「The Outside World With You」

Chapter 5

Missing:

   At the foot of the tower, a man stood with an expression that could only be described as dismay. "I have lost him." The words took longer than it should have to process as he scaled up the rocks. Everywhere he looked showed no sign of the boy. Xehanort was gone.

   Next to the mirror at the far end of the room sat a crumpled piece of paper. The lettering was neatly printed but it was a bit faded due to the passage of time and bad ink choice. Eraqus has been a wanted thief starting from just a few days ago and was accused of stealing the crowns of the royals that had gone missing.

   He removed his eyes from the parchment and to the figure in front of him. During these eighteen years, that boy had always stood next to him in the reflection. For the first time in forever, he felt his younger self reflected in that mirror. He had to find where that child ran off before unwanted events came to turn up.

✖

  Vanitas couldn't help but notice how Xeha would occasionally glance behind him. He knew that it wasn't directed at him because not once had silver eyes met his blue. The silence wasn't so overbearing to him but when there's something to hide, he'd always get irritated. "Is there something wrong?"

   Xehanort jumped a bit and turned towards the soldier. He tugs at his bangs and hums quietly, eyes down cast. With Eraqus still asleep, he didn't have anyone to really turn to. Xehanort just met Vanitas last night so he was out of the question. "I..." He quickly stands up. "...I think I need some time alone," he says rushing to leave.

   "Hey, wait! It's not safe out here!" The onyx was in the middle of getting ready to follow him but Eraqus stirred, stopping him in his tracks. That's right, he had to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't try to slip away. Vanitas heaved a sigh and sat back down, looking back to where the odd boy left. "If he's not back in ten minutes I'll just pin him to a tree to go find him."

   Once twenty minutes had passed and Eraqus was still being a sloth, he broke off a couple branches and threw him at a tree. "Woah!" He woke up and blinked, yelping when two large stakes were driven through his sleeve and into the tree at his back. "You stay here."

   "Uh, like I can actually get myself out."

   "That would be disappointing," he says, following the trail Xehanort followed. He stopped when he saw him curled behind a tree and a body lying on the floor just a few feet away from him.
  
   "Xehanort," he called. Vanitas stared at the corpse on the floor and kicked it over to its back. It looks as though this man died from old age. "Did this frighten you or something? Hey, it can't hurt you." What the hell was he saying? He was a soldier for crying out loud! Of course this kid wouldn't be able to handle something like this.

   His throat was dry. "I'll be there. Just...another minute please."

   He tilts his head to look beyond the tree. "Are you alright? Huh, your…hair." At the end of his silver strands, a pitch black gradient crept.

   "Vanitas!" Eraqus' voice called in the distance. "Can you pulls these out now?!"

   "Get out of it yourself!"

   Xehanort turns his head. "Wait...what did you do?"

   "Had to pin the speck to a tree with a couple of branches to come looking for you. What're you doing so damn far in the first place?"