Sora had realized pretty early on that somehow, Twilight Town's Station Tower was one of the many places that dwelt within his heart. It was accompanied by an endless supply of seasalt ice-cream, although it had no actual physical effects. He could still taste it though, or the memory, and that was what mattered.

You see, Sora has been keeping a secret over the past year, while he'd been home on the Islands and everything seemed normal. The brunette Keyblade wielder had noticed how much his two friends seemed to need the break to normalcy, so he'd thought it prudent not to mention the mysterious, masked entity that had showed up on the Station Tower in a dream.

It wasn't Roxas; he was aware this place existed because of him, but this person was nothing like Roxas. Number one, he was rude. And arrogant. And bossy. Sora had argued with him for the first few months, in fact, and they'd fought a few times, always coming up pretty much equal.

Eventually, though, Sora had offered something the masked entity obviously had never been given- the hand of friendship, and he'd, albeit reluctantly, accepted.

And Sora had learnt things about him. How he'd suffered at the hands of Xehanort, how his body had produced creatures called 'Unversed' that caused him physical pain every time they were destroyed. How Xehanort had offered him a single path to salvation and he'd followed it blindly, almost leading to his destruction.

He'd never had friends. He'd never seen the point in them, since they'd divert him away from creating something called the X-Blade- with the 'X' pronounced 'key'. He'd never really had 'fun', either. At least, not the kind of fun that doesn't involve hurting people.

So Sora made it his personal mission to make the masked entity have 'fun'. He clearly didn't trust Sora, still- hadn't given him his name, or even bothered to remove his mask, even though he'd told him all those things. Sora wasn't sure, but he suspected that he believed that the entire ordeal was a mockery, and he'd have this ripped from him eventually.

Making up 'fun' in such a small space was hard, but eventually Sora got a few ideas. They had squatting competitions (masked boy won be a mile), races (him again) and sparring (pretty much equal).

It'd been six months after he'd first encountered him. Six months of Sora having to call him 'you' or 'guy with the funny helmet' or 'dark suit guy'. Or, Sora's particular favourite, 'dark helmet'.

"Vanitas."

"Huh?"

"My name."

They'd been lying on the sun-drenched cobblestones outside the station tower, both exhausted from another sparring match. Sora sat up, looking across to the figure still lying on the ground.

"Vanitas, hm?" he said, a smile quirking up on his lips. "Nice to meet ya."

"Hmph. We've known each other for six months."

Sora laughed, throwing himself back onto the cobblestones, his hair providing a cushion between him and the hard ground. "Six months of me calling you 'dark helmet'."

"Most people called it a mask, back when I was still around."

"Oh? Did you make a note of not introducing yourself?"

"I've never introduced myself before now" he muttered, sitting up. "This is a first."

"There's a first time for everything!" Sora pronounced, sticking his index finger into the air. "Just like having fun."

Vanitas had hmphed under his breath, but it had marked a bit of a change between the two of them. He'd begun to ask about Sora; only small questions, but the brunette boy would always elaborate more than necessary. Unlike most, Vanitas would listen intently, never complaining about how much he blabbed. Sora still hadn't seen his face, so he didn't know whether he was just entertaining himself by making stupid expressions underneath the helmet, but a part of him told Sora that the other teen was genuinely interested.

The pattern of them having fun and then talking on the station tower continued for a while. Sora would eat ice-cream as they talked, but since Vanitas never removed his helmet, he never indulged in the salty treat. At least, not while Sora could see him.

The brunette had just finished babbling on about Riku for the five thousandth time, about how the silver-haired teen was a rival and an inspiration, and how he believed Riku could do anything.

"He really is amazing" Vanitas murmured, and Sora sat up straight, raising his eyebrows. Vanitas never complimented anyone, nor did he actually really comment on Sora's babbling besides calling him an 'idiot', so this was a first.

"Hm? Why do you think so?"

"Coming out the dark like he did. It couldn't have been easy. I wonder how he did it…"

Sora bit off a chunk of ice-cream, eating it thoughtfully. "Well…I think in the end, he didn't like the person he became in the darkness. Xehanort took his body, and it was a real struggle for him to get it back…I don't think there's a day that goes by where Riku isn't fighting in some way."

"He probably has something to fight for" Vanitas muttered dully. "By the sounds of it, it's probably you."

"Me?"

"Idiot. If he seriously threw himself into the darkness to capture your Nobody, don't you think the entire reason he was fighting was to bring you back, at any cost? He sounds like one of those friends. Y'know, the ones you'd destroy your own heart to protect, and they'd do the same thing."

He sounded a bit bitter as he said this, and Sora raised his eyebrows.

"That's what happened to you, isn't it? You said you were the dark part of someone's heart."

"Yeah. He had friends, so he destroyed the both of us to save them."

Sora blinked a few times. "Well, he didn't do so great, did he? You're still around."

The other teen let out a dark chuckle. "Much to his dismay."

Sora punched him on the shoulder. "I think you're just misunderstood, personally. You didn't really get the opportunity to be given a chance. Y'know, I think anyone would turn out pretty bad if they were in your position."

The brunette shrugged. "Heck, I almost think I'd be you if I didn't have friends like I do. I don't think I've met anyone before you who had an ego bigger than mine. You kinda put it in perspective."

"…You have no idea" Vanitas said lightly, laughing a bit. Sora raised his eyebrows, biting his ice-cream a bit sullenly.

"As usual. If you think Riku's so great, maybe someday I could introduce you."

"Heh. Riku wouldn't like me, Sora."

"Why? Because you're part of the darkness? I'm sure if you made friends, you'd find light eventually."

"You're naïve."

"So are you" Sora retorted.

"Touché" Vanitas said, shrugging. "Wasn't really in a position to not be naïve, but eh. In any case, Riku would hate my guts. Trust me on this one. I'm too much like what's probably his worst nightmare."

Sora raised his eyebrows. "How do you know what Riku's worst nightmare would be?"

"It'd be you falling to the darkness."

Sora's brow furrowed. "Well, yeah, you wear a dark suit and we're pretty similar in some respects, but that doesn't mean you're exactly what I'd be if I fell to the darkness."

Vanitas chuckled darkly. "Oh, Sora. You've been listening to me talk for nearly a year and it still hasn't crossed your mind."

"Hrm? What does that have to do with anything?"

Vanitas cleared his throat. "What does that have to do with anything?" he copied, in a higher voice than what he usually used. And it sounded exactly the same.

"…Did you just mimic my voice?"

"Did you just mimic my voice?"

Sora punched him again, and Vanitas laughed a bit. It wasn't deep and condescending like it usually was, more like a light chuckle. Which, again, sounded like his own laughter.

"How are you doing that?" Sora asked. "Not even Roxas and I had the same voice."

"I dunno. Been trying to figure that one out since we first met" he said, going back down into the lower octave, but now Sora had heard it, he was pretty sure he could mimic Vanitas, too. The masked boy shrugged, before raising his hands to the edges of his helmet, slipping his fingertips underneath it and pulling it off. Sora's jaw dropped, as the raven-haired double shook the mass of spikes free.

"Does this explain why Riku would want to kick my ass?" he asked, amber eyes glinting in the sunset as a smirk played across his lips.

"What the heck" Sora said flatly. "See, you are what I thought my Nobody would look like if I had one. But…you're not even from my heart, are you?"

"Not as far as I know" Vanitas said with a shrug. "I guess we're connected somehow, though. I mean, you stole my face."

"Oi, it's my face" Sora huffed, and Vanitas laughed.

"You sure? I'm pretty sure I had it first. I look the same as I did twelve years ago. And twelve years ago, you would've been a little squirt. So I had it first."

Sora looked completely appalled at this. "But…that's not fair!"

Vanitas burst out laughing at him, kicking his legs against the edge of the Station Tower. "You still act like a little kid, too!"

"Ice-cream eating contest determines whose face it is" Sora exclaimed, standing up on the edge. Vanitas raised his eyebrows, before his face split into a wide smirk.

"Ok, you're on."

As it turns out, while Vanitas tended to excel in most of the physical activities, Sora's ability to eat ice-cream was without peer, and the black-haired teen had to concede defeat and relinquish 'ownership' of Sora's face.

It never really struck either of them how weird that was.

Their pattern continued, and though Sora still had yet to tell Riku and Kairi about the friend he'd made, the friend who only dwelt within his heart, it didn't change anything about them. Vanitas's and Sora's relationship was a bit similar to Riku's, in a sense, but their rivalry tended to go to new heights. Plus, the areas where their similarities lay meant that they tended to butt heads a bit, and occasionally they'd both do things that were equally stupid. Vanitas had never really been given the opportunity to express the aspect of himself that was 'stupid', but Sora gave him that and then some.

The night before Sora was due to leave the Islands, to go out and help those who came before, those who were hurting, he watched the sunset with Vanitas, eating a sea-salt ice-cream bar and looking pensive.

"What's wrong with you?" Vanitas asked coldly, eating his own ice-cream.

"I'm thinking" Sora muttered. "About how to broach this subject."

"…Subject?" Vanitas murmured. "Is this about me?"

"Kind of."

"Is it going to result in us not being friends anymore?"

Sora gave the raven-haired teen a wide-eyed look. There was genuine pain on Vanitas's face- he truly thought that Sora was going to stop being his friend.

"Idiot" Sora said, mimicking the way he'd say it. "You should know by now that I'm not the type of person to do that."

Vanitas gave him a dark look. "Ok, so what's the 'subject'?"

"I want…to tell everyone that I fully intend on bringing you back, but I'm not sure how to explain why. Nobody knows you like I do."

"Bringing me back?" Vanitas asked, looking confused.

Sora sighed, biting off a chunk of ice-cream. "I'm…about to leave for another adventure. To bring back those who came before."

"So Ventus?"

"Aqua and Terra disappeared too" Sora said. "The only person from your time that's still around is Mickey. It's my job to stop their pain and suffering. But as far as I'm concerned, you're on that list, too."

"That's cute" Vanitas muttered dully. "They'll never let you go through with it. I'm from the darkness, remember? They don't need someone like me around."

"Uh huh. I don't care. I want you around" said Sora stubbornly. "We're friends, right?"

Vanitas blinked a few times, before nodding. "Yeah. We're friends."

"So, I'm going to figure out a way to tell Riku what I'm gonna do, and then I'm going to make sure you come back."

"What's the point, though? My heart's entirely darkness, Sora. I'll probably just end up fighting with Xehanort again."

"That's a load of bologna" Sora said, waving his popsicle stick around, and Vanitas raised an eyebrow.

"What's 'bologna'?"

"It's a…it's a sauce. A tomato-y sauce you have with pasta."

"Sora, I don't know what half of what you just said is."

"See, this is why I have to bring you back" Sora said, pointing his popsicle stick in Vanitas's direction. "You don't even know what bologna is. And there's so much food you can try. There's so much out there to experience, Vanitas. You were cooped up and tortured. I think you deserve a chance to see what the worlds are really like."

"You're still naïve."

Sora ignored him. "And I think…if you have a heart, just like the heart can accumulate darkness, it can get light as well. I just think you didn't get the chance."

"Naïve with a capital 'n'."

"You'll see" said Sora, waving his finger. "You'll regret doubting me."

Vanitas exhaled. "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"I'm the best judge of character around!" said Sora with a pout. "They'll have to believe me."

"Uh huh" the yellow-eyed teen said, sticking his popsicle in his mouth.

Once Sora had embarked on his journey in the dream worlds, he couldn't dream properly, so he couldn't talk to Vanitas at all. He was a bit surprised to see him show up behind the white-haired youth at Les Cites des Cloches, but he figured that was just the black-haired double being his cryptic self. He had a habit of that. He fully intended to ask what exactly he'd meant when he got back, and he hadn't forgotten that intention, even after how very wrong the exam had gone. Once he'd gotten back from Traverse Town, he met Riku at the bottom of the Tower; the silver-haired teen had been waiting for him, apparently.

"Heya Riku" he said, waving. "Can't chat- I need to go sleep and ask Vani what the heck he meant. I haven't dreamt properly in what feels like a month."

"Vani?"

Sora raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I didn't tell you, did I? Dang, I thought I did" he said, looking sheepish as he rubbed his hair. He knew he hadn't, though. He'd just decided this was the best way to broach the subject. "Vanitas is a… friend of mine. I think he dwells inside my heart. At least, I can only see him while I'm sleeping."

Riku looked extremely surprised at this. "…how long have you been friends with this guy?"

"A year?" Sora said, rubbing his chin. "I think it's about that. I think you'd like him. He makes a good sparring partner."

"…You've known him for a year and you haven't told me about him? Why?"

Sora fidgeted, getting nervous. "Uh…well…he thinks you won't like him."

Riku raised his eyebrows. "If you think he's a good person, then why wouldn't I like him?"

"Well…uh…he's…ablackhairedversionofmeandhewearsada rksuit."

The silverette stared, trying to decipher what his best friend had just said. "You're going to have to repeat that, Sora. Slowly."

"…He's a black-haired, yellow-eyed version of me wearing a dark suit" Sora whispered, completely clearly this time. Riku's mouth fell open.

"And you're friends with him!?"

Sora winced, but he covered it up with a grin and a nod, putting his hands behind his head. "Eyup! He's a nice guy, I promise! Just a little misguided. And sadistic. But you get used to that."

"…Sora, I really don't think…"

"I fully intend on trying to bring him back to being a regular person" Sora said, suddenly sounding very serious. "He suffered at the hands of Xehanort, too, and he's never known anything else. I want to change that, Riku. I want him to see that the world's not just about being in pain. And I think…I think that even though he doesn't say it out loud, he wants that, too. He doesn't want to suffer, he wants to feel the light's warmth like anyone else. He even told me that he admires you because of what you managed to do, coming out of the darkness and back into the light; though don't tell him I told you that, he'll kick my butt."

Riku blinked a few times, before giving Sora a wry smile. "Alright, Sora. Anyone you consider a friend is a friend of mine, too."

Sora grinned widely, pulling his best friend into a hug and running up the tower.

Maybe this wouldn't work out. Maybe Vanitas would be sucked back into the darkness and Xehanort's whims, maybe everyone else besides Riku wouldn't trust him one way or another. Maybe in the end even Riku would be reluctant to accept someone who looked so like Sora but was at the same time so different. But despite all of that, Sora was determined to try. Just like Roxas, just like all those 'others' who'd come into being one way or another, Vanitas deserved to exist just as much as he did, and the brunette Keyblade wielder wasn't about to let that idea go any time soon. He was going to fight tooth and nail to bring him back, and show him what the world was really like.

Random oneshot because I really love platonic VanSo/Soritas. Sora's the only one who'd be willing to give him a chance. But yeah, love these two as friends or having a sense of nigh-twinship (they've existed for the same amount of time, unlike most other doubles). As much as the idea of them fighting against each other excites me, the idea of having Vanitas's portrait on screen in your party, and having him walk next to Sora in the menu…it's all a giant pipe dream but them fighting together would be amazing. They'd be an unstoppable team. Sigh…well, that's what fanfic's for, right? :'D