Kingdom Hearts: All Good Things 4
Dec. 4th, 2012 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumelleFor story summary, warnings, pairings, etc, see the first chapter.
Chapter: 4/25
Chapter title: Catching Up
Chapter rating: PG
Chapter summary: After leaving Disney Castle, Lea visits Ienzo. They have a lot to talk about.
Everything is nice and neat now, he notices as he walks into the study. The portrait of Xehanort is gone, the books arranged neatly in the shelves, and everything seems clean. Obviously, someone is still using the space. Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about everyone having left the castle.
"I heard you come in." The voice confirms his suspicions, coming from the high-backed chair facing away from the door. "It's considered polite to announce your arrival."
"Oh, come on, Ienzo." Lea grins as he walks further into the room. "You could at least pretend you're happy to have me back."
"Very funny." Ienzo stands up, now, stepping away from the chair. As Lea walks closer he sees several books open on the table. Of course. That'd explain why he's up in the middle of the night. Ienzo always was serious about his precious books. "For such an icky job, you certainly took your time."
"Uh, yeah." That's right, he'd just said he was going out to find the rest. Didn't really go that way. "Some things came up."
"So it would seem." Ienzo is good at hiding his reactions, but Lea still catches the way his eyes widen. "I'm assuming you're not just copying Braig's fashion sense with that patch."
"Yeah, no." He scratches the back of his head. "Could say I can thank Xigbar for this, though. You know those sharp-looking things around the handle of his guns? Yeah, turns out those actually are damn sharp."
"What happened?" Ienzo leans against the desk, trying to appear nonchalant, but there's still an alarmed look in his eyes. "You found him? And why'd you still call him Xigbar?"
"Well, figured it's just appropriate since he was still under Xehanort's influence." To say the least. "Said he's half Xehanort anyway. Did you know he was planning to put his own heart into all of us?"
"You mean Xehanort?" Ienzo's calm expression wavers again. "I have to say I wasn't aware of that part of the plan."
"That's what he was up to, anyway. Only his closest ever knew about it." Lea pauses. "The closest two, that is."
"I suppose I shouldn't bother to ask if you found Isa."
"Oh, found him all right. Fought to the death, too." Lea gives a dramatic sigh, because it's so much easier to be dramatic than to actually think about how it felt. "Didn't leave me much of a choice, really. And in thanks for that, Xigbar decided I didn't need any depth vision. Really nasty, those two."
"I thought he was your friend." There's a strange tone to Ienzo's voice. Lea knows the feeling, that very new feeling of actually understanding things like friendship and affection. "That's why you were so worried that he hadn't showed up, isn't it?"
"More or less. Apparently he decided Xehanort was better company than me, though." He leans against the wall, himself. Sure, he's all better now, but he's still feeling a bit tired. "That or he just got too far in. I'd figure once Xehanort's heart got into him, the rest didn't matter that much."
"What point would there be to it, though?" Ienzo asks. "I mean, it seems pretty convoluted. Going to all that trouble just to put his heart into us. Wasn't he looking for Kingdom Hearts precisely to control hearts?"
"Turns out that wasn't the whole plan." Lea makes a face. "The thing he was after all along was the X-blade, or so I heard. Figured that since the original was split into thirteen pieces of darkness and seven pieces of light, having those clash again would reforge the blade."
"So thirteen copies of himself would be the darkness, then?"
"Yeah. Or, as it turns out, eleven copies of himself, Saïx, and Xigbar." He looks to the side. It just wasn't fair, none of it was. "And on the other side, seven keyblade wielders."
Ienzo gives him a sharp look, now. "Seven? I wasn't aware there were ever that many."
"Yeah, well, there were Riku, Sora, and Mickey to begin with." Obviously. "Then they managed to reawaken a kid called Ventus, who was sleeping in Castle Oblivion, and brought a Master called Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness. After that, I was asked to bring Kairi. You know, the seventh princess that I kidnapped way back. Apparently she can wield a keyblade, too."
"That's still just six, though."
Lea chuckles faintly. "I just told you I'm the one who fought Saïx, and got Xigbar's blade to the face for my troubles. That tell you anything?"
Ienzo looks disbelieving. Well, fair enough, but he could at least bother to answer.
"Yeah, I know, seems unlikely. I mean, I certainly couldn't do that before, could I?" He reaches out his hand. It's so much easier now that he's used to it, feeling the handle in his grasp, the faint heat it gives off. "The old good-for-nothing."
"Well. That's... surprising." The good thing about Ienzo is, he recovers pretty quickly. "So since you're here, I presume the side of the thirteen lost?"
"More or less." Lea shrugs. "Got it all stabilized, too. I don't really understand the details, but I trust the wiser ones when they tell me so. Apparently Heartless and Nobodies should start to get less frequent now. I mean, obviously they're still around, but there shouldn't be any more once they're cleared out."
"Well, that's good to know." Ienzo glances toward the door. "Since you left, we didn't really have much to do or anywhere to go, so we got to work clearing out the castle. By now it's mainly safe aside from some last parts we haven't gotten around to. We've been talking about letting people in, a lot of them still haven't managed to get their homes restored, but we weren't sure if it would be safe."
"You're actually letting people in?" Lea can't help but grin. "That's unusually charitable."
"We do have hearts now, you realize." Ienzo rolls his eyes. "As I said, we don't have anywhere to go. This is home for a lot of us, after all, before we ever became Nobodies. So, it makes sense that we would want to make it habitable to humans now that we're more or less good guys."
"Sounds like a plan." Lea chuckles. "Oh, that reminds me. The castle used to belong to Ansem, right?"
"Right." Ienzo tenses a bit. "Before Xehanort... right. What about it?"
"Well, turns out he's not entirely gone." His grin widens. "Riku said it's probably going to take a bit, his body is in a different place than his mind or something, but eventually, he's probably going to be able to come back."
This time Ienzo's eyes fly wide. "What? He's going to return?"
"Uh, yeah. That a problem?"
"Depends on how you define 'problem'." Ienzo sighs. "I... cannot imagine he is going to be very happy with any of us."
"Eh. From what I've heard, he's pretty thick with the King. And, well, the King is of the opinion that what the Nobody has done shouldn't count for the human. Or something."
"It's kind of strange, having you talk about the King and Riku like you're the closest of friends." And there's the fast recovery again, along with a wry tone.
"Oh, but obviously we are." Okay, not exactly, but it's close enough. "This eye patch? Hand made by the queen herself. So apparently I've gone up in life."
"And Riku?" Ienzo raises his eyebrows, not that it's very visible under the hair. "I wouldn't imagine he's too happy with you, after everything we've done."
"Apparently getting killed to save Sora kind of gained me points in his eyes." Lea shrugs. "Even if I didn't do it for Sora."
"...Right. You never mentioned just how your Nobody got destroyed." Ienzo pauses. "But if you didn't do it for Sora..."
"Yeah, well. If it makes things any clearer, this happened after Sora got his memories back." Lea looks away, now. "All of them."
"Even the ones inside Roxas." It's not a question. "Is that why you've done all this? Keyblade and everything? Just because Roxas is a part of him?"
"No, it's not." Never just because of that. "Because Roxas was asleep inside him."
"You plan to separate him again? I can't imagine anyone agreeing with that plan."
"No. I plan to find Roxas." This gains him another disbelieving gaze. "Yeah, don't believe me, fine. But if three Keyblade Masters and a couple of wizards all say that Roxas is his own person, I'll take their word for it."
"But... Roxas was a Nobody."
"Yeah. Sora's Nobody, and we all know how normal that brat is." He shakes his head. "Apparently, Roxas grew a heart of his own. And that heart was resting inside Sora, except now it's not there anymore so I'll have to go out and find the brat myself."
"I see." As though he could. Nobody else can see it, not if they haven't gone through the same. "And you're looking for him now?"
"Yeah. Thought I'd stop by here to ask if you've seen him around, since apparently this is where Sora lost his heart, but if you thought he's gone I guess the answer is no."
"I'm afraid so. And I do think we would have known if we'd run into him."
"Right." Lea sighs. "To be honest, I wasn't too hopeful about this, either. I mean, it'd have been too easy if I could just pop back home and find him sitting here."
"I wouldn't say things have been too easy for you."
Lea snorts. "What, getting all sympathetic on me all of a sudden? Don't bother. I've made my own decisions from the start. Any risks I've taken, I've done so by choice. Sure, some things I didn't expect, but I wouldn't go back on any of my choices anyway." Losing an eye was a small price for taking down Xehanort and his plans.
"So it's worth it, then?" Ienzo looks directly at him, a strange expression on his face. "You've lost an eye and risked your life, managed to gain a keyblade, and killed your oldest friend, all because you can't give up hope that somehow, somewhere, a little Nobody lives on even though he's supposed to have returned to Sora?"
"Yeah." Quite simple in the end, isn't it. "Yeah, basically, that's it."
"How can you be so sure?" Ienzo's voice is quiet, now. "How can you justify all these risks, just because you've been told that he might have gained a heart?"
"Because I know it's possible." It all makes sense now, thinking back. "Because even back when I was a Nobody, the brat gave me a heart." He had joked about it before, but now, it seems to be the truth.
"He really is important to you, huh."
"Would have thought that was kind of obvious by the time I mentioned I got killed to keep him safe for another moment." Lea shrugs. "But hey, I wouldn't expect a brat like you to understand the matters of the heart~"
"I'm not a child." Ienzo frowns, and somehow that makes him look even younger. All that's missing is a pout, now.
"Sure you aren't." Lea chuckles. "Don't worry, I'm sure one day you'll find someone special, too~ Though it's got to be someone pretty damn special to survive being introduced to Even."
"Very funny." Ienzo makes a face. Yeah, totally not a brat. "So... you going to go out to look for Roxas elsewhere, then?"
"That's the plan, yeah." He pushes himself off the wall, now. He's wasted enough time already. "He's somewhere out there, and I'm going to find him."
"Any way we can contact you if we hear anything?" So, one moment he's making fun of him, and now he's offering help? Isn't that funny.
"Well, I'm pretty sure the King can figure out some way. He's got a talent for showing up unexpectedly." He scratches the back of his head, again. "Besides, I'll probably stop by every now and then anyway. Someone's got to make sure you don't wreck the whole place. It's my home, too, you know."
"We're not quite that reckless, thank you." Ienzo snorts, then turns serious. Not that he's ever very far from serious. "Don't get yourself killed."
"I'll try to avoid that. Wasn't too keen on it the first time around." He walks over, unable to resist the temptation of patting Ienzo's head. "And you, don't get involved in any immoral research that will crack all the worlds~ again."
Ienzo doesn't reply, but he's pretty sure he can hear a muttered curse as he walks out of the study.
Chapter 3 - Still of the Night
Chapter 5 - Interlude: An Educational Experience
Chapter: 4/25
Chapter title: Catching Up
Chapter rating: PG
Chapter summary: After leaving Disney Castle, Lea visits Ienzo. They have a lot to talk about.
Everything is nice and neat now, he notices as he walks into the study. The portrait of Xehanort is gone, the books arranged neatly in the shelves, and everything seems clean. Obviously, someone is still using the space. Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about everyone having left the castle.
"I heard you come in." The voice confirms his suspicions, coming from the high-backed chair facing away from the door. "It's considered polite to announce your arrival."
"Oh, come on, Ienzo." Lea grins as he walks further into the room. "You could at least pretend you're happy to have me back."
"Very funny." Ienzo stands up, now, stepping away from the chair. As Lea walks closer he sees several books open on the table. Of course. That'd explain why he's up in the middle of the night. Ienzo always was serious about his precious books. "For such an icky job, you certainly took your time."
"Uh, yeah." That's right, he'd just said he was going out to find the rest. Didn't really go that way. "Some things came up."
"So it would seem." Ienzo is good at hiding his reactions, but Lea still catches the way his eyes widen. "I'm assuming you're not just copying Braig's fashion sense with that patch."
"Yeah, no." He scratches the back of his head. "Could say I can thank Xigbar for this, though. You know those sharp-looking things around the handle of his guns? Yeah, turns out those actually are damn sharp."
"What happened?" Ienzo leans against the desk, trying to appear nonchalant, but there's still an alarmed look in his eyes. "You found him? And why'd you still call him Xigbar?"
"Well, figured it's just appropriate since he was still under Xehanort's influence." To say the least. "Said he's half Xehanort anyway. Did you know he was planning to put his own heart into all of us?"
"You mean Xehanort?" Ienzo's calm expression wavers again. "I have to say I wasn't aware of that part of the plan."
"That's what he was up to, anyway. Only his closest ever knew about it." Lea pauses. "The closest two, that is."
"I suppose I shouldn't bother to ask if you found Isa."
"Oh, found him all right. Fought to the death, too." Lea gives a dramatic sigh, because it's so much easier to be dramatic than to actually think about how it felt. "Didn't leave me much of a choice, really. And in thanks for that, Xigbar decided I didn't need any depth vision. Really nasty, those two."
"I thought he was your friend." There's a strange tone to Ienzo's voice. Lea knows the feeling, that very new feeling of actually understanding things like friendship and affection. "That's why you were so worried that he hadn't showed up, isn't it?"
"More or less. Apparently he decided Xehanort was better company than me, though." He leans against the wall, himself. Sure, he's all better now, but he's still feeling a bit tired. "That or he just got too far in. I'd figure once Xehanort's heart got into him, the rest didn't matter that much."
"What point would there be to it, though?" Ienzo asks. "I mean, it seems pretty convoluted. Going to all that trouble just to put his heart into us. Wasn't he looking for Kingdom Hearts precisely to control hearts?"
"Turns out that wasn't the whole plan." Lea makes a face. "The thing he was after all along was the X-blade, or so I heard. Figured that since the original was split into thirteen pieces of darkness and seven pieces of light, having those clash again would reforge the blade."
"So thirteen copies of himself would be the darkness, then?"
"Yeah. Or, as it turns out, eleven copies of himself, Saïx, and Xigbar." He looks to the side. It just wasn't fair, none of it was. "And on the other side, seven keyblade wielders."
Ienzo gives him a sharp look, now. "Seven? I wasn't aware there were ever that many."
"Yeah, well, there were Riku, Sora, and Mickey to begin with." Obviously. "Then they managed to reawaken a kid called Ventus, who was sleeping in Castle Oblivion, and brought a Master called Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness. After that, I was asked to bring Kairi. You know, the seventh princess that I kidnapped way back. Apparently she can wield a keyblade, too."
"That's still just six, though."
Lea chuckles faintly. "I just told you I'm the one who fought Saïx, and got Xigbar's blade to the face for my troubles. That tell you anything?"
Ienzo looks disbelieving. Well, fair enough, but he could at least bother to answer.
"Yeah, I know, seems unlikely. I mean, I certainly couldn't do that before, could I?" He reaches out his hand. It's so much easier now that he's used to it, feeling the handle in his grasp, the faint heat it gives off. "The old good-for-nothing."
"Well. That's... surprising." The good thing about Ienzo is, he recovers pretty quickly. "So since you're here, I presume the side of the thirteen lost?"
"More or less." Lea shrugs. "Got it all stabilized, too. I don't really understand the details, but I trust the wiser ones when they tell me so. Apparently Heartless and Nobodies should start to get less frequent now. I mean, obviously they're still around, but there shouldn't be any more once they're cleared out."
"Well, that's good to know." Ienzo glances toward the door. "Since you left, we didn't really have much to do or anywhere to go, so we got to work clearing out the castle. By now it's mainly safe aside from some last parts we haven't gotten around to. We've been talking about letting people in, a lot of them still haven't managed to get their homes restored, but we weren't sure if it would be safe."
"You're actually letting people in?" Lea can't help but grin. "That's unusually charitable."
"We do have hearts now, you realize." Ienzo rolls his eyes. "As I said, we don't have anywhere to go. This is home for a lot of us, after all, before we ever became Nobodies. So, it makes sense that we would want to make it habitable to humans now that we're more or less good guys."
"Sounds like a plan." Lea chuckles. "Oh, that reminds me. The castle used to belong to Ansem, right?"
"Right." Ienzo tenses a bit. "Before Xehanort... right. What about it?"
"Well, turns out he's not entirely gone." His grin widens. "Riku said it's probably going to take a bit, his body is in a different place than his mind or something, but eventually, he's probably going to be able to come back."
This time Ienzo's eyes fly wide. "What? He's going to return?"
"Uh, yeah. That a problem?"
"Depends on how you define 'problem'." Ienzo sighs. "I... cannot imagine he is going to be very happy with any of us."
"Eh. From what I've heard, he's pretty thick with the King. And, well, the King is of the opinion that what the Nobody has done shouldn't count for the human. Or something."
"It's kind of strange, having you talk about the King and Riku like you're the closest of friends." And there's the fast recovery again, along with a wry tone.
"Oh, but obviously we are." Okay, not exactly, but it's close enough. "This eye patch? Hand made by the queen herself. So apparently I've gone up in life."
"And Riku?" Ienzo raises his eyebrows, not that it's very visible under the hair. "I wouldn't imagine he's too happy with you, after everything we've done."
"Apparently getting killed to save Sora kind of gained me points in his eyes." Lea shrugs. "Even if I didn't do it for Sora."
"...Right. You never mentioned just how your Nobody got destroyed." Ienzo pauses. "But if you didn't do it for Sora..."
"Yeah, well. If it makes things any clearer, this happened after Sora got his memories back." Lea looks away, now. "All of them."
"Even the ones inside Roxas." It's not a question. "Is that why you've done all this? Keyblade and everything? Just because Roxas is a part of him?"
"No, it's not." Never just because of that. "Because Roxas was asleep inside him."
"You plan to separate him again? I can't imagine anyone agreeing with that plan."
"No. I plan to find Roxas." This gains him another disbelieving gaze. "Yeah, don't believe me, fine. But if three Keyblade Masters and a couple of wizards all say that Roxas is his own person, I'll take their word for it."
"But... Roxas was a Nobody."
"Yeah. Sora's Nobody, and we all know how normal that brat is." He shakes his head. "Apparently, Roxas grew a heart of his own. And that heart was resting inside Sora, except now it's not there anymore so I'll have to go out and find the brat myself."
"I see." As though he could. Nobody else can see it, not if they haven't gone through the same. "And you're looking for him now?"
"Yeah. Thought I'd stop by here to ask if you've seen him around, since apparently this is where Sora lost his heart, but if you thought he's gone I guess the answer is no."
"I'm afraid so. And I do think we would have known if we'd run into him."
"Right." Lea sighs. "To be honest, I wasn't too hopeful about this, either. I mean, it'd have been too easy if I could just pop back home and find him sitting here."
"I wouldn't say things have been too easy for you."
Lea snorts. "What, getting all sympathetic on me all of a sudden? Don't bother. I've made my own decisions from the start. Any risks I've taken, I've done so by choice. Sure, some things I didn't expect, but I wouldn't go back on any of my choices anyway." Losing an eye was a small price for taking down Xehanort and his plans.
"So it's worth it, then?" Ienzo looks directly at him, a strange expression on his face. "You've lost an eye and risked your life, managed to gain a keyblade, and killed your oldest friend, all because you can't give up hope that somehow, somewhere, a little Nobody lives on even though he's supposed to have returned to Sora?"
"Yeah." Quite simple in the end, isn't it. "Yeah, basically, that's it."
"How can you be so sure?" Ienzo's voice is quiet, now. "How can you justify all these risks, just because you've been told that he might have gained a heart?"
"Because I know it's possible." It all makes sense now, thinking back. "Because even back when I was a Nobody, the brat gave me a heart." He had joked about it before, but now, it seems to be the truth.
"He really is important to you, huh."
"Would have thought that was kind of obvious by the time I mentioned I got killed to keep him safe for another moment." Lea shrugs. "But hey, I wouldn't expect a brat like you to understand the matters of the heart~"
"I'm not a child." Ienzo frowns, and somehow that makes him look even younger. All that's missing is a pout, now.
"Sure you aren't." Lea chuckles. "Don't worry, I'm sure one day you'll find someone special, too~ Though it's got to be someone pretty damn special to survive being introduced to Even."
"Very funny." Ienzo makes a face. Yeah, totally not a brat. "So... you going to go out to look for Roxas elsewhere, then?"
"That's the plan, yeah." He pushes himself off the wall, now. He's wasted enough time already. "He's somewhere out there, and I'm going to find him."
"Any way we can contact you if we hear anything?" So, one moment he's making fun of him, and now he's offering help? Isn't that funny.
"Well, I'm pretty sure the King can figure out some way. He's got a talent for showing up unexpectedly." He scratches the back of his head, again. "Besides, I'll probably stop by every now and then anyway. Someone's got to make sure you don't wreck the whole place. It's my home, too, you know."
"We're not quite that reckless, thank you." Ienzo snorts, then turns serious. Not that he's ever very far from serious. "Don't get yourself killed."
"I'll try to avoid that. Wasn't too keen on it the first time around." He walks over, unable to resist the temptation of patting Ienzo's head. "And you, don't get involved in any immoral research that will crack all the worlds~ again."
Ienzo doesn't reply, but he's pretty sure he can hear a muttered curse as he walks out of the study.
Chapter 3 - Still of the Night
Chapter 5 - Interlude: An Educational Experience
