#a thiiing

Note: I dragged in the Shadow Courts again. Whoops. (Though, really, it's only the use of Shad's name and borrowing a few words from Shadow Tongue. Nothing major.)

~

            To be honest, he didn’t feel like doing anything. He just felt… empty. He’d get caught up in a moment—respond to anything interacting with him, sure. But when it was just him? Just him and the silence that crushed in around him without Sora’s presence pounding at the back of his head?

            He just felt… empty. Like there was nothing worth doing anymore.

            He’d given up on finding Sora. What point was there looking? He’d been everywhere. He and Sora probably kept missing each other, and, at this rate, he’d have just as much luck finding Sora by sitting still and having Sora run into him than the other way around.

            He didn’t have anything to do, either.

            No Sora? No purpose. No purpose? Well, he had nothing outside of that. Little distractions, sure, but they only put off the feeling of emptiness.

            And there were moments like this, when he’d just lay here on the ground, staring up at the sky… It only made him ache. What was he without Sora? Nothing, that’s what. No Sora? No purpose. No life. No him.

            And when he couldn’t find Sora…?

            He didn’t even want to try. Didn’t want to do anything. He just wanted to lay here. Let the emptiness consume him. That’d feel so much better. Anything would feel better.

            He felt a small little weight on his leg, and sat up just enough so that he could see what it was. It was Heartless. One of the little Shadows—ha, funny that they shared the same Name, huh?

            They’re better at their job than I am at mine, though…

            He sighed, dropped his head back into the grass. He could get up. Summon his blade. Attack the Heartless. Summon more. Vent his frustration… not that he felt any. He felt nothing. And that made him angry—sort of. He was frustrated that he couldn’t feel anything. That he couldn’t feel anger. Couldn’t even feel the frustration properly. It was like a fog surrounded him and nothing could push through it.

            The Heartless had multiplied, at least five Shadows milling around him. One was sniffing dangerously close to his face. Another was perched on his chest, studying him interestedly.

            The one next to his face moved, pushing his hair away from his ear, its antennae moving, tracing across his skin, his forehead. He closed his eyes. It was uncomfortable, but only sort of. It was a sensation, at the very least. He’d take that.

            ‘Hmm… what’s a Sheto doing here?’ one of the Heartless hissed, speaking his Name with an accent. To differentiate itself from him. Of course. Their Names were similar, but not the same.

            ‘Where’s his hessha?’ another wondered, lingering over the word hessha, like it was sacred.

            Hessha.

            Sora.

            “Gone,” he murmured.

            The Heartless next to his face paused.

            ‘Why aren’t you looking for him?’ it asked.

            “Don’t feel like it,” he murmured. “Don’t feel like… anything.”

            The Heartless around him seemed to laugh. The one close to his face started running its antennae over him again, clearly trying to get a proper sense of him. He couldn’t quite understand why. It wasn’t like he was Prey. They were kin, if anything.

            ‘Of course,’ another Heartless chuckled. ‘What is a Shadow without its purpose, after all?’

            This one didn’t add the accent to his Name. He wasn’t sure if it couldn’t be bothered to, or if it was on purpose. Because in that way, they were the same. A Shadow without purpose was—

            ‘Nothing,’ it laughed.

            From the sounds of it, this one was somewhere near his feet. He tried to look up to see it, though it was hard to do without disturbing the one that was at his neck, and even then, he couldn’t see past the one perched on his chest. That one was feeling him with its antennae, too. Like it expected to find something.

            ‘That’s no excuse to just lie here, though,’ a different Heartless said, clearly disappointed in him. Disgusted.

            ‘Some of us give up, sometimes,’ the one by his feet said, plainly. ‘It’s nothing new. Nothing to be ashamed of.’

            The Heartless next to his face moved so it was nuzzling up against his neck, curling up and getting comfortable.

            ‘We are kin,’ it purred. ‘We can lend you strength. To keep moving. If you want it.’

            “But I don’t even know where he is, let alone how to get to him,” he sighed. “And without that to fuel me…”

            ‘Our purposes are similar, you know,’ the one by his feet told him, rubbing up against his leg. ‘Why else do you think our Names are, too?’

            “Of course,” he chuckled. “What is your purpose, anyway?”

            ‘To find the weak, the broken,’ the one on his chest said, speaking for the first time. Its tiny little claws were pressed against him, passing through his clothes, barely piercing his skin. ‘Steal their hearts. Nummy hearts…’

            He smiled. “I guess we are simi—ah!!”

            He cried out in pain, back arching as the Heartless sunk its claws deeper into his chest, curling around his—damn—heart. The heart he shouldn’t have. Panic flooded through him, his breath coming in gasps.

            He’d forgotten about that.

            Forgotten what Heartless did.

            Forgotten he was in danger.

            He should’ve gotten up the moment they surrounded him.

            But he hadn’t felt like it…

            He hadn’t—

            “You!” he screamed, trying to struggle. For being so little, the Heartless held him down surprisingly well. “You did this to me! You made me—get off!!”

            He was able to shake off the one by his neck, the one by his leg, and the one holding down his arm, but the one on his chest wouldn’t move. Couldn’t be moved. It had its grip around his heart and unless he wanted to lose it, he couldn’t yank it away.

            “What happened to being kin?” he hissed, grabbing the one who’d insisted they were, dangling upside down as he held it in front of his face. It said nothing, antennae just running across his face again. He spat at it, then tossed it aside, turning his attention to the one who had his heart.

            ‘Since when do Shetos have hearts?’ one of them laughed. ‘Clearly, you are no kin of ours. What has happened to you, Hydrx Sheto ni Sura?’

            The sound of his Name spoken aloud sent chills down his spine, and he shuddered, grabbing at the Heartless who had his heart. His hands shook.

            “Let go of me!”

            ‘Nummy hearts…’ it whispered, tugging.

            He cried out with agony, nearly collapsing backwards. He summoned his Keyblade, quickly, and brought it down on the Heartless. It vanished immediately, though he ended up hitting himself in the process. Oh well. At least he still had his heart.

            Though was that really a good thing?

             He sat there, shaking. All the Heartless had left but one. It sat on the ground before him, looking up at him, completely still. Heartless were never still.

            ‘I’d be careful, if I were you,’ it told him, unblinking eyes meeting his. ‘We will not be so kind to you a second time.’