#wahooooo the first post about the fic!!!

[recusant-s-sigil]

Rating: PG

Word count: 869

Tags: Vanitas is Darkness, prologue is a different writing style, Re:Formed AU, Vanitas contemplates his life, Post-Melody of Memory, wayfinder family, Angsting about emotions TM, So Vanitas how's that existential crisis treating you

Summary:

An amnesiac Vanitas finds himself living with Terra, Aqua, and Ven, who help him remember who he used to be. Will he be able to figure out how to cope as (D)darkness in a world aligned with light?

Notes:

This prologue is a different style from the rest of the fic. I recommend listening to Night of the Dark Dream from KH3 until Ven appears, then switch over to his theme for optimum reading experience.

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Never have I felt so at home than amongst these shadows. This comfort is like that of an old friend not seen for many years: we are strangers now, but somewhere in the back of my mind is familiarity. So why don’t I remember?

I can’t help but follow the flow as the darkness moves, enveloping me as I do it. I’m indistinct from the rest, formless and fluid. Whispers around me tear at my nonbeing, begging me to join them. Why don’t I want to?

No, I tell them. Let me go. I don’t know why I’m so insistent on giving up the comfort of this collective, but the darkness recedes, leaving me standing, standing on solid ground.

Examining my newly-gained form, I can tell I’m bipedal. Testing out my limbs is natural, as if I’ve been something similar before. I move my hands to my face to find metal and glass. My helmet must be tinted, seeing as I still can’t make out my surroundings. Or it’s just really dark here. Hard to tell.

There’s a pull in my body. I follow it until I can hear the crash of waves. A brilliant light shines on the horizon, obscured by my helm. So my first guess about the tinted glass was right.

Finding a rock, I sit down and watch the light reflect off the peaks and crests of the water.

I wait there for what seems like ages. How long has it been since I regained this form? I breathe in sync with the waves every now and then, just to feel my chest rise and fall. Sometimes my breath fogs up the glass and casts everything in a hazy glow.

“Hey, is that…” I hear a voice call and the crunch of footsteps on the soft sand. Someone’s running up to me.

“It is! I knew I’d find you here.”

I turn to look at the boy standing on my left. He’s staring at me with big, kind eyes, a warm and oddly relieved smile on his face.

“I had this feeling you’d returned, so I left a note for Terra and Aqua to tell them I’d left to find you. And here you are!”

He seems so happy to find me. Why? There’s a dim memory from long ago trying to surface when I look at him, but it can’t quite make it. What relation did I have with him to make me feel this way? I decide to take off my helmet to get a clearer look.

Big mistake. The light on the horizon hurts my eyes, as does… his light? Why is his light so powerful as to cause me to flinch? Still, I let myself adjust and when I can finally open my eyes properly, I jump to my feet on impulse. Something flashes into my outstretched hands and I point it at him. I speak aloud for the first time.

“Who are you? Why are you looking for me?” My tone is angry, but the aggression poorly masks my surprise and fear.

“Hey, whoa, it’s okay,” the boy says, holding his hands up defensively. Or perhaps as a show of peace? “Please, put your Keyblade away.”

“So this is called a Keyblade?” I say, lowering but not dismissing it.

Upon further inspection, what I’m holding is an aptly-named weapon, for it does resemble a key, if only in shape. The long part is wrapped in chains, and there are blue catlike eyes decorating it at the tip and hilt. The design is intricate with a gear motif. From the bottom dangles a keychain with various interlocking gears.

The weight of it feels comfortable in my hands, but I don’t remember if I know how to use it or what its purpose is or why I even have it in the first place.

“You don’t know what a Keyblade is? Hm…” The boy seems lost in thought. “Do you know my name?” I shake my head slowly. How do I tell him that he feels familiar yet I don’t remember him at all?

“Do you… know your own name?”

Again I shake my head. I remember nothing from before, if there was a before.

He asks an unexpected question. “Do you want me to tell you?” My eyes widen at that. He’d give me this vital piece of myself back even though he doesn’t know if I’m telling the truth? I think he thinks I’m the kind of person to be honest. I might be. And why would I lie about something as important as this?

“Your name is Vanitas.”

Vanitas. That feels right.

“Okay, so I’m Vanitas. Who are you?”

“I’m Ventus. Call me Ven.” He holds out a hand and waits for me to shake it. I hesitate for a long while before my Keyblade fades from my hand and I take his. I shiver with the contact. Such strength of heart.

Such light.

Before I can ask him anything else, Ven summons his own Keyblade and opens a portal. How do I know what he’s doing? Can I do it too?

“Come with me,” Ven says. I put my helmet on before following him through the glowing gate.