Chapter Text
XXX
The vacuum on Vanitas’s back made him feel like a ghostbuster. He wouldn’t be surprised if there were ghosts in the Luxu building. The lighting was dim and flickering, the robotics lab downstairs was full of easily-possessable animatronics, and he was pretty sure something was dead in the biology lab. Professor Vexen’s festering petri dishes had to be feeding on something. Maybe Vanitas should just count himself lucky that they weren’t feeding on him.
He turned up the volume on his mp3 player, but even the blasting rock music couldn’t drown out the vacuum’s roar. Ugh. He’d rather take out the radioactive trash than spend his mornings vacuuming cobwebs out of prissy professors’ offices and science freaks’ labs.
His nose wrinkled as he skirted around one of the trash cans in Xemnas’s lab. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t rather take out the trash. That would be his assignment next week, but for now Ventus was in charge of that particular mess.
The thought of his annoying twin brother arms-deep in toxic waste brought a small smile to his face. Knowing Ventus, though, he’d probably find some way to put a positive spin on it. Heck, he’d probably come out of any radioactive encounter with superpowers, like shooting rainbows out of his eyes or something.
Vanitas snorted and sucked up a clump of something sticky from under a lab table. He had to scrape the gunk a bit with the tip of his vacuum hose before it dislodged and disappeared with a wet shlorp.
Suddenly something tapped him on the shoulder.
He screamed and spun, brandishing the hose like a weapon. But it was just Aqua—Aqua Aogiri, pre-med major and all around overachiever—smirking at him like she was trying not to laugh.
That was better than the pitying looks she’d given him when he’d first moved in with her brother and Ventus, at least. Maybe she finally realized that she was the one who should be pitied for working here for the last four months.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he snapped, flipping off the vacuum’s switch at his back. His music was way too loud now; the lyrics to Iris screamed in his ears until he tugged out his earbuds.
He’d forgotten Aqua’s little habit of catching him off-guard. Granted, that might’ve been because he’d started it—sneaking up on her because her violent reflexes were entertaining.
He’d known her back when they were kids, because his old man used to meet up with Aqua’s caretaker every year. Something about them being former high school friends. Vanitas didn’t have any high school friends, so he didn’t really get what the big deal was. Either way, he’d lost the little contact he had with her when Xehanort and Eraqus had their explosive falling-out, so he was still relearning how to interact with her.
“You’re lucky I don’t try to kill someone if they startle me.” He snorted, and she rolled her eyes.
“I tried saying something to get your attention, but you couldn’t hear me.” Her voice echoed eerily in the silence. “Have you finished enough for me to start mopping?”
“It’s Demyx’s turn to mop.”
Despite this only being his first week on the Luxu custodial crew, Vanitas was sure of that. Demyx had tried to get him to swap when Vanitas had slunk in at six-oh-eight this morning.
Aqua’s smirk twitched, revealing gritted teeth.
“I know. Saix asked me to cover for him.”
It hadn’t taken long for Vanitas to figure out the order of things here: Professor Xigbar was technically in charge, but Saix, a junior student, made all of the assignments. The professor sat in his barren office reading car magazines and only came out at the end of the shift to inspect everyone’s work.
It wasn’t like Professor Xigbar cared enough to flesh out his Physical Science 101 syllabus, or enforce assignment due dates, or do much in class besides shoot things from cannons and blow stuff up. His explanations for the explosions weren't particularly scientific, but it wasn’t like Vanitas cared about that—he was just here to cross off a gen ed, and Professor Xigbar’s class was the most laid-back. Vanitas had assumed this job would be just as easy.
He’d been wrong. Despite the patch covering the professor’s right eye—rumored to be the result of a lab demo gone wrong—he could spot a missed swatch of tile or carpet like it was a neon sign. It was actually a mercy if Saix caught your mistakes before Xigbar did. At least Saix would just glare and possibly insult you. Professor Xigbar would make you stay late to run the trash compactor.
Unless you were Demyx, in which consequences somehow slid off of you like oil on water.
“How has he not gotten fired yet?” Vanitas grumbled.
“Believe it or not, there aren’t exactly a lot of students lining up to replace him.” Aqua sighed.
“I got roped into it. Surely there’s some other sucker who’ll sell their soul for fifty munny an hour.”
Grandpa Xehanort had withdrawn the money for Vanitas’s housing at the last second, apparently trying to manipulate Vanitas into moving back in with him. Vanitas was bumming off his twin in the meantime. Ventus’s friends had helped him fill out more scholarship applications, netting him enough money to split an apartment with Terra.
But Ventus and Terra wouldn’t put up with a freeloader forever. Vanitas wasn’t going to give them that kind of leverage, anyway.
So here he was. Vacuuming the creepiest building on campus. Spending even more time with Ventus and his stupid friends.
“Now that you and Terra are here, maybe Professor Xigbar will consider letting Demyx go.” Aqua drummed her fingers on the handle of her mop. “For now though, we’ll just have to deal with him.”
Vanitas scowled. She’d never put up with that kind of laziness from him. Surely she didn’t have a soft spot in her heart for Demyx, of all idiots.
“Whatever. If you want to keep coddling him, I’ll stay out of your way,” he told Aqua before switching his vacuum back on and popping in his earbuds.
Vanitas considered the different ways he could get back at the lazy idiot. A spider in that blue thermos he always carried around, snapping all of his sitar strings, replacing the ketchup on his sandwich with blood from the lab—nah, that one would just get Vanitas expelled and sent packing back to Xehanort. Not worth it.
He vacuumed his way around scorch-streaked lab tables (not his job) towards the creepy-looking machine at the back of the lab. At this point describing anything in the Luxu building as “creepy” was redundant, but somehow the hollow heart-shaped chassis took the cake. It barely fit beneath the high ceiling. With the copper pipes sticking out at odd angles and loose wires hanging from it, it looked like something out of a low-budget sci-fi movie.
Well, it was something out of a low-budget science program. Vanitas guessed that was close enough.
The stupid machine was what had gotten him into trouble his first day. He hadn’t vacuumed its base, and Xigbar acted like Professor Xemnas would personally hook him up to the device if it wasn’t perfectly dust-free.
“What do you do, anyway?”
Vanitas couldn’t help squinting at the thing. He was no science major, but he couldn’t imagine what the machine had to do with physics. Maybe it gave off radiation, or catalyzed their reactions, or something. Wait, that would be chemistry, wouldn’t it?
Whatever. He would never have to find out, not unless he suddenly lost his mind and decided to major in Mad Science.
He vacuumed the metal dias that the hollow copper frame was balanced over. Finally. All done with this freaky room for today.
He tugged on the vacuum’s cord to unplug it—
And jolted with a shout when electricity shot up his arm.
“Vanitas!”
He could suddenly hear Aqua’s voice perfectly. The shock must have shorted out his headphones. He caught a glance of the vacuum plug sparking in the soapy puddle where Aqua had been mopping, before he swayed unsteadily.
Right. He’d just gotten electrocuted. Could he get worker’s comp for that?
“Vanitas, don’t move, I’m going to—”
Too late. He was already holding out a hand to steady himself.
The second he touched the machine’s metal frame, everything went black.
XXX
(“Empty creature from Ventus riven… to you, the name Vanitas shall be given.”)
XXX
The rocket lab smelled like sawdust and mildew—nothing fresh, but nothing so cloying as some of the Luxu building’s other rooms. No machines whirred at this time of morning, and Cinderella could hum to herself while she swept without fear of her stepmother or stepsisters hearing.
Yes, sweeping days were the best. No slimy mop water, no heavy vacuum weighing on her shoulders. Just her, her broom, and—
Well, and Terra, now.
“Is it always this creepy in here?” he asked while sweeping some screws and debris from under a workbench. “Aqua told me this place was unsettling, but I didn’t realize it was…”
Falling apart? The walls shedding their insulation, like a wealthy woman would shed a day-old coat?
Somehow Cinderella found that comforting. Professor Xigbar’s standards were nowhere near as strict as her stepmother’s. She wasn’t being asked to replace the insulation, or patch the aluminum ceiling, or add fresh grout to the cracks in the concrete floor. She just had to sweep.
She could sweep in her sleep, she thought with a small smile.
“It isn’t so bad once you get used to it,” she assured Terra.
It could even be fun, in its own way. Interesting bits of scrap metal sometimes ended up in her dustpan. She pulled one such scrap out now and brushed sawdust off of it.
“What’s that?” Terra squinted, dragging his broom towards her side of the room.
“Keep that off the ground,” she told him. “You’ll track dust back over here.”
“Oh. Right.” He gave a sheepish grin and swung the broom over his shoulder.
“It’s nothing too interesting,” she said, holding out the silver chain she had found. “Aqua and I enjoy making crafts from the scraps we find here.”
"They let you do that?" Terra frowned.
Cinderella grinned a little.
"We didn't quite ask permission. But it's only things that would go into the trash, otherwise."
She rubbed her thumb over the chain to polish it. A small charm hung from its end—five metallic seashells arranged in the shape of a star. Had it been a charm bracelet, or perhaps a keychain?
“Weird,” Terra said, squinting down at it.
She was just about to slip the chain into her pocket when the industrial lights overhead blew out.
With a shout, Terra dropped his broom and pulled her into his arms, his back shielding them from the worst of the glass shards. His heart pounded hard and fast against her cheek. Her broomstick must have been jabbing into his shoulder, but he didn’t let go.
The comforting embrace, while unexpected, was welcome. Not that she was afraid of the falling glass, but it had been so long since anyone had bothered to hug her.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “What was that?”
“I’m not sure. Anything could have been the last straw for those old bulbs.” She frowned.
He let her go, stepping back and crunching glass beneath his boot. It was difficult to read his expression in the sudden darkness.
“Uh.” He cleared his throat. “Is there a protocol for what to do when the lights explode, or…?”
“I suppose we should report to Professor Xigbar. We’ll need flashlights at the very least.” She took Terra’s hand, not wanting to get separated in the darkness.
“O-oh. I can help with that.”
A light flashed to life—the faint glow of his flip phone screen. Right. Most people would have one of those, wouldn’t they?
“Thank you, Terra.” She smiled, and the light danced in his eyes when he smiled back.
The warm hand in hers almost made up for the fact that they’d surely have to start cleaning this lab from scratch.
XXX
Vanitas’s eyes shot open. Someone’s mouth was on his.
He screamed, shoving the person off of him. It was too dark to see who it was—it was too dark to see anything, except for a flash of red, zig-zagging away from him. Those glowing eyes weren’t what had been kissing him, were they?
(“Who are you?” She reaches for his face, stopped only by a barrier of dark glass over his eyes. A hysterical laugh tears from his throat.)
He shivered at the strange… dream? He was awake now, but—
“Oh thank the light,” Aqua gasped. Her phone screen flashed on a moment later, illuminating the bottom of her chin. Water dripped from it onto the tile below.
“What…” He tried to sit up, still feeling shaky. His right hand stung like it had been attacked by wasps.
What had happened? If Aqua was here, then he was at work, right? Had a ghost gotten him? He knew taking this job was a stupid idea.
Wait. Aqua was here. She couldn’t be the one who’d kissed him, right?
“I didn’t get hit by some kind of fairytale spell, did I?” He rubbed his stinging hand. “Really doubting you’re my ‘one true love’ or whatever.”
Even if the kiss had worked. He’d probably just woken up because it was so gross.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Aqua scoffed, wiping the back of her arm across her wet eyes. “I gave you CPR so you wouldn’t die. You don’t really think I’d kiss someone who was unconscious, do you?”
He shrugged. He wasn’t sure of anything, including what he was doing on the ground. His vacuum lay discarded off to the side, so he could only guess Aqua had removed it from him.
“Fine. You’re probably still… fried.” She shook her head. “We need to get you out of here. Can you walk?”
He tried to push himself to his feet. Shivers immediately wracked him, and Aqua caught him with a shoulder under his armpit.
(Dark tar pooling from his half-formed body, gasping against a large yellow canister as if it’s an inhaler. Air hisses out as shrill as screams—and his legs grow a fraction more solid. He can hold on. He can survive.)
“That’s. Bad,” he gasped at the phantom pain. He dug the fingernails of his right hand into his thigh, the denim keeping them from piercing skin.
He had skin. He had legs. He could breathe.
“Don’t worry. You’re going to be fine,” Aqua said firmly. “We’ll just… take you to the hospital—”
“Don’t have insurance.” It wasn’t like Xehanort cared about his health.
“Oh. Okay, then—my apartment.”
“Your apartment?” He winced as she started to guide him towards the exit. Each step sent spikes of cold pain through him. At least that was better than the horrifying numbness, though. “Why can’t I just go home?”
“I know Ven and Terra’s apartment. They don’t even keep painkillers on hand.”
She turned a corner, beginning the arduous task of getting him down the stairs. Man, he must look pathetic.
“Trust me, I wouldn’t take you to my place if there was a better option.”
She might have meant it as a reassurance, but it just reminded him that she was yet another person who didn’t want him around. She was only doing this because her morals wouldn’t let her leave him passed on the lab floor.
Whatever. Better to be a burden on her than on Ventus. At least this would spread the weight around.
“Fine.” He grit his teeth. “Let’s just get out of here.”