, Eraqus wasn't perverse enough to bring out fancy china for the occasion of banishing Terra, so that had to be a good sign. It had to be.

Ven made his way down the stairs. Chirithy jumped into his arms and began purring up a storm. Ven felt his heart and breathing slow.

"Family meeting," Ven squeaked once he reached the bottom of the stairs.

Aqua and Terra looked up from where they were working at the workbench and counter respectively.

"The shop isn't set to close in another three minutes," Terra said tersely.

"Can you close early?" Ven asked. "I want to get this over with."

Ven kinda knew that Terra would do anything he asked (more or less). He still appreciated it when Terra's face softened and he moved the sign on the door from 'open' to 'closed.'

"What do you think the meeting's gonna be about?" Ven asked in a shaky voice.

"You know what it's about." Terra grumbled in his rare Bad Mood voice.

The meeting hadn't even started and it was already going poorly.

Ven trudged upstairs. Every step felt like his shoes were filled with rocks.

"The quicker you get up there," Chirithy said, "the quicker you'll find out what this is all about. Don't you want this over with?"

Ven did. He hurried up the stairs after that.

Eraqus had set out sugar and milk with the tea on the table.

"You didn't need to fill the pitcher just for me," Ven said as he took his seat.

Eraqus gave him a quick smile.

"I didn't. I wanted to try putting milk in my tea as well. Aqua, would you like to try some?"

"I already have," she said. "It's not my favorite thing in the World."

Eraqus picked up the tea pot and poured tea for Terra, then Aqua, then Ven, then, finally, himself. Ven watched as the green liquid slowly filled each teacup.

Ven's feet might have burned a hole in the floor with how much they were dancing. He could hear every movement in the room: Terra’s breathing, Aqua’s teacup clinking back onto her saucer, Chirithy’s purrs from his lap, and Eraqus’s steady footsteps. It felt like his heart was beating in the same staccato of his tapping feet.

Eraqus poured the milk for Ven before doing the same for himself. The same silence they had brewed in for weeks seeped into the air. It was even more agonizing than before, because there was hope that it would end.

"I suppose you all know why I called this meeting," Eraqus said as he sat down.

Ven almost collapsed in relief. Finally, it could start, which meant it could end.

"You're making a big production out of this," Terra said. He refused to touch his tea. Ven was still blowing on his. It gave him something to do in the ceaseless eternity between words and sentences. "Banish me."

Eraqus's lips tightened.

"You know I do not like to make rash decisions," Eraqus said sternly. It made Ven perk up, but Terra narrowed his eyes at the tone. "There are many things I do not know that I would like to know before making my decision. I should mention, however, that banishment is highly unlikely to be that decision. After much thought, I can see no good in it other than a rudimentary and likely pointless attempt to protect the coven's already-stained reputation." Vulnerability flashed onto his face for a split-second. “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

Ven felt like he could cry in relief. Tension from weeks of held breaths and half-packed suitcases disappeared from him so suddenly he practically collapsed on the table.

"Banish me," Terra insisted.

His voice was small and quiet.

"What?" Aqua snapped. "We've been holding our breath for weeks that the Master wouldn't banish you, and when he says he won't, you beg him to anyway? What's going on?"

"He should have done it the second I returned here with Ven," Terra said.

"Do you want to leave the coven because of your connection with the fourth plane?" Eraqus asked. "Or is something else going on?"

Terra gripped his teacup so hard Ven was surprised it didn't break.

"I don’t deserve to be let back in," he said. His face was turned, so Ven could barely hear him.

“‘Let back in?’” Aqua echoed. “You never left it, not really.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that you should banish me.”

“Why?” Aqua asked.

“Because I used dark magic to do Xehanort’s dirty work.”

"What kind of dirty work?" Eraqus's voice held uncontrolled emotion for the first time that day. "Explain this at once."

"He... at first it was framed as protection. Xehanort had dangerous allies and enemies, and he needed to be protected. I protected him because he was my master. It felt like the right thing to do." Terra grimaced. "In my heart I knew something was wrong, but Xehanort kept encouraging me to lose myself more and more to the fourth plane. Its power was addicting."

"What did you do?" Aqua asked.

"I didn't kill anyone," Terra said. "But I think I tried a few times. I scarred..." he covered his face "I'm the reason Isa has a scar on his face."

Ven's teacup almost clattered to the table. He managed to catch it before it burned his hand too much.

"Does he know?" Aqua asked after a concerned glance at Ven for the spilled tea.

"Yeah," Terra said. "We talked. We came to an understanding. He didn't recognize me at first, though. Xehanort made me wear a hood for a lot of it. His son was the leader of that cult that got broken up a few years ago. Xemnas would call in favors from his father. I... Xehanort didn't like it when I asked questions. So I stopped. And I hurt people. I told myself that they were bad people, because they were in crime rings or supposedly hurting Xehanort, but... Isa isn't a bad person." Terra grimaced. "I don't know how much of it was real." He looked at Eraqus. "So that's the full truth, Master. I didn't just use dark magic, I used it to hurt people. I went astray. It's the opposite of everything you ever taught me."

"How much of it was the fourth plane’s control?" Eraqus asked carefully.

"Not as much as you taught me," Terra said. "It..." he paused. "It's part of me, and I'm part of it. Vanitas would probably say the same thing, but we have very different relationships with it, and not just because I've tried to block it out. My emotions are tied to it in a way I can't describe. But it didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do at that moment. I think Xehanort made me more violent than the fourth plane ever could by itself. I’m not entirely blaming him. I made my choices. They were bad ones."

"I don't think so," Ven said.

They all looked at him.

"I can't really condone hurting people," he said, "but if you weren't there when Xehanort picked us up, I don't know what would have happened to me. Xehanort probably would have left me to die somewhere. You saved my life. You did more than that; you gave me another family when mine was broken and scattered. I wouldn't be here without you, Terra. I don't know how many bad choices you made, but you made one good one."

"You were the one good thing to come out of this,” Terra said, “But that doesn't erase everything I've done."

"Do you think Vanitas was forced to do that stuff, too?" Ven asked.

"I doubt it," Terra said. "Xehanort wouldn’t have had to force him. Besides, his skillset is much more subtle. His dirty work probably wasn’t very dirty.” A thought made Terra scowl. “Well, except for any curses and hexes he might have assisted with."

Eraqus took a long dreg from his teacup.

"Before, if you were to have told me this, I believe I would have banished you, not just for using your magic to hurt people, but using the fourth plane to do it. But..." he sighed. "I grew up being told that my role in the World was to prevent access to the fourth plane at all costs. When I lost my coven, it was part of the legacy I wanted to protect as time passed. That desire only deepened when Xehanort turned to the darkness. However," he looked straight at Terra "I realize there are things in the World more evil than dark magic. Banishing you would be one of them."

"It shouldn't be," Terra said.

"What would banishing you truly accomplish?" Eraqus asked Terra. "You would continue to teach Riku dark magic without my presence holding you back. There would still be dark magic in the World. The only difference would be that I would, once again, lose my coven. This sin is yours to bear. I can see your efforts to make things right through your apprentices."

“I don’t want someone like Xehanort to get to Riku the way he got to me,” Terra said. “The darkness won’t go away. All I can do is guide him in its use so he won’t make the same mistakes I did.”

“Protecting your apprentice is an admirable thing, Terra,” Eraqus said, “but you cannot put him before the well-being of the World.”

“It would cause more harm to the World if I didn’t do this,” Terra said.

Eraqus paused.

“Vanitas said something similar,” he admitted.

“Wait,” Ven interjected, “you’ve talked to Vanitas about this?”

“I have,” Eraqus said. “I wanted his perspective. I must admit, I am beginning to have doubts on the teachings of the fourth plane and its inherent harm on the World. After all, the fourth plane is as much a part of the World as the other planes.”

"So what are you saying, Master?" Aqua asked.

"I've taught you many things," Eraqus said. "Indeed, it has been my role in this life to teach you all that I can. However, there are times when a teacher must learn from their students. I assume your time with Vanitas has taught you something about the dark plane. Tell me, what have you learned?"

"Dark magic is just magic," Ven said. "It's different, and I doubt I could ever understand it, and it is dangerous, but so is all magic. I don’t think dark magic is inherently evil. I don’t see the World objecting to it, just people who say they’re speaking for the World."

Aqua spoke next.

"Vanitas... he's a little shit. No offense, Ven."

"No, you're right," Ven said. "Go on."

"He's pushy. He's rude; but he’s not bad, not really, no matter how much he tries to pretend to be. He’s... loyal in his own way. I think we became friends. I've seen the horrifying things his magic has done, but that was done for a noble reason. I don’t think his extensive contact with the fourth plane made him evil because I don’t think he is evil. Poorly behaved? Certainly- but not evil.”

Terra steadied himself before speaking.

“Master, you have been afraid of the darkness of the fourth for so long. It took me a long time to realize how much of that fear I learned from you. That fear controlled me. I don’t want to be afraid anymore, Master, but I don’t think it’s that simple. I think I’ll carry it with me forever. The best I can do is to make sure my apprentices don’t inherit it from me."

“I only ever wanted to protect you,” Eraqus said softly. “I didn’t realize how much it would hurt you. I taught you to fear the World you should love. I’m sorry.”

“I know you’ve only ever wanted what’s best for me,” Terra said. “You’re just as human as I am. I always knew that, but I’m only now starting to understand what that means. I inherited some of your problems, and my apprentices will inherit some of mine, but that’s just how it is. All we can do is try our best anyway and love them with all of our heart.” He smiled. “You raised me and Aqua and Ven while running a small business, all by yourself. I think we turned out pretty well, all things considered.”

“You have,” Eraqus said. “I am so proud of all of you. Your courage in confronting what you have learned is beyond admirable. Your growth has made my heart glow with pride. Your magic is nothing short of extraordinary. I wish I could take credit for it, but it is the strength of your hearts that has allowed you to come this far.”

“Master, do you understand why I’m doing this?”

“Yes.”

“And you accept it?”

Eraqus hesitated.

“I think I am beginning to learn to accept dark magic’s place in the World,” he said. “I used to think our sigil represented a heart emerging from the darkness, but now I see it as an eternal connection, for better or for worse. However, there are factors to accepting dark magic that I will have to discuss with the entire coven. Before that- be honest with me, Terra- do you think there’s any chance the fourth plane will make you become violent again?”

“No,” Terra said instantly. “I don’t want to hurt any of you. I have enough control to manage that. But in case something goes wrong…”

He went to their room and came back with three cardboard jewelry boxes from the store’s supply.

“Riku and I have spent all of our time working on these,” he said. “They’re for all of you.”

Ven took the box and opened it.

He gasped.

“Wow,” Aqua murmured.

Ven concurred. Inside was a necklace with a simple lodestone pendant. When Ven put it on, he felt a pulse of something familiar, yet foreign.

“That’s really powerful,” Chirithy said. “Its aura takes up the entire room!”

Ven double-checked the second plane. He saw nothing.

“I can’t see its aura,” Ven said.

“That’s because it’s on the fourth plane!” Chirithy said.

Eraqus eyed the pendant with weary eyes.

“Am I to understand this is an amulet of darkness?” he asked.

Terra pulled out a matching pendant from under his shirt.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve always thought of my magic as protective. I wanted to see if I could extend that to my dark magic. It’ll protect you from the fourth plane.”

Eraqus stared at the pendant in his hand.

“I don’t think you three understand the full implications of what this will mean for our coven,” he said. “But I will save that for the coven meeting. For now, I choose to trust you, Terra.”

He put the pendant over his head and tucked it under his shirt.

The next instant, Terra pulled him into a bear hug.

“Thank you, Dad,” he whispered. “I won’t let you down. I promise.”

Eraqus pulled away to press his forehead against Terra’s.

“It is I who has let you down,” Eraqus said. “I’m only now beginning to see that.”

Eraqus looked up at Aqua. As she joined them, he took her face in her hands and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I have yet to give you an apology, my daughter. You’ve had to bear the weight of both of our mistakes for years. I’m sorry to have given you such a heavy burden.”

She closed her eyes with a watery smile.

“I would carry it again,” she murmured, “if it meant keeping us all together.”

“Ven-”

Ven got up and pressed his forehead to Eraqus’s before he could finish his sentence. He made mistakes, but he was human, so Ven saw no need to dwell on them at the moment. Eraqus chuckled quietly before pulling away and embracing them all.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to teach you three,” Eraqus said. “And I would choose to do so in every lifetime I could.”

“I have called you all here for an important discussion," Eraqus said.

The entire coven was packed around the dining table, shoulder to shoulder, even with the additional table they brought up for sabbats. Unlike during a sabbat, however, the air was tense, and there was no food on the table. Sora and Ven both bounced their legs so quickly they ended up on the same frequency. Ven had hardly recovered from the first meeting and Sora, and the others, had no idea what prompted Eraqus to call a meeting of the entire coven.

"So are you going to banish Terra or not?" Lea asked.

Unlike everyone else, he seemed immune to the pressure in the air, or at least he was working on clearing it. His comment earned him a scowl from his husband that he ignored.

"No," Eraqus said. "I have been reconsidering our coven's official stance on the use of dark magic. I have gathered you all here today so that we can discuss the consequences of such a decision and to air any objections you may have."

"I'm not abandoning Riku, or Terra, for that matter,” Sora said. His voice had hardened in resolve. “I don't care what the other witches think."

The gazes from the rest of the coven indicated everyone was in agreement there.

"Unfortunately, that's not a position we can take lightly," Eraqus said. "Our shop relies on the business of other witches, many of whom are part of our clan. If we take this position, we are essentially cutting ourselves from the clan and thus risk losing their business. Dark magic is unpopular. Even amagicals or witches from outside of our clan may choose to take their business elsewhere."

Ven grimaced. No wonder Eraqus had been hesitant. He had never made himself consider that perspective before.

"Do you want their business anyway, if they're such jerks?" Sora asked.

"It's not a matter of want, it's a matter of need," Aqua said. Her gloomy expression meant she felt exactly the way Ven did. "Our shop is barely standing afloat as it is. The three of us have had to take part-time jobs just to pay the rent. Speaking of which, before I forget, Ven, Terra, I can give you both rides today. I think we all have shifts tonight."

"Thanks, Aqua," Ven and Terra said at the same time.

Eraqus's face was grim, as if he had announced they were losing a war. "This shop going out of business may essentially mean the end of your instruction. Rent is only growing more expensive. It may be that all of us will have to take amagical jobs full-time just to stay afloat, or move away altogether. It's possible that the economic stress may drive us apart emotionally. After all, if this shop goes under, we will no longer be able to do magic full-time. It will become a hobby at best."

"Don't say that," Terra said. "It's not just a hobby. It never will be. It's part of who we are."

"Our ability to live this part of who we are is a privilege granted to us by the economic support of other witches," Eraqus said. "I am only now beginning to understand what dark magic is and is not, and I have spent the past weeks researching it and the past months with Vanitas. That is more exposure than most witches have in their lifetimes. Publicly supporting or accepting dark magic will be controversial at best."

"Controversy can sometimes bring more attention, which can bring economic success through advertisement," Isa said.

"Maybe," Eraqus said, "but we are already a well-known magic shop. Controversy will likely only do us harm."

"That is an advantage in and of itself," Isa said. "Your coven is ancient and respected. Your change in heart on dark magic may inspire others to have a similar change of heart."

"You have a point," Eraqus said.

"You don't have to go public about this," Terra said. "Right, Riku? Our magic is our business. We can explain if someone finds out. And if no one ever does... then there's no problem."

Eraqus paused. "I wish I could say that this was the only thing we have to consider. However, the situation regarding dark magic has changed recently. In fact, these changes are so major that this prior conversation is almost moot."

"Is there a backlash against dark witches or something?" Kairi asked.

Eraqus closed his eyes. "In essence, yes. There are complications to the situation that no one here is aware of. In part, this is because I was forbidden from communicating them to other members of my coven; a spell binds my ability to speak about it."

"So how are we supposed to find out?" Sora asked.

Naminé’s eyes grew unfocused the way they did when she was entering someone's memory.

"Oh, fuck," she gasped.

Eleven pairs of eyes looked towards her.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but..."

"Your method is not quite what I had in mind," Eraqus said, "but it works."

"I'm sorry I dove into your memory without permission," Namine said.

"I know you meant no harm, child."

"Well, what is it?" Ven asked. He turned a ring around his finger so quickly it began to heat up.

"They're cracking down on dark magic," Namine said. She looked at Terra with big, blue eyes. "They're going to take away the magic of anyone who makes contact with the fourth plane."

The silence was deafening. There was a whole gamut of reactions from clenched fists to covered mouths to bared teeth. Ven’s entire body grew still.

"Master, is this true?" Aqua asked.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Eraqus said, but the weariness in voice gave all the confirmation they needed. "But if this is what you think, then perhaps you can understand why I was extra concerned when Terra announced his desire to experiment with the fourth plane."

Terra wasn't looking at anyone at the table. Ven didn't know if he knew, but he was angling his shoulders so they were hiding Riku from Eraqus, as if he could shield him from the new reality Eraqus had brought forth.

“So that was what you meant when you told me the consequences had become more severe,” Terra said quietly.

"Does this make you reconsider your desire to learn dark magic on your own terms?"

Terra looked up. "No. If this really happens, it's only a matter of time before someone finds out. If we learn to master it now, or at least control it better, things might be safer."

"Very well," Eraqus said. There was neither judgment nor relief in his eyes. "Perhaps, then, you all can understand why it took me so long to process this."

"You mean other than the stick up your ass?" Lea asked.

Isa elbowed him with a look. Roxas gave him a high-five under the table that Ven pretended not to see.

"Yes, Lea,” Eraqus said. He enunciated his words with painful clarity. “Other than the stick up my ass.”

Some people winced. Ven was among them. He knew Vanitas would have been either delighted or horrified. He didn’t know what it was about Lea that brought out the crude side of Eraqus, but they all had to suffer for it.

“So what are we going to do?” Sora asked. “What can we do? Is the rest of the clan going to go after Vanitas and his master?”

“In a few days, Xehanort, Vanitas’s master, will be essentially tried in absentia for his use of dark magic,” Eraqus said. “I plan to speak to the gathered clan leaders and ask them to reconsider their decided punishment. However, I am open to other ideas.”

“I can kill everyone involved outside of our coven and make it look like an accident,” Lea said.

Ven glanced at him, expecting to see a jovial smile and a spark in his eye, but he was deadly (ha) serious.

"I don't want them all to die," Ven said.

A glance around the table confirmed he wasn’t the only one with that opinion.

"I get that most of you aren’t used to this method of problem-solving,” Lea said, “but it’s the best way to keep this knowledge from getting out." He looked up at Eraqus. "Protecting the World is your whole thing, right? Don't you agree that this needs to be stopped at all costs?"

"I cannot condone the intentional murder of my fellow witches, no matter how misguided they are acting," Eraqus said. "However, I see your point. If any of them were thinking straight and understood the threat this poses to the World, they would make the same decision. I won't dismiss the idea outright, but for now, we should be focusing on more peaceful methods."

"Does anyone have any other ideas?" Lea asked.

Silence settled on the table. People looked down or shook their heads.

“Terra, Aqua, Ventus, and I will be attending this trial,” Eraqus said. “I will do everything I can to stop the sentencing. If I’m unable to do so…” he locked eyes with Lea “then we will discuss more drastic measures.”

“Can’t we go to the trial, too?” Sora asked. “I want to support Vanitas.”

“I’m sure he would appreciate that,” Eraqus said, “but these meetings are… exclusive, to say the least. There may even be a possibility that my apprentices will be barred from entrance.” He looked at Riku. “Besides, there are other reasons that it would be safer for most of you to remain here.”

“We can meet at the shop during the trial and support them in spirit,” Roxas suggested.

“That’s a great idea,” Sora said. “We can make signs and everything.” He looked up at Ven. “Promise to show pictures to Vanitas?”

“He won’t be there,” Ven said. “It’s not really a trial.”

“But you’ll still fight for Vanitas, won’t you?” Roxas asked.

Ven nodded. “I’ll keep him safe. I promise.”

Ven stretched, disturbing the butterflies in his stomach. He only enjoyed a solid day without them. First there was the fear of having to exorcize Vanitas, then there was the fear of Terra's banishment, and once those had been cleared, he had to worry about a trial that might rend the magic from his brother's soul. That wasn't even considering the constant fear of 'how are we going to pay the rent?' and 'what if there’s an emergency that renders us bankrupt?'

At least Terra and Eraqus had returned to normal. Terra helped refine the specifics of Eraqus’s argument as they chopped vegetables and gathered their ingredients.

“Anything I can do to help?” Ven asked as he peered over the stove.

“Fetch the mail,” Eraqus said. “It was your turn today, was it not?”

Ven grimaced and scrambled to the mailbox. He flipped through the usual advertisements without missing a beat until he reached the largest packet in the stack. It was a large, official-looking yellow envelope. When Ven checked the return address, his stomach fell through the floor.

Why is our landlord sending us a letter?

It was less like a letter and more like a packet of some kind. Was it an eviction notice? Did they fail to meet a deadline? Was there an error in the banking?

His fear must have been visible, because Aqua looked up from the necklace she was working on to approach him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Package from the landlord," Ven said.

Aqua pursed her lips, but her eyes held a much stormier reaction.

"Let's open it upstairs," she said gently. "Together."

"Right," Ven said. "Together."

It took a moment to clear space from the dining room table for all of the papers within the packet. Ven swallowed and tried to read the words on the page, but they slipped away from fear before he could grab them. Every new page without the word 'EVICTION' stamped on the top like the order of a merciless executioner was a relief.

"I don't get it," Aqua eventually said. "These are the documents for ownership of the building."

"Why did he send these to us?" Terra asked. "Did he get them mixed up with other papers he meant to send out?"

Ven saw Eraqus's name on one of the papers. It was the only word that managed to stay in his brain long enough for him to process it.

"Look," he said.

"Why is the deed in my name?" Eraqus asked slowly.

Ven blinked and forced himself to read the paper in his hand. It had Eraqus's name listed as the owner of the building.

Eraqus had already whipped out his phone and pressed to call the landlord.

"Hello?"

"This is Eraqus. You sent me some interesting documents I would like to inquire about."

The landlord made a choked sound over the line.

"Yeah, those…” he squeaked. “I figured, you know, you've been paying the rent for so long you've practically payed its worth three times over- it's only fair that the building belonged to you."

"Is that the real reason?"

Eraqus spoke softly, but it was with the voice that he used to encourage Ven to come clean.

"No... look, I don't like talking about it, because it was weird, but someone called me one day and offered to buy the building on the condition that I transfer ownership to you. It was an offer I couldn't refuse."

"Did he threaten you?" Eraqus asked.

"Not directly," the landlord said. "But… he didn’t sound like a man I wanted to say no to."

"What was the man's name?"

"Darkness and void between," Terra hissed at a page in his hands.

Eraqus covered the phone speaker and looked up at him.

"Watch your language," he admonished.

Terra held up the back of the paper instead of replying. Ven squinted.

"Is that an X?"

"It's the Recusant's sigil," Aqua said. She looked at Terra. "Does that mean..."

"My apologies," Eraqus said to the landlord. "Could you repeat that?"

"I said I can't remember his name. He gave it once, but it was weird... something foreign."

"Was it Xehanort Pouli, by any chance?" Eraqus asked softly.

"Yeah! That's it! Do you know him?"

"I used to," Eraqus said. "But that was a long time ago."

He hung up without another word and tucked his phone back into his pocket. Sometime during the conversation, his face had paled to the color of a white-hot iron.

“Excuse me for a minute, you three,” Eraqus said. He stepped into his room and closed the door behind him.

"So what does this mean?" Ven asked. "This building is ours now? That's... we never have to pay rent again! We should be celebrating!"

Terra's face was stony.

"Xehanort bought it for us," he said. "That kind of gift doesn't come without strings. Xehanort never does anything for anything else."

"Maybe Xehanort realized the same thing the Master did," Aqua said. "If he wants our support, but it would be economically disadvantageous for us to provide it, a solution would be to relieve some of the economic pressure." She scowled. "He's..."

"Manipulative," Terra finished. "Evil. Horrible."

"I mean, without the context, this is incredible," Ven said. “If he wants to use his money on us, we should take it.”

"You don't get it, Ven!" Terra shouted. Ven flinched. Terra didn't notice; he never noticed, but Ven knew better than to take it personally. "He owns us now. Everything he does is a threat. It's not a gift- it's leverage."

"It's not like he can take it away, though, right?" Ven asked.

"He could if he wanted to," Terra said. "He'd find a way." He looked around at the walls as if scanning for termites or mold. "We'll have to put anti-curse measures on this place right away."

"Terra." Aqua put a hand on his arm. "Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?"

"You've never met him, Aqua. You have no idea what he's like."

"I mean," Ven added, "I don't remember meeting him and I know I don't like him."

"Exactly," Terra said. "He's so horrible your heart remembered him when your mind forgot."

"XEHANORT!"

Ven jumped at the roar he had never heard before. Dimly, he recognized the voice as Eraqus's, but it was as foreign as a stranger’s voice. Eraqus preferred intensity to volume. He could make Ven straighten with a whisper. He never needed to shout.

Aqua and Terra looked in Eraqus’s direction with the expressions of bystanders to a murder already commited.

Eraqus's voice continued to echo through their tiny apartment.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"I hate him." Terra's voice broke. "I hate him so much."

Aqua pressed her forehead to Terra's. Ven circled him in a hug. Chirithy wound his way around his legs. Terra clutched Aqua and Ven as hot tears ran down his face.

"I want to call Vanitas," Ven said after a minute.

"Do you have his number?" Aqua asked in the voice she only used for him.

"Yeah. Once he got a phone, he gave it to Sora, who gave it to me."

Vanitas didn't pick up the first time.

He picked up the second time.

"Who is this?"

"It's me," Ven said. "But you're on speaker."

"Ventus? How did you- Sora. Look, if you'd like to speak with me, use a different method. Calling on this phone isn't safe."

"Then find a phone that is safe," Ven snapped. "I need to talk to you now."

At first, Ven thought he was going to deny him, but Vanitas continued.

"You're in luck," he finally said. "My master's busy with another call. We just woke up, too."

"We know," Aqua said. "He's talking to our master."

Vanitas laughed. "Finally! I guess Master Xehanort was right after all. I thought Eraqus would hold out forever!"

"It's not funny," Terra snapped.

"Even you wouldn't find it funny if you were here," Aqua said with a weary glance at the door.

"Whatever. I'll call you back with another phone. I doubt Xehanort's tapped his own office phone"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Terra said. "I think he records all of his calls for blackmail purposes."

"Darkness and void between," Vanitas muttered. "I'll figure out how to delete records of this call later. Now why does your master calling mine warrant a call to me?"

"Do you know what happened?" Ven asked.

"That's too vague for me to answer," Vanitas said.

"Your master bought our building and gave it to us," Aqua said.

There was silence on the other line.

"You're welcome," Vanitas finally said. "Now you won't have to worry about rent."

"This was your idea?" Terra almost-shouted.

"You know how stupid rich Xehanort is," Vanitas said. "I told him that buying your master's favor wasn't the worst idea, and he actually listened. Now my master thinks... well, it was enough to warrant a phone call directly from Eraqus without any of the pretenses of banishment, so I suppose he'd find it worth it just for that. Your building was nothing compared to what he makes from some of his clients. The least I could do was make sure that money was spent to help one of my siblings. So, like I said, you're welcome."

"Did the fact that Xehanort now has leverage over us not cross your mind?" Aqua snapped.

"Please, if Xehanort wanted to ruin your lives, they would already be ruined. You wouldn't be able to stop him anyway."

"But this is my home," Terra managed. "He never managed to touch this place... You told him where we live!"

"You never told me not to tell him! Besides, he's told me that he swore never to return to the islands, so it's not like he'll drop by for sabbats."

"I don't think you understand," Aqua said. "He lives here now. He's in the walls and the floors, and our shop, and even our garden."

"Excuse me for trying to use my master's shady boatload of money to save your life, Aqua! Now you all have money for therapy. Now you can quit that shitty job. Xehanort just freed you from economic destitution."

"At the price of our freedom from him," Terra said.

"You know Xehanort, your master knows Xehanort, and even Ventus kind of knows Xehanort. What is it that the Christians say? 'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.'"

"Look," Ven started, "I'm grateful you tried to help us, but-"

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS?"

Vanitas paused.

"Is that Eraqus?" he asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Ven said.

"Huh."

Ven barely heard him through the phone.

"I LOVED YOU! I-"

Eraqus's next words were either unspoken or spoken too softly for Ven to hear.

"If those next words were 'I still do,'" Terra seethed in a voice choked with angry tears, "I'm going to kill Xehanort with my own two hands."

"I have the right to his life," Vanitas said. "He killed me and I've had to deal with him for longer. But I'll let you get some good hits in."

Neither of them sounded like they were making empty threats or promises.

Ven grabbed Aqua's hand and squeezed it without thinking. She squeezed back. His other hand held Vanitas, even contained as he was through the shifting white noise on the phone speaker.

“Can you hear the other half of the conversation?” Ven asked.

“Eavesdropping on the Master is impossible,” Vanitas said. “I’d have an easier time eavesdropping on Eraqus.” He paused. “I didn’t know he could get like that.”

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Aqua said. “Whatever went on between him and Xehanort…” She didn’t finish her sentence.

“I think this is the first time they’ve really spoken in decades,” Terra said. “I hope it’s the last time.”

“Maybe it’ll be good for him to get stuff off his chest,” Vanitas said. “Eraqus has a lot of shit pent up.” He scoffed. “Xehanort is the only one he can trust with it.”

“Don’t put it like that,” Terra said with a scowl.

“You know it’s true.”

If Terra had planned to say something else, it was cut off by another explosive shout from Eraqus’s room. The rest of the conversation shriveled away.

The dining room table still laid flooded with the sea of papers that had started the situation. The Recusant's sigil glowered at Ven until he flipped the paper it was on over. He plopped down into the closest chair. Aqua and Terra joined him. Chirithy settled into Terra’s lap. The seat to Ven’s right was open, so he put the phone there.

"Thank you for staying with us," Ven said.

Vanitas mumbled a half-response. Together, across the length of an ocean and half a desert, they sat together at the table and listened to Eraqus scream through his rage and grief.

After an hour of nothing but fragments of Eraqus's shouts, Ven’s tapping feet and twisted rings no longer satiated his restlessness. He got to his feet and did the only thing he could think of.

“Do any of you guys want some tea?” Ven asked.

“I’ll take some,” Vanitas said.

It put a smile on Ven’s face for the first time that day. He poured filtered water into the kettle, warmed it over the stove, and portioned out Eraqus’s favorite green tea.

The kettle was almost ready when Vanitas spoke again.

“Xehanort’s coming back. I think the call ended. Loveyougottagobye.”

The call ended.

Ven poured the hot water into Eraqus’s favorite tea cup. After some deliberation, he added milk and sugar.

After all the commotion from Eraqus’s room, Ven expected it to be trashed, or at least uncharacteristically messy, but it mostly looked the same. The only major difference was Eraqus himself. He clutched one of his old photographs with a younger version of himself and other kids his age. A child who looked like a younger version of Xehanort lounged in a plush chair as if it were his throne. The other kids smiled in the picture, Eraqus included, but Xehanort’s smile could only be called such if Ven tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

The other major difference was on the table between Eraqus’s bed and window. A black candle and a white candle burned brightly. Neither of their flames managed to sever the string tied around them.

An unbreakable connection.

Ven offered the tea to his master instead of dwelling on that thought. Eraqus’s eyes were red and his cheeks were stained from still-flowing tears.

“A student should never have to see their teacher falter,” Eraqus said. His voice had rusted from shouting.

“You’re human, Master,” Ven said. “You don’t have to pretend to be anything more. We’re adults. We can take care of you, now, just like you took care of us.”

Eraqus took the tea and drank from it.

“I hope it’s to your liking,” Ven said. “I added some milk and sugar. I can pour you another cup if you don’t want it.”

Master Eraqus closed his weary eyes.

“It’s perfect. Thank you, Ven.”

Chapter Text

Ven tried not to fidget too much, he really did, but he was nervous. He paced the ferry deck as it swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the waves.

Aqua had no comforting words for him. She gripped the railing of the ferry and gazed out at the sea like it could tell her how things were going to turn out.

"I can't believe this meeting is making me even more nervous than the last time," Ven said.

"The difference is this isn't a normal meeting," Terra said. He stayed in the car, eyes screwed shut, clutching his Wayfinder as if it could steady the ground beneath his feet.

"The last one wasn't either," Aqua pointed out. "We just didn't know."

Ven ran his fingers over the sleeves of his fancy witch robes. "Maybe it'll be the opposite this time, and we'll have a normal meeting after all."

"I don't think that's how this works, Ven," Terra said.

Chirithy wordlessly padded over to Ven and rubbed himself across his legs. Ven picked him up and held the furry bundle to his chest.

That reminded him...

"Chirithy?"

"Yes?"

"Can you still see the twin bond between me and Vanitas? Is it still there?" Another thought occurred to him. "Do we have a new link? Like he's an Unversed?"

"I can still see your twin bond," Chirithy said. "Which means Vanitas is okay."

"No, it doesn’t." Ven said. "It doesn't even mean he's alive."

"But he's still here, Ven. Take comfort in that."

Ven’s phone buzzed.

Attached was a picture of the rest of the coven, including Xion, scattered through their apartment. A few people posed for the camera. Most of them had some kind of project in their hands.

It made Ven smile. For a single instant, he forgot about his worries.

It was only for an instant.

Ven ran his fingers through Chirithy’s fur. He wished that the butterflies in his stomach could have been from exorcizing a ghost and not from whatever the clan leaders held in store.

The trial (Eraqus insisted they refer to it as the "investigation meeting" it technically was, but they all knew the truth) took place in an event hall on the edge of Xehanort’s desert. Ven couldn’t help but notice how close it was to Xehanort’s house. A stretch of desert roads was the only thing separating their coven from Vanitas.

Their beat-up sedan pulled up next to one of several different sports cars in the lot. After a terse check-in with a table out front and another check-in for Chirithy, since familiars weren't allowed inside the meeting hall, Eraqus, Aqua, Terra, and Ven entered the main hall.

Ven didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't polished wooden floorboards and a stage with velvet curtains. Chairs lined up in rows facing a few tables and a podium in the front. Witches were scattered into small circles around the room, wearing formal robes worn with the comfort of pajamas. The chatter of careful small talk filled the air. A table in the back of the room provided drinks and small cakes. Ven’s stomach churned too violently to dive in like he normally would. He was clearly the youngest present. Aqua and Terra joined him as the only witches younger than fifty.

Aqua pointed out the names of the witches present as Ven sipped a cup of water. Flora, Fauna, and Merriwhether chatted among different circles, but their robes and middle-aged faces were the exact same as they had been when they had first met to discuss Vanitas. Ven remembered Yen Sid- and even if he didn’t, his very presence made it clear he was the head of the coven- and he recognized the old woman with smile lines who he spoke with, but he didn’t know her name.

An older witch... Merlin, the man who questioned Vanitas, greeted Eraqus with a polite smile.

"Greetings, Eraqus. There was no need for you to bring your apprentices, unless they have information pertinent to the investigation."

"Greetings, Merlin. I wanted them to experience an important clan meeting. One of them will become my successor. I want them to be prepared for these events. Besides, Aqua and Terra have completed their apprenticeship."

"Normally we have a rule against apprentices, completed or otherwise, but for you, we will make an exception."

"Thank you," Eraqus said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"It is good to see you as well, Ventus," Merlin said.

Ven jumped.

"Y-yes, sir. It's good to see you, too."

"My condolences for the loss of your brother," he continued. "I can't imagine how hard it is."

Ven looked away.

"Thank you, sir."

"Well, I suppose I will see you all..."

Merlin trailed off and looked towards the entrance. Slowly, the chatter died in the hallway. Eraqus's lips lightened.

Ventus didn't remember meeting Xehanort, but he recognized him immediately. It wasn't just the way he stood or the sharpness of his eyes; the Recusant's sigil branding his chest on the higher planes was impossible to miss. He wasn't alone. A figure clad in what looked like a black robe and a smooth, full face helmet stood by his side. Terra stepped between Ven and Xehanort before he could take a closer look at either of them.

"What gives, Terra?" he hissed.

"Greetings," the figure beside Xehanort called.

Ven tensed. He would recognize Vanitas's voice anywhere. He didn't need to see through the figure’s mask to know that it was his brother walking beside his master. At the same time, there was something off about him, but Ven couldn't quite put his finger on it...

"I am Remnant," the figure continued. "I'm his new apprentice, since you all seem to have gotten rid of the old one."

The witches in the hall looked between Remnant and Xehanort wearily.

"I know you all have that stupid rule about not being allowed to acknowledge my master, but since I was never part of this clan, you may all address me."

"What is your purpose in coming here, Remnant?" Yen Sid called from across the hall.

Ven could hear the smirk in "Remnant's" voice.

"I understand that my master is on trial. What's the point of a trial without the defendant present?"

“You are mistaken,” an old woman said. “This is an investigation into your master, not a trial.”

Terra gripped Ven's shoulders.

"You have to get out of here," he hissed.

"What? Why?"

Terra glanced back at Xehanort, who still scanned the hall with the gaze of a predator entering a herd of zebras.

"I told him that he would never see you again," Terra said. "I never managed to disobey him before. I... I don't know what might happen if I do. Do you understand?"

Ven didn't, but he understood that Terra was terrified and the best way Ven could help was to listen to him, so he nodded, turned, and dispersed into the small crowd that had formed around the entrance. The coven parted for Xehanort and Remnant like a pan of water would react to oil.

Only Eraqus stood his ground. Ven heard Merlin begin to hiss out accusations at him, but he denied telling Xehanort anything about the trial.

"Remnant," Eraqus said in a clear voice, "ask your master what he's doing here."

"Tell Eraqus that you already told him what we are doing here," Xehanort said.

His voice made Ven shiver. It sounded like blades scraping against rocks and rung into the deep annuls of Ven's memory.

Before Remnant could respond, Eraqus said, "tell your master that his reasons weren't very specific. Does he mean to defend himself in front of the clan?"

"Tell Eraqus that the specifics will be revealed to him as they happen and that the rest is none of his business."

Ven's phone buzzed.

Ven slipped through a fardoor without further ado. For a second, he pressed his ear against the door, but it was too thick to reveal anything to Ven, so he decided there was nothing else he could do but grab Chirithy. He opened the family group chat.

His own message reminded him to update Sora.

Sora: Off how?

Ven: idk. I kinda got kicked out of the room before I could take a closer look

The woman at the counter of the familiar check-in practically jumped when Ven entered.

"What's wrong?" Ven asked.

The woman gestured to the air. Ven could hear vocalizations of familiars of all kinds. Dogs barked, cats hissed, toads croaked, birds called and flapped their wings, and rats chittered.

"Are they nervous?" he asked.

"Familiars are usually fine by themselves," the woman said. "I've been working at this counter for years. Something is making them nervous. I can feel it, but whenever I poke my head back there, I can't find anything. My familiar can't find it either."

"I'm here to pick up my familiar," Ven said. "His name is Chirithy. Maybe I can ask him what's wrong."

"That would be greatly appreciated," the woman said with a weary sigh.

Chirithy leapt into Ven's arms the second the woman let him out.

"Ven!" he cried. "There's an Unversed in there!"

Ven grimaced. "I'm not surprised," he said. "Xehanort and..." he looked at the woman wearily "his apprentice are here."

"Did he tell you what's wrong?" the woman asked.

"Yeah," Ven said. "I'll take care of it at the source."

He went back towards the meeting hall, but Chirithy moved in front of him.

"What are you doing?" he meowed. "Vanitas isn't in there."

"What do you mean he isn't in there? I heard his voice myself."

Chirithy’s fur puffed up.

"I think I have an idea of what's in there,” he hissed, “but it's not Vanitas."

“Who is he, then?” Ven asked. “And is the real Vanitas here?”

“He could be,” Chirithy said. “If only you are coming to get me so early, it means we’ll have time to follow your twin bond.”

“Does it really work like that?”

“I don’t know if I can explain it. It’s on the seventh plane. I think he’s close enough for me to guide you.”

“Thank you,” Ven said.

He followed Chirithy down the hallway and pulled out his phone.

Chirithy led Ven past the hall and towards a wing marked "EMPLOYEES ONLY." He stopped in front of what looked like a janitorial closet.

"He's in here," Chirithy said.

Slowly, Ven opened the door. It creaked so loudly Ven was worried they could hear it in the meeting hall.

The lights were turned off. Ven held his breath as he flicked them on. A cursory glance revealed no one among the vacuums, mops, buckets, and bottles of cleaning supplies. The air smelled stained with dust, cleaning chemicals, and old mops. It was larger than a normal supply closet- there was even a dusty desk with faded post-it notes- but Ven couldn't see anything but cleaning supplies on all three planes.

"I don't get it," Chirithy said. "He's below us now."

"Should we check for a basement?" Ven asked.

Before Chirithy could respond, he perked up his ears.

"I heard Vanitas's voice past that door," he said quietly, gesturing with his tail to the door right in front of Ven.

Ven crept towards the door. His palms began to sweat. He wiped them on his robes and tried the doorknob.

It turned. He slowly pressed the door open.

He blinked. The only thing on the other side of the door was a dirt tunnel.

"This must lead to the foundations," Chirithy said. "I'll go ahead."

"Be careful," Ven whispered.

Chirithy slipped down the slope like a whisper. Ven forced himself to be more cautious. He closed his eyes, thought of eating fresh brioche with his brother, and kept the light that formed in his hand around him like a floating lightbulb.

Ven descended into the foundations of the building. The tunnel quickly widened into a space tall enough for him to stand up straight. The air moved in such a way that suggested open space, but even with his floating light, Ven saw nothing but dirt and darkness. The thick stench of petrol seeped into Ven’s lungs. He resisted the urge to cough.

"Master, if Eraqus isn't going to wait for me to actually translate, do I even need to be here?" A familiar voice muttered. "Yes, Master."

Ven turned to his right. Vanitas sat with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. Even with his dim light, Ven noticed Vanitas wore a black hoodie and a new nose piercing. Other than that, he looked no different than the last time Ven had seen him.

“Vanitas? What-”

“Ven, look out!” Chirithy shouted.

He looked down at where his foot had landed. It sat in a circle of runes inscribed into the dirt.

Cold shot through Ven’s body in a flash of pain. His muscles froze and his breath came in hisses. Ven tried to look down, but his neck wouldn’t move. He slowly drew his eyes down what he could see of his body, and the ice that encased him.

“Vanitas,” he managed. “What’s going on?”

“Shut up,” he hissed. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

Ven’s ball of light floated, directionless, from Ven’s hand. He followed it with his eyes and saw the faint outline of a cat carrier that trembled slightly. As the light floated further and further away, he could see a giant spell circle formed of shallow trenches filled with what smelled like crude oil.

“You put my familiar in a cat carrier?”

“Would you rather I froze him to death?” Vanitas asked with a bite to his words. He opened his eyes. “If I used the ice spell you’re under, he would die quickly. You will, too, if you don’t start using fire magic to keep yourself warm.”

“Bastard,” Ven muttered, but he did what he suggested. Heat poured through his skin, giving him just enough room in the ice to shiver violently. If he freed himself enough to be able to lean down, he might be able to draw the right counter-circle...

“Just a rat, Master,” Vanitas muttered as he closed the doorway to the foundations.

Now the only things visible in the foundations were the faint remains of Ven’s light and the yellow glare of Vanitas’s eyes. Ven returned the glare and stuck out his tongue for good measure. It wasn’t like he could do much else with most of his focus being on trying not to get hypothermia.

“Are you okay, Chirithy?”

“I’m fine, Ven. I’m going to get out of here and bring help!”

“Wait!” Ven cried.

“You’ll only hurt yourself trying to get out of that, cat,” Vanitas said. His eyes were closed again. “Save yourself the trouble.”

Chirithy kept struggling anyway.

“What are you doing, Vanitas?” Ven shouted. It wasn’t likely anyone could hear him, but it was worth a shot.

“Shut up,” Vanitas hissed. “I’m not telling you.”

“Why not? Is it that bad?”

“My master likes elegant solutions,” Vanitas said. “Every single person up there will be able to walk out in one piece. Now shut the fuck up before I decide you’re too much trouble to keep awake.”

“Then I’ll die of hypothermia!”

“Sounds like a great reason to keep your mouth shut, then!”

“Aqua and Terra are up there,” Ven said anyway. “My master is up there. What’s going to happen to them?”

“I already said I’m not telling you,” Vanitas said. “This is your last warning. Aqua, Terra, and Eraqus shouldn’t have come-”

“They’re trying to protect you!”

“Your clan won’t listen to them. The only way they could really protect us is by helping us, but they won’t, just like you won’t. If you’re not going to help, the least you could do is get out of the way. You’re here, safe...ish, and that’s what matters.”

Ven shut his mouth.

I have to stop them. I have to save Terra and Aqua.

The ice around Ven’s neck gave way enough for him to look at the spell circle carved into the dirt. There wasn’t enough light for the runes themselves to be visible. All he could smell was gasolene. Ven’s eyes widened. Destroying the spell circle might be easier than he originally thought...

His hand began to glow.

The glow immediately faded from the numb pain of Vanitas’s kick to his arm. Ven winced.

“Do you want me to lose my magic?” Vanitas cried.

“No, but I don’t want you to hurt anyone, either!” Ven shouted back. “There has to be another way.”

“This is the ‘other way,’ idiot. My master has several plans. We’re implementing them from most graceful to least graceful. Believe me when I say you don’t want to see the least graceful solution. I think it’s elegant and clever in its own way, but you won’t, so shut your self-righteous mouth and trust me for once in your goddamn life!”

I can’t. You find the rest of my family expendable. I don’t.

“And by the way,” he continued, “this is crude oil. If you make too much fire, the entire building will explode and we will all die. I thought even an idiot like you would figure that out. Guess I overestimated your intelligence, as usual.”

“Fuck you,” Ven managed, which wasn’t his best comeback in his life.

Besides, Vanitas did have a point, as much as it made his cheeks burn to admit it.

Chirithy’s carrier stopped rattling.

“Chirithy?”

Ven felt the bond between them warp and re-solidify.

”What did you do, Vanitas?”

Vanitas ran to the carrier in lieu of an answer.

“Darkness and void between,” he hissed. Louder, he shouted, “Master! The spell- now!”

Ven strained against the ice with all of his strength. His muscles refused to budge.

“No!”

Ven cursed his lack of proficiency in fire magic; Aqua, Lea, or even Vanitas would have escaped within a minute. They wouldn’t have even gotten trapped by the spell in the first place.

“Dammit, Terra,” Vanitas hissed. “You’ve ruined-”

He was cut off by his own whimper of pain. Vanitas gritted his teeth and sent a gust of wind to his spell circle. Ven assumed it smudged the runes he must have spent hours preparing into illegible puddles.

Vanitas scrambled back up to the door to the closet and threw it open. They both cringed under the glare of the searing light.

“You know,” Vanitas said quietly, “I thought you might choose me for once. I should have known better. You really did replace me.”

“Vanitas- wait!”

But Vanitas was long gone. The bang of the slammed door rang in Ven’s ears.

Ven forced himself to focus on melting the ice from his body. He was almost able to move his torso when he heard something.

“Ven?”

Aqua’s shout was barely audible, but it sent a wave of relief through Ven.

“In here! Just don’t use fire! No fire!”

He heard Chirithy’s meows, and then the door creaked open once more.

“No fire!” Ven shouted again. “Use that light spell or your phone flashlight.”

Aqua used a light spell. Its soft glow floated over Ven. Aqua gasped.

“Ven! Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better,” he managed. “This place is filled with crude oil, so I’ve been pretty slow at melting myself.”

“What in the World happened?”

“I’ll explain later. Can you get me out of here first?”

“Of course,” Aqua said with what was probably an attempt at a comforting smile.

Together, they managed to melt Ven enough for him to crawl back up to the supply closet. The water from the melted ice and the dust from the foundations had muddied Ven’s pretty robes, but that was the least of his problems.

Besides, his hat was still alright.

“You’re okay!” Chirithy cried the second Aqua shut the door behind them.

“Yeah,” Ven said with a smile. “At least more okay than before.”

“What happened?” Aqua asked as she knelt by his side to assist him in the melting process.

“It was Vanitas,” he said as he tried to wring the ice water from his robes. “He trapped me to keep me safe from whatever spell he and his master were attempting. That’s why there’s so much crude oil down there; he made the spell circle with it. What happened after I left?”

“The Master and Xehanort bickered for a while,” Aqua said, “until, suddenly, Xehanort just walked away. He was saying something to Remnant, but it sounded like a spell, and then Chirithy ran through the door, meowing at the top of his lungs.”

“I jumped through the planes to get out of that cat carrier,” Chirithy said. He puffed up his chest proudly.

“That was dangerous!” Ven chided. “What if you got stuck on a higher plane?”

“C’mon,” Chirithy meowed as he wound his way around Ven’s newly-thawed legs, “you sound just like Aqua. The important thing is that I was able to make my way back to the others.”

“What happened after Chirithy showed up?” Ven asked Aqua.

“Terra lunged at Xehanort the second he saw Chirithy,” Aqua said. “Then the room got dark- really dark. I think Remnant did some kind of spell. The only thing we could see were Xehanort and Terra’s eyes. Terra ran after Xehanort, but he got away.”

“Could other people see Terra’s eyes?” Ven asked. “Does everyone know now?”

“Luckily, I don’t think people noticed,” Aqua said. “Most people were distracted by the darkness. By the time it lifted, Xehanort was gone.”

“What happened to Remnant?” Ven asked.

“Xehanort left him behind,” Aqua said. She held out her hand. “I’ll take you to him. He just collapsed. He hasn’t moved since.”

Ven took her hand and let her pull him up.

The entry hall had changed completely in the twenty minutes between the last time Ven had been in the main room. The orderly lines of chairs had been knocked around into complete disarray. The crowds of witches had almost completely dispersed. The room was empty except for Terra, who knelt by Remnant’s side, and Eraqus, who was speaking to Yen Sid.

“Call them off now,” Eraqus admonished in a tone that made Ven and Aqua automatically straighten. “Following Xehanort blindly on his heels will only lead them into a trap.”

“Fear not, Eraqus,” Yen Sid said. “These witches are well-versed in defense against dark magic.”

“Xehanort is at his most powerful when you think you have beaten him,” Eraqus said.

“And what are we supposed to do instead of following him?” Yen Sid asked in his gravelly voice.

“Think,” Eraqus said. “Be cautious. Approach him slowly and carefully.”

“You mistake their speed for rashness,” Yen Sid said. “We are sending the most experienced witches of the clan after him. It is unlikely their curse protections would fail them.”

“And you think that’s not exactly what Xehanort knew you would do? His greatest strength isn’t his dark magic, it’s his mind.”

“I appreciate your caution and advice,” Yen Sid said. “Time will tell if you are right.”

“I hope, more than anything, that I am not,” Eraqus said.

Aqua began speaking with both of them about the spell circle made with crude oil at the bottom of the foundations and how best to deal with the fire hazard. Ven knelt next to Terra.

“Hey.”

Terra jumped and grabbed him in a bear hug.

“Ven! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Ven wheezed, “just got caught in one of Vanitas’s traps for a while.”

Terra let go and looked him up and down.

“When I saw Chirithy run in, I thought that maybe...”

“I’m okay, Terra. Promise.” He looked down at the figure they were kneeling next to. “Is… is Remnant okay?”

“I haven’t taken off his mask yet,” Terra said. “I had a feeling it would be better to wait for you. He sounds so much like Vanitas.”

“He’s not Vanitas, though,” Ven said. “I ran into the real Vanitas. He’s not here anymore.”

Terra yanked the helmet off of Remnant without further ceremony. It immediately slipped from his hands with a clatter that made Terra flinch. There was a low grind from where it rolled listlessly on the wooden floor beside them.

Ven didn’t know what he was expecting beneath Remnant’s mask, but it wasn’t clammy skin, filmy blue eyes, and untamed black hair yanked out of the way with rubber bands. He wasn't expecting his twin brother’s fifteen-year-old corpse.

The World blurred in front of Ven.

“Oh,” he said quietly.

Chirithy raced to his side and leapt into his lap.

“Hey, Ven, look at me.”

Ven complied, but…

“That’s my brother. That’s my little brother.”

They had come into the world together, but Vanitas had been snatched from it alone.

“He’s just an Unversed,” Chirithy said. “Vanitas is okay. We just saw him, remember? Scratch me behind the ears- with both hands. There we go… just like that.”

By the time Ven’s breathing had returned to normal, he noticed Terra’s hadn’t. He was grabbing Rem- Vanitas’s hand and choking on quiet, pained sobs.

Ven’s eyes nervously flitted back to Vanitas’s face, but Terra had covered it with his hat. Ven was stuck between relief and a perverse desire to look at his brother’s dead face again.

“I’m sorry, Vanitas,” Terra whispered hoarsely. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

“Terra…”

Ven wanted to say that there was no need for him to be upset, that Vanitas was fine and everything was okay, just like Chirithy had told him, but then he realized it was the second time Terra had to see that exact corpse, the corpse of a child, the corpse of Ven’s brother.

Aqua raced to Terra and Ven.

“Hey,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“Remnant was the Unversed of Vanitas’s corpse,” Ven whispered back.

Aqua covered her mouth with a horrified gasp. Eraqus and Yen Sid, who had been watching from afar, wore twin expressions of horror.

“Xehanort...” Yen Sid muttered.

“Stars…” Aqua murmured. “Ven, are you...”

Ven was going to open his mouth and tell her that of course he was okay, but instead what came out was a sob of his own.

“He killed my little brother. He was fifteen, a-and I was asleep, and he was alone! I should have been with him! We came into the World together, but he died alone! I wasn’t there with him! He… he must have been so lonely. It’s not right.”

Aqua rubbed their backs. Ven buried his face into her shoulder.

“I’m sorry for falling apart,” Terra whispered.

“Don’t be,” Aqua said. “I would, too, in your place.”

“I can’t fail him again.”

“We won’t,” she said.

A soft glow coaxed Ven from where he had buried his face in Aqua’s shoulder. Aqua held out her Wayfinder. Its familiar blue light lit the higher planes. Out of habit, Ven and Terra brought theirs to where hers was.

“We’ll keep Vanitas safe,” Aqua said. “I promise. And we’ll succeed, because we’ll do it together.”

Chapter Text

Vanitas’s heart whirred in his ears at the same tempo as the sports car’s engine slicing through the desert. The sand, rocks, and shrubs blurred into an unending tan streak surrounding the unending asphalt ribbon of the road. Every breath Vanitas stole tasted of life’s pure ecstasy as they rocketed from a fate worse than death.

Xehanort and the car's AI worked in flawless harmony to swerve around any and all traffic. One of the cars they passed might have been one of the many rural cops who had nothing better to do than to camp out on the road and wait for speeders, but Vanitas couldn't really tell, because any car they approached turned into specks on the horizons in a blink of an eye.

Vanitas understood why every rich nagic dropped ridiculous amounts of money to buy stupid-fast cars. The adrenaline and ecstasy of pure speed was its own form of magic.

The biggest downside of lightning-fast cars was that the destination arrived far too quickly for Vanitas's taste. Xehanort skidded into the car lot that had automatically opened for them when they were close by, which meant that even with Xehanort's brake slammed into the car floor, the roof of the car barely skimmed under the retracting wall.

Vanitas looked into the side mirror when they finally screeched to a stop. His hair had exploded into something that made Sora's hair look prom-ready and he grinned so hard he was surprised his cheeks hadn't split.

"That was awesome," Vanitas breathed.

"It was not the option I would have liked," Xehanort said.

All of the euphoria drained from Vanitas like a bucket with no bottom. He swallowed and lamented at its departure.

"One plan gone, another up to bat," Vanitas said with forced nonchalance. "You're the one who insists on not dwelling on mistakes."

"I trusted you to take care of any intruders," Xehanort said.

His voice was even, but that didn't stop Vanitas from having to resist the impulse to push Xehanort out of the driver's seat and escape him just as quickly as they had escaped the others.

"I forgot Ventus's stupid cat could plane-hop up to the fourth. Maybe I figured he wouldn't be stupid enough to try it without an anchor on either side."

It was Ventus’s cat, so Vanitas really should have known better, but there was no use dwelling on it. One plan had gone to hell, but they had several backups.

"You are lucky I plan for every eventuality," Xehanort said, "including the siege that is going to fall upon us."

"Yeah, yeah," Vanitas muttered. "Thanks to your crazy driving, we have time to prepare."

"Check the wards," Xehanort ordered. "Can I trust you to do that much?"

"Yes, Master."

"Ensure they extend to the fourth plane. Not even a familiar would be reckless enough to try jumping through the fifth."

"Yes, Master. Should I check the ones inside, too?"

"I will do that. Summon every single one of your Unversed to the house. You will likely not be able to make more for a while."

"Yes, Master."

Unfortunately, he hadn't had a lot of time to build up a large arsenal of Unversed like he had on the island. He had Flood the rat (sixteenth of her name), half a dozen lizards and mice he nicknamed the Floodlings, Flappy the bat (who Vanitas had hiked for hours to find and revive in case their heat-vision cameras went out and they needed to detect intruders old-school style), Falcon the red-tailed hawk, Stitch the stubby dog, and Archie the raven, who was becoming Vanitas’s favorite.

He sent all of them to patrol the boundaries of the property and test the wards, but Vanitas didn’t neglect to retest them himself. Not only were their walls magically sound, they could withstand an old-fashioned wrecking ball even if the witches were smart enough to bring a gun to a witch fight.

The thought brought a smirk to Vanitas’s face. There was nothing left to do but wait inside.

Vanitas had half a mind to ask Archie to scan for more dead things for Vanitas to stuff his nerves into. He forgot to take one last look at the sky before trapping himself inside the mansion for what could be months. His eventual cabin fever would probably be able to revive an entire zoo’s worth of Unversed.

Since Vanitas had torched Xehanort’s study to cover their tracks, they were forced to use the living room as their base of operations until the office could be re-made. The ridiculous couches and artwork had been pushed out of the way to make room for the desk and the equipment they needed.

Xehanort had purchased a new mahogany desk that looked exactly like the previous one. It even had the same alcove that Vanitas could sit under. He used to spend hours under the old desk, reading the thick tomes Xehanort assigned and half-listening to meetings with clients. His occasional amused laughter provided intimidation fodder and priceless gaslighting fuel.

“So how long do you think we can hold out?” Vanitas asked as he slipped into his usual spot.

“Indefinitely,” Xehanort said. “I am more cautious about our mental state than our physical state. However, I am not anticipating a long siege, even if I have prepared for one. I anticipate we will destroy them or turn them away before nightfall.”

Vanitas wasn’t surprised. The plans were fast and efficient, if less graceful than simply wiping the memory of those involved, but if he were honest, the only part of that plan that Vanitas had liked was the idea of drawing a spell circle underneath the foundations of a building. The ‘least graceful’ solution to Xehanort was Vanitas’s favorite plan. The other one was pretty good, too.

“Do you have the spell tarp ready to go?” Vanitas asked.

“No. Set it up for me.”

“Yes, Master.”

Vanitas was relieved to have something to do to keep his mind and hands occupied. He rolled the tarp out on the hardwood floor. It was as large as Eraqus’s sabbat tarp, except while Terra’s apprentice must have painstakingly hand-painted every detail, Xehanort had used a machine to print the desired pattern on the tarp from their stores of blood, nightshade, and crude oil. The machine had malfunctioned so many times Vanitas often wondered if it would have taken less time to paint it by hand. He pocketed small bottles of all three substances in case there were any printing errors or gaps to fix, but when he examined it for the final time, he found none. Instead of securing the corners with candles, as most witches did, Vanitas used the heaviest animal skulls from his extensive collection. Their familiar grins comforted him almost like smiles from a friend would.

However, they didn’t make time run any faster. It took all of Vanitas’s control to resist the urge to start pacing the room. He wished he could hide on the fourth plane. He wished their plan didn’t involve trapping themselves in an inperneratible cage.

“How long do you think it’ll take them to get here and surround us?” Vanitas asked.

“By my estimates, they should be here shortly,” Xehanort said. He didn’t look up from the tome he was reading on his tablet. “Any reinforcements will arrive ten minutes to a few hours later.”

“Reinforcements?” Vanitas echoed. “Do you think our plans will work a second time?”

“They will be more likely to be open to reason or brute strength if they do not,” Xehanort said.

Vanitas had never feared magic before, but fellow witches stalked them to rip their being from them. He had always scorned the nagics spooked at their presence, but if magic was half as scary to them as it was to Vanitas in that moment, he couldn’t blame them for strapping themselves with guns.

“And what happens if something goes wrong?” Vanitas asked. He didn’t quite manage to keep his voice even.

Xehanort looked up with the eyes of a snake.

“Are you having doubts about your allegiances?” he asked in a dangerously soft voice.

“Of course not,” Vanitas scoffed. “If I had a single doubt in my heart, I would have never returned here.”

“Are you sure? I know Eraqus’s pupils grew attached to you in my absence. I would expect that you got attached in return.”

“That’s a stupid assumption to make,” Vanitas said. “I knew them for less than a year. I had foster homes that lasted longer than that where I didn’t give a damn about the people there the second I walked away from them.”

“What about Ventus?” Xehanort asked.

“What about Ventus?”

“I assume you have some lingering attachments to him. He is your brother, after all.”

“If I wanted to stay with Ventus, I would stay with Ventus,” Vanitas said, “but I’m here, with you, instead.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Xehanort said.

“Ventus replaced me!” Vanitas spat. “He cares more about his precious Terra and Aqua than he ever did for me. I have no reason to be attached to him anymore.”

“I need to know if I can trust you not to stab me in the back for your own safety,” Xehanort said. “None of my plans require your presence. Why should I trust you?”

“Because I know you killed me on purpose, and I’m still here!” Vanitas cried. “Eraqus offered to take me away from you when he gave me the news about what the rest of his clan was planning. Terra offered to take me away.”

“You’ve spoken with Terra recently?”

“I mean that he begged me not to return to you, but I did anyway. Do you know why? It’s not because I like you- I hate you. I hate how you treat me and I hate what you did to me and I hate you! But I’m still here, because you need me to keep you alive after you kick the bucket and I need you to teach me to be the person I want to be. That’s all our relationship needs to be for me to stay with you. You don’t need another reason to trust me.”

A brief pause crackled through the air. Vanitas refused to look away from Xehanort’s dissecting gaze.

“Very well,” Xehanort said. He glanced at one of the four shiny monitors he had on the desk. “Prepare yourself. The intruders have arrived.”

Vanitas called his Unversed to behind the gate, except for Falcon, with whom he confirmed Xehanort’s statement. He could hear their car engines rumble down the dirt road and stop. Car doors creaked open as the witches from the clan meeting Vanitas spied on forever ago helped each other from their cars and huddled into a protective circle. The only witch missing, besides Eraqus and his coven, was Yen Sid, the head of the clan himself.

"I expected them to bring more younger witches," Vanitas said.

"You underestimate them because of their age?" Xehanort asked.

"No, Master."

You've taught me better in every way imaginable.

"I was expecting them to call in a special force or something," Vanitas continued.

"This is their special force," Xehanort said. "Their leadership hinges on their experience with dealing with dark magic- or at least the appearance of such experience."

A voice called from outside their walls.

"Xehanort!" One of the middle-aged women, still wearing the same obnoxious blue robe as last time, shouted. "There is no reason to make this harder than it has to be. We know you're in there, and you're surrounded and outnumbered."

"I concur that there is no need for this to end in violence," Xehanort said through the PA system. "I want nothing more than to be left in peace to do my magic. If you try to stop me, I will have no choice but to subject you to a fate worse than death or death itself."

"Your magic is an affront to the World!" Apple Green shouted. "We cannot allow you to keep harming the World, not while we breathe!"

"Very well," Xehanort said.

He didn't need to order Vanitas to get prepared. Vanitas was already in position by the time Xehanort stood from his desk and strode to his place.

Vanitas took a deep breath. The curse itself wasn't too hard, and calling down the fourth plane was easy with a magic circle, but giving it enough range to affect the witches who were undoubtedly pelting their ward with as much magic as they could muster would be difficult. Xehanort knew what he was doing enough to account for that, so Vanitas quieted his doubts and called down the fourth plane. Its cool presence comforted Vanitas like ice in the desert sun.

"All men

Abandon their homesteads

When the warder of Midgard

In wrath slays the serpent.

The sun grows dark,

The earth sinks into the sea,

The bright stars

From heaven vanish;

Fire rages,

Heat blazes,

And high flames play

'Gainst heaven itself."

The runes under Vanitas’s feet glowed black. Xehanort made a gesture like swatting a fly. The fourth plane rushed out in an explosion of darkness. Vanitas watched through Falcon's eyes as the wave overcame the witches like rocks in a tsunami. It washed over every single one of them.

Xehanort stumbled. Vanitas moved to catch him, but he caught himself on the desk.

"It hit all of them, Master," Vanitas reported as he moved behind the desk to watch the camera monitors with him.

"Are you sure?"

Vanitas looked at the screen and mirrored his master's scowl. A few witches had dropped to the ground like rocks. They stared forward with empty eyes. The hopelessness that had been forced upon them drained the energy from the hearts, until they saw no point in advancing or firing at the barrier.

That was only true for about a fourth of the witches. All of the ones that Vanitas recognized had increased the intensity of their barrage, except Merlin, who approached one of the witches hit with the curse and began to attempt a blessing that would undo it.

It made sense that so few of the witches would fall to even Xehanort's most powerful curse. They knew he was a powerful dark magician adept at curses and doubtlessly dressed themselves to the teeth with amulets.

Despite that, Vanitas grinned.

"Most of them warded it off. Let’s see if they can ward off our next plan."

Xehanort pulled up a menu on the security program. He selected a few options and clicked a button.

Vanitas's eyes were glued to the screen. He didn't dare blink.

It was a good thing he didn't. A blink of an eye was all it took for the gun turrets of the security system to activate and fire at every single witch surrounding their house.

It was over in seconds. None of them even had the chance to summon a barrier, let alone one that would protect them from a bullet. Their flesh dissolved under the hail of lead before they could realize what was happening.

"It worked!" Vanitas exclaimed.

“Don’t celebrate just yet,” Xehanort said. “Check on every single one to make sure they're actually dead."

"Yes, Master."

Archie had joined Falcon in the sky. Something about the scent of death had drawn him like a moth to a light. Vanitas relished it. As they hopped from body to body, bright blood flooded their eyes. The silence of death rang in their ears. The only scent that consumed them was the sweet iron stench of viscera, gore, and blood.

Vanitas grinned.

Terra gasped.

"Blood," he whispered.

Ven wiped his eyes and looked over.

"What did you say?"

"I- I just had a vision," he said. He placed Remnant's hand over his chest, not without care, and turned to Ven and Aqua. "It was just flashes, but I saw a lot of blood. I think the witches that went after Xehanort are going to die."

"All of them?"

Yen Sid's deep voice thundered through the room.

"Tell me more at once, Terra."

Terra wiped his eyes and rose. Ven knew he was tall, but something about the way he towered over Yen Sid made it very clear.

“No,” Terra said with a conviction as solid as the earth.

“What did you say?” Yen Sid asked.

“Terra, this is pure callous disregard for the lives of your fellow witches!” Eraqus admonished. “Explain yourself at once.”

“Yes, Master,” Terra said. “Yen Sid, sir, I will not tell you how the other witches will die unless you swear to me, as the leader of our clan, that Vanitas will receive full immunity for practicing dark magic forever.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Yen Sid looked at Eraqus. “I was under the impression that Vanitas had been exorcized.”

“It’s a long story,” Terra said, “and the other witches don’t have time for me to tell it. Are we in agreement, or aren’t we?”

“Eraqus, your pupil’s insolence has moved from irresponsible to dangerous! Get him under control at once. Are you his master or not?”

“Terra,” Eraqus said with a sigh, “do not tell Yen Sid until he has also agreed to not take anyone’s magic.”

Yen Sid looked like Eraqus had just slapped him in the face.

“I’m sorry, old friend,” Eraqus continued. “It brings me no pleasure to hold my own clan members hostage like this, but I have no choice if I want to protect the World. There is no cost too steep when it comes to our duty. The act of taking someone’s magic cannot be undone. Once it ceases to become theoretical, every single witch in the World will be in danger. I cannot let an evil like this be released into the World, even in the name of taking down another evil.”

“You think these concerns have not occurred to us?” Yen Sid asked. “Every detail of the process will be hidden to all but a select few. I think your lingering affection for Xehanort is clouding your judgment.”

“I think fear of dark magic is clouding yours,” Eraqus retorted. “Terra is right in that our fellow witches don’t have too much time. We will even help you take Xehanort into custody, as long as his punishment will not be the removal of his magic.”

“I thought better of you, Eraqus,” Yen Sid said bitterly. “Your distrust in your own clan disheartens me beyond words. But very well. I agree to your terms.”

“You agree, on your word as the leader of our clan, to give Vanitas full immunity for his use of dark magic now and forever, as well as to prevent anyone’s magic from being taken from them in exchange for my knowledge of the potential future and our cooperation in bringing Xehanort into custody?”

“Yes, Terra; I agree.”

“Then we have a deal,” Terra said. “I saw their bodies blown to bits with bullets.”

“Guns,” Eraqus hissed. “I should have known he would try something so underhand. Of course Xehanort would bring a gun to a witch fight.”

Ven shivered at the brutal efficiency of the plan.

“Can barriers even protect against bullets?” he asked.

“They can,” Aqua said, “but it takes far more energy than normal. I don’t know if I can make a bulletproof barrier.”

“Luckily, you should not have to, child,” Yen Sid said. “Thanks to your warning, the other witches will be properly prepared. I will contact them now.”

Yen Sid pulled out his cell phone and slowly pecked at the number dial on the screen with his finger. Just as he left the room, he put the phone to his ear.

"Let's go," Aqua said the second Yen Sid was out of earshot.

"Go to the siege?" Ven asked.

"We should take Vanitas out of there," Aqua said. "I want to make sure he’s safe with my own eyes."

"So you want us to just wait outside?" Ven asked.

"We'll probably have to help in some way, too," Terra said. "That was part of the deal."

"We can discuss the details on the way," Aqua said. "Is that right, Master?"

Eraqus blinked. He had been staring at Remnant with blank eyes.

"I will stay here," he said. "I want to make sure Yen Sid keeps his word with regards to Xehanort. I believe some of the other witches may be eager to test their new method on someone. It would be good for me to remind him of his deal. I can take Chirithy back to the familiar check as well."

"Aw, I wanna go with you guys," Chirithy whined.

"It'll be too dangerous," Ven said. "I don't know what's going to happen."

"Fine," Chirithy muttered.

He gave Ven a last kiss to the cheek and walked over to Eraqus, who picked him up out of habit. Ven could hear his purring from the other side of the room.

"Yes, Master," Aqua said. "What should we do with Vanitas once we have him?"

"Take him home," Eraqus said. "I'll figure out my own way back."

"Don't worry, Master," Terra said. "I think we'll be able to leave the car with you."

"Then how will you get to the siege?" Eraqus asked.

Terra walked away in lieu of an answer. Ven and Aqua waved goodbye to their master before following on his heels.

"You guys saw all of the sports cars in the parking lot, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ven said.

"I didn't think the clan leaders would have such... flashy style," Aqua said.

"They don't," Terra said.

They finally made their way out to the parking lot. Ven's jaw dropped.

"Terra, there are three sports cars here." They were all the same type, but different colors. "How are we supposed to know which one is Xehanort's?"

"That's easy," Terra said, making his way to the nearest one. "They're all Xehanort's."

He started feeling his way around the car.

"Hold on," Aqua said in her I'm-a-responsible-adult-even-if-you-aren't voice. "Are you going to steal Xehanort's car?"

"This isn't going to be the only crime we're committing today," Terra said. "Technically we'll be kidnapping Vanitas. I doubt he'll go with us willingly."

"Well, he's not an adult, and Xehanort's not his legal guardian, right?" Ven asked. "So it's not kidnapping."

"The technical term for that is 'child-snatching.' 'Kidnapping' is taking any person away against their will."

"Do I want to know how you know so much about kidnapping?" Aqua asked wearily.

"No," Terra said.

"Well," Aqua said with her I'm-more-mature-than-you voice, "this is Ven's brother. I'm worried about Vanitas, too, but maybe he should decide. Ven, do you really want to commit another crime on our way to helping your brother?"

"I wanna steal!" Ven exclaimed with his best sparkling puppy eyes. "Xehanort's not going to miss it! Besides, fuck that guy."

"Found it!" Terra showed them what looked like a gray card. "I knew Xehanort kept a spare key somewhere."

"Fine," Aqua sighed. "We can take the sports car."

"Yes!" Ven exclaimed. "I call shotgun!"

"You should drive, Aqua," Terra said.

"Oh, so you want me to be the one to take the blame for the theft?"

"No," Terra said. "The local cops have nothing better to do than to patrol these roads for speeders. If I drive, they'll pull me over no matter what I do. You'll be able to get out of it much easier."

"Alright," Aqua said.

"You should sound more excited!" Ven exclaimed. "When's the next time you think you'll be able to drive one of these?" He looked at Terra. "Do you want shotgun? I know the backseat can cramp your legs."

"Not this backseat," Terra said. "Go ahead. Keep the windows rolled up, though. This thing can go fast."

"It won't though," Aqua said. "I'm following the speed limit."

Ven pouted. “Aw.”

"Wait!" Terra exclaimed. "I just realized- we might have a direct path into the house that the other witches won't. When we get close to the house, do as I say."

Vanitas looked at the witches and bit back a thousand expletives. Not only had the hopelessness spell only affected a fourth of them, they somehow knew that they were going to use guns and made a barrier strong enough to repel them. They had retreated from the range of the guns and pelted the walls with huge balls of fire.

"Are you sure it's going to hold?" Vanitas asked.

"My wards are as high-quality as my curses," Xehanort said as if he were saying the sky was blue. "They won't be able to get in through brute force."

Vanitas grumbled and sent a few of the Floodlings to where the witches were. Maybe he could get an idea of what they were planning-

A beep on one of Xehanort's screens drew his attention.

"Why is the car port opening?" Vanitas asked slowly.

"Ah, so some of the witches have half a brain after all," Xehanort said. "It doesn't matter. All they've done is access another impenetrable ward."

Vanitas watched as one of their cars slowly, carefully pulled into the carport. It paused for a moment.

Terra got out of the backseat.

"Darkness and void between," Vanitas muttered. "Can you close the carport?"

Xehanort had already commanded it. The car stopped underneath the descending door. The glass ceiling of the sports car splintered and cracked. The metal frame slowly began to bend under the force of the descending metal shutter. It was too slow. The passenger's side opened-

and Ventus ran straight through the ward.

"I see he means no harm." Xehanort’s voice was too calm for someone who just had his impenetrable house penetrated. "However-"

Xehanort stopped what he was saying when Ventus destroyed the ward from the inside. Terra and Aqua slipped after him.

“Vanitas-”

“Yes, Master,” Vanitas growled with a flash of teeth. “I’ll make them regret whatever idiocy they’re planning.”

The instant Vanitas made his way to the car port, he got a text from his master. The door was still trying to close over the body of the car. The car was still winning.

Vanitas didn't waste time replying. He turned into the hallway with the wine cellar. He cocked his ears. He heard nothing.

He muttered a quick spell under his breath to mute the glow of his golden eyes. The wine cellar was still dark. Did Terra forget that Vanitas could see in the dark, or were they planning something else?

Vanitas descended the stairs: one step, then the second, then the third... He glanced down to make sure that there wasn't a spell circle waiting for him.

Instead, he saw a familiar hand dart under his nose.

He heard a snap.

Then he knew no more.

"Vanitas!"

Vanitas blinked groggily as something nudged his shoulder.

Did Ventus use a sleep spell on me?

The bright glare of the desert sun shook him out of his fatigue quickly enough. In two blinks, he gathered the entirety of the situation.

"Darkness and void between- what did you three try to do?"

Ventus, Terra, and Aqua surrounded his body in a protective triangle. Vanitas wiped away the sand stuck to his skin, lurched to his feet, and took another look around. They were in Xehanort's front yard, surrounded by the elder witches. Unfortunately, they must have been smart enough to neutralize the guns and find their own loophole through the ward. Vanitas hoped Xehanort was smart enough to stay hidden inside.

"We had a deal," Terra said. "Call Yen Sid. Let us pass."

"You may pass," an old woman said. Her eyes locked onto Vanitas. "He may not."

Vanitas knew she was a godmother witch. She was the kind of woman who gifted passersby with a soft smile and visitors with a warm hug, the kind who delighted in hospitality for generosity’s sake- and yet she gazed at Vanitas with the cold disregard of an exterminator preparing to poison an ant's nest. He shuddered. He never expected to see Xehanort’s eyes on a godmother with soft hands and a round face creased from gentle smiles.

"We had a deal," Aqua said. Her voice didn't leave room for negotiation.

"And we have no need to keep it anymore," Merlin said. "Yen Sid himself told us. He said 'There is no cost too steep when it comes to our duty.'"

"Lying bastards!" Ventus spat.

"Watch your language, child," Garish Red admonished. "We are still leaders in your clan- or are you forsaking us for darkness?"

"Wow, your clan didn't keep its word," Vanitas said with all the sarcasm he could fit into a sentence. "I, for one, am shocked."

"Yen Sid swore on his authority as the leader of the clan," Terra said. "Breaking that word is... it's beyond bad luck."

"Well I hope that bad luck kicks in soon," Vanitas said. "Otherwise, I'm fucked."

"We swore to protect you," Terra said. "We're not breaking it now."

Vanitas blinked. "What? Why?"

"Because you're our friend, idiot," Aqua said. A steel-strong barrier bubbled around them.

"You've known me for what, a year? Less than that? Meanwhile, I destroyed those nice gifts you got me. I was going to wipe your memories to save my own ass! You're being stupid."

"I should have known Xehanort would make you do that," Terra said quietly.

"I did it on my own free will, idiot."

"But did you want to?"

"We have other important matters," Vanitas said, gesturing to the witches around them.

"Let us through, or we'll attack," Aqua said to the witches.

"A counter-offer," Merlin said. "If you step away from the dark boy, we can forget this ever happened."

Ventus opened his hands to ready himself for a spell. "Not happening."

The witches moved to attack.

The Unversed moved first.

Archie and Falcon tore into Garish Red and Apple Green’s faces. Vanitas hoped they took at least an eye each before Obnoxious Blue exorcized them. Stitch tore through Merlin's robes and some of the flesh on his leg and didn't let up until the old woman with smile lines exorcized him as well. She had to stop and deal with the bony mice, shriveled lizards, and rotting rat skittering up her own robes.

Vanitas tried not to cringe as the wave of his Unversed returned to dust. When it was done, almost every single witch was dripping with their own blood. Terra knelt on the ground and began to chant. Ventus began pelting them with blasts of wind to distract them.

It only seemed to further encourage them. Without letting up, Vanitas reached into his pocket, took out the bottle of crude oil, and threw it at the nearest witch- Obnoxious Blue. The sparks from the spell she was attempting erupted into a fountain of fire.

The blaze went out almost immediately. The woman smoothed her robes like nothing happened.

Stupid amulets.

He threw the vial of blood at her just to distract and disturb her. Only one vial and one Floodling remained in his pocket.

Aqua's barrier held against the endless barrage of the witches' spells. Terra’s chanting reached a crescendo.

"And may the earth bend to my will."

Dust and debris filled the air. It bounced off of Aqua's barrier and forced the witches to switch from attacking to making some of their own. A fissure split the earth and spread like spiderwebs to the ground underneath each of the witches's feet. Despite their old age, they were quick enough to step aside.

"O comet, come down!"

The debris condensed into a boulder the size of Xehanort's gargantuan stove and flew towards Merlin. A barrier flickered around him. When the dust cleared, it was clear that although Merlin was alive, he was crushed beneath the rubble and struggling to keep his barrier up. The old woman changed focus from pelting Aqua with spells to moving the rubble off of him.

Vanitas looked at Aqua. Her stance was solid, but her hands shook and her face looked almost blue in exertion. Ventus blew the witches near the entrance aside with a powerful gust of wind.

"We can make a run for it!" he shouted.

His shout cracked Aqua's concentration. Bolts of fire, ice, and lightning from the other three witches began to leave hairline fractures.

“Run the other way, idiot!” Vanitas shouted. “Did you forget about the guns? The house is more fortified!”

"I’ll clear the other way," Terra growled.

His muscles shook and he barely managed to stand, but his jaw was set. Vanitas felt the fourth plane swirl as Terra chanted.

“ What is the food it is calling for? A-”

Vanitas kneed Terra in the stomach so hard the wind was knocked from him.

"Vanitas!" Ventus shouted. "What-"

"Don't you dare," Vanitas hissed. He grabbed Terra’s shirt and dragged him down until he was forced to look at his face. "Don't reveal yourself, in front of them, for me."

"I promised I would protect you," Terra managed.

He still glowered with the hatred needed for Xehanort’s favorite death curse. Aqua’s barrier splintered with a soft crunch. They fought for Vanitas. He never expected Ventus would provide him the gift of friends through their connection.

"Don't trade your magic to clear your guilty conscience," Vanitas said. "Live with your mistakes. There's no reason for them to take both of us."

Ventus looked at them with clear blue eyes.

"There's no need for them to take either of you," he said slowly.

Aqua cried out as her barrier finally shattered. The unfashionable trio of witches rushed at them.

Ventus stepped forward to meet them. Vanitas’s weak, pathetic little brother stood with his chin high and shoulders set. Wind began to coalesce around him like a pack of dogs heeding their master. The other witches shielded their eyes from the dust and sand that leapt into the tornado swirling around Ventus.

He held his hands out. The tornado began to constrict around them. Ventus’s eyes began to glow. His voice rang through the battlefield with the certainty of an objective, factual statement.

"You will not touch my brother.”

He exploded into a supernova. The light seared Vanitas’s eyes, even hidden beneath his hands, but it did not burn him. It was warm, like a hand in his, like fresh brioche. A sunburst would have faded. Ventus blazed.

In Vanitas’s mind's eye, he saw the connection between Ventus, himself, and Sora. The entire coven was grabbing hands and channeling magic to Sora to give to Ventus. Their siblings were doing everything they could to protect Vanitas, but so were Riku, Kairi, Naminé, Lea, and Isa.

I guess they have nothing better to do.

Ventus burned.

Slowly, but surely, the blaze began to fade.

Ven! Stop! We can't take it!

Ventus cut the connection to Sora and the rest of the coven.

He kept burning.

Vanitas felt a soundless rumble from the fourth plane. He watched as it began to surround Ventus the way it circled a dying animal.

Ventus's light began to fade. He kept it burning.

A martyr blessing. He means to burn himself out to protect me.

For an instant, Vantias was tempted to let him.

But only for an instant. Vanitas leapt forward and grabbed Ventus's hand. It felt like grabbing the sun, but he managed to pull him to the ground and snap under his nose.

"Revenge, you little shit," Vanitas croaked as the light cut off and Ventus's eyes slipped shut.

Terra tugged on Vanitas’s hand.

“Run,” he panted. “Get out of here. Go! While you still can!”

“Go where?” Vanitas asked.

He slipped his hand into his pocket. He uncorked the final bottle and held it in his pocket. The witches stumbled and trembled in dazed exhaustion from defending against Ventus's explosion, but their eyes still were sharp, cold, and locked onto Vanitas. There was only one place left to escape to.

After a moment of hesitation, he squeezed Ventus's hand. All the resentment and jealousy built up from months and years of loneliness melted away into love at a mere glance of the imperfect mirror of his twin brother’s face.

"Take care of Ventus for me," he said. In one fluid motion, he put the bottle to his lips.

Aqua's backhand took him by surprise. The bottle flew from his hand and shattered on the sandy ground. Blue-black nightshade dribbled onto the sandy ground. Vanitas lunged for the puddle in a last-ditch effort to suck down the poisonous mud, but Aqua somehow had the strength to hold him back. Vanitas writhed beneath the clamp of her hands.

"Let me go!” he snarled. “I trust the fourth plane more than them. I'll die before they take my magic!"

"What am I supposed to tell Ven when he wakes up?" Aqua hissed. "How am I supposed to tell him that his brother died again, right in front of us?"

"With your words, Aqua," Ventus seethed through clenched teeth.

"He'd never forgive me."

"He couldn't hate anyone if his life depended on it," Vanitas said, "least of all you two. He doesn't need me anymore."

"We could never replace you," Aqua said softly.

"Don't be ridiculous. You already have."

Vanitas was jerked to his feet. Terra stumbled to his feet with Ventus's unconscious body on his back.

"We're going," Aqua said.

Vanitas had no choice but to try for a last escape.

The World faded before they had taken more than a few steps.

Chapter Text

Ven awoke to the buzz of his phone in his pocket.

He groaned and shifted. His eyes opened to a dusty blue robe. Sitting up revealed he had been sleeping in with his head in Aqua's lap.

"You're awake," Terra said.

Aqua squeezed his hand with a shaky smile. Terra squeezed his shoulder with no smile at all.

Ven looked around.

"Where's Vanitas?"

They were somehow back in the trial room. When Ven looked down, he noticed they were inside of a spell circle burned into the floor. Ven reached his hand out-

"Don't," Terra said. "We can't leave this circle."

"I’ve tried to destroy it," Aqua said, “but I’m a little dry on magic at the moment.”

She and Terra's fingertips were bloody, like they tried to scratch the wood floor apart with their bare hands.

"Where's Vanitas?" Ven repeated.

Terra and Aqua wouldn't look at him. Ven desperately scanned the crowd of older witches. He didn't see Vanitas or even Eraqus.

"What happened?"

"We couldn't get away," Terra said. "I'm sorry."

No.

Nonononononononononono.

"They're going to take his magic?" Ven whispered.

"The Master is meeting with Yen Sid," Aqua said. "If any of them will listen to sense, it'll be him."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know," Aqua said.

Ven pulled out his phone. It blew up with messages from his siblings and the rest of their coven, but they all said the same thing, more or less.

Sora: What's happening? Is Vanitas okay?

Fuck, how was he supposed to break the news to Sora? How was he going to break the news that they had broken their promise to keep Vanitas safe at any and all costs? How was he supposed to tell his siblings that Vanitas had fallen to a fate worse than death right after escaping death?

Commotion drew Ven's attention before he could even think about how to start that conversation. The witches of the clan looked in the same direction. There were fewer of them than there had been before, and some, like Merlin, dripped with blood and bandages on their faces and bodies, scars from Vanitas’s desperation.

"Yen Sid, I am begging you to reconsider!" Eraqus hissed from the other side of the room. Yen Sid hardly looked at him as he marched behind him.

"I thought you, of all people, would understand the horror of dark magic. Your ancestors would be disappointed to see you hinder our fight back against dark magic."

"Think about this! If I, the descendant of those who fought against the darkness, and a person who has lost everything to it before, am telling you that this is too far, is that not a sign that you are taking things too far?"

"The rest of the clan has decided, Eraqus."

"You have the authority to overturn that decision," Eraqus said. "We both know half of them are merely curious to see if it can be done. Do not commit unspeakable crimes against the World for mere curiosity!"

"You are too late," Yen Sid said.

Someone moved through the door. Ven squeezed Aqua's hand.

"Darkness and void between," Terra whispered.

"Stars," Aqua gasped.

Once again, Xehanort and Vanitas entered the door, causing a commotion, but they did not walk through it. They couldn’t. Both of them were gagged, bound, unconscious, and dragged through the air like broken puppets jerked around on a string. Ven’s stomach turned.

"The clan has made its decision," Yen Sid announced as they thudded onto the floor. Xehanort had landed in the center of the spell tarp. Vanitas landed just outside of it. "Xehanort and Vanitas, for the crimes of defacing the World with dark magic, you have both been sentenced to having your magic stripped from you."

Neither of them were awake enough to respond. Ven didn't know if it was a mercy or another crime.

Ven's phone buzzed again. Aqua and Terra's did too.

Eraqus: No matter what happens, do not look or listen to the spell they use. Do not absorb the poisonous knowledge.

They nodded in Eraqus's direction.

"If you do this," Eraqus announced with the voice of a king, "consider our coven its own clan."

"We don't want any sympathizers with the darkness in our clan anyway," an old witch spat.

"This is wrong and you know it," Eraqus said. "You cannot condone them for a crime against the World and, in the same breath, announce your intent to do a worse crime!"

"There is no worse crime than dark magic," Merlin said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Perhaps the sympathizers should be punished as well," Flora said.

"How could you defend them, Eraqus?" Fauna cried. "These monsters drained the hope of one of my apprentices! I don't know if their curse can ever be undone. Do they not deserve justice?"

"This is not justice," Eraqus said. "It is vengeance. It is darkness worse than Xehanort has ever dabbled in!"

"Do you hear yourself, Eraqus?" Merryweather asked in a haughty tone. She gestured to the blood and bandages covering most of the witches and the bloody bandage over her own eye. "They were trying to kill us! It is unfathomable how you can defend them with a clear conscience."

"I should have let you all die!" Terra snarled.

"Oh, my," the old woman murmured. "Has your own apprentice fallen into darkness, Eraqus? No wonder you're defending them."

"My apprentice has a point," Eraqus said. "We had a deal, and you broke it. The World does not look kindly to those who break their word."

"If that were true, we would all still be at the height of our power," Yen Sid said sadly. "Amagicals have broken their word countless times before, and the World has not punished them for it. It will not punish us for doing so in the name of justice."

Eraqus closed his eyes. "So you all have made your choice? Not a single one of you will see sense?"

"You're the only one who isn't seeing sense," Merlin said. "Now, can we get on with this?"

"No," Eraqus said. "You cannot."

It was a mistake to say those words without making a move first. Eraqus’s barrier held against the various spells thrown at his back with magic faded from exhaustion, but one blast from Yen Sid’s comet of a fireball shattered it like glass. Glowing chains exploded into every direction. Ven heard yelps as they connected to the other members of the clan.

Then the chains were gone. Eraqus slumped to the floor. Yen Sid lowered his hand.

"What a shame," Yen Sid murmured. "Your turn to the darkness is the worst tragedy of all."

Eraqus wore a defiant scowl even in unconsciousness.

"Master!" Aqua and Terra screamed.

"He will be fine once he wakes," Yen Sid said evenly. He almost managed to hide his exertion from subduing Eraqus. "Now, do not interfere."

"I'll curse you all," Terra growled. "I will make you all regret this."

His eyes flickered.

Ven and Aqua jumped on him at the same time.

"No, Terra," Aqua hissed.

"I can't see them do this to you, too," Ven said. "Please."

"They can't get away with this," Terra said quietly. "Xehanort deserves this, but not Vanitas. He's just a kid. How could they do this?"

Neither Ven nor Aqua had an answer for him.

The planes wavered in a way that tugged on a distant memory. Terra looked up.

"They're trying to bring down the fourth," he murmured.

"Vanitas is awake?" Ven whispered back.

"He and Xehanort," Terra confirmed. "I don't know if they can do it. This was the spell that put you in a coma, and that was with a spell circle.”

“Do you think they can manage it?” Aqua whispered.

“I don’t know,” Terra said. “Calling the fourth without a circle is the hardest spell I’ve ever done, and it requires at least two people. The chant needs a call and a response.”

“Like the one the Master uses during sabbat circles?" Ven asked.

Terra nodded.

“Let us begin,” Yen Sid said.

Ven’s hands flew to his ears. He couldn't tell who was doing the spell. He didn't see anyone's lips move in a chant and he refused to look at the spell circle that trapped Xehanort.

What was the cursed spell? How long would it take?

What could they do to stop it?

Vanitas shifted ever-so-slightly. Ven looked away from him to not draw attention.

Xehanort remained deathly still in the circle. If Ven hadn't looked extra closely for the slightest rise and fall of his shoulders, he would have thought him dead.

The planes shuddered again. The other witches began to notice.

"They're bringing down the fourth!" one of them shouted so loudly Ven could hear it through his clamped ears.

Yen Sid nudged Xehanort so his back was on the floor and his heart was facing up.

His yellow eyes snapped open.

The other witches reacted first. Bolts of magic of every kind pinned Xehanort down. His dark aura couldn’t mask the feral desperation in his eyes.

His brother's murderer writhed in fear. Maybe other people would have grinned at the sight (Vanitas would have been one of them if their positions had been reversed), but the sight of someone so cunning and powerful being reduced to the floundering of a gazelle futility trying to shake off predators tearing into its flesh made Ven's entire body clench in horror. He looked over. Aqua looked just as horrified. Terra looked like his horror was at war with his anger.

Finally, Ven let himself look at Vanitas again. He saw something move into his hand- what looked like a mouse. In the commotion, no one noticed the Unversed eating through Vanitas's binds. Ven hardly noticed it himself. The terror on Vanitas's face was enough to make Ven just as scared. Vanitas never got scared- he got angry and spiteful and mean. He got more graceful with emotion, not less.

How could they do this to my brother? Can't they see how terrified he is?

Another thought occurred to him with a twist of his stomach.

Do they even care?

Yen Sid reached down. Ven screwed his eyes shut and tightened the grip over his ears. He only hoped Terra and Aqua were doing the same thing.

There was a gasp. Either it was drawn from Xehanort’s lungs and rang loud enough for Ven to hear it beneath his clenched ears, or the sound rippled through the planes like an explosion. Eraqus flinched in his sleep.

When Ven looked back, the breath was knocked from his lungs.

Xehanort was gone.

He still lay on the first plane with glazed eyes, but he was gone from the higher planes. There was no Recusant's sigil, no aura, no presence at all. He was a black hole in the planes. Even amagical corpses radiated enough energy to be visible on the higher planes; even the smallest plants did.

But Xehanort no longer did.

The audience clapped and cheered. Ven's blood turned to ice.

Terra's eyes blazed yellow. His bloody fingers scrabbled into the floor, desperate to destroy enough of the circle to free them. Aqua joined him with ice-steady hands, but her lips trembled.

"Close your eyes, Terra," Ven whispered. "They'll go after you, too."

"Let them," he said bitterly.

"Don't say that!" Aqua snapped. "We're almost out."

Ven realized that instead of scrabbling meaninglessly onto the floor, they had drawn a counter-circle with their own blood. The others in their former clan were too busy chittering amongst themselves in excited speculation to notice.

"Unbind us!" Terra commanded.

The circle released them. They stumbled forward to Vanitas. A dozen eyes pinned them down.

Vanitas, in the commotion, rose to his feet and lifted his chin. His binds and gags lay tattered on the floor.

"We are all brought forth out of Darkness,

Into the World, through blood and through pain

And deep in our bones, the old songs are waking!"

The planes shuttered. The entire room stared, spellbound, at the boy trying to bring down the fourth plane onto all of them, but Vanitas had eyes for only one person.

Xehanort struggled to his knees and opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

The magic words would not leave his lips. There was no magic left within him.

Vanitas kept his chin up, but Ven hadn’t seen that look on his face since they really understood that their parents were gone and there was no one left in the World to care if they lived or died. Ven's heart twisted. He wanted, more than anything in the World, to finish Vanitas's chant, to respond to his call, to do anything to help him, but he couldn't. He didn't know the words.

Vanitas trembled with the terror of the last human in the World.

"So sing them with voices of thunder and rain."

The voice that responded sung the words in a reverent, slow cadence that didn’t match Vanitas’s rushed chant, but Vanitas didn’t seem to care. His hands flew to his mouth. His eyes filled with tears.

Terra's eyes shone gold. He smiled.

The room imploded. The shock through the planes blew everyone in the room backwards for a few steps. Vanitas's eyes closed. For the first time in his life, Ven saw the darkness of the fourth plane, flickering around Vanitas in a hurricane.

Vanitas's eyes snapped open, void-black from whites to irises. He opened his mouth. Darkness flooded out of it in an endless tidal wave that swept through the whole room. Ven flinched and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he didn't even realize that he had. Deafening silence rang through Ven's ears, louder than a thousand screams.

"Vanitas!" Ven yelled. "Aqua? Terra? Master?"

He couldn’t even hear his own voice. Ven shouted their names until his throat burned. Then he looked down and noticed something.

His clothes and hands were still visible. Somehow, the darkness hadn't swallowed him completely. Something glowed beneath Ven's chest. He untucked the two necklaces he kept under his shirt. His Keyblade was still visible. That was really all he could say about it. It didn't even shimmer in the absence of light.

The pendant that Terra had given them all pulsed faintly. When Ven looked closer, he noticed the barest trace of a barrier or forcefield around him, like a magical magnetic field.

"Vanitas! Ter-"

Ven blinked, and the darkness receded like black tides back into Vanitas's open mouth and eyes. In another blink, the lights flickered back on to reveal an untouched room. He looked around. Terra's eyes still burned gold. Aqua held on to him and Ven, gasping for breath. Eraqus stumbled to his feet. Xehanort sat up.

The rest of the people in the room were nowhere to be found.

"Vanitas!" Ven shouted.

He ran towards his brother. Distantly, he realized he almost stepped on Xehanort's hand, but that was the least of his worries.

"What happened to the rest of them? Where are they?"

Nothing. Nowhere.

Vanitas's body hadn't moved. His pitch-black eyes hung half-closed and his slack mouth drooped half-open.

Ven took half a step back. "You're not my brother."

Are you sure?

"Yes! What did you do with Vanitas?"

Names... names... they mean so little in the end.

"Give me back my brother! Who are you?"

No name. No existence.

"Vanitas channeled the fourth," Terra said from the other side of the room. "There was no circle to control it. He must have absorbed it."

"So you're the fourth plane?"

That is how you imagine it.

"What did you do with everyone else? Where are they?"

Said already. Nothing. Nowhere. Forever.

"Why? And why did you spare us?"

Spare? Magnets with the same polarity repel each other on the first plane. There was no sparing. There was just enough repulsion. This was no attack. It simply was.

"So the others are gone?"

To your understanding, yes. They are as gone as anything can get in the World.

Ven grabbed Vanitas's shoulders and shook them. Whatever possessed him made no move to push his hands off.

"Okay, they’re gone… what about my brother?"

Your brother... Your brother belongs. Hesitate to interpellate with pronouns and names and epithets and words, but there is no choice if you need to understand. Very well. Your brother never was. He belongs. There is no loneliness. There is no pain. There just is.

"Give him back!"

Do you understand, warm one? There is no back. It would be, to your limited brain, like trying to recreate a rock from the scattered sand on the beach. Why do you want him back in the first place?

"Because he's my brother. Because I love him."

Human child, wrapped in the romance of your stories. Your love is driven by guilt. You do not love your brother. What is your bond? You shared a womb. You two didn't even come from the same egg. Fraternal twins- glorified siblings. You grew up in proximity with each other, then you were separated. He chose to separate himself again once you reunited. He knew you didn't love him as much any more. With a choice, you chose not him. You chose them- and not even them. You think he didn't notice that you like Terra more than you like Aqua? You try to tell yourself that you love them all equally, but your heart cannot help but choose favorites when you are in his room and not hers. Your illusion of love is driven by guilt. Is this incorrect?

"It is! You're stupid! You're a stupid alien thing that can't understand me or any of us at all! Vanitas is a fucking idiot if he thinks I don't love him. My love isn't blood. There is only so much blood I can spill, but my love is infinite. Each bond is unique in its form, but not in its strength."

Do you deny that Vanitas is your favorite sibling?

"I can't deny that Vanitas is the sibling I'm the closest with," Ven said.

How can you say Vanitas is your favorite sibling and deny that Terra is your favorite friend? Your denial is irrational. Guilt prevents you from the truth. There are always favorites. Individuality is difference. Difference begets pain. There can be no equality in love. There are always preferences. Do you even like Vanitas, or do you merely tolerate him out of fraternal duty?

“I love him!”

That is not an answer.

"What do you want from me? Do you want me to lie? Do you want me to say that I love Terra best of all and that I don't love Aqua or Vanitas as much? That would be a lie! You don't understand love. I don't even understand love. Is love closeness? Is love trust? Is love being happy to be around someone? Is love gratitude? Is it all of these things? I don't know. I don't fucking know. But I know that I love my brother-"

More than anything? Is that what you want to say?

“I love him! That's enough! He's a jackass, and a know-it-all, and selfish, and an immature jerk, but he's my brother! He's part of me!

That isn't a very good metric. Do you even love yourself? Do you truly love your brother, bright human? Or do you just love the idea of a perfect love between twins?

"I don't even know what my love is. All I know is that I love my brother and I will take him back from you!"

How?

Ven froze.

“What?”

How do you propose to take him back when there is no 'him' to take back? Do you think you’re the first human who has lost someone they loved? Do you think you are the first witch who thought their love would be strong enough to defy death? Love is love. Death is death. Death occurs independently of the intensity of love. Did you assume that death only happens because the living simply did not love the dead enough?

“Vanitas defies death, and I’ve brought Vanitas back from the dead before!”

The first time was a simple transference of matter, a tug from what you call the fourth plane to what you call the first. Now there is nothing to pull.

Ven balled his fists and tried to slow his chest from hissing angry air in and out from his lungs.

“So Vanitas is gone? There isn’t a trace of him within you?”

Correct. Nothing recoverable.

“Then how do you know I chose Terra and Aqua over him?”

You stopped Vanitas’s attempt at self-preservation even though you were safe from it.

Ven smiled an angry smile, a smile that would have looked more at home on Vanitas’s face, because he found something to seize onto with Vanitas’s fierce desperation.

“You’re speaking from Vanitas’s perspective. That means something of him still lives in you.”

This communication with you is a piecemeal approximation. Your pedantic interpretation of it cannot deny the certainty of death.

“This isn’t about death, is it, Vanitas?” Ven murmured. “This is about love.”

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Vanitas's. He reached in with his heart to answer the question Vanitas didn’t ask.

“I really do love you, Vanitas.”

Ven disappeared. He couldn’t feel his body or hear his breathing or heart or blood. He didn't know if his eyes were opened or closed. He didn't even know if he still had eyes. Terra's pendant, if it had ever existed at all, could do nothing.

There was darkness. There was only darkness.

"VANITAS!"

Ven shouted with no breath and no sound.

I know you love me.

“Then what do you want from me?”

Ven knew the answer without one.

“You’re lonely and scared. We chose to part ways.”

And Vanitas, or whatever was left of him after his grand act of magical spite, wanted Ven to convince him to come back.

Why do you love me?

“You smarmy bastard,” Ven didn’t-say (with all of the love in the World). “I know you too well. If I say that I love you because I choose to love you, you’ll be upset because it’s ‘arbitrary,’ and that choice, to love conditionally or otherwise, is something that can change. If I say that I love you because my love for you is something that is a part of me and has been since the day we were born and that I can’t change it, you’ll say that the lack of will on my part makes it meaningless and probably that I’m weak for not being able to change it. So my final answer is both of these and neither of them.

You love me because you love me? That answer doesn’t make any sense.

“No. It’s the only answer that does.”

Ven thought about his brother: the good, the bad, the ugly; the way he protected him in foster care only to turn around and bully Ven himself; the way they looked together in their third grade class portrait; the way his eyes had changed from Ven's blue to bright gold; the way that the gold suited him more; the way he strode and talked like he was better than everyone else at everything he ever tried; the way he had always been better at magic; the way he smiled when he took that first bite of warm brioche; the way he had cried in pure gratitude for Terra's completion of the spell; the way he and Aqua began to understand each other when Ven wasn't looking; the soft smile he saved only for their little siblings;

the way that he didn't bully them like he had when they were kids;

the way he grew up;

the way he said 'I love you'.

Everything. Maybe if Ven could look deep enough into the river of time and identity, he could remember when they were infants with a language that only they knew, when one always reached for the other when he could and cried when there was nothing but air.

Ven couldn't recreate Vanitas, only who he saw Vanitas as, but maybe that would be enough for Vanitas to do the rest.

He reached out.

Vanitas.

What a funny word for a name. It meant ‘emptiness’. It was the genre of painting that grappled with the same inevitability of death and nothingness that they were all suspended in. But, most importantly, it was the name of Ven's one and only twin brother, the one who defied it.

Another hand took his.

"Vanitas?"

"Ventus."

Ven couldn't tell if the words were heard through his ears or through his heart. He didn't care.

"Vanitas, is that you?"

"Who else would it be?"

Ven squeezed his hand. It was so dark. He could only feel the hand in his.

"How do I know you're really Vanitas? How do I know that you're not just my version of who I think Vanitas is?"

"I don't know," Vanitas's voice snapped. "I don’t think there’s a way I can prove to you that I’m me and not just your version of me. But if I had to exist as anybody’s version of myself, I'd want to exist as yours. Nobody else's. What do you see me as?"

"I don't know. You."

"Language is so imprecise," Vanitas’s voice sighed.

"Maybe just this one."

"I can't remember ours," Vanitas's voice whispered. "They took it from us. They erased it for clumsy words."

"Do you think we can remember our language here?" Ven whispered back. "If we can remember it anywhere, it would be here."

"I don't know," Vanitas whispered back. "We can try."

And, somehow, they did. The thumps and twitches and movements that they spoke to each other with came back to them, theirs and theirs alone, that had morphed into a shorthand of references and shared memories that they were impossible to translate to anyone else. But all of the words in every other language couldn't convey what it meant for Ven to reach with his other hand and for Vanitas to reach back.

Ven smiled.

You are the greatest gift the World could have granted me.

"Let's go back," Ven whispered. "Even if we forget it again."

"You love more than just me," Vanitas said.

"And you love more than just me," Ven said. "We can't live in this world forever."

"But we can," Vanitas said, “because we take it with us wherever we go."

Ven smiled. There were no more words to say. They returned to the light of their friends.

A distant cacophony roared rooms away and coaxed Ven into opening his (real) eyes. Vanitas's head was slumped on his shoulder. Their hands were clasped.

Ven shook his shoulder.

"Vanitas?"

Yellow eyes cracked open.

"Ventus."

Ven pressed his forehead against Vanitas's. "You're back!"

"You brought me back. Again."

"Vanitas!"

Aqua and Terra appeared beside them. Ven realized they had been leaning on them the entire time.

“Whatever you’ve managed to do is incredible,” Eraqus said from where he stood over them.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Terra said. His eyes had returned to a warm brown and there was a smile on his face.

“Thank you for helping me,” Vanitas croaked.

“I told you I’d keep you safe, didn’t I?” Terra responded. “I’m glad I finally managed to.”

Vanitas’s eyes slumped closed again.

“I’m tired,” he muttered. “I want to go home.”

“They sold our childhood home years ago,” Ven said. “Do you want us to drop you off at Xehanort’s place?”

Vanitas buried his face in Ven’s shoulder.

“You’re an idiot,” he barely managed to hear.

Aqua looked at Eraqus, who nodded without a word.

“We’ll take you home,” she murmured with the lightest stroke of his hair.

Vanitas stumbled to his feet.

“Not yet,” he said. “I have something to say first.”

He stumbled over to where Xehanort was still sitting with a face as smooth as glass.

“You’ve been avenged,” Vanitas said.

If Xehanort heard the words, he didn’t acknowledge them. Ven, on the other hand, gripped his mud-stained robes and tilted his head.

“Why did Vanitas say that?” Ven asked quietly. “I’ve heard him talk about killing Xehanort, and I know he wasn’t kidding. I know he hates Xehanort, so why… why did he say that? Why did he risk everything to avenge him?”

Terra hadn’t taken his eyes off Xehanort.

“Sometimes there’s love in hatred,” he said.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t understand.”

Terra’s gaze had shifted to where Eraqus had approached Xehanort. It looked like he was considering whether or not to help him up.

“I hope you never have to,” Terra said.

Aqua helped Ven to his feet.

“Take Vanitas to the car,” she said softly. “I’ll get Chirithy from the familiar check-in.”

“Thank you,” Ven said.

“I can walk by myself,” Vanitas said.

“I know you can,” Aqua said, “but Ven has a key. You don’t.”

“Fine.”

They walked out of the building. As they passed the familiar check-in, Ven heard the cacophony of a dozen familiars mourning their witches. He was just glad that Chirithy wasn’t one of them.

Ven was blinking the desert sunlight out of his eyes when his phone buzzed again.

Chapter Text

The stars shone down on Ven as he looked up from the roof. The night was blessedly clear. He lazily scanned the sky and named the constellations and stars he recognized. He wasn’t quite flat enough to escape the chill of a nighttime breeze, but that wasn’t enough to sway Ven from his spot.

There was a knock on the window below. Ven crawled over to it as it opened, one hand on the front pocket of his hoodie.

“Hurry up,” Vanitas hissed, glancing at the door behind him.

“I’m trying to be careful,” Ven hissed back as he lifted the precious cargo up to the roof. “Did you bring a knife?”

“I always have one on me,” Vanitas replied as he scrambled onto the shingles.

“I meant a kitchen knife.”

“That would have been too obvious.”

“And lifting our entire birthday cake wasn’t?”

Vanitas glanced down.

“They were distracted enough that I could take the cake, but I’d have to open a drawer to get another knife, and I didn’t want to risk it.”

“What did you do to distract them?” Ven asked.

Another glance down.

“Nothing,” Vanitas said in an uncharacteristic hush. “A reporter called the shop asking about the trial.”

Ven grimaced. “Shit.”

“She already knew that Xehanort’s magic had been taken, too. Nothing I could have done would have been half as distracting.”

Ven put the cake down.

“Maybe we should be down there.”

“Eraqus can handle it,” Vanitas said. “She seems to believe that the council’s disappearance was a side effect of the spell. That should deter anyone from trying it.”

“I hope so,” Ven murmured.

Vanitas nudged him with an elbow.

“What did you want with the cake, anyway?”

Ven stared at it. He had wanted a vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting, but Vanitas had wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so Aqua had made a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Two candles sat atop it. It was the first proper birthday cake she had ever made. The cream-cheese iced vanilla cakes she had made for Ven every year had been delicious, but they hadn’t been birthday cakes. Cakes only became birthday cakes during one’s birthday, and Ven hadn’t really had a birthday without Vanitas, just a party.

“Ventus.”

Ven blinked. “Right. I was thinking of casting a wish spell.”

Vanitas gaped like Ven had suggested setting fire to the island. Then he laughed.

“I was worried about you, Venty! I was worried you were going to specialize in some kind of boring magic like hedgecraft. I’m so glad your time here hasn’t whittled away your nerve after all!”

Ven convinced himself not to push Vanitas off the roof. He settled with narrowing his eyes.

“We can’t all start recklessly plane-walking on the fourth without an anchor.”

Vanitas’s smile dropped. “That damn cat told you after all?”

“He didn’t have to. You’ve stopped making as many Unversed, and I knew your magic wasn’t going to become more conventional. Besides, I just… knew. I could feel it.”

“I guess now’s as good of a time as any,” Vanitas said. He reached into his pocket and handed Ven a small velvet bag. “Happy birthday.”

A smooth, cool amulet on a chain fell into Ven’s hand. He held it up to the starlight. Vanitas’s sigil was carved onto a thin sliver of obsidian. Other than the material and its muted presence on the second plane, it looked just like the nephrite necklace Ven had made to exorcize Vanitas months ago.

“What’s this?”

“An anchor,” Vanitas said. “My anchor. Even I’m not reckless enough to dive onto the fourth without one- anymore. No matter what happens, I’ll be able to make my way back to you, one way or another.”

Ven smiled and put on the necklace. It remained pleasantly cool, like the fourth plane had been.

“My present for you isn’t nearly as cool, but I hope you like it.”

Ven pulled out the stuffed animal from his hoodie.

“Riku and Chirithy helped me make it.”

Vanitas studied it with his glowing yellow eyes.

“Is it supposed to be an Unversed?”

“I tried to make it look like Flood, but the pattern I used was really stylized… the important part is that it’ll help you with your nightmares.”

Vanitas’s face softened. “I hope it works.”

“Me too.”

Ven’s phone buzzed.

Vanitas glanced over.

“You better cast that wish before they take it from us.”

“I’ve got a dandelion as back up, just in case,” Ven said. “Now light your candle. Make your wish when the shooting star comes, then blow it out.”

“Wait, I’m making a wish, too? And how do you know that there’s going to be a shooting-”

A flash of light streaked across the sky.

Ven already knew what he was going to wish. It was the same one he made every time he blew out his candle.

I want another birthday, a real one, with Vanitas by my side.

The lights of the candles blew out. Without them, Ven swore he could see twice as many stars in the sky.