Finally, here's chapter 1:3. Really, I'm finally done. I know, wow. I really am sorry it took so long. Hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy!
The next two weeks were a blur before Ienzo, as the days melded together and the hours rushed by in monotonous yet fascinating race. Every morning he would wake two hours before Ansem and creep down to the computer lab below to send and receive messages from Xehanort and the others. During the day, he would continue his studies under Ansem's direction, and then at night he would practice his illusions until he had used up all his remaining energy.
As the experiments with darkness progressed further and further in the basement lab, the other apprentices began leaving logs of their results for Ienzo to review during his free time, alongside instructions for him from Xehanort. Their most recent experiments both confused and baffled him.
A week after the studies had begun, Xehanort had made a great discovery, which altered the very nature of their work. He found that when a heart collapses into darkness, it leaves behind a small creature, which he fittingly named a Heartless.
When Ienzo first read of the anomoly, he could hardly believe the claim. In an extensive brief on his findings, Xehanort stated that the Heartless were small black quadrupeds with two long antennae and bright yellow eyes. They moved in erratic patterns and seemed to spend much of their time on two legs.
The image that appeared in Ienzo's mind was almost comical, a far cry from what he assumed a creature of darkness would appear like. So of course a new flood of information regarding the creatures was sent to Ienzo within the week, covering their creation, behavior, composition, and potential dangers. Braig even managed to take several pictures, revealing the two known species of Heartless. Ienzo spent hours in the computer room every day, memorizing all the information.
Meanwhile, to cover up for his reading, he had to procure dozens of new scientific articles to use as decoys. In addition to that, he had to memorize each of the decoys to complete his disguise, should Ansem ask him about the contents of the articles. The more Ienzo thought about it, the more he realized that nearly all of his life was dedicated to reading about science.
Most common people would never read as many scientific articles as he had in their entire life. As he sat in his room or walked the halls, he would often see children his age running through the streets outside the castle, but he had never once gone out and joined them. What was the point? They weren't like him. He had no parents, no school, and certainly no friends. All he had was his research. What was the point of having all the things the children had? Parents and friends only got in way, as Ansem had so spectacularly demonstrated weeks before, and both groups constantly bog children down with low expectations and useless emotion. Colleagues were more frank, and much more useful in correcting mistakes than parents or friends. As for school, it was entirely useless to Ienzo. He had learned everything any school could teach him from a few years of research with Ansem. And as much as Ansem would likely deny it, Ienzo knew that that was truly the reason the boy had been taken to the castle to live in the first place; Ansem saw the potential in Ienzo to become a valuable researcher. He couldn't let Ienzo get distracted by the useless drivel that would surely be thrown at him by the mediocre public schools, risking the degeneration of his brilliant mind. While Ienzo stayed in the castle, his focus could be absolute.
Ienzo rolled over and sighed, pressing his face against his pillow in exhaustion. If he were to fall asleep immediately, he calculated he would have four and a half hours of sleep before he would wake up to read about Xehanort and the others' activities. Not terrible, he admitted to himself, but definitely not ideal if he planned to keep his mind in top shape.
The room was completely dark around him, other than the glow of his alarm clock and the faint shimmer of lights out the window. The castle was completely silent, and not even the sound of birds or bugs penetrated his room from the outside. For those few minutes before he fell asleep each night, the world was completely at peace.
As Ienzo felt his thoughts slowly drifting off and his weariness overwhelming him, he faintly detected a knocking on the door. Ienzo drowsily rolled over to spot Xehanort standing in his doorway, with Braig just outside. Both were dressed in their typical clothes, and Xehanort had his hands in his bulging pockets.
“Ienzo,” Xehanort called quietly, “are you awake?”
His mind slowly starting up again, Ienzo sat up and replied, “I suppose you could say that.”
“Excellent. If it is not too much of a bother, we would like to borrow the use of your unique abilities for the night.”
“What do you want?” Ienzo asked bluntly, his brain not yet ready for the complexities of formal speech.
Braig pushed past Xehanort and said rather obnoxiously, “We want you to make us invisible for a couple hours.”
“Right now?” Ienzo asked, rubbing his eyes and wondering just what they wanted to be invisible for at one o' clock at night.
“No of course not right now” Braig answered, rolling his eyes.
Ienzo stared in confusion at him, lost as to why they had picked the middle of the night to ask for help.
“Ienzo,” Xehanort began quickly, his voice soft and commanding, “we need you to wait for exactly ten minutes and then make both of us invisible. That will provide us ample time to return to our rooms so as not to arouse suspicion. Then, in one and a half hours, we need you to return our visibility. Will you be able to do that?”
Ienzo waited for a moment before answering. He had tried creating illusions in distant places once before, but he had never tried anywhere near as far as Xehanort's room. The effort required to create distant illusions seemed to be significantly higher than creating more proximate ones. And that ignored the fact that it was past midnight and he felt as if he would pass out from exhaustion already. He had never fallen asleep while using an illusion before, so he didn't know if the illusion would remain after he dosed off.
“I'll try,” Ienzo replied reluctantly. If he failed, it would be the second time in the week that he had passed out, so there was virtually no way that he could avoid suspicion from Ansem. “But if you do not become invisible before quarter-after, do not leave your rooms. I am likely unable to do what you've asked of me.”
“You have our gratitude,” Xehanort said while smiling warmly, “we will return to our quarters with all haste.”
Before the two men could reach the door, Ienzo called out, “If I may ask, what is it that you intend to do tonight?”
“You will see the results in our experiments tomorrow,” Xehanort answered swiftly. And then he was gone.
Knowing that he couldn't remain awake any longer while lying down, Ienzo crawled tiredly from his bed and sat himself on a small metal stool next to the window. Outside he could see many rows of dark houses below, and he could even spot a few pedestrians scurrying hurriedly through the streets, though there were not nearly as many as during the day.
In front of the castle, Aeleus stood solemnly on the steps with his large axe-sword, as he always did, watching for any suspicious behavior. Ienzo had asked months ago if there was another reason that the man insisted on standing guard every night, but after the man had vehemently insisted that there was no other reason, he had dropped the matter.
As the boy stared blankly across the square, the clock on his wall ticked past the five minute mark and inched ever closer to the time when he would have to perform his magic. As much as Ienzo insisted otherwise to his colleagues, his new ability made him slightly nervous. Sure, it was powerful, but as he practiced more and more, he realized just how intricate and unpredictable the act truly was. He could study it for years and never have complete control over all its miraculous complexities.
And while the worst thing that had happened to him so far was losing consciousness, he feared there were much graver consequences if he continued to haphazardly test new illusions.
The clock ticked silently to 12:10 a.m. Ienzo stared up at it blankly for a moment and then slowly closed his eyes, readying himself to make the illusion. As darkness filled his vision, he reached out blindly with his mind, trying vigorously to think of Xehanort and Braig. He desperately needed them to be invisible. If he couldn't follow through on this deal, there was no chance that they could finish their experiments with darkness. He would forever be the youngest of Ansem's apprentices, with no hope of respect or equality. He would be the footnote in the life of the famous Ansem the Wise. If he could not execute this one illusion, his life would be worthless. Over and over, Ienzo repeated in his mind how important the illusion was, as he thought again and again of the two apprentices halfway across the castle, sitting and waiting for his help.
Ienzo's eyes flicked open and gazed shakily down to the street outside the window. He could feel the usual tiredness that afflicted him whenever he fabricated an illusion, but he had no way of discerning whether or not the illusion was successful. Any number of mistakes could have occurred during the process, and the illusion still could have failed altogether.
As he was about to rest his head against the wall, a wave of dread hit the young apprentice, as he imagined the worst possible scenario. What if Xehanort and Braig saw themselves as invisible, but they were visible to all the castle's cameras? Ienzo leaped from his stool by the window and dashed across the room, frantically calculating how he could intercept the two men before they got on with the night's work. But as the gray-haired boy reached the door, he paused and lowered his arm from the door handle.
It was obvious that there was absolutely nothing he could do to help Xehanort and Braig if something went wrong with his illusions. The two apprentices had each other to test their visibility on, so any malfunction in perception was easy for them to prevent. However, Ienzo was alone, so he could never be sure that he would be hidden from the cameras and not just his own eyes. And, in addition to that, Ienzo had no way of knowing where in the castle the two were bound, or if they even intended to stay in the castle.
The young apprentice sighed and returned to his stool, his heart pounding in his chest. His lack of sleep was obviously beginning to affect his decision-making capabilities. Silently, he made a note to himself not to take any action at night without due consideration.
Out in front of the castle, Ienzo noticed that Aeleus was missing from his post. The gray-haired boy leaned against the wall and tried to relax his muscles. Dozens of small, bright meteors shot through the sky outside as Ienzo's breath left a blur of mist on the window.
At least there was one positive of being exhausted by the illusion: it was impossible for him to fall asleep with his racing heart.
Ienzo was sitting quietly in Ansem's study as the old man strode in behind him and offered up a small blue ice cream bar. Ienzo accepted it gladly and immediately licked the side of the bar to stop it from dripping. That was always the best part of the bar; the first lick of sea salt ice cream, which hit first with a sweet sugary flavor and then with a harsh salty sting.
Ienzo grinned at his master and took another lick, savoring the delicious taste. He couldn't think of any place he'd rather be than sitting with Ansem and enjoying the ice cream. It was one of their oldest routines, meeting up after a full day of researching to snack on some ice cream and discuss their findings. More importantly, it was the one chance Ienzo got to speak personally with his master.
“So,” Ansem began, sitting in his large desk chair and biting the first bit off of his ice cream with a smile, “how have you been recently?”
“I can't complain,” Ienzo replied happily. “And you?”
“I've been... busy. My work is tiring, but rewarding. I hope to soon be able to find a solution to the problems with our research on the darkness of the heart.”
Ienzo chuckled, slightly out of amusement and slightly out of pity. Every day they talked Ienzo would ask how Ansem was, and every day the answer was always the same: tired. It had almost become a running joke between the two.
“I saw you were using the darkness amplifier today,” Ansem said, much of his interest directed away from his apprentice and instead at his ice cream. “What area were you studying?”
“I was studying the reactions of small mammals to large amounts of darkness, if you'll recall,” the apprentice responded cheerily. “It really is fascinating.”
“Indeed,” Ansem agreed, sighing loudly afterward. “I do wish I could study more, but I find myself more and more at a loss for time. I worry that I am putting you apprentices at risk by keeping you near such darkness, but I know you are as capable a researcher as any.” Ienzo blushed at the flattery, but Ansem continued. “I'm sure that, were your parents alive, they would be very proud of your work.”
Ienzo nodded. “Thank you master, you're very kind.” As awkward as his response was, he felt a glowing pride that Ansem recognized his worth. Even more than the other apprentices, Ansem was the one person that Ienzo could admire; he was the very best of role models. Ienzo almost thought of him as a father.
“Do you remember your parents at all, Ienzo?” Ansem asked, finishing off the last of his ice cream.
“I-I remember some, but-” Ienzo paused; his tongue had met the wood of the ice cream stick.
Ansem's smile slowly turned into a frown. With a slight tone of malcontent he whispered, “I suppose not. In this world you've met many dark beings.”
Ienzo slowly retracted his tongue, confused. What was Ansem talking about? Did he mean that Xehanort and the others were too close to darkness? What did that have to do with his parents? The sweet taste of the ice cream was fading in the apprentice's mouth, leaving only the harsh salt.
“That's all that's left in your heart: dark memories.” Ansem rose gradually from his seat, his expression turning threatening. “You have been filled with darkness. Your memories of home are gone – each and every one.”
Ienzo leaped to his feat, unable to bear the insult silently. “That's a lie! I remember everyone from my home. They were my family.”
Ansem laughed maliciously, and suddenly his face began to twist and morph. It stretched and mutated until the face of Braig smirked from atop the labcoat. “And who threw away that family? Maybe it's your own actions that you forgot.”
Ienzo stood in utter confusion. It wasn't true! He could remember everyone. He didn't throw them away! He loved them all. Before the fire they were fine. He had seen the fire first that night, but it wasn't his fault... maybe he could have warned them, but ... NO! It wasn't his fault, he didn't know. And Ansem... he wouldn't allow Ienzo to be with the other apprentices. It wasn't fair!
Braig swung his arm forward and pointed his hand directly at Ienzo's darting eyes. His voice echoed off the walls of the study in a booming roar. “You destroyed your home!”
Ienzo let forth a startled scream and awoke with a gasp, clutching his beating chest in fear. The bedroom around him was silent. It was the nightmare again.
His arm shook as he slowly brought it up to his face to wipe his chin. His typically smooth skin was drenched in sweat, so he dragged up his covers up to wipe away the salty water. He felt his eyes burning, so he reached up with his fingers only to find small pools of liquid below the lids. It wasn't sweat. It was tears.
The next morning, Xehanort did not follow through on his promise. There was no explanation of the previous night's activities, nor was there any sign of whether or not the illusions had even worked. The tall, golden-eyed apprentice went about his usual work without so much as a sideways glance at Ienzo's questioning face.
The next day was no different. Or the one after that. In fact, it was dozens of days before Ienzo received any information at all about his fellow apprentices' plans. And it was not from the source he had anticipated.
When Ansem's deep, resonating voice echoed over the intercom early one morning, beckoning Ienzo to his study, the boy had no clue what to think of the order. He had done nothing to make his master angry, nor did he expect to be given any sort of research project due to his inability to use the lab. There seemed to be no foreseeable reason for the order at all. But no matter what the meeting was about, Ienzo felt slightly apprehensive about being called alone. Being alone meant being different, and different was not good. Ienzo wanted to be accepted by the other apprentices, not stand out as strange. He could tell that Ansem still saw him as separate from the others, which was discouraging. Their days of eating ice cream together were over.
That aside, though, Ienzo figured that whatever it was that Ansem wanted to say had no other negative implications. In fact, he thought hopefully as he shuffled across the castle, it might even be some good news. Ienzo couldn't remember how many days it had been since his lab privileges had been revoked, but it could be possible that he would be allowed back in the lab again, which would definitely increase his standing with the other apprentices. Plus it would give him the equipment to see the Heartless firsthand. Creatures of pure darkness, what a wonder! Ienzo could hardly suppress his desire to study them. After all, one who sought darkness ought to understand the creatures of the dark.
And that was his true goal. Even as Ienzo strode towards the lab, his mind constantly wandered to thoughts about the darkness he would soon acquire. The abilities he had already gained from darkness were marvelous for sure, but they would pale in comparison to the power he would inevitably obtain. Darkness truly was the greatest energy in the world, and soon it would be his to manipulate.
As he turned the last corner before Ansem's lab, Ienzo found himself growing excited about whatever news was to come; his thin lips were even curved in a small grin. But he quickly wiped his expression, preparing himself to appear completely professional before his master. Ienzo knocked quietly and stood waiting for a response.
From within the room the young apprentice heard scuffling of feet, and then a slightly disgruntled voice called out, “Ienzo, is that you?”
Ienzo leaned closer to the door, listening for some clue as to what was going on inside. “Yes, it is me. Master, are you feeling well? May I enter?”
“Yes, yes – I mean, of course,” came Ansem's still confused voice.
Ienzo pushed open the thick metal door and cautiously entered the room. Ansem was bustling hastily across the circular room in his labcoat, papers were strewn all across the floor at his feet, and heaps of books and loose pages were thrown across the desk. The apprentice paused for a moment in the doorway, and gazed around the room in utter bewilderment; never before had he seen so much as a single stray paper in his master's office, and now the entire room looked like it had been ransacked.
“Ienzo, shut the door behind you!” Ansem commanded loudly.
The force with which the old man barked the order took the boy by surprise, so he quickly spun and slammed the door shut. “Master, are you sure you are all right? What is going on here?”
The elderly man rubbed his temple and felt with his other hand as he sat shakily in his seat. “Ienzo, I-I'm not sure how to explain this... it's all very disturbing. You haven't been in the labs of late, so I don't know if... have you heard of the experiments the other apprentices are performing?”
“Their experiments?” Ienzo's mind was racing as he tried to imagine where the conversation was leading. Obviously something occurring in the labs was frightening Ansem, which could only mean that he had discovered some or all of the other apprentices' records of their research into the darkness of the heart and the Heartless. Apparently, he did not expect that Ienzo was involved with the experiments, which seemed both and encouraging, and slightly degrading. And while Ienzo knew that acting like he was informed about the experiments would increase his odds of being accepted by the others, he also knew that it could very well get him thrown out of the castle for good. And some part of the apprentice still felt a bit attached to the old man, despite his many ineptitudes. The boy paused for a very brief moment, trying to decide what to say. With as little hesitation as possible he stammered, “No, I am ignorant of any recent experiments. Is there a problem?” Of course, what he said was completely true, but he still wondered if his answer sounded convincing enough.
“I assumed so...but, I... my apprentices have delved into dangerous territory with their research. What I started in an attempt to save this world has gone far beyond scientific questioning.”
Ienzo could no longer hold back his curiousness. Trying to sound as innocent as he could he asked, “What are they experimenting on, sir?”
Despite the fact that he always tried to sound more mature around the other apprentices, he had found it useful to appear more childlike to his master. No one, not even the ruler of the world, would expect a teenage boy to be so deeply involved in the apprentices' scheming. And the fact that he was rather short for his age only helped his youthful appearance. Ansem had always insisted that it was Even's job to raise, Ienzo, but it was obvious that the old master had become attached to the boy. This particular time, however, Ansem's amber eyes seemed to pierce through Ienzo as he paused, scanning the boy's face, waiting to answer. Ienzo immediately regretted asking the question; it was obvious that he was arousing suspicion.
“...It matters not.” the old man finally answered. “If you have no knowledge of what has transpired, then I will leave you to your studies.” Ansem rose slowly and crossed the room to a short bookshelf. He wrenched a particularly large tome from the collection and returned to his seat, flipping frantically through the yellowed pages.
Ienzo turned hesitantly and exited back through the door. While things certainly had not gone ideally, he realized that many things could have gone much worse. In fact, he was quite lucky that he would be able to warn the apprentices of Ansem's discovery.
His obvious first destination was Xehanort's room. Earlier in the morning he had noticed that the elder apprentice had retired there after a long night of lab work; probably what had alerted Ansem's attention to the experiments in the first place.
So without wasting a minute, the apprentice set off for the distant chamber.
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Author's Note: The dream sequence was one of those odd scenes for me that just came out of nowhere but fit perfectly in the story. I never planned to write it (it was the last thing I wrote in this part, by about a week), but the idea hit me and it was too good to pass up. I needed a way to show how close Ienzo and Ansem used to be, and I was playing with the idea of adding a segment before the current first one showing Ienzo and Ansem having ice cream, and the BAM! I came up with the dream idea about a week ago. I think this way is much better, and I got to include part of Zexion's rant to Riku from CoM/Re:CoM (did anybody catch that?). That was another idea I just randomly had, but immediately decided that it had to be a part of the story. Apparently, I didn't remember the scene very well, because the actual script didn't fit well with the dialogue that I had already written, but I made it work... I think...
Anyway, I actually dumped a scene from the end of this part. It was with Ienzo and Aeleus, but I decided that it would be better to save until the next part, since it really doesn't have any impact on Ienzo's story.
The next two weeks were a blur before Ienzo, as the days melded together and the hours rushed by in monotonous yet fascinating race. Every morning he would wake two hours before Ansem and creep down to the computer lab below to send and receive messages from Xehanort and the others. During the day, he would continue his studies under Ansem's direction, and then at night he would practice his illusions until he had used up all his remaining energy.
As the experiments with darkness progressed further and further in the basement lab, the other apprentices began leaving logs of their results for Ienzo to review during his free time, alongside instructions for him from Xehanort. Their most recent experiments both confused and baffled him.
A week after the studies had begun, Xehanort had made a great discovery, which altered the very nature of their work. He found that when a heart collapses into darkness, it leaves behind a small creature, which he fittingly named a Heartless.
When Ienzo first read of the anomoly, he could hardly believe the claim. In an extensive brief on his findings, Xehanort stated that the Heartless were small black quadrupeds with two long antennae and bright yellow eyes. They moved in erratic patterns and seemed to spend much of their time on two legs.
The image that appeared in Ienzo's mind was almost comical, a far cry from what he assumed a creature of darkness would appear like. So of course a new flood of information regarding the creatures was sent to Ienzo within the week, covering their creation, behavior, composition, and potential dangers. Braig even managed to take several pictures, revealing the two known species of Heartless. Ienzo spent hours in the computer room every day, memorizing all the information.
Meanwhile, to cover up for his reading, he had to procure dozens of new scientific articles to use as decoys. In addition to that, he had to memorize each of the decoys to complete his disguise, should Ansem ask him about the contents of the articles. The more Ienzo thought about it, the more he realized that nearly all of his life was dedicated to reading about science.
Most common people would never read as many scientific articles as he had in their entire life. As he sat in his room or walked the halls, he would often see children his age running through the streets outside the castle, but he had never once gone out and joined them. What was the point? They weren't like him. He had no parents, no school, and certainly no friends. All he had was his research. What was the point of having all the things the children had? Parents and friends only got in way, as Ansem had so spectacularly demonstrated weeks before, and both groups constantly bog children down with low expectations and useless emotion. Colleagues were more frank, and much more useful in correcting mistakes than parents or friends. As for school, it was entirely useless to Ienzo. He had learned everything any school could teach him from a few years of research with Ansem. And as much as Ansem would likely deny it, Ienzo knew that that was truly the reason the boy had been taken to the castle to live in the first place; Ansem saw the potential in Ienzo to become a valuable researcher. He couldn't let Ienzo get distracted by the useless drivel that would surely be thrown at him by the mediocre public schools, risking the degeneration of his brilliant mind. While Ienzo stayed in the castle, his focus could be absolute.
Ienzo rolled over and sighed, pressing his face against his pillow in exhaustion. If he were to fall asleep immediately, he calculated he would have four and a half hours of sleep before he would wake up to read about Xehanort and the others' activities. Not terrible, he admitted to himself, but definitely not ideal if he planned to keep his mind in top shape.
The room was completely dark around him, other than the glow of his alarm clock and the faint shimmer of lights out the window. The castle was completely silent, and not even the sound of birds or bugs penetrated his room from the outside. For those few minutes before he fell asleep each night, the world was completely at peace.
As Ienzo felt his thoughts slowly drifting off and his weariness overwhelming him, he faintly detected a knocking on the door. Ienzo drowsily rolled over to spot Xehanort standing in his doorway, with Braig just outside. Both were dressed in their typical clothes, and Xehanort had his hands in his bulging pockets.
“Ienzo,” Xehanort called quietly, “are you awake?”
His mind slowly starting up again, Ienzo sat up and replied, “I suppose you could say that.”
“Excellent. If it is not too much of a bother, we would like to borrow the use of your unique abilities for the night.”
“What do you want?” Ienzo asked bluntly, his brain not yet ready for the complexities of formal speech.
Braig pushed past Xehanort and said rather obnoxiously, “We want you to make us invisible for a couple hours.”
“Right now?” Ienzo asked, rubbing his eyes and wondering just what they wanted to be invisible for at one o' clock at night.
“No of course not right now” Braig answered, rolling his eyes.
Ienzo stared in confusion at him, lost as to why they had picked the middle of the night to ask for help.
“Ienzo,” Xehanort began quickly, his voice soft and commanding, “we need you to wait for exactly ten minutes and then make both of us invisible. That will provide us ample time to return to our rooms so as not to arouse suspicion. Then, in one and a half hours, we need you to return our visibility. Will you be able to do that?”
Ienzo waited for a moment before answering. He had tried creating illusions in distant places once before, but he had never tried anywhere near as far as Xehanort's room. The effort required to create distant illusions seemed to be significantly higher than creating more proximate ones. And that ignored the fact that it was past midnight and he felt as if he would pass out from exhaustion already. He had never fallen asleep while using an illusion before, so he didn't know if the illusion would remain after he dosed off.
“I'll try,” Ienzo replied reluctantly. If he failed, it would be the second time in the week that he had passed out, so there was virtually no way that he could avoid suspicion from Ansem. “But if you do not become invisible before quarter-after, do not leave your rooms. I am likely unable to do what you've asked of me.”
“You have our gratitude,” Xehanort said while smiling warmly, “we will return to our quarters with all haste.”
Before the two men could reach the door, Ienzo called out, “If I may ask, what is it that you intend to do tonight?”
“You will see the results in our experiments tomorrow,” Xehanort answered swiftly. And then he was gone.
Knowing that he couldn't remain awake any longer while lying down, Ienzo crawled tiredly from his bed and sat himself on a small metal stool next to the window. Outside he could see many rows of dark houses below, and he could even spot a few pedestrians scurrying hurriedly through the streets, though there were not nearly as many as during the day.
In front of the castle, Aeleus stood solemnly on the steps with his large axe-sword, as he always did, watching for any suspicious behavior. Ienzo had asked months ago if there was another reason that the man insisted on standing guard every night, but after the man had vehemently insisted that there was no other reason, he had dropped the matter.
As the boy stared blankly across the square, the clock on his wall ticked past the five minute mark and inched ever closer to the time when he would have to perform his magic. As much as Ienzo insisted otherwise to his colleagues, his new ability made him slightly nervous. Sure, it was powerful, but as he practiced more and more, he realized just how intricate and unpredictable the act truly was. He could study it for years and never have complete control over all its miraculous complexities.
And while the worst thing that had happened to him so far was losing consciousness, he feared there were much graver consequences if he continued to haphazardly test new illusions.
The clock ticked silently to 12:10 a.m. Ienzo stared up at it blankly for a moment and then slowly closed his eyes, readying himself to make the illusion. As darkness filled his vision, he reached out blindly with his mind, trying vigorously to think of Xehanort and Braig. He desperately needed them to be invisible. If he couldn't follow through on this deal, there was no chance that they could finish their experiments with darkness. He would forever be the youngest of Ansem's apprentices, with no hope of respect or equality. He would be the footnote in the life of the famous Ansem the Wise. If he could not execute this one illusion, his life would be worthless. Over and over, Ienzo repeated in his mind how important the illusion was, as he thought again and again of the two apprentices halfway across the castle, sitting and waiting for his help.
Ienzo's eyes flicked open and gazed shakily down to the street outside the window. He could feel the usual tiredness that afflicted him whenever he fabricated an illusion, but he had no way of discerning whether or not the illusion was successful. Any number of mistakes could have occurred during the process, and the illusion still could have failed altogether.
As he was about to rest his head against the wall, a wave of dread hit the young apprentice, as he imagined the worst possible scenario. What if Xehanort and Braig saw themselves as invisible, but they were visible to all the castle's cameras? Ienzo leaped from his stool by the window and dashed across the room, frantically calculating how he could intercept the two men before they got on with the night's work. But as the gray-haired boy reached the door, he paused and lowered his arm from the door handle.
It was obvious that there was absolutely nothing he could do to help Xehanort and Braig if something went wrong with his illusions. The two apprentices had each other to test their visibility on, so any malfunction in perception was easy for them to prevent. However, Ienzo was alone, so he could never be sure that he would be hidden from the cameras and not just his own eyes. And, in addition to that, Ienzo had no way of knowing where in the castle the two were bound, or if they even intended to stay in the castle.
The young apprentice sighed and returned to his stool, his heart pounding in his chest. His lack of sleep was obviously beginning to affect his decision-making capabilities. Silently, he made a note to himself not to take any action at night without due consideration.
Out in front of the castle, Ienzo noticed that Aeleus was missing from his post. The gray-haired boy leaned against the wall and tried to relax his muscles. Dozens of small, bright meteors shot through the sky outside as Ienzo's breath left a blur of mist on the window.
At least there was one positive of being exhausted by the illusion: it was impossible for him to fall asleep with his racing heart.
******
Ienzo was sitting quietly in Ansem's study as the old man strode in behind him and offered up a small blue ice cream bar. Ienzo accepted it gladly and immediately licked the side of the bar to stop it from dripping. That was always the best part of the bar; the first lick of sea salt ice cream, which hit first with a sweet sugary flavor and then with a harsh salty sting.
Ienzo grinned at his master and took another lick, savoring the delicious taste. He couldn't think of any place he'd rather be than sitting with Ansem and enjoying the ice cream. It was one of their oldest routines, meeting up after a full day of researching to snack on some ice cream and discuss their findings. More importantly, it was the one chance Ienzo got to speak personally with his master.
“So,” Ansem began, sitting in his large desk chair and biting the first bit off of his ice cream with a smile, “how have you been recently?”
“I can't complain,” Ienzo replied happily. “And you?”
“I've been... busy. My work is tiring, but rewarding. I hope to soon be able to find a solution to the problems with our research on the darkness of the heart.”
Ienzo chuckled, slightly out of amusement and slightly out of pity. Every day they talked Ienzo would ask how Ansem was, and every day the answer was always the same: tired. It had almost become a running joke between the two.
“I saw you were using the darkness amplifier today,” Ansem said, much of his interest directed away from his apprentice and instead at his ice cream. “What area were you studying?”
“I was studying the reactions of small mammals to large amounts of darkness, if you'll recall,” the apprentice responded cheerily. “It really is fascinating.”
“Indeed,” Ansem agreed, sighing loudly afterward. “I do wish I could study more, but I find myself more and more at a loss for time. I worry that I am putting you apprentices at risk by keeping you near such darkness, but I know you are as capable a researcher as any.” Ienzo blushed at the flattery, but Ansem continued. “I'm sure that, were your parents alive, they would be very proud of your work.”
Ienzo nodded. “Thank you master, you're very kind.” As awkward as his response was, he felt a glowing pride that Ansem recognized his worth. Even more than the other apprentices, Ansem was the one person that Ienzo could admire; he was the very best of role models. Ienzo almost thought of him as a father.
“Do you remember your parents at all, Ienzo?” Ansem asked, finishing off the last of his ice cream.
“I-I remember some, but-” Ienzo paused; his tongue had met the wood of the ice cream stick.
Ansem's smile slowly turned into a frown. With a slight tone of malcontent he whispered, “I suppose not. In this world you've met many dark beings.”
Ienzo slowly retracted his tongue, confused. What was Ansem talking about? Did he mean that Xehanort and the others were too close to darkness? What did that have to do with his parents? The sweet taste of the ice cream was fading in the apprentice's mouth, leaving only the harsh salt.
“That's all that's left in your heart: dark memories.” Ansem rose gradually from his seat, his expression turning threatening. “You have been filled with darkness. Your memories of home are gone – each and every one.”
Ienzo leaped to his feat, unable to bear the insult silently. “That's a lie! I remember everyone from my home. They were my family.”
Ansem laughed maliciously, and suddenly his face began to twist and morph. It stretched and mutated until the face of Braig smirked from atop the labcoat. “And who threw away that family? Maybe it's your own actions that you forgot.”
Ienzo stood in utter confusion. It wasn't true! He could remember everyone. He didn't throw them away! He loved them all. Before the fire they were fine. He had seen the fire first that night, but it wasn't his fault... maybe he could have warned them, but ... NO! It wasn't his fault, he didn't know. And Ansem... he wouldn't allow Ienzo to be with the other apprentices. It wasn't fair!
Braig swung his arm forward and pointed his hand directly at Ienzo's darting eyes. His voice echoed off the walls of the study in a booming roar. “You destroyed your home!”
Ienzo let forth a startled scream and awoke with a gasp, clutching his beating chest in fear. The bedroom around him was silent. It was the nightmare again.
His arm shook as he slowly brought it up to his face to wipe his chin. His typically smooth skin was drenched in sweat, so he dragged up his covers up to wipe away the salty water. He felt his eyes burning, so he reached up with his fingers only to find small pools of liquid below the lids. It wasn't sweat. It was tears.
******
The next morning, Xehanort did not follow through on his promise. There was no explanation of the previous night's activities, nor was there any sign of whether or not the illusions had even worked. The tall, golden-eyed apprentice went about his usual work without so much as a sideways glance at Ienzo's questioning face.
The next day was no different. Or the one after that. In fact, it was dozens of days before Ienzo received any information at all about his fellow apprentices' plans. And it was not from the source he had anticipated.
When Ansem's deep, resonating voice echoed over the intercom early one morning, beckoning Ienzo to his study, the boy had no clue what to think of the order. He had done nothing to make his master angry, nor did he expect to be given any sort of research project due to his inability to use the lab. There seemed to be no foreseeable reason for the order at all. But no matter what the meeting was about, Ienzo felt slightly apprehensive about being called alone. Being alone meant being different, and different was not good. Ienzo wanted to be accepted by the other apprentices, not stand out as strange. He could tell that Ansem still saw him as separate from the others, which was discouraging. Their days of eating ice cream together were over.
That aside, though, Ienzo figured that whatever it was that Ansem wanted to say had no other negative implications. In fact, he thought hopefully as he shuffled across the castle, it might even be some good news. Ienzo couldn't remember how many days it had been since his lab privileges had been revoked, but it could be possible that he would be allowed back in the lab again, which would definitely increase his standing with the other apprentices. Plus it would give him the equipment to see the Heartless firsthand. Creatures of pure darkness, what a wonder! Ienzo could hardly suppress his desire to study them. After all, one who sought darkness ought to understand the creatures of the dark.
And that was his true goal. Even as Ienzo strode towards the lab, his mind constantly wandered to thoughts about the darkness he would soon acquire. The abilities he had already gained from darkness were marvelous for sure, but they would pale in comparison to the power he would inevitably obtain. Darkness truly was the greatest energy in the world, and soon it would be his to manipulate.
As he turned the last corner before Ansem's lab, Ienzo found himself growing excited about whatever news was to come; his thin lips were even curved in a small grin. But he quickly wiped his expression, preparing himself to appear completely professional before his master. Ienzo knocked quietly and stood waiting for a response.
From within the room the young apprentice heard scuffling of feet, and then a slightly disgruntled voice called out, “Ienzo, is that you?”
Ienzo leaned closer to the door, listening for some clue as to what was going on inside. “Yes, it is me. Master, are you feeling well? May I enter?”
“Yes, yes – I mean, of course,” came Ansem's still confused voice.
Ienzo pushed open the thick metal door and cautiously entered the room. Ansem was bustling hastily across the circular room in his labcoat, papers were strewn all across the floor at his feet, and heaps of books and loose pages were thrown across the desk. The apprentice paused for a moment in the doorway, and gazed around the room in utter bewilderment; never before had he seen so much as a single stray paper in his master's office, and now the entire room looked like it had been ransacked.
“Ienzo, shut the door behind you!” Ansem commanded loudly.
The force with which the old man barked the order took the boy by surprise, so he quickly spun and slammed the door shut. “Master, are you sure you are all right? What is going on here?”
The elderly man rubbed his temple and felt with his other hand as he sat shakily in his seat. “Ienzo, I-I'm not sure how to explain this... it's all very disturbing. You haven't been in the labs of late, so I don't know if... have you heard of the experiments the other apprentices are performing?”
“Their experiments?” Ienzo's mind was racing as he tried to imagine where the conversation was leading. Obviously something occurring in the labs was frightening Ansem, which could only mean that he had discovered some or all of the other apprentices' records of their research into the darkness of the heart and the Heartless. Apparently, he did not expect that Ienzo was involved with the experiments, which seemed both and encouraging, and slightly degrading. And while Ienzo knew that acting like he was informed about the experiments would increase his odds of being accepted by the others, he also knew that it could very well get him thrown out of the castle for good. And some part of the apprentice still felt a bit attached to the old man, despite his many ineptitudes. The boy paused for a very brief moment, trying to decide what to say. With as little hesitation as possible he stammered, “No, I am ignorant of any recent experiments. Is there a problem?” Of course, what he said was completely true, but he still wondered if his answer sounded convincing enough.
“I assumed so...but, I... my apprentices have delved into dangerous territory with their research. What I started in an attempt to save this world has gone far beyond scientific questioning.”
Ienzo could no longer hold back his curiousness. Trying to sound as innocent as he could he asked, “What are they experimenting on, sir?”
Despite the fact that he always tried to sound more mature around the other apprentices, he had found it useful to appear more childlike to his master. No one, not even the ruler of the world, would expect a teenage boy to be so deeply involved in the apprentices' scheming. And the fact that he was rather short for his age only helped his youthful appearance. Ansem had always insisted that it was Even's job to raise, Ienzo, but it was obvious that the old master had become attached to the boy. This particular time, however, Ansem's amber eyes seemed to pierce through Ienzo as he paused, scanning the boy's face, waiting to answer. Ienzo immediately regretted asking the question; it was obvious that he was arousing suspicion.
“...It matters not.” the old man finally answered. “If you have no knowledge of what has transpired, then I will leave you to your studies.” Ansem rose slowly and crossed the room to a short bookshelf. He wrenched a particularly large tome from the collection and returned to his seat, flipping frantically through the yellowed pages.
Ienzo turned hesitantly and exited back through the door. While things certainly had not gone ideally, he realized that many things could have gone much worse. In fact, he was quite lucky that he would be able to warn the apprentices of Ansem's discovery.
His obvious first destination was Xehanort's room. Earlier in the morning he had noticed that the elder apprentice had retired there after a long night of lab work; probably what had alerted Ansem's attention to the experiments in the first place.
So without wasting a minute, the apprentice set off for the distant chamber.
------------------------------
Author's Note: The dream sequence was one of those odd scenes for me that just came out of nowhere but fit perfectly in the story. I never planned to write it (it was the last thing I wrote in this part, by about a week), but the idea hit me and it was too good to pass up. I needed a way to show how close Ienzo and Ansem used to be, and I was playing with the idea of adding a segment before the current first one showing Ienzo and Ansem having ice cream, and the BAM! I came up with the dream idea about a week ago. I think this way is much better, and I got to include part of Zexion's rant to Riku from CoM/Re:CoM (did anybody catch that?). That was another idea I just randomly had, but immediately decided that it had to be a part of the story. Apparently, I didn't remember the scene very well, because the actual script didn't fit well with the dialogue that I had already written, but I made it work... I think...
Anyway, I actually dumped a scene from the end of this part. It was with Ienzo and Aeleus, but I decided that it would be better to save until the next part, since it really doesn't have any impact on Ienzo's story.
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just as long as you do ;D