restintheriver

[restintheriver]

Easy Come Easy Go

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331915

{1} (updated)

He wasn’t so used to cars. Something about them made the man nervous though, perceptive as he always had been, he could never truly put his finger on it. True, he now had fair reason to be nervous within the vehicle, but not due to traveling.

Ienzo studied his reflection in the glass. His hair seemed so brightly blue today despite it’s usual stormy dullness.  It was the overcast day he reasoned. He had no other reason to perceive such a bright color. Why then were his eyes so dull?

Ienzo let his head lull on the glass, his hair bunching on the condensation from his breath against the cold.

“It will be okay” his companion assured him. Ienzo nodded politely.

Ienzo wasn't sure how he felt about the worlds re-merging.

If he could only pick one reason why he hated it, it would be that it took so much longer to get where you were going now. You couldn't simply cut through space on a ship now. Travel over land and sea seemed contrived after the life he led. 

This whole situation was so incredibly wrong. Never did he think he would find his only companion to seek solace in would be the very man who orchestrated his death once under a different name. You could argue that they were not their nobodies a million times and outwardly? Ienzo would agree with you. However, not so deep down Ienzo knew that he could never forget that this man driving the car beside him killed him and his family. Over and over Ienzo watched his family die where he was the last to fall. Ever since he was a little boy that is how it was.

One of the many reasons he held tight to books. Books did not leave, nor did they die. Words printed in ink on paper and wedged together on a shelf never changed unless you actively took them apart.  You control when their tale ends. Ienzo longs for that control.

“I know what you are going through.” Lea tried to soothe.

Ienzo turned away from him more, forehead against the glass and gut coiling with tension the bluenette knew he could not maintain.

“Honestly Ienzo. I lost him- I know.” Lea continued.

“Stop talking. Drive.” Ienzo spoke in an uncharacteristically gravelly voice.

Lea winced. He did not however snap at the man. He was the same when he found out. The only thing different for Ienzo is that now they knew what was causing the deaths. Those who elected to be vessels were falling apart and dying. The standing theory now is that their hearts ended up too damaged.

When Lea watched Isa fall to the ground for the first time he had no clue why it had to happen.

“Two years” Lea mumbled to himself.

Ienzo bit his tongue.

“I got two years with him.”  the red head’s hands gripped the wheel tighter.

Ienzo pulled from the glass and glanced at Lea through his hair. “Isa is strong. Young. He may make it” Ienzo spoke hollowly.

Lea winced again. “Maybe…”

Ienzo turned to face the windshield. “You haven’t lost him yet. He is not the first to find himself asleep for an incredible amount of time”.

The car pulled to a stop at a light before a tunnel. Lea let his hands slip from the wheel. “I am supposed to be comforting you but I-”

“Shh. I know. Just drive”.

He is scared out of his mind Ienzo. Isa may indeed pull through. He thought. And Xion is so very young and has yet to show symptoms. The young may pull through. The bluenette’s eyes screwed shut.

When the car started back up Ienzo pulled his knees to his chest despite it not being safe. He knew what it was like to worry over a young loved one in all this...The blond flashed across his mind even now during the words exchanged.

Ienzo also knew what it was like to have already lost someone to this terrifying condition.

Getting stranded was not in the plans. The rain poured heavily down on Lea’s back as he kicked a tire in rage. The jostling stirred Ienzo and he lifted his head to peer out the window.

Red hair plastered to the man’s forehead. Ienzo’s eyes softened and he watched carefully. The rain muffled it well but he knew well the scent of tears when he smelled it. Lucky for him he kept his uncanny ability to scent, even as a human.

Lea’s shoulders were tense and risen, the line from shoulder to shoulder almost completely straight. Another kick to the tire then Lea slunked to the ground, back against the sudan.

A minute or so later had Ienzo slowly opening the door. He came out into the rain and pulled his hood over his head. He surveyed the car. The tire was deflating sure enough. Ienzo heaved a sigh and sat down easily next to Lea.

The redhead had his head in his hands, fingers curled around the back of his cranial mass.

Ienzo leaned back and watched the sky as it lit up with lilac electricity. “I am scared too.”

Lea’s shoulders shook when he took in a sudden breath. Ienzo rested a hand on his shoulder and Lea didn’t budge.

“Demyx is such a fool and he has never taken proper care of himself” Ienzo spoke evenly. “I am terrified.”

Another sharp inhale.

“And I think of Xion as a sister of sorts,” the bluenette added. “I did not mean to invalidate your fear. Forgive me Lea.” He spoke, squeezing his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a good long while. When Ienzo felt Lea start to shake with cold under his hand he felt it was time to go into the town.

Cold. He is shaking from cold. benefit of the doubt.

“Come. We will get a hotel and find a mechanic and tire tomorrow.” Ienzo soothed, standing and pulling a napkin from a take out bag to write a note for the window.

Lea stayed in the mud only a moment more before standing to tower over the small man. They each took a bag of belonging and only Ienzo talked for now and only when necessary.

Quickly enough, the scientist found a suitable hotel on his phone and took Lea’s hand, leading him to the building.  The rain dripping from their clothes to the polished floors was incredibly loud. The man behind the desk furrowed his brow at the two and moved to his computer to get them a room as soon as he could.

Ienzo padded to the desk. “Apologies...car trouble and weather has a sense of humour.” Ienzo said gently.

The man swallowed and nodded. Normally he would be perturbed but their expressions incited empathy in the man. “How many beds? Two?”

Ienzo nodded and the man produced their key card. The bluenette nodded his thanks and led the taller to the elevator.

“You shower first. You were out there longer.” The scientist spoke with no room for argument. Lea simply nodded. Any sound he would have made was overshadowed by the elevator doors opening.

They found their room quickly enough. Ienzo slipped the key card into the reader and opened the door for the lumbering redhead. Despite their agreement on the elevator, Lea slowly stalked to the closest bed and slumped onto it face first.

Ienzo sighed. “I'll start running the water for you”.

Lea grumbled a hum in response and Ienzo accepted that that was the best he would get from the man at the moment. He slipped to the bathroom but kept an eye on the other.

His hair fanned out limp on the beige comforter, eerily red in comparison and dark with rain. He was not used to seeing Lea’s hair lack it’s meticulous styling and that compared with the dampy darkness almost made his hair look like blood. The man before him was a far cry from the one that once tracked the child thrust upon him across worlds.

To be fair, that was different.

Distance and illness are two different beings. Distance is much easier to close.

[restintheriver]

My diviner's box to show a friend.

[restintheriver]

https://youtu.be/Zgd2i66r7p0

[restintheriver]

Consequence-4 {History Repeats}

Ienzo hated getting bitchslapped by the memories he attempted to respress. That one was a doozy too. What little good it did do him was in the form of a reminder. It was a bit more of a clumsy process now that his magic had been stamped out into nothing.

Ienzo remembered bitterly that he could no longer summon his lexicon. When he lost his heart, it was a source of comfort that he would be the only one with access to Melaina’s journal. He could summon it with a flick of his wrist then. Now, he and the tome were at the mercy of real world tangibility. 

With a heavy sigh, Ienzo slipped out from under his dense covers. His hand went to his messy mass of hair, somewhat unrecognizable from its standard appearance. In truth his hair had some curl to it. Normally, setting his appearance right was the first task on his list upon waking up. Begrudgingly, he decided that this morning might be one of the few those around him would be seeing his bed head.

A violent yawn racked through his ribs against his will, and almost startled him. Blearily, he looked to his clock to find he had slept far beyond what was reasonable.

He had a slight headache, like he had fallen asleep with headphones in such as he did when he was a touch younger.

However, Ienzo knew he had not fallen asleep to “The Cure” like he was wont to do in the past. He had been reading. The man had even put the book away nice and tidy. Yet he felt the need to hum along with the opening tune of “The Same Deep Water as You”. Fair enough, he listened to that track often.

Ienzo trudged to his bathroom to at least brush his hair before subjecting the others to his zombie like state.

On his rounds earlier that month, Dillan set to checking on the parts of the castle that needed repair. They all had built a small playhouse for Ienzo and Kairi back in the day when the princess demanded a place where her friend didn't have to feel so shy.

It was once a wholesome miniature of a cottage, perfectly sized for a child. Regrettably now it was a bit of a mausoleum for memories of a childhood both deserved but never got to experience.

Dilan wondered lacklusterly if they two remembered they used to play together. Ienzo? Maybe. Kairi? He was sure she didn't remember the gardens. A rare wash of sympathy and worry doused Dilan. It must have been hard for the boy to have to see his only friend back then run around with a new group.

Dilan groaned. Fine. He would ask Ienzo if he remembered and if he -God forbid- needed a hug. This was normally Ansem’s job, but more commonly Even’s...in name. The majority of the castle had come to terms Aeleus was as close to a father the boy would accept. Dilan cared for the boy too though, despite his reluctance to get close to him outside of the fellowship of being an apprentice.

Dilan flexed a gloved hand before taking the tiny rotting door handle in his hand. Why in the hell did they decide to build this tiny house under a fruit bearing tree? If it were in the sun away from sap and in plain sight it might have escaped being  forgotten about all these years. Dilan creaked open the door and stepped inside. He had to crouch.

His heart winced. On the little chalkboard they gifted Ienzo, was an elaborate diagram explaining some fantasy science. A miniature chair facing the chalkboard was ajar. Dilan could imagine the scene as if he were watching it in real time. Ienzo pretending to be Ansem or one of the elder apprentices so he could teach Kairi. The academic’s take on playing house.

Dilan mulled the implications of this over in his head as he looked around the tiny room.

“So he talked to the princess but not to us.”

Maybe he would just hug Ienzo anyways. He would have to talk to Aeleus.

Dilan picked up the artifacts of tiny humans absentmindedly. Curiously, he went through the books on the little bookshelf. Most of them were fairy tales and adventure tales, the princess’s things. Once he picked each little book off the shelf he found the back of the shelf was loose. ...He pushed it aside and found it to be a false back leading to the alcove they had intended to be a dumbwaiter for the children in the early stages of construction. He had forgotten all about the many intricacies they included for the two little ones.

Dilan slid the door of the dumbwaiter up and hummed. He was not as surprised as most would be. Zexion always guarded the book so closely. The man pulled the volume out of the alcove carefully and opened it. He couldn't understand a bloody word....

Dilan had stored the lexicon in the library when he found it discarded, believing it to no longer be of consequence. He honestly thought it just to be a volume of dead and useless spells that only Ienzo could read anymore- if he could read them as Ienzo.

He figured it was hidden for a reason, so far out of the way. In a rotting house of the past.

Perhaps Ienzo wanted nothing more to do with it, just as he wanted nothing more to do with Zexion.

Dilan thought he was doing their ward a kindness when he put the book in the library without a word. Preserving it should Ienzo want to see it again.

Once his hair was somewhat passable, Ienzo trudged out into the halls. He hummed the tune gently to himself to the beat of his bare feet in the lush grass of the courtyard. He headed straight for the tiny cottage and sighed fondly when he saw that it still stood, even if a bit sadly.

Still, even stinking of mildew, these ruins were precious to him. He told himself that all that mattered was that his friend was safe. No need to dig up the past and make her feel guilty for forgetting him.

He laughed gently at the memory of the first time she stole his lab coat. She tried it on and did a little twirl. She made him chase her to get it back. He never caught her. The replacement they gave him was not the official design. It had a standard collar and buttons instead of a zipper. Ienzo was fine with that though. If the coat made Kairi happy, then it made him happy that it was hers now.

He remembered how they would watch the two funny boys try to get past Aeleus to no avail. They chuckled at the funny boys in between bites of ice cream, an aerial view from the window above.

Once Kairi had told him she wished the guard would let them in so the four of them could be a little group. How fun would that be? They could adventure together as a team? Kairi would giggle  when she told him her ideas. She found it entertaining how Ienzo’s face would scrunch with thought. She said he thought about things too much. Kairi was a smart girl, even at that age.

Ienzo placed a hand over his heart at the memories of his dear little friend. There was a time where he would throw a heavy textbook straight into the face of anyone who dared to threaten the girl who stole his lab coat.

Oh how things went so horribly awry. Ienzo deserved for Kairi to forget him. He may have been a child, but he was a member of the apprentices. He failed to protect the princess of the castle he served. Being forgotten was his due.

Ienzo winced away the tear threatening him as he opened the door.

A shock of cold air washed him. Things were not in their place. He had not bothered to close the door before he rushed the bookcase… and found his treasure stolen.

Ienzo failed miserably to protect anything he cared for it seemed.

The schemer stopped himself from panic, and forced himself to think. The cottage had been entered and things were taken, but not disrespectfully so. Aeleus and Dilan had been speaking of repairing old parts of the property lately.

If Ienzo ever needed a sign that he had a heart now, then the nigh heart attack he felt when he put the pieces together would be a potent reminder.

He rushed to the library as fast as he could, believing that if either found the book they would have homed it in the restricted section. The bluenette found himself stumbling through the pathways like a final girl in a horror movie approaching the climax of the film. The thuds of his boots on the stone steps  echoed his heart in a gory pantomime of sound poetry. His head felt heavy, then it felt as though his neck bore no head at all.

He hadn't felt such dissonance with reality since the day he was taken from the floating town.

When Ienzo reached the room he spent most of his willing time within, he fell still. For a few solid moments he was still like the grave statue of an angel. Watching over the shelves, as if a ghost would weave out from the maze and direct him to his mother’s keepsake. No such ghost appeared.

For what felt like an eternity, Ienzo did his best to calmly comb through the restricted section. Book by book, he cleared the shelves.

He came up empty handed.

Within the blink of an eye, Ienzo became a vengeful wraith.

He overturned the shelves, the book cases. Oak cascaded to the floor in splinters of violence he would never tolerate a library befalling under any other circumstance.

In that moment, Ienzo lost himself to panic. It was not beautiful. It was not a poetic show of tragedy. There was nothing of beauty to be derived from this man’s sudden bout of crisis as he destroyed his haven in search of one tie he had to his life before hell.

He heard his name called, screamed. A shrill worried tone. Ienzo had a flashback of emotional recall from when Aeleus had found him under the rubble, only to hand him to Even. That day. Yes, that is what this felt like. That is what this was. History repeating itself. His worst day was relieved.

Ienzo lost his mother for the second time.

Even pulled the young man from the destroyed book case, Aeleus lifting the slain furniture off of him so the old man could do so. Even held his ward to his chest after he pulled him to safety, trying to understand why the boy would destroy his room of sanctuary.

Ienzo looked like a ghost of tragedy. His button down black pajamas were torn. His feet muddy and cut from running through the garden. There were splinters in his chaotic spider web of hair. He was bruised from the falling oak and yet he noticed none of it in the rush of panicked adrenaline.

Just like that day, Ienzo tried to explain but found he could not. Due this time, to his oncoming tears as the emotions caught up to him.

Dilan ran into the room when Aeleus let out a rare yell for him.

The normally stoic man’s face slowly melted into a mask of guilt. He Stared over the literary carnage and felt sick. He spoke up lamely.

“I put it in Ienzo’s personal section.” Dilan admitted, standing like a soldier ready to be torn a new one by his general.

Even looked up to the guard with scary green eyes. “What did you put in his section?”

Dilan internally shivered. He had never been wary of Even before. “His lexicon.”

Ienzo muffled a wail into his Even’s chest. No one dared ask if it were still there. They were not morons.

[restintheriver]

Consequence-3{Adoption}

The book was clutched to the small rapidly breathing chest as if it were his life force. Everything sounded weird. Distant and the voices around him reverberated in an ungodly way.

The parts of his home that had yet to be consumed by the heartless read painfully bright in contrast to the black oozing dark that turned his life to hell. He couldn’t speak. When he tried to earlier, the men that found him couldn’t understand a word he said aside from one. The brown haired man pulled him, bruised and trembling from ruins.

He could see the faint spark of panic in his eyes when Ienzo tried to talk and he couldn't understand. There was real sympathy in this man’s blue eyes. A storm of protective instinct so thick and concrete it could shield a family from a bomb, and still protect them through the apocalypse to come afterward.

When all this man could do for the child was pull him from the broken bricks...then hand him to his colleague...well Ienzo wanted to reach back for him.

The new adult, a lanky man, held Ienzo to his chest tight and listened with the ears of a bird of prey for his leader’s next order. He spoke as gently as he could to the boy, but Ienzo could tell that this man did not practice gentle words often. In this moment though, he tried.

Mousy blond hair hung over them like a curtain when the man would hunch. Ienzo was fine with that. He didn’t want to see anymore. The image of his mother smiling at him while pressing the book into his hands was burned into his retinas. Why was she smiling? Did she think Ienzo didn't know what just happened? The memory of what happened not an hour earlier played with unmerciful malice in the small child’s mind.

Her long blue hair was turning darker and darker as thick gloppy red seeped into ocean blue. His mother could normally tussle with the sailors that would port in their town. She beat his own father at wrestling often enough. His mother was the strongest person he knew.

His mother fell to the ground the moment she got her baby out of the 6 story building. Half laid in the doorway, her torso limp against the steps leading into the sidewalk. Her hair spilled over into the decorative brick walkway. She pat his cheek lovingly, holding him close while she caught her breath.

The woman was the most unlucky woman. Her baby was pulled by the flow of the crowd by a snag in his clothes catching on the limb of a dark monster. He heard her scream. Heard her use the last of her strength to try and get up to save him before...they grabbed her. Pulled her into the canal. He saw the bubbles.

Ienzo was tossed about by the current of shadows. He was lucky. Before they could grasp him, he fell into a pile of ruble. He stilled. He was tired and he needed to think about what just happened.

Ienzo knew his mother was dead. He knew his father would never come back. The dark was out on the waters and likely took his ship.

Just as it had taken the floating city.

The memory battered the child’s head like it was a pinball. He choked his sobb back. Afraid this new adult might put him down if he cried. He didn't want to be alone. He wanted the brunette to carry him instead, but he was busy looking for other survivors.

The man stiffened and reached to check Ienzo’s vitals when the child stilled. He let him. He let the man carry him when he and his team searched for survivors, precious documents and relics alike. The men sought out someone who went under the nomenclature “Melaina”.

They went into the churches. Into areas of the churches Ienzo didn't even know existed.

Ienzo saw the reliquaries, he saw things in jars that would have given him nightmares under normal circumstances.

The relics seemed dull now. At this point none of it seemed real.

The scientists ransacked for everything they could save and in the end the only child they found uninfected by the swarm was Ienzo.

They seemed heart broken by this. Ienzo wanted to thank them, he wanted to thank the brunette, but only the one holding him spoke any Italian. He told the man his name and the man told him his.

Even.

Ienzo swallowed thickly when the group took him onto their ship. A few heads looked to him in surprise, as if they forgot a child could make a sound. Ienzo wanted to cry. Instead he just looked to Even. He needed to tell him, but Ienzo’s throat was bone dry.

He showed Even his mother’s journal. Her life’s work, despite her telling him to keep it safe.

He only showed Even, even though he would grow to trust Aeleus the most he still only showed Even. For years afterwards, the journal would be kept under his hawk’s eye. His most prized possession. Unable to tell the scientists who became his family that the colleague they sought out when they threw themselves into the fray was his mother.

He wanted to tell them he knew Melaina.

He wanted them to know her real name was Regina now that she was gone. He couldn't stand the idea of her being forgotten.

He would lose himself if her book was taken from him.

Upon arrival in Radiant Gardens, the boy went completely mute. In a way, it was beneficial. Even taught him sign, a language the others in the castle could understand thus opening up communication for the newest apprentice.

For a couple months, Ienzo would not leave his room until he was sure Melaina’s journal was secure. Even told him of a few places he could hide it, but he never told Even which nook he eventually picked. The boy hoped that Even would eventually forget about the journal.

The guilt of breaking his mother’s trust was weighing on him. Something that Ienzo was sure he could never atone for fully, the best he could do would be to guard what was left of her with his life. Slowly, he began to make a false cover for the tome.

Sepia leather was redyed black. Ienzo decorated the edges with ornate crowing. The child played with shapes to try to make more ornamentation for the relic. It was a labour of love. Memorial.

The book served as Regina’s Grave.

He would die before it was desecrated.

[restintheriver]

Consequence-2{Lull}

Demyx knew it was fucking creepy, insane and just downright wrong. Demyx also knew that, if he didnt check to make sure Ienzo was safe after that conversation then he would go insane. So the nocturn did what he did best.

He lurked in the deepest darks without anyone but his colleagues knowing what he really was. The nocturn stepped into the fountain and exhaled slowly as he melted away into the water.

The nocturn’s eyes were all that we discernable of him now, glowing bright with the faint hint of blue. Demyx moved forward, a nigh invisible current propelling him further before he slipped into the pipes. By now he knew his way to the castle like the back of his hand. Knew his way around all the rooms through the pipes. He headed straight for the bathroom connected to Ienzo’s room, sure that by now he would be either asleep or reading in bed.

Ienzo never noticed that his faucet would leak at elective times. He never put the pattern together. If he didnt want you to know he was there, you would never pick up on Demyx.

He even got around Ienzo’s insane nose. The man able to smell darkness couldn't smell the difference between living water and inanimate. No one could. Demyx was thankful for this. It let him check on and keep those he grew attached to safe, even if it was to keep them safe from the very plans he was a part of.

The nocturn slowly peered from the water dispensing apparatus and through the crack of the bathroom door.

The blond sighed. He knew he was safe and sure enough, Ienzo was there with his nose buried in an H.G. Wells book. “The Isle of Dr Morue”. Demyx didn't let himself think about the volume too close. He did what he came here to do.

Now his only reason for staying was to get space from his friend who loved to remind him that, inevitably, they had to Nyx Ienzo.

Demyx having mixed feelings was an understatement. If he had never known Zexion and never met Ienzo, he would not have hesitated. He longed so much for all those like him to just be human. For souls to be as safe as houses. Why did that line of safety end where Ienzo stood though? Why him? No one chooses the life they are born into.

Demyx watched him read for longer than he cared to admit. He memorized the way Ienzo would tuck his hair behind his ear, before immediately untucking it. He probably did this to prevent a kink in his obsessively styled hair, but it wasn't as though demyx could ever ask if that was why. Ienzo only did that when he read by himself in his room. It would be a tell.

Demyx’s chest stung with ...resentment? That made sense despite his wanting to bear no ill will towards Ienzo. Demyx silently wondered if this was at all similar to how Axel felt when the child he took under his wing forgot he ever existed. A very different sort of relationship, but not one any less close than what Demyx felt towards Ienzo. No… ‘having someone you see as a son has got to hurt worse...I should check up on those four’ Demyx mused.

Demyx was pulled from his musings when the flutter of a page being plucked and turned rang into the bathroom. He set his eyes back onto Ienzo and sighed in-audibly. ‘ I wonder if he is having trouble sleeping again’ .

The nocturn stared hard at Ienzo’s face. Yes, there were bags under his eyes. His hair hid them well, but if one focused they could see them.

Faint as can possibly be, Demyx started a tune. The mere suggestion of music for now until Ienzo slipped enough for him to really play. When the schemer put down his book, Demyx upped the melody in his mind just enough to get him to sleep well. When Ienzo layed down, Demyx knew it was time for him to leave.

Demyx slipped back into the faucet, silently wishing the Beldam never had a child.

It was hard enough to pretend like he didn’t know Ienzo the first time.

[restintheriver]

I had to doodle him in a hoodie because of Chapter 6. nothing extraordinary, just a quick 10 minute or so doodle.

I upload chapters to Archive Of Our Own first, so that’s why its so ahead there and so behind here.

[restintheriver]

consequence-1{Cementation of the Deed}

“You find the shit?” the man asked without turning from the tv. Demyx laughed, finding homeostasis upon hearing the voice of the consistency in his life.

“Depends, Did you come clean to Luxord?” he asked, putting his bag down and pulling out the book. The important book. The book that should have been restricted. The book he pulled out from under the nose of a friend.

“As if. Told you, that’s never going to happen” the The man grumbled, sinking more into the cushy couch.  Demyx slapped the book onto the coffee table, ready to be done with it.

“So he’s still calling you Xigbar then?”

“Yes, and so will you when there are ears around” Luxu grumbled again, some warning in his voice.

“Fair enough, I’m taking a shower” Demyx said lamely.

“Have fun Princess” Luxu waved him off.

“Always do. Be careful with the book. Something tells me he will notice if it’s damaged” Demyx said slowly, serious.

Luxu furrowed his brows and snickered. “He doesn’t need or use this dusty old thing anymore. It’s just a relic now”.

Demyx winced and gave the sniper a warning look.

“Okay, fine. It’s not my problem if circumstantial damage does occur though” The elder man grumbled, picking up the tome. His face softened for a moment, as if looking at the photograph of an old friend he hasn't talked to for years. “I still can’t believe those old coots never but two and two together. He looks just like the old Beldam”.

Demyx continued to listen to him from the bathroom. His face grew ever more serious. He turned on the water. Frigid cold this time.“The Scientists never saw her. Ansem himself only ever saw her disguise. She wore a plague doctor mask when she played the role. Heard them talking about it on the recon long hall.” The blond said monotonously.

“Plague doctor huh? Fitting.”

Demyx groaned at the implication.

“Thank you by the way kiddo, no one else could have pulled it off. They still never caught on to what you were doing when you would run off?” Luxu smirked.

Demyx felt cold fire in the pit of his stomach.

He wished he never grew to like Ienzo, that he never wanted to be Zexion’s friend. He wished he had stayed objective like he was supposed to. Guilt was hell.

“Never”

Demyx came out of the shower in a fog of chill, the hair plastered to his face. In a loose t shirt and jams he plopped down next to the reading Luxu. He found some enjoyment in the frustration infecting the man’s face.

“Not what you hoped?”

“Either the Beldam wrote this in code or the kid ciphered it afterward” He grumbled.

Demyx winced and thought how in the world Zexion would pull that off. Luxu, seemingly reading his companion’s mind simply said

“Magic. The magic he gained as a nobody. Dude, none of us ever saw this book until after we joined. I was sure we fucked up and lost it to the flood after the swarm. I was ready to send you into the ocean to find it, then boom, look what the kiddie has got”

Demyx nodded, holding onto the words.“Why didn't you take it then?”

“As if, too conspicuous. Besides, this book would have poofed over his dead body. It was safe with him, he didn't know what it was. For all he knew it was a scientific text turned grimoire by an insane hag”

“Can you not talk about it that harshly?” Demyx moaned.

Luxu burst out laughing. “Cute. You gotta crush on a dead man walking”

“Don't” Demyx breathed.

Luxu turned to him and groaned on a heavy exhale. “Have to kid. We nyxed The Beldam too early. Ienzo is the only replacement we g-”

Demyx didn't let him finish. He couldn't listen anymore. The Nocturn got up and grabbed a coat, heading for a window and jumping on to the fire escape.

Luxu sighed. “Your funeral. I warned you not to get attached.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23268634/chapters/55733281#workskin

[restintheriver]

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Demyx*s*Ienzo%20(Kingdom%20Hearts)/works

[restintheriver]

Consequence (draft)(Ienzo Fanfic)

{prologue}

Seeing him in the library was like seeing a dog walkin on its hind legs. It was unreal, nauseating and wrong , but he couldn’t look away. Ienzo watched quietly, covering his mouth and nose in thought. He squinted to try and determine what book it was that Demyx had under his hand; Ienzo’s attempt to read the title proved futile. The nocturn pulled another volume, scanned it faster than humanly possible, then put it back. Dirty blond brows furrowed together in a knit and he seemed genuinely frustrated. Ienzo felt he was intruding. As silent as he could, he replaced his own tome on the appropriate shelf and stepped out of view.

The scientist willed himself to make his way back to the nook where he was initially reading. He found himself standing and staring at the coffee table before him. It was over run with several bricks of record and a cup of tea undoubtedly cold by now. More and more he found himself overstimulated by normal life. Oddly enough, less so by the interactions with others and more so by the emotional torrents his own thoughts brought him where, as it were, those same or similar thoughts would previously do nothing but cement his apathy. Humanity felt like an illness sometimes.

 That was another thing, while some aspects were better than he ever remembered; there were aspects of humanity that Ienzo found have slain him by day’s end. Demyx’s sporadic and dwindling pressences might as well have been a device of Mors, the blade of the entity’s scythe. It was an odd sensation. Similar to the guilt that charged him to make something of himself, however this rendition of the concept had no clarity to it. Ienzo hated being without clarity. He hated having no perception of why he felt guilty for Demyx. Each time they talked, happened upon each other, the nocturne wore a smile so free as Sora’s.

Ienzo set to tidying his temporal work space to help clear his mind. Setting the tea safely out of the way, the books were reordered and his notes set right. He kept an ear out… and heard Demyx walk around the library and kept a tab on his location. Silently, Ienzo wondered if this was stalking. He was technically in his home, this was part of the castle. However, it still likely was stalking. Ienzo felt for a moment that he was losing his mind. This guilt would be the death of him. How can you atone for something, when you haven't a clue what you have done?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Demyx knew full well that he wasn't alone in the library. He didn't mind it, and honestly? It was a welcome reprieve. If Ienzo wanted to lurk, then Demyx was fine with that. He knew from his people watching that the sixth never had any real malice to him. That was how he felt and he would stick to that conclusion. He was just a kid, and so was Demyx. Why was the dumber one of the two able to realize and accept that while the academic felt his life to be in eternal debt? Demyx had heard him talk, heard what the others said. Even even found himself confiding in Demyx. ‘For no reason other than you are in the same generation as he with a childhood in the organization. There is a dissonance between him and I and I cannot understand him fully for that reason. If he approaches you, let him talk.’ That was what the old man had said. Then he told Demyx how Ienzo felt indebted to Ansem. ‘Despite the fact that the mute scared child meerly did as I told him to. Had I been faster to reach him…’. Even blamed himself. Even cared dearly about the child that tumbled into his life, even if he was poor at expressing such.

Demyx was unequivalently and unforgivably jealous of that.

Demyx worked hard to keep that personal strife to himself.

He harboured hatred for the situation, not the other occupant of the library.

Finding what he believed he needed, he tucked the volume under his arm and turned to leave. He paused when reaching a spot adjacent to Ienzo’s reading nook. After a moment of what he would bill as thinking of his options but honestly it was just hesitence, Demyx stepped forward. He pulled his smile from retirement and reached to poke the bluenette’s cheek through his hair.

“Heya. Keeping busy mr school?” he laughed gently.

Ienzo jumped slightly at the intrusion. His war senses had grown dull in the peace times. The bluenette turned to the blond and hummed.

“Yes.”

“You walked past me earlier, rude.” Demyx laughed again.

Ienzo bit his lip and put the stack he held down.

“I am sorry, you seemed deep in thought” the scientist reasoned.

The nocturn snorted.

“It’s like I am stranger to you ‘Z”

Ienzo looked to him apologetically.

“Mn. In a way though, you are” He admitted as kindly as he could.

Demyx hated the situation. He hated just the words, not the man who spoke them. That is why the words hurt.