Chapter 42
It was 3 am by the time you managed to get back to the academy. You had spent the majority of the trip back in silence. Cloud and Tifa piloted the ship up front while you, Zexion and Ventus went to the cabin. Zexion had gone to ask you something a few times but you just glared him off, not in the mood to answer questions. You were too busy thinking. Trying to piece all the information together. Trying to remember your past you'd long since forgot. You were surprised you hadn't burned holes through the back of Ven's head with the ferocity in which you'd been staring at him. He'd curled up in bed the moment you'd returned to the ship and remained there the entire trip. It seemed he wasn't in the mood to answer any questions either but you had so many things you wanted to ask.
You knew it was too early in the morning for anyone to be up and you did have class in a few hours but there were too many things floating around your head to go to sleep. You needed to get it all out, so with that thought you knocked on the door.
It only took a couple of seconds for you to hear shuffling coming from the room.
"Seriously! What the hell? Do you know what ti-" Kurosaki stopped his complaining as he opened the door to see you waiting on the other side.
"What's up? What happened? Come in." his words rushed out as he went wide eyed before stepping out of the way to let you in. He led you over to the couch where he'd obviously been sleeping, pulling the crumpled blanket away before gesturing for you to sit down.
"You look like you've uncovered something?" he pressed.
"Not enough," you sighed slumping down on the couch in defeat.
"What happened?" he slumped down next to you turning side ways to look at you better. With that you spilled your guts. You told him everything from Vanitas' appearance with a Dark Thorn, to him mentioning some sort of experiment and even his weird interactions with Ventus.
At some point, you must have dosed off because before you knew it you were waking up to the sun in your eyes. You yawned as you took in your surroundings. You were now laying across the couch with a blanket on top of you. Looking up you could see Kurosaki sitting in front of his mass of computer screens while an endless torrent of clicking computer keys played like an offbeat song.
You got up off the couch and walked over to him, looking over his shoulder to see endless pages of information.
"Wow, you been doing this all morning?" You asked eyes skimming over the pages.
"Since you feel asleep," he didn't look away from what he was doing as his fingers continued to dance across the keys. You continued to watch him in amazement for a few moments longer before his movement suddenly halted. You almost jumped in surprise before he twirled around to face you in his swirly chair.
"Right so this is what I have so far." He picked up a couple of the pages, glancing over them as he spoke. "I listened to the recordings you had on you and most of it was just what you'd told me. I started by looking in to Ventus and funnily enough ten years ago he just poofs into existence. There is absolutely no record of him before that. Therefore, it's safe to say he was definitely a part of whatever connects you to Vanitas from back then."
"Where did he first pop up? Were there any questions posed as to where he come from at that time?" you pressed.
"First record of him was his admittance to an orphanage under the care of some guy called Eraqus. There's no record of who dropped him there, it just states that his parents were deceased." Kurosaki explained
"Damn," you sighed.
"I'm still going to attempt to contact Eraqus and see if I can find out anymore," he continued. "I also tried to look into any type of human experimentation that was happening in the span of the surrounding years but so far nothing seems to come up that involved children or hasn't already been resolved by the authorities. I'm also still looking in to that though." You just nodded along thoughtfully.
"I would like you to talk to Ventus at some point today. I've got some questions to ask him but in order to remain under the radar I'm going to have you do the talking. When you've got him put this in your ear and I'll direct you what to ask." Kurosaki added before dropping his papers back on his desk before handing you a small inner ear piece.
"So what now," You asked pocketing the device and itching to get into some research.
"Now we go get some coffee," Kurosaki sighed. "I'm exhausted."
"Wait what time is it?" You looked around scanning the room for a clock.
"9:38," Kurosaki yawned looking down at his watch.
"Oh no!," you facepalmed, "I'm late to class."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Kurosaki scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I've got to get going before people start questioning my behaviour more than they already are." And with that you ran out the door heading to your room at lightning speeds.
You managed to race around your room to get ready and get down stairs to slip in with your classmates as they were moving from one class to another. You were huffing and puffing slightly as you moved along at the back of the pack but you didn't remain unnoticed for long.
"-----, where have you been?" It was Yuna who spotted you first.
"Yeah you missed Drama," Rikku added. You were less upset about that.
"Sorry I accidently slept in," You chuckled awkwardly, willing them to buy it.
"Not in our room you didn't" Tidus spoke up as he slipped in next to Yuna. Damn why is nothing ever as simple as you want it to be?
"Yeah, I was finishing up some paperwork after a quest and lost track of time in the mission's office," You gave your best 'I'm not lying smile'. Tidus' brow crinkled and he looked like he was about to question you further but Rikku quickly butted in. Thank god for Rikku.
"That's awesome, where did you go?" she beemed in excitement.
"This little world that had a major shadow problem." You explained. "but we took care of it." You smiled. Well you sort of took care of it. Whatever weird shadowy business that was going down in that world was still there but you got rid of the excessive pull of dark energy that was causing the shadow activity to expand.
"That's so cool. I'm so pumped for a quest," she turned to Yuna, clinging on to her arm. "We so need to find a teacher to take us on one Yunie." You let out a sigh of relief as the conversation started to change and you were finally walking into class.
"Morning ------," Sebastian greeted you with a suspicious look as you walked past.
"Morning," you gave a tight grin, your relief gone. How could you forget? you mentally face palmed.
You spent the entire lesson on high alert, watching Sebastian continuously out of the corner of your eye. You were so preoccupied with his actions you were barely paying attention to Juvia and Gray at your group. By the end of the lesson your group pot of curry was unsalvageable. The sauce was like water and the meat and vegetables were frozen. Not that they had started out that way. On your way out the class, you made a mental note to consider changing groups but for the moment there was only one task at hand. You slipped out the door next to Ventus linking your arm with his. He looked up at you surprised at your sudden action.
"I need to have a little chat with you," You told him as you quickly led him down a corridor away from where the rest of the class was headed.
"Yeah, I thought so," he nodded and followed along. You had slipped in the ear piece and were surprised to find Kurosaki talking to you instantly. He directed you toward one of the deserted janitor's cupboards around the school. You stepped in after Ven, closing the door behind you. You spun around ready to start your interrogation but you were too late.
"Who was that guy?" Ventus jumped in first taking you slightly off guard. You just gaped wide eyed for a second before Kurosaki began talking in your ear.
"Only mention a name. Don't say anything else. We want to see what we can gather from him not the other way around." He ordered.
"I don't know I just know his name is Vanitas and he seems to know you," you told him. "Care to elaborate on your connection?" your folded your arms and lent against the door.
"Wha-, I- I don't know, I just met him," he defended.
"He didn't seem to think so." You pressed.
"Well I definitely can't remember him," he folded his arms too mirroring your posture.
"Ask him where he grew up?" Kurosaki told you.
"Maybe you knew him from your childhood, where did you grow up?"
"Huh?" he seemed slightly taken of guard. You just continued your interrogation stare. "An orphanage and I certainly don't remember him being there."
"What about before the orphanage?" You pressed further. His eyebrows furrowed, you could tell you were upsetting him but you needed to find out as much as possible.
"I can't remember anything from before then." He said. You sighed. This wasn't getting anywhere. You were about ready to give up when Kurosaki spoke once more.
"Ask about that doll you said he had. The one like Vanitas gave you." You thought back to the doll. You'd left it in Kurosaki's room.
"What about that doll of yours. The little blue star you carry. You told me it was important before. Why?" You softened your demeanour and so did Ven.
"I had it on me when I was sent to the orphanage. I don't know where I got it but it's a connection to my past. Where I came from so to me, it's the greatest treasure I have."
~Meanwhile~
"Where are we going?" Cloud questioned as Sebastian led him, Tifa and Zexion through the school.
"Makarov's office. We're here." His voice was void of any emotion as he opened the door for them. Zack, Axel, Gray, Edward and Ryner were already scattered around the room while Makarov sat behind his desk.
"What's going on?" Tifa questioned as she stood awkwardly in the middle of the room with Cloud and Zexion.
"We believe you just got back from an off-world quest with -----. Is this true?" Makarov pressed.
"Yes," The three answered warily.
"Did anything strange happen there?" Makarov asked.
"The world itself was pretty strange," Tifa replied.
"What he meant to ask was did you meet a guy with dark hair, yellow eyes and a completely insane personality." Axel interjected before Makarov could get in.
"Yeah, a guy of that description was there," Cloud nodded.
"Knew it! Welcome to the club," Zack cheered to which Ryner and Sebastian shot him a look.
"What," Zack folded his arms in no why deterred by their stare.
"There's something suspicious going on with that guy and his fascination with ----- so we're wanting you to tell us about what happened on the quest." Makarov explained.
"If you're wanting to talk to everyone on the mission then you're missing someone," Cloud pointed out.
"-----'s not invited," Ryner told him.
"I'm talking about Ventus," Cloud corrected.
"What?" Makarov's brow rose.
"Ventus was on the quest with us. If you want to know about that guy he's probably the best person to ask. We got separated and ----- and Ventus met with the guy first." Zexion explained.
"Hold on a second," Makarov began shuffling through the paper work on his desk. "Nowhere in here does it say Ventus went with you."
"Well he did," Tifa nodded.
"Did ----- just keep him out of it?" Edward asked walking over to look at the papers.
"Couldn't have," Cloud explained. "Kyoya's a stickler for paperwork. We all had to fill in things and sign papers, Ventus included."
"This is definitely strange," Makarov scratched his head.
"I think the guy knew Ventus too. He looked familiar with him and made a comment about coming back for 'both of you',"Zexion suggested.
"The plot thickens," Axel sighed.
"Personally, the way we were led into the tower like that, I feel like he was laying a trap." Cloud added.
"I felt the same thing about our quest," Gray added.
"Hmm," Makarov pondered all the information tapping at his chin. "Alright, we're going to need to get Ventus in here to question him too. But if this guy's been trying to lure ----- into a trap, I'm thinking next time we trap him." A devious smirk grew on Makarov's lips.
A/N: Hey guys. So I sort of rushed this a little bit but I wanted to update again so oh well here we are. There's going to be one more mission before things start to go down so there's going to be another vote for characters. For this mission I'd like you to vote for one teacher and two students. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter~