The key of Zero

By psychored1911

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom hearts or Familiar of Zero. You should know that by now, so quit asking.

If this looks a little bit rushed, I'm sorry in advance, I just wanted to get this chapter done after taking a break from it for so long. In all honesty, I feel disappointed with how I wrote this chapter.

Chapter 7: How'd this happen?

Right Now…

Louise was clinging onto Saito extremely lovingly. Saito, freaked out, tried to pry her off of him, to no avail.

"Look, would you let me go, I'm trying to do the laundry," Saito pleaded, trying to squirm out of Louise's grasp. "Can you just let me do this?"

Louise gripped him harder "No, you'll just go and flirt with the maid again!"

Saito sighed "I didn't want to do this," Hey yelled over to Ven, who was looking at them with a sweatdrop "HEY VEN, DO YOU MIND IF YOU KNOCK HER OUT FOR A MINUTE?'

In an instant, Ven warped to their location and cast Sleep on Louise, rendering her asleep.

Afterwards, Ven gave him an awkward look "How the heck did that happen in the first place anyway?"

Flashback to the night earlier…

Sora and Ven pointed their keyblades at each other "May the best man win," Sora smiled as he took a combat stance.

"Oh, I will," Ven smirked as he took his combat stance.

"DRAW!" the two said as they disappeared in a blur. Less than a second later, they clashed in a flurry of strikes.

Meanwhile, Saito, Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey were watching from the sidelines.

"Wow, they're really fast," Saito said with a sweatdrop.

"Yeah, they're some of the fastest keybladers I have ever seen." King Mickey said.

"They're probably gonna keep this up all night at this pace," Riku said.

Around the same time, in another part of the school…

Guiche and Montmorency were having a date; well it would be if Louise didn't tag along with them.

"Well, isn't this a lovely night," Montmorency said as she poured wine for the three of them "So- hey what's that up in the sky?" she said as she pointed towards the sky. As they were distracted, Montmorency slipped a love potion into Guiche's drink. "Oh, I guess I was mistaken,"

Back with the keybladers and Saito…

Sora and Ven kept going for another 10 minutes.

"Okay, I'm getting bored," Saito said as he walked to the dorm rooms "I'll see you guys tomorrow,"

As he walked away, Sora and Ven clashed one more time. As they clashed, they lost their grip on their keyblades and sent them flying.

"… Where did they go?" Sora and Ven said as they followed the keyblades. They followed them and watched in horror as the keyblades flew onto the table where Louise and the others were sitting. They watched as the keyblades hit the table, spilling everything on the table all over Louise.

"Um, we should start casting reflect now," Ven said, slowly backing away.

Sora looked confused "why?"

"Just do it," Ven said as he cast reflect. Sora just shrugged and did the same.

"REFLECT!"

*BOOM*

"Oh that's why," Sora thought out loud "RUN!" he yelled as he and Ven ran away from her.

"Grr… I'll get back at them later," Louise said as she went back to her room to change.

In her room, she was greeted by Saito "You do realize food is supposed to go in the body, right?"

Saito joked, but she ignored him before feeling lightheaded "Hey, are you okay?" Saito went over to her before she pulled him into a hug. "What the heck?"

Louise kept holding him tightly "Saito, please hold me tightly! Don't you know? I love you!" she looked at him like a lovesick girl.

As this was going on, Sora walked in "Hey, um I'm sorry about-" he saw what was going on and immediately closed the door behind him, but not before saying "Don't do anything you're gonna regret now,"

"Sora, get serious! Help me!" Saito yelled back at him. "HEY! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

(A/N: I was going to put this on a separate chapter altogether, but I just got lazy, that and I know that you readers want me to go do a real update instead of any pointless filler, so I mixed episodes 8 and 9 of the anime together. Sorry, I'll probably re-edit this part later)

Flashback end

"And that's it." Saito told Ven.

Ven thought it over "You said she started to act weird when she had that wine stuff on her, right?"

"Right, so I guess that since it must be either Guiche or Montmorency who did it, since I doubt Louise would do that to herself."

"Okay, let's check out Montmorency first," Ven said as he, Saito, and an unconscious Louise went over to Montmorency's room.

A few minutes later

"Hey Montmorency, open up! I need to talk to you!" Ven knocked on the door. After waiting for a few minutes, he summoned his keyblade and unlocked the door. Inside, he found Montmorency with a look of fear on her face.

"S… Saito, Ven, w-what are you doing here?" Montmorency stuttered.

"Montmorency I know you made Louise like this," Saito pointed to the unconscious Louise, still clinging to his shoulders. "Now tell us how to undo this."

Montmorency whimpered before confessing "Okay I admit it! I placed a love potion in the wine. It was supposed to be for Guiche but I didn't expect Louise to tag along with us or for those 2 giant keys to spill the wine all over Louise. I'm so sorry!"

Saito stared at her and then at Ven "Aren't love potions illegal?"

Montmorency flinched "Um, yes,"

Saito looked at Ven. Ven nodded and took out his chevalier cape. "Sorry Montmorency, but I'm going to have to take you in."

Montmorency flinched "Please don't! If my parents find out I got arrested they will kill me!"

Suddenly, Guiche came out of nowhere, yelling "I won't let you turn in my-" he then saw Ven's cape "A chevalier!" he then slumped on his knees and started to beg "Please don't arrest me!"

Ven shook his head "Okay, look, I won't arrest you if you just cure Louise, alright?"

Montmorency nodded "Okay I have all of the ingredients, well except for a tear of the water spirit."

"Okay," Ven nodded "Where do I find one?"

"Um, you have to find one in Lagdorian Lake, which is around one day away…" Montmorency said with a sweatdrop.

"…" Ven looked at Saito, and then Louise, who stirred in her sleep "Where to?"

A few minutes later

Ven found Sora, Riku, Kairi and King Mickey in the courtyard. "Hey guys, we're going on a small road trip, you guys wanna come?"

Sora immediately stood up "I'm in!" he said as he dragged Riku and Kairi with him.

King Mickey shook his head "sorry, I'm not coming," he walked over to Ven "Hold on, I think I can finish the repairs in your glider, just give me a few days."

"Really, thanks!" Ven gave a cheerful smile.

"Okay, let's go!" Ven said as he, Saito, Louise and others went onto a carriage.

Around 10 minutes later

"Are we there yet?" Sora asked, bored.

"No," Saito sighed.

Another 10 minutes later

"Are we there yet?" Sora complained.

"No." Ven sighed.

Another 10 minutes later

"Are we there yet?" Sora moaned.

"Yes," Riku joked.

Sora sat up "Really?"

"No!"

Around 30 minutes later

Sora stood up and took the reins from Ven "Here, let me drive. I'll get us there in no time."

Riku and Kairi sat up immediately "No, don't let him!"

Ven gave them a confused look "Why not?"

"He's a terrible driver." Kairi explained.

"Oh come on, how bad could he be?" Ven asked.

Two seconds later

Long story short, Sora drove like a crazy person and sent everyone flying into the air at least once or twice.

"Hey Sora," Saito got his attention "Where did Ven go?"

Sora immediately stopped the carriage and turned it around and quickly rode it down the road a few minutes. After looking for a few minutes, he found Ven, stumbling out of a bush.

"So that's why you don't let Sora drive…" Ven said, somewhat dizzy.

About a minute later

"How is she still asleep?" Saito asked in disbelief, looking at Louise "I mean, how could anyone be asleep after all that?"

AS soon as he finished that sentence, Louise woke up.

"Oh me and my big m-" Saito was interrupted as Louise jumped him.

"SAITO!" Louise squealed in joy as he jumped him.

"AH! HELP ME!" Saito tried to push her off.

"Weird, I thought someone would feel lucky to have a girl on their lap." Ven joked.

"Coming from the only guy in this world who owns a porno!" Saito complained.

"Hey, in my defense, I lost it and I never read it." Ven said in his defense.

The others were wondering what they were talking about but decided to keep it in.

Around 1 day later

Somehow, the group managed to get to the lake in one piece.

Ven looked at the lake, which flooded the countryside "Um, was it like this the last time you were here?" he pointed at the flood zone.

Montmorency shook her head "I don't remember it like this, the water definitely wasn't this high."

"Just call the water spirit so Louise will get off me!" Saito pleaded, pointing to Louise.

"Fine," Montmorency pricked her finger, placed the blood on her familiar and watched it enter the water. A few seconds later, a pillar of water emerged and formed into the shape of a woman.

"Who dares beseech my realm?" the water spirit bellowed.

"Oh, it is I, the-"

"Yeah, I hate to interrupt," Sora butted in to the conversation "can we have a tear from you, water spirit sir-ma'am?"

Everyone looked at him with surprise and confusion, especially Montmorency. The water spirit, however, was impressed with Sora's boldness.

"Impressive, you talk towards a deity such as myself as if I were a friend." The water spirit looked at Sora with great interest "Maybe if you did me a favor, I will see what I can do."

"Really?" Sora gave the water spirit a friendly smile "thanks, what do you want us to do?"

"There are two mages who are out to attack me. I need you to defeat them. In exchange, I will give you a part of my body."

Sora smiled. "Don't worry, we'll get it done."

About a few hours later

Their plan was simple, locate the attackers and if they were hostile, attack and capture them.

After walking for a few hours, they saw two hooded people approach the river. As they approached, Sora ran up to them "Hey, are you guys the ones that are attacking the water spirit?"

The hooded people looked at each other before readying their wands.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sora summoned his keyblade.

The others were hiding behind some of the trees, watching the fight unfold.

"Jeez, do they have to fight?" Montmorency complained.

Ven sighed "Look, it's either that or I must make an arrest."

Montmorency flinched "No… no, you don't need to do that."

"Hey, can one of you guys help me here?" Sora yelled at them, narrowly dodging a large fire spell.

One of the hooded people summoned a large icicle that would've crushed Sora hadn't he jumped out of the way.

"Hey, you could kill someone with that kind of spell "Sora yelled "Oh it's on!" He was enveloped in a red light "DRIVE! VALOR FORM!"

As the light died down, Sora was now wearing red clothing and holding two keyblades, his Kingdom Key and the Star Seeker. (A/N: When KH2 came out, I always wondered "Where the heck did that second keyblade come from?" so I did a little research and came up with this; when Roxas was using the two keyblades, the second keyblade was either Ven's or Xion's keyblade, and since Ven is on the outside on this fic, it must be Xion's. And since Sora shares the same abilities as Roxas, he also gets the two keyblades, though it is unexplained why he can only use them during drive forms)

Everyone who never saw the two keyblades were surprised, especially Ven, as using two keyblades was completely unheard of.

"It's on!" Sora yelled as he charged the two hooded strangers.

"DOUBLE STRIKE RAID!" Sora yelled as he tossed his two keyblades at the two hooded people, surprised at Sora's sudden transformation. The keyblades smacked them in the heads, making them flinch.

As they flinched, Ven took a good look at the attackers "Hey wait a minute, I think I recognize those two," he jumped in between the three of them fighting, all of whom flinched and stopped mid-swing (or in the mages' cases, mid-chant).

"Hey Ven, what are you doing?" Sora asked.

"Ven?" The hooded people took off their hoods, revealing to be a familiar redhead and bluenette.

Ven's eyes widened "Kirche? Tabitha? What are you guys doing here?"

"Came here on assignment, investigating why the water spirit is raising the water levels." Tabitha put it bluntly.

"Ooooooooooookay…" Ven started to whisper into Sora's ear "I think we got the wrong people, these guys aren't bad people."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sora pointed to his right as he reverted to normal "The water spirit must've been talking about those guys."

Everyone looked to where Sora was pointing, there stood Pete and a hooded man with a mask.

"Uh oh…" Pete took a step back, knowing that they have been caught "What should we…" he turned to his companion, who vanished "Hey! Where the ding-dong did you go?"

Sora and Ven glared at him "You were the one who was causing all this trouble?"

"Umm… umm…" Pete started to summon Aquatank and Screwdriver heartless, which literally flopped like fish without water. "Oh, this might be bad…"

"…" Sora and Ven stared, completely dumbstruck. They looked at each other and then at the heartless. They summoned their keyblades and grinned.

*SWISH!*

*BONK!*

*POW!*

Within seconds, all of the heartless were gone. Sora and Ven looked at Pete, who was slowly backing away.

Pete slowly stepped back "NOT THE FACE!" Pete shrieked as Sora kicked his behind, sending him flying into the distance.

Sora turned to the rest of the group "Well, that settles that problem, let's head back."

A few minutes later…

The group made it back to the water spirit. "I hope that you have defeated the ones trying to bring me harm." The water spirit looked at the group.

"Who, those guys?" Ven thought of Pete and the masked man "no, those guys aren't going to be bothering you guys anytime soon,"

"That's good," The water spirit sounded relieved.

Ven looked around the flooded area "Why exactly did you flood the area anyway?"

"A thief took a valuable artifact from me, the ring of Andvari."

"Uhhhhh… the ring of what?" Ven was confused repeated.

"The ring of Andvari," The water spirit corrected "It is a powerful artifact that can bring false life into corpses." The water spirit's tone seemed to get angrier "That thief took it from me while I was distracted."

Flashback

Aquatanks and Screwdrivers filled the water where the water spirit was dwelling.

"What, who dares enter my realm?" The water spirit bellowed, chanting water spells under her breath. As the heartless attacked her, water spears formed and launched themselves at them, destroying them on impact.

"Hmm, strange creatures," the water spirit commented. Before she knew it, an evil spirit tackled her into the water.

"Hmph, I guess the so-called "great water spirit" is no more than an old hag now," an evil voice sneered.

"Who goes there?" the water spirit bellowed. She looked at the culprit, who was none other than Vanitas himself.

"Wow, I guess an old woman really still can fight?" Vanitas sneered, an evil look in his eyes.

The water spirit growled, was it really getting mocked by a mere boy?

"Heh, I guess, old people really do get cranky from time to time." Vanitas sneered, tossing a ring into the air and catching it again.

The water spirit's eyes –well, assuming it has eyes- widened "That ring: give it back."

"What, this?" he showed off the ring, faking an innocent voice. "Yeah, what are you going to do old lady, call my mom? I saw butterflies scarier than you!" Vanitas laughed before disappearing into a portal of darkness.

Flashback over

"… and that's why I am trying to raise the water levels, so I can find that boy and take back what's mine." The water spirit growled.

"…" Ven stayed silent "… don't worry, I'll get it back for you, I promise."

The water spirit looked intrigued "Are you sure you would like to do that? That thief possessed an extremely evil aura."

"Of course," Ventus replied "He's my problem, so I should handle it,"

The water spirit looked amused "Very well then, heart of god, I trust you, you have my blessing," she gave them a vial of her tears "you know what you have to do…" she said before disappearing before her, the water receding behind her.

"Uh, um thanks." Ven called before taking the vial. He walked over to Montmorency "do you think you can make that antidote now, because I think Louise is choking him now,"

Everyone looked at Louise and Saito, the former was giving Saito a death hug "Saito, I love you!" Louise squealed happily.

"C… can't… breathe…" Saito's face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.

Montmorency looked at Ven quickly "I think I can do it in one minute tops."

Two minutes later…

"Aaaaaaand, it's done!" Montmorency exclaimed, holding up a vial of the antidote.

"Good, now give it to her before she hugs me to death!" Saito screamed, Louise practically choking him with love.

"No, I won't, my love is real!" Louise squealed before being pried off of Saito by Ven.

"Louise, please just take the antidote," Ven pleaded.

"NO! I'll only take it if Saito kisses me afterwards!" Louise yelled.

Sora, Riku and Kairi sighed "This has gone on far enough!" Sora and Riku restrained Louise while Kairi pinched her nose. After a few seconds, Louise opened her mouth, gasping for breath. Kairi quickly opened the bottle and shoved the contents into Louise's mouth.

Everyone stared at them in surprise. "Um…" Saito spoke up "How did you, why…"

Sora, Riku, and Kairi looked at each other "Well…"

Several years ago…

A younger Riku and Kairi walked into Sora's house "Hey Sora, are you in here?"

A younger Sora suddenly ran out the door, snot running down his nose "You'll never take me*ACHOO! ACK! ACK! ACHOO!* alive!"

Sora's mom quickly ran towards the doorway "Sorry you two, but can you guys catch him, he's refusing to take his medicine for his cold."

A few hours later

Riku and Kairi, out of breath, finally managed to catch Sora, who was hiding in a tree.

"I don't wanna take the *COUGH! ACHOO!* medicine!" Sora whined

Sora's mom sighed "I'm sorry, but can you please restrain him?" Riku and Kairi restrained him as Sora's mom pinched Sora's nose. After a few seconds, Sora opened his mouth, gasping for breath. Sora's mom quickly forced the medicine down Sora's throat.

Sora quickly spat up the medicine, but his cold immediately vanished.

"Now," Sora's mom gave a somewhat eerie smile "If you two have to be as difficult as Sora was, I wouldn't mind giving you the medicine the same way if you get as difficult as Sora, okay?"

Riku and Kairi shuddered "y… yes ma'am…"

Flashback end

Sora, Riku, and Kairi simultaneously shuddered.

"Hey guys, you okay?" Ven waved his hands in front of the trio "you guys froze there for a second."

The three snapped back into reality. "Huh, never mind, just forget about it. Let's just go back."

As they were talking, Louise blinked, realizing what she had done "W… what did I do….?" She blushed, realizing what she did to Saito.

"Hey Louise, you okay?" Saito approached her, oblivious to the malicious feel in the air.

"YOU… DOG!" she screamed, pouncing on Saito.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HELP ME!" Saito screamed as Louise pounced him. Everyone chuckled as Ven cast a sleep spell on her.

"… Well that problem's taken care of," Ven said as Saito carried the unconscious body of Louise "Let's head back."

As they walked back to the carriage, Kirche whispered into Ven's ear "Hey Ven, what did you do to my family's treasure?"

Ven flinched. He walked over to Guiche, whispered something in his ear, and took the porno from his pocket "Here it is… heh heh." He nervously started to inch away.

Kirche paled "You let that idiot see my family's most sacred treasure?"

"Um… I'm sorry…" Ven inched farther away from her.

Kirche immediately grabbed Ven by the collar and started to shake him violently "WHY DID YOU LET THAT BASTARD SEE MY FAMILY'S SACRED TREASURE?"

Before anyone did anything else, Tabitha stepped in and made her drop Ven "Stop," she told Kirche "he dropped it, Guiche took it, I saw."

Kirche immediately calmed down, though somewhat surprised that Tabitha said all those words in a sentence "You're right," she walked over to Ven "I'm sorry,"

"It's alright…" Ven said, although he was a bit dizzy, "We should head back now…"

The next day

The group made it back to the academy.

"Hey, Ven," Saito turned to Ven, a sleeping Louise in his arms "How long is Louise going to stay asleep?"

"Well," Ven looked at her "she should be awake by now; I don't know what's wrong."

Louise immediately woke up, and glared at Saito and Ven "I'm going to get you two later, just wait." She snarled.

As they were talking, King Mickey approached them, holding Ven's shoulder piece (A/N: or pauldron, as so I'm told) and handed it to him. "Hey Ven, I got your armor repaired, you don't know how long it took for me to get it repaired."

Flashback

Mysterious tower

Mickey walked into to the room, where Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather were creating a dress, probably for Aurora.

"Excuse me," King Mickey got the attention of the three fairies "I need you to repair Ventus' armor." He presented Ven's shoulder piece (or pauldron) to them.

"Oh, well let's take a look," Flora picked up her wand and activated the armor.

When the light died down, they gasped. The armor was in horrible condition: the helmet was missing, several parts of the armor were cracked or rusted, and the color of the entire armor completely faded. "Oh my, this won't do at all!" Flora raised her wand, and in seconds, the armor was fully repaired, but completely red.

"No! That will never do!" Merryweather raised her wand and the armor turned light blue.

"Now, now girls," Fauna raised her wand and the armor turned bright green.

Several hours later

They carried on the argument for hours, constantly changing the color of the armor. Bored, Mickey jumped in and said "Can you please hurry up?"

The three fairies were surprised. They looked at each other, and then faced the armor "all right girls, all together." They raised their wands as the armor was caught in a white light.

As the light died down, Mickey looked at it with awe "It's perfect!"

"Our best work yet!" Flora agreed.

"I'm sure he'll like it." Fauna agreed.

"He's going to look so handsome in it." Merryweather agreed.

Flora waved her wand and turned the armor back into a pauldron. "Now Mickey, Ven's new armor contains new powers not present in his old armor, but he will need to find out those new powers on his own."

"I understand," Mickey said as he took the pauldron and walked over to the door "I'll tell Ven you said hello." And with that, he left

Flashback end

Mickey handed Ven his shoulder piece "Try it on."

Ven puts the pauldron on his shoulder "Here goes nothing…" he threw his keyblade into the sky as he slammed his shoulder piece, a light enveloping him.

As the light died down, Ven was now in his armor. His armor was almost exactly the same as it was, except for a few differences; the hidden Mickey symbol mixed with a fleur-de-lis was adorned on the top of his helmet and on his chest and Ven's chevalier cape hanging proudly on his back. In addition, he was also riding on top of his glider. Just looking at him made everyone feel like they were in the presence of a true master. "Feels like I got back a missing part of my heart," Ven thought out loud.

"Wow, he's looking sharp." Kairi commented.

"Heh, he looks pretty good." Riku agreed.

"Wow, it's pretty cool." Sora agreed, though somewhat jealous.

"Well, the three fairies did mention you getting some special powers once you activate the armor," Mickey commented "Ven, do you feel any different now?"

*GRUMBLE*

Ven looked at his stomach as everyone sweatdropped "I guess I could go for some ice cream right about now…." He also started to sweatdrop, not even noticing an aura of magic surrounding him "Does anyone know a place that sells ice cream in this world?" he noticed everyone staring at him with confusion "What?"

Saito pointed at Ven "Your armor changed."

Ven looked at his armor; the color of the armor changed to a mix of light blue, pink and a bright yellow, and the Hidden Mickey/ fleur-de-lis symbol changed to an ice cream cone. "Hold on a sec," hequickly reverted his glider back into his keyblade and quickly chanted a spell, but instead of a ball of light, he conjured up "… a scoop of ice cream? How did-" he quickly realized what was going on "I'm in my "Frozen Fortune" style! But how-"

"So, that must be the power of your new armor; you can utilize your command styles at will as long as you wear the armor," Mickey explained "they did say you might have other powers in that armor, so you- you're not paying attention, are you?" Mickey sweatdropped as Ven started to conjure up more ice cream and pass it around to the rest of the group 'Oh well, if you can't beat them, join them.' Mickey walked over to them "I'll take a sea-salt ice cream, please!"

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location…

"So, let me get this straight," Vanitas bellowed, an aura of intimidation emanating from him "you mean to tell me that not only did you two idiots fail to destroy that annoying spirit, you also decided to tell me that there were other stupid keybladers of light and you decided to tell me this now?"

Pete and the masked man shuffled back nervously "Mr. Vanitas, you have to understand!" Pete pleaded.

Vanitas just glared at the two "Get the hell out of my sight. Now!"

The masked man warped out of the room silently while Pete ran out the door, scared out of his mind. As Pete ran out, he ran over to a raven, which was perched on a windowsill. As Pete approached it, the raven slowly turned into the evil witch Maleficent "You have done well Pete, but it will take time until we can completely earn that man's trust."

"Do we have to cooperate with him? That confound boy is nothing more than a big jerk!" Pete whined.

"Yes, but he is the apprentice to Master Xehanort himself; we can learn several things from him." Maleficent chuckled to herself "And if not, he would make a glorious heartless." She started to snicker before disappearing into the shadows.

A/N: I'm finally done, though I don't think this chapter is my best work. Well, honestly I wanted to update this on Christmas but I got a bit lazy and here we are. Reviews are always appreciated, so I hope this chapter is okay with the readers. Well, see you later!