Vanitas x Female! Reader ☆ Pure Shores ☆

20. Pure Shores

“There. All done.”
(Y/N) stepped back, folding her arms and nodding in triumph.
“So, what do you think?”
Ventus turned to her, blinking wordlessly.
“Well?” she prodded, persistant.
Ventus rubbed the back of his neck, the tips of his ears turning red.
“It's uhm…eye catching.”
(Y/N) stepped away, standing beside the green and red sign now hanging proudly beside the shop door.
“It is! Imagine all the custom it’ll bring in!”
Ventus was eyeing the sign, his expression decidedly sheepish.
“What is it, Ventus?”
“Nothing, it’s great, really! But…”
(Y/N) rested her hands on her hips “But?”
"But….” Ventus sighed. “I don’t think there’s a ‘U’ in Haberdashery.”
“What?!”
(Y/N) turned, inspecting the sign closely, which read:
‘Haburdashery Service from 5 Munny an hour!’
“Are you kidding me? For the love of-!” she grasped the sign, ripping it from the hook imbedded in the wooden frame.
“All it needs is a repaint, then it’ll be as good as new!” Ventus pleaded.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Ventus take a neat step backwards, as she dropped the sign to the ground, her foot holding one edge.
“Wait, hold on!”
Ignoring Ventus, she grasped the other end, and with an angry growl, snapped the wood clean in half.
(Y/N) pushed the sweaty hair from her face, green paint smearing across one cheek, breathing heavily as she immediately regretted it.
Around them, passers-by stopped in shock, some amused by her sudden outburst. There were murmurs and titters from the crowd, and (Y/N) felt her cheeks burn, her eyes prick with tears.
Ventus took her arm gently, guiding her towards the shop. “Let’s go inside, we can get the paint later.”
Once the door was closed firmly behind them, (Y/N) wrapped her arms around herself, taking deep, shaking breaths.
“Come on, I’ll make us some tea.” Ventus said gently, flipping the sign in the window to ‘closed.’
She looked up, nodding gratefully as she followed him through the shop, into her tiny, cosy kitchen.
Ventus gestured for her to sit, and as she watched her friend busying himself at the ancient stove, filling the blackened kettle with fresh water, she felt herself slowly unwinding.
There was silence while Ventus poured, before setting a steaming cup of nettle tea in front of her.
“Should be soothing.” He explained, his tone soft.
“Thanks.” She mumbled, hands holding the mug awkwardly as she avoided his eyes.
“Guess haberdashery is out.” Ventus joked weakly, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
(Y/N) grinned back, equally as forced.
“There’ll be something else I can try. Don’t worry.” She said, blowing gently on her tea.
Ventus sighed, lowering his cup.
“Whats this really all about (Y/N)?”
(Y/N) frowned at Ventus. “I don’t follow?”
“This month, its haberdashery. Last month it was pottery class, the month before that it was calligraphy.”
(Y/N) tried to look nonchalant. “So?”
“So…I wanna know what’s going on.”
(Y/N) took a sip of her tea, knowing she looked petulant.
“This is about Vanitas isn’t it?”
At this, (Y/N) flinched, the mere mention of his name enough to send her reeling.
Ventus nodded. “I thought so.”
“No, no. I’m just trying to find something that fits, something that makes me-“
“Happy?”
She searched Ventus’s eyes. “Yeah. I guess so.”
He looked around the cramped kitchen at the ancient fixtures and decorations that had belonged to Elmyra.
“You think you’ll find that here?”
(Y/N) frowned across at him. “Where then? Departure Town?”
“I don’t think you’ll find it there, either.”
(Y/N) sat back in her chair, an incredulous look on her face. “Great, so I’m doomed to be miserable.”
Ventus gave her a rueful smile. “He made you happy.”
(Y/N) felt her face crumple, before bringing both hands up to her face, shielding her from Ventus’s view.
“What are you still here for?” He asked, his voice quiet.
Slowly removing her hands, she scowled. “Oh gee, thanks.”
“No, seriously. You could’ve gone with Vanitas, but you stayed here. I wanna know why.”
(Y/N) looked away, unable to bear his burning gaze.
“I don’t know. Loyalty to my grandmother I suppose.”
“That’s it?” Ventus said in disbelief.
“Not just that. Keeping the store open, becoming an Apothecary. It’s what my Grandmother wanted.”
Ventus gave a snort of derision. “You think that matters? My Parents wanted me to be a Carpenter, but that’s sure as hell not what I wanted.”
“They did?”
“No word of a lie. But I don’t even think it’s about honouring Elmyras wishes. I think you’re scared.”
(Y/N) looked away as Ventus continued.
“I think you’ve had your future mapped out for so long for you, that you're scared to deviate, to free fall and see how you land.”
“Vanitas said something similar.”
Ventus gave a huff of laughter. “Of course he did.”
(Y/N) sent a caustic look across the table. “I don’t need a man to make me happy.”
Ventus took another mouthful of tea, swallowing thickly. “Listen, we weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I don’t believe for a second that Vanitas thought you couldn’t be happy without him. If he thought that, he wouldn’t have respected your decision to stay.”
(Y/N) stared down into her cup, her fingers tracing the rim thoughtfully.
“He just wanted you to be happy, to demand better for yourself.” Ventus snorted. “Looks like we had something in common after all.”
(Y/N) couldn’t fight the smile growing across her cheeks, the warmth growing in her chest, the excitement in the pit of her stomach.
“You really think I could?”
Ventus gave her a soft smile, reaching out to place a hand over hers.
“Doesn’t matter what I think, because you’re free to choose.”
The clock above the door clanged, and Ventus glanced up with regret.
“Listen, I have to go, but…think it over?”
The pair headed to the front door, Ventus shrugging into his overcoat.
His fingers alighted on the handle, before he turned back to her.
“Whatever you decide, I’ll always be your best friend.”
“Thank you...Ven.”
He sent her a bright, toothy smile in return.
Then, he was gone.
(Y/N) stood somewhat uselessly in the shop, rubbing her arms for warmth, suddenly feeling bereft.
She remembered the woollen blanket her grandmother had knitted for her, wrapping it around her shoulders when she was sick, or all the times she scraped her knees.
She longed to cuddle under it again, and headed for the stairs, trying to remember the last place she had seen it.
In her bottom drawer, next to the keepsake box.
Pulling out the blanket hastily, she draped it across her shoulders, holding it tight in a bunch under her chin, before seating herself crossed legged on the floor of her room.
"Time for a trip down memory lane."
(Y/N) carefully retrieved the box and flipped open the lid, first pulling out a stack of fraying pictures, tied with a stream of white ribbon.
Flicking through them, she saw pictures of her grandmother, her great Aunt Harleen, Analeese and Uncle Luxord.
Funny holiday snaps, pictures from Eve-Lily dances of old, picnics on the beach, herself and Ventus dressed as tiny, adorable ghosts on bygone Halloween nights and the memories of past Christmases- all greeting her from the greying, aged paper.
(Y/N) sighed, feeling a smile pull at her lips and laughter bubble up her throat at the memories, the loud voices, and the joy.
Then, the reality...
She was alone now.
Bereft of family, Ventus was the only hold over from her past, and even now that relationship was suffering.
Today was the most they had spoken in weeks.
There had been a moment’s reprieve once she had Vanitas, even more so when Sora, Riku and Saix arrived.
Then, Saix was dead, Sora and Riku gone.
Vanitas soon after.
The status quo restored.
She grabbed at the ribbon hastily, her hands shaking in their desire to shove the pictures to one side, where they wouldn’t be able to taunt her.
Picking through the box again, (Y/N) found a myriad of mementoes.
Theatre stubs, school certificates, funny drawings in splodgy paint, a postcard from Radiant Garden that Ventus had sent her, a letter to Santa Claus.
Then, underneath a poster for the school production of ‘I Want to be your Canary’ that she had starred in, she spotted a crumpled corner.
Pulling it free, her heart thudded painfully in her chest, her hands shaking with emotion as she held it up.
A sheet of pencilled in notes, scawled across in a hurried hand. Underneath, the elegant flicks and sharp lines of an unknown language, with her crude imitation beside it.
‘Its nice that your voice was the first thing I heard today’
“I remember now.” She murmured aloud.
She recalled how Saix had crushed the sheet into a tiny ball, such was his anger and hatred of her.
She had rescued it, and stowed it into her keepsake box for safety, should Saix find it again.
She shuddered at the memory of his ire, his noxious intent.
Her stomach lurched with anxiety, and she fought it back, determined to break the Leviathai’s hold on her.
He would not ruin this for her.
She glanced back down at the paper, back at the short messages written in Leviathaiaan.
‘Its nice that your voice was the first thing I heard today’
She pictured him saying it to her.
His golden eyes would be defiant while they avoided her, determined to push through his nerves at saying such tender words aloud. His hands would twitch, his cheeks and nose dusted with a cherry red.
Or perhaps, he'd say it with absolute certainty, his gaze fixed, an ever present smirk at his lips.
Despite her smile, (Y/N) felt a tear drop down her cheek, as she looked upon the sheet again.