He felt himself shift, or rather someone did it for him. They moved him. No, it wasn’t that. It was a nudge. A poke to the nose that he grimaced over, then a harsh shove to whine over.

He was still being prodded and shaken. He opened his eyes to see who it was, but why couldn’t he see? Was he blind? Terrifying. He couldn’t help but fret and panic, breathing hitching and accelerating to a rapid pace. Just as if on cue though, he could see again.

Why was my blindfold on?

He vaguely remembered putting it on, but wasn’t that a dream? Oh but wait, he was depressed earlier. Maybe he put it on to avoid the world. What about the morphine though? Was it just valium and he wanted something else? That wasn’t good to think about. Not good to want valium but he couldn’t help it. Maybe he just wanted to be calm. But no, he wanted that euphoric feeling back. So it wasn’t the valium. Or was it? Not the usual for valium anyway, maybe he should see what a valium high was like instead of using the appropriate amount. He could use a pick me up right about now anyway.

A hand suddenly waved in his face and Ven grimaced as he had to brace the harsh light of his room to see Terra.

He spoke but failed to hear himself, leading him to groan and rummage for his desk. Perfect, his hearing aid was there. That shitty device that barely worked. It did enough though, so he supposed that was good enough.

“Why are you harassing me when I’m trying to sleep, Terra?”

“Because you need to get dressed so hurry up and pick a cosplay.”

“I have a lot of questions.” Ven huffed as he fell back against his pillows.

“We’re going trick or treating, Ven, it’s Halloween and prime time to egg some houses.”

“I’m sorry, last I checked you were a goodie two shoes boy who was too old for trick or treating. Where’s the fire and what’s the sudden change for?”

“Because, let’s have fun before you’re grounded forever. Besides, I figured you have a lot of rage right now.”

“Why would I be grounded for just sleeping?” Unless it was grandpa being a prick again.

“Because you weren’t just sleeping, Ven.” Terra had moved to the closet, picking through the clothes. Something that wouldn’t stand out too much and make it obvious it was them so maybe cosplay was out. There was a full on suit of dark clothing. Probably overlooked by Aqua given she always picked his clothes out for him. Ven would never change if he did it himself. “Did you rob a bank before, Ven?”

“Can you stop giving me a million questions to deal with? I just woke up and I feel groggy.” He eyed Terra, playing with the clothes in his closet. Oh, they lit up with neon green vines on the arms. That looked familiar, but he was too tired to care.

“Ven, we found you in the middle of the woods, high out of your mind. You don’t remember that?”

That was plenty to get his eyes to shoot open. He sat up with a small scream too. Panic rather evident on his visage as he eyed Terra. He’d found a mask and gloves in the pocket of the light up hoodie and began playing with those as well leading them to light up in seconds to bear a jack o’ lantern aesthetic and more vines on the gloves. That was more important however.

“Wh-where did you find that?” Ventus practically whimpered out.

“In your closet? Why?” Terra continued rummaging through the other pocket having felt further material within. This time it was a phone. “Why do you have another phone, Ven? Got a sketchy side business?” Looking it over, he glanced back over to his brother. “Is this the phone you call your drug dealer on?” He half joked. Leave it to Terra to be blunt though.

“Terra, I’ve never seen any of that before.” He insisted. Motioning and waving over for the phone, he added “Give-Gimme’ the phone though.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Why? So you can call for more valium and morphine?”

“Terra, this is serious, give me the phone.” The blond practically hissed. His brother furrowed his brows, but handed the device over, turning the lights on the clothing off probably to conserve it. He moved over to Ven who began fiddling with the password to no avail. There weren’t too many he used so it wasn’t long that he ran out of options. It gave him a bit of relief though, a miniscule bit, but some nonetheless. “I don’t know the password.”

“Isn’t it yours though?” Terra leaned in to look it over. Looked like a standard lock. Four digit code apparently.

“I’ve never seen it before, but it feels familiar I guess. I swear I haven’t though. And as for drugs, I steal valium from dad and the hospital alright. I’m not an addict though.”

“But you got high at the party you were at. Futaba told us and gave us your location. We found you knocked out in the woods. We woke you up, but you couldn’t seem to focus on anything.” Terra explained. “Futaba told us everything she heard, Ven. We know what happened.”

Still fiddling with the lock and trying several combinations, Ven remarked “Then you know it wasn’t my fault.”

“You mean that you were freaking out and someone offered it to you? And you took it without hesitation? You also have stocks of valium bottles under your bed. And other drugs too. You even have a gun, Ven!”

“The valium is to calm me down when I’m getting too homicidal so I won’t hurt anyone and just sleep instead. The other drugs, I was just curious but never actually touched alright. As for the gun, I have actually played with that.”

“And how exactly did the kid that’s banned from guns thanks to being committed get a gun?”

“Internet has a lot if you know where to look.”

“And how’d you pay for it, can’t imagine all of this stuff was cheap.”

“Well the valium I stole, the morphine was given to me, the other stuff is with stolen money so I guess I did use it on something.”

“I have no idea who you are.”

“Well if it helps, neither do I apparently.”

Looking over his shoulder, Terra glanced at Ven’s work only to see he was locked out of the phone. “Don’t you have hacker technology to break into things like that?”

“I mean, I could bug it and see the password next time it’s logged into, or a million other things. But without knowing anything about the owner, I don’t even know where to begin.”

“But you’re the owner, Ven.”

Deflating, he sighed. “And that’s what’s making this difficult.” He looked back to Terra. “But I don’t want to be the owner anyway. That means I’m crazier than I originally thought and that I should be in a hospital for the criminally insane and I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere unmedicated and and-”

Terra moved closer to Ventus’ side and wrapped his arms around the other as the younger began to cry. He held him close, rocking Ven as a hand ran through his blond hair.

“It’s alright, Ven, just calm down alright. It’ll be fine.”

“Not if I’m a murderer!”

Terra shifted back a bit, cocking his head at his younger brother. “What’s this about murder, I thought you were just a junkie.”

“I’m not a junkie!”

“More realistic than someone like you being a murderer.” Terra smirked. “Besides, who would you have even murdered? No one’s dead.”

“That’s right, she’s still alive! Strelitzia’s not dead yet!” Ven beamed. “And if I’m one of them, then I have access to the rest! I just need to get into this stupid phone!”

“And now you’re not making any sense again. Are you still high?”

“No, this is great Terra! I have a lead on the group going after Strelitzia because I’m part of it! I can stop them from the inside!”

“But you don’t even remember owning that stuff. So either you’re getting framed, or it’s not you you doing it.”

“So I am crazier, but that’s okay because I can work with this!”

“You can’t even get into the phone though!”

“No, but I know someone that might be able to help us.”

“Another part of your apparent crew?”

“I’m not sure, but he sure knew enough about it.” Switching phones, Ven fiddled around a bit on his as he struggled to change clothes to the ones Terra put out for him, which happened to be “Jack’s” clothes but that was perfect actually.

It was really easy getting into the school’s database. The password was basic and he’d used it tons of times before so getting in was a cinch. That just left getting into the records for the staff. Also easy already being in.

“Let’s see, Constantin was it…” Ven muttered as he idly chewed on the strings of his hoodie. They ended up pretty slobbery by the time he smiled at his progress. “Got his address so let’s go trick someone after all, Terra.” He noticed his brother staring, mouth open as if he was about to speak. “Also drop the drug thing because I’m fine and we have bigger things to worry about.”

“I was actually going to say you made me lose my lunch with your drooling.” He remarked.

Ven stared at Terra blankly a moment before whipping the drooly string at his face for the other to wince back and grimace. “Disgusting, Ven!”

“See! Same old Ven. Not a murderer or a drug addict. Now drive me to Constantin’s house so we can get answers out of him.”

“Same old bossy boy.”