(no subject)

[shadowdive]

( PLAYER INFORMATION )

Name: Okami
Contact: ouuuuka [at] gmail [dot] com; fairyblue; ruinga
Are you over 17?: I sure am!
Characters in Forest Covered: Severa/Selene (ambivaliant)

( CHARACTER INFORMATION )

Name/Work Name: Vanitas / "Mii"
Canon: Kingdom Hearts : Birth By Sleep
Canon Point: post-game
AU/CRAU: CR AU
Age: mentally 7, physically almost 19
History: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Vanitas
Personality:

Cruel and callous, Vanitas is a very different character to the Kingdom Hearts franchise in that he's not a regular Disney villain. He's given Sora's face, the hero you've played as for several games, and that's only the beginning of his shock value. Having been essentially raised by Master Xehanort for three years after being literally ripped out of Ventus' heart, Vanitas was hardened into becoming a fighting machine with only one purpose; to forge the X-blade. As the physical embodiment of the darkness in a heart, he's generally what everyone would imagine when they hear the word darkness, which borders close to the word evil in KH terms. Vanitas is childish, selfish, and he was never taught how to handle his emotions; anything he feels generates into a creature called an Unversed, whether it's a positive or negative emotion. The negative ones are far more powerful, and Xehanort needed him to grow stronger.. so reinforcing the negative behavior continued to create more Unversed, which Vanitas trained to fight, which caused him pain to kill, which caused more Unversed. See the cycle?

There's actually a depressing part in the KH novels that tells of after Xehanort took the barely concious Ventus away to let him die on Destiny Islands, Vanitas was left alone in a messy emotional state. So, Unversed were made, he started fighting them to try and work off that emotional state, and it created that cycle mentioned above until he collapsed into tears. Xehanort had come back at the end and just watched him physically beat himself into that state, and offered him a salvation by creating the X-blade. As a fairly newborn being, he was desperate to save himself from the above cycle, and agreed to help.

Now that isn't to say he's excuse of all his actions, but given he is a literal three year old by the time he's shown up for the storyline, Vanitas does have those reasons for being so driven to creating the X-blade. He was never taught that bonds could save him from that sort of pain, he was told that bonds would destroy him; people could be used against him, and it was a weakness. Therefore, Vanitas doesn't understand why it would be worth befriending people. Xehanort wanted a weapon, and weapons don't need to understand things such as sentimentality, kindness or that there could be another way. By the time he is interacting with other people, it's too late to try to convince him otherwise. He was more than prepared to kill Terra and Aqua just to make Ventus fight him, purposely taunting and using the closest people Ven knows, the ones he'd protect over anything.

Despite all the not-so-accidentally cruel behaviors and poor circumstances of his creation, he is very smart and very quick to pick physical things up. A hands on learner, so to speak. He's fast, nimble and pretty acrobatic and it matches his personal fighting style, which also makes him an absolute brute. A childish mentality in a physically strong body makes for someone who doesn't hold back an ounce when he swings. Learning is something he actually likes to do, and it's probably one of the few positive things that Xehanort encouraged, though it was strictly combat related. Vanitas understands the balance of light and darkness, mostly through Master's lectures and obsession of the past keyblade war, but anything else world or social wise, Vanitas is ... a three year old. A bratty, selfish three year old who throws temper tantrums and gets extra violent rather than stomping his feet and screaming.

After four years of growth and maturing in Route's atmosphere, Vanitas has changed in a lot of ways compared to how he was. Sure, he still has his bouts of childish tantrums, and he will still get angry in an instant, but Vanitas has learned the importance of friends and the strength of bonds finally. He's learned it and experienced it and wholeheartedly values it in a way he never thought he was capable of, and he won't give those memories up for anything. Vanitas is finally on fairly good terms with Ventus, understanding that they are the same person at their core, but that they are separate people right now. So as long as he can be like this, Vanitas can forge his own bonds and make his own judgement calls, rather than be forced into a situation where he has no options at all.

While he's not nearly as mature as he tries to come across now, he is years ahead in where he used to be. His emotional spectrum has broadened from a bratty, narrow minded three year old to a still pretty bratty, but open minded to positive experiences sort of person. He's still incredibly clever and fleet footed, his love of fighting still the most natural feeling, and from a handful of years of figuring out new ways to train? Its just a reminder that he's pretty smart for having been a one track minded puppet at a time.

Debt: Living in his own body, separate from Ventus.

Suitability: He'll be pissed that he can't leave whenever he wants, he likes his freedom and he liked the way Route's world worked; but that he wasn't returned to nothing and sleeping in Ven's heart, that he can still generally exist as himself... yeah. It's worth it. He'll figure something out, to go search for specific people some day.

Previous Game Info:

Vanitas spent four years in Route 29, a very peaceful, slice of life game, and he lost all his powers permanently. When he showed up, Vanitas was still callous and hateful and still so very determined to recreate the X-blade. He believed he had a second chance at his salvation, even if Unversed no longer spawned here. He didn't need them anyway, all he needed was Ventus and a chance to merge their hearts again. Unfortunately, all he got for his efforts was giving Ven an awkward hug while punching his back like that would jumpstart a heart merge when they're both physical entities. Yeah. It didn't work at all is what I'm actually saying. In his fit of disbelief, Vanitas left Ven behind and stood around in the woods, trying to get his bearings. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't fulfill his purpose, he had no interest in Pokemon (he'd accidentally hatched two eggs by this point from his bird bringing them to him and he was trying to ignore them entirely), and felt he had nothing.

During the brief time before meeting with Ventus, Vanitas encountered Sora in Goldenrod City on his way through to the end of town and got into a fight with him. It would have been a fistfight, if Sora hadn't thrown out a pokeball and asked Dartanian the Charizard to help; Dartanian was a Charizard that had been raised by Larxene (not that Sora knew when he inherited the critter), so the Pokemon was a bit of a nutjob. Dartanian liked the way Vanitas fought with his own hands instead of using one of his own Pokemon (he'd have stood no chance otherwise), so the Charizard threw Sora over the railing and into the sea and chose to travel with Vanitas. This is how he obtained the crazy Charizard (and some terrible credibility with Sora) before things kicked up.

Since Vanitas had initially been brought to Route as a member of Team Rocket, and completely blew it off, there was a recall happening soon after he went to the woods, where present members were picking up their 'loose cannons'. Kneesocks had been assigned to collect Vanitas, and he put up a fight until Ventus arrived on the scene. He had followed Vanitas over the last ten days to try to talk to him, but with Kneesocks using Ventus as a meatshield, Vanitas wasn't able to fight back as well as he wanted; that was his body still, as much as he hated Ventus, he didn't want to crush him anymore. He wanted that body intact for when he could create the X-blade again, since it was impossible right now. Ventus was knocked out, and Kneesocks kidnapped Vanitas back to the Team Rocket base where he sassed himself into a severe jail beating. He managed to get an audio recording out to a rescue team who were looking for several other people who had been kidnapped, and was rescued by Ventus, Rise and Aqua. Not that he particularly enjoyed being rescued, but he was hospitalized for the beatdown he endured. He became acquainted with a handful of people from his universe during this time, only knowing names and faces and not much else; Riku, Kairi, Namine, Aqua, Sora, Xion and Roxas. It was only through speaking across the network, but it was probably for the better.

Staying at the hospital for half a month while recovering, the nurses and doctors there noticed he had a literal half a heart and that surgery would likely be necessary.. Vanitas didn't take kindly to that news and broke his way out. He'd recovered enough to run at least, but his ribs were still heavily bruised and busted. Escaping the Ecruteak hospital and running off to hide out at the burnt tower to finish recovering, he poured himself into training when he didn't ache and cleaning the basement of the burnt tower, out of lack of anything else to do. He had no direction still, no purpose to fulfill and all he wanted to do for a while was spit vinegar and turn his anger around on anyone who contacted him. This isn't to say he hung up consistantly, but he remained fairly rude to anyone who happened upon him or through any videos that were accidentally shown through the network.

He spent three months there, cleaning up the burnt tower ruins and looking into the mythology that surrounded the area and city in general. It started out just as something to pass the time, the myth of a bird resurrecting three dead Pokemon being oddly fascinating in a sort of reborn sense of feeling. During the first month after escaping the Ecruteak hospital, after a few weeks, he ended up having a self identity crisis. He isn't Ventus, he isn't Sora, it's truly impossible to mistake them for each other.. but he had a childish fit and took a knife to his hair. He wants to be himself, he is himself, but he doesn't feel like he can be; he doesn't even exist anymore, if he were to leave this world, was his problem. It was only when he was halfway through his spiteful haircut that he really started talking to anyone; that anyone being Merlin (BBC). Merlin had been talking to him from the first day he arrived, but this was the first time that Vanitas was willing to listen and hear him out. He also started to realize he wasn't the only one in this world who had interest in fighting purely for fighting, the more he spoke with Heather Mason.

Vanitas doesn't move on from Ecruteak's burnt tower until May, and it's to finally get started on his badge challenge. He's gained a handful of Pokemon by this time, having been using them to train with him, and he has two badges already from Ecruteak and Goldenrod. Starting there had been easiest, since he had to get through the Sudowoodo path to go back to Violet anyway, and Whitney's three low leveled team weren't any match for Vanitas' overtrained team; it's also how he asked Morty, the Ecruteak leader, to watch the burnt tower. During the travel time, he ended up forming a rivalry with Franziska von Karma who had just arrived herself, and it led to Vanitas upping his travel times to get around faster. He wanted the badges before her, and it was something to do. He still didn't have a true purpose to his life, but while he figured it out, just living was all he could do. About 9 days later, he had his Violet badge, and made a post to the network in general for the first time. Vanitas finally wanted to start learning about the other people in this world, even if it was an easy topic about badges.

It's about this time that he's come to understand some of the people that Ventus travels with, one of them being a girl named Rise. They're very close, and despite even threatening her to keep her distance from Ven, it hasn't done much; this is because while Ventus doesn't understand his own feelings about her, Vanitas can still sense Ven's feelings in the back of his mind and feeling secondhand emotions? Is gross.

During the fourth wall event that happened at the end of May, it left Vanitas in Blackthorn City, so he ends up meeting with Ventus again for the first time since being rescued. They spend a bit of time together training their Pokemon, even if it still results in bickerings and Vanitas being a general nuisance to Ven's gear list. Another event that goes on near the end of June, has Shedinja being soul stealing bugs on accident; with Ventus in reach, Vani has made it an obnoxious point to keep Ventus out of trouble. That's still his body, he still calls claim to it even if he still doesn't know how to make the X-blade and take it back. It doesn't work very well and Ventus' need to help people outweighs all the physically pushing and minor bullying Vanitas tries to use to keep him indoors. In the end it works out just fine, and Vanitas winds up traveling with Ven and Riku back towards Ecruteak city; and that means they have to go through Mt. Mortar. With Aqua and Terra making a return to Johto, Ventus is in a huge hurry by the time they're halfway through the mountain and makes a careless climbing mistake that causes large rocks to knock him out. Vanitas manages to keep him from falling off the trail, and lugs him out the rest of the way with Riku's help.

They take him to the closest Pokecenter by flight and Vanitas finds that for the second time in his short life, he was afraid. That fear projects onto crumbling mountains, and it's a thing that sticks with him for the rest of his Johto life; what is he supposed to do if Ventus dies? He doesn't hate him, even if he is still incredibly jealous of everything he's had, and he needs him to live; that's his body, he exists within Ventus' heart. Vanitas still hasn't come to full terms that he lives in Ven, but with Ventus getting hurt and he not causing it in any form, it left him a touch rattled on how he feels regarding his other half. When Ventus woke up missing some memories and forgetting how to do some combat techniques, Vanitas immediately offered to train him again; he can't have him die on him anymore, that's no longer an option, so he will imprint it into muscle memory how to dodge roll and fight back again. There was nothing he could do for the memories of certain people, but that also made Vanitas afraid that if Ventus hit his head again, would he forget all these little things Vanitas has grown fine with? He didn't want to start over, when he was really starting to see what makes his other half more than an idiot with a too cheery personality.

There's a few months where he spends his time just training his Pokemon, training Ventus again before he moves on to take his Olivine gym badge. He hasn't exactly come to terms with the feelings he came across from Ventus being hurt, but he's far more accepting to the fact that yes; Ventus has become important to him, as more than just his original body. Moving on and putting distance between them to think on it further takes him to Olivine finally, where he takes on the gym leader with overpowered Pokemon and wins easily. His choice in Pokemon though was Dartanian, and the Charizard wanted to keep fighting even when the battle finished. So Vanitas with all his smarts decided to sock the Pokemon in the nose and got his arm bit and broke for his efforts. Back to the hospital he goes, all those positive experiences he's gained being put to the test for this largely negative one.

The new experiences won out, at least for the most part. Talking with friends, despite his reservations on speaking to anyone about the disaster genuinely helped him calm down enough to set aside his revenge plans. Still, when it comes time for his release from the hospital, he asks the network at large a fairly simple question: What do you all think of the term, an eye for an eye?" All he's known is to make someone pay when they've hurt you, and for once, he wanted to know the other methods; how to alleviate that anger. He was genuinely surprised to find that more than a handful agreed that revenge would work, having been expecting so many more to say it was terrible, it was bad. That it was a normal sort of feeling, to want to get payback at someone. A long conversation with Beatrice made him come to realize that he had his first friend who was purely his friend. Not someone who had been one of Ventus' friends first. Vanitas has been in Route for nearly a year at this point, and it was a bond that scared him, that he didn't want to break or lose.

It's not for another month that he leaves the hospital and gets back on the road and collects his last Johto badge, and finally makes his way to Kanto on his own. Burning time between training and playing the few video games the world has to offer, Vanitas spends a couple months just traveling and exploring and being generally baffled by some of the Pokemon (really, have you seen Vanillite, IT'S AN ICE CREAM CONE) he comes across. Breeding became a way to make money on the side of battles, and since he has a lot of Pokemon by now, it's a cinch to make eggs that have a lot of potential.

When he hears that one of his friends is about to take a trip into Mt Mortar though, Vanitas has a near panic attack and outright runs back to Johto, even if he would argue differently. Karkat, the friend in question, has no issue with it and doesn't understand Vanitas' problem since he won't talk about it, just adamantly say don't go, until Vanitas made him wait for him. Reaching Karkat and Eridan was the easy part; going through Mt. Mortar was what left him on edge the entire time. Karkat's crass nature and terrible vocabulary had left an impression on Vanitas that he could actually argue with friends and still be friends with later, and such a friend was incredibly important to him; he has an argumentive personality, so finally having someone to verbally beat the bush around with was something else entirely. When they finally made it through, Vanitas finally explained why he hated Mt. Mortar; he was afraid of his friend forgetting him, a mild trauma left behind from Ventus' excursion in the mountain.

With many complaints and a literal fistfight, Karkat admitted that he didn't know how to swim, and that that was the reason they didn't take the water route; so Vanitas demanded that he learn to swim and made it a personal goal to teach him. This starts off more of a long term goal with keeping his friend safe and Karkat keeping Vanitas out of trouble.. or at least eating right. Bacon doesn't make a healthy meal all the time. For once having a group of people to travel with, Vanitas continues with Karkat and Eridan around Johto, helping prepare them for their gym battles and continuing his own training to prepare for the level 100s challenge in Kanto; it couldn't hurt, since he wanted to wait to do that with his friends.

It's well into June of the next year that Vanitas has a scare with Karkat passing out in the ice path, as he wasn't used to people going into their canon-update comas. He just didn't know enough people who did it, after all. By this time it was just them traveling together, so Vanitas did the logical thing. Strapped Karkat to a Pokemon big enough to carry him and traveled the rest of the way without sleeping; it was a three day hike still to get out in either direction. It was the start of realizing he really needed this particular friend to be okay, that Vanitas felt like he was finally understanding Ventus' need to protect his friends, no matter the cost. Why he had no hesitations about destroying the X-blade when it was connected to their heart. Asking several people while traveling those last few days if the coma would do anything to Karkat's memory, he was relieved to find that he'd still remember him; he'd remember that mild friendship that had started.

It's around this time that another friend of his has pointed out how concerned he is of Karkat, and brought up the topic of crushes and dating. Vanitas protested that it was a crush, mostly out of being unsure of how to even go about that; he was a volatile half person, what kind of feelings are these and is he even capable of them? It takes another three months before he really agrees with the sentiment, that okay, he does have a crush. It's not until Vanitas passes out with Ventus' coma update that the relationship goes anywhere, and actually turns into dating. Having to come to terms with it and having those feelings returned was a prospect he hadn't been ready for, but with all of the time spent together, Vanitas found he hated being apart. He didn't want to think about his life without his friend, without this world with all his Pokemon that he grew to like so much. It's not all entirely positive though, while he does have those dopey feelings; they still sit in possessive territory. Karkat is now his, and Vanitas has hit a level where he won't tolerate anyone making him really upset.

Continuing to work on his Kanto badge quest, since they got on the road a little after waking up from Vanitas' coma, Vanitas has gotten fairly comfortable with this new life and his place in it. He has people he cares about, he and Ventus are on good enough terms to be close friends, and he has a goal; to finish collecting the badges, and try to find the Elite Four and Champion to battle them. These goals were long lasting enough that he was still working towards them, and just finished his final badge collection.

With the tickets he and Karkat had earned from completing the gym challenges to go on a two week cruise, one of the things Vanitas thought would never happen, happened; Ventus disappeared and left this world. The other unfortunate timing is that Karkat was passed out for another update coma, so Vanitas was left to his own devices of trying to sort his emotions. It pretty much led to trashing the bedroom and sitting in his destruction fighting against crying, because he had never felt so empty before. Throughout the last three years, Vanitas had always had that connection in the back of his mind, that feeling of knowing where Ventus was, even if he was out of sight and out of reach; and then it was gone. It left him truly frightened, and then remorseful of the potential in that Ventus could come back... but would he remember? His question about that won't be answered in this world at least.

It's a few months later that something else he thought would never happen, does; Master Xehanort appeared in Johto. He didn't even realize it was him until Xehanort made a sly sort of comment, and it clicked. Karkat refrained from letting Vanitas run off to fight the old man, since death wasn't permanent in this world, but his anger and hate that he had held onto for years was rekindled. Unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to meet the man face to face, and Vanitas also disappeared from that world.


Major Canon CR
Ventus - Vanitas and Ventus grew to be very close friends throughout his time in Route, having to come to terms with being his own self on top of knowing deep down that he is still part of Ven. One of the things he was largely afraid of was Ventus losing his memories, and therefore, the knowledge that he had made friends with his other half.

Terra - Vanitas and Terra still had a handful of rocky starts, but Vanitas had always been jealous of Ventus' relationship with the man. He was an older brother figure, and one Vanitas wanted in a sense; they got to a point where it was attempted, but Terra disappeared and Vanitas was left wondering if it would be better left alone.

Aqua - Vanitas and Aqua never really got along. There were only a few occasions of her being there, but each time was early in his learning experiences, and he had yet to truly come to appreciate that sisterly bond she has with Ventus. One of the things is that he got his Swablu indirectly from her, and Sanaa is the one Pokemon he has never wanted to harm. She reminds him of her, but isn't her, so it's less awkward, per say.

Riku - Ventus' friend and one that stayed throughout the entire time Vanitas was there, he could see Terra in the other boy; it was a compliment he never expressed out of his own jealousy. They still butted heads over the years, but Vanitas knows he could trust him with Ventus, if he ever had to.

Sora - This relationship has gone up and down the entire time Vanitas has known of him; he hates Sora for filling in that gap of Ventus' heart that was originally his, but he doesn't hate him enough because they're alive for that reason. Sora was the reason he went through a mild identity crisis, he's even the reason for Vanitas getting Dartanian on his side, but Sora cared in his own way. It took a long time to really reach out and trust the guy, but Vanitas is well aware that he could believe in him too.

Kairi - The princess. He mildly remembers her from his time, remembering enough that his Unversed chased her once and nothing more; he was always unsure of how to interact with her. Her strong light reminded him of Ventus', but without knowledge of her in general, he was left with simply... trying to not communicate. It was stranger, considering she knew Sora and then there's Vanitas with that face. He was civil to her, for the most part.

Queen Minnie - She knew who he was long before he knew who she was, and he never understood why she felt she could give him a second chance, despite it being mostly at Ventus' behalf. He never quite found her to be a mother figure the way Ventus did, but the smallest encouragement was calming.

Cross Canon CR

Merlin (BBC) - One of the first people he could have called friend, if he would have admitted it at the time. The guy kept up with his conversations and was genuinely concerned over Vanitas' early months of arriving in route, with how his view on life in general was fairly negative. It was at Merlin's suggestion that Vanitas' terrible haircut became a slickback, that no, he wasn't some extension of Sora. He never quite got the opportunity to thank him.

Heather Mason (Silent Hill 3) - One of the first people who wasn't as light based as anyone else he had met; someone who also approved of revenge, but wasn't consumed by hate and darkness. She was really an interesting person, always had something funny to say and a quick wit. He could tell in their conversations that she didn't trust him a lick, but he was fine with that; someone not trusting him was perfectly reasonable and honestly preferable considering he agreed with the sentiment that he was an abomination. They spoke on and off, but she helped him realize that not all the dark thoughts he had were purely evil; he felt fairly normal.

Beatrice (Umineko no Naku Koro Ni) - The vessel that was made to contain the witch by the same name, she was unreasonably kind and so very full of light that Vanitas didn't understand why she called him a friend. They met through simple conversation, where he advised how to stay warm in a pitch black cave and those simple conversations about basic survival made him curious. Cautiously concerned about this girl stumbling around without knowing how to even live. They eventually got into talking about their home worlds, and Vanitas found a kindred spirit in her; she was made for a purpose that no longer existed. It bothered him, how much that struck a chord, so he made it a point to keep in touch. Soon, he realized she was his first true friend, one that hadn't been in contact with Ventus; she only knew him. It was a selfish thing, but he was happy for it. When she eventually disappeared and left one of her Pokemon to him, he had a long period of silence where he simply had to learn to cope with it.

Karkat Vantas (Homestuck) - One of the closest friends he ever made that eventually became something more, Karkat normalized Vanitas' life. He made him eat proper meals, get real sleep, and taught him that he was truly a person in his own right. They argued, they fist fought, they had stupid problems with each other, but they remained friends even with things they hated out in the open. Vanitas butted his way into his life, and realized how important Karkat was to him. Enough to learn how to deal with new emotions, ones that were absolutely new to him; crushing on people. Caring for someone so much you'll put them ahead of your needs or wants. Love is a terrifyingly strong word, but he would admit now that the emotion could be just that.

Hikaru Shindou (Magic Knight Rayearth) - A friend he made during the end of his learning how to socialize streak, she had a light like Ventus' and was so. Unreasonably nice. It was strange and endearing like Beatrice all over again. She cared wholeheartedly, and it was almost concerning that she wanted to help him when he would adamantly refute that he needed the help. She really was a good friend to him though, and disappearing left another little hole in his heart.

Rikku (FFX-2) - Another over friendly girl, and the one who pointed out Vanitas' crush on Karkat. They on and off spoke a lot during last year he was in Johto, and she was peppy if anything. She reminded him of Ventus also, and it's almost a running joke at this point that he attracted friendly people with his grumpy personality. She was a good friend though, and Vanitas offered advice when she needed it.

Valeria (FFVII franchise) - If they had the chance to talk more, she would have probably become a big sister to him; he already had started to think she reminded him of Aqua, a version that didn't hate his guts. Mature and calm mannered, he enjoyed their talks that tended to devolve into being witty at one another.

Inventory:
- His main Pokemon team of : Blitz, Sylph, Darjeeling, Nitas, Sanaa, Dartanian
- A PC passworded box full of the rest of his Pokemon (if access to these ones are not allowed, that is fine! Screened ones are no longer in his possession.)
- His Keyblade
- His battle clothes from home (the dark suit armor)
- His helmet (it has a big crack in the visor by now)
- A lot of Pokemon world money.
- 16 badges from two regions.
- Four sets of normal clothes.
- A red and gold Wayfinder.
- Two wooden carved training keyblades.

Abilities, Strengths, and Weaknesses:

Vanitas was trained in the art of combat by Master Xehanort, and has become a very seasoned, very experienced swordsman. Mixing his keyblade attacks with martial arts, he would be known as a dirty fighter, considering he sees no issue with throwing sand in someones eyes or kicking them in the back of the knee to knock them down. His strength and attack style would definitely classify him as a brute. Vanitas has just a bit more muscle than Ventus from Xehanort's far harsher training, so not only does he hit like a tank, he is physically capable of flinging himself around in a fight. CARTWHEELING TO VICTORY

For actual abilities, magical abilities, Vanitas has a range of skills at his disposal. First and foremost is the ability to create Unversed; they're an extension of himself. A literal physical representation of his emotions in a neat skin of darkness. Here is a canon information page about what Unversed are and how they are different from Heartless, which is important since they look similar enough, but come from completely different sources. While Vanitas is the darkness of Ventus' heart, he still has a piece of heart that is his own. Something to note is that a handful of the bosses from the Birth By Sleep saga are created by using other peoples negative emotions, not just his own; he just takes someone elses darkness and wraps it into an Unversed skin, giving birth to a new powerful monster. An example of such a boss is the Cursed Coach, created from Cinderella's step-sisters and step-mother out of jealousy. The last important thing to note about Vanitas' Unversed is that since they are extensions of himself, they don't die when defeated; the energy is just reabsorbed and outputted into another Unversed; they would only disappear from existence if Vanitas himself died. Destroying them causes him physical pain, which generates a cycle that was explained in the personality section.

Other magical abilities include a speed that nearly looks like teleportation, for quickly getting behind opponents to strike them down. He can create after images of himself in a high speed chase, as well as shoot dark energy blasts from his keyblade. From the few Unversed he has that have elemental attacks, he can also use versions of shooting fireballs, creating ice and firing electrical shots with his physical attacks. Vanitas also has a shotlock, only one compared to the many that the Birth By Sleep protagonists can learn, but it's still very powerful. It's called Dark Cannon, and it generates three crystals around his keyblade that he can power up and shoot a powerful energy beam, but it only goes in one direction and is slow to control and turn.

Another magical ability that will probably always be cut off is his ability to travel to different worlds using corridors of darkness; this might not seem like much of an ability, but only a handful of characters that have hearts are capable of it without being attacked by the creatures that live in those corridors. Nobodies and Heartless use it the most, but notable characters like Riku and Namine can generate them, and others like Sora and Kairi have traveled through them without large issues.

Now with all of those strengths, there are still weaknesses that Vanitas has. He may be more mature and more open to positive reinforcement, but he is still very proud of his power and he is downright egotistical; not many people have ever beaten him before in a fight, and not many people will. It's not that he's not a good strategist, but he is purely combat driven. It can and has encompassed his whole being before, and if he is fired up enough about it, he will put all of his energy towards it. That isn't necessarily a good thing, such as the case with the X-blade.

Vanitas is still prideful, he's still very selfish about his needs and wants. He may be open to friendship, but if he has realized he wants someone to be his friend, he can get very clingy and possessive. Saying he has had very few people in his life that he trusts to that degree doesn't absolve him of being overpossessive of people, it doesn't mean he treats them with all the respect they deserve - but he does try. They would leave him if he didn't try to be kinder, if he didn't want them to stay out of more than force. So he is trying, but jealousy and the need to be wanted as he is, is still a big issue for him. He may have a nearly adult body by this time, but he's mentally still only a child, and he dissolves into childish behavior frequently. Tantrums are still a thing, and they are still destructive.

( SAMPLE )

Characterization Sample:

SAMPLE 1 (canon personality):
It's amazing how much disgust he feels when he watches the three students line up. The students line up, the Masters stand, the Master who fears darkness speaking... it's a hard pressed fight to keep those Unversed from appearing anywhere near the building, no. Vanitas formed them along the ridges and hills outside, far from sight, far from being sensed, and those feelings of disgust simply festered.

Yeah, go ahead. Fear the darkness, fear and hate it, because it is about to bring about all of your downfalls, he thought. Even when the beginning of the test started, all he watched was the blond standing at the side; the light was still bright, obnoxiously so, and it renewed that hate and anger he felt.

You got to come here. You survived without me.

Disgust, at the thought of those bonds and how they tugged in the back of his mind; they weren't his own feelings, Vanitas was well aware, but being connected left him with the ends of Ventus' feelings of love and loyalty and it was so second hand and irritating. No, these bonds will be used against him, used and eventually destroyed, so despite this rampant jealousy, he doesn't want bonds like these. Ventus will follow Terra, Terra will be on a wild goose chase, and Aqua? Will be trailing behind too far to catch up.

Good. That's how it should be.

When Master Xehanort intervenes briefly into the mastery exam spar, when those bits of darkness show up, Vanitas can't help an outright snort at how the light hearts nearly scatter in surprise. Then Ventus joins the fray to help, and he watches; he's fast, it's like an echo of his own style. Reverse grip, he steps with his left first, he uses quick strikes.. but he's holding back. Already thinking and devising how to counter Ventus' natural fighting style, already deciding to put his own hits on a heavy right sided assault. Fast quick strikes, but without letting up on the hits, that's how he'll take him down.

As the room clears out and the exam resumes, Vanitas moves away from his spying place, chuckling quietly and heading to the meet up place to wait for Xehanort. It's almost time, huh. Ventus has a lot of ground to cover, but Vanitas is ready to hammer him into the mold finally. He'll be whole again soon.


SAMPLE 2 (CR AU added, old Route post):

[When the feed first flickers on, the room is a bit dark if it weren't for a small lamp off to the side, but it's dampened as if behind something; it would be hard to tell it's Vanitas looking at the screen if it weren't for his eyes glinting yellow in the faint light. For the longest time, he says nothing, but... his expression does all the talking for him.

It starts off with his gaze pointed off screen, looking downward with his eyebrows drawn together. Lifting his eyes enough to look up and outward, there wasn't a movement in his head until he dropped his eyes again. This time, they were pointed to the left, his expression calming before his lip curled just slightly, brows pressed together again. Breathing in and sitting up slightly, Vanitas started to open his mouth with his expression attempting to calm again, but whatever he was going to say is cut short before he even utters a sound.

Giving a quiet, distinctly frustrated sound, he instead snaps the feed shut without saying anything.

It's a good hour before a text comes up.]

This emotion makes me absolutely sick.

[If anyone swings by to visit Ventus in Ecruteak's Center, they're going to find Vanitas seated in a pulled up chair near the bed, his arms crossed and his chin on his chest, appearing to be asleep. Ven's cast arm is unburied from the blankets though, and there's a start of something written in black ink.. but well, it's just a black line as of now.

No, that isn't a marker near Vanitas' boot >( ugh what do you write on casts anyway-]