Challenge [253]: Polar Opposites
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kh_drabbleChallenge: [253] Polar Opposites
Title: Two As One
Word Count: 598
Spoilers: BBS major spoilers.
Notes: Taking the "opposites where the spectrum is a circle rather than a line" interpretation of this theme. Sometimes gameplay mechanics give me interesting story ideas. (Also, I had no idea until I wrote this that Courier New has Greek letters. Thanks to whatever font designer added them, I guess?)
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Ventus. He doesn't remember being that boy, but the boy must have existed, for he exists now-- half of that boy's heart, with his name but none of his memories.
Once Ven thought he would do anything but give up his friends, just to remember being him. Watching Terra and Aqua laugh over childhood memories, he felt a hollowness he could not describe. What was it like to have a past? To remember?
But, of course, he was wrong-- there was so much he wouldn't do. So many evils and temptations that he could not imagine, for he had no darkness in his heart to birth thoughts of such things.
Pale fragments of stained glass float in a storm around them, and Ven isn't sure what's keeping him afloat, or even alive, with his heart shattered.
He rushes at Vanitas, twirling his Keyblade, trailing blue-black darkness with every stroke. The darkness is impossible, a paradox-- he is a being of pure light, a heart stripped of its darkness, yet darkness courses through him now, focuses in the blade and bleeds from his fingertips.
Ven, Vanitas whispers into the heart they share, you want this. Don't deny it. Without me, you're not complete. And he's right, of course. Light needs darkness for completion, is nothing without contrast. If he'd had darkness in his heart, he might have anticipated this--
At first Ven would lie awake trying to imagine the bad thing that happened to the original Ventus-- the thing which took away his memories, took away him, and left behind a new boy in his body. Bad things. What was bad? He racked the few memories he had. Lying was bad, stealing was bad-- Terra, Aqua and the Master said so. Someone had stolen his memories on purpose-- that must be it. But why? When he tried to imagine why a person would do such a bad thing, his thoughts closed around an empty space.
His Keyblade slams against the corroded metal of the χ-blade, sending out spirals of light and darkness. Sparks of light dance around Vanitas' power now, light and dark flowing freely in the conduit between them.
Look at how stupid you were back then, comes the whisper in his heart. Pathetic. Everyone's got darkness in their heart-- they need it to protect them. If you can't imagine how people can hurt you, you can't stop them.
"I'm stopping you now!" he hisses. Vanitas dodges, slips away and out of reach.
Because you bound yourself to me, that's why. You like how it feels, don't you? All that time, you couldn't even want what you needed. He floats past again, grinning, winking at Ven.
And deep in the darkness flowing between them, something rich beckons him. It whispers of power, fulfilment-- if he keeps using it, he will be complete. Isn't that what he's longed for? He knows, now, what tempts people to evil-- it tugs at the roots of his thoughts.
Vanitas lashes at him with the χ-blade; Ven parries the blow, pushes back against it, light flaring around him.
Once there was a boy named Ventus with both light and dark in his heart-- but he and Vanitas together will not produce that boy: only a thing which should not exist. The sum of the parts is less than the whole.
He feels the light burning away what remains of them both, light twisted with darkness.
Once there was a boy of dark, and a boy of light. And now, there were none.
Title: Two As One
Word Count: 598
Spoilers: BBS major spoilers.
Notes: Taking the "opposites where the spectrum is a circle rather than a line" interpretation of this theme. Sometimes gameplay mechanics give me interesting story ideas. (Also, I had no idea until I wrote this that Courier New has Greek letters. Thanks to whatever font designer added them, I guess?)
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Ventus. He doesn't remember being that boy, but the boy must have existed, for he exists now-- half of that boy's heart, with his name but none of his memories.
Once Ven thought he would do anything but give up his friends, just to remember being him. Watching Terra and Aqua laugh over childhood memories, he felt a hollowness he could not describe. What was it like to have a past? To remember?
But, of course, he was wrong-- there was so much he wouldn't do. So many evils and temptations that he could not imagine, for he had no darkness in his heart to birth thoughts of such things.
Pale fragments of stained glass float in a storm around them, and Ven isn't sure what's keeping him afloat, or even alive, with his heart shattered.
He rushes at Vanitas, twirling his Keyblade, trailing blue-black darkness with every stroke. The darkness is impossible, a paradox-- he is a being of pure light, a heart stripped of its darkness, yet darkness courses through him now, focuses in the blade and bleeds from his fingertips.
Ven, Vanitas whispers into the heart they share, you want this. Don't deny it. Without me, you're not complete. And he's right, of course. Light needs darkness for completion, is nothing without contrast. If he'd had darkness in his heart, he might have anticipated this--
At first Ven would lie awake trying to imagine the bad thing that happened to the original Ventus-- the thing which took away his memories, took away him, and left behind a new boy in his body. Bad things. What was bad? He racked the few memories he had. Lying was bad, stealing was bad-- Terra, Aqua and the Master said so. Someone had stolen his memories on purpose-- that must be it. But why? When he tried to imagine why a person would do such a bad thing, his thoughts closed around an empty space.
His Keyblade slams against the corroded metal of the χ-blade, sending out spirals of light and darkness. Sparks of light dance around Vanitas' power now, light and dark flowing freely in the conduit between them.
Look at how stupid you were back then, comes the whisper in his heart. Pathetic. Everyone's got darkness in their heart-- they need it to protect them. If you can't imagine how people can hurt you, you can't stop them.
"I'm stopping you now!" he hisses. Vanitas dodges, slips away and out of reach.
Because you bound yourself to me, that's why. You like how it feels, don't you? All that time, you couldn't even want what you needed. He floats past again, grinning, winking at Ven.
And deep in the darkness flowing between them, something rich beckons him. It whispers of power, fulfilment-- if he keeps using it, he will be complete. Isn't that what he's longed for? He knows, now, what tempts people to evil-- it tugs at the roots of his thoughts.
Vanitas lashes at him with the χ-blade; Ven parries the blow, pushes back against it, light flaring around him.
Once there was a boy named Ventus with both light and dark in his heart-- but he and Vanitas together will not produce that boy: only a thing which should not exist. The sum of the parts is less than the whole.
He feels the light burning away what remains of them both, light twisted with darkness.
Once there was a boy of dark, and a boy of light. And now, there were none.
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