A slightly darker Kingdom Hearts fic.
“A back-up?” Master Xehanort chuckled, his gravelly voice ill-suited to such an action. “Vanitas, what purpose could such a blatant lie serve.” Master Xehanort frowned, his manner grim. “For that matter, what purpose could it have served for you to waste your time with Aqua, when you are supposed to be acting as a lure to draw Terra deeper and deeper into the Darkness?”
“I was just making sure that all the loose ends were tied up.” Vanitas said, attempting to affect a bored, casual tone, trusting in his mask to take care of the rest. “Aqua was named an official Keyblade Master after all, it only makes sense to keep her in a state of panic, let her think she’s more important than she really is. As for Terra…tch, that idiot’s doing a damn fine job of leaping head first into the darkness without my help.”
“Oh, is that the reason for your unusual behavior?” Master Xehanort smirked at Vanitas, the way he did when he was about to reveal some truth that he’d withheld up to that point. “I had my own theory regarding your unprompted interest in Aqua; as you’ll recall, you told me that you were able to sense what Ventus was feeling, which was why we’d decided to use Terra as the lure to draw Ventus out of the Land of Departure. Now, suppose that Ventus were to feel something even stronger than what he feels for Terra, a brilliant emotion that surpasses all others; would you be able to be unaffected by this feeling, as you are untouched by the brotherly love that Ventus feels for Terra?”
“Of course I would be unaffected.” Vanitas said with notable irritation in his voice, his mask availing him not. “Ventus will always be too weak for his Light to be able to affect me.” Vanitas turned away from Master Xehanort, and marched away. “Now, I must tend to the Unversed, so that I can grow even stronger.”
“You do that, Vanitas.” Master Xehanort said as he looked into the Masked Boy’s heart, and saw what that creature of pure darkness was most determined to deny; it was a sliver of Light, of a love that was pure and innocent. It was a love that was not his own, one that he could never hope to comprehend, and while he would inevitably, eventually, tear it out of himself, for the time being he would be drawn to it, follow its dictates, even if he did so in a warped fashion that Ventus would find horrifying. Especially, since it was his feelings for Aqua that made all this possible. “Truly, the Heart is an enigma, one that I shall master.”
“I was just making sure that all the loose ends were tied up.” Vanitas said, attempting to affect a bored, casual tone, trusting in his mask to take care of the rest. “Aqua was named an official Keyblade Master after all, it only makes sense to keep her in a state of panic, let her think she’s more important than she really is. As for Terra…tch, that idiot’s doing a damn fine job of leaping head first into the darkness without my help.”
“Oh, is that the reason for your unusual behavior?” Master Xehanort smirked at Vanitas, the way he did when he was about to reveal some truth that he’d withheld up to that point. “I had my own theory regarding your unprompted interest in Aqua; as you’ll recall, you told me that you were able to sense what Ventus was feeling, which was why we’d decided to use Terra as the lure to draw Ventus out of the Land of Departure. Now, suppose that Ventus were to feel something even stronger than what he feels for Terra, a brilliant emotion that surpasses all others; would you be able to be unaffected by this feeling, as you are untouched by the brotherly love that Ventus feels for Terra?”
“Of course I would be unaffected.” Vanitas said with notable irritation in his voice, his mask availing him not. “Ventus will always be too weak for his Light to be able to affect me.” Vanitas turned away from Master Xehanort, and marched away. “Now, I must tend to the Unversed, so that I can grow even stronger.”
“You do that, Vanitas.” Master Xehanort said as he looked into the Masked Boy’s heart, and saw what that creature of pure darkness was most determined to deny; it was a sliver of Light, of a love that was pure and innocent. It was a love that was not his own, one that he could never hope to comprehend, and while he would inevitably, eventually, tear it out of himself, for the time being he would be drawn to it, follow its dictates, even if he did so in a warped fashion that Ventus would find horrifying. Especially, since it was his feelings for Aqua that made all this possible. “Truly, the Heart is an enigma, one that I shall master.”