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Bonds of Misery	By : ColdSilence Category: Kingdom Hearts > Crossovers Views: 1161 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: All properties relating to Kingdom Hearts and Ai no Kusabi belong to their respective trademarks. No profit whatsoever is being made off this work of fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
Author: Cold Silence
E-Mail: writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts, Ai no Kusabi
Pairings: Multiple pairings all involving Sora. Given which fandoms are being crossed over, you might be able to guess why!
Warnings: Post DLC scenario. Non-Consensual / Rape situations, Underage Characters, child abuse. Very dark content, read at your own risk.
Special Note: I’m so excited to write this story. This will be my first foray into sci-fi content, as well as doing a canon-compliant crossover fic. Hopefully it doesn’t take me ten years to finish it!

Bonds of Misery
-Chapter Eight; Child Soldier-

Jupiter Tower had the highest level of security in all of Amoi. Darkmen guarded its entrance with shock sticks and plasma weapons, but even they were only allowed in the perimeter of the building. The only ones who passed the biometric scans and were granted entry through 15 inch steel doors were blondies.
Iason strode through the main entryway after clearing the initial check points. The doors sealed shut behind him, plunging the anteroom into an eerie silence. His footfalls echoed as he stepped forwards, and as he advanced, a deep vibration rattled the air, like the breathing of a large beast. He came to a stop at a circular platform and gazed at a retinal scanner. A red light shone directly into his eyes and briefly lit up the circuitry behind the frosty blue of his iris.
Upon confirmation of his identity, the floor beneath his feet rose up on whisper quiet hydraulics. The platform hovered vertically in a steep, twenty story climb, and the higher it went, the air thrummed louder with the sound of buzzing equipment and cooling fans. Melded into the wall in front of him was the façade of an eyeless face with massive cables that ran the span of the room like medusa hair. Iason rose up through a hole in its head, as if he was entering the third eye of a mechanical god.
The final room was lit up by neon white fiber optic cables that contrasted sharply with the black walls. When the elevator finished its ascent, it melded perfectly with the floor and hermetically sealed into place with a gentle hiss. In the center of the room was a disorganized holographic display that writhed formlessly. As Iason approached, it shifted from a blue mass of light to a feminine, alien figure with long, sharp nails, a nose guard that extended down to its chin like a bird's beak, and cable-like hair that clipped through the floor. It towered like a monstrous giant over the blondie.
Iason gave it a deep bow.
"It has been some time since your last visit, my prodigal son."
Jupiter's voice was amplified by the hidden speakers in the walls. It was non-gendered and lacked inflection despite the words of affection. It had a dual quality in tone, as if two voices - one more robotic than the other - were trying to speak as one.
"Thank you for granting this audience," said Iason formally. "I have come to receive clarification on an important matter. I have reason to believe that a sinker has hacked the system at Keeler Labs and infiltrated Tanagura as a pet. Gideon Lagat has possessed this imposter for nearly a year. The intruder must be interrogated immediately, but his master refuses to allow this and cites Pet Law as the reason that his hand can not be forced."
Jupiter's image shimmered as it took the pose of a lecturer: One hand raised and gesturing while it stood with a straight back. "Pet Law is a means of maintaining social order. Without it, the pillars of Tanagura will collapse," it stated. "Since the origin of the pet is fraudulent, then so is its identification. It is no pet. It never was."
"Thank you for that clarification," Iason said with a bow.
"I am now scanning the pet registry for further anomalies," stated Jupiter. It waved one clawed finger back and forth for a brief moment. "Pet ID Z-208W is an outsider and therefore not suitable for a blondie."
"That pet will be unregistered soon," explained Iason. "Raoul was using him for experimentation."
"Acceptable as long as its deregistration is performed promptly," stated Jupiter. "Pet ID Z-107M is past its prime and is unsuitable for a blondie."
"There is nothing in pet law that states that a blondie's pet must be retired at a certain age," stated Iason neutrally.
"Checking." Jupiter paused as it momentarily searched its database. "Confirmed. However, all pets must be debuted as per pet law. Z-107M has never debuted. It is unsuitable due to its inability to perform."
"He has not debuted because I have yet to find the proper venue," countered Iason. Jupiter changed form again. This time, it enveloped Iason between its massive hands and looked down at him, as if it was cupping a delicate butterfly. "The average amount of time for a registered pet to debut has long passed. Z-107M is an anomaly that disrupts the social hierarchy. A subpar pet that is kept by a blondie will influence the other pets and humans in a negative way. They will see a weakness to be exploited."
The blue light from the hologram enveloped Iason completely. He stared up past the field of azure to look at Jupiter in full confidence. "I would never allow myself to have an achilles heel."
"Of course not. You were created perfect," agreed Jupiter. "However, humans are swayed by perception. They must never believe that a blondie is capable of loving a slum mongrel."
"As a blondie it should be my right to take what I want," countered Iason. "If I am bold enough to take a slum mongrel and break it to my liking, that is within my purview."
"You have succeeded in this task, and now it is time to move on," stated Jupiter. It returned to the center of the room with its hands spread apart to give its decree. "Your reputation is deteriorating. No blondie will be reduced to the mere title of sexaroid. You are the most clever of my creations, but you are not allowed to break the social order. Pet Z-107M must be disposed of."
Iason clenched his fists. He thought he could keep Riki out of Jupiter's eye indefinitely, but he was wrong. The reality was that no matter how he bent the rules or how perfectly he performed his tasks, he would never be allowed to keep the one thing that mattered the most to him.
He was out of loopholes, and he had decided a long time ago that he would never be apart from Riki ever again.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Sora watched Ray pace the apartment. He could tell that there was something different. The furniture had a somber air as he gathered things for the usual chores of the day.
Perhaps it was related to the fact that he was feeling better. Every time he thought of how lucky he was to have his health, he couldn't help but feel beyond thankful towards Vanitas. However it was also a reminder of his warning regarding the blondies. Something was going to happen. He could practically taste it in the air.
Their routine remained somewhat unchanged. Sora was nourished with Amurita, toileted and bathed. There were no medical shots given for once. The furniture worked in perfect silence, but his movements hinted at an extra layer of reverent delicacy. He assumed that it was because they were going somewhere today.
However, when Sora was presented with his battle gear instead of his pet clothes, it became crystal clear that something was up. "What's going on?" he asked with a note of alarm.
"You are going to the Keeler Lab today," explained Ray. "Master Raoul wishes for you to wear these garments. Lift your legs, please."
Stunned, Sora did what he was told. He moved his limbs so that Ray could put on his undergarments and leather shorts. Then he held out his arms for his shirt and jacket. His sneaker boots and bracers came next. As each item was bestowed upon him, it was as if pieces of his dignity were carefully being put back into place.
After his gloves were put on, he flexed his fingers to test the material. It felt familiar in a distant way, as if the person he was before he came to Amoi was in a far off place. When his crown necklace was draped around his neck, a knot formed in his throat.
"Why am I going to that place?" he asked in a thin voice.
"It is for maintenance," answered Ray in a way that was practiced; as if he had to say that sentence a thousand times before. His bottom lip trembled, and in that moment, an icy realization came to Sora: He probably uttered the same words to Elisha.
"Sora," continued Ray quietly, "It has been an honor to serve as your furniture. You are not demanding or unreasonable like the other pets, and you cared about my welfare in a way that I never knew I could experience. I thought that when I lost the part of myself that made me a man, that it was impossible to know what that was like. That even someone like me was worth more than what was expected of me."
"Of course you're worth more. How could you doubt it?" said Sora with a light smile. His expression then became strained. "I'm... never going to see you again, am I?"
"Not as a pet," answered Ray solemnly.
Sora nodded slowly. His collar was still on, and Ray fixed a lead to it so he could be brought out of the apartment. They took their designated elevator to the first floor of the tower and made their way to the front of the building. Nobody looked at them as they went through the security checkpoints. All the people who fawned on his degradation barely spared him a glance now that he had his clothing on.
When they arrived outdoors, an aerocar was waiting. Its passenger door opened vertically, revealing that Raoul was waiting inside. Sora stiffened upon seeing the blondie - normally they rode separately.
"Come along now," said Raoul. "We have a long ride ahead of us."
Ray removed the lead and collar from Sora's neck and folded those items together in a practiced, final way. "Have a good trip," he said with a low bow.
Reluctantly, Sora entered the car. As soon as he got in, the door sealed shut and automatic seatbelts looped around his lap. He felt very uncomfortable as the vehicle levitated into the air and took off. No mechanical sounds could be heard as they coasted through the sky. In the dead of that silence, he stared at the blondie in hopes of being granted permission to talk.
As if sensing his pet's eyes, Raoul said without looking over, "This reminds me of the first time we met. Speak freely. Let us reminisce."
Sora pressed his lips. Their first meeting felt like a lifetime ago, and he would never go back to being so naïve about Raoul's intentions. He knew there were limits on what he could say in this conversation, but he recognized that this was probably one of the last times that he was allowed to be frank with the blondie. "You're tired of me," he said as a matter of fact.
"No," answered Raoul. He finally turned his head to face Sora. "The pet of a blondie typically remains in service for a year before replacement. If it were up to me, I would keep you for much longer. You are not academy trained, but your effect on the other pets is unprecedented. You truly are something special."
Sora tried not to cringe when he was called special. If this was how blondies treated the ones they liked, then how did they handle their enemies? "Who says that you can't keep pets for longer than a year?" he asked.
"We must follow social norms or risk the fall of our reputation," answered Raoul. "That is how it is in Amoi."
"But what if that changes --"
"It will not," assured Raoul. "Nothing will ever change."
Although Sora wanted to argue, he bit his tongue. It was probably part of the world order to always keep things the same, but their way of life left a bitter taste in his mouth. Instead of pressing the issue, he tried to understand it. "I don't get why blondies keep pets. You watch but barely touch them. It doesn't look like they, uhm.. that I..."
"Are you speaking of arousal?" guessed Raoul with a chuckle. "We could have erections if we wished for it. I have a synthetic body that is perfect in every way. You would have found my lovecraft to be more than satisfying. But copulation is pointless. Blondies have no processes for sensory reception." At the confused look on his pet's face, he added, "We have no sense of touch."
Sora's mouth fell open. "Then why?" he demanded. "Why bother keeping pets at all if you can't feel anything anyway?"
"This world is structured to maintain perfect order, while allowing complete freedom from the restraints of morality or religion," explained Raoul. "Humans do not feel free unless they have the license to explore the very depths of their depravity. However, that same freedom can lead them to become slovenly and lose the will to function as a society. The pet system provides a solution to this issue. They can explore their darkness in an orderly way without the loss of responsibility.
"However, in order to maintain this balance, blondies exist," continued Raoul. "Humans can not be trusted to rule this sort of world because of their innate weakness to pleasure and the megalomania that comes from trying to claim it. They will also rebel against leadership that does not live by the same rules they do. Therefore, blondies must keep pets and treat them as such. Our nano-enhanced brains are firewalled against the bottom up influence that comes from the sensory experience of ecstasy, but a high quality pet and its performance firmly seats us at the top of the hierarchy."
There was an awful and dry feeling in Sora's throat that nearly made him dry heave. His voice was brittle as he said, "Every time I hugged you, every time you touched me and made me do those things, you felt nothing."
Raoul took Sora's jawline in hand and made him turn his head to him. "You tickle my brain in a way I rarely experience. Even in this plain conversation that you barely understand, it is as if we are a moment away from transcendence."
"Your world order is wrong," said Sora boldly. He looked directly into Raoul's eyes, as if he could somehow stare through to his brain matter and scold it thoroughly. "There's more to people than the bad things they want to do. You can't create a whole world based just on that, and crush people's hearts so everything stays perfectly the same. Everyone - especially the pets - should be allowed to live the way that they want."
Raoul released Sora's face and drew himself up in a superior way. "The first place you visited when you came to this world was Ceres. The slums are an example of what happens when humans are given total freedom without governance. Did you like what you saw there?"
"That's not fair," retorted Sora. "Their place was completely destroyed and no one is helping them to make things better."
"Regardless of the environment, did any of the mongrels spontaneously develop the positive qualities that are deserving of freedom? Empathy, altruism, compassion. Was there a single one among them that did not live like a dog fighting for the last bone?" challenged Raoul.
"I didn't see any people like that in Midas either," countered Sora.
"Then you understand that no matter if one is dressed like a pauper or a prince, the basic nature of humanity is the same. At their very core, they crave perversion and control. The pet system satisfies this basic instinct, and blondies are the gods that prevent the self-destruction inherent in allowing that freedom."
In that moment, as Sora stared at Raoul in horror of what he was saying, he saw the blondie's countenance become overshadowed by the gnarled old figure of Xehanort. His words distorted into his adversary's voice who, in a calm manner, explained that darkness was the heart's true essence and he was the arbiter that needed to do something about it. It made every vein in his body turn to ice.
“I don’t buy it,” said Sora in a surprisingly flat tone. “This world doesn’t have to be this way. And not being able to feel doesn’t make you better than everyone else. It just makes everything we did pointless.”
“It seems that I have struck a nerve,” answered Raoul with a chuckle. “Do not sell yourself short. Your time as my pet has been useful. A brain without a hobby will eventually go insane.”
A hobby. All the pain and suffering he endured. The humiliations, the torture. And worse, the children that were groomed to know nothing but how to serve as the playthings of others, all for the sake of hobby.
"Someday," muttered Sora, "you'll see that there's more to people than what you think. And you'll be the one left at the bottom of the ladder when you realize it."
Raoul made a sardonic sound. "You sound like Iason. He said something just as foolish to me. To think that he would imply that he could love that mongrel --"
Before the blondie could finish that thought, the aerocar was rocked from the shockwave of an explosion. If it weren't for the restraints, they would have been tossed around the interior of the vehicle like food in a blender. Several error messages popped up on the heads up display in red boxes with severe warning flags.
"What's going on?" asked Sora as he pushed his arms against the roof and braced his legs in case they got rattled again.
If Raoul was bothered by the occurrence, he didn't show it. Instead, he calmly bypassed the red labels on the viewscreen and called up all the outdoor cameras of Eos. With the sort of speed that could only be expected of a blondie, he scanned the thousand video feeds and eliminated the unimportant ones by the handful until he was left with just one.
The live stream was blown up to a larger size with the spread of his palms, revealing a plaza. People were stampeding with their mouths open in muted screams, and darkmen were using napalm to bomb a roving mass of encroaching darkness.
"The heartless!" exclaimed Sora when he realized what he was looking at. "They're here!"
"Is that what you call those mutants?" said Raoul with disinterest.
"You have to take me there!" Sora said emphatically. "Your weapons won't work against them, they can only be stopped by a keyblade."
"You are coming with me for pet maintenance," reminded the blondie coolly.
"Forget that! If I don't go down there, all those people will die. Please. I'll do anything you want after, but let me go there." At the displeased look that Raoul gave him, Sora grew more desperate. "You still control me. If I step out of line, then you'll just explode my head off. I promise you, I won't run away. Just let me save them. It's what I came here for."
Raoul gave Sora a long stare. His green eyes were streaked with the reflection of the viewscreen. The cold blue writing reversed in his iris made him appear mechanical. "Very well. I can see that you intend to go whether I give you permission or not."
Sora looked relieved. "Open the door," he pleaded.
Wordlessly, Raoul allowed the door to the aerocar slide open. A headwind immediately began to ruffle their clothing and hair as it rushed inside. Sora's restraints were released, but before he could go, Raoul grasped him by the shoulder.
"You are still a registered pet," he informed Sora. "Remember your place."
Sora's chest tightened at those words. However, there was no time to ruminate on the meaning now. As soon as Raoul loosened his grasp, he took a flying leap out of the aerocar.
The blondie watched dispassionately as Sora fell from a height that should have broken every bone in his body. Instead, he spread his arms and legs out to the side, like a base jumper slowing the descent, and his keyblade appeared in his hands. A burst of light flared around his body, and he turned to land feet first. As soon as he touched the sloped edges of the roadway, he shot forwards like a white hot comet in a cocoon of flowmotion.
It had been a long time since Sora felt the weight of his weapon in his hands and used his power to the fullest. His sense of space, his movement, and the speed made him feel like he could outrun all the hurtful memories that he experienced since landing alone on Amoi. A part of him wanted to keep on running and never stop, but his duty kept him anchored on the mission.
He bounded off the roadways and rounded the towering buildings in the direction of the explosions. Upon arriving in the plaza, he found himself facing a disaster area. Several storefronts were on fire and people were running and coughing. There were abandoned pets cowering in place and darkmen perishing as soon as they tried to take on the multitude of Neo Shadows, Armored Knights, Big Bodies and flying Wyvern that were crowding into the space like ants marching into the picnic basket.
Sora took a deep breath. The heartless didn't scare him, but after being confined to small areas for so long, he was fighting not to let it all overwhelm him. He steadied his shaking hands and shouted "MOVE!" to the people in his way, and to his own feet.
He ran forwards with his keyblade tilted straight, as he had countless times in his past. The plaza became lit up with flares of thundaga, firaga and blizzaga spells. Above, the sky bloomed with bright color as a flood of liberated hearts drifted into the stratosphere in a steady march. It was a spectacle that could be seen all the way from the slums of Ceres to the gilded streets of Midas and the soaring towers of Eos.
People outside of the battle stopped what they were doing to stare. Pets looked up in wonder and furniture paused in their duties to peer through the windows. Even the personnel of the starships orbiting the planet gawked as the steady plume of hearts rose up and coalesced into a heart-shaped moon.
Ray abandoned his duties in favor of using his data pad to access the camera system. When he found the source of the commotion, he magnified what he was seeing in an attempt to get a good look at what was the bright object that was ripping through the monsters at such a breakneck pace. It wasn't until it stopped moving that he was able to get a fix on it, and then his eyes went wide in shock.
There was no mistaking it - the person panting heavily on the viewscreen was Sora. He looked tired but determined as he took a break from the onslaught to catch his breath. No sooner did Ray get a glimpse of him that the feed suddenly cut off. He frantically tried to access views from other nearby cameras, but they had all gone dark.
He realized that the live stream was being jammed. Whatever was going on was being hushed already. Ray looked in the direction of the lights with worry. Although he had dressed Sora as a civilian and removed his collar, his master had given him orders to keep him on the pet registry until further notice. At that time, the D-ring would be decommissioned. It was obvious that Raoul wanted to maintain his control over him until they were done at the laboratory.
So why was he at the plaza, brandishing a weapon? What were those invading monsters? Why was Sora so strong? The questions came with a heavy realization that something was changing, both inside of him and beyond him. Amoi was being shaken to its core.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

At some point during the battle, Sora changed his keychains and shifted his Kingdom Key to Starlight. He was cleaving through the heartless with back to back stun impacts that cleared pathways for trapped civilians to run through. The enemies got bigger and meaner, and he had to keep up by using form changes that had greater crowd control in order to protect everyone else.
He launched himself into the air and called upon the ancient light. White - hot pillars rained down on the plaza, eradicating the heartless that dared to get close to him. Following behind it was its shadow - a condensed ball of darkness that pulled the last of the stragglers into its gravity and annihilated them with golden keyblades.
There was nothing left to fight after that. Sora dropped to the ground, and then to his knees, completely winded. As the stillness stretched on, a few people began to appear from behind the aerocars, storefronts and other places they had used to take cover. They looked terrified and stayed away from the young man who had just saved him.
Only one person approached Sora: a pet wearing a purple latex suit. His collar still had the lead attached, indicating that his handler had either abandoned him or was taken by the heartless. This did not surprise the gawkers - only a stupid, ignorant pet would have been dumb enough to approach someone who was so obviously dangerous.
"You saved me!" said the pet in wonderment. "Everyone else ran and left, but you came."
Sora was too busy trying to breathe to answer him. Instead, he just gave him a weak smile and shrugged, as if helping him was something he couldn't help but do.
The pet looked over Sora, obviously trying to figure out what he could do for him. Even if there were injuries, he didn't have the power or knowledge of how to fix them. He could only stare helplessly. Then he noticed the bejeweled bracelet on his savior's wrist. "You are a pet?" he said in disbelief.
"Move aside cocksucker," interrupted a gruff voice. Several darkmen pushed the pet aside and surrounded Sora. They held up their shock sticks which lit up with crackles of electricity. "Pet Z-208W, you are to submit and return to your master," barked one of the black clad men.
Sora's limbs started to shake. He could have taken these guys on easily, but the word "pet" caused a terrible feeling of something heavy and stifling circling around him. Even with the neutral state of his D-ring, Raoul's influence and training made him feel chained up. It triggered a memory of being wrapped in dark tendrils and tossed around like a paddle ball while Xehanort laughed through Terra's eyes. The horror of seeing Aqua and Ventus abused by someone who wore the guise of their best friend and brother in arms settled over him like a blanket.
His gasping turned into choking. He felt like he was back in that moment and he couldn't breathe. One of the darkmen dug his shock stick into his back and the lancing pain finally made him suck air in.
"Don't be a dumbass!" chided one of the other men. "That is a blondie's pet!"
"Pet my ass, it's a rabid dog!"
As the darkmen argued about how best to treat Sora, he realized that being a pet still gave him a measure of protection. It was the only thing that cut through his panic. If he submitted, then all the pain would stop. So he stretched his arms out and lowered until his forehead touched the ground. His heart slowed its pounding as his anxiety changed from the bitter memories of the keyblade war to what would happen if he displeased his master.
"That's better," said the darkman. They shackled his wrists and swiftly hauled his limp form back to his feet. He was tossed into one of their official aerocars and brought to the detention center without delay.
It was deja vu being stuck in that place again. Sora was shoved into a cell without explanation and the door swished shut behind him. He wasn't sure if he was in the same room as before or if they all had the same sterile look. What he knew was that the last time he was trapped in this place, he never came out the same ever again.
At least his hands were shackled in front instead of behind. He sat on the available bench and rested his head against the wall. A moment was taken to take stock of everything that transpired. Amazingly, he was still alive. Raoul had not blown him up, and he was still a pet. He found himself wondering what that meant. After all, it was never about the sex.
A hobby. He could have laughed if he didn't hurt so bad. The adrenaline was wearing off, and it left his body throbbing like a toothache. That pain didn't hold a candle to the emotional upheaval and humiliation that he felt from hearing the blondie say those words. He wondered if Raoul had become so twisted because he had no sense of touch; just like how Ray thought he was worthless because he was a eunuch. What sort of darkness was capable of maiming people in that way for the sake of world order?
The same sort that he had Sora thought unhappily. Even after so much time had passed, the stink that surrounded Xehanort still managed to rear its head.
As he blankly looked upwards, movement caught his eye. He was startled when he saw a flood skitter across the ceiling and wrap itself around the overhead camera. There was a shift in the air; a subtle vibration as a dark portal opened up in front of him. Vanitas stepped out of it, and he no longer looked like a pet. He was wearing his armory and black visor, as if he was prepared for a battle.
"Vanitas!" cried Sora with a mix of surprise, trepidation, and unbidden joy that even he couldn't say where it came from. Maybe some part of him hoped that he was about to be saved.
That part was wrong. "Congratulations," said Vanitas with total lack of fanfare. "You survived. Now it's time to pay up."
"Now?" said Sora in surprise. Considering that he was in chains, he didn't think that he could do much. Even so, he owed a debt of gratitude. He stood up from the bench to show that he was ready. "Okay," he said after a pause. "What can I do?"
Vanitas didn't answer immediately. It was as if he was taking the measure of his words before finally saying, "Take me into your heart."
Sora blinked. Out of everything that could have been requested, that was the last thing that he expected. "You mean, like a merge? To make a X-blade?" he asked in confusion.
"No." There was a hint of frustration in Vanitas's voice, as if he was loath to explain this. "I will be in the darkness."
"But that's.. that's..." Sora's mind whirled as he tried to figure out what this was. Holding people in his heart was not a problem, it was something that he had been doing since he was a kid. However, that would put Vanitas to sleep. He wouldn't exist as he did now. Something about that just didn't feel right. "Why?" he asked.
"Doesn't matter why. This is what I want," answered Vanitas. "Are you going to do it or not?"
Sora wished that his doppelganger wasn't wearing his helmet. He wanted to know what sort of face he was making right now. To ask to be put to sleep felt a lot like giving up. "You once told me that by accepting darkness, you were closer to Ventus and I than anything else. You said I was a brother. So why do this now? Isn't being our shadow enough?"
"Did I say those crappy things when that old man forced me to time travel to fight in his stupid war?" said Vanitas with annoyance. "If you want to pretend that this is about some fake connection between us then you do you. This is about me choosing when I want to be awake, and when I want to be asleep."
Sora wished he knew more about Vanitas. Ventus claimed that he was his darkness incarnate, but that didn't make sense. Even nobodies eventually grew their own hearts, so why not him? There had to be more to their enemy than that. Otherwise, why was he was he standing in front of him, asking for a quiet, painless suicide in his heart?

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Ventus was a snot that never gave him what he wanted. Even though he was stronger, smarter, and fearless, no amount of crushing that fragile and pathetic heart gave him the results that Xehanort promised. He was never able to merge with his light; instead he was defeated and put to sleep right beside it.
That was fine by Vanitas. He was tired of doing the bidding of that old geezer. He didn't care about purging the universe or whatever. All he wanted was to return to his former state. It was better to go back to being the anxiety ridden, broken self-esteem and depressed loser that was the real Ventus than live the tortuous life of a half existence.
Every day, his feelings were ripped out like nails from their bed, and then returned to him before he got too numb to forget what that was like. All so that he could be at the beck and call of a crazy old coot who enjoyed using him as target practice when he was in an animal-torturing sort of mood. If Xehanort wasn't so ridiculously powerful, he would have destroyed him and called it a day a long time ago.
What he needed was more power to break free. Merging with Ventus was the ticket to freedom that he needed. They would form the X-blade and crush Xehanort with it. Then they could live the life they deserved, completely free. All his other half had to do was submit.
Vanitas would easily achieve dominance over themselves, and life would have been so much better. There would be no more sniveling and worrying about what other people thought of them. The worlds would have to play by their rules for once. However, on the station of their shared heart, Ventus chose to shatter it instead of allowing that change. They both fell asleep, and only one got to emerge from that slumber years later.
In time, so did Vanitas. It was a rude awakening in the hot sands of the Keyblade Graveyard. He was face down in the dirt and would have been covered in it if it weren't for his bioarmor and helmet. As he lifted himself up, he heard familiar distant voices.
"I knew you could do it!" He recognized Aqua's voice. "You took on his lingering sentiment without my help. You are well on your way to becoming a master."
Vanitas remained quiet so he could eavesdrop. What the hell was going on? Why was he here? He carefully peered around the sand dune to see what was happening.
Ventus was there, and he was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "That wasn't easy, but thanks to your training I was finally able to win. It.. feels weird. Like I'm finally putting a pin in something that I left unfinished."
In a way that was completely visceral, he knew that they were talking about him.
Fuck you Ventus we are not finished!
Vanitas seethed with fury. He didn't know what was going on, but it sounded a lot like his other half was trying to bury him. That wasn't happening. It was time to remind him who the superior one was. He pushed himself up to his feet to reveal himself and promptly collapsed.
What the hell? Why was he weak?!
He watched as the pair of keyblade wielders began to walk in the distance to a gummi ship.
No you don't! Get back here!
Through sheer force of will, he tried to get up again. This time, he rose up not from his legs, but from the smoky ichor that surrounded his ghostly figure. He was so diminished that he couldn't even maintain his form. However, that was not important. His resolve to confront Ventus and make him face his wrath helped to float him over to the gummi ship and latch onto its hull. There would be no escape.
He clung on like black tar as they flew to the Land of Departure. It was a stupid world that was full of lights that sparred, did homework, practiced magic and did the bidding of another old geezer that thought he knew better than everyone else. As usual, Ventus was wasting his time in the dumbest place. It was past the point that they merged and started living a decent life.
Vanitas waited until his target was asleep before floating in through the cracks of the windowsill. Like a malevolent wraith, he formed an ethereal, dark form that hovered over the clueless keyblade wielder. It would be simple to take back what was his. They had a shared destiny that mandated it.
However, something was wrong. The places where they used to fit weren't so neat anymore. The edges where Ventus's anxiety and loneliness existed were filled up with shit that didn't belong. New friends, new master, new experiences that validated him and gave him other sorts of fears that were nothing like before. Because of this, it was like Vanitas was holding the key to the wrong door. He couldn't get in.
No matter. All he had to do was stick around and see what kind of shape his darkness had taken now. It shouldn't be too hard to match it. So he lingered like a ghost and watched the sort of life that Ventus was living. He learned that a lot of time had passed. A war that he didn't remember had been fought, and the old geezer was taken out by some guy named Sora who had vanished into nothing.
Curiosity made him look into the person that managed to get rid of the biggest headache of his life. He read everything he could and broke into their computers while they were away. He snuck into their bedrooms and combed through their journals without the least bit of shame. Then one day, he found a picture in Kairi's stupidly pink wallet and finally understood.
They had the same face. The empty spaces in Ventus's heart that rightfully belonged to him had been filled by this interloper. There wasn't a place to fit anymore because there was no room left. While he was sleeping, Sora replaced his spot and slowly pushed him out of his own home.
Ventus no longer had the old garbage feelings of anxiety and unworthiness. He had come to terms with them a long time ago. That luggage all belonged to Vanitas now. The reality was that a merge was now completely impossible, because the heart he knew had grown without him.
Vanitas tore up that picture and flew off that world in a whirlwind. He never went back.
From that time, he drifted through the cosmos in aimless fashion. He was without purpose. There was no master to command him and no goal to meet anymore. His body was weak. There was no point to anything.
Then worlds that were previously asleep started to appear. These were broken, dirty places that were filled to the brim with a particularly putrid sort of darkness. Vanitas was naturally drawn to those places, and the negativity recharged him. He was able to solidify his form. His power returned.
All the things he saw in those places re-affirmed that the universe was only made for the strong. The weak were easily crushed and hearts turned to darkness in rapid form. The light was literally mauled out of existence on those dying worlds. It was in those spaces that he wasted his time, because there was nothing else to do and he was never going to allow himself to be weak.
Amoi was one of his favorite shitholes to moonlight. That place made him laugh so hard. An entire society filled with dumb pets, abused by dumb people and run by even dumber sexaroids that were too snobby to so much as let themselves get a hard on. What a riot.
The blondies were full of themselves because they believed that they had the perfect world. They were the most annoying and gross of all. Vanitas decided he would squash their pride by infiltrating their precious pet registry and then revealing their incompetence. Their entire social system would degrade long before the heartless wiped the rest of the world out. He couldn't wait to draw in that negativity and become as strong as a god.
He had a sophisticated plan to up-end their reality. First, he would hack their system and create a fake pet ID with credentials fit for the elite. Then he would be delivered to one of the blondies in cryogenic transport. His ability to portal wherever he wanted made it child's play to sneak into any computer room or cargo bay to do his dirty work.
After that, all he had to do was pretend to be a pet and bide his time for a moment to royally embarrass his so-called master. He didn't care which blondie it was, they were all the same pretty boy dolls to him. When his pod finally arrived and he was presented to Gideon Lagat, he couldn't keep the smirk off his face.
"I like this one already," the blondie practically purred upon being presented his new pet.
As a creature that fed from negativity, Vanitas was empathic to the feelings of others. Gideon was being honest - he liked what he saw. It was the first time that anyone had directed such a slimy feeling towards him. If he were a weaker being, he might have gagged.
This blondie was ostensibly dressed in a jumpsuit that had large shoulder pads with red and gold trim, and hair reached down to his waist. The way he looked down from his seven foot frame made the Vanitas's fingers twitch for Void Gear. He was smiling as if he was seeing the most amazing thing.
"This will do very well indeed," continued Gideon with an even wider grin.
What the hell is his damage.
Vanitas expected that he would be received like a piece of junk mail: Opened, slightly shuffled through, then abruptly discarded. In his research, he found that blondies only kept pets for a year maximum, and those were only the lucky ones. They treated their human property as nothing more than ornaments meant to remind the other idiots in the world of who was on top of the food chain.
But this guy actually liked him. He was excited to see him. In the first moment of their meeting, he was the blondie's whole world. So when he was commanded to strip down and show all his boring bits, instead of committing murder on the spot, Vanitas did as he was told. Just to test how shallow those feelings were.
When he was debuted and asked to fuck every pet he saw, he obliged and did that too, and couldn't believe how the dumb blonde's feelings turned to raw pride. For him. All because he could make one part of his malleable body stick up and stay that way until he was done with it. How easy. He could rip apart a thousand heartless, stand his ground against the lights and obey every single damn command that Xehanort ever gave him to the letter, and not once did the old geezer ever give him even a shred of any emotion that wasn't disgust.
Vanitas convinced himself that he was just toying with the guy as he played the part of a pet. When he felt Gideon having any positive feeling to anyone that wasn't him, he thoroughly sabotaged that person until they were disposed of. He burned through so much furniture that his master stopped caring who they were as long as they were around to keep his apartment tidy and his pet cared for.
The help became so afraid of him and his reputation that they often had mental breakdowns. Every time this happened, the strength of Gideon's feelings increased as he reveled in the sadism of his prized pet. He enjoyed the power of owning something dangerous and subservient only to him, and Vanitas ate up the attention and appreciation.
Then, a decision was made that he would be mated. Vanitas didn't care; after he thoroughly destroyed that loser it wouldn't be his problem anymore. Upon seeing the familiar face in the dossier however, the plan changed.
It was the guy that changed Ventus. Back from the dead or other dimension or wherever the hell he went. Vanitas didn't believe in luck or fate, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Sora was about to be delivered to him in chains, and he was free to take his revenge on him as his new personal chew toy.
On the day they met, it was hard to believe that someone so pathetic was able to beat Xehanort. How did he do it? What sort of power did he really have? There wasn't any confidence that he could feel, just anxiety, a broken sense of self and loneliness. All familiar emotions - except for one piece of hope that was shining towards him. A stubborn little light that didn't know where it belonged. Ventus had never felt like that.
Whatever. He fucked that feeling right out of him and enjoyed the humiliation and misery that came after. It was like finding a plate of delicious ambrosia. All the negativity he fed on up until that point had no comparison. Sora's joyless life satisfied him in a way that he'd never experienced before.
From that point on, Vanitas stopped pretending to be like other boring pets who malingered while they waited for their next lay. He started stalking Sora. It was child's play to disable the security systems and distract the furniture so he could portal away and watch his prey from afar. Sometimes he got a chance to mess with him, and those were some of his most entertaining days by far.
When they weren't together, Vanitas ruminated over Sora. There was something different about his darkness. It was true that a strong light casted a deep shadow, and more and more, he thought that theirs fit perfectly, like how it should have gone with Ventus. He thought he would live forever with the relentless pain of his own existence, but a new possibility was slowly presenting itself; that there was still a chance that he could seal the ragged edges of his self and stop the cursed flow of unversed.
So when Sora confessed his confusion and sent those weak feelings of misplaced attraction towards him, Vanitas had to put his foot down. Light and darkness existed parallel; there was never any gray between. It was unnatural for light to reach out to the other side. All that would do was drive the shadow away.
There was always going to be them and us, and he couldn't allow Sora to bend the rules. He sent his unversed to put his mate back into his place and restore their balance. His aversion to uncomfortable affection bubbled into blobmobs and his wish to dish out the same discomfort created a mandrake. Flood were easy - there was plenty of hate to spare for the keyblade wielder. The vile phial was difficult to explain. He didn't want to admit that it had come from something as pathetic as hope. It was just there to do a job, that was all.
His newly formed sex squad circled around him to await his instruction. Their expressions of pity, sadness, hate and glee gave him as much unease as it did schadenfreude for the disservice he was about to deliver to the keyblade wielder. He commanded them to have their way with the fool and remove the effects of the poisons that had been put into his body. Soon, that erstwhile light would be able to see with clarity that he was committing a taboo by attempting to bridge the divide between them.
When Sora found him afterwards, looking happier and more hopeful than ever, Vanitas wondered just who got fucked in the end. No matter how he treated him, he just couldn't squash that one thread that continued to reach out. The thought of killing him entered his mind, but what if he was the only thing in the universe that could sate his hunger for negativity and ease his pain? The thought of continuing on without those things now felt unbearable.
That's when the idea came: What if he just slept next to that light, like he did with Ventus before. Then there would be no more existential existence or hurt. He would not have to live like the rejected shadow that he was. All he truly needed was someone to open their heart to him. Could Sora do it? Would he do it?
He realized that it would be a short lived sleep. Sora was going to get crushed by the world soon. The blondies would destroy him without question. That was ok though. If they perished together, then he would be reborn whole and forget all the nonsense of his current existence. Finally, after all that he went through, he could start over.
Sora just needed a heart strong enough to contain him. To test him, Vanitas challenged him to survive the blondies a little longer. Surprisingly, it didn't take long to be convinced of the keyblade wielder's worthiness. He took a front seat to the lightshow at the plaza by perching on one of the tall buildings and witnessed his power firsthand. Despite being mentally, emotionally and physically fatigued from the abuse he endured, his mate still managed to fight with all his heart - and win.
It made Vanitas smirk. Now he had a better idea of Sora's heart. It was full of its own tremendous pain and suffering, but he was pushing past it instead of using it. His light was burning on full cylinders at all times to outrun the filth of anxious desperation filling its shadow. That clinched the decision for him. There was plenty of space within all that self-sacrifice to hold his darkness.
As he stood in front of Sora in the detention center, he felt more at ease than he had in his entire existence. He didn't need to replace Xehanort with a less annoying version of him to have meaning anymore. He didn't have to mindlessly gather misery just so he could live and do nothing with himself. He wasn't submitting to the light, nor was he trying to subjugate it to his will for once.
No, this time he was choosing it, and in that one moment, it all hinged on whether it would do the same.
Sora stared at Vanitas's dark helmet, before finally saying in a low voice, "It must have been really hard for you." He took a few steps closer to his doppelganger. "Actually, I'm kind of jealous. I wish I was the one who could go to sleep for a while."
His words were met with a lack of feedback. It weakened his strained smile. Sora continued, "I'll do this, but only because I am going to keep fighting for you. So that if you ever wake up again, it'll be to a better life. One where I hope that we can be friends."
"Heh. That won't be in this life," answered Vanitas blandly.
"I can always dream," said Sora with a soft expression. "So, go ahead and dream with me."
A light pulsed from Sora's body and surrounded him in a soft glow. Vanitas could hardly believe it. He spent ages tempering Ventus's heart in hopes of making it strong enough for him, and then entered it by force when the fruits of his labor had paid off - only for his work to be shattered and his very being rejected. Now, the same cruel universe that crushed the weak without a thought, delivered a person who was willing to simply give him everything that he wanted just because he asked.
Was this luck? Was it fate? What was the catch? Those thoughts ran through his mind as that warmth beckoned him. Every step that he took towards it soothed his pain and made the questions matter less and less. In the end, only one last thought remained:
Is this what one of those gross hugs were like?

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Sora spent some time simply pressing his cuffed hands to his chest. Vanitas felt heavy. Other than that, nothing else was different. He wasn't suddenly whisked away to his heart station for a battle of dominance and he was still in full control of his body.
He really did just want to sleep.
So did he. Sora returned to the small cot on the room and laid back first on it. The flood that was covering the camera was gone. Maybe all the unversed no longer existed now that their master was retired. His exhaustion kept him from thinking too hard on it; as soon as he closed his eyes he dosed off.
Some time passed before the door to the room swished open. A person strode inside and loomed over him. Their shadow made him open his eyes, and all he saw was blonde hair. "Raoul?" he asked groggily.
"He will be disappointed that you are speaking his name so informally," came a cool answer.
Sora recognized the ice that was in the man's voice. He quickly sat up. "Iason?" he said in surprise. "Why is it you?"
As always, the blondie held himself with perfect posture that towered over him. He looked down past his nose at the disheveled boy. "He is cleaning up the mess that you made. I am here for your interrogation."
"Please don't hit me," said Sora plaintively. "I will tell you anything you want."
"Then let us not waste time," continued Iason. "The cameras of this cell went down briefly, and Gideon is frantically searching all of Eos for his missing pet. He seems to have somehow removed his Pet ID. Where is he?"
Sora sighed. He should have known that Vanitas would leave a giant mess for him to clean up. "You won't find him anywhere on this world. He won't be coming back."
"Leaving you behind?" questioned Iason.
That question frustrated Sora. It would have been nice if Vanitas had cooperated with him instead of toying with him, but that was all water under the bridge now. "Yes," he answered through gritted teeth. "He's not exactly the helping type. Besides, I couldn't have gone far anyway." There was still the question of the D-ring and the embedded explosive in his neck. Maybe there was nothing that his doppelganger could have done for him in the end.
"How fortunate that you readily know your place," said Iason crisply. "Should we worry about the artificial moon that you put into the sky?" It took a moment for Sora to realize that he was speaking of the Kingdom Hearts that formed during the battle. "Not at all," he said quickly. "It's just a thing that happens when a lot of heartless are defeated. I can even get rid of it if you let me." At the withering stare that he received with his offer, he added in a smaller, "Or, maybe not." "Tell me. Who made you a child soldier?"
Sora pursed his lips. That was a loaded question. "I don't know if I was ever supposed to be one in the first place. Other people got picked by the keyblade before me. But somehow, I managed to have one of my own. Probably because I'm connected to others who were actually chosen."
"Chosen by who?" pressed Iason.
"I always thought it was the light, but you just called me a child soldier," said Sora with an unhappy frown. "Maybe I'm wrong about who actually picks us."
"Questioning you is always pointless," scoffed Iason. "You answer in senseless riddles."
"I want to ask a question of my own," said Sora boldly. "How is Riki? What you made him do last time really hurt him."
A sharp look entered Iason's eyes. "The well being of my pet is none of your business."
"It's my business because he's my friend," countered Sora. "I hear about what you do to him. I just don't get it. You get nothing out of touching him. I don't know if you're trying to be his dad, or his boyfriend or what, because to be any of those things you'd have to set him free."
"I am already the only thing that matters," answered Iason calmly. "I am his master."
"You don't want to be his master," said Sora emphatically, "because that's not enough."
A cold smile stretched Iason's lips. "I see now why Riki favored you. You can easily see through the veneer."
Sora flinched as the interrogator approached him. When the blondie extended his hand, he braced himself to be slapped. Instead, he felt the weight of his palm on his head. Iason lowered himself so that they could see each other eye to eye.
"I was the blondie created to think outside of the box," he whispered, as if he was imparting a grand secret. "You and I can see its walls and structure, as well as its weaknesses. But just because we can see the box does not mean that we can change it. Tanagura will not bend for you or I. Even if you infect it with things such as friendship, affection or love, it will always stay the same."
Sora didn't dare to move until Iason finally straightened up and went to the room's exit. Before he could leave, however, he piped up:
"Can I break the box?"
Iason turned his head over his shoulder. "Do what you wish, so long as Riki stays mine."
With that said, he left. Sora released a breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. He was taking a lot of risks by back-talking those blondies. Maybe holding his keyblade again was making him bold. However, despite being a guy that could think outside the box, he just couldn't see a way to save Riki from his crazy master.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

In the cover of night, someone came to release Sora from the detention center. He expected to be picked up by Raoul or Ray, but the person waiting for him outside of the metal door was a stranger. It was an imposing man with red hair that was cropped to the nape of his neck and long bangs that draped over his brown eyes. His features were delicate and incredibly handsome, but marred by a viscous scar that stretched from cheek to chin.
He didn't speak to Sora. His countenance was cold and aloof. Sora stood by in confusion as the guy filled out digital paperwork with the air of collecting a package at the local postal office, and then gestured for the boy to follow him out.
They quietly made their way to an aerocar that was significantly less fancy than the ones that the blondies owned. Once inside, they flew in a direction that was definitely not towards Tanagura. Although Sora had been taught not to ask questions, he was unable to hold back any longer.
"Did Master Raoul send you?" he carefully asked.
"No," came the succinct answer.
Sora's expression crunched as he tried to figure out what was going on. "If not Raoul, then.. Iason? Are you Iason's furniture?"
The man's lips tightened. "I was. But that doesn't concern you."
That answer made Sora look at the man more closely. He didn't know what happened to retired furniture. The guy looked handsome enough to play the part, but he was definitely a lot older than the others still servicing in Eos Tower. "How come I'm with you instead of my usual furniture?" he asked.
"You were due for pet maintenance. Due to circumstances, you missed your launch window. Those same circumstances are the reason that you can not return to Eos. To save your master from the embarrassment of having such an unruly pet, you will be staying at the Apathia in Midas," he explained.
Sora frowned at this information. He actually felt offended. "He's embarrassed because I wanted to stop the heartless from hurting all those people?"
"Your only role in this world is to lick the boots of the elite," replied the man coolly. "Despite being a pet, you've yet to hammer this into your bones. For that reason, you will always be an embarrassment."
"People have got their priorities mixed up if they think what I did is an embarrassment!" said Sora stubbornly.
The man simply closed his eyes in response. "So much power, wasted on the cesspool of Midas."
Sora's mouth fell open. He had never seen anyone despise other people so much.
The Apathia was a private apartment in Midas. It towered into the sky at 52 floors above the brightly lit hustle and bustle of Midas. All of its windows glittered like mirrors that reflected the cityscape. There were guards at the doors and checkpoints to pass at the bottom level. There was no doubt that the place was high class with its indoor light fountains and brightly lit chandeliers, and it was also very private.
Sora was brought to an apartment on the 33rd floor via elevator. It had a lounge area, a single bedroom and a bathroom with a large tub and shower. A wall to wall window overlooked the city below. There was no kitchen that he could see, just what appeared to be a stock bar full of nutrient drinks.
Once brought to that place, he asked his retainer, "What do I call you?"
"Katze," he answered simply. "And don't misunderstand. I won't be tending to your personal needs. You will have to wipe your own ass."
To his surprise, Sora jumped and pumped both fists with a jubilant "Yes!!!"

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

While Sora was in Apathia, witnesses to what happened at the plaza were visited by darkmen and threatened into silence. Pets who were present were scheduled for maintenance to have their mind wiped. The rumors about the pet who saved the people from monsters were quickly squashed. Despite how things had been shaken up, Tanagura wasted no time to reset their system of order and return it to its baseline.
Katze was under strict orders to kill Sora if he attempted anything duplicitous. He was now too dangerous to be allowed near other pets or furniture. The mere whisper of a pet powerful enough to level a city was a disaster waiting to happen; he had to be contained until people stopped asking questions.
The blondies were holding emergency meetings about what should be done. They could kill him right away or turn him into a sex doll, but that would just bring more trouble to Amoi if he had comrades coming for him. Perhaps they should just let him rot in Apathia until he could be used as a bargaining chip, despite the risk of an escape attempt. Or perhaps they should arrange for him to perish in an accident, thereby washing their hands of all blame.
For now, the only thing keeping Sora cowed was the D-ring and the explosive implant in his head. The former was the reason why his pet ID was still registered. As soon as he was no longer part of the registry, the D-ring would be rendered defunct. Its removal would have to be carefully coordinated to prevent attempts of escape that would ultimately lead to his demise.
Katze considered all of this as he kept watch over his ward. Sora was now only a pet on in name. He dressed the way he wanted and took care of himself. Kneeling on the ground and formal greeting was no longer performed. More and more, he reminded him strongly of Iason's other dark haired pet, who would rather suffer under his own D-ring and keep his pride rather than properly heel before his master.
If he hadn't known better, he would think that Iason was making it a point to collect all the unruly pets of Amoi and tame them himself. However, Sora still belonged to Raoul, and it was only a matter of time until his true master came for him.
"I'm leaving," announced Katze once Sora was done freshening up in the bathroom. "Stay here."
"By myself?" said Sora in surprise.
"If you leave, you die," said Katze simply. With those dire words, he exited the apartment.
For several moments, Sora stood there in shock. Not because of the warning, but the fact that for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime ago, he had privacy. Ray wasn't lurking around and there didn't seem to be any cameras in the flat. He was really, truly, alone.
You better not start beating your meat.
"Whoa!" Sora jumped in shock and quickly cast his gaze around to see who was in the room with him. "Who is there?"
Don't be an asshole, you know who I am.
"Vanitas?" Sora placed his hand against his head with growing horror. "But why? You said you wanted to sleep!"
I did, but somebody decided to compartmentalize me instead. The hell is wrong with you? I asked for one simple thing.
"I'm sorry," said Sora regretfully. "I don't know how that happened."
I don't want to hear your pathetic reasons. We had a deal. I don't want to be stuck here with your boring memories.
A intense headache suddenly had Sora clawing his head. Flashes of private moments flared behind his eyelids as he was rummaged from the inside. "Stop it!" he yelled out.
Lame, lame, all these memories are lame.
Vanitas was flipping through his mind as if he was paging through an animation book. The memories all had a theme: they were centered around Ventus. Starting from when his broken fragments were taken into Sora's heart, to his awakening after a long sleep, to their final goodbye during the keyblade war, and to the smiling young man and friend he had become once Sora returned from Quadratum.
I seriously called you brothers?
"Vanitas," ground Sora through the pain, "just tell him how you feel."
MY feelings?
"Yes. I feel them too," winced Sora.
That immediately caused Vanitas to stop. Sora let out a relieved gasp as the physical pain was released. However, it would take a little longer to let go of the loneliness that came with it.
Put me to sleep, demanded Vanitas.
"It's alright. I've done this before," explained Sora. "I'm always carrying everyone else's pain."
Crazy bastard.
When it seemed that he reached a truce with Vanitas, Sora walked over to the nearest chair and flopped on top of it. His stress was through the roof and he didn't know what to do. He wanted to close his eyes and drift off for a while. Just a little break so he could sort out his next move.
Then the door to the apartment opened, and Raoul strolled in. Sora's eyes snapped open, and his body felt paralyzed with fear. His master's movements were as regal and purposeful as always, but there was a fire in his green eyes that sharpened when he saw his lounging pet.
"We are not apart for long, and you already forget your manners," he said coolly to Sora.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused," said Sora with trepidation. "I don't know if I'm your pet anymore."
"You are still part of the registry, so you are my legal pet," answered Raoul. He placed a box on the table beside the sofa. "Take that and prepare yourself the way you were taught."
Slowly, as if sudden movements were likely to put Raoul into a foul mood, Sora leaned forwards to check the box. Upon opening it, his heart sank. Waiting inside was his pet uniform. It was only in that moment that he realized just how badly he had hoped that this part of the nightmare was over.
"Yes master," he said in defeated tone. The box was closed and he went to the bathroom to get changed. It was odd to have to do this himself, and so much worse. At least with Ray he could say that someone else made him do it, but now he was putting on the vestiges of slavery on his own.
When he returned to the living area, Raoul was in the chair and his datapad was on the table. Sora went to sit at his feet with his head bowed.
"You are going to join me for a video call," said Raoul. "A complete and total waste of my time, but I would rather get this over with than let him keep pestering me."
Sora didn't know what he was talking about. Raoul's datapad projected a holo-interface for making calls, and a few taps later another face appeared on the screen. It was Gideon, who looked very displeased.
"Your pet is looking very healthy considering how disobedient it has been lately," said Gideon. There was a grin on his face that was at odds with his poisonous undertone.
"Just ask your questions," said Raoul impatiently.
Gideon narrowed his eyes. "Where is my Vanitas? There was a blackout in your holding cell. That only occurs when the two of you meet."
Sora's eyes widened, completely giving away the fact that he had everything to do with the pet's disappearance.
Fuck.
"Tell him the truth," said Raoul. He reached for the ring in his finger, and it responded by glowing a fierce red with a low thrum.
"Argh!!" Sora immediately grasped his stomach and bowled over. There were tears in his eyes as he said quickly, "He's here! He's a part of my heart. He won't come back, I'm sorry!"
"Increase the D-ring to its maximum capacity," demanded Gideon. "I want the truth."
"It is already at its limit," said Raoul. "My pet has tremendous pain tolerance, which makes this all the more pointless. You were going to dispose of Vanitas regardless."
"That was to be my choice in the manner of my choosing," argued Gideon. "I could have registered his gametes. I may never see a pet of that caliber ever again."
"Stop.. STOP IT!" interrupted Sora. He pushed himself to his knees. The pain was horrific. His entire body felt like it was being stabbed in every pore over and over again. Even so, it was nothing that he hadn't felt before. "Vanitas left because he's bored of you! You were never the one calling the shots. He was using you the entire time. He was never your pet!"
A feeling that wasn't his own was rising up. A sort of twisted pride emanating from the darkness.
You can take that kind of pain huh.
Vanitas was rooting through his memories again, this time looking for all the times that Sora had been seriously hurt. There was plenty to see. Whether it was his rough and tumble childhood of climbing coconut trees and fighting rip currents on the sandy beaches, his battle hardened days of learning how to use the keyblade, his scuffles with the different versions of Xehanort and --
Wait. What was that?
Sorah!
Sowaaaaah!
Static.
What the hell?
Walking through a dark pool of water, and coming face to face with an enemy that had the face of a friend.
I will save you.
His body is freezing in ice...
Static.
Demontide is coming, and it's sweeping away everybody--!
Static.
You...
You have a heart that belongs to the worlds. I always knew it since we were kids.
Static.
How can you be free when you are mine?
You miserable cheater. You've been reversing time.
A cold sweat broke over Sora's body as he continued to fight the D-ring.
How many times did you let me fuck you until I said something that you liked? As many as it took to beat Xehanort? Or as much as it took to win over that weirdo that you met in Quadratum? Don't even get me started on that loser that broke up with you.
"SHUT UP!!!"
Sora finally got to his feet. His odd outburst made the blondies give him matching stares.
"I'm sorry about Vanitas, but truthfully, he didn't like you," he gritted out to Gideon. "He was with you because he thought you were a better version of his original master. But in the end, you were just going to throw him away, so it was just more of the same."
Raoul continued to give Sora a narrowed gaze, and then he returned the D-ring to its neutral tone. As soon as it turned off, his pet collapsed to the floor in a heap. "Does that satisfy what you want to know?" he asked his comrade.
"I will accept this as closure," said Gideon with cold neutrality, "but I am not satisfied with Sora's punishment."
"That's my purview," answered Raoul. "I will take care of that myself."
With that said, the phone call was ended. The blondie stood up from the couch and picked up the listless pet from the floor in a fireman's carry. He was transported to the bedroom, where he was lowered into a pod with silk sheets. Raoul took care to magnetize his wrists together and chain his arms over his head and his legs off to the sides with little room for movement.
By then, Sora had gathered enough of himself to ask weakly, "Is it true that you're unhappy with me because I wanted to save those people?"
"I am unhappy with myself, because I allowed it," answered Raoul. "You created a weakness in me that I can not allow. As a master, I failed you by allowing you to do as you please while still registered in my care. I was careless and nearly ruined this world's order. All because I was hasty in treating you as a free person ahead of your time."
Raoul pet the top of Sora's head in a way that almost seemed fond. "This marks our last hours as pet and master. I want you to spend that time contemplating our time together. I want you to remember me as the one that you gave all of yourself to."
Sora felt a cold chill. He didn't know what all of that meant. The doors to the pod closed, and Raoul gave him one last, long look before he was completely sealed in darkness. His heart began to pound with an immediate sense of claustrophobia. What was going to happen? What did he want?
The answer came in a sudden wave of ecstasy that made him dizzy. The D-ring activated, and it was giving a shrill vibration that was bathed in blue light. No!!! Sora thrashed and arched his back as pleasure ripped its way down his spine in an unrelenting onslaught. The device must have been turned up to its limit; the feeling was so intense that it verged on painful.
Then he realized what Raoul wanted. There wasn't going to be a doctor with needles to rescue him this time. He was going to go out of his mind with pleasure and be left permanently broken.
"NO! NOOOO! HELP! AAARRGH!" Sora twisted and pulled until his ankles and wrists bruised with the effort. He didn't want to die this way. Not pining for someone who didn't have any room in his heart for empathy or remorse. Raoul didn't deserve it. He wasn't worthy!
Stop whining. There's worse things than being forced to nut.
As if to prove it to Sora, a flood of memories were forced to the forefront of his mind. He didn't recognize any of them because they weren't his, and yet he lived them as if they were. Xehanort was torturing him. He burned him, froze him, cut him up and beat him within an inch of his life. From the moment of his inception, he was treated like a rag, and the dark feelings it caused were ripped out of him one by one as unversed. They crawled out of his skin and mocked him with their expressive faces, whereas he only became more and more numb.
He couldn't even imagine what a nice life was like; instead he could only catch glimpses of it through his connection with Ventus. The bright world that his other half lived in had to be a lie. If only he could make him understand this. If they commiserated in the reality of how things really were, would the pain lessen even a little?
Tears slipped down his cheeks. The sad memories counteracted and interfered with the signals of the D-ring. The pleasure that he felt became dulled to a thin, bittersweet feeling that was ragged and sharp at the edges. Vanitas's pain became a lifeline that he hung onto, and the heaviness did get lighter.
Exhausted, he closed his eyes.
Some time later, the doors to his pod slid open. After being in the darkness for so long, he flinched at the shaft of light that poured onto his face. Slowly, he parted his lashes, and beheld someone looking down at him from above.
This person was familiar, with cerulean eyes and a head of golden, windswept hair. He looked at Sora with a big smile that was full of friendship and joy.
"Found you," he said with utter relief.

To be continued.
- 7
- 8
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Bonds of Misery