Brothers

Chapter 1: Vanitas

Pain. A Sudden feeling of something missing. But what was it? The pain continued, but what was the cause of it?

Sudden light came into view and he found himself in a strange world, nothing but barren earth as far as he could see.

"Empty creature from Ventus riven."

The voice quickly caught his attention and he looked to see an old bald man with a grey beard wearing black robes looking at him with gleaming gold eyes.

"To you, the name Vanitas shall be given." He continued.

The man stared at him, waiting for him to respond to his new name. The name sounded correct, but there was something that felt wrong. A wheezing sound at his feet drew his attention where a teenage boy lay unconscious, a pained look upon his face. Looking at the boy he felt a form of recognition in the lack of his mind. Something about this boy cause a deep rage and pain to pass through his heart.

Wait. His heart. Why did it feel shredded? Panic began to appear in his mind as he reached around the tattered edges of his heart. Where was his light? Where was his other half? Darkness was everywhere? His light was nowhere? His light, where was his light? His panic grew more as he searched and searched.

Where was - wait. There it was. Faint, but still there, a small bit, there but not there. What was going on? He latched onto his light where he found some kind of trail that was left behind as his light was ripped away from him. Why was his light gone? Where did it go? He followed the trail where he saw what looked like another heart that was shredded like his, but unlike his, which was completely dark, this one glowed with a pure light. His light. Why was his light here?

He stepped onto his missing half but noticed someone else was here. Anger rushed through him. Who was this person to think that they had any right to be in their heart? He stomped over to them, but stopped when they turned to look at him.

How? How did that boy end up in his heart?

The boy looked at him in a daze. Why did he look so dead?

"A-are you the other half of my heart?" The boy asked.

What was he talking about? Did he think that this light was his? He reached throughout his light as the boy continued to stare at him. This was his light, that he could tell but something was not right. It was his and yet it felt separate. He continued to search through his light, attempting to discover why his light was separated. Why was it here? What had caused this?

Wait.

His light seemed to focus in one location. Focusing on that one point he broadened his senses to find what that point was. he felt his light doing the same before it latched onto him, like it was afraid they would disappear.

"Are you my other half?"

The sudden voice quickly broke him out of his search as he noticed the boy had moved closer to him, that dead look still upon his face.

"Are you my darkness?" He asked, reaching out to grab his hand.

He should have moved away. He shouldn't have allowed the boy to grab him. But something held him still.

As soon as their hands had touched the pain that was feeling in the back of his mind and heart seemed to dull. How? How did this boy seem to dull the pain of losing his light? He reached out once again with his senses, but instead of focusing on his light he focused on the boy. What was so special about this boy? What - his light! Why was his light focused within this boy?

Empty creature from Ventus riven.

The words that the old man had spoken quickly flew through his mind. Was this boy Ventus? Was he the creature separated from this boy's eart, rather than his own heart?