Challenge [258]: A Cautionary Tale
Apr. 10th, 2011 09:56 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleChallenge: [258] The Past
Title: A Cautionary Tale
Word Count: 424
Spoilers: BBS spoilers times a million.
Notes: This got totally out of handcan you tell.
Once upon a time there was a little boy called Ventus. Sometimes he was a good boy and sometimes he was bad. Sometimes he would share his toys and play nicely, and sometimes he wouldn’t. Sometimes he would remember to say please and thank you and not to snatch or pull faces, and sometimes he wouldn’t. Sometimes he would wash his hands and brush his teeth, and look both ways before crossing the road, and, and, and...and sometimes, he wouldn’t.
He was a normal, ordinary little boy, just like a hundred thousand others, and he died just like a hundred thousand others too, when the wheel of Fate started turning too soon for them to escape.
-
The only difference was this: when Ventus died, another Ventus lived.
He didn’t push, or tease, or hurt people. He was good.
And Vanitas? He did all of those things and more. He was bad.
-
One morning a man had passed by the orphanage and had stopped to talk with Ventus. He’d told him all kinds of stories: epic adventures, daring battles, distant worlds. He’d told him that he’d taken a liking to him, and would Ventus like to come with him, to learn from him, become a hero like him?
And Ventus, with all the logic of a child who’d been told off just that morning and had already wandered further from the gardens than he was meant to and was probably facing trouble when he did get back, had figured well, no one would miss me and happily followed the stranger far away.
-
Ventus lived. Ventus lived in two bodies: one light, one dark, two separate existences.
If one wanted to be optimistic, maybe they would even call it twice the life he’d had before.
It was no life. It wasn’t even death.
-
He hadn’t looked back as he’d followed his new Master away. He never even spared his homeworld, or the orphanage, or anyone there another thought throughout all the training and learning.
It was only when the darkness was closing in, parched wasteland beneath his hands and his chest and his face, choking on the dust in his mouth, that he wished he’d never left home in the first place.
-
When Ventus died, another Ventus lived: a good, pure Ventus.
He wasn’t him.
When Ventus died, Vanitas was born: an evil, wicked Ventus.
He wasn’t him either.
Ventus, the real Ventus, was gone forever: alone, forgotten, un-mourned.
This was reality, and nothing waited for those who slipped into the wrong choice but nothingness itself.
Title: A Cautionary Tale
Word Count: 424
Spoilers: BBS spoilers times a million.
Notes: This got totally out of hand
Once upon a time there was a little boy called Ventus. Sometimes he was a good boy and sometimes he was bad. Sometimes he would share his toys and play nicely, and sometimes he wouldn’t. Sometimes he would remember to say please and thank you and not to snatch or pull faces, and sometimes he wouldn’t. Sometimes he would wash his hands and brush his teeth, and look both ways before crossing the road, and, and, and...and sometimes, he wouldn’t.
He was a normal, ordinary little boy, just like a hundred thousand others, and he died just like a hundred thousand others too, when the wheel of Fate started turning too soon for them to escape.
-
The only difference was this: when Ventus died, another Ventus lived.
He didn’t push, or tease, or hurt people. He was good.
And Vanitas? He did all of those things and more. He was bad.
-
One morning a man had passed by the orphanage and had stopped to talk with Ventus. He’d told him all kinds of stories: epic adventures, daring battles, distant worlds. He’d told him that he’d taken a liking to him, and would Ventus like to come with him, to learn from him, become a hero like him?
And Ventus, with all the logic of a child who’d been told off just that morning and had already wandered further from the gardens than he was meant to and was probably facing trouble when he did get back, had figured well, no one would miss me and happily followed the stranger far away.
-
Ventus lived. Ventus lived in two bodies: one light, one dark, two separate existences.
If one wanted to be optimistic, maybe they would even call it twice the life he’d had before.
It was no life. It wasn’t even death.
-
He hadn’t looked back as he’d followed his new Master away. He never even spared his homeworld, or the orphanage, or anyone there another thought throughout all the training and learning.
It was only when the darkness was closing in, parched wasteland beneath his hands and his chest and his face, choking on the dust in his mouth, that he wished he’d never left home in the first place.
-
When Ventus died, another Ventus lived: a good, pure Ventus.
He wasn’t him.
When Ventus died, Vanitas was born: an evil, wicked Ventus.
He wasn’t him either.
Ventus, the real Ventus, was gone forever: alone, forgotten, un-mourned.
This was reality, and nothing waited for those who slipped into the wrong choice but nothingness itself.
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Date: 2011-04-10 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 07:03 pm (UTC)Anyways, ramblings aside, thanks for reading and I'm glad you liked it! ^-^
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Date: 2011-04-11 10:55 am (UTC)I really, really love that logic, because it just feels like a child to me.
For some reason, I've never really thought about those aspects of Ventus's character. Very intriquing.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 07:05 pm (UTC)Thanks for reading! = )
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Date: 2011-04-13 06:47 pm (UTC)and this! original!ventus! I didn't ever really think about this, about the fact that he is dead and gone and as much as I love the Ven we get to see and play as....well now I'm all kinds of depressed about his story :(
especially when you throw lines like Ventus, the real Ventus, was gone forever: alone, forgotten, un-mourned. at me.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 08:56 pm (UTC)The Ven is BBS is adorable and I love him to bits, but still, I feel pretty bad for the person he might have once been. So I'm glad this came out OK! Thanks for reading. ^-^
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Date: 2011-04-14 04:58 am (UTC)I really like this, the exploration of how the Ven we see, who's all light, is no more and no less the "real", original Ven than Vanitas is, who's all darkness. The official storyline glosses over it, because "our" Ven is the light part, and that's better, right? Except for how no, it doesn't work that way. The Ven who existed first was torn into bits, and that can never be an improvement.
The way I always wanted BBS to have ended, or at least to have ended if it hadn't had to be a tragedy, was for Ven to re-absorb Vanitas all the way, until they went back to being the person they used to be again. I still believe that's the best solution, so I'm going to cling to that when your fic makes me cry.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 09:02 pm (UTC)I'm glad you enjoyed it! ^-^ It's always flattering to know that something like this has had an effect on people or made them think, so thanks for reviewing!