It was all well and good to make plans for that evening, but there was still a full day ahead of them, and for as exhausted as Ienzo was, he was not about to go back to sleep. Especially since he’d already made plans. 

Part of it was just that he hadn’t seen Rantarou or Xiomara since they’d moved in with Maya, but Ienzo hadn’t sent out mention of any change of location. For one, it was just more dangerous asking them to come somewhere in the royal district, and…well, they were used to setting things up in the tavern. 

So after breakfast, Ienzo headed out, leaving a bit earlier than their planned time to get to the tavern earlier and clean up a bit, figuring there was probably some sand build-up in their absence. 

And that was the scene Xiomara walked upon, raising an eyebrow at the propped open door, Ienzo forgoing his usual looser styles for an apron as he swept red sand out of the door. 

Pausing as he saw her, Ienzo bowed his head and gave her a warm smile. “Good afternoon, Xiomara, I’ve mostly cleared things out, if you’d like to come in.”

Nodding back, a slight change in her wardrobe as well, trading out her usual boots for sandals, with a notable bandage around an ankle, she took a tentative step, before walking forward with her usual aplomb. “Sure, thanks. Didn’t think we had a storm yesterday, you guys get hit bad or something?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Rantaro asked, having been trailing just behind Xiomara, giving Ienzo a polite bow as he came into the tavern before looking around. Smiling lightly, as he always did, even as he mentioned, “Though, I’m a bit more concerned that your windows seem to have… blown out?”

It had been obvious even just approaching the tavern from a distance, that many of their windows seemed to have been smashed open. “I hope no one’s brought you harm,” Rantaro said, listening as he realized he couldn’t hear the usual sounds of other people moving around the tavern, “Or your housemates?”

Ienzo offered a small, reassuring smile. “We’re alright, just had to move, which is why I’m cleaning. Though, that does mean we’re the only ones here today.”

“Huh,” Xiomara noted, looking around. She didn’t tend to linger around anywhere but the lab, but without any of Ienzo’s fellows around…? It did seem a little easier to dawdle a bit. “Well, I’m glad you’re alright. You guys were heading out anyway, right? So I guess moving isn’t a huge deal.”

“True,” Ienzo said softly, before giving his volunteers a more sheepish look. They had said goodbye before, in a sense, but they had known they’d still see each other again. This? “We actually may be setting out sooner than expected, so that’s why I wanted to make sure to see you two again.” Brightening a bit, Ienzo said hopefully, “I’ve completed my transcription factor, so…all things going well? You may be free from the symptoms of conditioning today.”

Xiomara looked back, her eyes widening slightly. “Oh, for real?”

Rantaro also looked a little surprised, smiling somewhat warily as he said, “You don’t tend to say things like that. I’m guessing this means you feel confident?”

It couldn’t come sooner, really. Ienzo wasn’t the only person running out of time. Kaede’s latest phone call had sounded a little more desperate than usual. She wasn’t going to order him to come home… yet. But it was clear she had wanted him to volunteer to return months ago, already. Rantaro could only put it off for so long before Kaede found some reason or another to insist. 

And then once he returned, he had to figure out what his life was, from then on. Who he was. As a free person… which still felt incomprehensible. His mind still filled with what was best for Kaede. Unable to seriously consider anything else.

It was that attentiveness towards serving others that had made Rantaro notice the wrap around Xiomara’s ankle, and his courteousness that was still trying to figure out how to politely bring it up, as he said, “Should we go up to the lab? Or perhaps we could sit down here?”

“I am,” Ienzo said assuredly. “Of course, there’s no way to actually know if it will work as intended until it’s tested, but everything about the theory points to my factor being the answer.”

Xiomara shrugged a little, but the interest in her eyes betrayed her investment. “Can’t be worse than any of the other experiments, and the weed did work. If you think you’ve copied it without feeling high? Let’s get to it.”

Ienzo nodded, though his eyes flicked to Xiomara’s ankle, listening to Rantarou’s suggestions. “Here’s fine, if you’d like to. Xiomara, are you alright? I hope I didn’t ask you to walk across town on an injury…”

Xiomara rolled her eyes, though there was something about her huff that read a little embarrassed. “I’m fine, I just got a tattoo, you losers.” She glanced to the side. “Thought getting a commemoration of all this nonsense seemed fitting.”

Ienzo blinked in surprise, before a slightly awed expression came over him. “...you got a tattoo about… May I ask about the design?”

Huffing, Xiomara walked over to one of the booths and lifted her leg onto the table, peeling back the wrapped bandage. Not rough-looking, but still healing, was an amateurish design of a gem surrounded by spikes, within a perfect square in a diamond configuration. 

Shrugging, glaring at the two men as if to dare them to comment on the slight embarrassment coloring her cheeks, Xiomara explained, “You’re blingy, you’re a square, I’m badass. Seemed to fit.”

QoQ 

Rantaro’s eyes grew a little wide and watery, before he laughed sheepishly, looking away. “Oh, no… that’s very sweet. Oh…” he paused, pressing his hands tightly together, still smiling blankly at the wall… before his eyes reddened and he had to look down at his feet, closing his eyes to regain his composure, “Oh, this is unfortunate. I had really hoped to play today off being very cool, considering how rambling and stupid I got in our last session.” He laughed wetly, shaking his head, eyes still closed. “Oh no.”

The awed expression on Ienzo’s face grew, before he gave Xiomara a fond look. 

Though, before he could say anything, Xiomara grouched, “You two are such softies. It’s just a tattoo, weirdos.”

Seeing the pink in her cheeks that hadn’t faded, Ienzo could only silently laugh. “Our time together’s meant a lot to me too. That’s such a thoughtful design… May I copy it, so I can get one too?”

Xiomara startled briefly. “Wait, what?”

Ienzo shrugged a little. “I’m not likely to forget our time together, but, correct me if I’m wrong, this is a more sentimental way to remember, right? I find that very touching.” He gave the two of them a small smile. “All things considered, our time together has been short, but it’s meant a lot to me. Remembering it in a more physical way seems…” He paused, thinking over his words. “...it’s something I want to do.”

Pouting and looking away, Xiomara re-wrapped her tattoo and muttered, “It’s a stick-and-poke, so I could do it while you fiddle our brains, Woog.”

Ienzo looked delighted.

“Would I be allowed to get a tattoo…?” Rantaro murmured aloud, looking away a tad uncomfortably, that fixed, unwavering smile still on his face… before he said cheerfully to the other two, eyes still red from his earlier sentimentality, “I think we’re about to find out if this transition device is going to work or not. Because I’m fairly certain I would not be allowed to get a tattoo, if I were to ask.”

“....but that’s the point, isn’t it?” Rantaro smiled lightly, “I shouldn’t have to ask. So I guess we’ll find out.”

Xiomara smirked, giving Rantarou an approving look. “Sounds like we’re the type of absolute saps to get matching tattoos, then. Alright, Ienzo, get over here. Fix Pretty Boy up while I get you sorted.”

“On it,” Ienzo quietly laughed. There was some maneuvering, but Ienzo ended up on a booth table with a pant leg rolled up, his leg stretched out and relaxed in front of Xiomara, with Rantarou across from her. And, asking Rantarou to relax and consent to him going in, Ienzo started the process. 

Or. Well. 

Actually putting in the transcription factor would only take seconds, but it took him a bit to get into Rantarou’s mind, even with permission. And, uh…cooling his surprised flinch after the first poke, Xiomara giving him a dirty look. 

-

Kaede was sunflowers. Had always been sunflowers. 

Bright, bright yellow. Nourishing, life-giving. Taller. Taller than Rantaro, towering over him, thick, dark green leaves clumping densely around him as he walked through the paths in the field. Strict, narrow paths, too difficult to venture away from with the beautiful, towering, non-negotiable labyrinth of sunflowers around him. 

Rantaro had never known his mind without the sunflower field. Even staring up into a blue sky, vast and endless, was always dotted and bordered by yellow sunflowers. The dirt beneath his feet the only place he could look to potentially not see a sunflower.

But you didn’t look down, in the sunflower field. 

You didn’t want the ground to swallow you up. For the things decaying beneath to reach up and pull you in. To press their terrible scent against you, drowning you in their decomposing vile. 

Better to be in the sunflower field. Who cared, if you were trapped? Worse places to be than the sunflower field. 

Rantaro had always argued with himself that he was lucky. There were vastly worse fates for an Indentured, than to end up a beloved companion to a wealthy elite. Worse wealthy elites to find oneself trapped within. Kaede never forced him onto his knees to pleasure her, like he was certain many of his peers had had to. She had never brutalized him, never had so much as laid an angry hand on him. Rantaro had never given her reason to be angry with him, but he knew some people wouldn’t need a reason to take frustration out on a trapped pet. He could have suffered from her anger at other people. He never had.

Lucky. He was lucky. He knew he was lucky. 

…but god.

Sitting in the manor, alone. Too often alone. Running through routines to make Kaede’s life more effortless and streamlined without even having to think about it. Wake her up at a certain time. Have her clothes laid out for her. Report her schedule for the day. Escort her to breakfast, to the garden, to the front gate. Wish her a good day. 

Tidy up, clean spaces she didn’t want to trust to servants. Don’t talk to the servants. Don’t talk to the help. Don’t talk to visitors. Don’t talk to anyone. 

Silence, silence, silence, Rantaro working on autopilot until Kaede returned. Until he could finally pretend to be human again, when she looked at him and deemed it time to invite him to speak…

Rantaro brushed his fingers through the dark leaves of his garden. Looking up at the bright yellow sunflowers, as he walked through the garden. Saw the way the sunflowers faced the sky. Like they too wished they could reach up towards it. Touch some of that infinity. Escape their garden as well. 

Rantaro hadn’t had much sympathy for Sou, when he was trapped in the manor with him. In truth, he had thought the man had been a bit of a brat about the whole thing. So what if he couldn’t leave the manor when he wished? So what if he had to attend to Kaede when she desired, or if he had to go and sit in a room by himself when she demanded? What was the big deal, that his days and social life and what he said moment to moment had been entirely at the whim of his keeper?

Rantaro had done that his whole life. Didn’t Sou know how lucky they were? That their keeper–their master–wasn’t the type to harm them for fun, or put them on their knees, or take out all of her frustrations on them?

How dare Sou act so miserable all the time. Like he was going through something terrible.

How dare he act like Rantaro’s life was some form of torture. 

Rantaro took a frustrated breath, gripping the stalk of the sunflower…

…the air smelled strange. 

It really was a beautiful garden. There were worse fates than staring at beautiful flowers all day, a well-worn, understood path beneath his feet. Predictable. Safe. What more could Rantaro have wanted? 

(...friends.)

(That mythical thing that he had only ever heard about, listening in on his mistress’s conversations. Listening to her complain about. Conspire around. Kaede had created false friendships to manipulate around her. Had lost true friendships taking advantage of an opportunity. Had spoken softly, somewhat resentfully, of all the friends her cousin got to have, and how he would never appreciate what she and Byakuya had done for him, in the end. That his life was going to be happier, away from the throne and with a life full of people who loved him, who he could trust. That Kaede had sacrificed that sort of wonderful life, to take on the responsibilities of the crown.)

(Rantaro had listened to that and never thought, not once, not once, that if that was true, then what had Rantaro sacrificed his own life for? Why did he also not have any friends, any loved ones, that he could count on? What had he traded it all for?)

(To help Kaede get a crown?)

The air smelled strange. 

What had Rantaro traded everything for? 

Had there been a trade? Ever? What had he received, for giving his whole life to Kaede? Had he paid his parents’ debt, somewhere? Had he justified the resources given to him at the orphanage, which he had only lived in for a few long forgotten years? Had he been gifted a childhood, being Kaede’s personal toy?

He had been a child himself. He hadn’t made a choice. Others had chosen for him.

What did the world outside of the sunflower garden even look like?

Rantaro took a deep breath of the strange smelling air… and with a determined look, started to push aside the stalks of the sunflowers. Stepping off the path, pushing through the foliage. 

He waited for the air to suddenly taste foul. He waited for hands to reach up through the dirt and pull him down. To feel crushed and smothered by the bodies below. To start to decompose among them, trash that couldn’t fulfill his one purpose in life. To feel like he was melting beneath the earth until he apologized and agreed to get back on the path again…

…but nothing happened. The ground beneath him stayed steady. 

And after a bit, the foliage parted, and on the other side of it was–

-

“I think I’d like that tattoo,” Rantaro whispered. Tears trailing down his face. “If the offer is still available.”

Ienzo opened his eyes, blinking a few times to refocus them, before giving Rantarou a gentle smile. The thrill of a successful project was sure to hit him later, but…right now? Seeing his friend crying, asking for something that he’d never been able to before?

“It hurts a lot less than I expected,” he offered in his own experience, Xiomara still focused on his ankle, though she did glance up at Rantarou, her sharp, barbed gaze softening at what she saw. 

“Yeah, it’s available. Damn, Ienzo, that was quick. You two have better asked to get inked just to justify the walk over,” she scoffed, hands steady over Ienzo’s skin. 

“I don’t really know how to test it more,” Rantaro admitted, wiping his eyes a bit, frowning slightly, “It’s not like I’ve never thought my way around needing to put her first, before. The fact that I’m here at all is a testament to that. But…I think it’s working? I really want it to be working.”

Rantaro paused, before sighing slightly. “I’ve been Indentured for so long, I can’t imagine what my life is like outside of it. What do I even do after this? What do any of us?”

Ienzo gave Rantarou a more sheepish smile. “I feel like I have an easier answer. Since being free, it’s never felt like I’ve ever had a lack of things to do, and that’s still true after the development of this. But I’ve hardly had to work around the same constraints as you two in life.”

“Always a dweeb,” Xiomara remarked, finishing a line and dabbing Ienzo’s fresh tattoo. “Guess I’m job hunting after this. And after that? Not like I knew before either.” She glanced up, smirking at Rantarou. “Maybe I’ll save up for surfing lessons.”

“...you know, if either of you ever need anything…” Rantaro paused, considering his words… before he said, “I have access to funds. Forget needing anything. I could give you something to get back onto your feet. Something to give you a buffer while you search for new work? My pockets aren’t limitless, but I have been given an allowance while I was here. I haven’t spent all of it. And… it’d make me happy, to know neither of you were still trapped because of funds.”

He looked to Xiomara. “Especially you. You’ve spent too long at a job you didn’t pick. I don’t like to think of you picking up another shift, if you don’t want to.”

Xiomara grimaced a little, pressing the pad of disinfectant to Ienzo’s leg now, unflinching as he winced a bit. It was humiliating asking for money. Even from friends. But she knew Rantarou wasn’t just flaunting his wealth, and would make it a point to harp on her finances. He sincerely just wanted to help. Because they were friends. And he could make choices like that now. 

She huffed softly. “I mean, a bonus wouldn’t hurt the transition. I’m not about to grovel on my knees for a different job, but having the security to be a little pickier would help.”

Smiling awkwardly, Ienzo quietly cleared his throat. “I truly appreciate the sentiment, Rantarou. While I didn’t accept payment from either of you, I’m sure it wouldn’t come as a shock to you two that my family wasn’t in a very good financial position…” Ienzo’s voice started to mumble. “However, I received a research grant for my work on anti-conditioning measures, and my family has received aid from a benefactor that’s helping us move, so I would feel better to not take additional resources.”

Xiomara blinked, before getting a slightly disbelieving look. “...bullshit there’s a true moneybags out there who actually wants conditioning to go away.”

Rantaro’s look was also a bit skeptical, though his was more concerned as he asked, “Are you sure you’re getting funds from a reliable or… Look, I’ll just be blunt: are you certain you’re not being set up by someone? The concept that the wealthy in Luminary are the strongest among us is mostly a myth. It’s all about social manipulation here. You should always be especially critical of anyone who has managed to make enough money to give away here… I still technically count as someone socially manipulative, to be clear, so I don’t defy the rule. I wouldn’t use it on you two, but then, that’s what someone manipulative would say…”

Rantaro pouted, before sighing, flipping his hair back a bit. “I’m just saying, always be wary of wealth’s true intentions. It’s hard to imagine anyone with wealth right now who didn’t directly benefit from Indentureds, or would want to help us.”

Ienzo gave them both a small smile, even as Xiomara shooed him off the table. “I know how it sounds, but I trust them. I only don’t say more because of the precarious position they’re in themselves, but in my experience, they’ve done a lot to help out Indentureds and lower classes out of personal morals and ethics, and the ability to do so. And, well…” Ienzo trailed off, giving Xiomara and Rantarou a sheepish look. “It’s very difficult to lie to an Empath.”

Xiomara paused before nodding a little side to side. “...you know, fair point.”

“Oh, actually, yeah,” Rantaro laughed, “Sometimes I forget that’s what you are. It’s just gotten to a point where it feels natural that our resident scientist will just sit quietly around us. You are, in fact, doing things.”

“Speaking of,” he looked to Xiomara, “Do you feel it yet? Should we test it?”

Ienzo smiled softly. That was novel, for anyone to ever, for a single moment, forget what he was. The factory sure had never forgotten, and even around his family, while not derogatory, it was just what they were. Feeling each other mentally was a permanent state of being. 

To have people know, and just…sort of not even care? For it to be so far in their minds when they interacted that they could forget about it? Ienzo…wasn’t sure what to make of his feelings on that. But even the wavery feeling in his chest amid it didn’t feel bad. 

Xiomara sat up a little, before looking at Ienzo in surprise. “Wait, did you do me already?”

“Yes?” Ienzo said with similar surprise, “I figured it’d be best to do it while you weren’t poking a needle into my skin, but it really doesn’t take long.”

Pushing herself up, Xiomara turned around and held a hand above her head. “Hold me down, boys.”

“I’ve got you, Xio,” Rantaro said, standing up and heading over. 

He wanted to be gentle, but he knew it was important to test firmly if this worked. Xio had the most to lose out of all three of them, when it came to whether the conditioning would persist. Kaede consumed Rantaro’s thoughts, but anyone could harm Xiomara. This needed to work for her. 

So, determined, he reached up and griped her arm firmly, his other hand automatically reaching to steady her shoulder–

Rantarou was definitely taller than Ienzo, but Xiomara didn’t have any issues once again twisting her wrist, stepping back, and swinging Rantarou forward. The gleam in her eyes satisfied and honestly a little excited, rather than the bored confusion of before.

Ienzo smiled warmly, satisfied as well. That bubbling excitement starting to really hit him as he saw in front of his eyes…two people no longer hindered by conditioning.

Two friends free to live their lives making their own choices.

Rantaro gasped as he was spun around, giving Xiomara, who was suddenly in front of him, a startled look… before grinning wide. “We did it!” 

For once, Xiomara matched his grin, her smile slowly growing brighter before a bubbly, excited laugh came out of her. “We did it! We’re not conditioned anymore! We…” Her smile grew wider as it really started to sink in. “We’re free!”

(That wasn’t technically true, they did still have conditioning. Ienzo’s tool just blocked it. But functionally, it was the same. So for all intents and purposes…?)

As Xiomara started to brim with energy, she pulled Ienzo up along with them, throwing her arms around the men. “C’mon, Woog, you’re a part of this too. We did it!!”

Laughing as he was pulled, Ienzo settled happily into the side-hug-huddle, cheering along with Xiomara, even as tears started running down his cheeks. “We did it!”

Rantaro laughed, jumping a bit, the three just letting themselves be thrilled. Be ecstatic. 

They did it! They did it!!

-

“Miyaaaa~” Kaito cooed to his daughter, keeping her steady as she fussed with Little Lamb, sitting on Kaito’s stomach, “You’re getting so big and heavy~ you’re a big chubby baby. Look at your little chubby baby legs. Big thiccum thighs. Guess what, Miya?”

“Gy’ah,” Miyako said, slapping Little Lamb against Kaito’s chest. 

“Dad’s gonna take a nap today. He’s gonna take a nap juuuuust like Miya. Because Dad’s sleeeepy~” Kaito cooed, sitting up with a yawn, “Which, guess what, Miya? What do you think that means?”

“Gya!” Miyako shouted.

“That’s right! Little Baby Miyako’s going to her crib! And she’s gonna be soooo nice to Dad and just enjoy crib time for a liiiiittle bit so that Dad can get, like… like twenty minutes.” Kaito yawned, putting her in the crib. “Twenty minutes, Miyako. Dad’s still getting used to even more baby time, now that Dada’s back at university.”

“Wuaaaagh-gah-gah,” Miyako said, looking up at Kaito curiously for a moment… before she went back to hitting Little Lamb against things. 

“Such a good baby,” Kaito whispered sleepily. “Such a good baby isn’t going to scream at Dad when he walks away from the crib, right? Let’s see… gooood, Miya~ You’re such a good Miya…”

Kaito carefully walked away from the crib, waiting for an outraged cry… and sighed in relief when Miyako continued playing with her toy. Apparently unconcerned about Dad wandering off for now. 

When Miyako had been just a few months old, Kaito had felt hyper-tense at the idea of Miyako not having eyes on her at all times. But as she got bigger and sturdier, Kaito felt more okay about pulling little moments like these, and not having her in sight at all times, even when he was the one watching her. 

Miyako would shout if she needed him. Or, ring the bells in his head. Thankfully, both the bells and her grabbing other people had become less frequent in the last few months. It could just be that Miyako’s needs and desires were all met so often and promptly that she just didn’t feel like going through the effort of puppetting people. But Ikuo had reminded them that Kokichi’s powers had gone through fluctuations when he was growing up too. She was still jumping into minds at a moment's notice, especially her dads’, but her natural ability to puppet and mind-control might just have receded a bit… though, he had also warned that it had taken Kokichi almost being 6 before Ikuo had seen them stop fluctuating back to full strength randomly. 

They weren’t out of the woods by a long shot. But maybe some of her powers had eased up a bit just for now.

“Thick little super baby,” Kaito sleepily murmured, getting on top of the blankets, grabbing one of the pillows and strangling it to himself… before cheerfully letting his body spread wiiiiide across the bed. Ooooh, yeah. That was the stuff. Feel those limbs stretch. Nice.

Twenty minutes. Just twenty minutes…

-

(Dammit, god dammit, he had forgotten he still got nightmares off the pills, dammit.)

Kaito pouted as he glared down the tunnels of the massive sewage system. He had told Korekiyo he didn’t want to come down here… he had known, known, that Kore and his stupid asshole friends were going to leave him alone. Why had he ever expected differently!? They always pulled this shit! 

“Kore!” Kaito called down the tunnel, pouting harder as he dug his heels into the cobblestone beneath his shoes– his NICE shoes!! With the heels and the snake-skin, Korekiyo!! In a fucking sewer!!--in frustration, tapping against the stone loudly in the hopes that the others could hear how pissed he was… before shouting, “Korekiyo! If you don’t come out, I swear I’m never going anywhere with you again! I’m serious this time!”

Silence. His words didn’t even echo. It was like the darkness of the sewers ahead and behind him swallowed the sound. Nothing but the barely nothing sound of water in the stream below him. Kaito was a little surprised this place didn’t smell worse, but then, according to Korekiyo’s friends, this part of the sewer was for wastewater at the local factory, not human waste. This water was full of strange chemicals and dyes for the clothing made there. That had been what had tempted Kaito into coming. He had been told the colors did strange things to the water. 

That part hadn’t been a lie. The water shimmered like rainbows even in the darkness. It had been really cool to see right at the opening of the sewer system when they had first gone through the gate, sunlight streaming in. Now absolutely lost in the sewers, alone, while Korekiyo was probably not even nearby to watch him freak out because he was gonna fucking fuck Kaito after hearing about how freaked out Kaito had been later, the effect had lost its charm.

God, why did he keep hanging out with these people… should have broken up with Korekiyo weeks ago… stupid pretty eyes and stupid pretty body and stupid way he was so fucking nice to Kaito all the other times. Couldn’t he just be the nice, cool verison he was when they were alone!? With… less sister-trading, admittedly! Was that too much to ask for!? Gah! “KOREKIYO, I’M LEAVING!” 

No sound. Kaito grit his teeth. He didn’t know where to go…

-

Lauriam really didn’t need to sleep all day to be able to stay awake for whatever Demyx had invited him to with Ienzo…but he still found himself laid out on the couch in the common room, falling into a nap around midday. But that was just as well, since it meant he could put all of his focus into the favor they’d been asked. 

Regardless of what he said, they still were indebted to The Ouma, and if he wanted someone to try and skulk around his husband’s head? On purpose? Well, it just worked out for Lauriam trying to flex the new and healing bounds of his abilities. 

Following the path Namine established with The Ouma…

-

Oh gross, a sewer, really?

Lauriam grimaced under his hood, taking a cue from Marluxia’s mental fashion--which was all the Nobodies’ fashion, really--to better hide, though it looked like this place was practically made for it. Dark, labyrinthine, really smelly. 

Ugh. 

Well, if he was meant to change things…

Lauriam swept a hand over the water, the rainbows growing brighter as a more pleasant, almost fruity smell started to fill the air instead of the harsh chemical smell.

Kaito sniffed. He had just been about to head down the tunnel–this was the part of the nightmare that usually started to differ from reality, Kaito having bad dreams about this place where the monster he had been half-convinced of when he was actually lost in the sewers showed up to stalk and eat him–when he paused, giving the water a second glance. Was it… brighter? It was glowing. And kinda smelled good.

As Kaito gave the water a more curious look, in another part of his mind, dogs looked up. Sniffing. 

Something had been disturbed. Getting up, they started to hunt. Kaito’s first line of defense going and looking to confirm that something had happened at all.

Meanwhile, while Kaito’s initial defenses activated, the dogs going and looking… behind Lauriam, a little voice gasped.

OoO You ALSO like to watch weird dungeon prisoner dreams?

OOO OH MY GOD ME TOO

OvO they’re fun, right?

Lauriam jumped slightly, his form flickering for a moment, before he turned and saw…

“Amaina-chan?”

He hadn’t been the one around to meet the Chibi initially, but he’d heard about her from Zexion enough to piece together the hazy memory from Marluxia and the…also hazy memories of her being around while he was a ball of light. Tilting his head, Lauriam raised an eyebrow. “I would ask if The Ouma asked you to be here too, but…” he smirked a little, “You’re just here for the fun of it, aren’t you? Don’t really know what that means for the defenses here.”

Stepping back into the shadows more, Lauriam gave the Chibi a conspiring smile. “I’m here to do more than just watch dreams. I won’t blow your cover, so have any requests? I was thinking of making all the stones in the wall start to glow different colors like the water.”

OoO I swing by sometimes to hang out with the princess

O.O but if dungeon prisoner is having another dungeon prisoner dream I uh

>.>

<.<

o.o sometimes I just stick around to see if it’s gonna be a fun one.

OoO AND USUALLY THEY ARE

O.O

OoO sexy I mean

O.O

OoO but also scary. That’s what makes his fun. They’re usually both

O.O

QoQ DON’T TELL HIS HUSBANDS I’M TOO SMALL AND CUTE TO BE A PEEPER

Though, she tilted her head, her pig-tails swinging like a grandfather clock as she drifted around Lauriam, OoO the defenses… oh, the mean stuff that chases cute little peepers who are just trying to ENJOY A SHOW??

OoO yeah they’ll be here soon, I can never stay long

O.O

OOO GIVE HIM A DISCO 

Lauriam snickered a bit. “You definitely give off less creepy vibes than the other voyeur I know. I can’t imagine The Ouma doesn’t know you hang around, especially if Momota’s defenses know about you, so…” He shrugged a little. Not his problem. 

Sexy and scary, huh? That tracked. 

Smirking, Lauriam ran his fingertips over the arched stone walls, color rippling out from them until the whole sewer started to shimmer like a multicolored disco ball. It wasn’t as saturated as he’d made the water, he wasn’t trying to craft a headache here, but it turned a gross and dismal place like a sewer into something whimsical. 

And almost magical, the impulse barely something Lauriam thought about as plants started to grow out of the cracks and borders of the sewer, delicate little white buds opening up into flowers.

“Wow!” Kaito gasped, looking up and around as the tunnel stones changed. Kaito felt like he was standing in the center of aurora lights, the air shimmering and changing gently around him. And through the rainbow streaks, flowers were starting to bud and grow between the cracks. Kaito looking on in awe as he reached to gently touch one of the blooming flowers. “This is amazing… Korekiyo, did you know this would happen?”

Kaito called out, hoping his boyfriend might step out now that Kaito was less upset. But when no one showed up, he hummed a bit, before more confidently heading down the tunnel. Curious to see if this was happening everywhere or not.

OoO awwww I was hoping he’d dance

O.O

OoO watch your ankles.

At that, the vine tightened around Lauriam’s ankle. The dogs having sniffed out his position, as the vines pulled at the Somebody, trying to drag him into the ground.

Lauriam’s smile softened as he watched the Momota’s amazement. The Ouma had asked someone to come mess with his husband, sure, but that didn’t mean that they had to scare Prince Kaito. It felt…nice, doing something cool to a normal person with his Empathy for once. 

Though, Lauriam could only give Amaina a confused glance for a second before he gasped at the vines latching around his legs, tugging him down. Lauriam would like to say that he recognized, ah, this was the defense, this was the thing he needed to test…

But it was more of an impulse of panic, and some offense that drove him instead. 

Glaring at the vines, Lauriam touched them. Uh-uh, no way, plants were his thing, no way some other construct was going to--

“Eep!” Lauriam quickly clamped down on a shout as more vines latched around the arm he’d tried to touch them with, starting to pull him down, down…

Green eyes widened in worry.

Before there was, briefly, just a ball of pink light in the air. The vines latched around nothing. 

As his body reformed, Lauriam jumped up and started running. Not about to stick around and make it easy for those defenses to get him. 

OOO GOOD LUCK

OoO Don’t let the mean lady stab you!

As Amaina flew into the walls–her small, construct body made it easier to get through Kaito’s mind, in the same way Lauriam’s brief change into his light ball self had–the vines shot up and over the walls, diving and wrapping back into the cracks as they chased him down the tunnel. 

The dream wasn’t infinite though, and Lauriam was moving through Kaito’s mind in a literal way. The tunnel’s rainbow effect darkened into blackness as he ran, before starting to light up around him. Lauriam stepping into the castle hallways, now in a new section of Kaito’s mind. 

In the distance, ahead, dogs started to bark. They had lost track of Lauriam for a moment, and were alerting the mind that they were giving chase as they barked and ran. Trying to pin his presence down again.

“Don’t get caught yourself!” Lauriam called back, feeling…weirdly invigorated. Not getting caught by defenses made by the strongest Empath Lauriam had ever seen wasn’t exactly just a friendly competition, but there was something so comradely and, just, fun about Amaina being in a similar position that drove him forward. 

And forward into…some incredibly fancy area. The feelings were familiar, home-like, so Lauriam could only guess this was the castle, either one, or some similar place Prince Momota had lived. He quickly looked around, before hearing the dogs. 

Dogs and vines, huh…? Well, if the dogs were what was looking for him, then…

Lauriam smirked a little. Dogs tracked by scent. Wasn’t that lucky that it was him that had been sent, huh?

Feeling the area he was in, Lauriam matched his ‘scent’ to it, quickly looking behind him before trying some doors in the hallway. 

There was more barking, then silence… then howls. 

Then… silence…

The dogs had lost track of him entirely, and as far as that defense was concerned, that meant the invader had left. The vines grabbed where the dogs alerted them, so the vines had also grown still and hidden. 

But the third defense wasn’t purely reactionary. And in the hallways were footsteps. This defense able to reason out that where the intruder had last been needed to be checked… and then to widen the circle of checking through Kaito’s mind. Determined to look everywhere, to confirm nothing was there…

“This is my place,” a very, very tall woman with long red hair wearing a battered, mismatched suit of armor growled. Her every step falling onto the hallway floor with a heavy THUMP as she looked around, scanning the area. “No one else is allowed to be here without permission… I swear… THIS TIME, AMAINA!” the woman shouted, “THIS TIME I’M GOING TO SLICE YOU IN TWO!”

OoO she always says that, Amaina whispered into Lauriam’s ear, resting on his shoulder. Sometimes I think the reason wisdom baby doesn’t keep me out is because I give her exercise.

The first door Lauriam tried didn’t open, and then the second one–

It was just a random cleaning closet, meant for the servants to not have to go to a whole different part of the castle to grab more cleaning supplies for that wing. But inside there were giggles, before a much younger Kaito whispered, “Shhh, not so loud. We can’t stay in here, someone could walk in.”

“Isn’t that kind of fun, though?” Marcus whispered, wrapping his arms around Kaito’s neck and pulling him back into a kiss. “Come on, I like it in here. We’ll be so quick.”

“We really shouldn’t, I’m so dead if someone catches us and word gets back to the head secretary…” Kaito bit his lower lip, Marcus alluringly looking up at him as he pulled him back more on top of him, pressed against the wall. “...okay. Quick.”

“So quick,” Marcus agreed, the two now fumbling with their clothes.

O.O

OoO see this is why I like to hang out here, this place is FULL of shit like this

Ah, so Amaina was practically a VIP here. Very cool. Given their difficulties with the Chibi, Lauriam figured that The Ouma was just counting her as an outlier when it came to his husband’s defenses. 

Though, a defense as a full person? Damn, Ouma. 

“Always a good idea to give your constructs maintenance,” Lauriam whispered back, giving the Chibi a wink. 

Hoping for a door to work, Lauriam didn’t hesitate when the second door opened, quickly coming in and closing it behind him, and--

Lauriam blinked, looking at the memory figments up and down, before letting out a puff of breath. “Guess it’s not that uncommon, but what a strange thing to have in common,” he noted, before putting his ear to the door, listening for the menacing woman. 

Though, he did give Amaina a side-glance, thinking for a moment. “...you said you’re about Zexion’s age, right? You’re a teenager?”

OOO I’M A BRAIN FAIRY

O.O

OoO I’m 16 yeah

O.O;;

OOO;; I’M ANCIENT MOST CONSTRUCTS ARE WEE BABES 

OoO truly I am an ancient tree growing in a desert among brief, pretty animals. Steady and constant shade for the brief, wonderful lives in an otherwise inhospitable environment 

O.O

OoO that crazy lady out there is like a year old she’s just a baby

“Found you.” THUNK! The tip of a massive blade protruded through the wooden door. 

“W-what was that!?” the Kaito memory asked, looking up and staring at the door. Now looking around the bathroom of the abandoned alcohol factory warily, suddenly nervous as he heard the sound of the party outside the walls. “Am I in danger here? Everyone’s acting so damn weird out there…” he muttered, going to wash the thin cuts on his hand. “I hope Kokichi’s having fun still. I’m going to feel like such an asshole if he isn’t, I told him this would be fine… but this party is weird…” 

“Did you say something?” A man–Tom–waiting outside the bathroom door called in.

“No! Just talking to myself!” Kaito shouted, ignoring as another stab splintered the door. Saint Madison weakening the wood before she kicked in the center.

The door clattered to pieces, and she glared at first at Amaina… before her eyes widened in surprise, looking at Lauriam. “Who are you?” 

Lauriam laughed softly. “Takes a special weirdo to keep a construct more than a couple years, yeah. You’re quite generous to show all the newbies the ropes, though.” And that made more sense getting excited over seeing a few teenagers messing around in a closet. Amaina seemed like she was made with more whimsy than a one-to-one construction of a person, so for all the limitations of a mental being trying to get their kicks? It was fortunate she had a lot of doors open. 

And that Kaito had a lot of open doors, he supposed. 

Which meant they weren’t very sturdy.

Reeling back with a small gasp, Lauriam’s eyes widened at the freaking sword coming through the door, quickly trying to think of an escape route--this new bathroom didn’t look any more open than the closet--before the defense broke the door down. Okay, okay, there were…toilets, but was he really going to--

Lauriam blinked back in surprise at the giant, red-haired woman in the doorway. Something almost entirely forgotten in his mind pinging, an old illustration, but one he’d seen nonetheless, as he gawked:

“Are you supposed to be Saint Madison?”

“I’m supposed to be a protector,” Madison suddenly snarled, raising her sword, “And you are in my place.”

And with a cry, she brought the sword down onto him. Attempting to expel him forcibly from Kaito’s mind.

“Oh give me a break,” Lauriam muttered, “Strongest freaking Empath in the world, invoking a Saint for his husband… Heh. Guess the Momotas really are blessed. Prince Kaito’s a lucky guy.”

Taking a breath, Lauriam focused himself. Kokichi had asked them to test these defenses, not roll over and play along with them. If he was meant to be an obstacle, he was going to be one. He hoped this saint would rise to the occasion too. 

As the sword came down, Lauriam blinked away, almost seeming like it had worked…but the ball of light just flashed for a moment before he reformed, moving back and no longer in his Nobody cloak, braced back on his scythe. 

Grinning excitedly at Saint Madison, Lauriam called, “Then get me out of here, protector! Let’s see if the Sword Against Thousands lives up to her inspiration.”

O.O;;;

OOO;;; I’M NOT ASSOCIATED WITH HIM PLEASE DON’T KICK ME OUT OF HERE

Amaina fluttered off, going to hide in Kaito’s shirt, who blinked dazedly when she did so. Touching the memory physically clueing surface conscious Kaito, woah… something was happening…

His eyes focused, and he was standing in a bathroom he half-remembered, watching as, with a cry, Saint Madison swung her massive blade again, the edge cutting into the walls cleanly before leaving an explosion of debris in their wake as she swung at some guy with bright pink hair, who was literally bouncing off the walls like a tennis ball that had been let loose in a small space with full force. 

Stepping back as more debris flew through the air, the blades destroying the bathroom as glass shattered next, the blades piercing through it in the saint’s attempt to slice open the scythe–wow that was a big scythe, that was kinda sexy–guy, Kaito looked down his shirt, where big, oddly slitted red eyes peered up at him.

OnO

OoO soooooo have any cool dreams lately??

Kaito groaned, rubbing his temple. More and more awake as the Empath and construct battled it out… before he grit his teeth. “Okay,” he said, focusing, “That’s enough.”

And a partially constructed crown now laid on his head, Kaito grit his teeth and focused, before bringing up his hand and snapping his fingers. Like a countdown. Snap. Snap. 

Yellow ribbons shot out and wrapped around both Lauriam and Saint Madison. Growing tight around both of them, as Kaito groaned again, sitting down on the false throne Kokichi had made for him in the dream that he had gifted Kaito’s defenses on. His crown–half formed as it was–twisted and held into place by a braid of yellow ribbons, securing it onto his head as he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, the cape blanketing comfortingly on his shoulders, Kaito breathing in, then out, then in… before he squinted at Lauriam and Saint Madison. 

“...that really hurt,” Kaito complained at them, gesturing to the ribbons, “It still hurts, actually, this is really hard. If I send those off, will you two calm the hell down?”

…look, it’d been a while. And Lauriam really loved his family, and they genuinely gave him challenging fights, but…

It was so nice fighting someone new for once. Someone that was really putting their all into it, coming after him with strength and vigor and passion, and Lauriam had to put his full focus into dodging shattering sword swipes. Sure, he wasn’t battling lethally back, but trying to disable your opponent was just as serious in a fight, if you weren’t moving with haphazard scrappiness. And someone able to disable Kaito’s defenses was just as much a problem as anything else. 

He was so focused on the fight, he barely registered the memory of Kaito off to the side. And that was a mistake. 

Lauriam’s eyes widened in surprise as ribbons suddenly snagged around him, not letting him budge an inch, even when he pushed, which was…was this another defense???

Squirming in his bounds, Lauriam finally looked back to Kaito, some of the sense of fun in him souring, seeing…a rich, royal asshole. 

But one that was aware. And exerting influence. 

Lauriam gave Kaito a puzzled look. “...wait, The Ouma said you weren’t an Empath. And you acted like you’d never sent intent before at all when you connected with him, your grace.”

Kaito’s left eye twitched. He was starting to sweat. It didn’t actually matter if the visitor was going to agree to calm down or not, he couldn’t keep up the ribbons. 

After a moment, the ribbons vanished. Kaito let out a shuddering breath as the crown on his head stopped vibrating against his skull, disappearing after a moment… though his cape and sword were still on him, as he gave Lauriam a wary look. “The Ouma…”

“Wait,” Kaito blinked, “Are you the guy who’s meant to test my defenses? Kokichi said he was gonna ask someone… I didn’t think he’d ask you guys. You’re one of the Nobodies, right?”

But before Lauriam could answer, Kaito looked at Saint Madison and said, “Stop. I’m talking to him! He clearly has permission to be here if I’m talking to him, we’ve talked about this!” 

Saint Madison, who had hefted her sword over her head and was about to slice down at Lauriam, paused… before scowling. Still just holding the sword over him, clearly waiting for an excuse. 

“I swear, it’s like a damn zoo in my mind every time someone comes to visit–what did I say? Down! Down!” Kaito shouted at the vines, which had started slithering up Lauriam’s legs, before retreating. “Auuugh, ‘Kiiiiiichiiiiiii my head hurts… ‘Kichi?” Kaito asked, looking around, surprised, “Did my husband not come with you?”

Lauriam let out a breath as the ribbons disappeared, rubbing his arm as he still gave Kaito a confused look. Okay, whatever that was, Kaito didn’t have a ton of sustained control over it…but that was still so much baby Empath’s first construct. Maybe…Prince Kaito was just a weak Empath, and these were defenses Prince Kokichi had given to boost him? That explained the gratuitous number of them…but Kaito had been wholly unaware of Lauriam until just now, even with his defenses going off. Empaths, even weak ones against people trying to be sneaky, wouldn’t take that long. 

So what the heck was going on?

Lauriam didn’t have a lot of time to think about that, as Prince Kaito very swiftly reminded him who he was talking to. A Momota Prince. 

His lips ticking down slightly as Prince Momota ordered around his construct, Lauriam hesitated before bowing deeply to the prince, staying down. (An elite’s talking to you, Lauriam. Regardless of the circumstances.) 

“No, your grace,” Lauriam bit out, “Prince Ouma wished for this to be a true test of your defenses.” Even if talking to him like this wasn’t exactly following that plan… But it did seem like if there was real danger, Kaito’s menagerie would be able to handle it. And Lauriam wasn’t sure who’d keep going berserk being asked to talk like this. 

Unsure if this was too much for an elite--and growling within himself that oooooh hoho he wanted to go so far beyond ‘too much’--Lauriam explained, “I’m no longer a Nobody, but you’re correct about the group of people. I’m one of the Empaths from the factory that Prince Ouma has been in contact with. My name is Lauriam Belrose, your grace.”

Kaito pouted–damn, no ‘Kichi. But his head hurt! He wanted husband comfort!--before he frowned, resting his head against one of his fingers as he leaned against the arm of his pretend throne. There was something weird about this, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was…

… something weird, but not obvious. Weird, but not obvious…

…oh! 

…..oh nooooo, was hearing someone speak deferentially to him now weird!? Nooooo!! Auuuuuuugh. Dicea had ruined him! His mother was rolling in her grave! Oh noooooo–

“Please rise,” Kaito said, which was what a royal was allowed to say to a bow, if they didn’t feel like rising up to greet it back. It was considered a particularly royal perk, otherwise only considered polite if the person being bowed to would clearly suffer to rise to bow back, due to old age or illness. It wasn’t a particularly friendly gesture.

This was though, as he sighed. “And, please, we can cool it on the polite-speak. I mean, I appreciate it, don’t get me wrong, thank you. But if my husband shows up and hears you talking to me like that, my family is going to mock me for a week,” he said, not wanting to admit that it just didn’t sound entirely comfortable anymore. How was he going to function visiting Luminary again!? This was just how people talked to him!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh–

“It’s nice to meet you, Lauriam!” Kaito grinned, before wincing, touching his temple as he groaned. “How do you feel a headache, in your head, in your head? Shouldn’t the pain be everywhere? Preferably everywhere else? It’s not like this is actually a blood vessel, why is it throbbing?” Kaito wondered, touching his temple lightly, “Man… so how did my defenses do?”

“Terribly, your grace,” Saint Madison scowled, still clutching her sword, “He’s still here.”

“Give yourself a break, divine, this feels like a win! I mean, I’m aware he’s here, and we stopped him–”

“He could literally dart away now and do untold damage, if he wanted to,” Saint Madison scowled, taking a step back, “You never take intrusions seriously enough. It’s not just what he’s capable of wandering around and seeing. He could change things, change you. He’s a danger every second he’s here, and that little trick you pulled with your conditioning ribbons only stalled the problem, it didn’t finish it. Which I should do. With my sword.”

OoO I think you handle intrusions very reasonably

“Really just going to stay there, are you?” Kaito asked, looking down his shirt. “I think, considering Kokichi’s put a damn army in my brain to fight intrusions, that it’s alright for me to be a little patient with them. I’m not really in danger, you guys would get them eventually.”

“We work most effectively when you feel at risk,” Saint Madison scoffed, “What do you think happens if you act like it’s no big deal!? You’re practically tying our hands here.”

Lauriam straightened, giving Kaito an unsure look. A royal, a Momota, saying cool it on formalities? Sure, that’s what The Ouma did, but Lauriam could give the benefit of the doubt and say that was a cultural difference, especially since Kokichi had said that too. But Lauriam was Luminary, and Kaito was Luminary, and right now the only noble Lauriam trusted was Ienzo, who looked ill every time someone mentioned the fact that he was nobility. 

…still, now that Kaito had said it, it wasn’t like Lauriam could argue. 

Dismissing his scythe, Lauriam didn’t feel like interrupting the defense’s self-assessment of her work, so he just listened, nodding at certain points, forming his own--

What?

Lauriam’s expression went puzzled again, before there was a break in the conversation that he wasn’t going to let pass by. “Divine makes a good point. I was able to change several things while I was here, cosmetic though they were. I’ll give your system props that they were able to notice an intruder almost immediately, but I was able to evade them pretty well, and only one,” he nodded respectfully to Saint Madison, “was actually able to not be fooled by my efforts to hide.”

“That’s actually incredibly impressive for any mind, Empath or not, though,” he noted. “If you followed through on actually booting me from your mind? A malicious intruder might be able to cause a little havoc, but I genuinely think it would be minimal, especially since all things considered it’d probably be an Empath weaker than me.”

Lauriam sighed a little. “...but that’s only if you follow through. Your protector’s right. I don’t actually mean you harm, your husband would make sure I don’t wake up this time, but someone who would? If they were committed, even stopping to talk to you like this wouldn’t keep them from exerting influence elsewhere.”

“Though the ribbon trick really did stop me,” he admitted, before giving Kaito a confused look. “Why call them conditioning ribbons, though? You of all people should know that’s in pretty bad taste.” Despite himself, Lauriam gave Kaito a flat, slightly disparaging look. “And despite some of the rumors I heard when I finally got out, I’m well aware the Momotas weren’t in charge of conditioning.”

“My Kokichi would never harm you like that,” Kaito said… though there was a small smirk at the corner of his mouth when he said it. He knew it was true, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t nice hearing someone acknowledge Kokichi’s strength. It made Kaito proud, made him want to preen a little. 

“Conditioning ribbons… oh, right,” Kaito frowned, glancing over at Saint Madison, “I guess that is just basically what they are. I don’t actually know how I did that. I’ve never done it before. This, uh… defense my husband put on my head?” Kaito said, pointing to where it usually sat on the top of his head when he was thinking about it, though this time Kaito had to focus to get it to appear, it flickering, like it was still recovering from what just happened, “Everything I’m wearing right now is basically just another defense, my husband really wanted to be sure I’d be safe. But this one was never finished. I wonder if it finished on its own and that’s what he had always meant it to do?”

“But, it seems that it used… Divine, clarify something for me.” Kaito frowned, looking to his saint. “Did those just look like the ribbons? Or were they actually the ribbons?”

Saint Madison shrugged. “They’re probably just copies, you subconsciously taking inspiration from them. The ribbons are gone otherwise, so I doubt you’re just moving them yourself.”’

“....right,” Kaito frowned, “When you say ‘gone’...”

“I don’t know how I could be clearer,” Saint Madison said, looking a little exasperated with Kaito, “I finished cutting the roots of those out ages ago. They were annoying, I was tired of cutting them.”

“........... oh.” Kaito said, “That’s probably really important… um…” He looked around, clearly a little taken off guard… before he startled. “Oh, I’m supposed to be watching Miyako right now. Amaina, could you check on her for me?”

OOO DANCING TIME!

“Thank you,” Kaito said, standing up from the false throne as Amaina disappeared from his shirt, gesturing for Lauriam to follow as he offered, “Would you like some wine? Or, mead? I fully intend to answer your question, sorry, I just like doing something with my hands when I’m thinking about things. Pouring you a drink will give me something to do.” He headed to a little drink stand that was tucked away in the corner of the false throne room. After all, this place had been designed with the idea of Kokichi wooing Kaito, once upon a time. Refreshments nearby didn’t hurt.

“It’s sort of an open secret these days, but it’s stilllll kiiiiind of a secret… nah, it probably isn’t,” Kaito sighed, before shrugging as he set up some glasses, “I was conditioned myself as a kid. Nothing as serious as what everyone else went through for that process. Just, you know… people having some fun.”

Lauriam’s eyes narrowed a little as he tried to make sense of…anything. It likely wasn’t something they were meaning to do on purpose, but to Lauriam it felt like Prince Kaito and Saint Madison were having a whole conversation talking around key aspects that he just didn’t know. Which was incredibly aggravating for knowing literally anything about what was happening. 

He sighed. “I’ll take mead, sure. Considering the effort it takes, I really doubt alcohol in your mind actually makes you feel drunk.” He rolled his eyes a little. “I already turned down drinks tonight, I feel like I’d have a lecture waiting for me if I embraced it now.”

Very aware of the sword Saint Madison still had gripped beside him, Lauriam only followed Kaito over to the stand with his eyes. Though, he did openly scowl. 

“There’s nothing fun about conditioning,” Lauriam said lowly, an immediate response. “And there’s no way to make it fun, unless you’re a sadi--”

Lauriam quickly cut himself off, realization blooming on his face. That memory had even mentioned it before too, and it wasn’t like they hadn’t known his position in the castle. 

Not thinking it through, Lauriam’s eyes widened into sympathetic horror. “Master Tengan conditioned you?” Then, his brain caught up. “Wait, no--you’re not conditioned. This isn’t a conditioned mind,” he pointed to the ground in emphasis, “This isn’t…” The rest of the picture came in, as Lauriam’s arms dropped. A mix of amazement and…a little hurt, honestly, passing over him. 

In a small, soft voice, Lauriam put together, “...your husband knows how to get rid of conditioning?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Kaito said, grabbing a large, vase-like bottle of mead and pouring it into the glass carefully. Not allowing it to foam too much, before pouring himself some as well. “Or, maybe now not that’s he’s aware of? He’s been trying! Him and his friends.”

Picking up the glass, Kaito headed back to the center of the false throne room, passing Lauriam his drink, before gesturing for him to follow him back to the false throne. Pillows around it that would be suitable to sit on, as he flopped back onto the throne itself, lifting a leg over one of the arm rests as he rested his head on his palm on the other. “They’ve been working on something to ease the symptoms before now, but it’s tricky. They basically have to make a whole new version of Saint Madison for a person individually, which I can guess even as a non-Empath is tough. But, the way they explained it to me, the biggest issue is scaling it down? Apparently it’s tough for any Empath to make a Saint Madison,” Kaito frowned, “She keeps my conditioning under control for me… or, she did. You’re sure my conditioning is gone, divine?”

“As I said. I got the roots,” Saint Madison said, “It took some time, but I had time to spare. When the obnoxious fairy isn’t running around trying to look at things.”

“Yeah… Master Tengan,” Kaito frowned, giving Lauriam a puzzled look, “People don’t call him that. Everyone calls him Head Secretary, that’s his title… I thought only I called him that. Why do you call him that?”

Lauriam frowned uneasily. That was…a little better, he guessed. But Ienzo hadn’t exactly been subtle to The Ouma that he was trying to undo conditioning. If The Ouma had been running his own experiments…why hadn’t he told them? Sure, Lauriam supposed Prince Kokichi wasn’t obligated to do literally anything for them, but he’d heard thousands of times over the years from Even and Ienzo that the greatest tool a scientist could ever have was collaboration. A trade and sharing of information. 

Prince Kokichi had said before he was interested in Ienzo’s efforts. 

(Was…someone trying to potentially extort his little brother?)

Lauriam stiffened a bit, even as he accepted the drink and took the seat Kaito indicated. 

He gave Kaito a skeptical look. “Your instincts are right. Making a construct as advanced as yours? That’s insanely difficult, even for someone with a lot of power. And if the answer is making a custom one for every person?”

…but it got rid of conditioning. Completely. There weren’t any tells in Kaito’s mind that Lauriam knew would be clear indicators that someone had conditioning. Ienzo had explained that his breakthrough was just getting rid of the symptoms, not getting rid of conditioning itself. Though if that’s what The Ouma had been trying to do before this…

Lauriam groaned and muttered quietly, “He’s never going to sleep again, is he.”

Though Kaito’s next question was even worse for morale. 

Scowling, the look not just wholly angry, but with some fear in that anger, Lauriam’s form wavered for a moment, the light in his chest becoming more visible. “Because that’s what he insisted on during his ‘visits’. He was such a stronger Empath than the rest of us, so obviously he needed a title to indicate that.” Lauriam huffed through his nose, before raising his glass in a cheers. “Good fucking riddance.” 

Kaito sipped at his mead, looking at Lauriam. “Is that so…”

Saint Madison twitched as she felt something in Kaito shift, as she said stiffly from where she was standing at the center of the throne room, “Your grace, I am certain it’s time to send him away. The test is done, there’s nothing more to learn.”

“Lauriam can leave whenever he likes, I can’t keep him.” Kaito shrugged. Pretending like he wasn’t aware that Saint Madison had felt his desperate desire for Lauriam to stay and tell him more, as he played off as casually as he could, “But there’s no harm in making conversation over a drink! It’s just the one! That won’t affect either of us, it’s suuuuper fake. What’s the harm?”

“...he told me that he liked to be called ‘Master’ because that’s what you called a teacher who was an expert at something,” Kaito said, shifting onto his side on his false throne a bit, now practically lounging across it, “You know, like the master of a dojo, getting a masters degree, that sort of thing. I believed him, actually, for a long time. When I asked him why no one else had to call him ‘master’ and why I had to only do it when we were alone, he said it was because I had more to learn than everyone else.”

“I realized as I got older he just got a kick out of it,” Kaito said, “It never occurred to me that he was taking that kink out on other people. Damn, and here I thought I was special.”

Lauriam glanced around, feeling the bounds of that shift. He’d mostly stayed, well, because he was still testing, sort of, at least delivering his opinion about it, and then learning about The Ouma’s secrets, but now, being dismissed by a royal? He could just leave…

But it looked like Momota wanted to talk some shit. And while Kaito wasn’t his friend, Lauriam couldn’t say griping about Tengan with someone else didn’t sound appealing. 

“Tsk,” Lauriam scoffed at the ‘explanation’ Tengan had once given Kaito, grimacing at the damn audacity of that monster. It was bad, and betraying what he did to them. That he did it to the literal prince of their country? And regularly disparaging, it sounded like too?

“Ugh, he’s the worst,” Lauriam groaned, before giving Kaito a dismal look as some words sunk in. “He did that shit to you when you were a kid too, huh.”

“Oh, come on, does Tengan seem like a guy with a lot of scruples and limits?” Kaito laughed, somehow delighted by Lauriam’s clear, obvious distaste and resentment towards Tengan. 

It wasn’t that it was novel. Even before Kokichi had rocked Tengan’s world and kicked him out of Kaito’s life with a vengeance, Byakuya had hated Tengan for years as well. Togami had also hated Tengan and all three of them had said plenty of shit against him, commiserating with Kaito’s situation. Maki and Shuichi, back in Luminary, hadn’t entirely realized how bad the situation was, outside of usual elites doing their usual bullshit, and even knowing about the conditioning, hadn’t quite been able to turn their hatred of Tengan into what was exciting him so much about what Lauriam was saying.

Which was coming from someone else who, like… got it, got it. Someone who Knew with a capital K. Exactly what the fuck Kaito was talking about when he said, “I don’t even know if he was a real pedophile or just literally couldn’t see the difference between pulling that shit on me as a kid or as an adult. I think he just couldn’t comprehend other people were, like… human. You know what I mean? With anything that came with that. I think I was just a toy that over the years got bigger.”

Lauriam rolled his eyes a bit. “Even knowing it’s shit, you can still reel from how bad it smells.”

Was that a wild thing to say to a prince? Yes, but Lauriam was far too blinded by his comradery of despising the man who’d significantly ruined his life to second guess anything. 

“Ugh,” Lauriam groaned louder, his mouth twisting, “I’d speculate he just liked the power trip of kids being more helpless, but even full adults couldn’t fight back. Maybe he just enjoyed that kids are generally worse at holding back tears or being outright horrified.”

Lauriam gave Kaito a commiserating look. “He’d been head secretary longer than dirt for your family, right? So you would’ve known him literally forever. I already thought it was messed up enough that he got to my little siblings as early as he did.”

He shook his head a little. “It was already a red flag that he was a free Empath, though,” Lauriam rolled his eyes, “apparently, like everything else, rules are different for elites. But that he was working with the factory, and still free. It always felt just that much more insulting that he’d do all that to us, as another Empath. If the ego trip came from being psychic, he’d really not be the only one. But he treated the rest of us like that too.”

“He was given the title back when my great grandfather was still king, yeah,” Kaito agreed, “And he was the previous head secretary’s protege for years before that. So yeah. Older than dirt.”

“Your younger siblings…?” Kaito frowned, giving Lauriam a newly concerned look, “I guess I did know that, that younger people were in the factory… sorry.” He sighed, sitting up and looking away a bit, feeling the need to sit straighter as he confided, “I don’t have a good excuse, but, as a Momota, I want to apologize for just… how little I really comprehended what was happening, with the factories. Even my role as someone in my family for ensuring it’d happen the way it did, I want to apologize for, but me not really getting how bad it was feels like something I had more power over. I knew Indentureds growing up, I heard the news about the factories, I listened to the guy who helped design them literally explain how they worked to my brother, and I just… I’ve been realizing in the last year that I still never really understood the impact it was having on the people in the program. No one in the program were just people growing up differently. It was…”

Kaito frowned, before sighing, taking a sip of his mead. “It’s a little lackluster to say ‘it was bad’, because obviously. But that hadn’t been obvious to me, when I was growing up. So, I’m sorry. As a Momota who didn’t get it. I’m sorry what we put you through.”

Lauriam thought it was obvious, but maybe it did need explaining that he was talking about some of the other Empaths…

…but that wasn’t the disconnect. 

And in some ways, this was something Lauriam hadn’t known he wanted. An elite, the elite, in a way, someone that was so fucking close to actually being one of the people responsible for all the pain and tragedy he and his loved ones had gone through, apologizing to him. It was too little too late, obviously, but just someone in charge realizing that what had happened was a nightmare, and had taken things that could never be given back. 

So Lauriam sat up, his gaze going a little steely, as Kaito apologized for not knowing. For being willfully ignorant in the face of every opportunity to know exactly what was happening and how it impacted people. Lauriam wasn’t under the delusion that Kaito could’ve changed anything, but even just knowing, not…being an elite on cloud nine, assuming that things weren’t really that hard for everyone else…

Lauriam’s jaw tensed, his light flickering in his chest as he let go of a short breath. “...everyone I care about lost everything their lives could’ve been because of the program your family put in place. I had loved ones who lived and died in that factory, never seeing the sky again once Togami knew who they were. My family have lost parents, children, spouses…” Lauriam’s light flickered erratically. “My sister is dead because of the Indentured program.”

Letting that sit for a moment, Lauriam quietly said, “...I want an apology for them too.”

Kaito winced, looking away for a moment. Pained at the reality of Lauriam’s situation… before he took a breath, nodding as he looked back. “They can have it. Now and later. I know just being told sorry isn’t much. And I know I’m maybe not the perfect person to answer for what happened… but. I also know that sometimes this is all we get. So… I’ve actually really wanted offer more of an apology for a while now. To everyone, but…”

Kaito grinned warily. “I can’t apologize to a whole people. Not in a way that would matter. But you guys? You and your family and everything you all lost? I’ll apologize. Now. Later. To you. To them. In whatever way helps… I want to. It’d bring me as much peace as I’d hope it’d bring you all, however we end up exploring it.”

“I don’t like being some terrible thing that happened to people,” Kaito admitted softly. “I’ll never understand why Tengan loved it so much, but it keeps me up at night, knowing I’m the villain in way too many stories. I want to redeem myself, if I can.”

Lauriam nodded tensely, words too difficult for a moment. Sometimes an apology from the wrong person was all you got. Sometimes there just was no proper retribution. But actually getting something meant a lot more than Lauriam had ever thought it would, if he even came close to conceptualizing it. 

There was no bringing Strelitzia back. There was no reuniting Ienzo with his parents, and while Demyx reuniting with his, and the definite reunion they were making for Aqua to meet with Ventus were things that could happen…they were still never getting back the years of their lives trapped in a prison, demeaned and tortured. 

But there was someone saying, yes, all that was horrible, and it shouldn’t have happened, I’m sorry. 

Words were too difficult, and, for a moment, more was too, as Lauriam’s form flickered, his body entirely phasing out and the pink light settling on the cushions before he pulled himself together, now splayed and looking a little disoriented. But still saying, “Thank you, Prince Kaito.”

“Are you okay?” Kaito frowned, shifting off of the throne to squat down next to Lauriam’s pillow. Suddenly looking him over with that stern, insistent expression that anyone in his life would recognize as the ‘shifted into caretaker mode’ thing that he had perfected since marrying Kokichi. “You phased out. Literally. Divine, call my husband.”

Saint Madison sighed, muttering “Finally,” as she pulled out a bell, ringing it.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Lauriam huffed, waving Kaito down. 

Though, immediately at the sound of the bell, Kokichi popped in, looking expectant and hopeful before he blinked in shock and rushed over, matching Kaito’s squat by Lauriam. 

“Lauriam?” Kokichi asked, sounding baffled, “Why are you here?”

Lauriam gave the prince a flat look. “You asked for one of us to come test Prince Kaito’s defenses.”

“No, I mean…” Kokichi gave the Empath a more worried look-over, “I did hear you were awake again, but I thought you’d still be resting for a while. I’m glad you’re up! But…” Kokichi paused, trying to think of a kinder way to say this. “...going up against anti-Empath defenses doesn’t seem that…restful.”

Lauriam sniffed a little, holding himself straighter in pride. “Going up against a defense that’s meant to only eject Empaths, not hurt them, in a pre-planned test sounds like a better way to stretch my legs than most things.”

“So you ARE sick!” Kaito accused him, though he turned and immediately brightened up to see his husband. Yaaaay. Kokichi was here! “Sorry to bother you while you were at work, babe, but he phased out into light! I figured you’d know if something was wrong more than I could guess. Is there anything we can do for him?”

“We could stab him,” Saint Madison said a few feet off.

“We’re not stabbing him!” Kaito shouted back at her, “...oh! ‘Kichi, not to distract from this, but I have to tell you! Saint Madison said my conditioning is gone!”

“I’m not sick,” Lauriam sighed, honestly a little amused, “I’m just weakened.”

Bumping affectionately against Kaito’s shoulder, Kokichi shook his head. “No worries. I didn’t know exactly when the test was happening, to make sure I wouldn’t accidentally influence it, but I figured I might get some sort of notice. Admittedly not for this, though.”

Sighing softly, Kokichi looked Lauriam over worriedly again. “That’s concerning, though not surprising that you’re going light mode still. When you’re over exerting yourself?”

“Basically,” Lauriam shrugged. “Sometimes I don’t even have to do anything, though, I’m just tired. But you and Alter Ego did warn about that.”

Kokichi nodded slowly. “I see… If you’re more stable than not, then you could probably be okay with some extra energy, but I’d still be worried about ‘over-charging’ you, so to speak. I might send you off with a little just to make sure you can get back to your own mind and not just collapse, though…”

Lauriam gave Kokichi a mildly exasperated look. “I really am fine. I just have a ball of light in my chest sometimes, but I can make it back alright. Look, it’s just…” Lauriam moved part of his collar out of the way, just to show off the light more--even if it shined through whatever he was wearing--but his words trailed off as he saw the top of a scar that…definitely hadn’t been there before. 

Though, there was a lot to be distracted by, as Kokichi perked. “Oh, yeah? She did say before that the bursts were getting more and more rare…that’s great!”

Still looking at his chest, Lauriam huffed in mild wonder, “No, like his conditioning is gone. Not dormant. This isn’t a conditioned mind anymore. No matter the stress or trigger or impetus, nothing linked to conditioning can happen.”

Kokichi’s eyes bugged as he looked back at Saint Madison, with what could only be described as, “!!!!”

“You said that before,” Kaito said, looking back at Lauriam curiously, even as he reached over to take Kokichi’s hand, gently squeezing it for a moment before letting him go. That squeeze both a congratulations and a thank you, as he asked Lauriam, “Why did you keep pointing to the ground when you said I didn’t seem conditioned at all? You can tell at a glance? Without having to watch me get an order or something?”

At Kokichi’s look, Saint Madison nodded. “I got frustrated with cutting them, and started working on getting to their roots. It took time, but I did find them. After that, it was just a matter of erasing them completely. Better than cutting them, much more efficient.”

Looking away from his chest (that was…something he’d look more at later), Lauriam nodded. His gaze going a bit tired. “Not at a glance, but you see enough conditioned minds? …make enough of them. You start picking up on the changes, what that feels like. What conditioning can manifest as can be wildly different, but how a conditioned mind feels? You can get a sense of the patterns.”

Kokichi gave Saint Madison an awed, proud look. “It is. Saint Madison, that’s…incredible. You were already amazing, but this is so far beyond even our best hopes… Alter Ego’s gonna be so excited!”

Green eyes sharpened as they looked back to Kokichi. 

“Right, actually, about that,” Lauriam noted, “You know Ienzo’s been working his butt off finding ways to get rid of conditioning. Why play so coy before, if you’ve been working on it too? And, apparently, have a method already.” While the words were casual, there was a certain underlying stiffness to Lauriam’s words. He knew better than to make threats in a mind not his own, to an Empath that could crush him like a bug, but Lauriam wasn’t about to back down on Ienzo’s behalf. 

And it seemed he was onto something, as Kokichi turned towards him with a guilty look. “...it’s not very fair, and…I will apologize to him properly. I know that was kind of mindgame-y. But you guys already have so many things to sort out, and within your minds too. When we were initially talking about it, and basically all of you were still your Nobodies… I didn’t think it was wise to incentivize you all to go to others’ minds like that, especially since my group’s still working on the method.”

Lauriam frowned more, some of his actual irritation showing through. “You didn’t want us to suddenly get tempted to torture people more. Because obviously that’s all our Nobodies were capable of, despite, oh I don’t know, swearing it off the second we were freed, and doing everything they could to try and make amends, as clumsy as those attempts were.”

Kokichi sighed a little exasperatedly. “Lauriam, I met you guys because your Nobodies mind-invaded my family and immediately tried to control them.”

Kaito at first just looked back and forth between Lauriam and Kokichi, content to let his husband handle it. He never liked hearing Kokichi apologize to someone else, but he had accepted by this point that it’d happen sometimes and he shouldn’t ‘Momota’ it. 

…but he bristled at the irritation being directed at his prince, as he suddenly gave Lauriam a hard look, reminding him stiffly, “Heir-apparent Kokichi doesn’t make decisions like this idly, and if he approached the situation with caution, it was because that was the correct thing to do. And I’d ask you to respect that.”

Genuine, hot anger blazed in Lauriam, his light flashing in his chest. Oh, so it was correct just because the heir apparent had decided it was, huh? Because royals always made the best decisions, and to question them was a sign of your own stupidity and narrow view, peasant. It didn’t matter if what they did was hurtful, or convoluted, or just batshit insane, they were the royal, the elite, so they were right.

And what are you going to do, commoner? 

Lauriam gave Kokichi a respectful bow, his words clipped. “My apologies, I’m sure you did what you thought was right, your grace.”

“Prince Consort Momota was able to find and detain me, though only the protector construct was able to see past concealing measures, and the Prince Consort himself prevented me from being ousted from his mind. I was able to influence scenery, which may point to a weak spot for someone entering with malicious intent. I hope I served you well, good day.”

And Lauriam disappeared. 

Kokichi blinked in shock and confusion, before giving the space where Lauriam was a regretful look. “...I really hurt his feelings with that. …shit…”

-

Lauriam got up with a growl under his breath, and headed outside. Rage burning through his blood, and the overgrown, unmaintained garden around the manor was going to get the brunt of it.

Dilan had actually been sunbathing, stretched out on a lounging chair made of twined together wicker wood, snoring slightly with a random book he had pulled from the library about how to build furniture on his chest, when he startled awake. He felt something spray against his face, once, twice, before blinking his eyes open. Pushing up his sunglasses as he looked around, frowning at his front as he realized… “Is this dirt? How is there dirt on me–Dandelion, would you cut it out!? What the hellfire are you kicking dirt around for??”

“It’s called gardening, actually,” Lauriam said coolly, even with his gaze narrowed spitefully at the overgrowth he was trimming back. ‘Weeds’ were all fine and good, Lauriam had managed to spot some native plants creeping back in the underbrush, but nearly every plant flourished with some trimming. Maybe he’d even manage to leave some seeds before they left, have a gift for later guests to the manor.

That was probably something to consider when he didn’t have a massive headache thrumming behind his eyes, and he didn’t feel like biting anyone’s head off, though.

“You actually garden?” Dilan asked, sitting up in his lounging chair and giving the dirt and leaf clumps a raised eyebrow, “Not going to lie, I thought that was more ‘aesthetic’ than practical knowledge. Well, at least you’re feeling stronger anyway.”

Lauriam gave Dilan a flat, challenging look. “Where do you think I even got everything I knew about plants in the first place? I know how to garden.” The rage blazed hotter in his eyes as he dug into the soil with more force, turning up the deep impact. “Just because it’s hard to actually have a garden if you’re not made of money doesn’t mean there aren’t ways around it. Pots exist, and don’t make you take out a loan.”

“Hmmm,” Dilan hummed, leaning back into his lounging chair, crossing one leg over his other knee as he rested his head against his biceps, “Someone’s pissed about something. You’ve got a whole tone. Who did it this time? Demyx say some shit again?”

Lauriam growled softly, holding back some roots to keep himself from damaging them. “You know how The Ouma asked Namine for one of us to go test his husband’s defenses? Apparently His Royal Fucking Highness has so many constructs in his head that he can get aware pretty easily.”

“Oooooh, no,” Dilan laughed, bringing up his book to wave it like a fan in his face as he said, “Oh no, did you actually manage to get into a fight with the fucking Momota prince and the husband of our biggest benefactor? Is that what I’m hearing right now? Oh shit, dandelion… Well, you do keep it interesting. What happened?”

Lauriam harshly sighed through his nose before looking up at Dilan, frustration obvious on him. “...The Ouma already knows how to get rid of conditioning. Was working on symptomatic stuff like Ienzo for a while, it sounds like. Way before we all met.”

Dilan tsked.

“...hmmm,” he hummed, pushing up his sunglasses and looking at the sky a bit. “...well, that’s gonna hurt our guy’s pride a bit, no doubt. Doesn’t really take away that he figured it out himself though. Is that what you’re pissed about? That someone else figured it out before our resident genius, or… oh,” Dilan sighed, leaning back, “He didn’t tell us.”

Lauriam huffed. “He didn’t tell us, specifically avoided telling us when it came up, and specifically said he was interested in Ienzo’s work on anti-conditioning. And when I asked about that? He said he didn’t want to tell our Nobodies because of course if we had a reason to go into people’s minds again, we’d just hurt them~”

Lauriam grit his teeth, snarling a bit as he cut some overgrown grass. “And for daring to question an elite, Momota basically asked me to get on my knees and bow in humble apology.”

“Fucking prick,” Lauriam hissed under his breath, actually having to stop working because he didn’t want to hurt any of the plants.

“Haha, shit, fucking assholes,” Dilan chuckled, “Hoarding’s an instinct for bastards like that. Hoard wealth, hoard info, hoard respect. Little dragons, all of them. Ahh… well, shit. Ienzo’s gonna be heartbroken. Could have had the answer ages ago, huh? Or, Zexion could have, anyway.”

“Can’t say I’m super surprised to hear the Momota’s a prick,” Dilan admitted, “I had hopes based on the Ouma, but Momotas are Momotas. Probably sees our whole group as assets. That’ll be tough to deal with when we get to Dicea, but we’ll manage.”

“Even a month ago would’ve been great,” Lauriam grumbled, just sitting in the dirt now and glaring through the tall grasses. “Since like everyone else Ouma couldn’t deign to try and find us. I’ve never seen Zexion disappointed that his experiments weren’t working, but having a clue? Hope that what he was trying was possible? And not having to theorize around scraps carelessly littered in conversation…”

Lauriam grit his teeth again, the tension in no way helping his headache. “Never a surprise that all elites do is exploit people.”

Scowling at the ground, Lauriam muttered, “Almost forgot it for a minute. He hates that dead bastard as much as we do, for the same damn reason, and,” Lauriam scoffed a laugh, “You know, he actually apologized to me, for everything his family did and just…anything he could actually apologize for? But elites will always be elites.”

“Which one?” Dilan asked, before raising an eyebrow, giving Lauriam a curious look, “The dead bastard? Huh. Yeah, I guess that’s not surprising, that they’d even know each other, but still color me surprised. The Head Secretary felt more like a damn eldritch horror than some political official. But, yeah, I guess he was.”

“An apology, huh…” Dilan considered that, before asking a tad morbidly, “Did he do any of the bows?”

Lauriam gave a tense nod, confirming who he meant, though he grumbled, “More than just knew each other, it sounded like he nearly raised Momota. Enough to condition him and play mind games in physical life too, at least.” Lauriam scowled more. “That’s how I know The Ouma can actually get rid of conditioning. Momota’s mind isn’t conditioned anymore.”

Huffing a little, Lauriam glanced up at Dilan exasperatedly. “No. But could you even imagine? It’d be such a useless gesture--if I actually wanted to take retribution, I’d have a sword through me in a second, before having God Ouma come track me down in my own mind. It’d be formality for formality’s sake, without the gesture even meaning anything.”

Looking to the side, Lauriam shrugged a little. “He did say he’d apologize to any of you guys, whenever, so…guess that’s something to think about when we get there. If that’s an offer still on the table.”

“...” Dilan hummed a bit, staring at the sky again, “...I’d break some fingers.”

He smirked, eyes distant, daydreamy, as he theorized, “Maybe they’d even let me get away with it. It’s not like I’m cutting anything off. With the right healers on it, it’d heal good as new… well, maybe not new. Maybe it’d twinge when the seasons changed. Fall would turn to winter, and maybe his pinky and ring finger both twinge and ache as the temperature drops… yeah, the ring finger. There’s almost something a little romantic in that, isn’t there? The ring finger is meant to be the one that displays commitments, vows… why not a little ache and pain. A vow to remember what we were put through.”

“Maybe it’d even follow him as he got older. Hands more gnarled. Bones creaking… but there would always be one little bit of pain in his joints that’d be just a little different.” Dilan closed his eyes. “I’d think fondly of it, if nothing else. Wondering if that day, some random twinge in the Momota’s hand suddenly made him think of me that day. Me and one of our biggest elites, in painful, vengeful matrimony. The end.”

“...they’d never let me do it,” Dilan sighed, “He’s already got a damn god as a husband who’s, what, literally filled his head with mental protections then? No way he’d let me break a few fingers. Some people get all the luck.”

Lauriam’s gaze slowly slid back to Dilan. Expression growing flat, then developing a pout, as Dilan waxed poetic about a minor injury haunting someone for the rest of their days, a periodic reminder that would never go away…

Lauriam pouted more, half-glaring at Dilan. His voice dry as he informed, “I’m pretty sure Momota is even younger than I am.”

“PFFF HAH!” Dilan laughed, sitting up and giving Lauriam a baffled, delighted look as he said, “No shit, you’re not jealous that I want to break some pretty rich boy's hand, right? He is pretty, yeah? I’ve heard he’s a looker, unless that’s just more damn royal propaganda… Come oooon, come here.” Dilan snorted, gesturing for Lauriam to come over to the lounging chair. 

Lauriam rolled his eyes, even as he pouted more. “He’s fine, I guess. Built like a triangle and gives the impression he uses way too much product in his hair. Considering his mind is apparently filled to the brim of sexy memories, can’t all be propaganda.”

Huffing a little, Lauriam pushed himself up and walked over to the chair. Raising an eyebrow and holding his hands out a little like, ‘okay, I’m here, now what?’ 

Dilan gave Lauriam a fond, amused look, reaching up to take one hand gently around the wrist, while interlocking the other hand between his fingers, pulling Lauriam down to sit on his waist. Rubbing his thumb and fingers against Lauriam’s joints, while the hand on Lauriam’s wrist played idly with the hard bump of bone and cartilage there. Clearly just admiring the bones and hard edges in Lauriam’s dirt covered hands…

“I don’t want to break some dumbass rich kid’s hands because my eye’s wandering,” he smirked, “What I want to do that’s actually cruel is bring your hand up to my lips and kiss every little joint on them… and I am fighting myself to not do that. Because I actually give a shit about you and don’t want you to explode into a damn flower fireball again.”

“I want to own pieces of bastards like Kaito Momota,” Dilan admitted, “Like the supervisors. I want to carve myself into their memories, be a nightmare that haunts them. If I had my way entirely? That’s what I would do… but I don’t have my way entirely. Because it’s way more important to me to be here, with my family, with you… damn, Dandelion. You always inspire the most sentimental shit in me…”

Lauriam didn’t put up resistance at Dilan’s pull, just following the invitation. Frowning and looking to the side as he settled on top of Dilan, but their interlaced hand gently squeezing Dilan’s in turn. Lauriam aware of his bones, with how Dilan was handling them, but the pressure not even close to painful, let alone approaching being broken. A touch that was firm and present.

But fleeting. 

“You’re really that desperate to eat dirt, huh?” Lauriam hummed, before sighing a little, some of the anger in him cooling to regret. Maybe things still wouldn’t be any clearer between them, but going volcanic certainly hadn’t helped. And now Dilan was treating him like…well. 

A flower. 

Lauriam knew that, as romantic as the musings could be in tone, that wasn’t really what Dilan had been saying. What he wanted to do to the assholes of the world was genuinely something Lauriam wouldn’t want, even from Dilan. But even still, what Lauriam wanted…

His gaze dropped, as a flush started taking over his skin. His voice dropping into a grumble as he, unfortunately, admitted, “Sometimes I think a nightmare wouldn’t be so bad, if it meant you left a mark deep enough on me that I’d dream about you.”

Dilan chuckled. A low, rumbling thing. He couldn’t help it. Lauriam was cute, when he was flustered. His discomfort in being vulnerable only added to it. Xaldin was a sadist. 

But… “I think I already did, remember?” Dilan said, letting go of Lauriam’s wrist and reaching up, placing his hand on the other man’s chest, where the light shone on Destiny Island, “Did it in the worst way possible. Did it by accident. God… if I could have left some scar on purpose… like some folks do with the binding ceremonies? That little mark, showing that they’re spoken for? I’d have loved that.”

Dilan frowned. “I didn’t love what happened. Sending the guy you’re sleeping with into a damn coma is beyond sadistic. I just wanted to bruise your hips, and I fucked that up. I get that you’re frustrated, I’m not blind, I can tell that you don’t love how gentle I’ve been lately… but you’re not the only one recovering from what happened that day, flower. I can’t just bounce back from what happened.”

“Feel like I more did that to myself,” Lauriam grumbled, before sighing. More anger draining out into regret. 

…it would’ve been incredible, ending the night looking over the scratches on his hips and bruises on his sides. Seeing the bite marks he’d left on Dilan. Maybe not things that were entirely, 100% purposeful, but still were intentional in some manner. Evidence of the touches they’d left on each other. 

And instead?

Lauriam’s eyes crinkled a bit as his lips tensed, his now freed arm draping gently at Dilan’s side. 

“...if I’d been in literally any other mindset, I would’ve thought it was sweet,” he quietly admitted, “Everything you said? I really like you, Xaldin, and, yeah, maybe I was pushing a certain way, but… Whatever form it’s in, you’re important to me too. As much as it feels I can sometimes never get a break, I’d…be devastated without you actively in my life. I know that’s what you were trying to say.”

…Lauriam used to be sweet. People used to call him nice, if they weren’t the people he got into fights with. Now, the slightest brush of saccharine made him cringe, and in response to vulnerability, he lashed out. 

They’d talked about it twice now, how they never could go back to the people they used to be, that…the factory had broken their bones and they would feel the aches forever…but Lauriam wanted to recognize himself at least a little more.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, the hand still in Dilan’s squeezing his again, “I wish I’d just talked to you.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. I’m not saying I wish we could change the past. I’m saying I just don’t want Fire Flower Lauriam 2, Electric Boogaloo,” Dilan smirked, “Besides, it was kinda sexy, in its own way. It’s fun knowing I can make the guy who could mind-nap our entire damn group and nearly kill us all bend over and moan for me. Hell of a power trip.” He laughed, bringing up Lauriam’s hand to, carefully, kiss at his thumb joint. “Not bad for the ol’ ego.”

“I’m not sure I could do that again if I tried,” Lauriam huffed back, returning a smaller smirk, “And I wasn’t the one who brought everyone to the island. Though, it would be interesting to see if I really could mind-nap everyone on purpose. I may have won our bet, but I’ve lagged behind the others on actually creating anything. Should put thought into the sorts of constructs I could make that could permanently alter someone’s brain.”

Lauriam felt his heart flutter a bit at the kiss to his thumb, and, taking a small chance, he leaned in closer to Dilan, folding his free arm up on Dilan’s shoulder and resting his face mere inches from the older man’s. “Funny definition of ‘make’. I seem to remember quite enthusiastically volunteering.”

“My sheer charisma compelled you,” Dilan grinned playfully, “When I put on the charm? Borderline mind control. How could you possibly help yourself?”

Bringing up his hand to run his thumb along Lauriam’s chin, he whispered, “Watch. Doing it again as we speak. Can’t even help yourself, can you? Any second now… any second and you’ll–OH WHAT THE FUCK!”

“THE POWER OF ATUA COMPELS YOU!” Demyx shouted up on the second floor, holding the bucket he had just poured cold water down onto them from, “WE CAN’T AFFORD THE REPLACE THE MANOR WINDOWS! HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING!?”

Lauriam gave Dilan an amused look, though his gaze was very invested, and he tilted his head slightly, opening himself up to the touch…

Before squawking in shock, COLD jolting through his system. But it took Lauriam only a second to hone in on Demyx in the window, springing up from Dilan’s lap. “DEMYX!!” 

And Lauriam was off, sprinting back into the manor. 

(In all fairness, he even made it up the stairs to the second floor before his headache ramped up into a migraine, Lauriam halted in his pursuit of retribution to just curl up on the floor and put pressure on his temples.) 

“GAH! REMEMBER ME AS A HERO!” Demyx shouted, disappearing back into the window, running off to safety.

Dilan, determined to dunk Demyx’s damn head into a toilet, followed Lauriam up, and briefly even considered leaving him behind in the name of sweet, sweet vengeance… before he huffed. Walking back to Lauriam and, shifting him around in his arms, warning him, “No making fun of me for making effort noises. Grunting is a part of the service.”

Before, grunting with strain, he picked Lauriam up, steadied, waited to see if he could actually walk… before huffing, heading to Lauriam’s room. “Gonna get you a damn painkiller and some water. We can kill Demyx later. He isn’t going anywhere.”

Lauriam just gave a short, clipped groan. As much as he could really give as the speckled ‘c’-like shape started to drift into his closed-eye vision, the migraine having quickly escalated into ‘stabbing’ more than ‘throbbing’. So ‘old man’ jokes were a bit far from his mind. 

Still, he did his best to remain present while Dilan carried him, Lauriam starting to shiver lightly by the time they got to his room. And he really didn’t think anything of it once he was set down and he quickly tugged off his cold, soaked clothes, getting a change. 

“I’m gonna cockblock him so hard tonight,” Lauriam grouched with a gasp, “Make all his worries of Ienzo not being romantic a reality. I’ll raptly listen to an encyclopedia recitation for hours if I have to.”

“Like he’s getting any anyway. Larxene had all the rizz in that body, Demyx isn’t getting shit unless he pays for it.” Dilan scoffed, crossing his arms as he let his eyes drift up and down Lauriam’s body. Making no effort to hide his appraisal, as he made a pleased little humming noise at what he saw. “...shame. The cuts on your hips are already closed, huh… You know, the bite you left here?”

Dilan pointed to his collarbone, smirking. “Still scabbed over into perfect little dentures. You really drew blood, you freaky little vampire. What, me pumping you full of me wasn’t enough, you had to try to eat me too?”

And not even then. But even with his brain trying to kill him, Lauriam wasn’t about to let that slip. Demyx was an annoying little twerp…but he was still Lauriam’s friend. Demyx being too scared to have sex wasn’t something Lauriam was going to spread around.

Sitting down a little too hard on his bed as he finished changing, Lauriam peeked a pained eye open and still managed to smirk a little as he saw where Dilan was pointing. “With such a snack up for grabs? It’d just be cruel to leave for the eyes. Though,” and it probably meant something, that Lauriam managed to open his eyes just to look Dilan up and down, “snack’s an understatement, you’re more a whole damn meal.”

“Guess I win on longest mark too,” Lauriam teased, before cringing into himself.

“Pffff, try not to brag yourself into barfing. Give me a second, I’m gonna go get those painkillers I promised.” Dilan snorted, heading to Lauriam’s bathroom. 

It was a quick process, putting it all together, before Dilan came out, passing Lauriam some water. “You gonna get some sleep?”

Lauriam took the water and downed the pain killers immediately, fighting every instinct to drink the rest of the glass slowly and not actually throw up. His ego really couldn’t take the laughter that’d spur. 

Nodding slightly--if not just to try and skip the migraine through unconsciousness, Lauriam…probably did actually have to sleep some if he was going to be awake later--Lauriam peeked up at Dilan again. “You going back to sleep?”

“Napping while sunbathing isn’t sleeping. It’s a… secret third thing,” Dilan snorted, “Why, you inviting me?”

“Yes,” Lauriam said sincerely.

“See? Told you. All that charm. You’re helpless against it,” Dilan said. 

But he said it while easily putting himself into the bed, offering an arm for Lauriam to curl up against. Happy enough with this arrangement… even if Demyx was still absolutely getting his head dunked into a toilet later.

“Never even occurs to you that it could be me, hm? Good.” Lauriam happily snuggled up into the space Dilan offered, letting the numbing of the painkillers and the warm body beside him drag him into proper, no-testing asshole princes sleep. 

-

It wasn’t right as the group was leaving, but it was later into the afternoon when Ienzo returned to the manor, Aqua’s attention immediately grabbed by the lighter than air way Ienzo was walking, paired with the slight redness around his eyes. But amid his check-over and interrogation--he could safely walk across town on his own, it was fine--Ienzo could only laugh brightly. 

“It works,” he grinned, “Their conditioning doesn’t work.”

“Heeeeey, congrats!” Axel grinned, reaching over to pat Ienzo on the back, “I mean, I knew you were going to crack this eventually, but I’ll be honest, man, I didn’t think it’d be this soon! Man…” Axel suddenly looked keenly interested, as he asked, “I have to imagine they were grateful. I never got to meet them much, but I’m glad your last day with your friends ended on a high note.”

“Calling specimens ‘friends’ is a slippery slope. But, considering this ended well?” Even said, finishing straightening his jacket before turning to Ienzo, giving him an approving nod, “Excellent. Though, I knew you were on a breakthrough. I was confident you’d return with good news. How long did the melding take?”

Ienzo practically glowed with the praise before his expression softened as he nodded. “Rantarou and Xiomara are thrilled. As much as the future’s uncertain, at least the choices getting there are theirs to make. Honestly, by the end I think Xiomara was close to inviting us to go out in celebration, though we all do have our separate plans.”

Just sighing a little at his dad’s warning--and beaming more as Aeleus gave him a proud, approving pat on the back--Ienzo explained, “It was about 15 minutes for Rantarou, but just because I had a bit of trouble getting into his mind at all. Once I was in? For Xiomara too, I’d say about 45 seconds. It’s nearly literally just a mold that snaps into place at the particular part of the mind it’s meant for, so theoretically you wouldn’t even have to be there long enough or look deep enough to notice any thoughts about the person you’re giving it to. As uninvasive a procedure as possible.”

“Hell yeah, good, good,” Dilan said, listening in as he came down the stairs, a little dressed up, but not too much. Everyone heading to the bar pool would be in swimsuits for most of the night, after all. “Hey, Ienzo, bud, let me take you aside for a second. I need to have a conversation with you.”

“Don’t let him do it! Don’t take it out on Ienzo! He’s got nothing to do with what happened!” Demyx shouted, scurrying over, throwing his arms around Ienzo’s shoulders and protectively pulling him away from Dilan. 

Dilan rolled his eyes. “Nothing to do with your dumbass boyfriend spilling cold water on me when I was innocently sunbathing.”

Ienzo blinked, a little confused but willing, though he could only look back at Demyx in further confusion, even after Dilan explained what he’d apparently missed during the day. “....why???” he asked Demyx, before gently shimmying his shoulders from his boyfriend’s grasp and walking over to Dilan. 

“Sure, though if you’re asking about my blueprints for the transcription factor, I am going to give it to all of you,” Ienzo smiled bemusedly. “I just figured no one would be particularly focused on mind-hopping tonight.”

“I was saving all of us!” Demyx insisted, ducking as Dilan made a half-hearted swipe at him, “It was heroic!”

“Still gonna pay you back for that,” Dilan warned him, putting his hand on Ienzo’s back and guiding him away.

They found a quiet place to sit down, and Dilan sighed as he sat. “Listen, I learned something today, and I don’t want to sit on it. But you should know, based on what I know? What you’ve done is still a damn achievement, you hear me?”

“Lauriam ended up speaking the Ouma’s husband today, and, well… guy let it slip pretty easily that the Ouma’s actually been working on curing conditioning too,” Dilan said, frowning a bit, “...and apparently kind of sucks at it. He’s got something figured out, but it’s, like, a whole-ass person in someone’s head, acting like a dick to all visitors. And we’ve only seen it work in someone who also had, like, I heard literally five other defenses also in his head? Look, my point is, you definitely win when it comes to efficiency… but.”

Dilan sighed, “The point is, the Ouma was hiding from you the fact that he was already working on this. Sorry. I know that has to be a blow.”

Ienzo sighed a little. He’d ask Demyx more about that later. And…well, he couldn’t make any assumptions yet, but he was only human, and his gut was telling him that he probably wouldn’t help Demyx with whatever Dilan decided to do in revenge. Dumping cold water on someone sunbathing seemed pretty drastic, in any perspective. 

Giving Dilan a curious look as they found a space away from everyone, he listened to his piece. Nodding, before…nodding slower, a puzzled look coming over his face. 

“...hm,” Ienzo said after a moment, tilting his head as he tapped his chin. “I mean, he was pretty clearly also working on conditioning, that wasn’t a secret. But it is surprising to hear how far along his work is. Prince Kokichi and I haven’t had a chance to really talk about our work, despite him showing interest in my pursuits.”

Ienzo gave Dilan another curious look. “I apologize for the possible reiteration, but…do you really mean he’s achieved curing conditioning? Not just blocking the symptoms, like my method?”

“Oh, yeah! Yeah, that is what I mean… well,” Dilan crossed his arms, tilting his head as he admitted, “From what Lauriam told me, I think… he discovered that literally today? The way he tells the story, I think Lauriam knew before the Ouma did, actually. Buuuuut, but, if Lauriam himself brings this up to you, and he seems pissed about it? Do him a favor, kid, just nod along and tell him he’s right. He was pissed on your behalf, and by this point it doesn’t help anything to tell him he hadn’t needed to. He kinda blew up on the prince about not keeping you more in the loop.”

Now there’s a coincidence. But a very fortunate one. Ooo, Ienzo had to get in touch with Prince Kokichi soon; he had been intending on sharing his blueprints with every Empath he knew as soon as he could prove they worked, but if Prince Kokichi had developed a way to get rid of conditioning entirely? The method did sound convoluted, but if they worked together, then they could give people instant relief, while working more long-term on actually curing them. 

That was incredible news. 

Though, uh…

Ienzo sighed a little. “I mean, it would’ve been nice to share information more freely, but Prince Kokichi has never been obligated to share anything with us. What he does is far and beyond expectation. But I’m not upset that he was keeping his own experiments close to the chest; I understand how volatile that information can be, even if I believe it does benefit everyone to share even failures.”

He gave Dilan an unsure look. “...but I shouldn’t say that to Lauriam? I appreciate that he wanted to look out for me, but…I’m not sure I really understand why he’d be mad.”

“Yeah, don’t say that to Lauriam. You know when you say something like that?” Dilan asked, grinning warily, “When you’re agreeing with Lauriam, someday down the road, if he’s reflecting on it and coming to the conclusion that maaaaaybe he overreacted. Which, hell, maybe he will someday, maybe he won’t. Doesn’t really matter. The point is, we’re not about to make him feel stupid for coming to your defense, get me kid?”

That stressed, Dilan sighed, shrugging, “Honestly, my bet is there was other stuff happening when he got the news and it all melted into each other into this big, emotional stew. Like, he was pissed about something else, heard the news, and suddenly needed to decipher that news while still in a haze of ‘fuck off’ feelings. That’s just how it happens sometimes. Gets the best of us.”

“Got it,” Ienzo agreed, looking a bit concerned by the prospect. Considering Lauriam wasn’t downstairs with everyone else, he could only figure that he’d probably bring it up while they were hanging out later, so…just nod and agree if he was still angry.

…maybe Ienzo could bypass that by explaining that he’d already heard from Dilan? Might be worth a shot. 

Ienzo sighed a little. “It seems to be happening to Lauriam a lot lately. Though he’s always been pretty consistent when it comes to his emotions bleeding over into each other. And he has a tendency to jump to conclusions quickly. It doesn’t seem like he wants to fight with people as much, but I think the hopes of him ‘calming down’ are still far-fetched for the time being.”

“Our dandelion has a fire in him, it’s just a part of who he is. Asking him to ‘calm down’ is probably more asking him to just change who he is as a person. Or at least swallow who he is down and hide it from all of us,” Dilan said, “Which, personally, I’m not keen on him doing. I like the fire. I like laughing at it too, but a lot of the traits I like about our Lauriam really does stem from the fact that he’s an emotional little asshole who feels things with all of himself… Though, I guess if I had to be picky, I’d hope in the future the consequences of those emotions were less… mmm…” Dilan snorted, “Explosive.”

“Besides, it’s not an easy time for any of us, is it? Can’t blame a guy for reacting when things are tough. Sending him to talk to elites all by himself anyway was probably the wrong move. Guy’s always had authority issues,” Dilan admitted.

Ienzo nodded with knowing consideration, having more or less just been commenting on some of the conversation about Marluxia the others had had before. As much as the more combative parts of Lauriam’s personality, which had been exaggerated and personified in Marluxia, could aggravate him…Ienzo liked Lauriam the way he was too. Excitable and flamboyant and protective and hot-headed in all.

It’d be nice if he didn’t blow himself up with his emotions though, yeah. 

Ienzo nodded again, frowning a little in worry. “Yeah… I…didn’t know that Lauriam was the one going. I could understand him getting a little restless, even though he’s been doing better lately, but…” Ienzo shrugged, looking a little more uncomfortable to say this than usual. “I think he’s always been the most vocal about class disparity. Not that he’s really needed more reasons than just the outcome of our social structure, but… Well, we saw more personal reasons he has to resent elites.”

…more than resent, really.

Dilan gave Ienzo a thoughtful, appraising look… before he scoffed, shaking his head. “You’re not wrong, but don’t say it with that tone, kid. You know who also lost family members and a massive chunk of their life and freedom to this program, and also has a lot of reasons to be full of resentment and anger… you, man,” Dilan reached over to poke Ienzo’s shoulder, reminding him, “You didn’t get a better deal because you were a little rich boy when they killed your parents. Don’t think this puts you on some opposite side of Lauriam. If anything, you two have more in common than anyone else in our group. Don’t start ducking your head and being apologetic around him, just because you got a title out of this shit show. It doesn’t help him, and it’s not fair to you.”

Ienzo sighed with mild force, his frown scrunching slightly. “I’m in the process of internalizing that. But I more…” Ienzo squinted as he looked down. “...I’ve been trying to consider the possibility that we might actually win the case? And what that would mean. Even then that doesn’t place me at odds with all of you, completely abstaining from a society in this case isn’t a statement of change, so working within the system is still a viable option, but…”

Ienzo shifted a little, looking more uncomfortable. “...the number of times in the last two weeks I’ve had a conversation almost verbatim of ‘whoa, you’re a lord, that’s strange, hm, but I guess you’re okay’ is…starting to feel…like a very strange coincidence, if it still is one.”

“Sounds like a rich person problem. Have you considered never complaining again about anything, ever?” Dilan said, staring at Ienzo with a straight face for a beat, two beats… before snickering, covering his mouth snickering turned into a full on laugh, before shaking his head. “Ahhh, I kill me. Look, I’m maybe not the one you want to confide to about this. Not because I don’t have great things to say, but, just… I’ve never even known anyone who can take their family to a nice restaurant without budgeting their whole paycheck around it, sort of thing,” Dilan admitted with a small shrug, “And I’m an asshole. Maybe you should talk to Isa about it? Or, no, well, he’s got a whole complex… Uuuh… Was your dad stable on the outside? Every time Even talks about his life before the factory he sounds like some crazed mad scientist they threw into the program to basically stop his reign of terror. No idea if he had money through it.”

Pausing, Dilan suddenly snorted, “Go harass the Prince Momota about it, actually, that’d be funny. Apparently he feels guilty for everything that happened to us and has basically given us blanket permission to demand apologies for it. You could tap his knowledge while also getting some ‘go fuck yourselves’ in.”

Ienzo wasn’t very enthused by the…joke? He guessed that was a joke, anyway. He knew well that a lot of elites sucked, and that money and power had a tendency to bring out darker aspects in people when they were in abundance, but…

He felt…strange. Having different people in different conversations keep looking at him like he would turn into some monster with this revelation about his lineage, but they liked him and had faith in him, so probably not. It felt stressful. Like Ienzo was about to go through a living trial that he couldn’t make a single misstep in, or else risk letting down everyone he cared about. That he was less avoiding being monstrous, and was just a monster that everyone agreed was alright since he dulled his claws. 

(That he was willingly going into a world he didn’t give a shit about but couldn’t disregard once he was in and the thought of all those responsibilities made him want to hurl. Ienzo didn’t want to perform to awe and impress elites again. He couldn’t even talk naturally to his family without them giving him looks like he’d done something wrong again, and he had near endless chances with them. How was he supposed to face constant rooms of critical eyes just eagerly waiting for any slight misstep and not just…ruin everything?)

“He had funds for academia, so I suppose so,” Ienzo mumbled, looking a bit pale and anxiety-ridden, before he gave Dilan a curious look. “Does he? Hm. I guess that’s a decent enough offer, in response to feeling that close with his family ties…”

Messing with the end of his sleeve, Ienzo took a breath that he put effort into not being shaky. “Well, thanks for letting me know about the anti-conditioning news. I don’t want to hold you up more, though… Have fun tonight.”

“You too, kid. Don’t let Lauriam mess with you,” Dilan said, standing up and reaching over to pat Ienzo’s shoulder, “And congrats again on the conditioning success. Knew you could do it.”

As Dilan headed off, Demyx peeked around the corner, before waving to Ienzo, “Pssst! I’m here! What did you guys talk about? Is he going to murder me?”

Ienzo wanly smiled, quietly thanking Dilan for the congratulations as he got up. Breathe, breathe, you’re good! You’re good and everything is normal and you just have to breathe, Ienzo, because respiration is necessary for living! Breathe. 

Ienzo smiled a little more as Demyx peeked over. “I have no insight on whether or not he plans to murder you, but on pure speculation, I’d guess not. We, um,” breathe, “He heard from Lauriam that Prince Kokichi’s had a success today as well against conditioning, so I’m looking forward to collaborating more if he’s willing. But, um,” what did Dilan say? Don’t make Lauriam feel stupid, obviously, but the advice… Breathe, “Lauriam wanted to defend my stance on open information, so he stood up to Prince Kokichi and Prince Kaito, I think. We’ll probably hear the full story from him later.”

“Oh, cool!” Demyx said, “Kind of weird he wanted to tell you that in private, but that sounds awesome. Also, pffff, Lauriam got snippy with the princes? Yeah, that sounds like him. I’m sure he’ll regale us.” Demyx wrapped his arms around Ienzo and pulled him into a hug. “Nothing else? You seem tense.”

“I think he might’ve been expecting me to be upset? And me not being upset might upset Lauriam, so he wanted to warn me about that too. I don’t…really understand.” Maybe this wasn’t just nodding along, but if Demyx wasn’t upset either, Ienzo really didn’t know how he was supposed to achieve that. 

Leaning into the hug, Ienzo brought his arms around Demyx as well, hands automatically grasping onto the back of Demyx’s shirt. “...we talked a little about personal dynamics in the lens of changing socio-economic stature.” Ienzo paused, before quickly and quietly admitting, “I’m trying not to freak out.” Definitely freaking out as his heart thudded away in his chest.

“Oh damn, socio-economic stature, huh? Heavy stuff,” Demyx said, rubbing Ienzo’s back a bit, “....are you freaking out? Do you want to, like… I don’t know, want to go drink some water and sit somewhere? Maybe do something calm?”

“Mhmm,” Ienzo hummed, pressing closer as Demyx rubbed his back, nodding into his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Sora got a new game from that game store? We could ask to check it out?”

“Yeah, let’s do it. We’ll drag Lauriam into it too, it’ll be a good time,” Demyx smiled, squeezing Ienzo a bit before taking his hand, “Come on, let’s go before the teens run off on us.”

-

The game Sora passed to them ended up being named Catan, and a quick read-through of the rules showed it wasn’t that tricky. Demyx, Ienzo, and Lauriam all read through and discussed them, rolled to see who would go first, and then otherwise relaxed in the lights of the roof bar, Demyx insisting again, “They really could have just stayed here for a bar and hottub experience. Seriously, what’s the difference between this and where they’re going? Slightly more water? …anyone have any wood to trade?”

Lauriam hadn’t just woken up, but he did still look a bit groggy, even as he started sorting his cards and game pieces into neat little sections on his area of the bar. Rolling his eyes, he drawled, “Why go to a pub when you have booze at home? Why see a concert when you have their record? Why see a brothel show when you have an active partner? Places sell more than just their products, Axel said it before. It’s about the vibe of a place.” He looked at his cards before leaning to look at Demyx’s. “...I do, one for two brick.”

“I suppose a change of scenery could be nice too,” Ienzo murmured, his voice contemplative as he regarded the board. “Dilan did say he didn’t want to stay in the manor the whole time before we leave. The eventual agreement of the water bar might be specific, but I think they’d be excited for just about any plan to go out.”

“Aw, man, two bricks… yeah, yeah, here,” Demyx said, passing Lauriam his bricks, before peering at the board. He had already determined he wanted to try to get one of those trading port spots. “And yeah, all that’s true. But I think sometimes those guys just want to talk about stuff in a group without, like… well, us around. I guess I can’t hold it against them, they all spent a lot of time together before we all showed up. It can be fun just hanging out with specific people sometimes. But yeah, the vibe I got was they wanted to talk about something heavy.”

Lauriam accepted the traded cards between his fingers before slotting them neatly into their predetermined spot in his arrangement, shrugging. “Once a kid, always a kid, to certain extents. I have the sneaking suspicion that, even as our current ages, if they’d first met us in our 20s, the divide would be less stark.”

“I’m not sure,” Ienzo mused, taking particular note of the settlements the others had put down. The rules had said that there was a bonus point for the longest connection, and since only one person could claim each segment…this was a race to cut the others off, wasn’t it? “I think the years they spent together before us might even be a bigger factor than age. I was the first of the ‘new blood’, and even then there was a significant gap between my arrival and the direct previous.”

He shrugged a little, frowning lightly. “...whatever the full story between Luis and his ex-wife, and, I’m conjecturing, maybe how he got put in the program? Delving more into the fact that he likely remembers far more about conditioning than any of us? It’s more evident now that some of us were holding things back, but Luis has never mentioned anything about it. If he was going to speak on it at all, it’d be with those who’ve been alongside him the longest.”

“Guess so,” Lauriam said, aiming for blunt but his worry showing through.

“I think it’s good that he’s opening up! I mean, it’s kind of weird, I never really considered Luis someone who, you know… had anything to open up about,” Demyx admitted. If anyone in the whole group had ever just been a ‘weird, aimless uncle’ to Demyx, it had been Luis. “The most interesting thing about him I had always thought was just that he grew up somewhere with those thick, valley accents. The most I ever heard him talk about was goats and sheep. And now, what, suddenly we have an ex-wife, and instead of a Nobody it turns out that alcoholism trick he can do in his world is waaaay more involved than anyone could have thought, and of course that whole bombshell about Tengan and Ventus… like, what the heck! I didn’t think I didn’t know Luis well, I just thought there wasn’t a lot to know!”

“Ooooh, speaking of sheep, I collect sheep with Lauriam’s roll. Nice.” Demyx grinned.

Lauriam snorted softly. “Looks like sheep are going to be quite the low trade value if I keep this up.” He reached over to the storage cards, handing Demyx his sheep.

“I think there’s a lot to know about any given person, granted,” Ienzo mused, “But I agree it’s good. He’s good at deflecting. I suppose the alcoholism is a part of that.”

“Hard to know what questions to ask when he doesn’t leave petals, and just shuts down with general stuff,” Lauriam shrugged. Though that wasn’t entirely fair. Luis hadn’t wholly avoided personal anecdotes, and while the memories were hazy at best, Lauriam remembered soft, gentle words directing him when he’d first gotten thrown in the factory.

Also competing for a port space, Lauriam laid down his pieces. “Revelations aside, you know they’re going to mock us to no end if they find out we just talked about them the whole night, right? How’s the song-writing going, Demyx?”

“It’s good, it’s good… but also I’m struggling! I want to write Ienzo a love song. But I’m struggling to find the right sort of sound for it,” Demyx admitted, shuffling his cards around to make plans for future turns, “So while I really wanted it to be a cool, romantic gesture, mostly it’s been Ienzo hearing me say that I’m failing to write him a love story. Sorry Ienzo.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” Ienzo said simply, looking up to smile softly at Demyx, “Inspiration isn’t something you can force, it just comes after trying long enough.”

“Too cute,” Lauriam said, sticking his tongue out a little. “Don’t think I can help out, since I can’t rhyme, ‘you’re so hot I’ll douse you with a bucket of water’ either.”

“Now I’m burnt by steam because you’ve only gotten hotter’,” Ienzo immediately retorted, paying no mind to Lauriam’s disgusted grimace as he hummed. “You heard about that too, then? I guess Dilan would complain to everyone.”

Lauriam blinked before giving Ienzo a flat look. “I know because Dum-Dum threw it on me too.”

Ienzo looked up in surprise before turning his attention to Demyx. “...okay, seriously, why?”

“They were going to kiss,” Demyx said, like it was the most natural thing in the world, “I was dousing the fire before it could start. You’re welcome, everyone in the manor. Okay, now I need bricks too, anyone want to trade me bricks?”

Ienzo’s eyebrows lifted up, trying to parse that logic. 

“Mm, two bricks for three sheep,” Lauriam offered, giving Demyx a flat look, though before he could comment on that, Ienzo spoke up.

“I think I could handle being splashed most days if we kissed,” Ienzo decided, nodding lightly as if he’d put a lot of thought into that. 

Lauriam sputtered, giving Ienzo an incredulous look.

“G’ah, hah! Heh! Y-yeah!” Demyx blushed, almost too distracted to think if that was a good trade or not as he passed Lauriam the three sheep, taking his bricks. “Well, you know… obviously nothing could stop us kissing! When we decide to do that! Undousable!”

Lauriam’s eyes widened slightly. “You are severely underestimating what Dilan would do to mess with you.”

{You haven’t even kissed???} Lauriam sent Demyx directly. {Have you told him about your thing?}

Ienzo watched the trade skeptically and quietly put down a piece on the board. “I don’t think it’s that weird. There’s no rhyme or reason to what we’ll tease each other with, I just mean that I don’t really care what it is, and that it won’t stop me.”

{Shuuuuut up we’ve kissed on the cheek our hand holding game is ON POINT I’m not pressuring him no one is pressuring anyone stop pressuring me!!}

“I’m making a road!” Demyx announced, paying the two cards and putting down a road towards the pier. “Anyway, Dilan’s all bark and no bite, he’s not going to do anything. He’s a softie deep down.”

{Calm down, I’m not trying to pressure you. Except for talking to him about your anxieties, because you know what happens when someone does something romantic when you’re not ready? You turn into a giant monster and try to kill everyone. Don’t do that.}

“He’s a softie that will still absolutely give you a swirly,” Lauriam drawled. “And I still might not forgive you because I got a massive migraine coming after you, if you were curious why you managed to run away successfully.”

Ienzo gave Lauriam a concerned look. “Are you okay? Dilan did tell me that you were the one to go to Prince Kaito, but if a lot of things exacerbated strain for you…”

“I’m fine, took a nap,” Lauriam said off-handedly, before now giving Ienzo a more worried look. “Are…you okay?”

Oh shit. That was a question, not a statement. How…did you nod along with that?

{I feel like that’s not usually the issue. Is that usually the issue??? I bet I’d turn into some sort of sea monster.}

“Why wouldn’t he be? He had a massive win today!” Demyx smiled, leaning over to nudge Ienzo cheerfully, and like a gentleman not peeking at his cards, “Ienzo here is about to be the turning point for so many people! They should lift the gender rule and make him a saint, seriously, he’d have earned it by this point.”

{It is when you’re an unstable psychic and someone springs something you’re really not prepared for. You’d turn into Guppy, absolutely. I’d bet my entire share of Ouma’s money on it.}

Ienzo, even amid sudden frozen panic, couldn’t help but smile at Demyx’s nudge, flushing lightly. “It is a massive win, and nothing really changes that for me. Conclusively, I know something that can free everyone from conditioning, that’s something I’ve been working on for years. I’m ecstatic, really.”

Lauriam sighed softly, but accepted that with a small smile. He still wasn’t about to let Ouma or anyone else exploit Ienzo, but if his little brother just wanted to bask in his well-earned victory? Lauriam didn’t want to bring that down. 

“You should be, it’s amazing.” Lauriam glanced around the bar before groaning. “...I would say we should celebrate too, but I think Aqua’d put me in another headlock for mixing booze and painkillers.”

“We could go the opposite route and just drink a lot of caffeine. Get as hyped up as Sora on the average day,” Demyx said, pouting as the next roll did not give him the settlement he would need to finally claim his hard won pier. “But ey, how else would Ienzo want to celebrate one of the biggest successes of his life than playing Catan with us after we got side-lined by all of our other friends!”

“... oh god, we should do something to celebrate, Ienzo, this is a terrible way to celebrate a win like that,” Demyx realized, looking to his boyfriend, “Do you want to do anything after Catan? Do… do you want drugs?? You beat conditioning with drugs! We could do more drugs???”

Lauriam chuckled softly at that, before looking on amused as Demyx outlined just exactly what they were doing that evening. Three 20-somethings sitting on a roof playing a board game while the rest of their friends were out drinking or having magical sword fights. 

It was kind of pathetic, honestly. 

Ienzo blinked--was this? A bad way to celebrate?--before shrugging a little. “I do actually have some marijuana left over. I was going to run more composition tests on it, since I felt kind of weird about using supplies I got through Maya’s grant recreationally, but…I did complete my project. And I doubt I’d be doing anything that hasn’t already been studied extensively.”

“Hooooold on,” Lauriam cut in, holding his hands up, “Ienzo, do you actually want to get high, or are you just bringing up the possibility because Demyx mentioned drugs?”

There were a few beats of silence as Ienzo mulled that over, before he gave the table a small, shy smile. “...I feel way less anxious when I’m high. It’s…nice. I think it’d be fun to do.”

“It’s your night, bud, we just want to celebrate however you want to celebrate!” Demyx said, before nodding earnestly, “If that’s with some stinky demon weed, let’s do it, it’ll chill us all out and, non-theoretically, dampen any conditioning any of us have! Which, despite us not having any conditioning, is still a win!!”

“And you know what, I’m going to go steal Maya’s record player too. If we’re chilling out up here, we can do it in style,” Demyx said, standing up, “Put the game on hold. I’ve got the music, Ienzo’s got the miracle demon weed, Lauriam…?”

“I’ll be here, not passing out or turning into a ball of light,” Lauriam said sagely, before smirking. “And keeping the sanctity of the game, of course. We have to make sure notorious cheaters won’t get tempted.”

Ienzo rolled his eyes as he got up, grumbling, “House rules and undiscussed terms aren’t cheating…”

As Demyx headed down, though, once he parted ways from Ienzo, he would soon be joined by another companion, keeping pace at his side.

으_으

Demyx glanced down, startled at first, before just raising an eyebrow. “Everything good, little bud?”

ᇹ_ᇹ I overheard you and Lauriam.

o_o You…remember how clingy Ienzo got the last time he was high around you, right?

“...” Demyx suddenly lit up, excited, “Yeah?? Think we’ll get a repeat performance?”

O_O

ㅍ_ㅍ

ㅍ_ㅍ Demyx, if you have some sort of issue with Ienzo being affectionate with you, telling him before he’s high and cognitively impaired is important.

“I don’t have an issue with it,” Demyx frowned, rubbing his arm a little, “...I don’t know. I don’t want it to be an ‘issue’. That would imply I have an issue! Which I don’t! I just…”

Demyx’s brow tensed, running into a blank wall as he tried to think about his feelings about getting… well, Zexion had said ‘affectionate’. Come on, what did that even mean? More hardcore hand holding action? More cheek kisses?

It wasn’t like Ienzo was gonna jump his bones. And, and, and, if he did get more physical, that was a… good thing! A good thing that Demyx desired! He knew he desired it. He could feel it literally in his blood, the way it boiled at the idea of getting… uh… physical.

…….he just had no idea what it would actually look like, in practice. 

Larxene had seemed so confident. Like it was effortless. Everyone Demyx had ever watched in a brothel show had also looked like it was effortless! Like they were thrilled or even unimpressed for certain types of shows where people in heels stepped on each other. 

No one ever looked uncertain or nervous or like they had no idea what the hell was going to happen. 

“..............okay, but when you say ‘affectionate’?” Demyx asked Zexion.

o_o Lauriam said you had anxieties, which I think constitutes as an issue if it’s something you haven’t brought up with Ienzo, which he also said.

ㅍ_ㅍ Not that we’re taking Lauriam to be the official word on relationships, by the way. But he does still have a point. 

Zexion sighed a bit, pulling on Demyx’s pant leg to correct the wrong hall he was about to turn down. He knew it was something private, and thus something he shouldn’t have heard when he noticed Demyx and Lauriam’s intent. Zexion was more loyal to Ienzo than anyone…but he did still have relationships with the rest of their family, and if a secret for a secret made things fair…?

ㄱ_ㄱ He did already say he wants to kiss you.

ㅍ_ㅍ It turns out descriptions of ‘butterflies’ aren’t as hyperbolic as we thought, and his heart speeds up when you come up and surprise him by holding his hand. 

ㄱ.ㄱ He just wants to do things ‘right’, and not rush past things with you. But if he stops overthinking things, he might try something out without considering it.

“That’s so sweet,” Demyx said tensely. Picking at his fingernail as he mindlessly followed where Zexion had led him. “....gah, what is wrong with me!? I want to kiss Ienzo! And stuff! Especially stuff! I’m not a guy who doesn’t like stuff!” 

“Auuugh, why am I so difficult! I’m the difficult one! I thought I was going to be the easy one, but noooooo, I’m the difficult one! Larxene is rolling in her base essence laughing at me, I swear,” Demyx grumbled. “I should just let it happen and get it over with! And then it won’t freak me out waiting for it to happen! I barely count as a virgin anyway! Axel totally, uh… nngh.” Demyx groaned, putting his head in his hands. “...yeah. We already did that! I saw it and everything!”

Zexion’s eyes widened for a moment in alarm before suddenly there was a full sized Zexion in Demyx’s path, jabbing a finger into Demyx’s chest. 

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he threatened, looking genuinely mad. “If you ‘just let it happen’, for anything Ienzo brings up, neither of us will ever forgive you and I’ll make the rest of our lives a living nightmare.”

Glaring, Zexion grit his teeth. “If your experience with Axel was ‘watching it’? After the fact? It didn’t happen to you. Not consciously. So you can’t base what you ‘should’ do off the assumption that you’ve already had sex.”

Zexion paused, fuming, before quickly amending, “Except for getting tested, please do that.”

༶ඬ༝ඬ༶ “Nooooo, don’t be a living nightmare to me, that’s even more pressure! Waaaaah,” Demyx groaned, leaning against the wall in a random hallway and whimpering, sliding down its side before curling up into a fetal position on the floor, “I’m dead. I’m dying. Sex is scary and my sort of side-boyfriend guy is now mad at me. This is it. This is how I go.”

“...no! I have to get the music! It’s still Ienzo’s big day!” Demyx said, jutting out his chin and getting onto his hands and knees, looking determinedly forward as started to crawl down the hall, “You’ve got this, Demyx! Go get that record player! Be a good boyfriend who isn’t crazy!” 

“...” Maya watched from a conjoining hallway as a teary-eyed Demyx–talking to someone in the air–literally crawled past her on the floor like his legs didn’t work. Too busy with his situation to notice she was staring. 

Zexion huffed, walking after Demyx. He could make things feel like touch, sometimes, but he really was just a mental being at the end of the day. “Don’t do that! Demyx! Of course I’m mad at you, you were talking about manipulating Ienzo into raping you! Or inflicting other forms of sexual assault! Don’t ignore me!”

“What!?” Demyx sputtered, looking over his shoulder at Zexion, giving him a baffled look, “Me deciding to sleep with Ienzo just to get it over with isn’t manipulating him to rape me? What are you talking about!? I’m still consenting! I’m just nervous!”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Maya said. 

“OH GOD ZEXION THERE’S A PRINCESS BEHIND YOU!”

Maya looked around for ‘Zexion’, and seeing no one else in the hall, gave Demyx a mildly concerned look. “...did you hit your head or…?”

“That’s not what you said! You said you should just let it happ--!!” Zexion jolted as Demyx finally noticed Maya--and thus Zexion could notice Maya--his eyes widening in shock before with a POP he was back in Chibo form, laid out on the ground.

(Downstairs there was a muffled ‘thunk’, as Ienzo sunk to the floor against the wall, overcome with a bout of dizziness.)

꩜o꩜ Ooogh…

꩜_꩜ Say ‘Zexion’ is a mindfulness trick you use to work through problems. Like imagining a person to have a conversation with. 

“Zexion is my imaginary friend that I whine to about sex problems,” Demyx echoed. 

“Oh.” Maya said. “Okay… I mean, you were locked away in a factory for a long time, I guess imaginary friends makes as much sense as anything. You said something about looking for my record player?”

Demyx sniffed, nodding. “We’re playing board games on the roof and I wanted to get music to set a mood because Ienzo has a lot to celebrate today and I want to celebrate with him.”

“Right,” Maya tilted her head, “Are you trying to celebrate byyyyy fucking him? And that’s why you’re having this whole crisis of consciousness?”

“No, no, nothing like that! He’s just… I’m just… no one is raping anyone!” Demyx insisted. “I’m just still debating what I want to do!”

“Alright. Well, walk with me. You can walk, right? I’ll bring you to my record player,” Maya said, gesturing for Demyx to stand up and follow her.

Demyx whimpered, scrambling up to do so.

“Now, I know you didn’t ask me for my advice, but I want to give it, so now you have to live with that,” Maya said, “And you should know, unless someone’s getting paid for it? No one wants to be something you just have to ‘get through’, sex-wise. Basically one of the worst ways to experience intimacy, period. I agree, it’s not rape, what you’re talking about… but it sure feels rapey, especially from their end, trying to move forward on something that you seem like you barely want to do. It’s not fun.”

“I’m not trying to… I don’t mean to make him feel rape-y.” Demyx sighed, letting his head fall a bit. “I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. A part of me really just wants to get this over with so I can stop feeling weird about it.”

“I get that. You want someone to… sweep you off your feet. Take the choice out of your hand so that you can stop wanting to run from it. You want to get swept up and wooed and feel entirely in your partner's hands, because that’s a lot easier than actually participating and being a part of it and ruining it for yourself,” Maya said, shrugging, “There are literally thousands of romance novels with that exact premise, appealing to that exact desire. All the reward. None of the risk.”

“You make it sound pathetic,” Demyx grumbled, as they walked into a study, Maya bringing him over to a record player, “I guess it kind of is…”

“I didn’t say it was pathetic. I just told you it was common. Some of it is cute, but there’s a loooot of really toxic romance stories out there, because people so desperately want to feel that pressure to finally just allow themselves to be careless and risky. Because if that pressure isn’t there, they know they’d never, ever actually do it. And I think people create those stories where absolute assholes pressure them into it because more people aren’t willing to admit and really look at themselves, exploring the idea that maybe they don’t actually desire some yakuza hitman flirting with them during a kidnapping, and they just wish they could feel more blatantly encouraged and desired.”

Maya paused, before admitting, “Though, some people really do just want the hitman yakuza asshole plotline for its own sake. They like danger. But that’s a niche, I don’t think that’s the average reader.”

“That’s a really specific scenario you keep bringing up, I’ve never read a romance novel before, is that what they’re about?” Demyx asked with a frown, picking up the record player.

“Oh, you would not beliieeeeve, I have, no kidding, five yakuza kidnapping romance stories in my bedroom alone.”

“....so you like danger?”

“I like variety,” Maya shrugged, “But, look, just because your desire is understandable? Doesn’t mean it’s fair on your boyfriend. You might want someone to pressure you, but that’s not fun to just expect and spring on your partner. He doesn’t want to be an asshole who pressured you into sex, I’d bet. He wants to feel desired too. If he has to pressure you, then you didn’t desire him, and that’s a shitty way to feel.”

…uuuuuugh. Noooo Zexion just wanted to go back to Ienzo…

Sigh. 

Pushing himself up, Zexion trudged after Demyx and Maya, listening as…well. Someone more articulate about relationships than him was able to give better advice. 

ᇹ_ᇹ We didn’t have choices for so long, Demyx. The last thing Ienzo wants is to take them away from you…even if that’s what you might want. That’s even what we’re celebrating tonight, the culmination of over a decade of work with the core desire of giving people the chance to make their own choices.

ó_ò We don’t want to make you beg for attention and affection, but Ienzo’s never going to be the kind of person that takes it by force. We want to do things with you.

ㄱ//_//ㄱ You make him feel special a lot, without forcing him to do anything. Does that really feel so bad to you?

“It doesn’t feel bad. I like that I make him happy. He makes me happy!” 

Maya blinked, giving him a confused look.

“My imaginary friend made a point,” Demyx explained, before continuing on, “We were just talking earlier about how he gets really clingy and touchy when he’s high and how I should talk to him about all of this before he gets high so that if he makes a move I’m not being weird for no reason… and then I was like, well, maybe I could just go ahead and let it happen if he makes a move while he’s high and maybe I’d feel better at the end of it…” Demyx sighed, “Mad Maya–”

“Really gonna go with that name while talking to your imaginary friend, huh?” Maya asked.

“--you seem wise in the way of whoring around,” Demyx pouted at her, “Don’t I seem like I’d make a great whore!? Why don’t I want this?”

“You’re very confusing,” Maya said, leading the way back out of the study, Demyx holding the player, “But thankfully, I think that’s pretty funny. So I’ll indulge it. First of all, no, I don’t think you make a natural whore. I think you like people and chatting people up and I think you enjoy flirting and the thrill of maybe something happening… but none of that equals being a natural whore, no.”

“Then what does it take!?” Demyx cried.

“Well, wanting to have sex is usually the start,” Maya said, “You said sex was ‘scary’ earlier. Are you ace?”

“Ace?” Demyx frowned, “Remind me what that is?”

“You don’t have a desire to have sex with people.”

“Noooo, I do,” Demyx shook his head, “I get horny.”

“That’s not necessarily a disqualifier for being ace. Does the idea of having sex with people, specifically, gross you out?”

“...no?” Demyx frowned, “Though I can’t think of what the alternative is.”

“Your left hand and your favorite waifu or husbando,” Maya smirked, before shaking her head, “Okay, so you feel sexual desire for other people, who are alive and fleshy and full of fluids.”

“Uuuuh yeah.” Demyx nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay,” Maya paused, thinking about it. Scared, scared… “What do you think sex is actually like?”

“....I’m not that ignorant. I know how it goes. I watch it in brothels all the time.”

“Oh geez,” Maya grumbled, “There it is. You do know brothels are performances, right? All that shouting and screaming they do, the way their bodies contort. That’s rarely how it goes. It’s usually way calmer than that.”

Larxene hadn’t been quiet. She had shrieked. “I know they exaggerate,” Demyx said defensively, “...it's still a little loud.”

“It can be. Especially if one of the people involved wants to be loud. Some couples get a kick out of that,” Maya agreed, “But that’s not a rule. You can still have a great time and it’s not, like, some physical battle that you’re working out through your hips. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It can be really, really calm. Not ‘scary’.”

Demyx frowned. Not sure what to say to that… before they stopped at the stairway up to the roof. 

“Just think about it. Maybe that’s not what scares you about sex. But what you see in the brothels? Performances. Sex is whatever you and your partner want it to be, okay?” Maya smiled lightly, reaching over to pat the side of Demyx’s face a bit, before giving him a wink and heading off. 

Zexion’s eyes widened a little. It was absolutely a mistake on their part to never even consider that Demyx could be ace. Granted, as he talked it out with Maya, it didn’t seem that way, but…it wasn’t something on Ienzo’s radar at all. Not that he’d really been thinking beyond kissing Demyx yet, but…

…they really needed to talk about relationship stuff more, huh. 

Again, the conversation he was listening to felt more private than he should hear. Zexion couldn’t exactly unhear it, but he did give Demyx a little wave…as a slightly dazed-looking Ienzo blinked in surprise as he passed Maya heading back to the roof. “Oh! Good evening, Maya. I’m kind of in the middle of something, but I have some news if you have a moment?”

“Oh, I think I’ve partly heard. You’re celebrating something today?” Maya asked, smirking as she reached over to lightly punch Ienzo’s arm, “You dog.”

Ienzo gave her a slightly baffled, but pleased look. “Uh, yeah. Your help was invaluable, my method for nullifying conditioning symptoms is a success, so we’re celebrating that. Ideally, we should be able to start rolling it out on a bigger scale…well, tomorrow.”

“No kidding?” Maya asked, placing her hands on her hips, tilting her head in honest surprise. “That’s incredible! Wow, when I offered to fund you, I really thought it would take longer than that. Though, I’m assuming you’ll still need funds to actually go to scale?”

Ienzo let out a tiny sheepish laugh. “You gave me the best data I’ve ever been able to get. I was’t about to dawdle getting to work. Though I’m…” Ienzo shifted lightly, “...not entirely sure what I could use those funds for, other than staying alive? Which is definitely needed to disseminate the method, but…”

He gave her an apologetic half-smile. “Sorry for being vague. What it actually is is difficult to describe.”

“Hmmm…” Maya cupped her chin between her thumb and index, closing her eyes as she considered all of that… before she gave him a thumbs up, “I’ll trust you. If you say you’ve done it, you’ve done it.”

“And, otherwise? I’ll just be your patron,” Maya shrugged, crossing her arms as she rested on her hip, “Being the patron of a genius who’s trying to make things better for people feels like a good use of my funds. Maybe I don’t know what you’re going to do with it, but I want to believe you’d do something good. Maybe don’t use that crazy brain of yours to make bombs or something with my funding, is my limit.”

Ienzo looked briefly surprised before giving Maya a warm, grateful look. “I’d like to reward that faith. I’ve already done enough harm to the world, this is just step one of doing something good for a change. I don’t intend on stopping here, as important as it is.”

He gave another sheepish laugh. “I actually just got word of a more ambitious project to entirely get rid of conditioning, so if nothing else I think I have a solid background to work on that next.” 

“Perfect.” Maya smirked, reaching over to pat her friend on the shoulder, before walking past him. “Enjoy your celebrations and your boyfriend… oh. I should ask.” She paused, looking over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to know why Kaito Momota sent me a ‘I don’t want to kill you’ gift basket yesterday, do you? Seemed pretty random and out of nowhere.”

In some ways, Ienzo still did have some luck on his side. And that luck was called the strange, strange machinations of Kaito Momota.

Ienzo’s surprise was genuine as he gave Maya a bewildered look. “What?”

That’s what Kokichi’s husband had decided to do??? Of all ways to reach out to his estranged sibling, not just a gift basket, which was already bizarre, but a specifically ‘I don’t want to kill you’ one? How did you even theme that???

“Yeah, it showed up yesterday. It was funny, actually, Sora delivered it,” Maya chuckled lightly, shaking her head a bit, “I tipped him. It was a massive gift basket, half the size of me, full of flowers and cheeses and lots of different alcohols and chocolates. When I first saw it I thought maybe someone was being particularly bold in confessing to me? But then I read the message that came with it, and lo and behold, Prince Kaito Momota had added a postcard to it that was… just vague enough that hopefully the person who put together the gift basket for him would have also thought it was some sort of long distance confession.” 

“But in practice? It basically said he would love to speak to me, whenever I was ready to do so, no pressure, no pressure, also he was super happy to look forward to a ‘life’ with me,” Maya said, stressing the word ‘life’, “He got that message in there, like, three times, he was reeeeally stressing the ‘being alive’ thing. Considering I had told you my major concern with him finding out? I figured maybe that specific concern might have been passed along.”

Huh. Yesterday had been full of bizarre mail then. 

“That’s…bold,” Ienzo said slowly, meaning, just, the entire affair. The extravagant basket, using a cover of a confession and still signing as himself, considering he was notoriously married, and doing all that to reach out to Maya. What a strange guy…

That Maya had specifically asked him not to tell about her. Shit shit shit shit…

A concerned look crossed over Ienzo’s face. “...I did tell my family. Or, rather, whenever someone says that you’re lying about the Momota stuff I’ve vouched that you’re not. But I didn’t tell Prince Kaito.”

“Relax, I’m not mad,” Maya said dismissively, waving her hand a bit, “I’d be mad if the result was worse, but I’m an ‘all’s well that ends well’ kind of girl. And I guess I never really thought I could avoid this forever.”

“Besides… technically the ball’s in my court now, so, if I wanted, I could never reach out to him and, in theory, he might just leave me be,” Maya said, “I haven’t decided how I’m going to respond yet, if I even do. That said, I just wanted to clear the air between us, about the whole situation. Don’t let it weigh on you. Go celebrate.”

Ienzo hadn’t thought he’d tensed, but his shoulders did notably relax in the absence of Maya’s anger. Offering a small smile, he said, “It might not seem that way to you, but you did go out on a limb helping us, and I’ve just told you how much you helped with my project… I’ve tried to be diligent in making sure I don’t bring avoidable harm to you. So I…suppose I’m sorry for the surprise, but I’m glad things worked out alright.”

Ienzo half shrugged. “Half of us are heading to Dicea. If by the time they head out you have a message you want to send back, that’s an easy way to do it.”

“I might do that. I may go the more direct route and just talk to him on the phone too,” Maya admitted. “You’ve heard of phones, right? Sincere question, I don’t know how much news you’ve gotten about the world in general since you’ve gotten out of the factory.”

She sniffed. “Oh. Smells like they found the barbecue supplies. I’m a little jealous. Would it be super weird if I crashed your party at some point tonight?”

Ienzo laughed softly. “Yeah, we know about phones. It was very strange to come out to absolutely groundbreaking technology that, relatively, people were already semi-used to.” Ienzo went quiet for a moment, before his head tilted in consideration, an excited, giddy gleam in his eyes like a kid at a festival lighting up his face. “...I’ve never used one, though. It sounds interesting.”

Looking up at Maya’s sniff--ah, so that’s what that was--he gave her a smile. “Not at all. May not be as wild as your parties, but we’re playing Sora’s new board game and potentially getting high. You’re very much welcome to join.”

“Sounds like fun. I need to go finish up some stuff, but then I might swing by after,” Maya said, giving Ienzo a wave before walking off. She liked to do that. Waving and walking off was her element. 

Upstairs, Demyx was proudly showing off to Lauriam, yeah, he DID know how to barbecue, thank you very much! Glancing over his shoulder as he saw Ienzo come up, he grinned. “Look what we found! The bar had a freezer of food! Also, it’s your turn!”

“Fortuitous,” Ienzo noted, giving Demyx an affectionate look as he re-took his seat at the bar, putting down his lighter and weed box, Lauriam giving the latter a sustained look. As he rolled his dice, he passed on, “Maya said she might join us later, by the way. I did tell her what we’re celebrating, and either way she wishes us a nice party.”

Lauriam raised an eyebrow. “As much as you said to get her funding, right? And you absolutely look like a pothead with that gear, you realize?”

Nodding to the first question, as he considered his options, Ienzo shrugged. “Where else am I supposed to keep everything, Lauriam? I’m not going to keep illegal substances in clear containers.”

“Just saying.”

“I think it’s cool. I like the design on the box,” Demyx said, pressing the meat down on the grill, letting some of the juices fall, “And yeah, be suuuuper careful with that, Ienzo. Of all the reasons we have to come bailing you out of jail, I feel like ‘proving you’re not a demon’ is one of those ones we might not have a leg to stand on.” 

“A shame, I’d been planning on standing in the middle of town and lighting up everything I had at once,” Ienzo hummed as he traded some resources in, getting a special card. 

Lauriam rolled his eyes, even though he couldn’t fully keep down a smile, before he kicked Ienzo’s leg lightly. “Seriously. I know you won’t plan on being flippant, but if someone’s intent on getting you arrested, they’ll find a reason. Your clothes smelling like smoke, or…” Lauriam gave Ienzo a longer look before sighing, “Actually just how you look normally, if someone felt creative enough to try and push that angle from the beginning.”

Ienzo looked up from the board, raising an eyebrow. “...elaborate.”

“Hey, yeah, elaborate!” Demyx pouted, before looking over Ienzo. “Is it that sort of ‘otherworldly’ look he’s got going on? The sort of shiny hair that could be gray, could be silver, could be purple… your hair is kind of nuts, Ienzo,” Demyx said, like he was really only just realizing it. 

Ienzo could only shrug a little. Genetics were the answer of where his hair color came from, but he doubted there was an answer at all for why it was the color it was. He did think it was pretty firmly blue, but color was very subjective.

Lauriam gave Demyx an amused look before looking more exasperated. “I was more talking about the fact he always looks like he just woke up…into a massive hangover. And immediately got sick. I mean--”

Leaning over, Lauriam cupped Ienzo’s face, turning him towards Demyx. “I know you’re biased, Lover Boy, but tell me this is the look of someone who isn’t on something.”

Ienzo’s visible eye rolled as he batted Lauriam’s hands off him. 

“He’s on that ‘being cute’ grind,” Demyx said proudly… before adding in, “And also sleeping for only three hours while staring at spreadsheets and math. That’s not good for anyone's complexion. But you’re pulling it off, Ienzo, don’t let Lauriam bully you! Also, could someone roll for me? Just collect resources for me, I’m almost done with the burgers.”

“I’m sleeping more than that lately,” Ienzo grumbled, pouting a bit. Though as he grabbed the dice to roll for Demyx, he frowned lightly. “...I do use illusions when I’m trying to do things I need a certain perception for. However, that’s not something I could keep up for long term… Do…you think that could be a problem?”

Lauriam gave Ienzo a gentler look--even as he made sure he was taking the correct resources for Demyx. “In general, no. You look how you look. But you guys were all planning on cleaning up for your big performance, right? I think walking around the castle in the clothes we dumpster dived for would be pushing things.”

Ienzo glanced down at himself. He hadn’t exactly gone looking through the spare clothes Maya said they could use yet. Really, the most thought he’d put into his clothes after leaving the factory was in the necessity of having a few more pairs of everything to make laundry easier. He’d changed the palette to black, actually wore jeans, but there wasn’t a lot of difference in the clothes he’d picked from the oversized sweats and scrubs he’d been given before. 

…if there was more of an issue than just his clothes?

“Oy, out of your head,” Lauriam scolded, before sighing and scooting his chair over. “Fine, this is a chance to experiment, if nothing else.”

As Lauriam started running fingers through Ienzo’s hair, Ienzo could only blink. “...what are you doing?”

“We’re basically having a sleepover, may as well add in some styling sessions too. Hold still.”

Demyx looked over curiously, before whistling a bit. “Damn, Lauriam. Really making a move on my boyfriend right in front of me. Bold! Though, seriously, are we doing hair stuff? I like hair stuff… I mean,” Demyx snorted, gesturing to his spiked up mullet, “Obviously. Maaan, I missed hair gel. I told you guys I knew cool ways to style my hair!” 

“Watch out, Demyx, move it or lose it. I’m just that confident that Ienzo likes me in any romantic capacity whatsoever,” Lauriam hummed lightly as he started sectioning off bits of Ienzo’s bangs. Despite the cut being somewhat intentional, they all knew Ienzo didn’t really style his hair. No matter what, it just tended to fall in his face, so he just kept the front long enough to not fall directly in his eye. So, any intentional style had to account for that. 

“You did,” Ienzo confirmed, glancing over to Demyx with a small smile, even as he kept his head still. “You can obviously correct me otherwise, but it does seem like a declaration of hope in hindsight that you never changed up your style. Or you just thought you could’ve bargained for hair gel eventually.”

Lauriam shrugged. “We managed to bargain better conditioner every once in a while, it was possible.”

When they could beg for little luxuries was when things were going particularly well. There had been too many times one of them had been ill or injured and the supervisors had considered it a fun game of ‘what do you have left to offer’ as the others tried to get them medicine. 

In truth, there had been no real pressure from anyone above the supervisors to get higher quotas done, faster. They had simply gotten bored and made a game of pushing the conditioners to their limits. 

And as Demyx reflected on all of that, setting up some buns, he said, “...I know I’m just saying the obvious. But all of that was really fucked up, wasn’t it?”

“I think that’s even understating it,” Lauriam grouched, his expression darkening, but his hands remaining gentle.

“There tends to be the ethos here about material wealth and access to resources being tied to morality,” Ienzo said softly. “Ask someone on the street and they’ll know that being rich and influential was a luck of the draw when you were born, but if someone is struggling to pay bills, then there are quite a lot of people who say they should just work harder, they should get a better job, they should cut back on luxury expenses… They make it a personal issue, rather than a systemic one. The idea that there are things people should be entitled to, regardless of stature--not just food, but nutritionally balanced food, not just shelter, but shelter that’s clean and comfortable--is incredibly radical.”

“Because resources are considered a personal issue, then it’s their fault for not having it.” Ienzo sighed softly. “It’s why a lot of circumstances around the Indentured Program were accepted. A debtor obviously was bad with their money, so it’s okay that they can’t manage anything themselves. A criminal broke the law, that makes them ‘evil’, and ‘evil’ makes them unhuman, so it’s not only okay, but moral to treat them badly.”

Ienzo’s gaze went tired. “We were considered inhuman by nature, not even by choice, so we were treated worse than animals. It was due to power-tripping, not always a conscious theological decision like that, but it remains that the supervisors wouldn’t feel any empathy amid them holding power over us because of that subconscious belief. We weren’t ‘them’, we weren’t like them, so it was fine to treat us that way.”

“Yeah… I’ll be honest, I think a part of me forgot that people could be nice to you,” Demyx admitted, putting toppings on the burgers before bringing them over to Lauriam and Ienzo, setting them down as he joined them at the board game, “In a general sort of way. We were all nice to each other! But… the factory’s supervisors, the way we were treated. The way we had to treat others?”

“Maybe I’m giving the world too much credit? We’re not ‘other’ to them now, most people don’t know there’s anything inhuman about us,” Demyx frowned, “Not that I really feel ‘inhuman’, but you guys know what I mean. But…the Ouma, Lady Maya, the people Sora meets on deliveries, the people I meet at the brothels, Sam, Miku…I don’t know if it shows, but I’m really surprised anytime anyone treats us decently. I think for a bit there, I just thought that was normal. To be treated like that.”

“I don’t really have proof for it, more just an…optimistic belief,” Ienzo admitted, “But I think for most people, accounting for the world as a whole, they have a hard time purposefully acting on that ethos when there’s someone right in front of them. It’s easier to uphold when it requires passivity, or when it’s about people ‘far away’ or that you’d never meet, and ‘people’ just becomes a concept in your head, but with a real person talking directly to you? It’s harder to look someone in the eyes and call them inhuman.”

“But some still do,” Lauriam scoffed, before generously admitting, “Maybe that’s still a minority and you’re right, but they still exist.”

Ienzo started to nod before remembering Lauriam’s hands on him, though the older man had just paused to let Ienzo move. And…his own worldview aside, he gave Ienzo a slightly worried look. 

“...I’m a little surprised you even have that ‘optimistic belief’. Dem-Dem and I at least got to see a little of the world before landing in the ‘being treated like shit is normal’ pit. You fully grew up in it.” Lauriam’s eyebrows drew in before saying with slow concern, “...you realize people shouldn’t treat you like that as a standard, right?”

Ienzo blinked, before giving Lauriam a disparaging look that he didn’t quite mean it to be. “Uh, yeah.”

“Ienzo was raised by Even and Aeleus. Sometimes I’m surprised he’s not more self-assured. Those two adore him, you couldn’t ask for more dedicated parents,” Demyx said, looking over his cards, “I literally just need one hay. Has anyone actually managed to get a hay yet? Anyway, I doubt either of them ever let Ienzo think for a second he deserved any of it.”

Ienzo smiled softly, though he acknowledged, “True, but just because they’re wonderful doesn’t mean our environment didn’t affect me at all. I do appreciate you asking, Lauriam, but I’m alright. I think I’m well-aware that someone saying out of nowhere I need to be punished and dislocating my shoulders is a massive outlier.”

Sighing, Lauriam took a pin from his pocket and secured the end of the rolled braid he’d put Ienzo’s bangs into as he moved back to his original place. “Well, good. You usually only let people walk over you when you don’t give a shit, but it’s good to make sure that’s not coming from a place like…you don’t think you deserve to care about anything.”

Ienzo smile quirked a little, it feeling a little strange to be able to see with both his eyes. “Glad we certainly never have to worry about that with you either. And I’m glad it doesn’t feel normal to you anymore, Demyx.”

Demyx instinctively stretched out his left fingers when Ienzo mentioned dislocating shoulders. His left hand had had a reeeeaaal rough time for a moment there. It still stiffened in the cold in a way it hadn’t before. 

“Hay, Hay, guys, please. I know you’re doing hair stuff, but my hay situation is dire… oh! Hey, I like that,” Demyx said approvingly, leaning forward to get a better look at the braid, “Ienzo, we have to get you a mirror, Lauriam’s on to something.”

Ienzo had once quietly theorized it’d been one of Orlette’s favorite punishments, considering the number of them that had gotten dislocated joints. He tried not to, just not wanting to feed an ego even if she was no longer around for his responses to feed, but every time he heard a loud crack from his shoulder, or had trouble reaching up for something, he was reminded of the pain she’d inflicted on him. 

“I have one, but I don’t think you’ll like my offer,” Lauriam hummed, before smiling a bit as Demyx liked what he’d done. Braiding hair wasn’t exactly the same as the sort of braiding you did for certain fiber arts, but it wasn’t totally different either. 

Ienzo blinked, before lightly touching across the braid. “Oh… Um…” He looked around, seeing if there was maybe some glass nearby he could see in, rather than having to go downstairs. 

“Don’t sound too excited for people being able to see more than half your face,” Lauriam lightly teased.

“Here, look at yourself through my eyes,” Demyx encouraged, making a show of opening his eyes wider, looking at Ienzo head-on. “I will be your mirror!” 

Demyx felt Ienzo poke into his mind a bit, and focused… but the funny thing about Empaths, is that it was so difficult to separate the visual from the emotion. Not that Demyx was trying that hard. He felt like his emotions about Ienzo were pretty obvious. Pretty standard. He got more flustered and flirty around him these days, but he had meant it when he had said he couldn’t imagine them being in a relationship would feel any differently than just being friends. 

Along with a neat little braid, and being able to see more of Ienzo’s face, Ienzo looked deeply, beautifully kind. There was a gentleness to him that showed just how relaxed Demyx felt when he was around him. Like he just trusted the other man completely, and that trust was obvious in Ienzo’s features. There was playfulness in his eyes too. To Ienzo, he might think he looked a bit blank-faced at the best of times, but to Demyx, there was always that hint of amusement. Playfulness. The sort of look that beckoned someone to, say, come convince them to play Twister with them.

None of that had changed for Demyx, from before dating to after dating Ienzo… well. Okay. Maybe his lips also looked more shapely now. And he liked the long curve of Ienzo’s neck. The eyelashes were cute too… Maybe a few new things stood out to Demyx.

But for the most part. Kind.

With a cool new braid!

It wasn’t an esoteric ability. They didn’t look through each other a lot, but sometimes it was important to pass along information quickly and accurately, or, like right now, it made for a very good substitute for a mirror. But it was one of the clearer and less easily hidden ways to really see how one of them felt about something. 

‘Kindness’ wasn’t something that would come to mind first if Ienzo was tasked with describing himself. ‘Curious’ might take the cake, but maybe ‘adventurous’, ‘driven’, or ‘loyal’ would be up there. Maybe some of his actions were driven by a sense of kindness, Ienzo would hope, but…really he thought he was too self-absorbed, or oblivious, or just too awkward for kindness to shine through effectively. 

But that wasn’t how Demyx saw him at all. 

Even with his own eyes unfocused, they still widened a little as Ienzo saw through Demyx’s perception, the sapphire blues vibrant and twinkling with more playfulness than Ienzo would ever think possible. And he looked kind. Trusted. …a lot of things that aligned with how Ienzo felt about Demyx in turn. 

Seeing his own cheeks start to turn pink, Ienzo blinked as he stopped focusing on Demyx’s mind, though that didn’t stop the flush from growing, much to Lauriam’s amusement. “You like it?” he asked, drawling knowingly. 

“It’s very even,” Ienzo said, clearing his throat a little in fluster, “It’s really impressive you created that sort of movement to it, and it feels very secure. Thank you, Lauriam.”

“Great job Lauriam!” Demyx agreed, before squinting at him, “About that hay…”

“Also, what about your hair?” Demyx asked, looking through his cards again, only breaking to take a bite of his burger, “You ever think about growing it out like Marluxia liked to project himself with?”

As Ienzo busied himself eating to get over his fluster, Lauriam sighed forlornly. “Oh Dem-Dem, I told you you wouldn’t like it… I really think I could only part with a hay for a lumber and two ore.”

Though, his performative dismay fell into a brief grimace before he shrugged a little. “The reason Marluxia had longer hair was because I thought about it. My hair does not do well grown out. Really, any longer than this and it’s a nightmare. So he got to live out experimenting with longer styles.”

“Oh yeah? That’s a shame, but I get it, it’s pretty coarse. Must be hard to brush,” Demyx agreed, before looking at his cards, pouting, “...How about just the two ore, no lumber?”

“Mmm, that’s a tough bargain, I’ll give you that… Ah, for you? Sure, here you go,” Lauriam accepted, trading the cards…before he looked down, snorting softly. “My sister broke a brush trying to brush it when we were little. Three times.”

Ienzo raised his eyebrows. “...three of the same brush, or?”

Lauriam laughed. “Three different ones at different times.”

“Did she have it too?” Demyx asked, gesturing to Lauriam’s hair. “The… I keep wanting to call it curly, but that’s nooooot quite right. But the whole… I’m trying so, so hard not to actually use the term Dandelion look,” Demyx laughed, before playing with his own hair a bit, “Mine’s actually the opposite, it’s really fragile. I have to be really careful brushing it out because I can accidentally cut my scalp if I don’t judge how much resistance my hair is going to give me right. If there’s no resistance at all? Scratches, I’m basically just combing my head.”

Ienzo winced sympathetically. “Ouch.”

Lauriam huffed amusedly. “Is Dilan starting to ruin the term? Asshole. No, I think I’d actually have an easier time if my hair was actually curly. It’s just thick, I guess.” His eyes going a little distant as he neatened his cards and pieces again, Lauriam said softly, “No, she didn’t. Strelitzia usually kept her hair pretty long, actually.”

Hesitating for a moment, Lauriam shared a static image of his sister, Strelitzia a young woman with a soft, friendly smile and straight strawberry blonde hair tied into two low, loose ponytails that ended around her waist. The green of her eyes was unmistakably the same as Lauriam’s however.

Demyx whistled, capturing one of the ports and turning it into a settlement–hah! Now he could turn… hay? Into stuff. Hmmm–saying appreciatively, “Her hair was long, wow. I can’t even imagine having that much hair. Wasn’t she a gardener? I have to imagine picking things out of her hair was a nightly occurrence.”

Lauriam’s smile was more bittersweet now. “She usually tied it back more than that while she was working, but you’re right. We used to, uh…” It was less stumbling over his words and more just Lauriam needing to take a breath. “We used to joke about more and more ridiculous things she could sneak back home. Like, um…really, from afar how easily could you really tell the difference between some twigs or silverware.”

Ienzo was the one scooting his seat over now, leaning over to press his shoulder against Lauriam’s. Lauriam gave him an amused, but grateful look. 

“Hah! Nice! Okay, but seriously, what’s the most outrageous thing she managed to get home?” Demyx laughed, “Because I bet you anything that joking became doing at least once. Your sister sounds cool like that.”

“If you’re okay talking about it,” Ienzo said softly, pressing more against Lauriam’s shoulder. 

Lauriam took a breath before nudging Ienzo’s shoulder back, handing him the dice for his turn. “I’m okay.”

“As much as her bosses sucked, Strel really wasn’t trying to lose her job, or get arrested,” Lauriam explained, steadying himself before smirking. “Most of the time she just brought back some of the overly fancy dirt and fertilizer from her job. She worked in the dirt, so no one was going to question her clothes having dirt on them, right? But once?”

He huffed quietly. “I’m not sure you could even call it stealing, though I’m sure the guards would. There was a chair the House was getting rid of for…I don’t even remember, but I think it was a wobble or something. Strelitzia hid it in the gardener’s shed and over the week piece by piece brought it home. Once we put it back together, it was definitely the fanciest thing we owned.”

“Oh, man, I did that once!” Demyx said, giving Lauriam an excited look, “Me and my mom hopped a fence once because when we were building something, we could just see over this neighbor’s lawn the whole time, and they had this metal box, right? But the thing was, it was tucked away and had, like, mold growing on it, because they never used it for anything. And it was just this perfect size metal box to strap to the back of the carriage, you could put things in it and it wouldn’t get wet, lock it.”

“So, one day, near the end of our stay there? Mom just took me aside and said we were gonna go get it. Dad had to keep watch, and I hopped the fence with Mom to go help her lift it up and push it over the fence,” Demyx grinned, eyes alight with excitement, “At the time, it felt like the most dangerous, exciting thing I had ever done. I felt so much pride every time we used that box for anything. Though, man, having to do that over the course of a week? She must have been thrilled when it was done!”

“We have some experienced heisters in our midst, who knew?” Ienzo quietly laughed, looking enthralled with Demyx’s story. “And it sounds like you really put that box to good use afterwards.”

“Sometimes your parents really sound wild, Dem-Dem,” Lauriam shook his head a little. “I think Strel would’ve killed me if I tried anything like what she did. Ever the hypocrite.” He fondly rolled his eyes. 

“What about your parents, Lauriam?” Ienzo asked, remembering that Lauriam had mentioned them before, and in the memory dump too, though pointing out his sister as his first disciplinarian was interesting. Though, Ienzo didn’t leave space for an answer before he turned over his victory cards. “Also, I believe I win.”

Lauriam gawked for a moment before narrowing his eyes. “Sleeve check.”

Demyx gave Ienzo a baffled look… before he glanced at his cards. Then the board. Then looking at the rule book.

“...wait,” he realized, “How do you win? It’s not when you fill up the board?”

Ienzo gave Demyx a soft look. “...we all went over the rules together. It’s a point-based game, first to ten. These cards were worth a point each, then between my settlements and the fact I have the longest road, that adds to ten.”

Still looking suspicious, Lauriam grabbed one of Ienzo’s arms and started patting down his sleeves.

“Come oooon, Lauriam, are you still pissed about Monopoly?” Demyx asked, looking down at his cards–how many points did he have then?--as he watched the other man search Ienzo, “He’s not going to pull that trick again! And that game was going forever. He did us a favor, cheating. Man, first to ten, huh… really makes it a race.”

“Monopoly, Laugh Trivia, Sorry, Twister. Ienzo cheats in every game we play,” Lauriam grouched, patting down Ienzo’s other sleeve.

“I don’t, I just pay attention to the exact bounds of the rules,” Ienzo defended himself, before giving Demyx a small nod. “Earning resources is more or less luck, because of the dice, though trades can even things out a bit. But with that, you can assume that everyone will likely be building roads and settlements at the same pace. So, to get ahead in points, it seemed important to get as many random cards as possible while arranging my roads to shut you two out of paths.”

Lauriam blinked, letting Ienzo’s arm go, before he glared suspiciously at his little brother. “Ienzo. You didn’t make an illusion to make road spaces look filled or unappealing, did you?”

Ienzo just passively mused, “Your placements were your choices.”

“Nooo, he would never!” Demyx said cheerfully, before tilting his head, “Okay, yes, now I do remember, he did make it so that I couldn’t see he had two arms down in twister when he was supposed to be holding himself up with one that one time… and there was that one time he made us hear laughter when we were judging whose descriptions were funniest, which cause the rest of us to find his descriptions funnier… and that one game of Drug Dealer, where he made things shift in the corner of our eyes to make us think deals were being made that weren’t…”

Demyx paused, before saying, “But other than all those times! He’d never!”

Lauriam glowered. “Or when he made that allegiance with the teens before the game even started to make it to final four? Or when he stole a bunch of pieces from the chess set so we used rocks, and Isa just happened to forget which piece was supposed to be which? Or when he and Luis negotiated for literally half an hour, gave each other free rent in Monopoly and drove everyone out of the game? Nothing other than those?” 

Ienzo frowned a little. “...I’m starting to think you don’t enjoy playing games with me.”

“I would more if you didn’t cheat!”

“Okay, but negotiating with other players isn’t cheating, don’t be a sore loser, Lauriam,” Demyx said, tsking a bit, before looking curiously at the board, “Do you guys want to play again? I bet I could do better this time!”

“No, but it’s suspicious when we hadn’t even decided on a voting game yet.” Lauriam gave Ienzo side-eye. 

Rolling his eyes--both in full, clear, exasperated view--Ienzo scooted back to his own place before sighing. “I’d be happy to, though would you want to wait a moment to see if Maya comes up? Look, I’ll even get high so I can’t do anything, if that helps.”

Watching Ienzo start to get into his supplies, Lauriam hummed in interest. “Is it really that hard?”

“For anything precise, yes,” Ienzo nodded, “I can still use Empathy fine, even past what’s instinctual, but you two would notice in an instant.”

“You know what I wonder?” Demyx grinned, leaning back in his chair, a light breeze ruffling his hair, “What’s Zexion like, when you’re toasted, Ienzo? Does it affect him? It’s gotta, right?”

Ienzo blinked as he finished rolling up a blunt, before his lips parted slightly in curious realization. “...that’s an answer I suppose we can find out tonight. The two of us haven’t been in direct conversation while I’ve been high before. Oh, actually…”

Ienzo glanced between his friends. “I got really dizzy earlier; I suppose I’ll have to ask the others, but was Zexion talking to either of you a bit ago?”

“Was he… oh,” Demyx winced sheepishly, “Uuuuh, yeah. Yep. He was! We had a good ol’ convo. Convooooosacion~ Conversation. Hey, am I dating Zexion? What do you think, Ienzo?”

Lauriam had started to look a little concerned--was just talking to Zexion a drain on Ienzo’s energy? He might not have an analytical grasp on Empathy as much as the others, but something about that didn’t sound right to him--before he gave Demyx a bewildered look. 

Which was a contrast to the thoughtful look that crossed Ienzo’s face as he lit his blunt and took a hit. “That’s…a good question. I’m inclined to say yes? Because he is a part of me. However, I’d be remiss not to recognize that he’s a part of me with a definitive consciousness and ego. Zexion?”

o_o

“Oh what the--?!” Lauriam startled, flinching from the very unexpected sudden Chibo sitting on the edge of the bar. 

o_o I think Demyx is dating me too, though he has a say in that as well. I don’t think I could be uninvolved in your relationship, considering that I’m a part of you as you said, but I would make it a priority to respect his boundaries if he wishes to have a more straightforward monogamous relationship.

The intrigue only grew on Ienzo’s face as he lightly tapped his chin. “...would that not be monogamy otherwise?”

“Do I have two boyfriends?” Demyx asked, looking pleased with that idea, before smirking. “Hah, look at that, Dilan! Turns out I have rizz after all! I drew two bad bitches! Jealous, Lauriam?” Demyx asked, smirking at Lauriam. 

“No, I’m really happy for you three,” Lauriam said, actually not sounding sarcastic saying that. “If you can make the ‘ego-Nobody’ relationship work, then I wish the best of luck to you.”

o_o

o_o Are you worried that Dilan won’t want a relationship with you when he’s back? And that’s why you’re always mentioning that you and Xaldin aren’t in a relationship when you guys banter?

Lauriam stiffened for a moment before glaring at Zexion. “We already know you’re an eavesdropper, what have you been up to in retirement?”

ㅍ_ㅍ Factually incorrect, I have more work now than ever.

“Yeah, give him a break, Lauriam, he’s working a job he used to share with, like, a hundred other Zexions! …I’ll be honest, I’m glad I’m not dating a hundred guys. There’s a lot of me to go around, but not that much,” Demyx admitted. 

But, that said, he gave Lauriam a slightly worried look. “...you uh, you wanna talk about it? Are you guys not dating? I sort of thought you were dating now, considering I had to separate you two like cats in heat today.”

Glancing between the two--three, getting past Zexion’s blank doll expression--looks of concern aimed at him, Lauriam wanted to insist, uh, no way was he going to talk about this with them! 

…but really? Who else would he even talk to?

Sighing, Lauriam slouched back on his stool a bit. Shooting Demyx a half-hearted glare. “We were literally just talking, you absolute drama queen.” Lauriam looked away, his voice softening. “But no, we’re not dating. To quote Xaldin, we’re ‘situation pending’.”

With a quick glance at Zexion, Lauriam crossed his arms over the bar and put his head on them, the lower part of his face covered by the crook of his elbow. “...which sometimes feels like ‘situation never’, considering we’re going to be headed in opposite directions for a couple months at least, and Dilan’s coming back probably while you guys are hoofing it over to Dicea.”

Ienzo frowned lightly. Asking genuinely, “Why do you think Dilan will unambiguously end things?”

Lauriam let go of a harsh breath but didn’t say anything. Just glaring off the side of the roof.

“Yeah, man, I mean… look, I know Xaldin’s the big flirt of the two, but I don’t think our desires are entirely separate from the Nobodies. I know mine weren’t separate from Larxene,” Demyx said, before wincing, “Well, how we would have dealt with those desires were wildly different. But that doesn’t stop the root. Wasn’t Dilan also being old and gross at you?”

Lauriam clenched his jaw before he leveled a sharp…vulnerable glare at Demyx, hissing, “That’s part of the problem.”

“Eep!” Demyx eep’d, putting up his hands as he stuttered, “Th-then what’s the problem!? You two will be in weird May-December bliss someday! Isn’t that what you want?”

Demyx paused. “...do you want that?”

Lauriam hid his face in his arms, and at first it didn’t seem like he was going to answer. Ienzo and Zexion shared a concerned look, but before either of them could reach out, a muffled voice said, “He said that Dilan is ashamed of him. Basically that Dilan resents everything Xaldin is. And he said that I only liked him because I was trapped and Xaldin was enough of an asshole to look like an option, and even the Xaldin part of him hates himself because he feels like a pedophile for liking me.”

Lauriam’s voice got even smaller. “If Dilan wants to separate himself from everything Xaldin is that much, then even though he likes me back, he doesn’t want to be ‘gross’, so…”

Ienzo’s eyes widened in alarm, hearing all that. Feeling unsure, even stating the fact, “...aren’t you almost 30?”

Lauriam just scrunched deeper into his arms.

“I mean, yeah, Ienzo’s right man. I know I give you guys a lot of shit, but, you’re an adult now,” Demyx said nervously, “Sure, he met you when you were 15, but, well… Did I give him a complex? This isn’t my fault, is it? Look, I’m sorry, he’s so… old-man coded to me! It really freaked me out to see you two flirting all the time! When I picture myself in that situation, I feel like I’d just be so overwhelmed.” Demyx whined, frowning, “I was worried about you!”

“I was 20 when we started flirting!” Lauriam bit out into his arms. “And that was after me almost just asking a supervisor to put me in the quiet room so I could stop being a moron around him!”

Ienzo just looked more concerned with that. “...Lauriam, do you feel weird about growing up around Dilan?”

“Yes?” Lauriam desperately sighed, finally sitting back up with slightly watery eyes. “I’m not… I don’t think he groomed me, but of course I know it’s weird. And I felt awful when I kissed him the first time, a-and I don’t think it was wrong he blew up at me about it. But…we were flirting for almost a decade before we ever did anything, and it stopped feeling weird. He stopped feeling like a guy who helped raise me and just…someone that I’d known for a long time.”

Lauriam looked away, trying to take a breath to calm some of his embarrassment. “Dilan and Xaldin flirted with me and Marluxia. I didn’t care about you making comments, Demyx, you were just being a brat. But if Dilan held onto any of that?”

They would always be important people to each other. And Lauriam would melt with every gentle touch and allusion Xaldin made about wanting to kiss him again. But…

“Things are just…over when he comes back. Not that they’re even ‘happening’ now.”

“...” Demyx pouted, crossing his arms… before he shook his head. “No way anything I said got to him like that. Dilan and Xaldin both treated me like a brat too. It’s gotta be one of the older guys getting into his head about it. If they’re whispering about grooming? That’s probably freaked him the hell out. I bet he’s probably thinking that hoping it was anything else was wishful thinking, by now. I mean, I’ve never met a groomer in real life, but I bet they convince themselves they’re not doing anything wrong. I bet Xaldin’s trying to avoid that. Or Dilan is. One of them.”

“Now you guys are talking about grooming?” Lady Maya asked, walking across the roof, a bottle of wine in her hands, wearing a fluffy night robe, “How come you guys never talk about anything fun? Or do you just save the heavy talk for when you know I’m coming by?”

Lauriam just gave Demyx a plaintive look. Maybe, but he didn’t think Demyx gave himself enough credit. Whether it was whispers around or something Dilan had been thinking about himself, any mention meant that it was something he was thinking about. And it meant that his attraction to Lauriam was something he was ashamed of, that only Xaldin could act on. 

…Lauriam didn’t want to be something someone was ashamed of. Especially Dilan. 

“It’s a combination of bad timing, and we’re a group that has a lot of depressing things to talk about,” Ienzo said, greeting Maya with a nod. “We were thinking of playing another round, if you’d like to play?”

Stiffening as Maya approached, Lauriam flushed and quickly tried to dry his eyes, not wanting to cry in front of her.

“Relax, handsome, there’s no judgment here,” Maya said, sitting down with a flourish, taking out a wine glass, pouring some, before offering it to the group as she said, “Would anyone like to partake with me?” before swigging her wine bottle. 

“I’ll have some, but I can get my own glass if anyone wants the non-swigged wine,” Demyx said, looking to the other two, “Oh, and Maya knows about my imaginary friend, Zexion. Maya, sometimes these two talk to Zexion too. To make me feel less crazy.”

“That’s sweet of you.” Maya said. “So who’s getting groomed?”

Lauriam sighed. “You know, by this point I may as well. And I’ve dealt with worse from you, Dem-Dem, go wild.”

It had felt insensitive while Lauriam was talking before, but Ienzo took another hit of his blunt as he contemplated the offer. “...I think I’m alright. I should probably be consciously drunk once before experimenting with being cross-faded. Would you like some weed, Maya?”

Giving Demyx a slightly incredulous look--wow. Okay--Lauriam raggedly sighed and raised a hand. “Not actually groomed. We met when I was 14, but nothing even close to romantic came around until I was 20.”

Covering the bases of information, Ienzo supplied, “And the other party is in his mid-40s now.”

“How old are you now?” Maya asked Lauriam, passing Demyx the glass and pouring Lauriam from the wine bottle when Demyx pulled up a glass for him. “Okay, so… when you were 14, he’d have been, what…just past his 30s? Thirty? Okay, I can see why the ‘G’ word is coming up. Who’s actually bringing it up? Are you guys warning him he’s been groomed and he’s not listening?” Maya asked.

“Nooo, no,” Demyx sighed, “The guy he’s into is worried he groomed him, so it’s a whole thing. He doesn’t want to date Lauriam because he’s worried it wasn’t just his creepy old guy charm and Lauriam’s terrible taste that did it.”

“Oh?” Maya said, giving Demyx an interested look, “Creepy old guy charm? How so?”

“I mean, you know,” Demyx sighed, “That weird old guy stubble. Weird old guy bulky sort of body. Weird old guy chest hair. Weird old guy smell…”

“Which is charming?” Maya asked.

“Well, sure! In its own way!” Demyx said, before pausing… and stammering, “I-if you have terrible taste!” 

“Hmmm… I think older folk can be hot. But that’s just me,” Maya shrugged, looking to Lauriam, “What happened, handsome? Get told your whole life growing up that you couldn’t do better? Did he ask you to wait for him and you feel bound by a promise you made at 16? Did he say society is unfair and that age is just a number?”

“Twenty-eight,” Lauriam sighed, accepting the glass with a shallow bow. 

ㅍ_ㅍ Your summarizations and biased descriptions really aren’t helping here, Demyx. Dilan, Xaldin, and Lauriam are our friends, and Lauriam’s reaching out to us for help. Just because you would feel uncomfortable in Lauriam’s place doesn’t mean you can make a moral ruling about the situation.

ㅍ_ㅍ And you’re not in a position to date Xaldin, because you’re dating us, if you remember.

Ienzo nodded in agreement. “As someone who met him when I was also quite young? He’s very ‘uncle’ coded. While we do consider each other ‘family’, actually defining roles as they’d be in nuclear relationships happens for ease of conversation, but isn’t quite right for our actual relationships. While some aspects of what might be included in a parent or sibling relationship are there, it’s far more accurate to say we’re simply people with very strong bonds that are more affectionate than necessative.”

Lauriam glowered at Demyx a bit. “Which is good, since I’d love to see you handle everyone calling your relationship incestuous.”

Sipping his wine, Lauriam tiredly sighed again at Maya’s questions. “Not even close. I kissed him at 19, he almost asked one of our friends to gouge his eyes out, when he finally got me to stop avoiding him he gave me one of the longest scolding talks of my life, then after nearly a year of awkwardness, we flirted with each other for nearly the next decade.”

“And yet?” Lauriam leaned an arm back on the bar as he swirled his glass, his voice a bit deadened, “Right after having sex for the second time, he tells me he hates himself because he feels like a pedophile, and I should stop being stubborn and consider other, better people.”

“Awwww,” Maya pouted, spinning her wine slightly, “That’s sad. That’s a sad story you just told me. Where’s this guy? I’ll fuck him.”

“Noooo!” Demyx groaned, “That is not the answer! Also, ew, Lauriam, don’t joke, that would make it so weird.” Demyx winced. 

“Weren’t you guys all stuck in a box together? No wonder things got weird and uncomfortable and confusing. That sort of feels inevitable,” Maya said, taking the Catan rule book and popping it open, reading it through, “You have that, plus all the normal neuroses and miscommunications and discomfort that comes from sex and love and relationships? That’s a powderkeg waiting to explode there.”

“Oh, you have no idea. Like, literally,” Demyx said. 

“Does he just want you to sleep with someone else once?” Maya asked, before giving Lauriam a wink, “I’ll help out, handsome. Then you can go tell him not even Lady Maya’s hot, rich self was able to turn you from him. Seems reassuring to me.”

Lauriam glared at Demyx. “It is weird, isn’t it, Demyx. Weird, to have someone calling out your relationship as something uncomfortable, when it isn’t that. Especially when there’s reasoning behind it. You met Ienzo when he was, what, 13? That’s definitely enough time to have grown up together, and you literally didn’t see him as a romantic option until he not-confessed to you. Isn’t that something people might identify as a sibling relationship?”

Ienzo just sighed a little, rolling his eyes as he took a bigger puff on his blunt. 

Zexion turned, giving Demyx a questioning look as he tilted his head a little. Sure, he understood not seeing anything while Ienzo was still asleep, but…he had been out for a while before that conversation. Demyx really…never considered it?

Huffing a little in amusement, Lauriam gave Maya a small smile. “He also told me he wouldn’t be able to take me seeing other people, when I said fucking him wasn’t making him my one and only. It’s complicated, I know. It wasn’t even the worst part of the night, if I can assume you might’ve seen me while I was passed out when we moved in.”

“Ahhhhhhhh,” Demyx quietly shouted, looking strained, “I mean… he’s always been my little bud… ahhhhhhh…??”

“Ugh, he sounds confusing. Maybe you can do better? I don’t have a lot of fun with people who want to make their own confusion someone else’s ball and chain. If you don’t know you want them? You can’t just keep them on the side and give them hope that maybe you’ll want them later,” Maya said.

“Do I at least get ‘he had just confessed’ leeway?” Demyx asked miserably, before he shook his head, “Oh, you mean Dilan. Yeah, Dilan’s weird. Sometimes. He’s cool, but he’s always been weird.” Demyx paused, before adding in, “To be fair, all of us are.”

“Yeah, you were comatose until roughly, mmmm…two days ago?” Maya said, looking at Lauriam, “What, this confession/pedo-fear led to you being comatose?”

“I don’t see you as a sibling,” Ienzo said plainly, before scooting his chair over to put an arm around Demyx’s waist, “You mean a lot to me in a lot of ways, but not that way.”

Lauriam sighed, looking to the side. “...I might. I really like him, but I don’t want to be someone he agonizes over, or is ashamed of. It just…” He huffed. “We’ve talked things out a few times since then, and lately he just… If it was just flirting, maybe it’d be easier to write off, it’s basically just how we talk at this point. But he gets really sweet sometimes, and talks like it’s just…a given we’ll definitely get together properly once we’re all in the same place again.”

Lauriam’s eyes squinted, his voice softening. “...I’d like to. But I’m not convinced things will work out that way.”

As Lauriam froze, though, unable to think how to explain things to Maya, Ienzo tilted his head away from Demyx and blew smoke even farther away. “More like a week and a half. And, yeah, basically.” Ienzo didn’t offer any further explanation than that. 

Lady Maya raised an eyebrow, looking over at Lauriam. “...oh? How does one lead to the other–”

“We think the confession or whatever it was Dilan did led to it,” Demyx added in, shrugging a little, “He had a really bad seizure, and he’s never had anything like that before? It was bad, his whole body was shaking. When we found out what happened just before, our best guess was it was partly the stress setting something off in him. Could still just be a coincidence, but it’d be a crazy coincidence.” 

Maya’s eyebrows raised, before leaning back, nodding. “That’s wild. Sorry to hear that.”

Lauriam gave Demyx a slightly flat look. Definitely not the worst explanation Demyx could come up with, but still not great. Very cool, he gets stress-based seizures now, and one source of that stress? A confession. 

ㅍ_ㅍ It’s not actually that dissimilar to what actually happened. Your Entropic Meltdown could definitely be compared to a seizure in ultimate effect.

“He got a really bad nosebleed from it too,” Ienzo added, “Our friend that found him first said he was bleeding for a while, so that likely added to how long he was out for.”

Lauriam shrugged a little, but politely accepted Maya’s condolences. “Thanks. But it really does add to his whole, ‘I’m bad for him’ complex too. Not sure how much more mortifying sleeping with someone then confessing to them can go.”

“Mmm. Makes you wonder why he seems so confident that you two are going to end up together someday,” Maya mused, before glancing over at Ienzo and Demyx, “...you two are cute. I did not see you both happening. Is this new?”

Demyx brightened up, smiling sheepishly. “Yeaaaah,” he said, a little embarrassed that now Maya knew definitively that he had been talking about sleeping with Ienzo. He wasn’t sure if he had mentioned it was Ienzo before. Considering the two were… sooooort of childhood friends? Childhood connected? There was something going on between the two, so it was maybe a little more personal for Maya that Demyx had been talking about his fears of sleeping with Ienzo. 

Still, he loved the current situation. The arm around his waist made him feel floaty and happy. It was nice to have Ienzo leaning against him. Not only that, but being direct about how he felt about him too. Considering everything Lauriam was going through? That was a luxury! 

“You said you guys were separating soon, right? When the group goes two ways?” Maya asked, turning back to Lauriam, “Maybe some time apart will help clear all this up. Sounds like you guys are tripping over yourselves, if I’m honest.”

…yeah. Yeah, it did. 

Ienzo smiled warmly as he patted Demyx’s side a bit. “About a week, so you’re not that behind on news. Almost didn’t happen, but I pulled things together enough to not completely fumble Demyx,” his shoulders bounced in a silent, but sheepish laugh, “Though there still was a degree of fumbling.”

“It was cute,” Lauriam smirked, pulling through his own melancholy enough to give Maya the deets, “Ienzo practically ran around the whole city to shower Demyx in cookies and balloons and very sappy poetry. I’m glad I was there, because I never would’ve believed it hearing it from one of the others.”

That momentary lift was just that, though--momentary. 

“Maybe,” Lauriam sighed shortly, taking a drink. “We would’ve split up anyway, since there’s no way Aqua would want to bring the teens along, but…” He trailed off for a moment, before frowning lightly. “...well, maybe I’d be on the ‘Dicea Scope Out’ Team anyway, with how you guys decided to split things up. In a world where, ‘we need people to stay behind because Lauriam almost died’ wasn’t a factor.”

“I doubt you’d enjoy playing nice with nobles and elites anyway,” Ienzo pointed out.

Lauriam wrinkled his nose.

“Being the guy protecting the family at home is just as worthwhile as being the guy running the desert,” Maya reminded him, “Being the last line of defense means you have to be strong when shit gets through everything else… or something like that, I read that in a book once. Sounded true.”

“Which book?” Demyx asked curiously.

“One of those ones that sort of abridge the Saints’ lives? I was trying to get cultured. I guess I sort of succeeded.” Maya said, “Also, you were wooed by balloons and poetry? You’re a bit of a princess, huh.”

“Tsk. Says the lady who tells everyone she’s an actual princess,” Demyx huffed, looking away, “I like being treated well!” 

“You know what? I can respect that,” Maya said, “And yeah, talking to elites is a headache. Have to have the patience of a damn saint to pull it off, really. Are we going to play this game, by the way? If not, yes, I will take a smoke from your blunt, Ienzo, I just didn’t want to dull myself if I’m playing a game.”

Lauriam’s mouth scrunched a bit. It wasn’t even that he took issue with being in the group to go to Dicea first. He just didn’t like that it had been decided for him because he’d gotten hurt so badly ‘nursing to health’ was a legitimate phrase for him. If he’d been able to decide for himself, or just accepted it after hearing all the roles filled the others volunteered for…fuck, even if he had just been conscious for that conversation and hadn’t had to hear it from Zexion later?

He had just wanted to actually be a part of it, rather than logistics to plan around.

Ienzo hummed lowly as he closed his eyes, thinking… Zexion popping out of view with an intrigued look. “Was it ‘Grace in the Palm of Your Hand: The Story of Saint Sarah-Mei and Other Divine Tales’ by J. G. Burback?

Without missing a beat, Ienzo opened his eyes to drawl, “And you may as well. Apparently strategic players need a handicap,” as he handed Maya the blunt.

“Cheating isn’t a strategy! You may as well just not be playing a game!” Lauriam bristled.

“You know, I think it was, brainiac. Wouldn’t have guessed you knew it,” Maya said, reaching over to take it.

“Ienzo’s really well read. Basically has a library in his head,” Demyx said proudly, laughing as he reached over to jostle Lauriam a bit, “Stooop, stooop, you’re gonna give Lady Maya the wrong impression! He doesn’t cheat! Heeeeee nudges! Sometimes!”

“That true? You’re a nudger?” Maya smirked, setting up her own pieces. 

“The correct impression,” Lauriam insisted, letting himself be jostled, “She needs to know what she’s getting into.”

Ienzo shrugged a bit. “I explore the bounds of what’s possible in the framework of games. Just because others aren’t as creative doesn’t give them reason to be salty.”

“You explore what it’s possible to get away with, not just creative thinking. Sometimes I really don’t know how you’re Aeleus’ kid,” Lauriam sighed, helping to reset the game.

-

“Seriously, man, why Even?” Dilan asked Aeleus, the two sitting near the bar as they watched the others play around with the deeper end, “I’ve seen you guys together forever now, and I still don’t really know what’s holding that relationship together.”

The pool bar was both fancier and also less formal than most of them had thought it was going to be. It turned out, in the wealthy districts, there was a certain level of luxury that turned around and advertised itself as a ‘relaxing, more authentic’ experience that seemed to be, in practice, pretending to be in a poorer environment than it actually was. 

The pool bar was attempting to recreate what, theoretically, it might be like to hang out at a bar next to a tropical area. Plants were potted around the whole place, creating a layer of privacy between different pool areas, and the whole area gave the impression it was being lit by individual pole torches, retro even in the day and age of lantern lights… but also, there were clearly just electric lights everywhere. Actually lighting things up. 

They lucked out in that there weren’t a lot of patrons visiting the bar that day, for it being a random Friday. And to their absolute shock, along with the usual hot tub areas that you would expect, there was actually a part of the pool that dipped low enough that, in theory, you could swim. Where everywhere else was designed to walk through the water and just sit and float in, the absolute end was about seven feet deep, and the others had been giving that intimidating, tantalizing deep end curious looks before they had basically goaded each other into trying to swim properly in it.

None of them knew how to swim, but the entire end area had ladder holdings lining the whole wall. This was an area that knew most of its patrons wouldn’t know how to swim, and it was easy to save yourself if you found yourself sinking, as Axel was gratefully learning as he grasped the wall, pulling himself back up with a gasp as Luis and Aqua encouraged him, Even observing from a floaty.

They were all a few drinks in. So far, it had been a pretty pleasant night. 

It turned out that swimming wasn’t quite like riding a bike, not that Aqua had tried to do that again since being out, and definitely not so while you were tipsy. However, that in no way stopped her from goading the others into testing the deep end of the pool, completely talking out of her ass about playing lifeguard if someone sank. 

Those ladders were very important. 

Aeleus watched the proceedings with amusement as he sipped on his highball. 

“Time and respect,” Aeleus answered first, watching Axel whine about getting water up his nose. “We had similar outlooks about what was possible to change in the factory, and our respective pursuits of it forged respect. It was a time of change when I was brought in. Solidifying a bond was important if we wanted to have a hand in the future.”

Aeleus paused, sipping his drink. “Ienzo is also a large reason.”

“Still fucked up to think that there was a time in the factory that was objectively worse than when I got there,” Dilan admitted, sighing, “I still can’t fathom who thought it was a good idea to keep people strapped to chairs literally 24/7. Why wouldn’t they have realized themselves that people would stop being able to condition under circumstances that bad. We have to be functional, at least.”

“Sort of funny to think that, essentially, you guys politically got together to act as leaders. Funny to see the idea of using relationships to affect change and power works on the micro too…. Heh. That’d make Ienzo our little prince of the factory. Someone tell the queen, we’ve got a new royal in town.” 

Aeleus nodded, a low sound in his throat as he closed his eyes. It was already being phased out by the time he was there, but he and Even had pushed for that final piece before the others arrived. He had been an angry young man when he got caught, and it had only seemed right to put what energy he could spare into forming an escape plan. 

After things had gone wrong, he had finally listened to Even. Maybe one day escape would be feasible, he wasn’t ignoring that, but that wasn’t what their reality looked like now. And if the factory was their life, it was important to make it better. Any way they could. 

So Aeleus had shifted focus, and things had changed. 

“I believe he already has,” Aeleus said, amusement in his voice. “And he’s followed in our ambitions while making it his own as well. I hope he’s celebrating well with the others tonight.”

Aeleus and Even had made life better within the factory. Ienzo was going to make it better for the country. If Aeleus had any ideal about the legacy of leadership, then his son was exemplifying it now.

“Man, congrats. I can hear the pride in your voice. I’m genuinely happy for you, you went and made yourself a legacy you can be proud of, got the guy you wanted, who the hell knows what you’ll manage next… that said?” Dilan splashed some water in Aeleus’ face, pouting, “Man, what the hell? You’re not a Nobody?”

Aeleus blinked and calmly wiped water from his eyes, his expression not moving much but absolutely reading smug in the face of Dilan’s outrage. “I don’t think so, though it remains to be seen. I never would’ve considered it had we not discovered Axel and Isa’s situations.”

“My conditioning method has never been obtuse,” Aeleus shrugged, “Submission in battle is just as mental as it is physical, and submission in my world is just as physical as it is mental. I already knew how to fight, and I don’t think my philosophy around it has changed drastically over the years. It makes sense that there’s little I’d need to change mentally to keep it up in repetition.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine, but you remember who first walked me through the steps of making a Nobody? Or, walked Dilan through it, anyway. You remember? Take a wild guess. First two guesses don’t count,” Dilan grouched, splashing Aeleus again, “You! You taught me! You weren’t even doing it! The gall!”

“I thought I had,” Aeleus said simply, before using most of his arm to splash Dilan back. “I knew it enough that he was successful, at least. Unless you are having a severe crisis of identity.”

Aeleus hummed quietly to himself. “Ienzo would likely find it fittingly poetic, for Marluxia to be a Nobody that thought he was a Somebody, and for you to be a Somebody thinking he’s a Nobody.”

“Gah! My drink.” Dilan pouted, trying to cover his fruity cocktail with his arm, before huffing, shaking his head as he sipped it anyway. “Nah, I’m the real deal. I’d be so lucky. It’d make some things a lot easier,” Dilan grumbled, sipping again, “...yeah, it’s still good. You know what, I gotta give it to Axel, I’m liking this. It’s very chilled out… well, if you’re not trying to drown yourself like they are.” 

Luis was now giving it a shot. To his credit, he was managing to keep his head above water, doggy paddling. But there was a clear strain on his face that showed it was taking some effort, as Isa encouraged him to just grab the ladder already. 

Aqua was very confidently insisting that, naaaah, kid, he’s got it. Look at him go! Completely unconcerned. The instincts to not die in water were strong.

“It’s its own form of relaxation,” Aeleus noted, figuring Luis would know his limits enough. Though, he side-eyed Dilan for a moment. Tilting his head to invite elaboration. “Some things?”

“Man, you know the thing. The Thing.” Dilan scowled, leaning his head back. “I could figure this shit out with Lauriam if I just… knew who the hell I was. Or who I’m going to be in a day, an hour, six damn months… We all take it as a given that the Nobody ‘situation’ is something we have to fix with effort, but in reality?” Dilan said, “He could just decide to wake up whenever. We don’t know why our Somebodies stayed asleep just as soon as everything got better. The Somebodies who came back can’t explain what the hell happened. It’s our own brains, our own bodies… presumably, once they decide to get over themselves? That’s it. They’re back.”

“It could happen any second… and you know what, good for Dilan when it does, maybe he’ll be able to fix all of this. But me? I’m too distant, he pulls away. I’m too sweet, he pulls away. I just want to fuck him? ….ugh.” Dilan scowled, dropping into the water, irritated, “...then I pull away, because now I’m just a fucking creep who just wants to fuck the guy I helped raise…auuuugh… There’s just no good way to act. Other than forgetting this whole thing even happened, and I can’t do that either, because I’m fucking just gaga for that damn pink bastard!”

It was hard to plan for the future when you didn’t know if you were going to be around to see it. Xaldin still would, but it would be different, as a reintegrated part of Dilan. Trying to figure out who he was with Lauriam was nearly impossible to really think through when Xaldin didn’t know who he’d be in a week. 

Though, that was just another layer to it all. 

“I don’t know if Dilan would have any more of an answer than you do.” Aeleus gave Xaldin a look. “And you know there’s more to your relationship with Lauriam than just being someone who raised him. It’s not fair to reduce yourself to just that position, as much as it is something to acknowledge.”

Aeleus stretched his legs out a bit in the water, sighing softly. “...do you think Dilan would want to maintain you as a construct, after waking up?”

“God, I don’t know… I don’t even know if I want that,” Dilan admitted.

“...look, you might not understand this. But the desire to return to base essence? That’s not just something people tell themselves to make themselves feel better about getting rid of constructs they don’t need anymore,” Dilan said softly, “I feel it. It’s small, it’s distant, but… as much as I like being myself? There is this sense of being incomplete. Like I’m missing a huge chunk of myself. Probably because I literally am.”

“Maybe constructs like Zexion and little Amaina and all of that, maybe they’re just more advanced than I am and that’s why they can handle the long term like they do. But me? I’m a bunch of shallow character traits mashed together, and I feel it. And every now and again I get so mad at Dilan because, like… how could he leave me like this? He didn’t design me to exist like this, not out in the world, long-term, trying to manage a relationship or…just exist.” Dilan frowned. “...but at the same time I feel like I’m at the cusp of something. And I resent Dilan for coming back, because maybe I could become the sort of construct Zexion is. Maybe with just a little more help, a little more fine-tuning, I actually would be able to sustain for long term without it feeling like an ache.”

“....maybe I’d be okay being a permanent, live-in construct. But Dilan would have to put in the work of refining me. I’m not there yet. And being, like, half-conscious? Is driving me crazy,” Dilan admitted. “...maybe I should just bite the crossbolt and just bring him back. Maybe this isn’t as helpful as I want it to be. This is really hard, Aeleus. I miss the factory. I miss when it was easy.”

Knowing more of the variety of what their ‘Nobodies’ actually were, person to person? That was why Aeleus had asked. Zexion had been around far longer than any of them had even known Ienzo, and had been made to be his own person, in a sense, first--it made sense why Ienzo had re-worked him. Ansem had barely been around a blink of an eye and hadn’t been given much to develop in that time anyway--the fatigue that Aqua had described of the boy made sense, the same with Riku’s lack of attachment. 

In that spectrum, Aeleus felt that Xaldin was much closer to Zexion’s side of things. He had been made to be a Nobody, an impermanent veneer…but he had been around for so long that he was so much more than sadism personified. Xaldin was their friend. He had fallen in love. 

It would take work, yes, but Aeleus could see it working if Dilan stabilized and refined Xaldin, rather than just absorbing him. Though, maybe that wasn’t what Xaldin even wanted, even if he did receive help. 

Aeleus put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “Whatever the two of you decide, we will be here to support it. The Nobody system had been developed and made for the factory, nothing more. It is not fair to leave you like this to face the world without Dilan. There needs to be a change…but you are one half of what shape that change will be.”

He sighed softly. “The factory was predictable, not easy. But it doesn’t make the new complexities we face any easier to navigate.” Pausing for a few moments, Aeleus admitted, “I find it easier now that we have solid goals again. And I would much rather get our family to Dicea safely, as a goal, than condition ten people in a day.”

“Heh. Dicea… who’d have seen that coming for us, huh?” Dilan laughed tiredly, giving Aeleus an appreciative look at the squeeze on his shoulder, “I can’t even tell you how many ‘what would you do on the outside’ convos I’ve sat in on or been a part of… no one ever said ‘move to Dicea’. Crazy… I hope there’s something for us there.”

Dilan’s gaze went back to their family playing at the deep end–Aqua was now trying to show off, and the others were clearly getting nervous every time she swam too far down the lane from them, trailing after her in case she needed help back to safety–before he nudged Aeleus. “Hey, man, I think Luis wants to tell us what happened with his girl or something. He’s been giving me this feeling that there’s something on his mind for ages, but I think he keeps talking himself out of talking to us. I think I’m gonna try to draw it out of him today. What do you think?”

Aeleus nodded. “We all would’ve lost that space on the bingo board.” And regardless of what they found, they would make something there. As aimless and worried as it had been, the last nine months had shown that they were people who would adapt. With the freedom to be more bold, not worried about people snatching them up in the night, they would create a future they wanted to see, Aeleus was sure.

Glancing to Dilan, then to Luis, Aeleus nodded. “Wasn’t that part of why you suggested all this? For fun, yes, but Luis seemed like his own arguments were weakening, and it was only the kids being around stopping him this time.”

Getting up, Aeleus started wading through the water. “Let’s make sure Aqua doesn’t drown.”

“Pretty much, yeah. Our Luis can be a bit of an airhead, but if he’s finally ready to confide in us, though? I just don’t want him to find another reason to clam up,” Dilan said, shuffling through the water to follow him.

“Aqua, yeah, we can see that you can swim, but lass, if you start sinking in this water, the rest of us can’t,” Luis pleaded, trying to coax the tipsy, playful woman into coming back to the group. “We won’t be able to help. Come on, let’s go back to drinking in the shallow end, maybe check out the jacuzzi.”

“I think she’s okay,” Isa whispered, sitting on the wall and kicking his feet a bit, before nodding to the approaching Aeleus and Dilan, “Aqua actually does know how to swim. As she keeps proving to us. Over and over.”

“Why swim at all?” Even asked, genuinely asking as he floated in a tire-tub. Looking more zen than the older man ever did, drifting aimlessly with a malt-whiskey in hand, looking incredibly zoned out. “This is clearly the ideal way to experience water. Anything else is just exercise in disguise.”

“That’s a big ol’ ‘if’, Lui-boy,” Aqua shot back, her skin now almost an even pink all around, and definitely not from the temperature of the water, “Which iiiiiiisn’t going to happen. C’mon, lemme live! When’s the next time we’re all gonna hang out at a pool?”

Spinning a bit in the water, making herself laugh, Aqua started another loose lap around the deeper area.

“Or not in disguise at all,” Aeleus hummed approvingly, still keeping an eye out for Aqua dipping below the water, though she just seemed pleased. “Low-impact, but full body. Perhaps an issue for those with respiratory issues, but still something you could work around.”

“Well, I heard Dicea is literally covered in water, you can have your little exercise doggy paddles there,” Even said dismissively, “Right now, I’m not moving. If we’re going to another part of the pool, somebody better be ready to drag my floatie behind them.”

“A part of me sooooo badly wants to tip you over, Even,” Axel admitted, trying messily to teach himself how to float, though in the safety of the area where he could easily stand, “But you know, it’s rare to see you so happy. I didn’t even think you’d like the water.”

“I think he just likes the floating, at this point,” Luis said, idly tapping the floatie as it drifted near him, lazily spinning it over to Aeleus. “Anybody getting hungry? I say hungry, I saw they were advertising lava cakes at the bar, and I’m deeply interested.”

Aeleus gave Even a fond look as he floated over to him. Both his scientists tended to have a frantic, ‘knowledge is limitless but my time alive isn’t’ energy to them that only made sitting still feasible when it was while doing something related to their areas of research. Even was a bit better about it these days, but it was still novel to see him so utterly relaxed. Aeleus was glad he was having fun too. 

“Oh FUCK YEAH!” Aqua crowed, dipping under the water to a few gasps before she swam back over to the side without a care. “When’s the last time you even had a chocolate cake? Let’s do it!”

Axel laughed, deciding to let himself get caught up in Aqua’s drunken enthusiasm as he shouted, “Hell yeah! Lava cake! Lava cake!” 

Isa chuckled, but noticeably got up and walked the edge of the pool, rather than trying to jump the gap to the shallow side. Though, once he was in the shallow side, he easily stepped back into the water, the others all joining him at the counter booths as they ordered lava cakes and new drinks from the bartender.

The bartender was nice, but not chatty, and seemed to assume his customers would want some privacy, as whenever they were done ordering, he’d wander to the other side of the bar, working on dishes or just waiting to be motioned to or called upon. Axel, noticing this, remarked, “See, how he’s acting? I bet that’s because a lot of people come here to wheel and deal, not just my old bosses coming to places like this.”

“I can back that up a bit,” Isa said softly, sipping on a very light beer, “I recall being told once that a certain crime lord was considered very difficult to work with, because he refused to have business talks with people anywhere other than his own home, or private brothel rooms. Which I remember seemed so foolish to me, that people would consider him ‘difficult’ for this, because those two areas really are the safest place to do business. But it seemed it was less about ‘safety’ and more people feeling it was distasteful to have to discuss things in such places, because it made them ‘feel’ like criminals… despite the fact that, yes, either way, they were discussing crimes.”

He sipped his beer, before smiling a little loopily. “People are so strange. It’s fine being a criminal, but how dare you be trashy about it. Madness.”

“S’all about the visuals~” Aqua hummed in agreement, rolling her eyes at it. “Only thing people care about is what it looks like you’re doing, not what it actually is. S’why when elites spar it’s all about the flashy moves and dramatic poses, and if someone actually tries to fight practically, it’s either cheating or ‘uncouth’. If you scam with a smile people respect the hustle, if you’re kind but awkward you’re a doormat people’d rather not deal with. S’about the presentation.”

“Gambling dens are similar,” Luis said, cheerfully sipping a fire-malt, enjoying the burn of it for a moment before taking a bite of his cake, “Oh, that’s wonderful. I’m gonna get fat out here. Now that we’re out and have money for treats? I’m gonna just balloon up, I’m telling you all… Anyway, yeah, lighting has a weird amount of weight on what ‘type’ of gambling you’re doing. Darker the lighting, the poorer or more shady the clientele, but if everything is brightly lit? Suddenly everyone is an upright citizen simply playing games. What changes other than the lighting? Definitely not the people or the gambling… well, maybe the wealth of the people.”

“Though, you know where it used to oddly come up?” Luis mused, “Back at home, I mean? The farms. There were certain things you had to have at the farm, or you were a ‘poor’ farmer, even though those things had absolutely nothing to do with anything. You needed a big tree in the center of the field to show you were a well-established farm family. If farms were getting repossessed or sold against the owners’ wills? They’d tear up the tree, just so people would know whoever got the land was a ‘new’ farmer. Not worthy of respect. Needed a fresh coat of paint, always. You might only have a few coins left in your name, but you better be spending it on paint, or no one wanted to trade or deal with you, because suddenly you were too trashy to trust. Lots of little things like that, entirely just visual, cosmetic stuff, that could become seriously important when you’re trying to make trades and deals with the cities or towns around you and they’re asking folks if you’re dependable or not.”

“How’d you ever get from a small sheep town to a gambling den, Luis?” Axel asked.

“What do you mean, how? By carriage,” Luis chuckled, “Our village happened to be settled not that far away from a gambling city. It was considered a right of passage, once you hit 18, to take a day trip to the city and go gambling with your friends. I just was one of the folk who liked to take more frequent trips. I loved it. Go out to the city, act like a big-wig city boy for a day, then come back home and tend to the sheep in the quiet… It was paradise, as far as I was concerned.”

Aqua gave a happy groan as she dug into the cake as well, nodding along with Luis. 

(Aqua still liked chocolate, but it had been Terra’s favorite between them. He wasn’t exactly thinking about it in the moment, but if someone asked he really wouldn’t know if the cake tasted better because of knowing that, or if it was really from Aqua’s tastebuds.)

Learning an awful lot about farm etiquette, Aqua gave an appreciative huff hearing about Luis’ paradise. “Marrying your high school sweetheart,” she pointed out onto the list, “Being weirdly good at gambling. Rumor getting out around school that you thought 7 was average.”

“Oh, god, Aqua.” Luis snorted, covering his face in honest embarrassment, the tips of his ears pinking. 

Axel frowned, tilting his head, “Seven… Did your school use a different sort of grading system? What was a 7 in grades?”

“Pffff, that’s not what the students were talking about,” Dilan chuckled, sipping his mead, “And I still refuse to believe it. And no, I still don’t want you to prove it to me, Luis.”

“I didn’t offer to!” Luis groaned, burying his head further into his arms, “Never gonna not regret sharing that particular story.”

“I think I missed this one too,” Isa whispered to Axel, who nodded, “Not grades though?”

Aqua snickered maniacally into her cake. “Oh come on! It was a great story, who hasn’t gotten too drunk and accidentally implied stuff in a semi-public setting that they never meant to say! I wish I’d gotten a nickname that flattering in highschool, don’t spurn that luck, man.”

Half-heartedly trying to spare Luis, Aeleus asked, “What was your highschool nickname, then?”

Aqua rolled her eyes. “‘Aqua’s Husband’, or ‘Mr. Eraqus’.”

“Mr. Eraqus? What, is that just Aqua’s last name or something? I guess I don’t actually know your last name,” Dilan realized, “I’m sure it’s come up, guess I just didn’t hold onto it.”

Axel and Isa were whispering to each other, Isa holding out his hands as he tried to guess how long 7 inches was, while Axel’s eyes widened as he whispered, “No way, that can’t be right. That’s gotta be fully extended, right?”

“Aqua’s husband is a cute nickname,” Luis said a tad too loudly, trying to drown out Axel’s musings, “Sounds like people did to you guys what they did to me and my missus. Had you figured out early.”

“I’ve sometimes wondered how much straight out of high school weddings might be peer-pressure,” Even admitted, before nodding to Aqua, “Not to say it’s a universal rule. I’m sure plenty got married because they were in love, and all of that. But after being That Couple for so long, the expectation must have been immense for you to follow through in adulthood.”

Aqua nodded before chuffing in amusement. “Kinda funny how last names just got irrelevant after a while. Could probably only get one or two of yours right.” She took a swig back of her Rusty Anchor before saying, “Imeacht.”

Chuckling a little, Aqua looked over the pools not really seeing anything, but her gaze fond. “It was easy to do, I’ll be honest. We’d been friends for ages, and were practically already dating before high school. Didn’t take a lot of creativity to pair us up.” Her eyes narrowed a bit. “Mean, she did break into a government building to try and find me, so. Says something to the bond there…”

“And also she was always around,” Isa whispered, “It was hard to separate you two. I think no one could imagine them apart, because they just never were.”

“Sounds cute. I’m imagining rainbows and random musical numbers, honestly. Sounds picturesque,” Dilan laughed, playfully nudging Aqua, “Good for you. Oh, speaking of. Luis, were you more like what Even’s talking about? Couple that got pressured together from expectation?”

“Oh… no, not in the beginning. I mean, I hope not,” Luis said wanely, “Things were great in the beginning. We just got older. Got through some of our first real adult problems together alright, but… Man, such a big part of me wants to say, ‘well she did this,’ and ‘she did that’. I have a biased view of how it all went down, I see myself as a victim of a lot of it.”

“But I think I was just becoming a shittier guy, as I got older. Maybe in ways that even with a ton of self-reflection I’d struggle to recognize, you know?” Luis said, smiling sadly, “I like to think I wasn’t all bad, but…” He shrugged tiredly. 

“Add in some breaking and entering and evading arrest and maybe you’ll get there,” Aqua softly laughed, grinning at the nudge. She was not nearly drunk enough to really get into ‘weep hysterically’ territory, so she didn’t want to bring the mood down. 

If anyone was, it wasn’t going to be her. 

“It likely wasn’t,” Aeleus said, the bluntness not taking away from the reassurance in it. “You two were together for some years, and any relationship that entwined is rarely ‘all’ anything. If some of your best memories were with Anabelle, I don’t doubt some of hers were with you too.”

“You know,” Aqua tipped her glass towards Luis, “You cooooould have a slightly less biased opinion about stuff, if you told us.”

Luis winced lightly, looking away. “Ah, it’s not a good story.”

“Nooo, no no no, come on, man, you know why we’re here today,” Dilan said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and shaking him slightly, “I wasn’t subtle. Look, I’ve known you almost longer than I’ve known anyone, period, and I found out you were married, what, not even a few days ago? That’s a huge thing to keep to yourself for over a decade! Then I think, oh, what else do I not know about Luis, and you know what? A lot. We get a lot of really shallow, fun stories, but nothing about your family growing up, or friends you left behind, marriages.”

“How he ended up caught,” Even added in.

“How you ended up… do we not know that?” Dilan asked, looking startled, “No, someone must know that.”

Silence. 

“You’ve never given your ‘how you were caught’ story?” Dilan asked, baffled, “How did you get away with that for over a decade!?”

“It didn’t come up,” Luis said desperately.

“Bullshit, yeah it fucking did! I think I’ve heard everyone else's ‘how I got caught’ story a dozen times!” Dilan shouted, Luis sticking a finger in his ear to save his ear drum, “You secretive fuck!”

Coming up to Luis’ other side, Aqua slung an arm around his shoulders paralleling Dilan, not quite trapping Luis, but, ah, applying some pressure. “You are sooooooooo good at slipping through the cracks. A little sparkle, a little glamor, we’ve lost track of time before the supervisors bust in, or one of the kids start a fight, or we’ve just stumbled into a conversation so depressing no one can talk about anything else. You’re so good at that.”

“But damnit it, Luis!” Aqua jostled his shoulders, “We’re your friends! We should be better than your sneakiest fuck! Talk to us!”

Glowering in his face, she threatened, “Or suffer the consequences.”

Luis paled. “W-what consequences!?”

“The consequences.” Dilan glowered on his other end. 

At the far end, Isa and Axel both sipped their drinks, curiously watching. Man, dinner and a show. What a night!

“I’m not being secretive, it’s just not something I like to talk about… Look, I say that I don’t know how bad it was when I reflect. But that still doesn’t mean what I remember puts me in a good light,” Luis confessed, looking down at his drink. 

…after a moment, he swigged it back, before saying, “So, I liked to go gambling for the same reason school was easy, and I was popular with my class, and things always seemed to just work out for me… I knew I could read people’s minds. I grew up knowing that was something I could do.”

“I even had a mentor. Like how our new Golden Cat friend calls himself? When I was little, there was this lady that would show up in my dreams, and told me that I was something called an ‘Empath’, and that I was one of the stronger ones, so she had been sent by other Empaths to make sure I knew how to use it,” Luis said, smiling lightly, “She never gave me her real name. I called her ‘Auntie’. I think that was so if I told other people about my ‘dream lady’, family members would think it was an imaginary friend, and people who didn’t know me well would assume I had an aunt. Making sure I wouldn’t out myself as a kid, sort of thing.”

“You had an Empath reach out to you?” Axel frowned, “You were a part of the community? I thought Luminaries were kept out of the community.”

“I guess she made an exception for me. And after a few years, I never saw her again. For all I know, she was a Luminary herself, and… well…” Luis closed his eyes, “you know.”

“But, all that to say, while I was growing up, I had this… cheat that I could use in life,” Luis said. “I did amazing in tests because I could check my answers against everyone else's in real time, did great in lectures cause I always knew what my teachers wanted me to say. And when I went gambling, I played the card tables. Knew when someone was bluffing, running scared. All of that. I could even jump into peoples minds, though I rarely did. My mentor taught me not to and honestly I had a hard time navigating people's minds, it always came across disjointed and unhelpful. But life was easy mode for me. I could soothe the animals by just willing them calm. I knew how to navigate any trade I was doing…” Luis smiled sadly, “Could tell my girl anything she wanted to hear.”

Aeleus half-doubted Aqua even had an idea of what ‘consequences’ would be. Still, he’d make sure no one was drowning anyone tonight. 

And maybe that was just the nudge Luis needed. 

Aqua gave Luis an expectant look. They weren’t asking because they wanted to hear grand stories that’d put Luis on par with the saints. It didn’t matter if Luis was an absolute scoundrel. They were asking, because he was their friend, and he was hurting. 

The beginning of the story was a lot like many of theirs. Whether it had been good hunches or full awareness of what they were doing, even latent Empathy tended to give people a leg up. As they’d noted earlier, in a place where perception and social skills were significant parts of success, Empaths had an advantage people would do anything for. 

And that Luis even had a mentor, had someone to help him refine those skills? The paradise he’d been talking about before could be one of his own making. 

Even…

Aqua winced, before tilting her head onto Luis’ shoulder. “Oh Luis, no…”

“I know. I know,” Luis whispered, “But back then? Teen me thought Anabelle was the luckiest girl in the world, to have a guy who knew exactly what she wanted, all the time. It wasn’t invasive, it was romantic! I always knew when she needed to talk, I always knew when she needed space, what she wanted for her birthday, what she was craving for dinner…what was wrong with me wanting to spoil my girl? I was practically making her life a dream. Who cared how it was happening?”

“I wish I could say I didn’t understand the temptation,” Axel admitted, “But sometimes I get a bit envious, when I hear what you guys can do. I think how I’d have used stronger powers growing up to give myself a leg up. Sure would have helped dating.”

“Boy, it sure did. Anabelle was the prettiest girl in town, funny, smart, she was everything you could want,” Luis said, eyes distant. Looking back on still fond memories. “And I always, always knew what to say and what to do… and I’ll admit. I was proud at the way people envied me, when I went out with her. I could literally feel their envy. 17-year-old me? Peacocking. Felt like I was some prized stud at a ranch, the one that wins all the shows. That was partly why I went gambling. I loved buying her pretty things and having her go out to the market dressed better than all the wives there, having her show off ‘look what a good man I got’ because she’s got some beautiful new necklace or is wearing the latest style of boots. I know that’s such a small town boasting thing, but I was drunk off that success… and you all might be surprised to hear… not,” he raised his cup, “drunk on this.”

Dilan raised an eyebrow at that. “What, do you mean…”

“I didn’t start drinking until, oh… two weeks before I got processed by the factory,” Luis said, “Because I noticed growing up drinking dulled my ability to use my powers. Made me weak. When I drank socially, I learned to master the art of nursing a cup for an entire night. Otherwise? Sober to a T.”

“I see,” Even said, peering curiously at Luis, “You started drinking to weaken your abilities.”

“That’s a bit ahead of the story, but yeah. Basically,” Luis agreed, taking another swig.

Aeleus sighed softly. He’d even heard the sentiment before growing up, people wishing that their partners were more attentive. That, though it was a little more rare to get the exact phrasing, but it still happened, they’d ‘read their minds’. There likely were people who would be legitimately happy constantly being read by their partner, and Luis wanting to make Anabelle happy through it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

But, Aeleus could guess, because Luis hadn’t mentioned it, that Anabelle hadn’t known. So it wasn’t fair to her. 

And, well, the motivation out of ego, Anabelle being a status of that ego…

Aqua raised her eyebrows in surprise--she wouldn’t be the only one who figured the drinking habit had started long before the factory--before frowning lightly. Things hazily piecing together in her drunk mind. 

The miscarriages, and the strain that put on their relationship was part of why they had broken up, Luis had said, and he said he just became a bad husband after a while…

Speaking slowly, Aqua said, “...Luis, did…you ever tell her about your abilities?”

“No,” Luis said, “But I think she knew. Actually, sorry, that’s a lie… I know she knew. By the end.”

“Ah, geez, man… What the hell happened?” Dilan whispered. 

“So, I’m flying through life, everything’s easy, I’m coasting. I’ve married my dream girl, I’ve taken on her grandfather’s farm, everyone in town is treating me like a golden boy because I’m doing everything right. And when I want to live more luxuriously and city-like? Well, I just take a trip and I get to pretend to be someone else and then come home and go back to being the farm golden boy. Perfect life… and then,” Luis sighed, “We decide we’re going to have a family. Of course we do, we’re married, have the house, have the farm, it’s the next step. And for the first time in my life, I discover a problem no amount of mind reading can help with. Hell, no amount of money can help with, social support… Nothing helps, when your beautiful wife who was so, so excited to be a mom, is bleeding out in bed and by the time you get her to the doctor? The baby’s lost and she’s in danger.”

“She survives, but she’s sick for a while… it haunted me, how sick she was. How little I could do to make her better. Suddenly my powers meant nothing. Sure, I could tell when she needed water and a painkiller and when she just needed me around. But nothing stops that grief, even when she’s putting on a brave face. Nothing really eases the pain into nothing, not for weeks. Supportive family just reminds her of what happened. The nursery has to be kept permanently closed to not spark another long bout of sadness. She’s so unhappy, and there’s nothing I can do… and as terrible as waking up to her bleeding was, when she says she wants to try again? I say yes! Because maybe a new baby will stop that sadness.”

“Oh no,” Isa whispered, “Two?”

“Two,” Luis agreed, nodding, “This one happened even sooner. You’d think that’d make it safer, but it wasn’t. She got an infection this time, because the baby is… well, you can understand. So we have to feed her these chemicals and she’s so ill and all I can do is sit with her while she goes through this terrible thing and… still nothing I can do to help. Can’t ease her grief. Her pain. I hate it. She’s suffering and there’s nothing I can do…” 

Luis paused, before looking at Aqua. “It’s a terrible thing. A terrible experience.”

Ventus was alive. Ventus was alive, and had been the whole time, and he was 13 now and a little lordling of a major noble family in the heart of the capital. 

But just because Aqua had that relief and hope now, it didn’t mean for the past thirteen years she hadn’t thought she’d lost her son to death. 

Aqua closed her eyes and took a deep, slightly shaky breath, squeezing Luis’ shoulder in a side hug. “It is,” she whispered, before opening her eyes, “But it still is suffering for everyone involved. Even if you weren’t sick.”

She could see the throughline. But she didn’t want to ask. 

(As much as Empathy was a cheat code to success, it was a double-edged sword. You could always know what someone wanted of you, you could bask in their happiness…

You couldn’t avoid their pain. If someone was sad, angry, hurt enough, the emotions etched their way into you until it was unbearable.)

(And unbearable conditions made for desperate people who’d do anything to ease it.)

Luis leaned back, closing his eyes.

He had actually thought, when Aqua was giving birth, that she was out of the woods. She had managed to get to the actual giving birth process! Sure, that was dangerous, but his wife had never even gotten to that point. Luis had been nervous, but he had been ready to celebrate the birth of young Ventus when it was happening.

And then Tengan had stepped in, and that grief… that so, so, so familiar grief…

Luis had felt helpless to it all over again. It was like he had stepped right back into his worst nightmare. And worse–because he knew some might not agree, but he knew this was worse–was the possibility that the baby was alive and the grief was over nothing. 

Luis had sat in his mind, listening to Aqua’s horrible grief, and knew if he told her what he suspected, that grief would never end. Constantly reset by the hope, the maybe…the death of a baby was already such a difficult thing to recover from, even normally. But forced to wonder if there was even anything to grieve? It would have been torture. Aqua would never have recovered. She’d have died, likely killed by the supervisors trying to get her back under control.

A grieving, furious mother was impossible to control. Not without force.

“... I made the mistake of telling her I didn’t want to try again, while she was still recovering in the hospital,” Luis said. “That was a mistake. She was already so stressed out, so filled with grief. People were asking her terrible questions. Terrible questions…” Luis grit his teeth, frustration running through him even now, as he recalled, “The first time you miscarry, people have the good sense to keep their theories to themselves. But the second time? Everything my wife did was suddenly under a microscope. What did she eat? What position did she lie in in bed? Was she smoking, drinking? What sort of cleaning products was she using, was it something she was wearing, maybe some of her fancy gifts were toxic? Suddenly everyone wanted to figure out where she had ‘messed up’. What she had ‘done wrong’.”

“Anabelle had always wanted to be a house-mom,” Luis said, “This was going to be what she did, it was a life-goal for her. Now everyone was acting like she was a foolish girl killing her babies by accident because she couldn’t wipe down a stove carefully enough. She’s dealing with all of this grief, all of this judgment, she’s sick, and there I go saying, no, sweetheart, we’re not going to be having any little babies from ourselves. The one thing you’ve always wanted to do? No. I’m saying no. And I ain’t hearing anything more about it.”

“I just didn’t want her to suffer. A part of me still wants to insist I did nothing wrong there, saying no… but in truth, I know I could have phrased it better. I had no idea how to tell Anabelle no, or negotiate with her, or have a tough conversation like this. I was used to never needing to. I could give her what she wanted before she even thought to ask. Having our first real disagreement being something this huge? We were so unprepared. We started fighting all of the time. Both of us felt like the other was being irrational, unreasonable. How dare she risk her health again, put us through that again? How dare I deny her children, that wasn’t a decision I could make alone. That sort of thing. It got bad. We got to the point where we’d spend days pretending the other didn’t exist.”

“...but god dammit, I still loved her,” Luis whispered, “And when I started to read from her that she was planning to leave… that she was going to leave me… it was like suddenly someone had locked me in a crypt and boarded up the walls. I was in this dark, terrible place, mentally. Terrified I was losing her. Furious she couldn’t just see reason. Under pressure from the town because our golden lives were falling apart in front of them. Her parents, friends, treating me like I was a monster for denying her children, my own parents embarrassed and ashamed and starting to resent the whole situation… and all of that with a constant undercurrent of grief. A constant undercurrent of love.”

“When I came home from market and saw her bags packed, I could have killed her and then drowned myself in the lake, for one whole second,” Luis whispered, “I felt insane. I would have preferred we both die, than her leave. She shouldn’t have stayed to tell me she was leaving, she should have just gone. I didn’t know it until that moment, but she couldn’t trust me. I could have killed her… but instead, I thought, oh.”

Luis closed his eyes. “I’ll just… make her stay.” His hands gripped his alcohol like a security blanket, as he said, “It was suddenly so clear in my mind. A power I had never been taught. But in that moment of grief and terror and fury… I could just reach into her mind and just… stop her.”

He opened his eyes. Tired and distant. “And she suddenly stopped talking, and went real still, and sat down. Calm. Quiet. Blank.”

As she rubbed Luis’ back, Aqua felt a thrum of grief and sympathy for Anabelle. If there had been literally any upside to thinking she’d lost Ventus? At least their family had been able to grieve and rage and weep in private. It had occurred to Aqua, after a number of years, to wonder why none of the supervisors had ever taken jabs at her about Ventus, but…well, maybe they just knew how weak those taunts would be. If there was anything about Aqua’s environment that had caused her to miscarry, it would’ve been their fault, and Aqua would never think otherwise. 

Maybe they just had too vivid memories of the rampage she’d gone on afterward. 

To have to cope with that grief while not only recovering from illness and injury, but under public scrutiny? 

…and then feel like your partner was against you too? …more than feel that way?

It wasn’t a full rug pull, but Aqua’s eyes still widened in shock, while Aeleus let out a long, measured breath. 

“Oh fuck, man…” Dilan whispered. 

Even, though, again just squinted. “Be more clear, Luis, what are we discussing here? You’re powerful, I’ll admit, but you’re not ‘mind-wipe’ powerful.”

Luis was looking down, ashamed… but he nodded at that. “You’re right, and thank Atua for that. Genuinely, if there’s a god out there that kept me from being able to do what Namine can… because in that moment, I probably would have. I felt my power surge and just followed it. Not to give myself an out, but I have to imagine mentally I might not have looked that different from Lauriam, during his surge. I just had a moment where every ability available to me was not only sharpened and clear, but effortless to use.”

“No, what this was was me burying her and then puppeting her. I pushed her consciousness down and then suddenly her body was just mine. Like an extra limb,” Luis said, “I didn’t realize what exactly I had done at first. I thought maybe I had soothed her like I could the animals and it had just gone to a numbing point… but I realized pretty quickly that she only did something if it occurred to me she should. I worried she needed water and when I thought to go get her some, she got up and went to the sink to pour herself some. I asked her if she was okay and I hoped she’d say yes, and lo and behold, I’m fine, darling. Exactly how I hoped she would.”

“I didn’t know how to undo it,” Luis whispered, “I didn’t know how to pull her back. We went to sleep and I thought maybe she’d wake up, but she didn’t. I compelled her to use the bathroom, wash herself, eat. I was in shock, I think. I went to go take care of the farm and I thought maybe by the time I was done she’d be back, and she wasn’t. Just sitting at the table where I had left her. Her things still all packed.”

“...I tried to have a conversation with her. She said everything I wanted her to say. I remember even trying to feel happy about it. Maybe this would be my chance to fix things… then I headed into her mind, hoping I’d find her and drag her back,” Luis said, “But no luck. I had no idea how to undo what I had done. For three days, it was like this. Three days until one day I remembered, wait… alcohol dulls my ability.”

“Oh,” Axel said, before his eyes widened, “Oh!” 

“Mhm.” Luis said, “Went to the liquor store, got bottles and bottles of rum. Went to go sit with my wife in the kitchen, and I just started drinking. And I didn’t notice it at first, but after a while, the more I drank? The more she started to fidget. Blink more. Made little sounds. Until finally I realized I was looking at her, and she was actually looking back.”

“...I tried to ask her to stay, to hear me out,” Luis said, “But would you have? She knew something had happened. It was three days later. She was in new clothes. She had felt herself slip away and felt herself gradually return. She knew I had done something… and good on Anabelle… she left. Without a word. Took her things and ran… I was proud of her. She knew a dangerous situation when she was in one. It was good of her to run.”

“...anyway,” Luis said, “I stayed drunk for two weeks, realized I needed a more permanent solution, and turned myself into the guardforce as a demon. I never wanted to do that to someone again. Was afraid when I sobered up, Anabelle might be in danger from me again. I didn’t know how to control what I did. So I couldn’t let myself do it anymore. I thought I’d end up in a dungeon or maybe dead… nope. Factory. Alive, well, with no more alcohol to dull me… so I started working on a substitute right away. Again, to make sure I never could again.”

“And that’s it, that’s the story,” Luis said, “I was a terrible husband who trapped his wife in her own body for three days. And I just never want to be that guy again.”

While he was in a position that skewed everything, Aeleus realized that he didn’t know another Empath who was in a relationship with a non-Empath, before Luis told his history. That didn’t mean much, since people pairing up in the factory didn’t have any other options, and Aeleus hadn’t known any other Empaths before he came to it, but his greatest non-factory example had been Aqua and Terra, who had started their relationship outside the factory, and were both Empaths. 

And it now occurred to him what a massive power imbalance that was in a relationship. All the dangers people talked about in class difference relationships but perhaps even worse. Over-dependance, the invasiveness of being constantly read, and Aeleus had no idea how someone would even approach constantly closing themself off to combat that, and, gods forbid, if you fought?

Most murders were done by family or spouses. What an Empath could do in anger or desperation was, some could make a decent argument, even worse. 

“Shit, Luis,” Aqua breathed, her expression pinched as she just…sat with the story for a moment. 

Aeleus gave a small nod, though after a moment he said, “Then it is fortunate you’re not.”

“...I mean,” Axel frowned, looking uncomfortable to say it, but still saying, “You turned yourself in. You stopped. I know that doesn’t undo what you did, but I think you should give yourself some credit, for realizing how bad it had gotten.”

“Ah, Ax, I just…maybe I hadn’t meant to keep her in a damn mental cage for three days, but that first moment I reached in to stop her? I knew what I was doing for that moment. I didn’t want her to leave the house, leave me… It wouldn’t have been anything less than me grabbing her arm and throwing her back inside, if she had tried to walk out the door. My abilities meant it could be quieter, neater, but that’s essentially what I did.” Luis frowned. “And when you realize you can do that? That you’re the kind of guy that would? Giving yourself credit for anything just feels like a step backwards into being that guy again. Who knows if I would have even realized I had done something wrong, if I had been able to bring her back right away? If I had just done that for five minutes and brought her back and we talked it out, rather than me sitting in silence for three days? I would have learned an entirely different lesson. No, no credit.”

Aqua lightly scratched the back of Luis’ head, giving him a firm look. “But it is something that you’ve sat with for the past, fuck it, over twenty years, at least. That you’ve spent thinking about how fucked up it was, and how that’s not the person you want to be, and bein’ so damn scared about who you are with your powers that you mentally developed a reliance and addiction that you can actually act on now, and definitely have been.”

She let out a harsh sigh. “I’m not saying puppetting Anabelle was okay, but fuck, dude! We’ve all had our powers get out of control. Maybe on shit that we really wanted, and that’s still on us, but it doesn’t make us irredeemable. You said you’d’ve rather died, you actually were content to throw the rest of your life away because you were so damn horrified with yourself right after it happened. The kind of person you’re worried about would try to cover everything up and just forget it, and--”

She glared, not letting him cut in there, “Even if that was what you were trying to do, getting yourself arrested? Instead, you were forced to do the monumentally more difficult task of…living. Growing. Surviving a nightmare with a group of friends in the same boat as you. Raising a gaggle of kids who were even less prepared for steel walls. Seeing a world that moved on without you and just trying to find your place in it.”

“Having friends that know you’re not the person you were when you were a little brat, and that would kick your ass ten ways ‘til Sunday if you started to resemble him again,” Aqua said meaningfully, her eyes a little wet as she forcefully shook Luis back and forth by his shoulders.

Luis nodded, his head rolling a bit at the scratches. For a moment, he seemed entirely fine. Almost amused. Like he was going to keep arguing, or sigh, or just give a small chuckle. He even smiled, for a moment.

But then his head fell, and he burst into tears. 

“Aw, my weird farm-boy,” Dilan murmured, rubbing his back, “Come on, now, man, look at you, all weepy-eyed again. Which bit got you? She made a lot of good points.”

Luis sobbed, taking in a heaving breath… before he whimpered, “I did my best, to be alright for the kids. I wanted to be a father, but fuck, it felt like the fates were against me… and suddenly there was Ienzo and he’s just this wee little thing. And Demyx and Lauriam show up and god its like how do you give advice for two young men who are stuck in this nightmare situation when you yourself only ever fucked things up when you couldn’t cheat with powers… and then the teens! The little teens! God, they weren’t even teens when they showed up, just straight up god damn kids. I destroyed my life telling my wife we couldn’t have kids and to let it go and losing my temper and being terrible and suddenly I’m just surrounded by kids who need me to be comforting and adults who need someone reliable, someone they can trust, around, and…”

“Did I do alright?” Luis wetly asked, “I know I made mistakes. I was drunk. I let Tengan in. I made mistakes… but I tried so hard.”

Aqua muttered something indistinctly, sucking in a breath as Luis’ sobbing made her own tears fall, though she just hugged Luis even more. Asshole. She’d been making the others eat wet, wet dust just a bit ago, and now look at them, crying at a bar. 

Aeleus just gave Luis a soft look, but instead of speaking, he nudged Luis’ mind, waiting for at least acknowledgement before a memory started to play out. 

-

A young Lauriam, not more than 15, tried to grimace up at Aeleus, only for the expression to be tense in fear. 

“I didn’t do anything!” he insisted again, though Aeleus hadn’t asked anything, “I’m not--! Invi’s wrong, I’m not trying to get us killed!” Though his voice cracked, Lauriam just sniffed, obviously aiming for haughty assurance, despite the way he was slightly shaking. “Like they even would, anyway. We’re too valuable.”

Aeleus gave the teen a dry look, before putting a gentle hand on his back, tilting his head slightly as he invited Lauriam to walk with him. 

Lauriam sighed, looking to the side. “...Seifer started bringing in those dumb newspaper puzzles to the breakroom. They’re not much good for entertainment already filled, but…” Slight shame ducked his head as he reached into the cuff of his pants and pulled out a few puffy paper stars, each not even bigger than a thumb. 

Aeleus raised an eyebrow, but instead of the scolding Lauriam was ready for, he asked, “You made those?”

A tentatively proud smile bloomed on Lauriam’s face as he nodded. “There’s some old myth about them granting wishes if you fill a jar with them. I think it’s a border story so…I-I wanted to make a bunch and give them to Luis, and see if…” Lauriam flushed, looking down, his voice growing shier. “...I dunno, if he wanted to fill one of his old bottles or something with them. It’d be nice to get a wish, wouldn’t it?”

-

Luis snorted. Mostly because his nose was clogged from crying, and the small chuckle at the memory damn near suffocated him because of it, as he smiled lightly. “I remember that. God, I think we worked on that project for no joke six months. I mean, I can’t say for sure, but I swear, it was a solid chunk of time…never thought I’d get any good at folding those things. Still can’t do it as well as he can. I wonder if he still has that bottle…”

“Oh,” Axel grinned, “I’ve got one.”

-

Axel barely knew Kairi, really. He hadn’t grown up with her, hadn’t realized he even had a sister until the supervisors had told him she was arriving. But as her older brother by blood, he felt a personal sort of pressure to be better at soothing her, as she wept beside him while he desperately tried to reassure, “No one’s worried about it, accidents happen! You don’t have to feel embarrassed.”

Kairi continued to just sob. She had ruined her blanket. Or, rather, hormones and a growing body had ruined her blanket. Kairi was mortified, and so far no amount of reassurance from anyone had been enough to soothe her. Too humiliated by being surprised by her first period, trapped in the confines of the factory.

Worse, Kairi was begging the others not to tell the supervisors. She needed a new blanket, but she was terrified of the mistake being held against her. No one quite knew what to do about it yet. She couldn’t be expected to sleep in her own blood…

But after a moment, Luis had come in with a new blanket. When Kairi had asked, mortified, if he had told, he had said, “Nah, told them I spilled that wine bottle they gave me all over mine. They almost didn’t give it to me, but my quotas have been good, so it was no fuss, and they barely looked at the red on the other blanket, cause, again, just some wine. Also, little lass, I have a trick for you. I got some extra sheets too, having just a thin barrier should help out for any more surprises. Aqua told me. She’s going to talk to you too, the second her shift is over. But don’t you worry, we’ve got it all under control, like it never happened.”

Kairi had looked a little soothed at that. At least it was all cleaned up… it was done with now.

-

“...shit, that’s right,” Dilan laughed, before smirking at Luis, “Didn’t you just not have a blanket for, like, two weeks? Like, no one was allowed to let Kairi into our rooms so she wouldn’t notice you just didn’t have a blanket?”

“I was not about to let that girl just keep that thing because the supervisors don’t feel like walking to the damn linen closet,” Luis muttered, “Any of you would have done the same, I just was off shift when it happened.”

“And you took care of things right away,” Aqua said approvingly, “You never hesitate when one of the kids needs you.” A small laugh puffed under her breath as a memory occurred to her. “Even when it’s not obvious what they need.”

-

It was a neat trick, in a way. Aqua had barely even been awake, and the memory had an almost dream-like quality to it, but it was still there, enhanced after the fact.

Still absolutely tiny at 9, Ienzo peeked nervously around the ‘common space’ the Empaths had. Most of them were to the grind, but when he spotted Luis, Ienzo didn’t hesitate before heading to him and sitting a few spaces away. Not saying anything, but his mouth in a wavy line that almost physically suggested that Ienzo might explode into words. 

Luis blinked, still giving himself a second to properly ‘wake up’. It had been a long shift already. He had decided to give himself a break, even though it was still sort of early… 

He stared at Ienzo. The little lad stared back.

“...you look a bit like you’re hiding something in your mouth,” Luis chuckled, giving him a fond grin, “Something on your mind?”

“...nnng.” There was a strained little sound from Ienzo before, very quickly, but very rhythmically, he quietly said, “I cannot stand the parodies of modern major general, they’re overdone and simply not as good as the original. They’ve done them about everything, whatever topic, big or small…and when I notice one of them my eyes will always start to roll. The diction’s always slurry when they rush the complicated words, and adding many fricatives will turn it so cacophonous. The slanted rhymes are silly and they keep just making more and more, please someone stop the parodies of modern major general. The scanning of the lyrics in the meter is unbearable, they emphasize the syllables in ways that are untenable, in short in matters musical, prosodic and ephemeral, I cannot stand the parodies of modern major general.”

He let out a little breath at the end, looking honestly a little relieved. 

Luis blinked a bit. “Oh.” He said, “No kidding?”

Then he tried to actually comprehend what he had heard, and after a moment he chuckled a little, giving Ienzo a thumbs up. “That’s a great joke! Did you just come up with that now, or did you read it somewhere? Either way, that was impressive. You gotta tell Dilan that one next, I bet he’d get a kick out of it too.”

Ienzo lit up a bit, that low humming sound in his throat vibrating as he glanced towards the door, knowing where Dilan was, before he nodded. Though, he stayed where he was as he informed, “I read it. I couldn’t get the rhythm out of my head.”

Ienzo paused again, clearly wanting to ask something, but hesitating from actually doing so. 

“Oh, maybe I was right the first time?” Luis smirked, leaning over to lightly run his fingers in a little jogging motion against Ienzo’s cheek as he said, “Maybe you are hiding a little mouse in there or something. Keeping a little pet safe? Or just another thing on your mind?”

There was a little puff of breath, something awfully close to a laugh, before Ienzo looked unsure again. And maybe a little more hesitantly, he tried, “I before E except when you run a feisty heist on a weird beige foreign neighbor and caffeine-strung atheists reinventing protein at their leisure. Plebeians may deign to forfeit; either that, or seize the language to reinvent it.”

“Hahahaha!” Luis laughed, before looking around, calling out, “Aqua, Aqua, wake up! You have to hear this one! Come on, girl, I see you peeking, you’re not fully under. Come take a break and listen to what little Izzy just said!”

The memory became a little clearer here. 

“Really have to call me out, huh?” Aqua sleepily said, yawning a bit as she pushed herself up, coming closer. Ienzo looked incredibly pleased at the laugh he’d earned, and gave Aqua a hopeful look as she joined them. “Caught some of that--you’ve been working on tongue twisters, love?”

Ienzo gave a sort of half-shrug before he shyly, hopefully offered, “I know more?”

Nodding to Luis, Aqua straightened, fixing her etiquette for a grand performance. “Let’s hear it, then!”

“Why would she sell sea shells by a sea shore when you can just pick them off of the ground for free, that’s not how you run a business.” 

“She’s sold sea shells by the seashore since shapely seashore seashells stay scarce. Since she sells superior shells searchers spend centuries searching for, seldom selling simple shells, she still sustains solid savings.”

“She can’t sustain a shop selling sea shells. Should somebody sell superior shells, Sally’s sea shell store shall see a sales slump. Superior shells are simply safer stock if synthetic; synthetic shells shouldn’t see spots, scars, or stains similar to Sally’s sea shells.”

“Silly stuff, Spadesslick. Such synthetic shells sacrifice stability so sincere shells should still sell substantial sums.”

“Incredible,” Luis laughed, before very seriously saying, “Let me try it. How did it start? Give me the first line again?”

Luis listened, before saying slowly and determinedly, “Why would she sell sea shells by a sea shore when you pick them off of the ground for free, that’s not how you run a business. Okay, next line!” He listened. “She can’t sustain a shop seeling sea shells, sh–it, oh, no, not that, she, wait, how did it go?” He listened again. “Since she sells shuperior–what? What’d I say? Since she sells superior shells shearchers, sher… pfff,” Luis laughed, “How on earth did you do that, Ienzo? That’s so tough lad!”

Aqua laughed loudly at Luis’ fumbles, and even Ienzo got a few short notes of a giggle out. 

A little shyly, but looking more open now, Ienzo explained, “Stuff like this gets stuck in my head a lot. 3 practiced this one I think almost constantly for the last week, so I’ve heard it a lot.”

“Still,” Aqua laughed, “Even knowing the words doesn’t mean you won’t trip up on them. I think I’d straight up give myself a lisp if I tried to perfect that twister over a week, and you’ve rattled it off a few times now like it’s nothing! Very cool, love.”

Ienzo looked a bit starry eyed at that.

“Mhm.” Luis smiled, before seeing how excited the kid was. Well, he was here anyway, so… “Those joke books you read, they usually have some history bit to them, don’t they? Learn anything interesting while you were practicing your tongue twisters?”

Of everything, Ienzo looked overjoyed for someone to ask him to keep talking.

-

Aeleus smiled fondly as the memory ended. Ienzo had used to do a lot of recitations when he was little. Tongue twisters, wordplay parodies, poetry, even just straight up monologues. It had been cute, to just have him walk up to you and start talking about whatever he’d been reading lately. 

Ienzo did still do that, but in different forms these days. It had been cute, but Aeleus did like hearing Ienzo’s own thoughts more often in the present.

This time, Luis’ laugh was drier. His tears having eased up, the group quiet and lost in the pleasant memory shared among them. They probably looked odd to the bartender, all of them suddenly quiet and stuff, looking at nothing in particular with little smiles on their faces.

Oh well. Sometimes you just looked odd.

“...thanks guys,” Luis said, his voice rasping a bit, needing to clear his throat, “It’s all just been on my mind lately. I think I had an easier time never talking about it in the factory because, well…I felt more certain there that I’d never be able to hurt you all. And, well…” he sighed, thumbing the brim of his drink, “...being forced to hurt people, day in and day out? If what I had done to my wife hadn’t ruined that particular desire for power, the looks on too many people’s faces sure took it out of the question. I never want to hurt anyone again, if I can help it. I just wish we could all live quietly.”

“...ah, geez,” Dilan said, giving Aqua an awkward look, “...um. Yeah. Yeah, we won’t ever… you don’t have to do stuff like that, Luis. That’s, uh… shit, man, if I had realized…”

“It’s alright. I could have stayed back. I didn’t,” Luis whispered.

Aqua sucked her teeth a little, sharing Dilan’s look before looking anywhere but the others. Rubbing Luis’ back in apology, before that didn’t feel like enough so she murmured, “Sorry, man.”

Aeleus gave them all an incredibly dry look before sighing. “Ideally, quieter days are ahead. Not without some getting to, but there’s the possibility.”

“First we get Ventus. Then we get to the border. Then…” Isa paused, before shrugging, “Hopefully we get to rest. As much as getting used to a new country is restful. I like to think we’ll all have a fresh start there.”

Isa paused again, considering something. “...and Luis? I know you feel like an abuser. But…I’ve been really vulnerable, a lot of times in the last several years. And, during my most vulnerable moments… you were really good at helping me. I know everyone kind of treated it like a joke, but you being able to soothe me when I was most regressed? I was grateful for that. I really appreciate that you didn’t let embarrassment or feeling awkward or shame stop you from helping me. Thank you.”

Luis’ eyes reddened again, lips tightening… before he laughed, “Heh. Ah, geez… you’re welcome. Now I’m feeling a bit bashful. Think there’s any chance we can salvage the mood tonight, or should we all start heading back?”

“I vote one more drink and one more floating session,” Even said, eyeing the tube longingly, “But that’s just me.”

She knew they were a mess, but beyond the big, initial, terrifying hope of meeting Ventus? Aqua hoped that he’d see the others how she did. Her big, ridiculous, kind, messy family. And if things worked out? She knew Luis would be a kickass Uncle Luis. He already was.

Laughing a bit, giving Luis one last squeeze before turning back to the remainder of her cake, Aqua seconded, “I’ll cast in my vote for that too. If I can’t drunkenly wax poetic about how awesome a pool is to Demyx to make him get all defensive about how cool their night was, I did something wrong.”

Aeleus hummed positively--his vote as well--before giving Dilan a nod with a gleam in his eyes, an ooooold conversation between them coming to mind. “End the night with an Adios?”

“Hah! You know what, why not?” Dilan smirked, “Adios, Motherfuckers.”

…and because they wouldn’t actually get their drinks on a joke, Dilan called to the bartender, “Can we get two Adios Motherfuckers!?”

“Three!” Luis said.

-

As soon as Ienzo was conscious the next day, he didn’t even bother opening his eyes. Instead, the very first thing he did was concentrate and…well, try to send a message to Kokichi, Alter Ego, and Temp’s signatures, wishing to talk. 

-

“There you go. See, you simply lift yourself through desire,” Temp explained to Addason, whose face was a wide-eyed look of little baby surprise as Temp gently nudged him into the air, the baby drifting gently over the flowers, “But, so that your little baby brain does not think you can fly in the real world? We’re going to add this.”

Addason blinked curiously, looking around at the clear, slightly shimmering bubble he was now enclosed in. 

He pouted.

“I don’t think he likes the bubble,” Alter Ego said, watching Addason’s eyes start to water, “You should give him a cloud, like Uncle Abomination.”

“But he looks so cute in the bubble.” Temp pouted. Though, Alter Ego was right, Addason’s face was starting to thunder. “Alright, fine, let’s try a cloud.”

“Ooogh,” Addason gently cooed finding himself sitting up in a cloud. He looked at his cloud, then Alter Ego’s, then his… before laughing brightly. Playing with the cloud’s edges. “Gah!”

“I swear, you sneak into his dreams and give him candy just to make him like you more,” Temp grumbled.

“He’s a cat guy. Just have to live with it,” Alter Ego chuckled, before their ears twitched, “Seems we’re being summoned.”

“I don’t have a sitter right now… perhaps I should bring Addason along,” Temp mused, “But, I shouldn’t make him easily recognizable. How about… there.”

Eyes a bright yellow beneath the hood, a little baby reaper in a full reaper outfit, including a little tiny scythe strapped to his back, peered up from them on top of his cloud. “Gya!” he said up to them, a little outline of fanged teeth peeking through the darkness.

“You have such strange taste,” Alter Ego said.

“He’s adorable, hush,” Temp said, reaching to pick Addason up off his cloud, holding him, “Alright, let’s go.”

The two stepped through their threads, connecting to Ienzo. They stepped into Destiny Island. 

For once, Kokichi didn’t exactly look beach-ready as he stepped onto Destiny Island. Instead, he looked pretty winter-ready, bundled in a padded coat and layered pants, be-scarfed and be-hatted as a pair of ice skates were tied over his shoulder. Giving his friends a bright wave, he then bowed lightly to Ienzo. “Good morning! Or, I think it still is for you. What’s up, Ienzo?”

For a moment Ienzo could only blink at the…tiny figure, and Kokichi’s odd clothes before he collected himself and gave the group a polite bow. “Thanks for coming by. I don’t mean to interrupt much, but I have imperative news to pass on.”

Sharing his blueprints, Ienzo couldn’t help lighting up as he explained, “I’ve been working on methods to counter conditioning for quite some time, and I’ve finally been successful. Now, as you’ll note in the blueprints, it doesn’t actually get rid of conditioning, but it nullifies the symptomatic responses. I intend on distributing this method to as many Empaths as I can, but since we’re acquainted and you’ve all been working on the same issue, I thought I’d tell you first.”

Alter Ego’s eyes widened in shock. “You’ve succeeded!? As a low-level Empath!?”

“Alter Ego, don’t be rude,” Temp said.

“Graa!” said the tiny reaper in his arms, kicking happily. Addason liked Empath time with Daddy. The overstimulation wasn’t as overwhelming in the dream settings. Begrudgingly, Temp had to admit Kaito may have had a point: there was some physical aspect to Addason’s difficulty out in real environments.

“But it’s worth the question! We still can barely consistently make the conditioning defenses between us.” Alter Ego said. “It takes a lot of power! How did you manage?”

Kokichi’s jaw dropped before he turned to Ienzo with wonder. “You’ve really done it?! Shoot, I…” Growing more sheepish, Kokichi gave Ienzo a slightly apologetic look. “I guess it’s on me for not making time. I really did mean to collaborate with you more, when I heard you were working on anti-conditioning. I didn’t want to flood you guys with more stuff to do while you’re still sorting yourselves out, but…I’m sorry, Ienzo.”

Ienzo waved Kokichi off. “I heard from Lauriam, it’s--” All of a sudden Ienzo froze. Sweating a little, he glanced around the island, nervously murmuring to himself, “...think he’s still asleep…” before walking a little closer to the others and lowering his voice. “I don’t mind that you didn’t share the details of your experiments. Sharing information would’ve been helpful, yes, but I don’t blame you for being cautious.”

“And if you’ll take a look at the blueprints, Mr. Alter Ego,” his Lexicon appearing in his hands, Ienzo opened it up and a hologram of the shape of his transcription factor appeared, “I did hear that your method, which can eradicate conditioning completely over time, not just halt the symptoms, took the form of a complete, autonomous personalized defense. And you’re right, creating something like that is beyond my abilities.”

He nodded to the side. “I tried, and it didn’t go well.”

“However, my transcription factor isn’t a full, complex construct, and nor is it really a defense,” Ienzo explained, raising a hand to spin the hologram to indicate what he was talking about, “It turns out that there is an effect of ingesting marijuana that prevents conditioning symptoms from occurring--the signals in the brain simply won’t send to those triggers, because the receiving nodes are taken up with a compound from the drug. After observing some volunteers under the influence, I was able to reverse engineer the exact factor that prevents the symptoms from occurring, without including all the other effects that would leave someone feeling high.”

“How my factor works is a quick, few second placement on the part of the brain I’ve noted in the blueprints, and it acts as a sort of shield, preventing symptoms from taking hold.”

The look Kokichi was giving Ienzo was amazed.

Alter Ego and Temp looked at the blueprints blankly… before Temp whispered to Alter Ego, “Please explain this.”

“Me? Why would I know?”

“One of your shards was a bit of a genius, if I recall.”

“You’ve been around for literally a thousand years, certainly you must have had to read a blueprint like this once.”

“G’raaaa!” the baby reaper said, reaching for the schematic curiously. 

“Whenever I would have had to, I was super powerful, and probably evil, and had scientists look at these things for me,” Temp huffed, before saying in a more normal volume, “This is quite impressive. Have you tested it yet?”

Ienzo smiled softly--whoever this…person was that Temp brought, they were clearly a toddler at most--and tapped the hologram, it becoming solid…though, soft and with rounded edges, as he offered it to Temp. Undistracted though, Ienzo nodded. “I have, I have two volunteers who have been aiding me in my attempts to unravel conditioning. Without betraying their privacy, they have two different types of conditioning, one more mental and the other more physical, and my transcription factor worked on both.”

He gave the group a slightly more sheepish look. “I’m not strong enough to jump to others on a whim, but due to my familiarity with their signatures, I have been open to any major feelings, particularly looking for disappointment or distress, but things have been stable for them.”

Not unaware of the confusion on the others’ faces, Ienzo let his Lexicon hover as--”Oh! Thank you, Zexion.”

o_o Of course.

As the construct appeared, he held up a wavy piece of foam, with bumps and ridges. 

“Think of the brain as half a puzzle--it has very distinct shapes that will only work with complementary shapes.”

Zexion held out smaller foam pieces in different colors that had different various protruding shapes. 

“When a complementary shape ‘clicks in’,” Zexion did so, “That means information can pass. That can be a nerve signal, so you can move, a command for certain hormone levels to be produced, anything that the brain controls. These shapes come and go, as different commands are sent and fulfilled, but if one if clicked in,” Zexion held another shape with the same protruding shape and hit it against the one that was clicked in, “Then that space with that certain responding shape is occupied, so that command cannot be received.”

Zexion clicked in a shape the same shiny blue as the hologram Ienzo had shown as the shape of his transcription factor. “What I’ve developed is a permanent shape to lock into the space that conditioning symptoms, obedience, devotion, etcetera, would use to send that information to one’s brain. Thus…”

Zexion held up a shape with a frowny face that was labeled ‘Conditioning’ and tried to place it in the space occupied by the blue shape, obviously unsuccessful.

Ienzo smiled up at the other Empaths. “Conditioning has nowhere to send those commands to.”

“Oh, of course,” Temp said, “Obviously.”

“Much clearer now, thank you,” Alter Ego agreed, before focusing on Zexion, “You have your own Chibi as well? I have to admit, Ienzo, I wildly underestimated your abilities. These are advanced abilities. I know you don’t have the raw power for it, so your workarounds are incredibly impressive.”

“I imagine you won’t have to explain the exact details to the greater Empath community, unless they ask. But I am assuming this still has the problem of it needs to be individually placed one by one,” Temp said, “Still, the method seems quick. Though… I have to ask, while it’s understandable if you could not at this point, do you have any idea if the construct deteriorates over time? It can be difficult to maintain a construct long-term, every method I’ve known requires an Empath to periodically come into a non-Empath to strengthen it.”

“It’d be great if it could last a year,” Alter Ego admitted, “Our construct seems to permanently eradicate conditioning… but as far as we can tell, nearly a year seems to be our best estimate of how long it actually takes to do so.”

Zexion gave Alter Ego a polite bow, getting rid of the foam pieces. 

ㅍ_ㅍ Ienzo and I have been working on the refinement of his abilities practically his whole life. There are, unfortunately, some things which genuinely take a large amount of power to achieve, but I believe for most needs there are more ways around getting to a goal than people think. 

ㅍ_ㅍ It has helped that, condensing for an average, Ienzo has synthesized about 60 times the work of standard time over the past 16 years.

“Doesn’t hurt, does it,” Ienzo lightly sighed, before giving Temp a small nod. “Yes, I haven’t even tried to figure out how distributing this factor would work if not for one-on-one, and I haven’t been able to observe it over the long-term. With my best hopes, theoretically? Since it’s a construct that’s more physically-based, and not constantly maintained by my own power, I think it’s a fair possibility that it will have decent longevity, but that is something to consider.”

A small, regretful smile turned up his lips. “I may seem overeager, and I am. Conditioning has been a plague too long. Knowing something that works and seems to not leave undesirable side-conditions, I’m eager to give people their freedoms back.”

Kokichi returned the smile softly. “You probably get that even more than us. I remember when we first discovered that our defenses could help fight against conditioning, I wanted to immediately take it to everyone! …but we didn’t really know how it worked, and there were a ton of wrinkles to iron out. We didn’t want to hurt people trying to help.”

He gave Ienzo a hopeful look. “But if your method seems safe? Then…this could really be a major turning point.”

“There is less need to be cautious now, overall,” Temp said, feeling his baby reaper start to fuss in his arms and, creating a little cloud, allowing him to start drifting around, flying around with the schematic still in his little baby grip, waving it around, “The Flora couldn’t organize a strike against us now even if they considered it a priority. Their systems have fallen apart with the loss of their current regime. I honestly doubt they’re even organized enough at this point to even know something was happening with their prized colony.”

“Lucky us,” Alter Ego agreed, “I’d still want to argue we should long term test a little, but, I do understand the desire to push ahead. I’ll likely pick a handful of conditioned and keep checking on them periodically, like I do with our experiments. Perhaps Cathan’s partners? But otherwise, there definitely is a need for us to push through on this, even if it's maybe a little reckless. Things are proving really tough for ex-Indentureds at home. One of my shards had to literally hide a group from a ship that was trying to abduct them the other day.” 

As much as Ienzo wanted to get to work immediately, he did understand the need for more thorough testing, but…uh…

Ienzo and Zexion sent twin wide-eyed looks at Temp and Alter Ego. 

O๐O The Flora’s regime is lost?

“You’re from Luminary too?” 

“Very lost,” Temp said, watching his little baby reaper fly around fondly, Addason wandering over to Kokichi to show him the new toy he had. “Their queen, in many ways, orchestrated her own downfall. The hivemind is broken into much smaller communities that are struggling to work together. It’s going to be very good for that community, I think. Humble them.”

“Sorry, we mentioned all of that assuming as workers in the factory, you may have gotten wind of Flora by that point,” Alter Ego said, “Considering the main reason the factories existed was to keep a reliable, steady stream of humans to give to Danganronpa. Humans that need your conditioning nullifier maybe even more than the Luminaries do. This will help a lot of people still stuck in very dire circumstances.”

They straightened on their own cloud, before bowing their little kitty head. “Yes, I’m Luminary. Though, like everyone with supernatural abilities in Luminary, I had a lot of reason to keep that to myself. Not that it hid me perfectly, I realize upon reflection. Head Secretary Tengan must have known, and that’s likely why I was hired. I was an administrative assistant to him in a past life. I, and several other pieces of myself, died for the honor. When we joined up and I awoke, I found myself to be a much more powerful Empath. And a cat.”

“A zombie cat,” Temp said.

“A perfectly normal brain cat,” Alter Ego corrected.

Kokichi whispered softly to Addason, cooing over his new toy and flawless control over his cloud. A very cool day for a very cool baby.

Ienzo looked astounded, pulling his Lexicon into his arms again, just taking that in. “It’s more of a fluke than anything I know. My dad knew, and assuming that we’d never leave the factory, he told us all why the factories existed in the first place. Considering your familiarity, I…have to assume you know even better than I why having that sort of information is dangerous. Or, was dangerous.”

Giving Kokichi a little nod, he said, “You did tell us something had happened in Danganronpa but…if the Flora are decentralized? That’s…” Even more reason to get going on distributing his factor. 

A more solemn look came over Ienzo’s face as he gave Alter Ego a moment of silent respect, before his expression bittered. “I’m sorry you had the misfortune of meeting such a wretched person.” Then, it softened. “While I’m not planning on staying in Luminary indefinitely, I hope that things will get a little easier at home for us soon.”

Zexion blinked, before giving Ienzo a meaningful look, tilting his head towards Kokichi. 

Ienzo gave him a puzzled look for a moment, before his eyes widened. “Oh. Right, uh…” Ienzo shifted his weight slightly, running his fingers along the side of his Lexicon. “There’s been a slight change of plans about that, actually. About half of us are going to be heading to Dicea as planned, but the other half have some business to take care of first.”

“Oh…okay?” Kokichi said, looking a little confused, but far from upset, which was a relief. “We’ll have to figure out another way to get your half funds, then, if you’re not going with Clara.”

Ienzo looked a little alarmed at the prospect of more money being sent to them, and while he didn’t exactly want to turn it down… “A-ah, I’m… That is… I’m not…positive how necessary that’ll be, since, I’m…um. I’ve been summoned to appear before the Queen’s Court.”

If they’d been in physical space, Kokichi’s neck would’ve cracked from how quickly he did a double take, eyes bugging before they narrowed in suspicion and concern. “What did she say to you?”

Sweating under a look that intense, Ienzo blurted out, “The contest for my inheritance was accepted.”

“Kokichi, you’re scaring him,” Alter Ego said, a touch of amusement in his voice. 

“That is interesting. Do you plan to stay in Luminary long-term then?” Temp asked, before saying, “Please don’t mind him, you can push him back towards me if he’s a nuisance.”

This was directed at Zexion. Addason had flown to him next, insistently showing him the solidified blueprint Zexion himself had given him. Or, well, Ienzo. “Gah, gah!” Addason said insistently, waving it in Zexion’s face.

Zexion just blinked at Temp before nodding seriously at Addason. 

o_o I see, yes. You have an eye for importance, it’s a good quality to have.

Zexion then resummoned some of the foam pieces from before, offering them to the baby as well. 

Ienzo shifted uncomfortably. “Not long-term. Title or not, it’s still dangerous to be in Luminary, and I don’t want to separate from my family. What will happen if my inheritance is approved is still something I’m planning.”

(The thing about Destiny Island, is that it was the conglomeration of all minds supporting it. That meant that all the Empaths were generally aware of each other’s states.)

(So even groggy, people were aware that Ienzo was uncomfortable and a little scared.)

With fewer theatrics than his usual, Lauriam appeared on the beach, scythe in hand as he looked around with a suspicious glare, his light bright in his chest. And spotting just what was freaking Ienzo out?

Huffing, Lauriam pushed in front of his little brother. “Fancy seeing you here, your grace.”

Ienzo stiffened more, glancing between Lauriam and Kokichi with even more nerves.

Kokichi’s expression softened. “Good morning, Lauriam.”

“Good day,” Temp greeted. He hadn’t had too many opportunities to meet any of the Destiny Island residents, really. So he introduced himself, “I am the Templar. Forgive me, I’m not sure if we’ve met properly yet.”

“Have you come to assist with distributing Ienzo’s construct? We’re still working out the logistics,” Alter Ego explained.

Addason looked at the giant scythe, and…putting the display and the foams pads down on his cloud, he flew to Lauriam, picking up his little toy scythe and showing it off. “Gyah! Gah!”

Lauriam nodded his head to the goth. “Lauriam, I was the giant murderous flower you met before.” While there was some cordiality to that, Lauriam’s eyes just narrowed again. “Oh, Ienzo’s construct. So you’re actually going to go ahead and give him his proper credit, right?”

Kokichi sighed softly. “Yes, we are. What Ienzo’s created is incredible, and the work he’s put into it deserves recognition. I’m sorry for not cluing you guys in more, Lauriam, but I’m not your enemy! We’re all working towards the same goal together.”

“Sure, sure,” Lauriam said dryly. “For the greater good and all that. Egos should be put to the side for the sake of goodness, right? You--”

Lauriam cut himself off, looking more bewilderedly at the…baby? With the little scythe?

(...oh that was so cute.)

A little unsure, but his form and light stabilizing a little, Lauriam held his scythe close to his body--not wanting to be aggressive towards a baby--and showed his off back. 

Ienzo didn’t look any more comforted, though, still looking between Lauriam and Prince Kokichi nervously. How…was he supposed to just agree with Lauriam here? 

Licking his lips, Ienzo let out a little nervous breath before trying, “Lauriam, I’m okay. We’re, um… I asked for Prince Kokichi, the Templar, and Alter Ego to come by to discuss my transcription factor. I am planning on giving it to every Empath I can so…they’re a part of that.”

Lauriam’s mouth tightened a bit, still looking at the guests warily, before he looked back to Ienzo. “...yeah?”

Temp and Alter Ego watched all of this… before Temp leaned in and whispered to Alter Ego, “Have I missed something?”

“It feels like I’m sitting in a lunchroom in highschool between two cliques that are fighting,” Alter Ego agreed.

“Did you go to high school?”

“Some of me did, yes.”

“You are allowed to just say ‘yes’, the ‘I’m five people with five different experiences’ bit gets old.”

“Not as old as you, mummy.”

“Lich.”

“Oh, look who’s talking,” Alter Ego whispered, before straightening up, “I apologize, but considering the delicate nature of what we’re all trying to achieve, could we air out whatever tension seems to be bothering this group?”

“Addie, please don’t try to put that scythe in your mouth. It’s not real, but it’s bad practice… sorry, his name is…” Temp paused, “...Addademon.”

“You do this on purpose,” Alter Ego whispered.

“Addie for short,” Temp said.

Addason, because he was a baby, ignored his father and continued to suck on his toy scythe. Curiously looking at Lauriam’s.

Oh, Lauriam would be just pleased to air out everything…but Dilan’s musing from the day before echoed in his head. The Ouma wasn’t just a noble, he was their biggest benefactor. While he’d been overly generous, if Lauriam lost them that support because he was finally making a stand against exploitation, when that’s what everyone did?

Lauriam bit back his words, leaning back on his foot, but before he could disappear from the island, he felt Ienzo grab his arm. 

“Wait,” Ienzo said quietly. Looking around the group before sighing softly. Cringing to just throw Dilan’s advice away, but… “Lauriam, I’m not mad that Prince Kokichi didn’t tell me about his experiments. I appreciate it, but you don’t have to--”

Lauriam scoffed softly, cutting Ienzo off. “It’s not just about the experiments! Ienzo, you would cut your limbs off and donate them to science if someone made a good point about an experiment--that Ouma was talking so fascinatedly about your work, while offering not even the fact that he was working on it too? He’s an elite, all they know how to do is hoard resources and exploit people.”

Lauriam’s expression darkened. “He said he didn’t say anything because if we had a single reason to reach out to other people, our Nobodies would abuse them as we always had, doesn’t matter we only did because we were forced to. Nevermind that Zexion’s put in just as much work figuring out your construct.” 

He couldn’t help snarling a little. “And don’t even make an argument about caution. If we’d been in person I’m sure Prince Momota would be just happy throwing any of us back in prison for the audacity to even question an elite.”

Kokichi looked on in worry, before he blinked, pinching the bridge of his nose a little. Oh Kai-chan…

“If I can?” he said softly, waving slowly to get the Somebodies’ attention, Ienzo looking a little pissed and a little unsure, and Lauriam glaring hotly. “...I’m sorry that I said it that way. You guys made it clear that your Nobodies don’t want to hurt people anymore. But you guys have been struggling with your Nobodies, that’s not just an assumption I made,” Kokichi said firmly. 

“You don’t have to believe me, but I was always planning on talking about anti-conditioning with you. I just didn’t want to pile on stuff to worry about…and I never planned on exploiting Ienzo.” Kokichi’s mouth was a line as he tried to convey his sincerity. “If we got around to a conversation about his work, I would’ve shared mine too, and I’d never want to brush off the credit he’s due.”

Kokichi sighed a little. “...I’m sorry about yesterday too. Kai-chan can get protective over me, and it doesn’t always come out the best way. You didn’t have to apologize to me, and I’ll talk to him about it too. You have your reasons to distrust elites…or just anyone, I could guess, but I’m really not trying to screw you guys over.”

Temp and Alter Ego had been watching this, still a little baffled exactly where all this animosity was coming from… riiiiight up until– “Ooooh, Kaito,” Temp realized, Alter Ego nodding sagely beside him, “What do you think? He went full ‘peasant’, or just did the ‘respect’ speech?”

“Takes a lot to go full ‘peasant’ rant, I doubt Lauriam did anything that egregious without Kokichi noticing the issue,” Alter Ego whispered back. “Definitely the ‘respect the prince because he’s perfect and beautiful and tiny and perfect’ speech.”

“Classic,” Temp whispered, before straightening up, deciding it might be wise to just quietly listen for now. Lots of various temperaments in this group. 

Lauriam gave Kokichi a tense look…but looked back as Ienzo tugged on his sleeve. Suddenly feeling unsure with the anger on his little brother’s face. 

“We talked about it last night, didn’t we?” Ienzo said with a calm dryness that was starting to make Lauriam squirm now. “I’m not about to let people walk all over me. What would exploiting my work here even look like? If someone develops the concept further, then that’s wonderful! And I don’t see any way how someone could reverse engineer conditioning itself from this. I know better than to put us in danger with anything I’m researching.”

(...well, that wasn’t exactly right, but Lauriam did know what Ienzo meant.)

And while they talked…

-

Kokichi blinked into focus on the bench by the pond he was resting by, taking a breather from the skating day they were having with the kids when Ienzo contacted him. Raising his arm, he called out, “Kai-chan! Can I steal you for a sec?!”

“What’s up, ba–GAH!” 

“SCORE!” Cali shouted, raising her stick triumphantly. 

“Cali,” Kaito squeaked, hands on his balls, leaning over his knees, “I am not the goal post, I’m the goalie.”

“It got in though, look!” Cali insisted, pointing at the puck that had, indeed, still managed to get into the goal post while, still very much clipping Kaito’s balls. 

“Okay I’m done playing for a bit,” Kaito squeaked, shuffling off the ice and moving his way towards Kokichi on the bench, sitting with a wince as he watched Maki gather up the kids, setting up new positions for the new game now that they were minus two people. “I’m telling you… Maki sets me up. Anyway, what’s up?”

Giving a cheer for the goal, Kokichi gave Kaito a sympathetic look, reaching over to pat his back. “Aw, sorry hun. So…”

He gave a little sigh. “I’m not forcing you, or insisting. But I think it’d be good if you apologized to Lauriam for yesterday. I’m talking with him and Ienzo on the island right now, so I can connect you for a message.”

Kokichi gave him a soft look. “People are allowed to disagree with me, or question my reasons. They’re not doing anything wrong for that.”

“Apologize to… oh, that guy?” Kaito frowned. “Come on, Kokichi, he was being a jerk to you. I know people don’t have to defer to you, but, like…” Kaito sighed, “No, no, alright, I know. I’ve seen the way people treat Aiichi. But it’s still not my favorite thing, babe. You do so much for everyone, people should at least be respectful. But alright. When?”

“Now?” Kokichi grinned sheepishly before sighing. “I dunno if it’s more personal or just…something about living generally in Luminary. But he’s really worried about ‘elites’ exploiting his family, and, like…basically that speaking up at all to ‘higher classes’ offends their pretension and is gonna land him in prison.”

Kokichi shrugged a little. “He was mad, and he’s allowed to be. Honestly, he wasn’t even that rude before. They have a lot of reasons not to trust people, they’re a group that have been let down in their very human decency…I don’t want to be another person they feel hurt by, you know?”

Kaito gave Kokichi a somewhat dry look. “We have wildly different definitions of ‘rudeness’... but, alright. I doubt you’d be asking me to do this if it hadn’t come up again. For you, ‘Kichi? I’ll play nice and bow my head to anyone. I will give a very sincere apology, okay? Let me at ‘em.”

Kokichi smiled gratefully and pressed against Kaito’s arm. “Thank you, Kai-chan. I love you.”

-

Blinking back into focus on the island, Kokichi looked at the two Somebodies speaking quietly to each other, Lauriam’s expression worried, but his eyes lowered, and Ienzo understanding but firm. It felt a little weird to interrupt, but Kokichi cleared his throat. 

“Ah, guys?”

The Somebodies looked back over. 

Kaito looked around the island curiously. Neat… before focusing. “Ah, hey. My husband told me we should have a conversation–oh my god, is that Aaaaaddieeee!?” 

Kaito’s eyes widened in wonder as he looked at the little reaper child, recognizing a baby in a onesie no matter how magical it was as he got on his knees, clapping his hands together as he said, “Addiieeeee who’s a little baby who’s been learning to crawl, huh? Can you crawl to me? Temp, what’s with the cloud?”

“It lets him fly,” Temp explained.

“Oh my gooood are you gonna be a little flying baby tooooo? You’re both going to have so much fuuuuun, come here, Addie, come heeeere~” Kaito gushed, encouraging Addie over, who bounced excitedly in his cloud before flying over. “Look at you, are you a little monster? Are you a little robe fang guy with scary yellow eyes? You look so cool, Addie. Is that a little scythe? Do little babies get little scythes? That’s maybe a baaaad thiiiing,” he sang-song, looking sternly at Temp as he poked at Addason’s toys, the baby showing off one after another, “Maybe we shouldn’t be giving little babies little scyyyythes.”

“He’s fine.” Temp said. 

“Kaito, focus?” Alter Ego said. 

“Oh, right,” Kaito said, cooing to Addason, “You’re so handsome and strong and clever and cool and I gotta go arrooound you please do not cry, are we good… okay.” Kaito said, Addason not bursting into tears as Kaito walked around him, heading to the other two Empaths, “Right! Sorry, focused!”

Kokichi couldn’t help snickering a little at Kaito’s delight, though he was just one to be charmed. 

Instead? Ienzo looked a little alarmed to see a Momota prince on the island, while beside him Lauriam stiffened, and even with their conversation before, the two of them bowed to royalty as Kaito was thoroughly distracted. 

Sighing a little, Kokichi caught up and bowed back, not wanting to keep the two of them down. 

Kaito bowed easily, though he straightened immediately into rubbing the back of his neck. “Right, so…I’m sorry for jumping into your and Kokichi’s argument. It wasn’t my place to say anything. My husband is his own man and he’d have defended himself if he had thought there was anything worth defending, I had no right to be offended on his behalf.”

“Also,” Kaito said, crossing his arms and looking away, “I am aware that I implied there was some legal precedent for you speaking in a certain way to him, and there is, in fact, not. In Dicea, where I live and where Kokichi will rule, there are no laws for how to speak to royalty, and me suggesting you had to show Kokichi a certain level of respect due to his status is literally just me… making stuff up. I had no moral or legal right to do what I did. I apologize.”

For a moment, Lauriam could only stare at Kaito. Figuring, once he’d shown up, that Kokichi had been meaning for something like an apology, but even guessing that, Lauriam wasn’t prepared to get a legitimate apology. 

And his honest first reaction? A complete kneejerk of {Holy shit, Dilan, royalty’s apologizing to me!}

“...oh, uh…” Lauriam said after a moment, still just looking surprised. “Thanks. Apology accepted, your grace? Wait, so…if there’s no laws about it,” he gave Kaito and Kokichi an unsure look, “Do you really mean to not use titles, or are you just saying that for good faith?”

Kokichi sighed a little. “We really mean it. Some people do call me Prince Kokichi here and there, but just my name is what anyone can call me by. I know it sounds fake, but in Dicea you can talk to anyone however you like. And they can talk to you however they like, so, like, rudeness will still be met with rudeness, but we don’t use titles or what you guys’d call formal language.”

{Break his hand! Break a finger! Come ooooon it’s just one finger!}

“The titles thing is so weird in Dicea that when I first got here, everyone kept telling me I was going to be called ‘King’ with Kokichi. Like, King,” he pointed to Kokichi, then himself, “King again. Co-Kings. I think Dicea literally doesn’t even know what a consort is. It’s been a learning experience.” Kaito sighed, running his hand through his hair. “And I’m pretty well known around Dicea for, just, monumentally embarrassing myself when it comes to that sort of thing. Trust me, you are not the first people I’ve had to apologize to for ‘Momota’ing it. This is like a bi-monthly process for me.”

“Break his hand!” Dilan shouted from the tree house, wearing sunglasses, while Luis beside him ate some popcorn, “It’s not even his real hand! No harm no foul!”

“Who is that?” Kaito asked dryly.

“Doooo it! Doooo it!” 

“.........I mean, sure, why not.” Kaito shrugged, before glancing at Addason and balking. “Actually, nevermind. I don’t want to frighten Addie. Or give him a weird complex. Babies find it really funny when I make the ‘big, gaspy’ sounds, I can’t make that the standard in funny noises.”

“Bizarre,” Ienzo hummed, “But interesting. I’ll admit, we haven’t quite been taking you at face value about Dicean culture, but if it is that drastically different, it’ll be fascinating seeing the differences in person.”

Lauriam huffed a little in amusement at their audience before giving Addason a considering look. He asked Temp, “Could you guys head out, then?”

“Ooookay!” Kokichi clapped, coming forward, “Actually some harm, some foul, hurting your presence here is likely gonna give you a massive headache, and we still have several rounds of hockey to play out today.”

Lauriam sighed, giving Kaito a lighter look as he shrugged. “Later, then. You did offer apologies to the rest of us, and Dilan definitely counts for that.”

“Uh huh, uh huh, I tooootally will,” Kaito said distractedly, currently too busy staring at Kokichi adoringly, “Mhm, Dilan, yep, that guy. On the list. Kokichi, have I told you you look beautiful for the fifth time today? Or am I only on my fourth? It’s a ‘fifth time’ sort of day. You look so beautiful.”

“Aaaaand that is my signal to go,” Temp said, looking to Ienzo, “Thank you for including me in the group of people to tell first. I will take the blueprints you’ve given me and start connecting to Conditioned, following links. Oh! For ease, perhaps we should leave a marker in minds that have already been helped? Perhaps a symbol an Empath might feel when they first go in that represents your work?”

“Oh, that’s a good call,” Ienzo hummed, thinking about it…before he smiled softly. “Would a square turned on its side be simple enough to place?”

Lauriam could only look at the princes incredulously for a moment, before he raised an eyebrow at Ienzo. “Maybe too simple? What’s that supposed to represent, ‘Enzy?”

Ienzo smirked a bit. “That I’m a square.”

“...” Kaito gave Ienzo a curious look… before his face reddened. That was cute. “Babe, I need to go.”

“I think that’ll work,” Temp said, collecting Addademon, the baby starting to blink sleepily beneath his shadowing robes, “Again, thank you for involving me. And congratulations again on your discovery. It’s quite literally going to change lives. Are you coming, abomination?”

“Sure,” Alter Ego said. “See you later, Kokichi! Congratulations, Ienzo!” he called, the two disappearing into one of Temp’s shadows. 

“Thank you for hearing me out,” Ienzo bade, nodding again to the princes as they left as well. And, after quite a bit of excitement, Destiny Island was left to the Nobodies and Somebodies once again. 

Lauriam sighed, and pulled Ienzo into a half-hug. “I’m never going to not worry about you, you know. But…I’ll try to lay off some. Congrats, ‘Enzy.”

“Thanks, Lauriam,” Ienzo hummed, hugging him back…before stiffening as he felt the hug tighten. 

“You’re not about to try and give out your construct without having breakfast, are you?” Lauriam said quietly in the hug. 

“Uhhhhh nope!”

-

Ienzo opened his eyes, getting caught on a snort for a moment as he blearily wiped his face.

Demyx snored softly, mumbling slightly as he wrapped his arms around Ienzo, “Five more minutes…”

Ienzo flushed, looking up at Demyx’s likely more than still half-asleep face. Well…he could wait five minutes. Adjusting himself a little to more comfortably snuggle up against Demyx’s side, Ienzo closed his eyes again, lightly squeezing his boyfriend. 

-

Ienzo had been doing alright, at first. He had quite a lot of people holding him accountable, so while he spent a lot of time going through old memories of people who went through the factory and tracked down their signatures to place in his transcription factor, he had been keeping up with meals and sleeping and actually seeing the outdoors once in a while. 

But as much as he had been working on his anti-conditioning efforts, it had been a long time since Ienzo had really just…sat down for hours and hours a day, psychically reaching out to people, drawing on the island’s energy. And just like in the factory, something was bound to give.

Ienzo had felt a little…off, that morning, but he hadn’t thought anything of it before he got to work. Using his actual bedroom as a quiet space to focus, though…instead of settling himself by the window, like he had in previous days, Ienzo had just sat in the corner, swaddling himself in blankets, feeling weirdly…cold. And achy.

And he’d barely gotten through a few people before he lost his focus entirely, feeling shaky even on the ground as he slouched against the wall, just waiting for the feeling to pass.

Demyx knocked, but as was tradition for him, he knocked while literally just already opening the door, peeking in his head as he asked, “Hey, it’s sunny out today! Do you want to go out for lunch? We could take a walk through the stone garden… oh, shoot, bud, are you dead?”

Demyx was partly joking, but his concern was sincere as he hurried over, squatting next to him and frowning as he reached his hand out to touch Ienzo’s face. “Ohh, sheesh, you overworked yourself! This is classic overworked Ienzo shivers! Come on, I thought Zexion was bullying that out of you… alright, hold on. Let me go get you some water, just hold tight!” Demyx said, standing up and running off. 

After a bit, he came back with water, little ice cubes inside as he sat down with Ienzo. “Eyyyy, want some water? It’ll cool you down!”

Ienzo blinked blearily, squinting at the light, even if what Demyx opening the door exposed wasn’t really that much brighter than his room. “M’fine,” Ienzo softly grouched, even as he sighed softly at Demyx’s hand on his face, “Jus’ need a break for a sec…”

It was a struggle to open his eyes again as Demyx returned, looking at the water with dismay. He knew, logically, that he should drink it, but… “Already feel too cold,” he muttered, though he did reach for the glass. Shaking, even with how he would’ve felt blazing to Demyx. 

“Been taking breaks ‘n stuff,” he tried to pre-emptively protest.

“Uh huh. Tell me more about your breaks when you’re not slumped on the floor, bud.” Demyx smiled, a little more at ease hearing Ienzo talk. “Guess what? Today’s a rest day! Actually, looking at you, today’s probably literally a bed day. Can you walk? Or should I go ask someone to help me lift you?”

“M fine here…” Ienzo mumbled, head tipping a bit against the glass before he blinked a few times, huddling more into the blankets. 

-

๑-﹏-๑

Zexion shivered, dazed and red-cheeked as he quickly looked around the island, finding the first person he could to tug on some clothes.

๑-﹏-๑ Ienzo’s sick.

Luis blinked down in surprise at Zexion–he had been reading a book on the beach, just enjoying some down time–pushing up his straw-hat to get a better look at him. “Oh, geez, you’re really feeling it, huh lad? Head back home, I’ll go take care of him,” Luis said, reaching over to pat Zexion on the head, before opening his eyes in the real world. 

He had been sitting in his own room, but headed over to Ienzo’s, knocking on the door. “Hey, can I come in, Ienzo?”

“I’m in here too! Come on in, Luis!” Demyx called, “Hey, you have great timing! I needed a second pair of hands! Ienzo can’t get up, I think.”

“Nothing luck based about it, Zexion asked for help. Geez, lad, what on earth did you do to yourself?” Luis frowned, “Alright, Demyx, you get his other arm.”

The two hefted Ienzo up, helping walk him to his bed. “Oooph, that’s a bad fever,” Luis murmured, the two laying him down, “Let’s get some medicine into him. You already tried to cool his body temperature?”

“He sipped a little, but not much,” Demyx admitted, gesturing to the glass of water, “I’ll wait with him?”

“Sure, sure, I’ll be right back,” Luis said, heading out the door, before calling back, “Get him a bag! Just in case.”

“Alright!” Demyx called, before heading into Ienzo’s bathroom, grabbing a wastebin and bringing it back to the bed, “You know, even with all of us helping, we’re not going to get all the conditioned done in just a few days, right, Ienzo? This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Ienzo groaned softly as Demyx and Luis pulled him up, already mourning his blanket pile. At least there it sort of felt like he could just melt into the earth and be bypassed from cosmic acknowledgement. Being upright felt like his body was going to fall apart. Honestly, some of the shivers were starting to hurt.

“S’not that bad,” Ienzo bit out in a weak voice to Luis, even as he practically collapsed where they set him down on his bed. He couldn’t imagine it was that much of a different mattress than Demyx’s, but it felt like a world of difference. 

Swallowing thickly as Demyx left for a moment, Ienzo pried his eyes back open and frowned. “That would be literally impossible, I think. The amount of people we conditioned was on a…” He blinked slowly, losing the plot for a moment, “...on a timescale of years. Even with taking only a few seconds, it’ll still take a while…”

He curled into himself as another bout of shivers throbbed up through his head. “...didn’t feel like that much.”

“We have help too, don’t forget,” Demyx reminded him gently, reaching over to tuck Ienzo’s braid back, “Haven’t you done enough? Lay back, relax, we’ve got you. Oh, Luis, did you find it?”

“Here we go. Fever reducer and a small bit of pain reliever, just in case,” Luis said, dropping the tablets into the water, letting it fizz, “He overwork himself?”

“Mhm,” Demyx smiled, taking the water, “We don’t have a straw, do we?”

“Ah, damn, straw, I literally looked at them before coming back up. Hold on, let me go grab one,” Luis said, heading back out. 

Ienzo hadn’t kept the look up since their celebration, but he didn’t mind being a model when Lauriam was looking antsy enough to want something to do with his hands. They could fill quite a few bouquets with paper flowers scattered around the manor. 

He sighed a little, closing his eyes at the light touch. Done enough? Not even close. Yes, it wasn’t reason to rush, considering the amount of people they were talking about, but…no. Ienzo’s work wouldn’t be done for a long, long time. 

(How did you even start to put a dent in 16 years of ruining people’s lives?)

“No,” he grumbled softly. “...but not doing more the rest of today won’t really matter.”

Forcing his eyes open, the hazy blues looked up at Demyx. “...I really was trying not to overdo it this time.”

“I believe you,” Demyx said, reaching over to poke Ienzo’s nose, “And you super failed. So now the punishment is we gotta just hang out in bed today! Don’t worry, I’m gonna be a good boyfriend and volunteer to keep you company. Or be a bad boyfriend and pass it off to Lauriam. He super owes us on the baby-sitting sick people front.”

“I’m kidding,” Demyx chuckled lightly, looking up, “Oh, thanks, Luis.”

“Need anything else?” the man asked.

“I don’t think so! He’s gonna drink this and probably just pass out to sleep, let’s be honest.” Demyx shrugged.

“He’s looking pretty sticky. Demyx, I’d recommend getting a rag and patting him down a bit. It’ll make it easier for him to fall asleep,” Luis explained. “Alright, message me if you need anything.”

Demyx gave Luis a wave, before running a finger down the size of Ienzo’s face and looking at the slick sweat trailed on his finger. “Oh, yeah, he’s right. You’re sooo sticky. Drink some of your water, let me grab a rag.”

Ienzo sighed softly, before grimacing through another bout of shivers. Seriously, how much did it take?! He stopped for meals, sleeping, just general breaks; it’d only been a few days! Sometimes he’d been able to work for literal days without almost any of that! If he was taking care of his body better, this shouldn’t happen, right?

“Thanks, Demyx,” Ienzo sighed, before, hearing Demyx say it, continuing, “Thanks, Luis.”

Though right after, Ienzo scrunched his nose as he felt Demyx drag a finger down his face. “...why did you do that?”

“Check your sticky levels. It’s a pretty high level of stick,” Demyx explained, tapping his index finger to his thumb, “I’d say level seven, easy. Maybe even level eight. It’s gonna take a pretttyyyy industrial-grade rag to clean you up. Let me go see what we’ve got!” 

Of course, Demyx literally just came back with a clean hand-towel, plopping down on the bed before humming, looking over Ienzo. “I never really was the caretaker of our group in the factory… I guess I just gotta…” he booped Ienzo in the face with the rag, “there?”

“On a level of misty glass to thistles, I think I’m cooking oil on a cast iron pan that’s been left out for a night,” Ienzo grumbled, willing himself to not start getting nauseous from Demyx tapping his fingers together. He maybe, miiiiight be sick, but not that kind of sick. 

Making a half-hearted attempt to sip water while Demyx made a stop in the bathroom, Ienzo scrunched his eyes closed as he was fully face clothed. Taking the rag from Demyx, Ienzo sloppily wiped down his face. “It was hard for any of us to be, with everyone older around. Could look out for each other, but any real problems usually left us scrambling to get one of them.”

“Yeah… you know, in some ways, that was a real gift to us. Not everyone has a bunch of people looking out for them,” Demyx said, feeling a pang of regret. He didn’t think about his parents too much. Specifically tried not to… “It’s nice to have a community.”

Taking the rag back when Ienzo was done and putting it aside, Demyx brushed Ienzo’s bangs back. “Do you want me to take the braid out? Or are you okay sleeping in it?”

“Mhmm,” Ienzo quietly hummed, his voice catching lightly. “Sometimes…I don’t really know how I’d explain it to anyone else. The factory was a nightmare, how each of us got there is its own story of suck…but I’m so grateful to have met all of you. It might’ve been partly necessity, but our family is something special.”

Ienzo dazedly blinked as Demyx’s fingers passed over his forehead. “...should probably take it out so I don’t jab myself with the pin again. …s’not a dig at Lauriam.”

“I wouldn’t tell if it was,” Demyx snickered, carefully starting to pull the intertwined knots loose, “I still can’t believe Dilan shouted ‘break his hand’ and the response was ‘okay, sure’, from, just, everyone involved. How crazy is that!? Our lives are so weird!”

Demyx gently tucked a pinky in, pulled, pinky, pull, take out the pin, pinky, pull… “I don’t think we have to explain ourselves to anyone, other than maybe each other. Me being happy you’re in my life isn’t the same as me going ‘thank god for the Indentured Program and for the supervisors and that no one in my life before helped get me out of the mistakes I made’. I don’t want to feel apologetic or need to explain myself when I tell people in the future, no, I don’t regret meeting you. Anyone who wants to suggest one means the other? Has no idea what they’re talking about. I don’t care if one technically couldn’t exist without the other: they’re different things, in my mind.”

Demyx puffed his cheeks, angry at whatever strawman he was imagining arguing with. Just some random person who’d raise an eyebrow and give a condescending little “Really?” if Demyx said he felt lucky to know Ienzo. Yeah, really! He did! Who was anyone to suggest he shouldn’t!? He was really, really good at dates! And a great friend before that! And had a cute, tiny little scrunchy nose! 

Inspired by his imaginary argument, he quickly booped Ienzo’s nose again, before brushing his hair back with his fingers. “All done.”

“The fact that we can still regularly find things that register as weird is incredible,” Ienzo murmured. “It’s wonderful, for the vastness of the world, but I’ll admit that I thought they’d slow down a bit. But…no. I think if we ever caught Kaito when he wasn’t…playing a game with his kids?” Ienzo had forgotten to ask what ‘hockey’ was, but that was the gist he’d gotten from Kokichi’s intent. “Then a broken hand might actually happen. Strange…”

Ienzo’s eyes struggled more and more in the battle to stay open as Demyx untwined the braid, the gentle touch a confusing sort of relief to focus on against the vague discomfort all around his body. “We don’t have to justify ourselves, no. I think…I just like the challenge of trying to define it to myself, though it might be beyond definition. They feel like different things to me too.”

Giving a little sigh as Demyx booped his nose, Ienzo was quiet for a moment, before softly saying, “...in the dream Ansem caught me in, when we were getting Riku… I still knew all of you, even though I was in my parents’ home. I can’t remember the exact justification, but I don’t think dreams need one. We all just lived there.”

“That sounds nice,” Demyx said, “I visited Ansem for a nice dream once myself. I thought I’d make it a regular thing, even, but… it was almost too nice? He really knew how to give you exactly what you actually wanted. And waking up from it… well, the factory seemed particularly cramped and gray that day.” Demyx mused, “Living out your fairy tale kind of sucks, when the reality is that grim. No wonder the people he conditioned got lost in those dreams. I’d end up devoted too, if it meant I got to stay.”

“Everyone was in my dream too,” Demyx recalled, “Like yours, no real justification for it. I just knew everyone was there. Safe and sound and happy. How could I be happy in a dream without you guys?”

Ienzo nodded against his pillow, smiling softly as Demyx said that his ideal dream had all of them too. For no real reason, Ienzo peeked his eyes open and reached out for the hand Demyx had left close to his face, lightly holding it. 

“To stay in a nice dream…or just having the feeling that things are perfect, so there’s no reason to object. It was a good method. And more just psychologically cruel than overtly.” Ienzo was quiet for a moment before he sighed. “I…like to think that because of how Chibis are made, that… Terra, Viz, Inzi…everyone. I don’t really know if I believe in the trials and paradise, or anything else when people die. But I like thinking that part of their energy helped develop Zexion, so there’s a part of them that’s getting to be free with us too.”

Demyx turned his hand around, gripping it back gently. “...I’d like to think that too. But, you know…” he smiled sadly, “I know they’d be happy for us. Thrilled. And I take a lot of comfort in that. It’s not fair they couldn’t make it out with us. But they’d be so, so happy for us.”

“...anyway,” Demyx said, wiping his eyes, “You better get some good rest. You’re gonna want to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for when your dads scold you. Because I am sooooo telling.”

They would… Ienzo just hoped to live a life as full and happy as they’d wish. 

“Nooooooo,” Ienzo softly whined, “Narc. I took everyone’s advice this time.”

{I’d tell if he didn’t}

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooo…”

“My guess? You probably worked so hard that all the breaks and stuff weren’t enough. Today’s the third day since you started doing this. Did you stop at all the last two days?” Demyx asked.

“Yeah,” Ienzo pouted, “I stopped whenever we ate, and while I was sleeping, which was normal hours that you know about since we sleep together, and Dad made me walk around the backyard three times the other day to make sure I wasn’t inside all day.”

“Look, something happened! We can argue the schedule allll day, but you know what you can’t argue with?” Demyx said, theatrically wiping his finger against Ienzo’s forehead, “Sticky levels! And also the fact that you collapsed against the wall in a sea of blankets. Those are just the facts, brainiac.”

“Circumstantial evidence in interpreting those facts,” Ienzo grumbled, huddling more into the blankets on his bed. “Doesn’t mean you have to narc to my dads…” Ienzo pouted a bit more before peeking up at Demyx. “...can you break the news nicer than Zexion would? I didn’t know that was an aspect of myself, but he’s very gung-ho about brutal honesty when he thinks I’m being a loser.”

“Oh, Ienzo, I won’t call you a loser,” Demyx said, eyes sparkling as he pet his head, “I will call you a workaholic. My sweet, sweet workaholic boyfriend. Who has very kindly worked himself to the brink of mortal peril.”

“Ugh… Dad and Isa are gonna make fun of me…” Ienzo grumbled, his eyes closing again under the pets. “When I actually die none of you are allowed to tell me to my face it’s my fault.”

“Nooooo, don’t die! I haven’t given you a love song yet!” Demyx pouted, laying down beside him, “When I do that? Then you can die. At peace. Knowing I gave you a great song… which I willllll do at some point.” Demyx laughed. “Though, I’d miss you. Even if your life was complete and full and you were dead knowing you got to hear my cool song. I’d be sad.”

It was immediate, how Ienzo snuggled up to Demyx, fingers loosely entwining with his shirt at Demyx’s waist, thumb resting on the peak of his hips even as Ienzo shivered. “Mm. True… I wouldn’t wanna die before hearing your song either. Or make you sad. And I’d be sad if you died too, so…guess we’re both not allowed.”

Ienzo smiled lightly. “I’m looking forward to you making that song that’ll change music forever. Or buncha songs. Then whenever I hear people humming it or buying records I can be soooo smug and obnoxious and tell them that my boyfriend’s the guy that wrote it.”

Demyx laughed, blushing slightly. “Someday! I really think so! I still have plenty of time to produce some songs. And with these crazy records that they invented while we were in the factory? More people could hear me than ever possible before! I’m really going to try to make it, Ienzo. We just gotta… well, get to a point in our lives where we’re not running around a bunch,” Demyx chuckled.

“What’s it like doing something that has actually changed the world though?” Demyx asked, genuinely curious. “I mean, you succeeded. You’ve done it. You created a mental medicine that’ll literally change hundreds of thousands of lives. I don’t even know if that’s an exaggeration, I have no idea how many conditioned people are out there,” Demyx admitted, “That’s a big deal. What’s it feel like?”

“I know so,” Ienzo murmured with absolute faith. “You’ve already made incredible music with every disadvantage thrown in your way, when we’re actually stable for a while? Nothing will be able to hold you back.”

Ienzo couldn’t wait for it, really. The world wasn’t ready for how much it’d love Demyx’s music. 

Ienzo let out a little sheepish breath. “...I started crying once we confirmed that Rantarou and Xiomara’s conditioning couldn’t take hold anymore. I felt… There’s so much more I’m going to do, but it’s been my life’s work. It felt like every failure and risk was suddenly just…worth it, to get to this point. Like every doubt I’ve ever had, at least for a moment just disappeared.”

It was hard to tell with the fever, but Ienzo blushed a bit. “I feel so…proud.”

Not that he never did on a regular basis, but it felt different from all the little moments of pride Ienzo might have on a given day. It felt, for once, that Ienzo wasn’t just scrambling, trying to make up for the harm he’d caused, the mistakes he’d made. He’d just felt proud of himself, for doing something he truly believed in. 

Demyx smiled, bright and happy for Ienzo. “Good. You know, I was a little afraid you wouldn’t be? You can be kind of hard on yourself sometimes. But it really is just… a wow thing you did. I sort of have a hard time thinking about it, just how big of an impact you’ve already made. I’m kinda dating someone really important! To more than just us, I mean.”

“I think Lauriam might have more of a point if I wasn’t happy about this,” Ienzo laughed softly, before swallowing a wince down his throat, a wave of dizziness going through his head. Though, he just gently brushed his knuckles along Demyx’s side under his shirt. “I hope it doesn’t change much, but I’ve always done research with the intent of it being practical. We’re both dating someone important, even if the world will be slower on the uptake for you.”

Demyx shivered. That tickled. Ienzo was getting more and more casually handsy these days, but, well, that wasn’t super different than from when they had been friends. The main difference being his hands tended to drift under his clothes now. Which felt nice! And tickled. And, when Ienzo was high or, apparently, sick, moved around a lot.

Demyx had never been so aware of the shape of his own waist, feeling Ienzo idly play with it, as he smiled confidently. “Oh, I know. I’m not saying I’m lesser or anything for it. It’s just still pretty wild to date someone who’s doing so much! Makes me feel a bit impressive by proxy. Like, oooh, look who’s sooo cool and so important and then picked me. It’s nice.”

“Trust me, you’ll get it when you come to my first concert and suddenly everyone’s like ‘you’re dating the sitarist? Woooow.” Demyx laughed. “...your throat sounds raspy. You should probably just go to sleep soon, Ienzo.”

“You are impressive,” Ienzo softly hummed before smiling softly. “I can’t wait for it. I know I’m not the loudest person, but I think I can manage to outcompete all the other cheers for you by sheer prideful willpower. I will brag…so hard.”

He sighed a little. “Your fault for being fun to talk with,” Ienzo quietly accused before nodding, huddling towards Demyx even more. “...m’okay. G’night, Demyx.”

“Night,” Demyx whispered back. Calmly just watching Ienzo drift to sleep. Hand still settled on his waist.

-

Even frowned, counting out the supplies again as the others moved luggage into the two different carriages. “There’s Sora’s bag, Kairi’s, very good, where is the–ah, I see it, good–Demyx, that’s Luis’ luggage, other carriage.”

“Ah, my bad!” Demyx said, hefting up the suitcase and hoisting it to the other carriage. 

“I want to sit with you to learn how to drive, Axel!” Sora called, running out of the manor, “Dibs, dibs!”

“No wait, I’m going to do it! I called dibs yesterday!” Riku shouted, running after him. 

“I’m teaching Kairi first, she asked like a week ago, guys,” Axel called, even as he looked at the carriage warily. He knew how to drive! But, man, it’d been a while. Maybe they should have just paid for a driver.

Aeleus gently patted Axel’s back as he set another trunk into their carriage, looking at the teens in amusement. “We are meeting up with Clara outside of the city--perhaps she would be open to a co-driver then.” If whoever her mysterious travel companion wasn’t already, but the possibility might settle the boys for a bit. 

Thankfully Ienzo falling ill hadn’t delayed their plans. He’d be a bit worried if he was sick for the better part of a week, but it seemed his bad luck was just early enough that he was feeling fine by the time they were ready to leave. Which was…now. In some ways it felt like they’d just moved in, even if they’d never planned on staying forever. 

Ienzo sighed a little, not quite feeling melancholic, but some similar, quiet feeling as he nudged Maya gently, watching over the packing proceedings from a higher balcony. “Did you actually sleep last night and got up to see us off, or is this another all-nighter?”

“I think technically both?” Maya admitted, sipping her coffee, “Does it count that I went to sleep if it was three hours ago and I got up with the alarm anyway?”

Maya was a bit sad to see the group go, if she was honest. It had been nice to have a manor full of people on a regular basis. She had had to cut down on the partying a bit, admittedly, even if she had told the others she wasn’t going to. She still had. But that had mostly been because she hadn’t really needed the company lately.

But, well… it was time for them to move on. On to having more baffling forms of sexual miscommunications, it sounded like. Good for them. They were going through some excitement at least.

“You’re going to be in the country for a bit longer then, hm?” Maya asked Ienzo, “And then off to Dicea? To join my odd gift-basket giving estranged brother?”

“I would say so, but quite a lot of people downstairs would argue otherwise,” Ienzo noted, glancing down with a silent laugh. “Three hours of sleep is three hours, which is better than zero. Can’t argue with that.”

Taking a small breath, Ienzo nodded. “To the capital, appease the court, then hopefully head out with Ventus and go to the next closest capital. And hopefully it hasn’t just been a constant stream of demanded apologies from your brother by the time we get there.”

Glancing down for a moment, Ienzo took out a small stack of stationary paper and offered it to Maya. Giving her a soft smile. “I know I won’t have an easy address for a while, but I was hoping to write to you anyway. You’ve been remarkably kind to me and my family, ever since Sora and I first came over. And I’ve enjoyed starting to get to know you, past an old friend my parents had. I’d like to continue to, if you’d like to as well.”

“It’d be sort of shitty if you didn’t write to me after all of this. I took in your whole family, squirt. If we’re not friends now, when do I get the privilege?” Maya smirked, reaching over to pat Ienzo’s shoulder. “You might be difficult to get a hold of, but I’ll be here. Just try not to get yourself robbed by bandits, alright? You guys feel like ‘shortcut’ people to me, just take the main roads. Get there safely.”

Ienzo’s shoulders bounced in a soft laugh before he rolled his eyes a little. “A bunch of paranoid, neurotic people traveling for the first time in decades? Not trust the main roads? I have no idea where you’d even get that idea.”

He laughed a little more before giving her a soft look. “We’ll do our best. I won’t make you have to search for me again. And if we do end up stopping through towns, please expect local postcards…maybe alongside letters. I’m fairly good at utilizing space, but if I recall, the space on them is rather limited.”

“Thank you, Maya,” he said quietly.

Maya smiled lightly at that. 

She’d like some postcards. She was looking forward to them. Maybe she’d put them on her wall.

Meanwhile, Dilan was looking over the horses with the same concern Axel had. He knew how to drive a carriage! Or, ‘Dilan’ had known how to drive a carriage… how hard could it be? You hold the reins and the horses go. That was probably fine. 

“Having doubts already? You’re putting me to shame, dear, I definitely would’ve guessed at least a town or two out from NGP,” Lauriam sighed dramatically as he walked up to Dilan, though his voice was low, “Guess that’s on me for having any faith.”

Maybe he wasn’t up for flexing his mental muscles, but Lauriam was feeling pretty okay. Like they’d talked about before, there wasn’t an issue with him going on the scope-out team…but Lauriam didn’t think it had to be because of his health, now. 

Still, the groups were decided and had been for a while. So…that meant he was starting the trip to Dicea today. And it meant Dilan was heading for the capital.

“Who’s got doubts? I’m just making sure these horses can handle the weight. Hmmm, yes, yes…” Dilan reached out awkwardly, like he was vaguely, briefly afraid the horse would bite, as he patted its side… and when the horse didn’t even seem to notice him, nodded. “I think they’ll manage. I approve.”

Dilan glanced over at the other carriage, chuckling as he saw the three teens each trying to argue with Axel that he could solve the ‘who’s going to learn’ problem if he just let the three of them drive, it’d be fine, they could learn it as they go! “You’re going to have such a handful, dandelion. Try not to kill any of the kids, yeah?”

“Mm, would be our luck to get horses not meant for travel from carriage rentals, even with actually paying for somewhere reputable. Doesn’t hurt to double-check,” Lauriam hummed with dry amusement, watching Dilan ease himself into touching one of the horses. As long as they could drive out of the city without toppling over? Then he’d choose to have faith. 

Lauriam rolled his eyes with a small grin. “Oh, I’ll try. With Even there as a baseline, if I catch myself getting as crotchety as him, I’ll know to cool it. Can’t let myself go too far, balancing out their energy.”

Coming closer to Dilan, Lauriam lightly ran a finger down the front of Dilan’s jacket. “I better not hear you guys say you need busting out of jail, though. Luis and Isa are sorely outnumbered by you ‘jump in headfirst’ types, and believe it or not, I don’t think starting a street brawl will attract the right crowd you’re looking for.”

“Relax, dandelion, I’m going in with a cool head. I want to be a last resort sort of measure. Otherwise, I’m just watching the egg-heads do their little courtroom drama for the next few…” Dilan paused, unsure how to finish that sentence. They didn’t really know how long this was going to take, not really. 

How long it’d be before the group was reunited. 

Dilan caught Lauriam’s wrist as his finger trailed down his chest, holding it tight for a moment, briefly struggling with that knowledge… before he huffed, bringing Lauriam’s palm up to kiss against it. “Sure you don’t want to find a closet before we go? It’s gonna be a long time before you get another shot at me,” Dilan smirked, giving Lauriam a wink, “Hate to start your Dilan withdrawal early.”

Next few. Not as long as they’d initially feared, thanks to whatever motivated the queen into accelerating Ienzo’s request, but…well, travel alone was long. They were past the worst of the snow, Clara had said, but there was always some degree of it in the mountains unless it was the peak of summer. Unimpeded, they were looking at at least a month, month and a half. 

That, plus the travel time to the capital and back, plus however long being at court actually took…

They were going to be connected the whole time mentally, but…

Lauriam’s eyes squinted a little as his heart ached, thinking about that. And as he brushed his fingers along Dilan’s sideburns as he kissed his palm, he let out a little sigh, even as he returned the smirk. “I think the others might actually let Demyx get another bucket of water in that case. Don’t you worry, though, I’ll start taking note of the closets in Dicea. If there’s nothing comparable, I’ll just have to get creative before you show up.”

Dilan chuckled at that, giving Lauriam’s palm another quick kiss, before letting him go and stepping back a bit. Sighing as he said, “That weird golden cat has good things to say about Dicea. It’s green there. Really green. It sounds perfect for you…ugh, what am I doing?” He looked away. “It’s not like you’re leaving yet. I still have time. A whole, who knows… hour. Gotta save my goodbyes.”

Lauriam would believe it when he saw it…but admittedly? A country full of plants that were for everyone? It did sound nice. 

But wherever Lauriam was, he…

Huffing a little, Lauriam closed the distant and more firmly tugged Dilan down by his collar, kissing him. They had time before final goodbyes, but here or just out of town, it still was goodbye. And at least there was slightly less gawking from strangers here.

Dilan startled slightly, but his hands immediately went to Lauriam’s hips, kissing back.

(Xaldin still had a lot of confusing feelings, about how he felt about Lauriam. He knew his actions now and from before and his feelings on both of those moments all contradicted each other in pretty vibrant, intrusive ways. A part of him still felt guilt, remembering the boy he had helped raise. A part of him still wanted Lauriam to reject him, to go find someone else who wouldn’t be so complicated. So temporary. A part of him longed for the man pressed against him so badly that he felt dizzy with the need. A part of him felt like he owed Lauriam someone who knew what he wanted, and even though Dilan was still struggling, he wanted so desperately to not show that struggle to Lauriam anymore.)

(Mostly he wanted to kiss him and he wanted Lauriam to stay and he wanted a closet and he wanted the closet to not be the end of it.)

(It was such a simple thing to want. It felt so impossible.)

Dilan broke the kiss first, getting a bit of air as he breathed lightly against Lauriam, resting his forehead against his… before whispering, “I can feel eyes on us. Look up real quick, it’ll be funny watching everyone suddenly look like they were doing something else.”

To prove his point, he suddenly turned his head to look at the others. And chuckled when there were a few startled jolts, and then suddenly everyone was extremely wrapped up in their own convos and moving luggage.

It wasn’t quite goodbye. They still had an hour. 

…today might be the last day Lauriam would see Xaldin in person. Maybe that didn’t matter. He was created in Dilan’s mind, after all, so any time they’d see each other on Destiny Island was just as real as seeing each other in the physical world. And Xaldin had promised to tell him before he went through with waking Dilan up. 

…still, it did feel like a goodbye. And Lauriam wanted to make the most of it. Not fight again over pursuing a relationship at all, or awkwardly shift around ‘situation pending’, or…touch with the sense of doom under their skin. 

Xaldin was important to him. Lauriam wanted to make that known. 

Though it wasn’t exactly in question. 

Lauriam glanced over at the others before snickering quietly. “It’s like they’ve never seen people kiss before.” Before pulling away, Lauriam briefly kissed the side of Dilan’s mouth one last time, before he gave him a cheeky, sweet grin. “See you in an hour?”

“See you in an hour,” Dilan said, before smirking, “You’ll be catching up to us by then. Tell Axel to try to keep up.”

“Please, as if he isn’t going to granny-crawl to keep the kids from getting into a crash when they eventually wear him down,” Lauriam snorted, giving Dilan a little wave and a soft look as he parted to finish latching everything down. 

-

It turned out it really was about an hour before they got to the clearing Clara had told them about, and, true to her word, there was a lady clad in pink, leaning against a carriage as they approached. 

Waving Axel and Dilan down, she greeted, “Hey! Good to see ya, been a bit! Anthony’s taking a pit stop, so now’s a good time if anyone forgot before.”

“Are you kidding? That’s why we’re so delayed. When you ask if anyone’s forgotten to go before we start, you don’t expect ten hands to raise,” Axel called dryly, before looking to Kairi, “Alright, we have plenty of space to park anywhere here, we’re just going to let the horses know that we’re stopping and they’ll slow down on their own so long as we don’t yank the reins. They know we want to stop when we say ‘woah’, right? Go ahead.”

“W…woah!” Kairi called out, having been nervous the whole drive as she held the reins. 

But the carriage rolled to a stop and Axel hopped off, patting the horses on the neck a bit before calling into the carriages, “We’re here!”

Sora and Riku popped out in a hurry, running to Kairi to ask what it was like, while Even poked his head out of the window. “‘Here’, he says, like it's not an open field. Next time anyone says that we better be crossing a border.” 

“Gooday, miss!” Luis called, stepping out of the carriage, “It’s clear skies and sunny, which is always a miracle on a winter day. Seems like a bit of good fortune, eh?”

“Maybe you should start expecting that--someone’s always forgotten something,” Clara snorted, greeting the others as they came out to say hello, or just leaned out for the time being. “And you’ve got it! It’s miserable driving in gusts, nevermind rain on either side of the border. Ah, don’t let me scare you off though, it’s mostly just annoying for the driver and horses.”

“I’d think their experience is a more pressing concern, of the whole thing,” Ienzo mused, greeting Clara lightly.

“As long as we’re not waylaid, I think we’re good,” Aqua said optimistically, sharing a nod with Clara. 

“Alright, so! Even without them there shouldn’t be much of an issue, but just in case.” Double checking the paperlets in the stack she was holding, Clara gave half to Aqua. “Courtesy of the Ouma family and the Dicean government, these are specific appeals of asylum, so border control shouldn’t give you an issue when you guys head over. Or the rest of us, for that matter.”

She gave them a slightly more serious look. “I will warn, though, that they might ask us to be questioned alone, though these appeals might bypass that. Especially with a group like ours, a bigger collection of people, and specifically with some younger folk,” she nodded to the teens, “They want to make sure this isn’t a human trafficking sort of issue.”

Lauriam frowned a bit. “Is that an issue in Dicea?”

Clara shrugged a little tiredly. “Not widely, but it does happen. They had a big scare last year with a cult from Danganronpa that trafficked a lot of people out, and that was one of the more major cases in ages, but with refugee immigration slowing down, they’re being a little more thorough.”

“That’s a bit scary,” Sora frowned, “Is it still happening?”

“Don’t be alarmed, Sora, even if it was our group wouldn’t allow anyone to go missing,” Even said, stepping out into the field of grass with mild distaste, immediately looking under his boots to confirm, ugh, yes, dirt and grass, “But, word these days is that Danganronpa’s trafficking efforts has fallen apart due to recent political unrest. Keep that to yourselves, though, it’s not common knowledge yet and I don’t need anyone asking how we’d know. We’d have no good answer.”

“Man, this is exciting, right guys!?” Demyx shouted, hopping off the carriage and looking around with an earnest grin, “A trip to the capital, a trip to Dicea! We’re all about to see so many cool things! I can’t wait till we get to a point where we can start sharing cool things we’ve seen at night!”

Axel took a heavy breath, nodding at that. Demyx was bringing that up any moment he could, that day. The reminder that this wasn’t really goodbye, that the island was there, that they didn’t have anything to worry about. Honestly, Axel appreciated the reminders. He felt like he was going to throw up. He hadn’t expected the separation to hit him so much.

Clara looked a little amused at Even’s confidence before giving Sora a kind smile. “Thankfully, no, it’s not still happening. I think you guys were still in the factory at the time, but the cult was in Luminary too, and more brazen about things. Even before the,” she looked tickled, “‘recent political unrest’, they were disbanded and prosecuted. It was just recent enough that people are taking safety a little more seriously.”

Ienzo sighed a little, giving Demyx a soft look. They might be more physically apart than they'd ever been since meeting, but they would be as close as ever mentally. It wasn’t really--

THUMP. 

THUMP THUMP THUMP.

Ienzo startled slightly at the loud, dulled thuds, looking a little concerned as he actually felt the ground vibrating with each one. W…was this a…bear?! Or something? 

However, Clara didn’t look concerned at all, just turning as a cloaked figure even bigger than Aeleus came towards the clearing, glowing red eyes shining ominously under a hood as the thuds got louder and shook more…

And the hood went back, revealing a fanged grin on a half-scaly green face, a youthful, excited voice noting, “Oh whoa, you guys can totally do that, huh?! That’s so cool! Sounds a little romantic, actually, being able to meet up in your heads every night, no matter where you are, huh cutie?” The monster winked at Clara.

Not batting an eye, Clara introduced, “Everyone, this is my friend Anthony, he’s coming to Dicea with us. Anthony, this is everyone.”

Everyone stared at Anthony. 

“...would it be suuuuper hypocritical of me to ask ‘what the hell are you’?” Demyx whispered to Ienzo, “Cause, like, he’s clearly just a guy and his name is Anthony and he’s about to help us out, but also… what… is he??”

“Fascinating,” Even said, immediately pulling out a clipboard seemingly out of nowhere and hurrying over to the new person, “Anthony, first of all, what exactly are you? Second, would you be open to participating in a study? I’ve only managed to research non-human binary minds once before and nowhere near as much as I would have liked, but I am extremely interested to see if empathetically, minds are the same across species, and if so, what that actually means for the structuring of those minds. And if there are differences, how those differences play themselves out in practice, again, Empath-mind wise. It’d be a simple non-invasive study of the entire inner-workings of your mind, no big deal.”

“Even! You can’t just tell the man you want to scan his whole brain and then say it’s ‘non-invasive’ like that just makes it true! We’ve talked about this, man!” Dilan called out. 

“It technically does make it true, if he can get him to sign a waiver saying it’s true,” Isa whispered, “Though, otherwise, yes, that’s just misleading, Even. You’re going to get us off on the wrong foot.”

“...I think so,” Ienzo whispered back, staring wide-eyed at the…guy. Furiously flipping through his mental catalogs of every being, fictional or not, for anything even sort of close. 

Though, his eyes widened more as Anthony seemed to shrink back from Even a bit, though, uh…’shrinking’ was only in body language. Instead, he seemed to get even bigger, scales taking over more of his face as, Ienzo could only notice now, a spiked tail waved nervously behind him. 

“No one’s going to be doing studies or tests or experiments on anyone,” Clara said firmly, putting a hand on Anthony’s arm. “We’re allies here, all just trying to travel to the same place.”

That seemed to do something, as Anthony took a deep breath, and did actually seem to shrink again, the scales easing back as he let out a loud, bright laugh. “Oh, totally, I am so cool right now, the absolute chillest. Chillin’ like a villain. Straight chillaxin’.”

The scales actually seemed to ease back past their initial introduction as Anthony continued taking deep, calming breaths, grinning at Even. “Sorry man, prying up in the ol’ noggin’ is a big no-go. Though it sounds like it’s not even what you’d want anyway? I’m a human.”

“Oooh, actually, just gimme a sec--I can see it in your faces, you think I’m pissing and calling it rain. Hold on!” Turning slightly, Anthony took more deep breaths, holding up clawed fingers and daintily holding his index and thumb together. 

 “Oooh, pissing and calling it rain? I’m stealing that one,” Dilan whispered to Lauriam, chuckling as he continued, “Look at Even’s pouty face. This man wants so badly to be a mad scientist. He needs to learn some charm though, for real.”

The teens were watching near the back, letting the folks around them set the precedence… but all of them couldn’t help but go ‘ooooh’ when Anthony seemed to start morphing again, absolutely dazzled by the bit of real life magic in front of them.

“It’s crude, but evocative,” Lauriam huffed, shaking his head at Even. “You know, I think I’d like to give us credit in trusting Clara that no one ran away, but it’s truly a testament to Even’s Even-ness that he almost sprinted up to Anthony. I’m telling you, if he complains about his knees today, I’m saying it’s his own fault.”

As Anthony chilled out, Clara gave him a brief worried look before addressing the others. “I’m not getting into the whole thing, but if you guys remember me telling you about G Evolution at NEST?”

Ienzo’s eyes widened in alarm. 

“Anthony hasn’t had the best time with Empaths, but he recognizes the position you guys are in, so let’s all get along, yeah?”

Bolstered by the amazed audience, an…honestly normal-looking young man just swimming in his cloak turned back to the Empaths with a winning grin and a wink. “Amazing, I know. And you don’t have to say it so formally, Clara, I get it. We! Were!” He hit a dab. “Both in prison! Cellblock homies gotta stick together.”

Aqua snorted softly. Well, the Dicea team certainly wouldn’t be lacking in energy.

If anything, seeing the full transformation only made Even’s eyes widen more in fascination. Immediately jotting down notes on his clipboard, even as he said, “Understandable, understandable. Part of our imprisonment requirement was, after all, being living nightmares to others in similar situations. We have been very fortunate so far, but we cannot expect for that to never reflect poorly on ourselves, or perhaps worse, put others in a position of swallowing their own discomfort with our presence. I do apologize if we or others like us caused you harm. Speaking of swallowing, do you feel like you get more oxygen flow in this form or your changed form? I ask because more oxygen does have quite an effect on the individual thought process.”

“Uh, yeah, Clara gave me a heads up,” Anthony said a little more awkwardly, “Like you guys were doing straight up mind-control for the pets and games ‘n shit, right? Which I can’t really say, oh, radical, but you were being forced to. Think I’d be a little more wary if you guys were like, full-on human experimentation dudes.”

“And Iiiiii don’t know,” he answered Even with a small laugh, “I get all big and green usually when I start getting hyped up, which is why I’m the chillest dude ever, so I think that makes a difference? But it’s not something I’ve ever thought about, really.”

Aqua crossed her arms, looking a bit worried. “What do you mean, ‘pets and games’?”

Anthony blinked at her--eyes just brown, rather than red--before grinning brightly. “Hey, we’ve got a full day of travel, right? Should probably hit the road soon, haha!” Slinking back behind Clara, practically bouncing with his steps, Anthony headed to the carriage Clara had gotten.

“Yeah, I was wondering about that too,” Axel whispered to Luis, who nodded, “Pets and games? Does he mean… I mean, I can figure out how Indentured careers can sometimes be ‘pets’, but games?”

“It’s not our place to pry. Especially if prying has such a physical effect on the fella. He’ll tell us if he ever wants to, but I wouldn’t recommend a big sit-down powwow like you all did with me,” Luis whispered back, arms crossed as he shrugged, “We just don’t know the lad well enough. And unlike our Isa, if he regresses and bites us, I don’t think we’ll be able to just wave it off.”

“Emotion-based transformation. Fascinating, fascinating. The world is a big, baffling place.” Even sounded entirely pleased by that, as he wandered back to Aeleus, putting down his clipboard as he said, “A wonderful distraction from the fact that our son is about to take his first road trip without us.”

“I did wonder what you were going to occupy yourself with,” Aeleus hummed lowly, the slightest impression of a smile on his face before he looked up, making eye contact with Ienzo who was whispering furiously with Demyx, and waving him over. They weren’t going to fully be apart, of course… But this was going to be the first time they wouldn’t be able to get to Ienzo in a matter of minutes if he needed them. 

No getting up in the middle of the night to soothe a nightmare. No scolding about overworking himself while easing a fever. No quiet moments passing by to pass on advice for anything Ienzo might be working out. 

Ienzo was a young man, but…well, he would always be their son.

Ienzo smiled softly as Aeleus put a hand on his back as he joined them. “Sounds like it’ll be a fun trip on your end.”

“I hope you don’t take this as an opportunity to ignore everything we’ve taught you,” Even said, shoulders stiff, “You will still need full nights’ rest, even when you’re prepping for court dates. You will still need to be careful if anyone offers you alcohol, you really shouldn’t ever be drinking more then two of whatever you’re having, understand? Stay with the others. Keep all of your notes in one place near you. Practice your take-downs, you should always do one set a day, and don’t forget to stretch, you always forget to stretch…” Even’s lips thinned. “...You will be fine. You’re an extremely competent and intelligent young man. We couldn’t be more proud of you… Don’t pet any random animal you see, some of them bite, and if they do bite you need to disinfect it. What else…”

Aeleus nodded in agreement with Even’s list for Ienzo, looking a bit grimmer about the points about stretching. Ienzo never had to enjoy exercise, but it would go easier for him if he remembered to stretch and warm-up. “Don’t let a false sense of urgency push you into recklessness, whether it’s about the case, finding Ventus, or your relationship with Demyx.”

Aeleus paused. “Don’t accept any free samples of anything on the street, it’s a scam.”

Ienzo’s smile softened as his eyes started getting a little wet, and he pulled his dads into a hug. “I’ll be okay,” he murmured, face squished between Even’s shoulder and Aeleus’ arm. “And you two have taught me all that stuff for years, I’m not going to forget.”

“...I’ll miss you,” he whispered.

“We will miss you too,” Even murmured, holding him tightly back, taking a deep breath. Scent was a huge key to memory. Almost stronger than any other sense. Lauriam had been wise to base his conditionings on scent, it was what made Marluxia exceptional at his job, and sometimes Even wondered why more of the Nobodies hadn’t–

He sniffled a little. Took a deep breath. Before composing himself, pulling back as he said sternly, “Though let’s not be dramatic, it’s merely for a short time. Besides, the first big trip away from the whole family is an important part of a person’s development. I fully expect you to return a more developed adult. It will be quite a thing to see.”

Aeleus gently wrapped his arms around Even and Ienzo, holding his family to him for a moment. Cradling Ienzo’s head, and feeling his son just hug them tighter. It was a nice thought, for a moment, to have his family within arm’s reach, able to protect them. But it wasn’t what life was really like, and Aeleus knew he’d done all he could to make sure they were strong enough to protect themselves. 

“We love you, Ienzo.”

As Even pulled back, Ienzo was clearly on the brink of tears even as he smiled. “I love you too. And I’ll do my best to make the most of this opportunity. I know I already do, but…I’ll make you guys proud by the time I catch up.”

Even nodded, reaching up to put his hands on either side of Ienzo’s face. Looking him over… before he said sternly, “Whatever they say to you, in the capital? Good or bad… You, Ienzo, were already enough before they gave you a title. Are already enough. You have survived more than anything anyone there could imagine. No one will have any right to judge you, and if they try? Dismiss them. They are not worth your time or consideration. You are smarter, you are stronger, and you deserve to be recognized for it. If your title can only mean one thing? Let it mean that.”

“You are not words. You know who you are, and others cannot change that. Your actions are true,” Aeleus said simply. 

And Ienzo could only laugh, holding his fathers’ sleeves. “I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry. You two are really putting that to the test.”

By the carriage, Demyx watched Ienzo say goodbye to his folks, sipping on some water. “Oof!” he oof’d when his arms were suddenly full of teenagers. “Aw, come on, guys! We’re literally barely separating. I’ll say hi tonight!”

“Just be safe! We can’t come to help if anything happens.” Sora frowned, burying his head into Demyx’s chest, Riku nodding along fretfully while Kairi looked worried. “And you guys get into trouble all the time!”

“Uh, rude,” Demyx chuckled, hugging them back, “We’ll be fine. We’re gonna be on our best behavior. Just make a good impression for us in Dicea, alright?”

Luis wandered over to Aeleus and Even, giving them a small, worried nod. Not wanting to break up the trio, but, well… he was gonna miss them. 

Isa and Axel had wandered off, whispering to each other. No one else could hear them, but it was things anyone would expect. Be safe. Take care of the group. Check in. Don’t worry about me. Everything was going to be okay.

Lauriam didn’t literally throw himself at Demyx like the teens, but he did lightly punch his shoulder as he stood by. “Don’t lose your head,” he nodded along with Sora, “Travelling might have enough downtime, but I can’t exactly just walk over to get your head out of your ass when you need it.”

He smirked a little as he side-eyed Demyx. “I’ll keep an eye on the music scene, see if you really can break out with your sitar there. Just know time will be ticking.”

Looking up as he blinked back tears, really trying to keep that promise, Ienzo stood back to let Luis and Aqua say goodbye too, heading over to the bigger group and nudging Lauriam’s shoulder with his own. 

Demyx laughed lightly, disentangling from the teens, before he smirked at Lauriam. “You say that like someone who’s not getting a hug. Come here!” Demyx demanded, grabbing Lauriam and pulling him into a hug, “Gaaah! Man, a few months without you around to tease me? It’s gonna be the most relaxing trip ever! Well, except when you get to make up for it at night, anyway.”

Lauriam rolled his eyes before hugging Demyx back, pressing his knuckles lightly into his mid-back. “I’d be worried about your ego overshadowing the whole capital, if not for that. People would be scared about the coldest winter ever, with you blotting out the sun. If I don’t get one story about you getting a noise complaint in some ritzy place, I’m going to be sorely disappointed.”

Ienzo pulled the teens in for their own hugs. “You all be safe,” he sniffed, giving Sora a squeeze and ruffling Kairi’s hair. Smiling softly, he offered, “I’m sure Clara will be able to give better accounts, but I’ve heard Dicean fruit carts are really something to behold. If you’ll get to the capital around the first spring harvest, I doubt it’s something you’ll want to miss.”

“Ooooh, they might have new fruit! That’s exciting!” Sora said, for once Kairi’s smile not seeming fabricated as she nodded as well. Luminary loved its fruit toppings, but there wasn’t a very big range. Who knew what kind they put on pizza!?

“I am fully taking that as a challenge!” Demyx agreed, patting Lauriam on the back before saying, “Annnnnnd don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on your old man. Do you want me to pour water on him if he eyes anyone up?”

Dilan had wandered over to Even and Aeleus, Axel and Isa joining the group too as Luis and Aqua made space for them, talking in a circle. Demyx jerked his thumb at Dilan as he said, “If he’s gonna cause you all these problems, I can at least make sure he’s faithful while causing problems. Say the word.”

Lauriam’s smile faded a little as he glanced over to Dilan for a moment, before he sighed. “...I think some serious judgment would do the trick…until he’s fully Dilan again. You don’t have to cause a scene or anything after.”

“We’ll be terrors to him, Xaldin or Dilan,” Ienzo promised seriously, getting in his hug with Riku. “We’ll start talking extremely obnoxiously about things you’d like wherever we are, so everyone would think he’s a cheater if he did anything.”

Lauriam couldn’t help but laugh. “You guys suck.” Though he said ‘suck’ like ‘the best’. 

“He starts talking anyone up? Suddenly, boom, man, Dilan, look at the color top they’re wearing? You know who would love that top! Your super cool situationship, Lauriam!” Demyx agreed, nodding, “We’ll chase off everyone, don’t you worry.”

Demyx stepped back, smiling brightly… before giving a somewhat worried look around the group. “...I think I’ve said goodbye to everyone now…”

“...” Riku frowned, “...should we… get in the carriages?”

“Uh, no, no because… because I have an announcement to make!” Sora said, suddenly looking determined, “To everyone! So no one can go yet!”

…they really were splitting up, huh. It wasn’t like they’d been at the hip since getting out of the factory. Not confined to a few rooms and corridors, they’d all spread out, spending the day out in the city or catching lizards at the outskirts, doing their own things. Sometimes they even spent the night out! 

…but this was the first time since each of them had been caught, that they were really…

Ienzo gave Sora a mildly surprised look, before mentally poking the other group, looking expectant. “Yes?”

Sora smiled brightly, as everyone wandered over. “Okay, so… I promised, right, that I was going to pick a name before we crossed the border? A name for all of us! And, I’ve been thinking a lot about it, so…”

“They speak Common in Dicea,” Sora explained, “But according to AE, they also speak a local language? Like, a second language.” Sora still found the idea fascinating. Imagine! Having a local language? Wild! “It’s literally called ‘Traditional Dicean’. So I thought that was cool, and… considering we’re moving to Dicea and that’s kind of going to be our fresh start…”

Sora looked at his feet sheepishly for a moment, before he took a breath and raised his head, smiling brightly. “The Dicean word for ‘Somebody’ is Dareka. Sora Dareka… What do you guys think? It’s… I can pick something else, if no one likes it,” Sora said sheepishly. 

Aqua hummed consideringly. “Sora Dareka, Aqua Dareka…yup, feels like it fits for me too.” She laughed brightly as she came over to ruffle Sora’s hair. “Good choice, kiddo! I knew you were putting a lot of thought into this, but you really landed on something special.”

“There is something poignant about it, isn’t there,” Ienzo smiled, “A cultural shift, with something meaningful and acknowledging our past. I know our accents are a little different, it’ll be fun seeing how many double-takes we can get.”

“Dilan Dareka… yeah, I can be a Double D,” Dilan smirked, “I’ll vote for my Somebody, since he’s busy being a bum and sleeping. We can surprise him with a name change when he wakes up, it’ll be funny.”

“A part of me does still feel attached to my last name,” Even admitted, “...but, letting it go does feel somewhat symbolic. Plus, who knows if the name Professor McDowel has potentially crossed the border, it might be wise to not risk it considering all the ‘mad scientist run rampant’ allegations thrown against me.”

“Are you a Mc’ too? We might be cousins,” Luis smirked, “But I’m open to it too. My own last name will always be important to me, but I do like the idea of starting new, and keeping bonded to the group. The Darekas…”

“It’ll be unique if nothing else,” Axel pointed out, “Plus, I know it means ‘Somebody’, but I kind of like the word ‘dare’ is in there too? Because we’re doing something daring!”

“Sora, bud, honestly? You really stepped up when we were all in trouble, for a minute there. You came back and hit the ground running,” Demyx said, “If this is a way we can honor that? I’m for it! I don’t have a middle name anyway, I’ll make my last name a middle name.”

“I don’t even know my last name,” Riku admitted, “I can’t remember it.”

“What was our last name, Axel?” Kairi asked, before frowning, “Actually, don’t tell me. Our parents sold us… I don’t think I want to know.”

All things considered, Ienzo likely would have to keep Seisear in some form, at least for the court appearance, and maybe after if they won the case. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t add parts to it. And while the Luminary that imprisoned them didn’t deserve it, making their mark on Luminous history, having a House Dareka-Seisear appear in records, or even just that it was headed by a Dareka-Seisear? For the society that had ignored them, pretended they didn’t exist and called them monsters, Ienzo couldn’t say there wasn’t something pleasing in making the name known.

Aeleus gave Sora a warm, approving nod. He hadn’t used his original surname in a long, long time, and at this point…it belonged to a different person. Aeleus Dareka was a man of his family, and his name would show it. 

Lauriam crossed his arms, looking to the side a little. While none of them really used last names in the factory, ‘Belrose’ had been…special. Lauriam didn’t resent the family that had it, and it had felt like something he could keep to remember Strelitzia. But he didn’t just remember her because of a name, and if literally everyone else was on board…

He huffed a little, cheeks coloring. “...I seem to remember Marluxia saying we’d take your name over my dead body.”

He pouted a bit. “...I guess we can look at naming options when we’re actually doing the paperwork for it.” 

Sora smiled brightly at Lauriam, before running over to hug him. 

(Because like the others, he could be a manipulative little shit too,) as he said brightly, “Thank you!”

“Ooph!” Lauriam ‘oophed’, catching Sora in the hug before sighing and patting his back. “What, like I was going to be the only person not to? A last name doesn’t make a family, but a notable exclusion does raise some eyebrows. Come on, give me a little more credit than Marluxia.”

“I like to think Marluxia’s happy about it too,” Sora said simply, before pulling away. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the group again. “I know this is the start of something scary and new… but it’s also the start of an adventure! We’ve spent years making our own worlds. For some of us, that’s been our whole lives.” 

Sora gripped his hands into fists, determined as he said, “But there’s always been more than Destiny Island. There’s always been more to see and more to explore… and everything we’ve seen already? The tavern was only the beginning! The world is full of cool people to meet, and interesting places to explore! New books to read, new buildings to search through, new food to eat! Even within Luminary itself! I bet you guys will see things I didn’t even know Luminary had!”

“But also, we need to do this,” Sora said, his face sobering. “We’re not splitting up for no reason. We have missing family, and half of us need to go find him. And the rest of us need to make sure we all have a safe place to land once we do. An adventure isn’t just doing cool things for its own sake, it’s a quest. And we have to do our very best in this. As Darekas? This is our first, big adventure… and we can do it!” Sora insisted, “I believe in us!”

Clara smiled softly, trying not to too obviously watch, but, well… Heh. That was one hell of a speech. 

At one point, Ienzo thought he truly would’ve been happy spending his whole life in his head. There had been nothing for him in reality but pain, and every day there had been something new to craft and mold and appreciate in their heads. …but not really. There was only so much that could change with the barest trickle of new information, and Ienzo was tired of being scared. 

The world was big and full and so, so strange, just begging everyone to take a look. 

Aeleus regretted every moment he failed his family. Every time he couldn’t protect them. There was nothing he could do but accept it, some things were beyond him, but as much as there were things to just accept, there were things just waiting to be stood up to and changed. And while they couldn’t change the past, they could still right some wrongs from it. 

No Dareka would be left behind. 

For so long, Lauriam had thought their futures were stolen from them. Their lives hadn’t fully stopped the moment each of them had entered the factory, but they had been changed, stifled. Only allowed the barest scraps of a life, and even making the most of it meant pitifully little. 

But they had futures again, somewhere that they had been promised it wouldn’t be taken from them. Lauriam would ensure that. 

Aqua smiled softly, before standing straight with determination. Coming towards Sora, and taking one of his hands, before flipping them so her hand was resting on top of his. “Well, you heard him, Darekas. Onward to adventure!”

Ienzo’s shoulders lifted with a quiet laugh as he placed his hand in, Aeleus’ gentle as he over-shadowed the stack, Lauriam snorting softly as he joined. 

Even felt all of this was a bit silly… but he’d be remiss if he didn’t join in, not just because Ienzo and Aeleus were doing it, but because, well… they were all doing it. The family he had not expected to have in his entire life, pressed in and all around him as he huffed slightly, putting his thin hand on top of Aeleus’.

Demyx stepped in across from Ienzo, giving him an eager grin and a wink before ‘eeping’ a bit as he noticed Even shoot him an accusing look, putting his hand on top of Even’s as he whispered, “Looking respectfully! So respectfully!”

Luis had volunteered himself to the program hoping, deep in his heart, it would have killed him. And maybe in some ways it had. He didn’t feel like the Luis that he had lived as before the factory. That Luis had felt like a king fish in a small pond, and he lashed out when control started to slip. Now? Now Luis was genuinely happy to take the others’ leads. Grateful he had a family looking out for him, as he put his hand in.

Riku and Kairi put theirs in next, because in truth, both of them would follow Sora anywhere, to the ends of the earth. Axel put his on top of theirs, because he felt the same way about all of them. Their old families had sold them out, betrayed them. But Axel trusted his new one with his life, and would protect them in turn.

“We are the goofiest bastards,” Dilan chuckled, putting his hand in, giving Isa a pat on the back when the man stepped in beside him, putting his own gently on top as well. 

Sora looked at all of them, his hand up, gripping tightly to Aqua’s. Holding his family in his hands… he smiled wide. Laughing even as a tear fell. 

And then after that? 

It was time to go.

-

It was the day. The day. Maybe not a day so important that it would be recorded in history as anything worthy of being called The Day, but it was at least a day that was long, long awaited, and had several sessions and discussions of planning over how it would go. 

Today was the day King-Consort Sou Momota was arriving in Usott. 

It wasn’t quite the same, not quite the encompassing level of hustle and bustle, but all the same Kokichi was reminded of waiting for the Luminary Party’s approach into the castle a year and a half ago. They’d been notified of the timing, had set up a reception, Kokichi was wearing more formalware than he usually did, though far more his personal style than the stiff jackets of before. 

And, like before, all there was to do was…wait. 

-

Everything was ready. Everything had been planned and prepared and worked around for the best possible outcome. The entire trip was Deere’s job, but in a sense, the first in-person meeting between King Sou and his royal Dicean cousins was go time. If this meeting went poorly?

Heh. Well, Sou had said Usott Castle didn’t have a dungeon. 

And peeking out the windows, Deere raised an eyebrow. It…certainly didn’t look like the kind of building that had a dungeon. It was impressive, by no means was it not, and it certainly stood out from the buildings they had been passing by, but…he was certain he’d seen a lot of elements of design in some of the community centers they’d seen in other towns. Maybe those buildings took inspiration from the castle, as also central buildings in their respective areas, but…it just seemed a little strange to him for a castle to look so…

“Geeez, what a piece of shit! I’ve seen brothels with more glitz and pizzah than this place! Where’s the damn showmanship!?” Miu scoffed, clearly disappointed with the capital castle as she looked it over, “I thought there’d at least be gems or gold or art or something hanging up!”

“The Dicean royal family prides itself in practicality and community involvement,” Shin said, having taken some pains to be debriefed as much about the capital and royal family as he could since they had started drawing close, winter thinning out and making it easier to travel, “Both of those values makes it difficult to maintain an air of ‘ritiziness’. It’s counterproductive to a practical community space dealing with regular traffic in and out of its main establishment and its function as emergency housing for the area.”

“Why don’t you know that, Miss Iruma?” Selka asked, “Don’t you keep regular correspondence with the royal family?”

“What, so I’m supposed to be the fucking expert then? I invent amazing, world changing shit and then they have to figure out how to use it for their petty little government problems. None of that means I have to know how bad their decorating teams are being paid!” Miu said, placing her hands on her hips and smirking, “It’ll be fun to see the little shota in person though. How do I look, gang!? Do I look done-up enough for my very important introduction to the capital today!?”

“I’m the one being introduced, Miu,” Shin said dryly, as the carriage rolled up to the castle, “First will step out Deere to work with the security team, then Priestess Selka will step out, Deere will announce my presence, you may enter out of the other side of the carriage and join the guards and servants who will be lining up at the sides to present me, and after they’re done with their speech and we’re done with our speech, then you may go introduce yourself to the prince and behave as you like.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a lot of horseshit, I’m not doing any of that. I’m just going to go say hi,” Miu said.

Shin closed his eyes, debating what would be a bigger political issue between all the choices he had… before saying, “Deere, please kick Miu out of the carriage now. She can interrupt the proceedings once she’s caught up on foot.”

“DON’T YOU DARE YOU AQUA WHORE!”

Deere did believe it more, through their travels in Dicea, but the fact that the royal castle was really, literally, no, seriously, a place of business and education and accommodation for…everyone was still a little hard to wrap his head around. The area around the castle wasn’t the Royal District, it was the center of the city. Two of the closest areas to it weren’t manors of the most distinguished elites, they were a public park and the biggest market in town. It was…a big, tiered building, and the decoration and design wasn’t ugly, Deere wouldn’t say, but if he was given a drawing of it among a line up, he’d never guess it was a castle. 

A never-ending parade of bizarreness. Though it wasn’t like they weren’t bringing some too. 

Deere raised an eyebrow before sizing Miu up and shrugging. “As you wish, your grace. Miss Iruma, please don’t squirm, you could get hurt.”

Knocking on the carriage side by the driver to slow down--not that they were going particularly quickly through the middle of town--Deere straightened his sleeves before getting up, looming over Miu.

Miu didn’t have the good sense to say she changed her mind and she’d play along. Five minutes later, she was still shouting at the leaving carriages, now walking up a hill in a fancy dress and heels. 

“Okay,” Shin sighed, “I’m going to take it on good faith that they’ll understand why their prized, beloved inventor was left to walk during a big ceremony. This is an important moment. The current ruling regime of Luminary is going to be introduced personally to the ruling regime of Dicea. The Peace Treaty of a Fifteen Year War is still historically in its infancy. Nothing can go wrong. We must all stick to the script.”

“And adapt to whatever the Diceans might do,” Selka reminded Shin, who looked grim at that reminder, “We are visitors in foreign lands, your grace. As they say, when in Wonderland…”

“Grab the birds and play crochet as the Wonderlandians do,” Shin finished, nodding, “Yes, alright. Deere, you stressed to the guards and servants this morning how important silence is for these initial proceedings? We’ve gotten lax in formality through the trip, but I need them at their most professional today.”

“It sounds like Prince Kokichi is accustomed to Miss Iruma,” Deere mused, sighing as he sat back, the carriages back to the cool, relaxed, steady pace to the castle. “If I were to speak optimistically…I think he’d get it.”

If he didn’t, and was offended by their treatment of his friend? Oops. Deere wondered what they used instead of dungeons. Was it like what he’d seen of the guards’ set up in other cities, basically secluded hotel rooms? There were worse places to be imprisoned, he supposed. 

Nodding, Deere confirmed, “I did, in the general way…but also telling the others that because of how classes work in Dicea, any muttered sentiments and crowd whispers would be things the royal family would actually listen to, not just write off as informality. I don’t know if everyone believed it, but I think there’s just enough doubt that everyone’s going to keep their mouths shut. Guardsmen Ciro and Caeldori assured me they’d help keep an eye on anyone who might try to chance things.”

Glancing to the window and seeing the castle nearing, Deere took a deep breath. “...are you ready, Sou?”

Shin looked down warily at his own outfit. It was actually Kaede who had recommended that Shin not go in a formal Luminary armor, but considering Dicean sensibilities and the stress on peace that Luminary was trying to project to both Dicea and the world–there would likely be ambassadors of other countries attending the event to report how it went to their own governments–it was decided that Shin would wear attire more suitable for a socialite making negotiations at a high society ball. The material had been like what Kimigashineans wore on the regular among elites, and he had expected the cuts to match, but it turned out that such formal socialite clothes for Luminary looked more like something Danganronpa elites would wear. Meaning it was very puffy, lots of frills, and Shin would have died from the heat in Luminary wearing it.

Not that the armor wasn’t also very hot, but thankfully Shin had only ever had to wear formal armor twice. Once to his engagement and once to his wedding. Both times had been miserable. He was not strong enough to more naturally well in armor of any size or density. 

Honestly? He felt like he was wearing a costume, even by Kimigashine wearing a royal Luminary outfit based on Danganronpa fashion sensibilities standards. It wasn’t the sort of thing they wore for each other in Luminary. Kaede had had the outfit designed specifically to present Luminary to other countries. Fighting against the ‘Barbaric Warriors’ aesthetic that the world tended to define them by. 

When he had asked for a cape to go with the outfit, hoping it might make him seem less ‘dressed-up doll like’ to have something fill out his shoulders and cover his hips and back, which the outfit he was wearing hugged in a way he wasn’t entirely thrilled with, Kaede had laughed and said, ‘No one wears capes without armor other than Kaito’. 

And, indeed, as they rolled up, Shin noticed with something like resentful envy that, indeed, Prince Kaito was wearing a big, elaborate cape without a shred of armor on underneath it. Sure, he got to be uncouth and unfashionable. But when King-Consort Sou wanted to not look like some sickly porcelain Luminary based on Danganronpa doll…

Shin swallowed his resentment, nodded, and said, “Let’s begin.”

It started out exactly as planned. 

Their carriage slowed to a stop, Deere got out, conferred with the local security--despite noting no sort of uniform, just like every other town, the intensely serious look on who he was introduced to as the Usott Guardforce Captain did make Deere feel a little better about things…even though the bright grin on the guard next to them undid a little of that--they set out a perimeter, Selka got out, and with a breath, Deere faced the royal family--dressed…obviously formally, it wasn’t insulting, but as a group they did look a bit eclectic--and introduced Sou.

“Presenting, His Royal Highness, King Consort Sou Momota of Luminary.”

To his credit, Prince Ouma--who was…huh. Shorter than Deere had thought--looked genuinely delighted. Deere wouldn’t think it’d look out of place for the prince to be bouncing on his toes in excitement. And King Aiichi himself looked so warm that Deere was surprised the frost on the plaza stone around him wasn’t rapidly melting. 

As all things with the Dicean royal family, when it came to clothes, the end result was more of a compromise based on ‘who could insist the hardest at any given point’. Kaito had at first wanted a central bit of fashion for the family to present based on the king's choices of attire. But then the king had said he didn’t know what he was going to wear and probably wouldn’t until the day of.

So while Kaito was busy crying about that, Shuichi and Kokichi had started discussing what they’d wear. But when they both realized they wanted to wear entirely different coloring styles, they had both agreed they’d just ‘do their best to look nice’ and hope the final result didn’t come off too jarring. At that, Kaito, at first, tried to match his outfit first to Kokichi, then feeling guilty about the optics of that considering he had named Shuichi his head, then he tried Shuichi, and both of them had told him to knock it off and so he had just worn one of his own nicer outfits but without going full armor to match the others more. 

The only three who looked coordinated were Maki, Tim, and Miyako. Because Tim wore something matching his mother, and Kaito couldn’t resist both of his children looking similar as well, so he had based Miyako’s outfit on Tim. 

And then King Aiichi just wore the same thing he had worn when he had welcomed Kaito’s caravans to the castle, which really Kaito should have seen coming. 

But regardless! Kaito was very excited to see his cousin! This was the culmination of a lot of needling on his end, that Sou was even here at all, and all of that effort felt extremely worth it now as they watched Sou–oh, interesting choices! Actually?? Kind of weird choices? Why did Sou look like he was low-key dressed for a tame masquerade?--step out of the carriage, before in deference to the reigning king of the area, bow low to King Aiichi. 

More versed in Luminous etiquette now--or, at least Kokichi and Aiichi, and Kaito, Shuuichi, Maki, Tim, and Miyako being on this side of it now--the royal family bowed back, Aiichi the shallowest though still respectful, not wanting to insult their guests. And as they all rose, Aiichi started, “Our dear friends and family, welcome to Usott. We’re honored to host you, as our country has been on your travels these past months. That we can join our efforts together, maintaining our vows of peace and truly living out the promises of friendship between our nations…”

It was an Aiichi speech. It wouldn’t go on forever…but it was still on the verbose side. Respectful, excited, and acknowledging the work and effort it took on their guests’ side to accept the offer of the trip and make arrangements for it. A very political necessity, but still seeming personally kind. 

…ah, Kokichi couldn’t help it. It was a long speech, and he really couldn’t help smiling brighter, giving Sou an excited, little wave. 

Shin gave Kokichi a startled look–uuuuuh, your king was giving a speech, what are you doing?--before ever so slightly he gave a nod back, trying not to seem like he wasn’t paying attention to King Aiichi’s speech as he did so. And he was paying attention, to be clear. Right now was the most ‘royal’ task he had been given ever since Kaede had taken him off her list of advisors and sent him on his way. And even though all he had to do, as she had stressed to him herself, was not offend anyone through the visit, he still wanted to make himself as knowledgeable as possible throughout this. Staying as in control of the situation as he possibly could. 

Shin had gone from essentially an informal slave to a king. He didn’t want to be presented as some hapless trophy to the Queen, without a thought in his own head. He wanted to be taken seriously. 

When the king’s speech had finished, Shin bowed his head again as he said, sticking to the script he, Deere, and Selka had worked on for the last week, “As a representative of Luminary and of her Highness, Queen-Regent Kaede Momota, I’m deeply humbled to receive such a warm reception to the Dicean capital. In these times of peace, Luminary is excited to get to know its neighbors and friends in the west. And, as a prince of Kimigashine as well, I feel a deep desire–” Kaede had reminded him he needed to say this when he had told her his planned speech– “to reaffirm my identity and allegiance as a Luminary first and foremost. My adopted home is nearest and dearest to my heart, and it is them I represent today and through this trip. I will only be speaking for them, and I hope to represent my country and queen well, in your beautiful home.”

It… wasn’t a bad speech. But Kaito couldn’t help but wince a little. It was a good speech for Luminary, but a little offensively stiff here. But that was alright! Sou was going to learn! He’d get more chances to make better impressions!

Kokichi’s smile softened through Sou’s speech. He did get it. At home, it was a lovely thing to mix and meld cultures and points of view, even if one was ever-presently a hegemony. As a representative to another country, though, it was necessary to detach from one’s homeland, and take the mantle of their married nation. It felt…sad, and eroding, but Kokichi understood it. 

…and he understood further. He wondered if Shin even really cared, since he hadn’t been a prince in Kimigashine, and certainly hadn’t been treated as one for a long time in Luminary. While he would be treated as King-Consort in Dicea, Kokichi knew their concept of that correct treatment was different so…he just hoped Shin would find enjoyment in some aspect of it. 

Speeches done, Kokichi smiled brighter again. “I really can’t express how delighted I am to meet you and your cohorts in person, your grace, but! Carbosi isn’t the quickest trip. Let’s get all your accommodations all sorted out, and while you have an invitation for more of a personal meet and greet, please don’t feel any rush to get there.”

As the guards and housekeepers came forward to confer with the party, starting to get things taken into the castle, and directions and outlines and smalltalk shared between the groups, Kokichi couldn’t help looking around a little. Sure he’d be able to pick her out of a crowd even never meeting in person before…

“HEY! HEY! YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! YOU’VE RUINED MY HEELS! WHO’S GONNA PAY FOR MY SURGERY, HUH!? WALKING ON BROKEN HEELS COULD BREAK MY ANKLES! THEN WHO’S GOING TO INVENT THE WHOLE GOD DAMN FUTURE FOR YOU INGRATES?!”

“Do you guys hear something?” Kaito asked, looking over the hill, just where it was dipped down out of view. He raised an eyebrow slightly as he saw in the distance a woman–still screaming in an oddly familiar way–heading over the edge of the hill line. Huh. 

But! He needed to go greet his cousin properly! Now that the kings and heirs were done, he could go say hi! 

Kaito bee-lined towards Sou, while Kokichi’s attention seemed to be on the approaching woman. Shuichi and Maki glanced at each other. “I’ll handle Kaito, you have Kokichi?” Shuichi asked, bouncing Miyako in his arms. 

“Deal,” Maki agreed, “Tim, go with your father, he’s going to want to brag about you.”

“Yes, Mom,” Tim said, already heading off with Shuichi. 

“WHERE’S THE HEIR? TELL HIM I HAVE A COMPLAINT! LOCK ALL THESE BASTARDS IN THE DUNGEON! IF WE DON’T HAVE A DUNGEON, MAKE A DUNGEON!” Miu declared, stomping up to the area with a huff, “OR NEXT TIME I’M MAKING A TELEPORTER THAT ONLY AFFECTS UNDERWEAR!”

Kokichi just gave the hill a puzzled look, before his eyes widened. Still not illuminated at all about why a pissed woman was trudging up the hill, shouting her head off, but nonetheless lighting up at the realization that she was, in the flesh, undeniably:

“MIU-CHAAAAAAN!” Kokichi cheered, running over to Miu with a bounce in his step, his gaze fond but smile sharpening devilishly. “Geez Miu-chan, you’re really such an attention hog you needed a grand entrance all your own?” He looked around with exaggerated suspicion. “You have to warn me if fireworks are about to go off, my daughter is not a fan of sudden loud noises.”

While Deere helped coordinate some of the luggage transfer into the castle, he was the king’s personal bodyguard, so he was still by Sou’s side when Prince Consort Kaito zoomed towards Sou, though hanging back for the prince’s personal space. 

“H-holy shit!” Miu gasped nervously as suddenly someone was screaming her name, running towards her… before her eyes widened as she realized, “No way!? Shitty Shota?! Wow, you are… somehow still smaller and cuter than your portraits made you out to be! Look at you, you’re like something right out of those cartoons you draw! I didn’t realize they were self-portraits!” 

But Miu said this all with an enthusiastic grin, genuinely ecstatic to meet her old friend in the flesh. “Your damn, ugly, ungrateful guests kicked me out on the hill when I very innocently said that I planned to just go introduce myself to you first. Something about pomp and circumstance and other limp-dick sort of formalities. They’re brutes, I tell you, all of them! Especially the pretty ones! Don’t let ‘em fool you! Geez, your eyes are crazy purple. Again, I thought the portraits were exaggerating.” 

Kokichi brayed a bright, happy laugh. “Just goes to show how much I really need to push my art style. If I’m still recognizable, I’m too tame! Nothing I can do about the height, though I think that’s on everyone else. Like, do I really give off the energy of someone that doesn’t have a stool in their room?”

Raising his eyebrows a little in surprise, Kokichi glanced back at the rest of the party before snorting. “Ah, they thought Miu-chan was gonna Miu it up and start another war. You should really be flattered they’re giving you that much credit--or thankful they spared you from being humiliatingly ignored while we had to go through the formalities.”

Gently taking her hands, Kokichi smiled up at her. “It is great to see you, though. Even if I have to angle myself to even see your face past the over-blown balloons you call your boobs.”

“Au-naturale, baby!!” Miu crowed, literally hefting up her boobs some more by gripping their under-sides with her hands, pressing them together and hoisting them up, “I know they’re totally lost on your gay-twink ass, where’s that husband of yours? I wanna give him a nose bleed! Prove to you I’m as sexy as I’ve always told you!”

Kaito, in fact, was talking animatedly to Sou, who was smiling politely–somewhat blankly–back at him as Kaito re-introduced, “Of course you remember Shuichi, right? You met a handful of times!”

Yes, Shin had met Shuichi, once or twice, though Kaede had made efforts to keep him from meeting the now ex-Indentured too often. Probably something to do with how she was still manipulating the fact that Shuichi was in love with her, by the time she and Shin had been married. Shin had gone into the marriage being warned by others about Shuichi. He had found out listening in on gossip–mostly between Kaede herself and Rantaro–that she was doing the exact same thing to Kaito’s other best friend, Maki Harukawa, who Shin could see in the distance. 

(Honestly, it was a bit of a wonder Kaito wanted anything to do with Kaede, even before the war.)

(Not that Shin felt particularly sympathetic.)

Shuichi, in turn, seemed to recognize some of the awkwardness of being introduced to the man that Kaede had regularly cheated on, emotionally with himself and physically with Maki, which admittedly now felt a little different than it had then, with two husbands of his own and a baby in his arms. He doubted if the situation was reversed, he’d be able to as calmly and nicely smile at himself as Sou was, returning Shuichi’s bow as he said, “Of course I remember Shuichi. A beloved friend to the family before and now a dear cousin.”

“Friend?” Tim blinked, before looking at Shuichi, “Uncle Shuichi, I thought you said you were a slave of the royal family.”

Kaito had to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from stopping Tim, and even Shuichi looked a little uncomfortable–’slave’ was a taboo title for Indentureds in Luminary. Maki had wanted to start changing the language for Tim to explain himself here in Dicea, but speaking to other Luminaries made saying it feel distinctly wrong–even as he nodded. “It’s nuanced, Tim. Both were at times true.”

Despite the social guffaw, Shin’s expression softened looking at the boy. “This is the infamous Timothy Harukawa, yes? You’re a bit of a living legend back at the Luminary castle, Tim.”

“I am?” Tim frowned.

“Yes. You managed to successfully stab a Momota prince twice? At a high profile event?” Shin said, “That’s extraordinary… for a young assassin taking his first test. Your mother must have been remarkably proud.”

Tim lit up at this. Sure, no one had been happy with him at the time. But yes! It had been impressive, and in a different circumstance his mother would have been proud, as he said sagely, “I stabbed him with both daggers at the same time.”

“OKAY let’s not talk about that!” Kaito grinned, “Your grace, we have you just standing out in the cold, please! Come in! We’re so excited to have you with us!”

“Hmmm,” Shin hummed, before he realized, “Oh, allow me to introduce my entourage. Prince Kaito, Lord Shuichi, this is my butler Mr. Deere, who personally assists me in all matters. And this is Priestess Selka–”

“Priestess!” Kaito said enthusiastically, before bowing low to her, placing a hand on his heart as a sign of respect, symbolizing that the out of order bowing was intentional, “It’s an honor to have a Luminary priestess among us again. I hope to get to speak to you more later, I have a group of Dicean Atuans who I think you’d be fascinated to speak to.”

After he warned her how very, very different Atuans were in Dicea. Including their beliefs. Otherwise! Lovely people!

“Pff, I still have an aesthetic eye, you know,” Kokichi rolled his eyes before giggling, “But introductions are in order! Miu-chan, this is Maki-chan, my sister-in-law and homie to end all homies; Maki-chan, Miu-chan. And Kai-chan is…”

Deere stiffened slightly, glancing over in surprise as the boy--Timothy Harukawa--called out Lord Saihara’s servitude as just…straight out slavery. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard a Dicean reference the Indentured Program like that, but half the time they seemed to immediately backtrack, saying ‘Indentured’ with a deliberateness that…well, if he cared more, might’ve felt a little patronizing. But for basically a son of the royal family to reference it that way?

That was…surprising. Maybe less so for a boy who’d nearly successfully assassinated a prince, but Deere wasn’t about to speculate over all that. 

Bowing at his introduction, Deere murmured a bit, something like, “Pleased and humbled to make your acquaintance, your graces,’ or…at least the start of it. He did remember a few rumors about Prince Kaito’s devotion, but, hey, if it meant the prince was more interested in talking to Selka than him, Deere would take it. 

“You’re the homie?” Miu asked, squinting at Maki.

Maki nodded, far less interested in her as she echoed, “I’m the homie.”

Miu pouted, scrunching her lips and looking Maki over. “You seem like a flat-chested bore to me.”

“You seem like a virgin to me,” Maki said.

“W-W-WHAT?!” Miu gasped, fucking floored by that as she stammered, “What are you on!? I do not look like a god damn virgin! I fucked two people just today!”

“Sounds like something a virgin would say,” Maki said, “Don’t curse around my boy or niece, or I’m going to give you a bunch of earrings you’re going to swear to others later you wanted.”

“W-haaat what kind of freaky little bitch–”

“I’ll start by piercing between your legs,” Maki said. “I’ve heard things about that. That’s partly why you’ll tell people I didn’t hold you down and make you spread them.”

Miu gasped and stammered, half snarling at her… before her face turned bright red and she looked away, poking her index fingers together as she whined, “Y-you don’t have t-to go that far! A-anyway, don’t promise me a good time if you’re not going to deliver, bush-muncher! …Which brats are yours?” 

“Those two,” Maki said, pointing Tim and Miyako in Shuichi’s arms.

“Alright, fine, deal… wait! That means those are MY nieces and nephews too! Kokichi! Introduce your kids to their aunt, I’ve brought presents!” Miu cackled, running over to the carriage.

“You have weird friends,” Maki told Kokichi.

Kokichi was straight up guffawing as Maki no hesitation tit-for-tat traded barbs with Miu, nearly doubled over wheezing by the time Miu got all bashful and ran off. He sincerely had to take a moment to steady himself as he looked up at Maki with a grin, wiping a tear. “Won’t deny it. I know our phone conversations kinda confirmed it already, but I’m so happy she isn’t just like this through letter.”

Following after Miu and joining the larger group, Kokichi gave Sou, Deere, and Selka a bow before grinning brightly. “Heya! Nice to meet you all, I’m Kokichi, Kai-chan and Shuu-chan’s husband. Kai-chan, Shuu-chan, Tim, this is Miu-chan, a great friend of mine from Carbosi.”

As a quick aside to Tim, Kokichi whispered, “Your mom said Miu’s not allowed to swear in front of you, so if she does or just says weird stuff, please tattle. She’s nice, just a weirdo.”

Tim nodded quietly at Kokichi. Ah, understood. Miu was a ‘Dad’ type. Tattling was encouraged. Got it.

Kaito practically cringed as he saw Miu approach, extremely aware of her manner of speaking by this point. But he was a little surprised when she passed Tim a box, smirking as she said, “Here you go, squirt! You’re going to love me after this! A verified one of a kind invention, just for my nephew!”

“Your ‘nephew’?” Kaito asked warily, as Miu turned to Shuichi next.

“Oooooh, and there’s my sweet little niece! Look at you! Plenty of meat on those bones, you’re gonna be full-figured when you grow up! And don’t worry if you’re not, baby-squirt, Aunt Miu will show you the joys of padding! Not that I’ve ever needed it, but you know, I’m generous, I’ll invent something. But for noooow!” Miu presented to Shuichi a tiny little wristband and a small, squishy ball, “So, babies like to throw things, right? Well, put the wristband on her wrist, and this ball will come back to her every time she throws it, no matter how far she can throw it! Assuming she can’t throw it farther than fifteen feet! It’s a weak magnet with a lot of long-distance pull, easy enough for her to take off the wrist to throw it again, but strong enough that the ball will return! And don’t worry about it being a choking hazard! It’s lemon flavored! Kids hate lemon! She’ll spit it out the first second her tongue touches it!”

“Oh,” Shuichi said warily, taking the ball and magnet wristband, “That’s…interesting, thank you. Is it safe to keep a magnet on a baby long term?”

“What’s it going to do, redirect her iron? It’s fine! She’s gonna have a blast with it!” Miu cackled. 

Meanwhile, Tim gasped, staring in his hands– “Miu, you can’t give my son a crossbolt!” Kaito gasped, reaching over to pull it from Tim’s hands.

“Relax, it’s a toy. A toy of my own invention! Check out the bolts. They’re a type of styrofoam. I’d be shocked if they left a welt at point-blank range,” Miu said.

“Ooh…” Kaito frowned, looking down at his son, who was still staring in wide-eyed wonder at it, before glancing at Maki, “Maki-roll?”

“Tim, wait for me to play with that the first time. But if it's just a dressed up training crossbolt? Sure, why not.” Maki shrugged. 

Shin watched all of this with mild curiosity. This was… okay, this just sort of seemed like an ordinary family situation, if he was honest. Which was weird. Royals didn’t have ordinary families. 

But after a moment they all seemed to remember they had royal guests still standing politely in the cold, and herded everyone inside, heading to the dining room for refreshments. 

“Mi-Mi’s a grade-A thrower, I’ll tell you that,” Kokichi both bragged and said with a resigned fatigue, giving Miu a grateful look at the gift. “When I watch her in the mornings, Nadya-chan, my coworker, has really nailed calling out the different pitches Mi-Mi throws with her toys. That ball’s gonna be across the room in an instant.”

As they headed in, getting more settled and letting their guests rest a bit, Kokichi found himself nearby Sou, giving him a bright smile. “Sorry if it’s getting repetitive by this point, but I really am just so excited to meet you. Now,” Kokichi took a little breath, exasperatedly aware of how ahead of himself he was getting, “I know you’ve just gotten here, and you’ve been traveling for a while, and such a big decision isn’t something to make in an instant…but I am looking forward to hearing your answer about our proposal.”

Shin hoped how confused he was wasn’t, just, blatant on his face, as he considered his response… before saying, “I think it’d be wise to go into the details before I give my opinion one way or another. Perhaps we can discuss it over tea in a more…” Shin looked around at the gaggle of both peasants, family, and servants around them, all noisily filling up the dining room and loudly chatting amongst each other about the event of the day, “...appropriate setting?”

That’s what he said. What he felt, and what might be loud and clear to Kokichi, was: ‘I literally have no idea what you’re talking about and I’m afraid I’ve either made a mistake already or am being goaded into some sort of trap.’

Confusion flitted by Kokichi’s face briefly, before he graciously nodded. “Of course. I mean,” he laughed softly, hoping it sounded as inviting as he meant it, “It’s not the easiest decision to make, taking up a position as an ambassador in another country. I’d love to go over more of the actual details and realities with you another time.”

Again, some hesitation entered Kokichi’s expression, eyebrows drawing in with some confusion. “While we’ve gone over ambassador positions with other countries, of course, I’ll admit I have some worries about cultural miscommunications--thus all the more need for an ambassador, really,” he grinned sheepishly, “I know she’s quite busy, but we did hash out the proper parameters for the request with Queen Kaede… I hope we weren’t too…vague? About it?”

…ambassador? 

……………….ambassador.

AMBASSADOR???

Selka, who had been cheerily chatting with Kaito, discussing how the temples were doing after the shift in regime, Kaito an enraptured audience as she spilled what felt like little more than gossip to her, she suddenly paused. Her mouth delicately forming into a little ‘o’ as she clapped her hands together, brow furrowing. 

“Something the matter, Priestess?” Kaito asked.

“I feel a disturbance.” Selka whispered, “In the force… pardon me, your grace.” Selka bowed to Kaito before spinning on her heels. “Deere! Our King needs us!” she announced, scuttling over to Shin.

Shin was smiling at Kokichi, looking entirely fine, except for the fact that he had yet to say anything. His brain a loading screen as he continued to try to process how Kaede had sent him OUT OF THE COUNTRY and talked to him EVERY OTHER WEEK and STILL HADN’T MENTIONED AMBASSADOR– “Oh, hello, Priestess Selka. Did you need something?” Shin asked, smiling at the priestess. 

“Indeed, your grace! There is a serve-yourself hot chocolate bar over on the wall that you simply MUST attend to! It is divine!” Priestess Selka insisted, bowing to Prince Kokichi, “Please forgive my intrusion, Prince Kokichi, but I simply must steal him away for this experience!”

AMBASSADOR? WHAT, KAEDE, DID IT SLIP YOUR MIND???  “That does sound quite nice. Excuse me, Prince Kokichi, I’ll admit I could use a subtle energy boost from some sugar.” Shin smiled, getting up from the table and bowing to Kokichi, hand on his heart.

“Oh, no problem,” Kokichi smiled easily, “The hot chocolate bar is one of my favorite parts of winter, I’ll admit, please enjoy it yourselves!” Giving the trio a slightly impish look, he winked and passed on a tip. “There’s a couple different kinds of coffee at the bar too, if you’re the type to partake. Definitely helps for getting a delicious boost.”

Not…totally sure about the etiquette here, Kokichi briefly rose as well, giving Shin, Selka, and Deere a bow back before he sat again, waving them off with a friendly smile. 

…

Kaede. Kaede.

Deere gave the chocolate bar an appraising look as they moved towards it. Hmm…he wondered if there were any specific coffee blends that the castle favored…

But that was just an excuse. 

Giving Selka and Sou a side look, Deere spoke quietly. “Should we create an opportunity for you to retire, your grace? The royal family seem like…strong personalities, though I admit I wasn’t listening to your conversation. Did…something happen?”

Shin took a few deep breaths through his nose–KAEDE–before he quietly shook his head. “You won’t have to create an opportunity for me. I’m simply going to confess that the long trip’s gotten to me and I would like some time in my room to rest.”

Then, hesitating for a moment, unsure how much he could really trust them, or what he could say to the two people who had escorted him on this trip so long… he couldn’t say for sure, that they weren’t regularly reporting to Kaede about him. Someone definitely was. That was a given, spies and networks were part of the norm for Kaede’s social circles. Shin nor this party was exempt and he knew it.

But could he trust Deere and Selka?

“...nothing truly happened. I’ve simply been made aware of an opportunity that has left me with a lot to think about,” Shin said tiredly. In truth, he wanted to trust them. Would love to have someone to confide in, in the moment. He had already confessed some dangerous things to Deere already, about how things were between himself and Kaede… but he just felt taken off guard and exposed right then. Too caught off guard to trust anyone at the moment. He probably really did need the rest, as he said, “Some time in a real bed with some peace and quiet will help.”

Taking a deep breath, Shin went to King Aiichi, thanking him for the warm welcome and admitting he intended to retire for a bit. Back at the table, Kaito sat down with Kokichi and watched Shin be escorted out of the dining room. “...I think that went well!” Kaito grinned, “I didn’t want to overwhelm him too much, but I can’t wait to have a proper conversation with my cousin! Did he say anything about the ambassador decision, babe? Is he thrilled? How thrilled? 1 for pretty thrilled, 10 for over the moon.”

Deere nodded, though he couldn’t help the worried look that persisted on his face a moment more than he meant it to. Not about Sou needing to rest, or really about the meeting with his cousins going poorly. Just that…there were a lot of things that made Sou tired. Even tired to the point he allowed himself to show it. 

There weren’t a lot of things Sou talked about that he defined as ‘opportunities’. Given the frustrated malaise the king had been exploring in his freedoms, Deere would think something that was an opportunity would be a good thing, but…

Well, Sou would think about it, as he said. That was all Deere could trust.

Waiting for Shin to leave the room, not wanting to accidentally make him think Kokichi was mad at him, Kokichi kept it together…before fuming. 

“A number not in those bounds, because he didn’t know that we offered it,” Kokichi huffed, gritting his teeth a little. “Apparently, Kaede never told him. So…” It dawned on Kokichi, and he steamed more, shoulders rising. “...to him, it probably looked like he was taking this huge vacation for little more than a meet and greet. Aw crap…”

Kaito frowned. Automatically reaching over to rub Kokichi’s back a bit, running his fingers lightly around his spine, but glancing over worriedly at the door even as he lightly tried to soothe his fuming husband. “Oooooh, that’s… that’s not great. I didn’t think Kaede would… It's a real bad feeling, taking a trip this long and putting so much aside, only to be told at the finish line that no one had felt it was worth their time explaining why you were going. No wonder he needed to go collect himself…”

“...all the more reason he should stay, and all the more reason we need an ambassador,” Kaito sighed, “King Sou could put a team together here and ensure royal visits had communication going through an entire chain of command. Not leave it up to the royal heads to just say whatever without anyone following it up with an administration question like ‘why are we going’ and ‘who invited us’ and ‘what are they expecting’. Why would Kaede not tell him… do you want me to ask her, Kokichi?”

Kokichi sighed, letting Kaito soothe some of his tension away as he leaned towards him, resting his cheek in a hand. Speaking quietly, he sighed, “I know that things had been going better, before we sent the offer. That they were working together on policy… It sucks feeling like no one felt like telling you why something was happening, and just being shunted along for it, but…it makes me feel like we just trapped him again or something.”

On the vacation, though, and not at the castle he’d just arrived at. If anything, it just made Kokichi hope all the more that Shin would accept the job offer, as he nodded in agreement with Kaito. It was no small thing to ask Shin to readjust to a new country all over again, but…well, Kokichi really hoped that they could give him more freedom and purpose and security here. 

Not beheld to the whims of his wife, at least as much. 

“That’d be a good thing to have,” Kokichi sighed, before giving Kaito a slightly sullen look. “If you’re up to having a conversation with her? We need to give notice to Momota castle anyway that the party made it, so official communication’s going through anyway… Ugh. I really can’t believe her…”

Kaito leaned in and kissed Kokichi’s temple. “I’ll talk to her, babe. And I’ll talk to Sou later. Everything’s going to be fine. He’s here, he’s safe. It’s all just working out the details now.”

Kokichi pressed into the kiss with another sigh, before turning to kiss Kaito’s cheek. “Yeah… Yeah, you’re right.”

-

For a lot of the day’s travel, Ienzo had zoned in and out, still working on distributing his transcription factor. But as daylight started to fade, the limitations of winter baring their fangs, for safety the group found an out of the way place on the side of the road to veer off to and hunker down for the night. 

It was cool, but not particularly cold, so there was no need for a big, attention-getting fire, just one small enough to cook on, but even still…

Ienzo was half listening to Demyx talking animatedly with Luis, just…wow. Demyx was really something, illuminated by firelight. 

Demyx had such an incredible smile. It was something that looked so natural on his face, like his natural expression was just waiting for any excuse to widen into excitement. It gave his lips a slight upturn that, in most circumstances, especially these days, Ienzo could hardly wait for them to part and Demyx to tell him all about the latest thing on his mind. Even in a scrunched pout, Ienzo just wanted to trace the shape over and over…

Across the fire, Aqua let out an amused breath, nudging Dilan slightly as she nodded to Ienzo, watching the dreamy look on his face and practically able to see hearts floating in the air around his head. 

“You know, I’m not so surprised ‘Enzy fell for Demyx, but how hard he’s fallen is something else,” she murmured quietly. 

Dilan was still eating, chewing through some fruit pieces they had bought before leaving the city, as he raised an eyebrow at Aqua’s nudge. Following her gaze, before snorting. “Absolutely shameless,” Dilan chuckled, watching Ienzo just blatantly staring at Demyx’s mouth, “I wonder if he thinks he’s being slick? Not that it takes much to go over Demyx’s head. I bet he’s got no idea what’s happening right now.”

“So, our carriage was down a wheel, we were in the middle of nowhere already late for my folks’ next project start date, and clearly bandits are coming over the horizon, right? I’m talking in full bandit gear, wearing the masks, everything. So, we’re screwed, right? No doubt?” Demyx animatedly explained to Luis, who nodded along, genuinely caught up in his story, “My parents sure thought so! Neither of my parents were really fighters and I was super young, but they both specialized in war-axes, so they got their war-axes out and they’re hoping, they always told me after, that maybe they’d look like too much trouble for the bandits to deal with? So the bandits come close and–”

“I always thought it’d be Demyx begging Ienzo to go out with him, if I’m honest,” Dilan said, “I was waiting for that in the factory. They spent all that time together, they were always draped all over each other, sleeping next to each other. Seemed it was obvious to everyone but them that they were becoming a thing.”

“Aw, c’mon, be nice,” Aqua snickered, “He’s telling a story! I bet you’d be just as distracted spinning some yarn while Lauriam’s all heart-eyed over you.”

Ienzo loved the way Demyx’s cheeks made his eyes scrunch a bit when he smiled. It was simple anatomy, his grins tended to be so big that it was what had to happen…but it always made Demyx’s joy look so genuine, to Ienzo. They had all found their moments in the factory, but Ienzo’s moments with Demyx had actually felt fun, rather than him just living. There was so little Ienzo or Zexion had been able to do to remain stoic or passive in the face of Demyx’s joie de vivre.

“Could’ve just been a platonic thing,” Aqua shrugged, “We all found solace in each other in our own ways, not necessarily romantic…but you’re not wrong either.” She huffed a quiet laugh, trying not to interrupt the tableau across from them. “Guess full emotions are just hitting ‘Enzy hard now, which might explain the ‘now’ of now.”

“Pfff, Lauriam’s never making ‘heart-eyes’ at me,” Dilan scoffed, though he tilted his head as he considered the implications of Aqua’s theory, “You think so? I wonder if that’s just strictly a him thing, or if the same could be said for all of us. I never noticed Demyx struggling to emote, but at the same time, Larxene sure as hell never struggled with it either… I wonder if maybe Demyx would have had a harder time expressing aggression back then? It never occurred to me to wonder at the time, but looking back, Demyx was pretty patient through a lot of stuff that got to the rest of us. I wonder if Larxene had all of his anger.”

Aqua gave Dilan a long look before sailing her hand over his head, making a ‘whoooooosh!’ sound to accompany it. 

Though, she gave him a small shrug after. “Maybe. I say so for Ienzo in particular because…well, Zexion and their constructs weren’t actually emotionless, but Demyx didn’t call them ‘stone face’ for nothing. Then as soon as he was back?” Aqua snapped her fingers. “Everything. Actually made me feel a little bad, realizing how little ‘Enzy smiled the past few years and I just thought it was normal.”

“But for all of us? Even with how different all our Nobodies and not-Nobodies are, remember how much we all talked about being ‘heartless’ and emotionless? Obviously wasn’t true…” Aqua frowned a little. “But it didn’t come from nowhere. All of us were probably made to regulate emotions in some way. And between the two of them…”

Aqua looked back over the fire at Demyx. “Most I’ve seen the kid is ‘ticked’. Could just be how he is…or he could’ve directed all of it through Larxene.”

“Larxene sure as hell got more than ‘ticked’. That woman could raise hellfire all her own,” Dilan recalled, shaking his head a bit, “Could hold a grudge like nobody’s business too. Heh. Literally…”

“So yeah! They gave us a ride to the next town, fixed our carriage themselves, taught me how to play my first ever game of pool!” Demyx laughed, leaning back, “Crazy, right? That is NOT what you expect to happen when a group of bandits find you down and out. I can only think we looked so poor that it wasn’t worth stealing what we had.”

“Or maybe they just saw a little kid with them and decided to round out their karma a bit,” Luis said, reaching over to ruffle Demyx’s hair a bit, who laughed even as he knocked Luis’ wrist away, “Though, yeah, probably helped to notice your lot literally lived in that carriage. Which, by the way lad, I find more and more baffling every hour on the road we’ve been. Was it at least a big carriage?”

Demyx grinned. “Make a wild guess.” 

“Geez. How your folks managed it I’ll never know,” Luis said, shaking his head, before pausing, “Well, maybe I’ll get to ask them someday. You’re not like most of us. The only person keeping you from your past is you deciding when you want to reach out to it.”

“Weelllll, we’ll see what happens when we head out of the capital,” Demyx said, “I still don’t even know where they are. They might have left that town.”

“We should still check there either way. You’ll kick yourself later if you find yourself wanting to backtrack and can’t,” Luis said.

As Dilan watched this, he asked Aqua, “You ever wonder what she’s gonna be like, once you’re all reformed? Demyx seems unchanged, Sora seems a little too unchanged, but Riku’s a little louder and more flamboyant than I remember him being, Ienzo’s more expressive, Isa’s quieter. One by one we’re all returning, but a little different…”

Aqua chuckled at the unintentional joke. “Do you remember when she and Marluxia got into that huge fight? I kept thinking she’d run out of insulting euphemisms to refer to him, but she never did. It’s a good thing those two got along so well, because if they fought like that all the time we’d never get any peace.”

The feeling of old gel wasn’t that pleasant, Ienzo had found, but even still he found himself wanting to run his fingers through Demyx’s hair. It definitely was styled now, but even in the factory when he’d just kept the cut, Demyx had made do and just looked…effortlessly stylish to him. Ienzo couldn’t really imagine Demyx ever looking bad, though.

Aqua’s mirth quieted a bit as she sighed. Glancing down at her hands for a moment and idly stretching a wrist. “...I hope she’s happier,” Terra said quietly. “She loves you guys so much, and meeting Ventus will mean the world… But ever since the real Terra died…”

Terra closed his eyes for a moment. “...I don’t know if it’s from me or her. I feel this…yawning void in us, sometimes. It feels like nothing matters and we should just be swallowed by it, the world moving on as it always has…”

Terra looked tiredly over at Dilan. “But she needs to move on with it too. We can’t go on like this.”

Dilan sighed, reaching an arm around Aqua and pulling her into a side-hug. “Yeah, I know we can’t. None of us can, not really… don’t mean I’m not going to miss you though.”

Demyx laughed, shoving Luis off himself when the older man started pinching cheeks, talking about what a cutie kid he must have been to save his family from getting robbed, before Demyx grinned over at Ienzo. “Isa giving you any trouble there, bud?”

Laying his head on Ienzo’s leg, Isa softly snored. Even not the one driving, somehow the ride had taken a lot out of him. He clearly wasn’t really suited for it, and had conked out almost as soon as they were done eating, Ienzo the closest to him and becoming the designated pillow. 

“You know, you might want to come up with a more ‘boyfriend’ nickname than ‘bud’ now, Demyx,” Luis pointed out, “My Anabelle used to love pet names. I think she would have socked me if I ever called her ‘bud’ or ‘bro’. Not when I coulda called her something cute or sweet instead.”

“Oh, shoot, yeah?” Demyx frowned, rubbing his forehead. “Ummm… I’ve just been calling him bud for so long… any suggestions?” He asked the peanut gallery, though he eyed Ienzo when he asked.

Aqua smiled softly and leaned into the hug, wrapping an arm around Dilan’s side in return. “You’ve really made your bed, staying to miss all of us, huh? I’ll miss you too, Xal, even as a part of Aqua.”

“A-ah, hm?” Ienzo perked, blinking to attention as Demyx turned his attention to him, having to quickly recall just what was actually going on before he glanced down at Isa with a small smile. “Oh, no, he’s fine. He’s been pretty still, actually.” Looking a little sheepish, Ienzo admitted, “I’ve found that I actually kind of missed his snores. It’s been relaxing.”

The point Luis brought up wasn’t exactly stressful in contrast, but it did make Ienzo tilt his head a little in thought. “I do like ‘bud’. You have been using it for me for so long there’s never any question about who you’re talking to…hm.”

Aqua snorted a little, giving Demyx an amused look. “Terra and I called each other ‘Terrakion’ and ‘Aquifer’ if we felt like getting cute, if you’ll remember. Not quite the fluff Luis is talking about.”

“She says, after saying the fluffiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Luis smirked, “I used to call her ‘sweetheart’ and she called me ‘pumpkin’. Mind you, I came from a pumpkin farm, and she grew cocoa beans, so there was some tongue and cheek to it all.”

“I didn’t know we could grow our own cocoa beans. Don’t those come from Wonderland?” Demyx asked.

“The land in the region is really rich. Unfortunately, it’s too small to be particularly useful, so our farms were actually government contracted long-term experiments,” Luis explained, “We were meant to see what variety of harvest we could grow with that soil. There were always scientists coming back, testing the soil and taking some of it away. I think the hope was to figure out how a little pocket of richly fertilized soil managed to grow organically that far out into the desert. Honestly? Knowing everything I know now? It’d put my hat on ‘magic’.”

“You don’t own a hat,” Demyx pointed out.

“If I had a hat, I’d put it on magic. A small patch of land big enough to make fertile fields for a few farms, no turnover of the soil ever seeming to be necessary, damn near anything grows there?” Luis shook his head, “Someone made a damn wish or something on that land. It’s a modern miracle there.”

“It makes sense that some things people have been trying to figure out the science of might just be ‘magical shit beyond modern comprehension’,’” Dilan agreed. “That’s a pretty random bit of magic though.”

“It’s a pretty random patch of fertile land.” Luis shrugged.

“Awww,” Aqua cooed, “No, see? Using the kind of stuff people’ll actually recognize as pet names, but making it your own? Fluff.” And definitely cuter than the taunted ‘Rip Brozo’ Aqua used to chant at Terra when she won a competition that had managed to worm its way past her usual good sportsmanship. 

Ienzo nodded a little. ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Pumpkin’ were a little more normalized. He had memories of his parents calling each other ‘My Dearest Darling, Light of My Life, A Vision To Behold’ and things akin to that, but it didn’t feel quite…right, for his relationship with Demyx. And not entirely because ‘darling’ was a Lauriam-ism. 

“There’ve been countless histories and recordings about fertility rituals,” Ienzo hummed consideringly. “To gods, to the concept of nature itself, for more specific outcomes like rain or to avoid pests… It’s far from inconceivable that one or even a combination turned out to actually be the favor or work of the supernatural…if difficult to ever prove.”

“That’s a good point, bu… ba…” Demyx pointed finger guns at Ienzo, grinning as he started to sweat, “Baby… babe?”

“Booo,” Dilan booed, “Try again.”

“Oh come on, like you’re the expert!” Demyx pouted. 

Dilan sniffed, before he held up a hand, counting out, “Flower, Dandelion, Sexy, Spitfire, hell, Luis even got me calling Lauriam ‘Love’ on occasion, just because his damn accent got into my head. And I still managed to avoid the ‘babe’, ‘baby’ stuff. Even though I actually kinda like the pet name, but noooo, you made it super weird, Demyx. I don’t get to call him ‘baby’? You don’t get to either.”

Dilan paused, having said all of that before suddenly a relatively recent memory rushed back… and stiffly, he corrected, “Alright, I might have done ‘baby’ once or twice. But I was caught up.”

“Ewww, don’t tell us about fucking Lauriam,” Demyx said, sticking his tongue out at Dilan, “I already heard too much about it when Aqua taught us sex-ed.”

“Ugh, are we talking about this again?” Luis sighed, leaning back, “Listen, gang, let’s be honest, this ‘how old is Lauriam vs Dilan’ argument got away from us a long time ago. Yeah, the past affects the present, I’ll be the first to argue it. But at what point do you wait long enough where it can be argued it was the real deal? I don’t think Dilan brainwashed Lauriam into anything, and I think we need to put that argument to bed at some point. Especially considering Dilan and Lauriam are twisting themselves into damn knots over it.”

Ienzo squinted a little, trying to figure out how he felt about that. Mostly it was just strange hearing Demyx call him anything but ‘bud’. 

And of their group? Dilan kind of was the expert. In more recent years, Dilan actually calling Lauriam by his name was a rarer occasion than anything else. 

“Oh, I was wondering about that,” Ienzo idly brought up, “Sometimes it seemed like you specifically denoted ‘Flower’ for Marluxia and ‘Dandelion’ for Lauriam, but that’s not a strict adherence. Do you just use whatever feels right in the moment?”

What was more right than…

Ienzo sighed a little. “Lauriam did talk to us a bit about that, actually… But I’ll agree, I don’t think you’ve manipulated him, Dilan. Lauriam brought up the pretty trenchant point that you two didn’t really begin flirting until he was 20, and while I’m but one observer, it at least didn’t seem to me like you were just waiting for him to get a little older. I don’t remember finding it particularly surprising when I first noticed you two flirting.”

“Flower and Dandelion do mean Marluxia and Lauriam respectfully, but, like… that’s just two sides of a same coin. And technically Lauriam is both now, right? So, sometimes I see Marluxia fronting a bit, and even before the merge, there were little dandelion moments in my flower too…”

The words were almost painfully fond. Something soft coming over Dilan’s face. Something that, honestly, shouldn’t have been possible for the Nobody Xaldin… his own moment of mixing and melting and the lines being painfully more blurry than they were ever supposed to be. 

How does a Nobody fall in love?

Dilan winced, looking away at Ienzo’s observation. “Well, that makes one of us not surprised… Ienzo, man, when your father heard…”

Dilan frowned, looking away. Stiff and uncomfortable at the memory.

Demyx’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “Which one? Aeleus can be pretty intimidating sometimes.”

“What do you mean, ‘which one’?” Dilan asked, giving Demyx a startled look… before he huffed, “Oh, right. You were Larxene.”

“What?” Demyx asked. 

“Oh, there was a big blowup after the kiss,” Dilan scowled, “I don’t know if Lauriam ever found out about it, but Larxene was dragged into it. Vexen basically demanding some witnesses, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Larxene held my life in her hands for a moment. If she had said anything about me making some first move, or seeing ‘secret flirting’ or something as she was growing up with Marluxia? I’m pretty sure Vexen was just going to kill me right then and there. I had never seen that man more ready to kill in my life.”

Ienzo sighed to himself. He could understand Lauriam’s confusion and frustration. Dilan truly liked him, that was undeniable. So seeing him like this, but…then everything Lauriam said about the self-hatred and admonishment? Ienzo might be new to relationships himself, but he could understand the difficulty in even considering fully leaving someone when they really did love you that much. 

But to say it was complicated was so obvious it almost didn’t bear being said. 

Ienzo sighed, looking a little awkward. “I don’t think he asked me as much as what you’re talking about, but I do remember him asking 6 about it. We hadn’t been sheltered from the very concept of grooming, but I think he was confused about what Vexen was asking enough to stop further questioning.”

“Kiddo couldn’t look you in the eye for, what even was it?” Aqua huffed, “Probably eight months at least. He looked like he wanted to die when he vouched for you, saying he started it.”

“Wasn’t his fault. Everyone has hormones, I chalked it up to his just strangling him for a second, and him taking it out on, well… the closest person to him,” Dilan admitted, “...I remember Dilan tearing himself apart, though, guilty with how much he liked it. Between Vexen and Even grilling us on every damn word we said to him by that point, looking for any sign that he had trusted the wrong person, that someone had broken one of the biggest rules we had, that no matter what happens or how things get, we never take any shit out on the kids, anger, violence, lust… We could only do so much to protect them from the supervisors, but we had to give you some sort of childhood, some sort of adults you could trust around you…”

“But Lauriam was all grown up and once he didn’t stop flinching when he saw me, or try to leave the room when I came around? I don’t know… I told Even I was only flirting to make Lauriam feel better about what happened for a while, but it became obvious pretty quickly I wasn’t joking. To me as much as him. I was in pretty bad denial for a while about it,” Dilan admitted.

“Yeah, but none of that means either of you did anything wrong,” Luis said, “I get why it feels like that. Vexen was scared he had let some sort of abuse go unnoticed on his watch. Our girl Namine can say what she likes about being leader, but Even was the one who made decisions whenever the group couldn’t figure something out. But him scaring the hell out of you and, what it sounds like, Larxene, doesn’t mean anything actually happened. And I should know.”

Demyx gave Luis a confused look at that, but Dilan and Aqua seemed unsurprised, nodding along. 

Ienzo nodded softly. Honestly, Ienzo had been severely let down by the adults in his life before he got to the factory. He was in the factory at all because of them, actually. But with the limited freedoms they had, the factory Empaths were deadly serious not just about taking care of each other, but looking after their youngest. It was something Ienzo just couldn’t comprehend of the people he knew, any of them ever leaving one of the younger Empaths to wallow in a punishment, or go without comfort, let alone actively harming one of them. 

As much as the situation had blown up, though…Ienzo stood by what he’d said before. By the time anything happened, Lauriam and Dilan were adults (and not just legally) and observing their dynamic for years, he hadn’t been all that surprised. 

Surprise was saved for more things now, it seemed. 

Ienzo blinked, before asking Luis, “Please elaborate on that.”

“Nothing worth elaborating on lad, it was a long time ago,” Luis said, pulling out his flask and giving himself a little shot. Somehow, confessing why he kept himself so drunk so much had made it a little easier to just be tipsy for most of the day. But thinking about Anabelle always made him want to take a safety shot. Just… dampen the ol’ power there, a bit.

“Come on, man, you can’t just reference it in front of them and just leave them hanging like that,” Dilan said, “They’re grown-ass people too, by this point. You’re not breaking any idols, they know we’re all flawed people.”

“Is this what you all ran off to talk about without us?” Demyx asked. Raising an eyebrow at the looks he got at that. “What, were we not supposed to notice? Why do you think we didn’t put up a fuss?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll make it quick. I don’t want to make a whole ‘storytime’ out of it,” Luis said, sipping from his flask again before putting it away, “I wasn’t actually ‘caught’ by anyone when I went to the factory. I turned myself in as a demon to the guards and went willingly.”

“What?” Demyx sputtered, “Why!? Because you were an Empath!? Luis, no offense, but you do not seem the suicidally patriotic type.”

“I’m not,” Luis smirked, before shrugging tiredly, “My wife and I were fighting so much that she was going to leave me. Rather than talking to her or letting her, I basically brain-nabbed her for three days. Kept her prisoner in her own body. When I finally figured out how to let her go, I knew I didn’t want it to happen ever again, so I turned myself in.”

“Oh…” Demyx frowned, “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh,” Luis agreed, “But that’s what I mean by ‘I would know’. There’s a difference between a misunderstanding and actually hurting someone you care about. I maybe misunderstood how severe the effect was going to be, but I intended to force my wife to stay when I did what I did. I meant to hurt her, and that’s something I have to carry with me now. But Dilan? He never meant to hurt anyone, and maybe even more important, he just straight up didn’t. The only thing our lad’s been hurt by is trying to figure out his own feelings while watching the guy he was smitten with agonize over his. As our resident abuser? It’s not abuse. I don’t think so, anyway.”

Ienzo’s gaze went a little flat. If it wasn’t worth elaborating on, then it seemed a little counterintuitive to bring up, as if he were referencing a specific encounter of knowing that harm happened, when they were talking about that subject. Even if Aqua and Dilan already knew. It was fine for Ienzo not to know, but it was strange to bring up in a conversation he was a part of. 

Context was essential to provide to all parties. 

Even if it was painful. 

Ienzo had to be careful not to startle so much in surprise, as Luis gave them the truncated version of his story, as to possibly wake Isa, though the look he gave Luis was definitely wide-eyed. And…a little awkward as Luis got into why he turned himself in. While once he might’ve disparaged anyone going to the factory willingly…guilt was a very powerful motivator. 

…Luis had successfully puppeted someone, huh?

O_O

O_O We’re inclined to agree. 

O_O But also, would you be willing to describe the process of will supplantion with us sometime? It would be enlightening to compare and contrast experiences.

Ienzo twitched, his voice coming out in a quiet squeak as Zexion appeared, sitting around the fire as well. “Zexion. Not the time.”

To the others’ relief, Luis just laughed at that, giving Zexion a fond look as he said, “It might be a bit tough for me to talk about, but for your research? Sure.”

“Oh!” Dilan said, suddenly looking excited as he said, “That’s what you can use your royal apology for, Luis! Puppet the prince while Zexion gets to take notes! It’d be hilarious!”

“Why are you so excited to find weird, unique ways for all of us to ask for an ‘apology’ from Prince Kaito, Xaldin?” Isa said softly, rubbing his eye a little grumpily now that he was awake. “And I use your name because I know it’s partly just a sadism thing, but really. You suggested I should bite him yesterday.”

“We get to punish actual royalty soon!” Dilan said, looking bewildered as he asked, “How is no one else excited? I’m daydreaming about this shit when we go to sleep at night, which is impacting my sleep because it’s so exciting that I get myself worked up about it! It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!”

Zexion’s eyes glittered with excitement, while Ienzo could only sigh. …like…yeah, he wanted to know too, but they could ask about what was obviously a sensitive subject with more decorum! …s-somehow! Ienzo would eventually figure it out!

“Pff,” Aqua snorted, “Didn’t Ienzo and Laurie say the prince has all sorts of defenses in his head? I’m not poo-pooing on your ability, Luis, but I think it’d be something if you even managed to take hold. But, eh, maybe The Ouma would see it as another test of them all.”

Looking down, Ienzo gave Isa an apologetic look as he woke up, before he sighed a bit. “You’re not wrong, but for as much as Prince Kaito is trying to make himself a symbol to make amends, because it’s likely the only apology we’d ever get from anyone close to who was in charge… At least personally, I have difficulty really feeling that way. And I have mixed feelings about helping someone flagellate themselves.”

“Maybe we could ask him to turn them off for a bit?” Dilan asked, looking genuinely like he was trying to problem solve this particular dilemma, “Certainly the ability to turn it off would be available to confirm, or something. We could argue it! We could make him slap himself or… Isa, would you be offended if I said ‘bark like a dog’?”

“Yes,” Isa grumbled, nuzzling his head against Ienzo’s leg. 

“Well, meow like a cat then or something. Tweet like a bird? Actually, that one might be fun.” Dilan smirked, eyes going distant as he said, “We could do a lot of Empath experiments, if he’s up to it. Imagine how much data Zexion could have if we did all the stuff they never let us try in the factory, like puppetting and really diving into memories, maybe change his tastebuds a bit and–Demyx! Why!?”

Demyx had gotten up, taking his thermos of water, and poured some of it over Dilan’s head before jumping backwards, avoiding any swipe the older man made at him as he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. “Nuh uh. After everything you’ve put Lauriam through? You are not going around fantasizing openly about some other guy. Shutting it down!”

“Who’s fantasizing!?” Dilan sputtered, wiping the water from his eyes as he said, “This is something else entirely!”

“No, I think Demyx is right,” Isa yawned, closing his eyes as he said softly, “The way I hear it, Prince Kaito agreed to be hurt without much hesitation, right? Based on other things I’ve heard about him? My guess is Xaldin’s sadism recognized a masochist and started biting at its tail.”

“W-what? What? No. No fucking way.” Dilan scoffed, crossing his arms, stopping to think about it… before huffing, “No way.”

Ienzo patted Isa’s shoulder a bit as he settled to try to get back to sleep…though his gaze nervously went to the side as Dilan started brainstorming all sorts of tests they could ask Prince Kaito to go through. Really…pushing the bounds of Empathy, figuring out what was really possible through their powers… 

…treating someone like a test subject, that the factory…hadn’t let them do…

Zexion had opened his mouth, but Demyx saved the day for Ienzo and Lauriam both. 

Aqua snorted, leaning away from the water before she sobered a bit, giving Dilan a long look. “Maybe it’s not romantic…but that kind of daydreaming isn’t uninvolved.” She let out a sigh, looking back into the fire. “I get wanting revenge for what we went through, and who knows, maybe Prince Kaito will let me push him over a little. But I’m kind of with ‘Enzy here, it feels too removed from the actual people that hurt us.”

“I don’t know how we could get closer,” Dilan huffed, leaning back, “The supervisors scattered, most of the regime that was ruling before we were released are dead, Tengan’s dead, Danganronpa’s apparently in tatters, the program’s over… who else is there?”

“Perhaps that is a reason to celebrate?” Isa pointed out, though he didn’t seem to think this was worth opening his eyes over, “Many of our enemies are already destroyed. Or at the very least no longer are in power. Surprisingly enough, out of everyone involved in our fates… we’ve survived where many people who imprisoned us are now lost. We’ve very much won already.”

“...” Xaldin pouted, “But I didn’t get to see the agony on most of their faces. What a ripoff.”

“It seems sometimes the prize you get is restorative, rather than punitive,” Ienzo mused. “I suppose you could try to track down the supervisors or go to Novoselic to get to the former king…but it does seem like more trouble than it’s worth.”

Aqua looked at the fire for a long moment, before sighing a little to herself. “I could show you some of the memories if you’re feeling cheated. Might even be nice to air them out once, since I’m not sure how Aqua would actually feel about them.”

Ienzo blinked, before giving Aqua a confused and…becoming worried look. “...memories of what?”

“Another thing that doesn’t bear explaining,” Luis muttered, taking out his flask again and drinking it deep.

“Then you guys have got to stop bringing this stuff up, because now I want to know too!” Demyx said.

Dilan, though, looked entirely unconflicted. Just giving Aqua a curious look, a small glint of excitement in his eyes, as he said, “I don’t want you to do something you dislike, but I’m sure not going to say no twice if you offer again. That was one of the best nights I’ve had since we left the factory.”

At that, now even Isa peeked an eye open. “What night?”

“Ah, geez,” Luis muttered. 

Aqua gave Dilan a small smile. “I don’t mind, I just have a hunch that it’s the part of me that Aqua made to make sure I could still condition, and less anything having to do with her or Terra.” …maybe. It was something that she was genuinely unsure of, and that fuzziness only became more unclear the longer Aqua was asleep. 

Taking a breath, Aqua forced herself to look at Demyx, Ienzo, Zexion, and Isa. “You said that tracking down the supervisors was more trouble than it’s worth. I’ve disagreed.”

Ienzo stiffened, his eyes widening as he gave Aqua a look that was almost a little scared. “We…said we were keeping a low profile.”

Aqua nodded, taking in the fear in that look, even the discomforted concern in Zexion’s, and made herself face it. “I was. Even if things went as wrong as they could, I would never allow my mistakes to lead back to you all.”

Zexion held himself with tension. ó_ò Your death or arrest would significantly affect the rest of us.

“Yeah! Exactly! What if you had gotten hurt!?” Demyx sputtered, “How many times did you take a risk like that?!”

Terra took a deep breath. Maybe he was only finding the courage now because the teens weren’t listening in…but it wasn’t any easier facing Ienzo, Demyx, and Isa. “Nine,” he answered, preparing for the flash of worried horror on Ienzo’s face. Explaining, he said, “When I’d go out for a night? I was usually tracking down a supervisor, or confronting them.”

Zexion would likely just vanish if he was going to leave, but Terra still thought that was what he was doing as the chibo got up, but instead…

ಢ_ಢ

Terra’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, and by the impact, as Zexion threw himself forward, a teary face buried in his stomach as he wrapped his arms as far around his middle as his stubby arms would reach. 

“Aqua…” Ienzo said, his voice wavering, “They were people that tortured us day in and out. If they ever managed to get the upper hand on you…”

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” Terra sighed, his voice soft as he put a hand on Zexion’s back. “Part of that was why. The people that tortured us every day were still living in the same damn city we were. I wasn’t going to give them the chance to start again.”

“Terra!” Demyx shouted, scooting closer to Ienzo and putting his arms around him, “That’s Ienzo’s emotional mirror support chibi thing! If Zexion’s crying, Ienzo wants to cry! You’ve made my boyfriends cry! And, also, yeah?? Why did you think we’d be okay with it if something happened to you!? The supervisors are terrifying, they could have hurt you!”

“She didn’t think you’d be okay with it, kid, that’s why you’re only hearing about it now,” Dilan said, “Probably why most everyone other than me, Luis, and Aeleus know about it at all. I doubt any of us would weep over the supervisors, but yeah, of course we wanted Aqua safe.”

“Luis! You knew!?” Demyx demanded, hugging Ienzo tighter, “You’re going to make my boyfriend cry even more!” 

“Look, as much as I don’t like that she took the risk?” Luis said, “We have to thank our lucky stars. We only found out about Ventus through this. None of us should take a risk like this again, but I can’t say I entirely regret it.”

Ienzo gave Demyx a small glance before he sighed as leaned in towards the hold. Not crying himself, but…well, Demyx wasn’t wrong. If Terra had gotten hurt, or died…they hadn’t known what he was doing! They couldn’t help, and if Terra had meant to not let anything get back to them, then…he wouldn’t have asked for help either. So Terra would just be…

The fragile, pathetic sound from Zexion sounded more normally human than his recent more musical tones. Terra squinted in shame, rubbing the chibo’s back. 

They only found out about Ventus through… That meant…Terra tortured them. Ienzo took a deep, careful breath…but his voice still wavered as he asked, “...were they scared, when you confronted them?”

Terra hesitated briefly. “...do you guys actually want to hear about it?”

Demyx looked aghast at Zexion’s little crying, and his own eyes seemed to redden half in empathy tears. He made an attempt to pat Ienzo reassuringly on the back, before burying his own face in Ienzo’s neck. Clearly getting emotionally caught up as Luis sighed, scooting over and rubbing Demyx on his back as he said, “There, there, lad, let it out, it’s been a long day already.”

“I’m never getting back to sleep, am I,” Isa softly huffed, finally sitting up and grumpily looking at the fire, looking disheveled, “It’s night one, people, could we not have spaced out the dark confessions?”

“It’s good, I think,” Dilan said, “...honestly, I wonder if maybe Terra needs to get this stuff off his chest, before the big Wholeness. That’s basically what he said earlier. And as grim as this stuff is, we’re family. No one should be bearing this sort of weight alone.”

“...” Demyx squinted, peeking up from where he had buried his face in Ienzo’s shoulder, “You just want to hear about it.”

“I so do,” Dilan smirked, “But, I can hear about it in private. I wouldn’t have to advocate it as a group event if I didn’t think it’d help.”

Demyx sighed, sniffling, before sitting up. “We were just…well, I was just worried about you, Terra. But I don’t want you to think we’re judging you. Not to get crass about it, but… shit’s kinda fucked all around, with anything to do with the factory. And I am glad we know where Ventus is, though… are you sure you can trust the word of the supervisor who told you?”

Ienzo put his arm around Demyx’s side as he hid his face, holding his boyfriend close, even as he shot Isa another apologetic look. 

Terra chuckled a little at the accusation Demyx threw Dilan’s way before he sighed softly. “I really don’t know if Aqua’s going to be horrified or ashamed of it all. I know I didn’t go after the supervisors just because I’m a Nobody, but…I just don’t know. All I do know is, if she remembers any of it? I don’t want to leave her with these memories alone.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “...honestly, no. I don’t know if we can trust it. I didn’t, at first.” Collecting himself once again, Terra looked over at Isa. “Seifer was just saying shit in a panic to save his life. Mentioning Ventus at all made me want to end him right then and there.”

“I don’t trust him…but I trust Luis,” Terra gave him a soft look, “And as you said, if there’s a chance it’s true? I don’t want to throw it away. Getting that dipshit talking more gave enough details that I didn’t feel were lies, anyway, so I trust in it enough to drag you all across the country into the lion’s den.”

Luis nodded, wiping his nose as he looked away. “It confirmed a fear I’ve had since that day. We’re taking his word that we know the exact family, and maybe he pulled that out of the air to try to make the pain stop, but… it didn’t feel like a lie.” Luis sighed, “As much as I could reach in and find, admittedly. The drink dulls all of my abilities, not just my ability to puppet. I wish I had gone sober that night. I could have said for sure or not if he was lying.”

“So…” Isa sighed, “I’m guessing that means he’s dead. Seifer is dead?” 

There was sudden silence. The group looking at Isa with new concern. Seifer had had a preference, for victims. That preference had been Isa. He was likely the main reason Isa’s Nobody had deteriorated as badly as it had. 

“...we’re not sure,” Dilan admitted after a moment, “We left him alive. Beaten all to hell, but alive. He was up and walking around last time we saw him.”

Isa looked away, unsure what to say to that. 

“....that was probably wise,” Isa said softly. A conflicted look on his face.

Terra frowned, looking down for a moment before forcing his gaze back up. “He doesn’t deserve any mercy or consideration or…fucking anything. But the information he gave us was in return for not being buried six feet under. Maybe rattling his brain so much he still wouldn’t be able to sell us out and leaving him to the desert was just a slower death.”

At least they could keep their words. 

Rubbing Zexion’s back more, Terra gave Isa a slightly wary and concerned look. “...if you’re mad about it, along with whatever the swirl goin’ through your head is, kiddo, I can face it. I don’t regret hurting him, and, yes, Ienzo, making him scared…but I do regret taking your choice to ever confront him.”

“I don’t know,” Isa said honestly, “I don’t think I’d fare very well facing him. I’d probably just fully regress into a dog again, if I’m honest… I think a part of me is just alarmed he was still in the city. In theory it makes sense he would be. But I think I found the idea that perhaps he had gone somewhere far away comforting. It’s frightening to think he was just… around to stumble into at any point.”

“Well, we’re far from him now,” Demyx reminded Isa gently, the man nodding in response to that, before Demyx looked at Terra curiously, “So, wait, who did you find? You confronted nine supervisors? That’s… well, it’s not all of them, but that’s still most.”

They were even farther if he was dead. 

Terra nodded seriously. “Like I said, that was partly why I went after them. Some skipped town, but the number that were just…around?” He huffed a little, glaring into the distance. “Utter hubris.”

And the fall that succeeded that pride was named Terra Imeacht Eraqus Dareka.

Listing off the supervisors that he’d found, Ienzo tensed a bit hearing about Pence, figured Lauriam might be happy to hear about Hayner, and it was…a noticeable omission of Orlette, but honestly? Ienzo was just glad Terra hadn’t confronted her. Even if he was alright, just the thought of going up against that terror of a person made Ienzo’s stomach clench painfully, his shoulder aching. 

And at another prompting?

“Can’t say I made them all piss their pants and beg on their knees,” Terra said quietly, notes of a cold bitterness in his voice, “But, yeah, I think I scared them. I was making damn sure they could never come after us again, and after everything they put us through? Believe what you believe, but I was evening the scales a little.”

“I don’t think any of us are going to weep for the comfort of the supervisors,” Luis said dryly, “It still feels like a miracle though that you returned home safely each time. Sure, a few of them got by just on the fact that we were prisoners and they had weapons and enforcements and backup. Not exactly heavy hitters by themselves. But Hayner? Hayner was a big guy. How did you even manage that?”

“I’m not surprised. Terra’s strong,” Demyx grinned, apparently entirely over his earlier crying fit, and also looking less alarmed by the whole thing, hearing the list of names that had been frightened off by Terra, “I still wish you had brought help, but you could handle yourself.”

“They’re all lucky I didn’t go every time. I wanted to kill Seifer so bad. Terra and Luis ganged up on me to let cooler heads prevail,” Dilan admitted. 

“You’ve never killed anyone, Xaldin. You or Dilan,” Isa reminded him, “You should be glad not to have that weighing on you.”

Honestly, Ienzo found himself comforted by the thought that even a little, even just once, some of the supervisors had felt what they’d put the Empaths through for years. It still terrified him to think about if Aqua had been hurt, but in the reality they lived in, he felt safer, hearing how the people that plagued his nightmares had been rendered to pathetic pleading and lost in pain. 

Terra gave Luis a crooked grin. “Caught him by surprise. Your bait acting made it easier than it ever was before, but I wasn’t exactly going out looking for fair fights. If I could get the drop and a blade on ‘em before they knew what was happening, that’s when I actually acted.”

Terra might be handicapping himself like Aeleus said, but…well, he still wasn’t too shabby in his own right. Some things, even after years, were still muscle memory. 

“It’s not to say the things we did in the mental realm aren’t ‘real’, and don’t have consequences…but they do have to be considered in their own category, I think, when it comes to violence,” Ienzo mused softly, slowly rubbing Demyx’s side. “While it apparently is possible, we’ve never killed anyone through Empathy. However capable of cruelty we are, that is a step beyond everything else.”

“I think I could have found a way to live with myself,” Dilan said, staring at the fire, “I think, if paradise was real, there’s a few Empaths who didn’t escape with us who’d high five me when I told them about it.”

“Maybe. But you knew enough to not go and seek them out, not how Terra did,” Luis pointed out, “So on some level you knew it was a bad idea.”

“Well, sure. Getting caught would have put us all in danger. But Terra didn’t get caught. So it feels like harping on nothing to keep pointing that out,” Dilan said, patting Aqua on the back. 

“Do you want to tell us anything about what happened?” Demyx asked Aqua, frowning. “I know that was a big reaction, and not all of us are going to get out of it what Xaldin would, but if you do need to get specifics off your chest? I mean, I’m okay hearing about it,” Demyx paused, before wrapping his arms around Ienzo, “So long as Ienzo stays close.”

Maybe that made them a little fucked up. But they already were.

Smiling softly, Ienzo held Demyx a little firmer. “I’m not going anywhere…hot stuff?”

“Hah!” Demyx laughed, hugging around Ienzo’s arms and chest, shaking him a bit, “Hot Stuff! That’s fun! I think I’d get a little embarrassed hearing you call me that in front of people though. I’d like one you can call me in front of others, y’know? So people know I’m yours!”

Ienzo flushed a little but nodded seriously. “I’ll keep thinking.”

Zexion peeked up at Terra, rolling his eyes a little at Ienzo and Demyx. Terra could only snort before giving Zexion a little nudge towards them, and, pouting a little, Zexion plopped down between Ienzo and Demyx’s legs, totally not looking like he wanted to cuddle too. 

And maybe there were things to say about the confrontations, but…seeing Ienzo and Demyx and Zexion be all cute together again, and just getting it generally off his chest? “Can’t say there’s a lot of time for it, but not this time. Unless you really want to hear about me actually making Colinda piss herself.”

Luis’ eyes widened at that, blinking a few times, before he asked, “Colinda? Really?”

The small ghost smile on his lips was telling, as he asked, “I mean, if you’re going to share any story…”

{Ienzo, I’m gonna give this one to you free, specter} Xaldin said, using a nickname that he had been fond of when Zexion had been at his most emotionless for a few years there. {He’ll like it, trust me. You owe me one.} he said, before sending the word.

{o๐o Oh, that’s a good one.}

Terra chuckled a bit. “Well, if there are no objections? Now, when I say I got the drop on the supervisors, sometimes I mean that literally…”

As Terra told the story, not drawing out the details too much, but making it a story, Ienzo hummed softly, leaning into Demyx’s shoulder as he rubbed his side. Murmuring to him, “I know Aqua trained for basically her whole life before the factory, and she always worked out with my dad, but sometimes she really just sounds like a superhero, huh, Sunshine?”

“Mhm, I can see that,” Demyx agreed, leaning back, smiling as he listened to Aqua’s story… before his smile got a little wavey, clearly holding back both a laugh and also feeling a rush of flush on his cheeks, as he echoed, “Sunshine~” like he was testing it out… a pleased little laugh escaping him.

Dilan glanced over at Ienzo to give him a wink, before returning his attention to Aqua. “Honestly, I get it, I think I’d have pissed myself too by that point. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer asshole.”

“I’m just relieved that if any of them ever went to the guards? Then guards never came to us,” Isa sighed, “Perhaps they were too intimidated to go to the guards. If so, all the better. It really was a reckless thing to do, Terra.”

✪v✪

Ienzo lit up seeing just how pleased and flustered Demyx was, and oooh he could listen to that laugh for ages. Sending a feeling of gratitude back to Dilan, Ienzo lightly kissed Demyx’s cheek before cuddling with him more. 

Terra sighed a little, giving Isa a nod. “Yeah, it was. If any of them hadn’t taken the threat seriously, or just were too scared to care? I’d…have really fucked stuff up for us. Even if I was sure to make sure they’d never find out where we were. But…”

Terra shrugged a little, looking to the side for a few moments…before looking at the happy throuple together. “Hey, I understand if it’s not the best idea while we’re traveling, but you have an idea when we could get Aqua back, ‘Enzy?”

Pulling his attention from Demyx--clearly a struggle--Ienzo blinked. “Um? Well…I actually feel pretty okay, and I can’t drive anyway. I know you and Dilan were trading off today, but if you think you’d be alright…” He glanced around the group. “Should we try to check in with the others?”

“Ah, geez, that time?” Luis sighed, shooting Aqua a sad look, taking out his flask again and sipping on it, “I mean, I knew it was coming… good, good. Yeah, if you’re ready, Terra.”

“We do have to check in with everyone anyway,” Isa said, something softly sad on his expression as well. The loss of Terra was… a little different, than the other Nobodies.

Aqua wasn’t the only one who hadn’t entirely moved on, considering a shadow of Terra was always around.

“It’ll be good! It’ll give Aqua time to adjust before we get to the capital!” Demyx said, his smile straining a little as he reminded everyone, “And we don’t lose Terra from this. He’s whole again too, after this. That’s what it means. So… good!”

Dilan placed his hand on Aqua’s back again. Being silent for a moment. “...one of us should stay behind, to keep watch on the camp…”

“I think it’d be okay to take the risk,” Luis said, “Just this once. It’s important.”

Terra looked to each member of his family, feeling warm, and sad, and… 

…he wasn’t Terra. He had never been Terra. He wasn’t the person that they missed, and they mourned. Maybe couldn’t properly mourn, with him around. 

But he would be a new person to miss when he was gone. 

He smiled a little at Demyx, noting the way Zexion leaned into his leg a bit. “That’s a bit of the plan. I know it’s not ideal timing, but we’re already on the way. I don’t want to leave Aqua with a second and a half to make a game plan when we get there. And, guys…”

Terra sighed a little, before shaking his head, giving his family a smile. “Well, let’s see everyone.”

-

…hm. 

He wasn’t staying there, Lauriam wanted to meet up with everyone too, but at least for a moment, he’d wanted to check on his world. Slowly but surely, just like himself, it was looking better.

…though it was just as he’d noticed before, as he looked at his bare chest, around the light. That was…something else.

Outside, on the island, everyone touched down, close to their entrances but not needing to visit their own worlds entirely, congregating as they usually did to the beach. 

“One day of driving down!” Sora cheered, hopping excitedly in the sand, “Traveling is easy! We’re going to get to the border in no time!” 

“Oh, are we now,” Axel said tiredly, looking far less upbeat, practically swaying as he headed to the beach, “Oh, to be 16 again.”

“You could have just let me drive by myself, I had a handle on it,” Riku bragged, jutting his thumb to himself, “I could totally drive on my own by this point! I’ll teach Sora next.”

“You’ve literally driven as much as I have, Riku!” Sora pouted.

“And I’ll still teach you, because I’m such a nice guy.” Riku smirked. 

“It took you longer than I thought to ping to us you were ready,” Namine frowned, looking to the Capital group, “Did something go wrong?”

“Nah, we were just caught up chatting,” Xaldin said, looking around, “Where’s my dandelion? He died already? Shame.”

Catching up with Axel, Aeleus patted his back, subtly steadying him. It had been a…bit longer the last time he’d driven a carriage than Axel had, but even so Axel had either conceded or been worn down to give all three teens driving lessons on their leg that day. It was admirable, and a little concerning for how tired Axel was. 

“Something that doesn’t exist can’t die, I don’t think,” Lauriam drawled as he dropped down from one of the treehouses, adjusting his collar as he rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t aware you owned any dandelions, did some flower picking on the road, hm?”

Meeting up with his dads, Ienzo gave them fond looks before explaining, “We’re going to try to bring Aqua back tonight.”

Terra wasn’t fully separated from the group, but he was standing on the pier, contemplating the ocean.

Vexen immediately reached for Ienzo’s face. Brushing his hair back and looking him over as he demanded, “Did you wear a hat in the sun like we agreed? Oh, wait… truly?” Vexen startled, glancing over at Terra, “Tonight? On the first night of travel? Doesn’t that seem a bit… quick?”

“The only flower that seemed worth picking was you, and I think I did a pretty decent job at that,” Xaldin smirked, not at all seeming like a guy who had just spent a good chunk of his night worrying about his relationship with Lauriam again as he gave the man a wink, “You look well rested. Guess you didn’t help worth a damn then?”

“Lay off, Lauriam’s still recovering… as he kept insisting when I asked him to take the reins for a bit.” Axel sighed, giving Aeleus an appreciative nod before heading over to Isa. “We’re making Aqua whole? Did I hear that right?”

“He just feels ready,” Isa said, “There was a lot of discussion tonight. I think he just feels more at peace right now.”

“Geez, nothing’s ever just easy with us, huh,” Axel murmured.

“That’s probably still true.” Luis said, “Terra might be at peace, but we still gotta be ready for anything in his world. Ansem and Isa were ready too, and they both still gave us the run-around.”

“Ienzo too. No offense, bu… bud…” Demyx pouted, thinking… before lighting up, saying triumphantly, “Button?”

Lauriam gave Xaldin a sort of ‘uh-huh’ sort of look, before waving Axel off a bit. “Do you want us to crash? I still just pass out sometimes, that’s not great for driving.” He at least knew that much. Learning to drive was more of an informal milestone than anything super enforced by law, but Lauriam sure hadn’t reached it before he was taken, and even if he was he sure wouldn’t have had anything to practice with. He and his sister had known their town by heart with how much they’d had to walk around it.

Letting Vexen’s inspection go through, Ienzo confirmed he hadn’t totally gone off the deep end one day apart before nodding. “He has been ready for a while, but just…a lot of things were happening. I do understand just wanting to get to it.”

Glancing to Demyx, Ienzo just looked confused for a moment before blushing lightly and pointing to himself. “Button?”

“Yeah!” Demyx said brightly, reaching over to tap Ienzo’s nose. “Because of your tiny, tiny nose. Button!” he said, grinning proudly. 

Again, Ienzo really didn’t think his nose was that small, and he didn’t think his nose shape was considered ‘button’, but…

Ienzo felt his stomach flutter pleasantly, seeing that proud grin on Demyx’s face. So he gave a smile back with a nod. “Button. And none taken, though saying that Zexion was ready I think isn’t the whole picture.”

“Might be more semantics for me too,” Terra said with a small smile, turning back towards the others. “I’m ready, but I’m not sure how ready Aqua is. But it’s long since been time.”

“Button? Really? You have a whole sky theme to play off of, you go ‘button’?” Xaldin scoffed, thwacking Demyx on the back of his head as he passed, “I taught you nothing, apparently.”

“Hey, Ienzo likes it! You like it, right bud? Button? Bud button? That’s gonna take some adjustment,” Demyx laughed, following the group as everyone gravitated to Terra. 

“Do you actually want everyone to come, Terra?” Axel asked, “If you’re thinking of goodbyes, now might just be the time to do that. Too many people might make it harder for you.”

“I like ‘bud’ too, but ‘button’ is also cute,” Ienzo hummed decisively, taking Demyx’s hand as they walked forward together. “It’ll take some adjustment on my end too, to just remember it’s me you’re talking to.”

“I mean…” Terra looked down with a bittersweet smile, before looking back up towards the others with a bright grin and a laugh. “Don’t call me too much of a sap, alright? But I can’t really think of a better send-off than being surrounded with everyone I love.”

In comparison to the real Terra, who had in a moment of determined desperation cut himself off completely to spare the others the pain of his death, ending up spending his final moment alone. 

Giving his family a warm look, Terra spoke more calmly. “I feel like I have to keep saying it these days, to make up for ignoring it for years, but I’m not the Terra you all knew before. Nothing can replace the person he was, not even a memory, as damn fine one I am. But that has never meant you aren’t my family, or that you aren’t people I love.”

“Before we get into it?” Terra grinned brightly, his eyes scrunching closed. “For as short as my existence has been, you’ve sure made a guy feel loved.”

Sora rushed forward and threw himself at Terra. 

“...I didn’t know another Terra,” he said, burying his face into Terra’s chest. “To me? You’re Terra. You’re not a replacement, or a placeholder… you’re our friend,” Sora said, looking up at Terra, brow furrowed, eyes red, “You raised us. You and Aqua both. And… I’m going to miss you!”

Riku came forward too, Namine as well. Riku was determindly trying not to cry, but he sniffled when he hugged Terra too. Namine looking sad as she confessed softly, “I wish Kairi could say goodbye. I know she feels the same way. You were our Terra. We’re sorry to see you go.”

“Aw kiddos…”

Terra caught his kids, still smiling even with tears starting to well up in his eyes too, holding them tight. More than once Terra had thought to himself that the real Terra would’ve adored them…

But he could say that because he adored them. His kids…

“I love you three so much,” Terra said, squeezing them tighter for a moment as he said ‘so much’, impressively lifting the trio for just a second. “Aqua’ll tell you when she can, but it’s been one of the best highlights of my life, watching you three grow up. And it’ll keep bein’ so, you know? Make a bet with Luis and he’ll lose every time ‘cause you can count on that every time Aqua ruffles your hair or gives you pointers or just looks so proud she could burst, that’s me doin’ it too.”

Smoothing Namine’s bangs, Terra placed a kiss on her head. “And if she doesn’t remember, then you all show Kairi this memory too, okay? And while they’re speakin’ through you guys right now, I love Roxas and Ansem and Xion just as much.”

“I-I know they loved you too,” Sora said weepily, doing his best to smile for Terra now that Namine had buried herself against him and Riku was sniffling too much to talk, nodding with Sora, “A-and I know you’ll be there, same as they’re here with us! I-it’s becoming whole! Which means we’re all here!”

“...but we’ll still miss you anyway,” Riku whispered. 

The others held back, letting the teens get this out of their systems. While for everyone else, there had always been another, ‘real’ Terra, for the Heart Trio? This Terra was it. This was the guy who had made them laugh and reassured them and taught them how to fight and how to have fun and even broke up arguments and soothed nightmares and fears. 

It was ironic, that the three who would miss Terra the most, would be the ones who never knew the man he was based on. They would miss the man who raised them.

Demyx wiped his eyes watching this, before giving Terra a thumbs up, trying to grin through his own tears as he said, “Sora’s right! You’re not really leaving us! It’s just time to bring Aqua back too! And… and it’ll be good to have you both! Ideal! This is a good thing!”

“Say it even louder, Demyx, maybe you’ll believe it,” Xaldin whispered, wincing as Axel elbowed him. “Sorry, sorry. I know. I’m just bummed out.”

“You did admirable work as a Nobody created to perform multiple, difficult, contradicting roles,” Vexen said, stepping forward, going around the teens to place a hand on Terra’s shoulder, “In truth, Aqua asked the impossible of you. But still you succeeded. It is difficult to be both a Nobody and a spouse and a parent. I know. You made it look effortless. I’m quite proud of you.”

It sometimes felt like not just an impossible task, but a painful one, to be a real person. Not like how all the Nobodies had struggled trying to continue their Somebodies’ lives outside the factory without them, but in the fact that…Terra hadn’t just been an idea. A concept of someone detached or sadistic enough to thrive with their work. He had been based on a real person, as close as anyone could possibly get, and Terra had known from the moment he opened his eyes with a contradiction in his head and Aqua looking up at him with the most painful kind of hope in her eyes that it would never be enough. 

But he had always been himself, whatever that meant. And to the Heart trio, that meant that he was their dad.

And even if he was picking up where the real Terra had left off, he wasn’t that for just them. 

Lauriam couldn’t even try to wipe his eyes, just half turned away as he silently bawled, embarrassed to be doing so, especially when it was just the teens up first. 

“Thanks, prof,” Terra laughed, the sound genuine even with his wet face, “You never have given praise idly.”

“You have been our friend, in yourself,” Lexaeus rumbled, nodding to Terra as he came forward by Vexen’s side. “The roles that have been asked of you weren’t always fair, but you always found your own way to do them. I’m glad to have known you.”

Demyx looked to Lauriam, and feeling like he needed to take the lead, he took Ienzo’s hand in one hand before hurrying forward, determinedly grabbing Lauriam’s. 

“Come on,” Demyx said, looking uncharacteristically stern, “You’ll regret not giving him a hug. We’ll go with you.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Lauriam sniffled. Though, feeling less like he wasn’t letting the teens have their full goodbye, he went forward with Demyx and Ienzo, Ienzo misty-eyed as well, and hugged Terra from the side, opposite of Vexen and Lexaeus. 

“Aw, kid,” Terra huffed fondly, ruffling Lauriam’s hair enough to really drive home the dandelion comparisons. Though, he gave all three 20-somethings a tender look. “Don’t think you’ve escaped the dad-talk either, just ‘cause I joined partway through. I still remember the dorky teen phases, that means I’m qualified.”

Ienzo swallowed thickly, eyes getting a little more than misty now that he was in hug-proximity. “I’m sorry I tried to qualify the perspective of your memories, and that I kept getting you when someone threw up, and that I tried to tease apart the question of the ship of theseus and transcribed consciousness and recommended Soma to you and goaded you into that fight with Andre and--”

As quickly as Ienzo was talking, he cut off just as quickly as Terra bonked his head against his. “You know?” he chuckled, “Not that I’m not glad you grew up to give apologies, but I considered it a miracle every time you got to be a brat in there. Full forgiveness given. And, hey, Soma was one of the scariest books I ever read, genuinely, it was a great recommendation.”

That broke the dam as Ienzo came in for a hug too.

Demyx had been the one to lead the three there, determined to be strong if not for Ienzo’s sake, than at least Lauriam’s. Lauriam could be so damn stubborn. 

(and he hadn’t shown up for–)

But now that Demyx was right in front of Terra, he found himself stiff, unsure what to say. Strange, conflicting emotions fighting through him, ones he didn’t entirely understand, honestly. He suddenly felt so damn… angry. Like he was just pissed at the whole process. 

(Why did Terra need a whole parade to leave? Some of them had had the good sense to keep their departures quiet and easy. Honestly, he was so full of himself, sometimes–)

Demyx took a shuddering breath, saying through hissing teeth, “Again, this is a good thing… we’ll… we’ll miss you, but it’s a good thing…”

Terra gave Demyx a soft look before pulling him in, tapping their heads together before speaking more quietly in his ear. “I don’t know if you remember. But for Larxene…I don’t regret how we said goodbye, sparkfire. The two of you have always been a wonderful contradiction, though maybe that’s me pumping up my own ego too much to respect it,” Terra laughed softly. 

“It’s a good thing…and I’ll miss you too,” Terra said, squeezing Demyx’s shoulder. “Never forget you’re stronger than you think you are, Demyx. And never let Larxene forget she’s more loved than she thinks she is.”

Demyx let out another shaking, hissing breath… but he felt calmed, the anger fading out as he nodded. 

He didn’t remember. And maybe he’d need to think more about it later, what that meant, and if it meant anything, how much he wanted to know about what had happened… but those were questions for later. It didn’t feel important right now, as he hugged Terra, before stepping back. Giving the others their turn.

“Phoooo, this feels surreal,” Axel admitted, crossing his arms as he approached, “I don’t know. I feel like anything I could think to say just isn’t enough? You’ve been in my life a long time now. I know some of that was Terra, the ‘real’ Terra, and that’s… damn.” Axel said, looking away, “...this is hard. The teens are right. You’re your own guy, Terra. It does sort of feel like we’re losing you all over again…”

“We’ll do everything we can to help Aqua,” Isa whispered, reaching over to squeeze Terra’s bicep, “You said you weren’t sure if she’d want to come back… We’ll look after her, Terra. After you both. Aqua’s not going to grieve alone.”

Terra gave Isa a grateful look as he put his arms around Red and Blue. “I know she never has, not from the start. It’s easy to feel alone in your pain, though I don’t need to be the one to tell ya. But if there’s one thing we can say about us?”

Terra grinned mercilessly as he ruffled Axel’s hair. “Forget Nobodies, they should call us Busybodies. We can never leave someone we love well enough alone. And that’s not gonna stop just ‘cause it’ll be Aqua’s words.”

ಢmಢ

Terra glanced down to the hug around his hips, smiling softly. 

இ^இ You don’t really have to completely return to base essence.

Terra sighed softly, before putting a hand on Zexion’s head. “Hey, where was that point for the others, huh? I’m starting to feel like I’m getting special treatment.” His expression softened. “You know that’s not my choice to make on my own. And Aqua… I can’t be a way of preserving her Terra for her anymore. It’s been a long time. We need to keep going.”

“Hey, come on, button, it’s alright,” Demyx whispered, heading over to kneel beside Zexion, rubbing his back a bit. “Ooooh, man, you’ve cried so much today. Ah, great, I’m crying again now. Today kinda sucks!” Demyx laughed, looking up brightly at Terra, before offering Zexion his hand.

ಢ_ಢ It’s a natural reaction to strong emotions, and an outlet of stress from the body. We’re going through a stressful time.

Still, Zexion took Demyx’s hand, Terra giving them fond looks before looking back up to Luis and Xaldin. Holding his arms out and raising an eyebrow. “Well? Please don’t tell me you two’d rather have a send-off shot, we’ll never get anything done tonight.”

“...it’s selfish, but I’d rather you just didn’t go,” Xaldin admitted, crossing his arms while Luis sniffled next to him, “You’re a friend not just as a friend, but… hell, man, more than Dilan and Aqua were, I like to think you and I were close. I’m fighting the damn urge to guilt trip you into hanging around longer.”

“I’ve always been me, so I knew both of you, and… honestly that doesn’t make it much easier,” Luis admitted, chuckling warily, “You’re my friend, outside of Aqua. It’s hard to give you a sendoff. Kind of wish we could go get a drink or something, reminisce but… well, we’re past that point.”

Xaldin suddenly growled, wiping away some tears that were falling despite his best efforts, before he reached out and punched Terra’s bicep. “I know for a fact you’re gonna give us some shit despite all the damn waterworks and goodbyes and stuff. You better give us a challenge. I don’t want to see fucking Terra of all Nobodies go off gently into that good night, got me? Make us work for it.”

Terra laughed, actually having to lean back a little from the force of it. “Hey, this was all part of my devious, self-preservatory plan to make everyone exhausted and depressed with tears before I wipe the floor with ya! I’m good, but not twelve on one good, I needed an advantage to stick around.”

Calming from that, he gave his friends an apologetic grin. “...not really. But it’d be a good story, huh?”

“The three damn amigos…” Terra grinned, eyes shimmering as he pulled Xaldin and Luis in, the height difference finally feeling right. “After we get Ventus, sort out ‘Enzy’s affairs, and head to Dicea…Aqua’s gonna pull you two aside one of those nights, and we’re gonna find the best booze that garden country has to offer, and the first toast of the night is gonna be from me. Remember that.”

He laughed, giving them a squeeze. “And if their booze sucks, I’m gonna blame it on Aqua.”

“Tsk. Don’t think I won’t hold you to that,” Xaldin laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling in tight. 

“Would you two stop acting cool, I’m gonna be the only one bawling here and gonna look like a damn fool to the kids,” Luis blubbered, wrapping his arm around Terra’s back, “This sucks.”

“It fucking major sucks,” Xaldin laughed, “God damn I’m gonna miss you!”

“I’ve already been cryin’, Lui-boy, this is just you catching up!” Terra taunted, grinning through, yeah, tears as he hugged his friends close. Staying in this feeling of love, and hoping that it imprinted on Aqua’s heart when he returned… before he pulled away. Looking around his tear-stained family with love, and some regret, admittedly…

Before he smiled bright, one step turning into two, as he ran down the pier shouting, “Last one in’s a rotten egg!!” 

Cannonballing into the water. 

And, for those that followed, they’d plummet for a quick second, before gravity would seem to reverse, launching them up out into a misty void, standing in a few inches of water, despite there seeming to be miles and miles of an ocean underfoot. The horizon blurring between water and sky. 

“This is kind of trippy,” Riku said, trying to get his eyes to focus through the long gradient of blues and whites and greens. “Aqua’s world being the ocean and sky is a lot, for picking spots in the island.”

“I don’t want to hear it from the kid who picked the moon,” Xaldin scoffed, looking around as well, “Terra used to have the sky. Aqua used to have the ocean. When we lost Terra, Aqua spread to both. No one was going to tell her no.”

“Why tell her no? Much of our ‘spots’ on the island are purely symbolic. Getting overly attached to where your world’s gate is is foolish,” Vexen said. 

“Says the guy who raised a fuss when Sora also put a door in the cave,” Luis snickered, looking to Sora, who gave him a startled look as he explained, “I don’t think anyone ever told you, but when you did that, Even was grumpy about you stealing his gate idea for, like, a week straight. I think the only thing keeping him from kicking you out was that it was a stupid complaint and you were eleven.”

“I didn’t know that! Vexen, did you want me to move?” Sora asked. 

“Perish the thought, that was some time ago, and I blame Even entirely,” Vexen said, looking around, “Where has our host gone?”

“Aqua!!” 

“Aqua, I know you can hear me!!”

“That answers that,” Ienzo hummed, before he jogged over to where Terra was shouting into the horizon. Tilting his head, he asked, “Can she?”

With a little sigh, Terra lowered his voice into something more normal. “Definitely. Even before Demyx’s brain blast, I knew I couldn’t access all her abilities. I’m supposed to be ‘Terra’, you know, they had different skills… But sometimes, if we really needed something, it felt like…I could reach out to her, and she could reach back.”

An aggravated tick went through Terra’s eyebrow as he turned back to the sea. “So you should know you’ve been sleeping in way too long, Aqua! We’ve got a family to meddle with, and a kid to find; you can’t hide forever!”

“Would it help if we all yelled?” Namine asked, before clearing her throat, taking a deep breath, “...aqua!” she called softly. 

“Aqua.” Isa softly joined in.

“AQUA!!!” Demyx shouted, putting his hands up and pulling his sitar from the water in the clouds, hammering down on the strings as he called out, “AQUA, AQUA, AQUA, CAN YOU HEAR UUUUUUUUUUUUUUS~~”

“Aqua!” Lauriam joined in, not even close to 100% yet, but not about to miss this. And, well, with the majority of them there, he figured he wouldn’t need to push his limits anyway. 

Ienzo did join in with the call…though he did just think for a moment, tapping the side of his summoned Lexicon. When the cacophony of calls didn’t do anything but echo over the water, he looked up to Terra again. “You said she could respond if you really needed something, yes? What does that look like?”

“Well,” Terra sighed, scratching the back of his head, “Recently? She helped give our energy for Sora’s keyblade, while we were goin’ up against Ansem’s obstacle course. Before that, she helped out with the healing tech when Laurie’s mind was all scraped up.”

Ienzo nodded slowly, taking that in. “...perhaps one of us needs to be in danger, then.”

“Got it,” Xaldin said, pulling out his spears from the ether and hovering them around Luis, “Thank you for volunteering, old friend.”

“W-What?! I don’t recall volunteering for shit! At least let me have a drink first!” Luis shouted, ducking his head on his arms as the spears circled dangerously close to his head. 

“I doubt that’ll work,” Sora said with a frown, “Aqua knows you’d never really hurt any of us, Xaldin. I doubt we can bluff her.”

Terra snorted, giving Xaldin and Luis an amused look. “Kiddo’s right. For better or worse, we have faith in you guys. Without some pretty obvious interference, she’s probably not gonna believe one of us just went off the deep end.”

Lauriam looked away for a moment. It seemed…a little late for that. 

However, he was confident when he looked back. “What about the faith to be overzealous idiots?” he proposed with a small smile. “Aqua wouldn’t believe we’d hurt each other on purpose…but she’d be vigilant watching over us, because we’d absolutely overextend ourselves. How many times has she told a dojo story about how most injuries were self-inflicted?”

A dawning look came over Terra’s face before he grinned. “...you know, that could work? Every dojo needs a master watching over it, and, well, there’s only one here.” Clapping for attention, Terra grinned brightly. “Alright, then! Let’s pair up!”

“Oh nooooo, are we sparring? How did we end up sparring!?” Demyx whined, his body half bending in half to the side as he suddenly looked like a massive weight was on him, before he reached out to grab Ienzo’s arm. “Button! Spar with me! Be nice, I’m a lover, not a fighter!” 

“Sure, if you can pay for it. Don’t undersell yourself Ienzo–ow! It was a joke against Demyx, not the kid!” Xaldin whined as Vexen hit him on the back of the head, “You’re grumpy, I’m not sparring you. Luis–”

“Not a chance!” Luis called, waving to Isa, “Isa, want to team up!?” 

“What? Traitor,” Xaldin pouted, before looking back as a hand lightly tapped his arm. Xaldin looked back and repressed a small shiver as wide, blue eyes looked up at him. “What’s up, little witch?”

“I’d like to spar with you, Xaldin,” Namine said softly.

“Ah geez… well, go easy on me,” Xaldin sighed, turning to face her. 

“Terra, Terra! Can I spar you!?” Sora called, waving his keyblade.

“Noooo, I want to fight Terra!” Riku said, focusing as his own keyblade formed, “I finally finished mine, I want to test it out!”

“But I’ve made a new type and I want to test that out!” Sora pouted.

“I’ve made one too,” Namine said, manifesting a keyblade. Xaldin shivered when he looked at it. It was pretty, white. Felt like the sort of thing he wouldn’t want to cut him.

“Someone remind me what these keyblade things actually do? Something to do with our brains?” Xaldin asked, slightly stepping away from Namine.

While not as loud about it, a look of dismay came over Ienzo’s face as well. He really thought he could get away from spars until his dad’s turn, huh… Though, fights had broken out all the way back with Roxas, so perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising. Moving to Demyx’s side as his boyfriend grabbed his arm, Ienzo nodded. “I’ll spar you,” he agreed before sighing, slumping a bit, “I’ll just be thankful Aeleus decided to keep watch at their camp. I know we’re trying to draw Aqua out, but he’d make sure we were actually pushing ourselves…”

Though, he perked as something a little more his field came up. “Metaphysically, the keyblades are constructs made to provide clarity to those they come into contact with. Ideally, they would be able to wake an Empath up out of auto-pilot, though that hasn’t been our experience so far, however, they’ve shown to trigger a snap out of panic or haze. Physically, this is achieved by providing a sudden stimulation to the prefrontal cortex.”

Before Terra could, likely, laugh and say he’d take the boys on two on one, Lauriam came up, his scythe slung over his shoulder as he smirked at Riku. “If you’re looking to test, as the only person who’s actually had a keyblade fully tested on them, spar with me, Riku.” A little teasing, he enticed, “I’ll be able to tell if your copy is up to snuff with Sora’s.”

Riku gave Lauriam a startled look… before looking vaguely guilty, he rubbed the side of his neck as he asked, “Are you… up for that? Lauriam?”

“It’s okay if you’re not!” Sora said, hopping on his heels, “Everyone needs a break sometimes!”

“We’re trying to go above and beyond to draw Aqua out anyway, right?” Lauriam pointed out, “What, are you really going to count on those two to get her to interfere?” He pointed over at Ienzo and Demyx who were leaning into each other, Ienzo just rolling his eyes. 

“Plus…” Lauriam smirked haughtily, “I really doubt you’d even be able to land a hit to test anything. I’ve been taking my break seriously, but I’ve still found time to work on my own projects.”

Terra gave Lauriam a serious look, catching his eyes. Even if that was the point, he didn’t want any of his family seriously injuring themselves to get Aqua back, and he knew that she wouldn’t want that either. …but if Lauriam thought he was up to that?

“Glad to see you feelin’ more up to form, kiddo,” Terra grinned, before giving Sora a nod, “Then that leaves you and me, huh? Since ol’ prof is prolly more interested observing our spars than going up against the young blood himself.”

“I’m partnerless so I think I’m gonna head back to the real world and make sure we’re not getting robbed by bandits,” Axel called out, giving Terra a nod as he said, “Good luck, guys,” before disappearing. 

Riku hefted the weight of his keyblade onto his shoulder–it looked like the wing of a red bat, a little eye on it that was, curiously enough, the same golden color Ansem’s eyes had been, looking around rapidly, like it was also watching the fight–and openly looked Lauriam over, assessing him… before he tilted his head back, grinning. “If that’s what you want. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you.”

“Pfff. Cocky brat.” Xaldin chuckled, before looking to his own sparring partner, Namine still staring at him with wide, blue eyes, her own pure white keyblade hanging by her side. “...your keyblade does what Sora’s does, right?”

“Yes,” Namine said blankly. “...and maybe other stuff, sometimes.”

“God dammit,” Xaldin muttered, energy building around him as he started to hover, his spears circling and dancing protectively around him. 

Surprisingly, it was Luis who started first. But then, it made sense for him, as his battle style all required so much prep that letting anyone else get a headstart on him was dooming him from the start, as he flicked his wrists and suddenly cards appeared in his hands. 

Isa, realizing what Luis was setting up, instead of summoning his blade like Luis had been expecting, suddenly growled, shooting forward and morphing into a large, grey wolf as he ran, attempting to outrun Luis’ ability to form the cards as Isa leapt, aiming to rip the cards–or Luis’ hand–away from him. 

“O-oh, nope!” Luis stammered, stepping back and pulling a card from his other hand, grinning. “The best gamblers cheat, Isa,” he said as he flicked the card in his other hand, a card forming in front of Isa, briefly trapping him inside, before turning him around, the wolf bounding out now the other way, as the rest of the cards finally formed a circle around them. Luis’ teleporters now fully complete, the two of them locked inside as the cards spun around them. Their battle officially begun. 

“Did hope you wouldn’t. It’ll be more embarrassing this way.” Lauriam grinned, his smile looking a bit sharper than it usually did these days. 

Sighing as things seemed to get started, Ienzo stood across from Demyx, giving him a small shrug. Opening his Lexicon, the pages flipping open, he apologized, “Sorry, Sunshine.” And suddenly, to Demyx it would look like he was surrounded by Ienzo’s, each one summoning different elements and tools from his book. 

Summoning Earthshaker, Terra’s broadsword, he got into position before grinning at Sora. “Come at me, kiddo! Show me what ya really got!”

And immediately speeding into action, Lauriam twirled his scythe around. Eyes gleaming as he took initiative to start things trying to take Riku’s head off, petals in his wake. 

“Oh nooooo,” Demyx whined again, now rapidly strumming on his sitar as several water-based Demyxs formed around him, each one looking absolutely displeased as they faced against the many Ienzo copies. 

The Heart Trio teens were actually quite interesting in the ways their fighting styles differed, despite the fact that primarily the three had learned from sparring each other; under the adults’ watchful eyes, sometimes, but mostly not, the three sparring for fun in private quite often. 

Sora was bouncy and light, he tended to seem like he was flying as he fought, though really his jumps were longer than average because his Empath form took all his weight away from him. That said? Sora’s technique was the most brutal and forward of the three. He gripped his keyblade with both hands to better land heavy, punishing blows, landed on his feet like he was crashing, before propelling himself off the ground again. 

Worse, he didn’t seem to see a reason for parrying. As much as everyone had tried to teach him defense, and while he could dodge reasonably well, when a blow was gonna hit? Sora just let it hit. Seeming to find it easier to get knocked back, land on the ground, and then propel off it again into another attack rather than stop the attack from landing by blocking it with his keyblade. 

So when Earthshaker hit his side– hitting the Empath shield Vexen and Aeleus had taught all the factory prisoners to make, weak things that shattered on a blow but could reform to take another hit if the Empaths gave it time–and knocked Sora back like a baseball bat, Sora just caught the ground with his foot, and looking undisturbed despite what had to have been a painful blow, shot back at Terra, hitting him with brutal, forward motions that were efficient but clumsy looking. 

Meanwhile? Riku, despite being taller, with more natural strength to his frame that gave him an advantage in holding longer, heavier weapons, fought like he was putting on a ballet. He spun and twirled in a way no one had taught him to do, the motions natural to him as he used his long waist to his advantage, every blow he attempted a full spin. Xaldin remembered once asking Riku if he got dizzy doing all of that, and Riku said that he stopped really trying to ‘see’ things, when he was fighting. Whatever his eyes were picking up, he didn’t focus on it. He just trusted his instincts, trusted that if he thought something was within striking distance, that meant one of his senses was telling him there was, and he full spun into that strike, having faith something would be there. 

Still, Riku being able to rely on other senses as he fought didn’t give him much of an advantage, when the other person was fast and aggressive. Riku’s spins put on hold as he just barely parried the scythe coming at him, Riku jumping backwards once, then again, trying to get out of the scythe’s punishing range long enough to get in a counterattack. 

Meanwhile, Kairi… well, Namine, was different. She seemed to consider actually fighting with her body more of a last resort sort of thing. Holding onto her keyblade, arms hanging by her side, as Xaldin fanned out his spears, moving to attack her, before cursing as he realized the floor below him was starting to bubble. “Dammit–!”

He hopped back in time, and then had to keep jumping as one after another, large, clear, glass-like budding flowers shot up from the floor. Each one trying to trap him inside, while Namine watched. The more glass-like flowers that sprang up, the more she seemed distorted among them, her reflection bouncing off of all of them, making it seem like there were more Namines then there were, Xaldin running through the small maze of mirrored flowers to try to find her original standing point, and cursing as he realized she wasn’t there now, having moved. 

And this was Namine holding back on environmental manipulation. Namine, when sparring the others, always had to hold back. When she had been asked once who had taught her to fight like that, Namine had simply said, “Empaths shouldn’t fight the same way people do, we’re different,” and had left it at that. 

Vexen, who had not been given a partner and no one had expected to be given a partner, had his clipboard out and was observing the others, making notes and observations as he always did. Right now he was observing Lauriam. Partly to ensure he’d be okay, and partly to see if what had happened would have changed his fighting style in any way.

In some ways, Ienzo and Demyx were the worst people to fight each other. They were both passive fighters, usually relying on watching what an opponent would do and then reacting to it. Demyx swarming someone with clones if he couldn’t just talk someone out of a fight, and Ienzo, well…just fucking with them. His style was a little similar to Namine’s, in that way, but unlike her pure manipulation, Ienzo had to rely on fooling the senses of his opponent. He couldn’t just open up a hole in the floor, unless it was in his own world, but he could make a convincing illusion that would have someone jolting back from it, or trying to hop over. 

But with Demyx himself not actually moving? It was more like the two of them were just staring at each other while their respective figments clashed. 

While you might call Terra a little more refined, his style and Sora’s were, alternatively, very well suited for each other. Terra put all of himself into wide, crushing blows, though he kept himself grounded, using the earth itself as another point of leverage to use. And while he definitely utilized defensive tactics, when he and Sora were sparring? It was in heavy clashes that rippled the air, and, yeah, sent each other flying back. 

And Lauriam…well, it seemed that Lauriam was fighting as he always did. Quick and brutal, unencumbered by the size of his weapon, his scythe seemed to always be in motion, twirling around himself and the blade somehow always pointed at Riku, no matter where he spun. It made for a good spar, putting Riku’s spacial instincts to work.

Though, not all things were the same. 

As Riku managed to close some distance finally, Lauriam could only smirk. The bat-like blade coming in…and hitting air, as Lauriam blinked into light for a moment, reappearing a few steps back, back in his preferred range and not losing a second. “Like I said,” he taunted, “I don’t think you can land a hit.”

Vexen narrowed his eyes, writing some notes onto his clipboard. 

Riku, in turn, just had enough time to look shocked, before he spun out of the way, avoiding Lauriam’s counterattack. 

Meanwhile, Luis looked a bit sheepish as he stared at the ground. “Ah, sorry mate, I probably should have drank a bit more today… I sort of forgot I could do this,” he admitted. 

The giant dice hopped on the floor with an angry wolf-face engraved on one side of it, and a very irritated looking Isa engraved on another, hopping on the floor a few times in frustration, before it started to hurl itself at Luis’ legs. Determined to attack despite Isa’s new dice-like figure. 

Vexen, glancing over, hurriedly wrote more notes. Luis drinking less seemed to have a direct correlation to his abilities after all. Which Vexen supposed had always been the point. 

Xaldin, in turn, triumphantly shouted as he realized he could hear Namine’s footsteps coming around one of the mirror flower buds, Xaldin ignoring the numerous reflected Namines as he slung his fanning spears around the corner to hit her… only to balk in shock and stop the blow, a 15-year-old Lauriam looking up at him in concern as he shouted, “The fuck!?”

The young ‘Lauriam’ just glanced at him before he continued running, disappearing behind another bulb, which were full of Namines again. Xaldin took a steadying breath, before he shouted, “It’s not a spar unless you hit back, missy–GAH!” 

In his distraction, he hadn’t noticed the ground bubbling beneath him. This time one of the glass bulbs successfully forming up and around him, capturing him in their center. “Dammit!” He shouted, already starting to attack the glass. 

“Your figments are doing really well, button!” Demyx called from the other end of the incredibly pointless battle his and Ienzo’s illusions were both having, as he strummed his sitar, “Hey, wanna hear a new song I’ve been playing around with?”

“Absolutely,” Zexion hummed, full-sized and draping his arms around Demyx’s shoulders as he dully watched the simulation in front of them. “I was wondering, actually, if your water clones still amplify and add to your songs if you play with them active. This could be a good opportunity to check.”

Smirking a little, trading a glance with who he knew to be the actual, non-illusion Ienzo, Zexion whispered in Demyx’s ear, “And don’t worry. We had to play this out for a second to gather data, but Ienzo’s keeping the illusion of the fight up to the others so we won’t be interrupted.”

“Hey, watch yourself!” Lauriam called as Terra batted Sora all the way into his and Riku’s fight. Catching Sora with the back end of his scythe, Lauriam launched him back over, before snorting a little. This was a good warm-up, but it was time to get more serious. 

Throwing himself at Riku with even more aggression, Lauriam swung again…but this time, Graceful Dahlia’s reach didn’t just end with where the blade ended. Now, drawing forward into a wicked point, a pink energy covered the weapon, Lauriam’s eyes more jewel-like than moss pools, and his smirk a little more cruel than excited. 

Demyx grinned, but his face brightened slightly red. Zexion speaking into his ear, uh, pretty nice! Pretty chill! Pretty nice and chill! Pretty nice and chill and cool!

Invigorated, he started to strum the melody that he had been playing with for a while.

“Gah!” Sora shouted, though as usual, he caught himself on the floor and just launched himself again. 

Riku made the mistake of being briefly distracted by watching Sora get back up–his friend could be kinda cool, sometimes–before he refocused, eyes widening in surprise as he saw Lauriam was glowing? “What the–!” 

But all Riku could do for a moment was lift up his blade to parry as much as he could, one blow, two– but the third one hit, and then another, and another, Riku not crashing into the ground only because each hit Lauriam slammed against him kept him suspended in the air, barely able to catch his breath through the blows long enough to make a sound.

Sora brought his keyblade down on Earthshaker, once, twice, and then glancing up– “RIKU!” 

(The Heart Trio were all close. They had been their whole lives. And they had lived among a group of people who were all very devoted to each other, in ways that were often obvious.)

(But Sora was… sometimes odd.)

(About Riku.)

(In ways that it’d make more sense if one could just chalk it up to love. It’d make sense if Sora was just, in some romantic sense, in love with the boy. But there was something about that explanation that still didn’t quite match how Sora could get.)

(Odd.)

(About Riku.)

Vexen watched, eyes narrowing in sudden intrigue, as Sora suddenly turned into a dark shadow. Returning abruptly to the form that he had fought Flower!Lauriam in. Which should have been impossible, because Sora had only done that before because some of the others had sent literal energy his way, giving him the ability to transform, to suddenly move quickly, ferociously, in a way that was hard to keep up with by the naked eye. 

Or, it would have seemed impossible, had Vexen not heard several sudden gasps of pain from the others. Spars coming to a sudden stop, as Vexen felt even from himself, energy suddenly pulled from him. 

Stolen. 

Fascinating.

Shadow Sora clawed through the air, teleporting in front of Riku as Lauriam was about to make another blow against him, kicking him back before following Lauriam’s propelment backwards, crawling through the air like a creature somehow both flying and sprinting on all four, bringing up a distorted, sharp and jagged version of his keyblade to attack at Lauriam. No sound coming from Sora through all of this. Bright yellow eyes just peering mindlessly from the shadow, not unlike the shadow monsters that Ansem used to summon. 

Walking over to Demyx now that his illusion was in place, Ienzo smiled at the tune his boyfriend strummed, enjoying the sweet, almost yearning quality about it. …was any of this helpful for getting Aqua back? Well, Ienzo would make the argument that perhaps them slacking off would pull her from the depths of consciousness just to scold them. 

As soon as Riku gave him an opening, it was no contest. Lauriam smacked the teen around like he was doing racket tricks, practically juggling him in the air, but far more brutally. He wasn’t far gone, he was still fully aware this was his little brother and he by no means was going to reduce Riku to a ball of light as well…but if they needed a fight to seem like it was getting out of hand? He’d oblige~

(...there was something a little cathartic about it, deep inside of him. Marluxia laughing with delight, finally getting out some of his frustration with Ansem. Just ignore this you piece of--)

Lauriam winced, the glow fading from around him, but Riku hadn’t even hit the ground before Sora kicked Lauriam back.

Once he steadied himself, Terra quickly ran over, steadying Riku though he watched Sora with concern. “Easy, kiddo; you good Riku?” Terra checked in, helping his son sit back up. 

…Aqua, c’mon, if there was ever a time to interfe--

Maybe it wasn’t possible, Sora was moving quickly. But…it didn’t look like Lauriam was going to defend himself. Instead, the way his wide gaze locked onto the darkened keyblade coming towards him just looked frozen in…fear. 

(They’d done this to draw Aqua out in concern.)

(But she wasn’t any more overprotective than the other parents. So that meant anything that would concern her would concern…)

Earth rumbling, suddenly, instead of stabbing into Lauriam, Terra was in front of Shadow Sora. Gaze intense, even as he wheezed and shuddered as the blade went through him, Earthshaker abandoned, and his hands on Sora’s shoulders. 

An orange star pendant with a broken chain flying off…and the pool of water it landed in starting to glow. 

Lauriam looked on in horror, on the ground from where he’d been shoved to the side, voice a few octaves higher as he gasped, “Terra?”

The collar of his shirt ripped open enough to show the top of a scar in the middle of his chest. 

“This has been a very informative day,” Vexen murmured, jotting down a few more notes about everything he was seeing, before disappearing the clipboard, running forward as he clapped his hands together. 

Shadow Sora stared mindlessly at Terra, digging the blade further into his chest… until ice sprung up around him. Enclosing him inside, Vexen calling, “Alright, young man, time for you to cool off,” as he grabbed Terra’s shoulders. “Come now, remember, it’s all mental. Pull yourself off the blade, I’ll steady you… Terra?”

Even as he buckled a little from the extra push, Terra just grinned at Sora. “Good form, kiddo. Though everyone’s gonna…want to help you get that under control.”

“Shit…” Ienzo grunted, pulling Demyx along towards the others. “Namine! Help me siphon energy back out of Sora! Demyx, go check on Riku.” Already a dull orb popped up by the icy Sora, Ienzo trying to redirect some of the stolen energy into a source that wasn’t going to immediately throw anyone off balance. 

Just nodding a little, Terra, with Vexen’s help, pulled away from the keyblade, valiantly, though not quite successfully keeping his pain off his face. “She’s here,” Terra gasped, wincing, “I can… She’s here.”

He looked over to the glowing patch of water, able to just make out the top of a hand under the plane of water they were standing on. 

“Geez, we’re getting damn power bursts all over the place! Is this normal for our type?” Xaldin asked, heading nearby with everyone else, most of them looking for opportunities to be helpful.

“You’re asking me?” Luis frowned, “Oh, because I was trained as a kid? Um, I’m not sure… maybe a little? I was warned that half of Empath training was just teaching ourselves how to not do things that felt natural to us. But it never came up for me. I think my mentor underestimated my power set. I didn't even know puppetting was possible for us until Anabelle, who knows what else there is.”

“W-why did he do that, I had it under control,” Riku muttered, worriedly watching Namine and Ienzo focus on siphoning out the energy Sora had taken. 

“Y-you know our Sora! Overzealous sometimes! Hey, let’s step back a bit, you are kind of battered looking right now,” Demyx worried, encouraging Riku to step away from the group a bit more. 

Vexen looked Terra over, making sure he was okay, his wound worryingly not immediately closing as it should have… before he looked over at Lauriam. Notably staring at his scar. 

“Aqua’s here?” Isa asked, having pulled himself back into his human form partly from the help of the energy rearrangement, following Terra’s gaze as he headed to where his star jewelry was floating in the water. Isa worriedly looking at the hand beneath the water, before looking to the others. “Perhaps someone stronger should try to pull her up?” 

It was through sheer willpower that Terra was still on his feet at all, trying to mask how heavily he was breathing. He was not about to make his last moments something Sora would blame himself for, or make Riku doubt himself for needing interference, or…

…make Lauriam watch another family member die for trying to help him. 

Seeing the utter terror still in Lauriam’s face as he stared up at him, Terra pulled himself together, forcing one foot in front of the other as he pulled Lauriam up. “I dunno about ‘stronger’, but feels like we should try the symbolic route, r-right?”

At the sunny grin he gave the others--Lauriam able to hear just how ragged Terra’s breathing was up close--it at least snapped him a little out of it, and he helped Terra over to the pool. 

Kneeling down (he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep standing), Terra looked at the hand, the silhouette of an arm and blue hair floating in the water tenderly. He wasn’t ‘Terra’...but he had been made with the love for him. And filled with memories of love for the woman under the water. 

“Time to wake up, Aquifer,” he murmured to the pool, starting to reach in. The blood of the open wound in his chest dripping in and staining the water red in little swirls like ink. 

Sora let out a sigh, opening his eyes. The shadow finally gone, as he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Everyone was staring at something. Even Ienzo and Namine, who had caught him when the ice melted away, were all staring at something in the distance. The air silent and still.

The water around them rippled. Gentle, easy waves. 

-

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a dojo with her father. And one day, a boy came to the dojo with boundless confidence, declaring he was there to be a master. That wasn’t all that weird, plenty of people enrolled with the intent of gaining weapon mastery, and plenty more did thinking they’d actually succeed. The girl hadn’t thought much of just another student. 

To see what he was capable of, the master of the dojo asked his daughter to spar the boy, and they did. And for the first time, the girl was in a fight with someone her own age that gave her a challenge. Still, she won, and as she walked over, respecting the tradition of acknowledgement to help your opponent up, though she expected annoyance, frustration, someone with a bruised ego not wanting her help…

A smile as full of life as the earth itself grinned up at her, a hand clasping hers firmly as the boy expressed his excitement with learning alongside her, and promising that he’d give her an even better fight next time. 

As the boy and girl grew, they became friends. Sparring regularly in the dojo, but hanging out outside of it too. Griping about schoolwork, needling pocket change from their parents to try out new treats, and even when the boy got a job of his own, the girl wasn’t far behind, entertaining two children with the same vigor they took into spars. And with each day spent together, they fell in love. 

Then, one day, the boy, now a man, disappeared. 

And that just wouldn’t do. 

The woman searched everywhere for him, refusing to accept a world without him, and when all her efforts turned up nothing, she tried harder. Going into the parts of the world that people tended not to come back from…and, in the heart of the darkest prison in the world, she found him. And while she could no longer reach for the sun herself…she found it in him. 

And with the family they made, they were happy. 

One day, the man and woman decided to grow that family of their own accord, and like so much in the world that they wanted, they were willing to fight for it. And for a brief glimpse of time, it looked like they won. 

But not all opponents were so respectful, and the wound they were left with was one that would never heal all the way…but still. They had each other, and the rest of their family, so…they were happy. 

And again, one day the man disappeared. But this time, the woman knew that no matter where she searched, she would never find him again…

…except, within herself. In the memories they shared, and the life they had created together. 

And once again, she found him, and they were happy. 

(...not really.)

(Aqua knew that Terra wasn’t Terra. Maybe at the beginning she really had deluded herself, lost in the pain of losing someone that meant everything to her, and she needed to cling to something just for it to not eat her alive.)

(But as the years went by, as they got three new kids to raise and protect and love, as Aqua noted the differences between Terra and Terra, because for however closely he had started, Terra was living a life Terra never would, and that meant he was growing to be a different person…as she saw the toll of being a wonderful, loving person, that was committing horrific acts just so she wouldn’t have to…)

(Aqua knew. And, though she had once thought she would never love again…she grew to love Terra too. Not in the same way. But love all the same.)

(She never meant to leave her best friend alone, regardless of the pain she felt. She never meant to leave their kids, their friends.)

It was time to wake up.

-

As fingers touched hers, Aqua gasped, immediately starting to thrash in the water though she felt more hands reach in, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. She coughed deeply, spitting up water, and opening her eyes…

…Terra was smiling up at her, grin bright as he was bleeding out. 

“Holy shit Aqua, take a breath! You’re fine, you’re okay!” Xaldin griped, helping pull her up with Luis and Isa, Aqua having started to thrash and pull Terra back down when the man had first started to pull her up. “This is not what I meant when I said make us work for it!”

“Give her a moment, let’s take a step back, I’ve heard you don’t want to crowd someone who’s trying to steady their breathing,” Isa said, letting Aqua’s arm go as he took a few steps back.

Luis followed his lead, though his gaze went from Aqua to Terra, the wound in Terra’s chest worrying him, as he said, “Why don’t I feel like we’re in the clear yet. Welcome back Aqua! Can we do something about the wound!?”

It was a lot to take in all at once. 

“Wh-wha - guys, what… Terra?” Aqua called out, looking over Terra with worry, before she shook her head a little, focusing. Raising a hand, as the misty sky quickly became overcast, rain starting to fall and soothing all the aches and bruises they’d all given each other sparring. 

But still, the wound wasn’t closing. 

“Guys, what’s going on?” Aqua finally coherently asked, looking around in confusion at Demyx steadying a battered-looking Riku, Ienzo and Namine (Namine? Where was Kairi?) focusing between an…orb, and an out-of-sorts Sora, a ruffled Lauriam nearby and looking just…utterly terrified. 

And still, Terra…

(...dying.)

(...not on her fucking watch.)

Furrowing her brow, Aqua hardly waited for an answer as the rain came down harder and she placed her hands over the wound, as if she was physically trying to stem the blood.

“Hold on, let me… can we close wounds the way we do in the real world? Look, I’ll rip up my shirt, we can use it as bandages,” Xaldin said, shoving off his jacket and started to wrestle with his shirt.

“Perhaps medicine? The rain heals, if we made him drink it?” Luis said. 

“I’m… not sure if Empath wounds work that way,” Isa whispered, sadly watching Aqua try to stop the bleeding with her hands, “I’m… perhaps we could do the healing thing the cat has spoken of, shards or–”

“All of you stop being foolish and back up. You’re not helping,” Vexen huffed, waving the three men further back.

Then, with a gentleness that was uncharacteristic of him, Vexen knelt down next to Aqua. Placing his hand on her back, he whispered to her, “Your Nobody has been working very, very hard, for a very long time. And now he is hurt. He’s in pain. Nobodies who experience too much damage degrade, they deteriorate. A bandaid and a nap is not what fixes those like us. And it isn’t what he’s here for either way…” 

Vexen looked over at Terra, as he said sternly, “...I believe how we return to base essence matters. It is better to return still fully as yourself, Terra. To not return deteriorated. Safer. For the future.”

Aqua grimaced, though she shook her head a bit. Water encasing her hands as she pressed on Terra’s chest. “You’re my Nobody, if you come from me, that means I can fix you. Terra, just hold on.” She offered a slightly shaky smile. “Sorry, gotta get back in the swing of things, love.”

Terra met Vexen’s gaze tiredly before smiling up at Aqua, reaching up to hold her arm. “...you’ve gotta let me go, Aquifer. I know you’d fight the universe for us…but I’m not your Terra. He--”

“I know!” Aqua cut off, the water in her hands starting to glow as the rain poured harder, a veritable rainstorm. “I know… My husband died years ago. You’re not him. But damnit, Terra…”

Even with the water on her face, Terra could see the tears welling in her eyes. 

“I love you too. I’m not just going to let you die.”

Golden brown eyes widened slightly in surprise, before they filled with warmth. “...it’s been almost a year. Sora’s made an incredible construct, you’re gonna be so proud of how far he’s come, and like always, Riku’s keepin’ pace with him. When you find Kairi, I doubt she’ll let herself stay far behind for long. You keep an eye on them, okay?”

“Terra, don’t,” Aqua whispered. 

“‘Enzy and Demy are dating now, the real deal,” Terra huffed a barely there laugh, “We already gave them a talkin’ to, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind another round. Pull Laurie and Xal in too, since they’re finally starting to talk about the dance they’ve been doin’.” His eyes scrunched a bit. “...feel like he’s nearby, but…don’t let Lauriam blame himself for this, okay? …prof, get him to talk about that scar. Think you and ‘Enzy need to do some more studying on the keyblade…”

“...Aqua, Ventus is alive,” he said, watching blue eyes widen in shock, “We’re going to get him, the others will catch you up. We’re finally gonna see our baby… And don’t let Isa overthink the opportunity he’s makin’ to let us do it, alright? He’s gonna be great, like he’s always been.”

“...Aquifer, I’m tired. Lemme rest for a while?”

Aqua’s expression wavered, before she scoffed. “...what happened to us, Terrakion? We always used to make fun of those couples that ‘traded off’ looking after the kids.” Finally lifting her hands, Aqua drew her other half into a hug, holding him tight and feeling him draw his arms around her. 

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

And Aqua was left in the rain, hugging herself. 

There was silence for a moment. 

It was hard to speak. 

But three sets of footsteps hurried through the water. Sora getting there first, and for a moment he hesitated. Looking at the water where Terra had been, small swirls of red still spinning where he had been. As Riku and Namine came to either side of him, Sora whispered, “I’m sorry…”

Aqua took a shaky breath, before she looked up at her kids, taking all of them in.

(C’mon, Aqua, our kids need us! You would never abandon them, I know!)

“Oh, love, no…” Getting up, Aqua cupped Sora’s cheeks, making sure he’d look at her. And when she was sure, she gave him a serious look. “...we’ve all been absorbing our Nobodies, haven’t we. I remember hearing it, like a dream…”

She sighed, before giving him a small smile. “Terra was planning to go. Me taking him back, that’s not your fault, alright?” She paused, parsing through more dream-like memories. “That was your construct, wasn’t it? I always wished he’d be a little less fascinated with the things people could stab him with but I think I get it this time. You’ll have to show me properly soon.”

Sora stared up at Aqua, bringing up his fingers at one point to graze her hand against his face. Like maybe only just then it had really, honestly hit him that this was Aqua. That she was back…

And he wailed as he suddenly tackled her in a hug. 

Not unlike how the three had said goodbye to Terra, Sora and Riku and Namine clutched onto Aqua. An awful grief and honest relief washing over them as they held on. The three having just lost their father, but their mother returned. 

In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be one or the other. In a perfect world, Terra would be right there with them, welcoming Aqua back. Welcoming her home. 

But they were three who had learned early that life was imperfect. And they needed to choose, every time, to be grateful for the good things, even if it was hand in hand with the bad. Aqua was here, and they were glad. 

Aqua was here. And that was good. 

Aqua hugged her kids close, not fully remembering it, but feeling an ache in her bones like she missed them, and finally, finally things were being set right with them in her arms. Terra had said a year, but she couldn’t fully think about that right now. All she wanted was her kids close and safe. 

Once upon a time, there was a woman who had lost her freedom, her husband, her baby, and the other half of her soul. But she had her family close around her, and she was happy. 

-

Kaito settled into the phone room, sitting at the table with a sigh. 

They would have told him already, of course, but he had asked the admin department if anyone had called for him recently. Still no word from his sister. He wondered if the gift basket had gotten to her alright…

At least the room was a reassuring blue color. Kaito felt a swell of self-confidence every time he stepped into this room. Sure, usually every phone call he took in here was an absolute battle that he never entirely felt like he won, but you know what he DID have control over!? The color of this damn room! HA HA HA HA HA!! 

The receiver box buzzed to life, and over the line a woman–not Kaede–said, “One moment, please.”

Kaito waited a moment. Then another moment. 

“Second line has been connected,” the voice said. 

Kaito opened his mouth to ask the woman what she meant by ‘second line’, but his breath caught in his chest when an already irritated voice called out of the speaker, “Alright, Queen Kaede. What was so urgent that I had to be summoned from my chambers?”

Kaito swallowed. Swallowed again. He felt like he was choking on his own shock, as he suddenly gripped his hands together. Twisting his fingers into red, ugly straining colors as he popped, unpopped, crushed his joints, his brain struggling to comprehend what he was hearing. 

Byakuya?

-

In Kaede’s own chambers–well, specifically her sitting room as having a phone in her bedroom felt needlessly invasive–she straightened her dress as she sat down in her chair, smiling at Ventus. “This is fun, isn’t it?”

Ventus gave a strained, damn near panicked smile back at the queen. “Y… yes, your grace…”

“Now, this isn’t any different from the other little games we’ve tried,” Kaede explained, gesturing to the phone speaker, where the irritated man was now asking if anyone could hear him, “I don’t expect you to know anything, just to be clear. You’re not in trouble if nothing happens, okay?”

“Yes, your grace,” Ventus whispered, staring at the speaker in rising nerves, “...Your grace, I feel the need to say again, despite what my parents adopted me for, I’ve… never shown any demonic traits–”

“You wouldn’t be a demon either way, Ventus. There’s nothing wrong with you, regardless of anything,” Kaede smiled warmly at him, “And I’ve heard. There’s not a lot I haven’t heard, Ventus. I’m simply experimenting with ways to potentially hear more things, things I otherwise couldn’t. Though again, you are doing nothing wrong if you hear nothing, okay? I will never harm you for not being able to pull thoughts from a person's head, that’d be monstrous of me.” Kaede laughed lightly, before clapping her hands together and saying brightly, “So! The reason I want to try it this time is, one, if it works, it’d be sooooo useful to me! I would love to know what these two think about the conversation we’re about to have.”

“And also, both of their emotions are going to be heightened, I’m sure,” Kaede said, tilting her head, “And I’ve heard the proximity is more flexible than you’d think, for these sorts of abilities. Closeness doesn’t seem to matter as much as ‘awareness’. And hearing their voices, you’re aware of them, yes?”

“I… I only hear one person, my queen,” Ventus said.

“Oh, right! Shhh,” Kaede winked at Ventus, putting her finger to lips, before clicking a button on the speaker, “Sorry, Lord Byakuya Momota,” Kaede said, stressing the full name as she looked pointedly at Ventus, grinning at him like they were sharing a secret, as she continued, “Prince-Consort Kaito Ouma Momota, why so quiet? It’s a reunion! This is a moment to celebrate!”

Then she reached over and muted the speaker again, smiling brightly as the irritated man–the former king, Ventus realized with a bead of sweat on his forehead–sputtered in response. 

-

“Kaito’s here?!” Byakuya barked, before rubbing his face, trying to compose himself. Realizing this was not something he wanted overheard, he waved away the servants who were standing by to attend to him, mouthing at them, ‘Go, close the door behind you.’

Two of the servants bowed and retreated immediately, but the third one pointed to the carrier and mouthed back, ‘With him, my lord?’

Byakuya wrestled with himself for a moment. Marigold had bet that Byakuya couldn’t watch Theor on his own for eight whole hours without sending him off, and Byakuya was so close to proving her wrong. Damn Kaede. Besides, the doctors had all said Byakuya needed more one-on-one bonding time with the boy, otherwise he’d never get to a point where he’d recognize Byakuya enough to relax enough to play around him. 

But Byakuya was now officially Busy. Busy-Busy. Kaede was pulling some shit and god forbid the baby started to cry– ‘No, leave him,’ he mouthed at the servant, frustrated with himself.

Theor, in turn, suckled on his pacifier. Watching the strange man as the familiar Big Ones all ran. Truly odd, how that happened sometimes. This man must be a new test-nanny. 

The servants gone, Byakuya turned back to the speaker, where Kaede was explaining to himself and a traitor who had yet to actually say anything, “So–”

-

“I’m aware that this is a bit of a surprise for you both,” Kaede said, smiling at the speaker, “But, I knew Kaito would be calling me today once my husband arrived at his castle, and I thought, why not take advantage?”

“Take advantage of what?” Byakuya said over the phone, his voice somewhat static from the effect of the speaker, “You could have summoned us at any time. Also, are you certain Kaito is even here? I wouldn’t be surprised if he realized what was happening and ran to curl up in his prince’s lap.”

“....’m here,” Kaito muttered. His voice coming a little clearer, the Dicean phone lines somewhat better.

Kaede, having hit the mute button, turned to Ventus. “Try your best, okay? I’m not sure how long I’ll actually be able to keep them both on the line.”

“Yes, your grace,” Ventus said, no idea what trying his best meant in this context. Was he just supposed to… listen really hard? Experiments like these had never worked within his own family, when his parents had tested him either. He really had no idea what anyone meant when they said he needed to try to ‘listen to people's feelings.’

Not that he wouldn’t try. Kaede kept saying nothing would happen to him if he couldn’t do it. She said it too much, really. He felt reasonably sure something was going to happen to him, as he listened… ‘hard’?

-

“...Queen Kaede, I’ve just called to report that your husband and his party made it to the castle safely,” Kaito said, realizing the best way out of this was through. He didn’t have to stay on the line, no deal with whatever this was going to be, as he stressed, “And despite some miscommunications, the proposal for ambassadorship for Sou has been reiterated and will be discussed further, here, in due time–”

“You’re trying to make Sou an ambassador?” Byakuya asked, scoffing, “Oh, that’s rich. You still don’t know, Kaito? Well, not that I should be surprised, you were far more interested in whoring than creating a proper information network–”

“I am not a whore, and I’m not going to stay here to be treated like this!” Kaito shouted at the speaker, “And Kaede, I don’t appreciate the ‘surprise’ when you know I’m estranged from–what is that?”

“Ugh, now look what you’ve done,” Byakuya muttered, sounding more distant from the speaker, before sounding closer, a whimpering, burping sound coming over the speaker, “Nothing gets this boy to cry, but one tantrum from Kaito and suddenly it’s noise city.”

Kaito stared at the speaker. Listening to the soft baby whimpers… before he forced himself to sit back down. Saying in a much lighter, sing-songy tone, despite how heavy his heart felt, “Oh nooooo, is that a crying little babyyyy? Oh, I’m sorry, Theor. Is that my little Theooor~?”

-

Kaede listened to Kaito coo to his nephew over the speaker, trying to soothe Theor a country away, chuckling slightly, before she unmuted, “Well, what Byakuya is trying to say is one of the reasons I actually wanted all three of us to talk, Kaito. I knew you were going to be angry about me not bringing up the ambassador thing yet, but honestly, I wanted Byakuya to explain why you might have some misgivings about making that offer in all seriousness. Now that Sou is, as I’m sure you think of it, ‘safe and sound’ where you are, you might want to know the whole story before you offer him a job and insist he stay.”

“Sou is a big grown-ish man who doesn’t need you to try to bully me into ‘letting’ him return to Luminary~” Kaito still sang-song, his irritation and anger smothered in his trying to use his ‘little baby voice for little baby ears’ tone, as he sang-song, “And I’m not stupid~ I already knooooow~~”

“I know the first part of that end statement is wrong, which makes me doubt the second part,” Byakuya said dryly, as Theor started to coo happily over the phone, “Though, admittedly, you do seem to know how to speak to infants. I imagine it’s from sharing a kinship with them.”

“You’re such a jeeeerk and you shouldn’t be a daaad~” Kaito cooed.

“And you’re a child who rebelled the second you found someone new to take care of you,” Byakuya snarled. “I sacrificed everything to help you, and you turned around and spat in my eye.”

“Is daddy delulu, Theor? Yes he is, he’s soooo delusional~”

Ventus’s left eyebrow twitched. He wasn’t hearing emotions the way Kaede wanted him to, he was sure. But, uh, boy, did he not need to be psychic to hear how bitter this whole exchange was. Even more so than how he felt like he shouldn’t be listening into whatever international negotiation this was, this felt like a family spat he really shouldn’t be here for.

Kaede, in turn, actually just seemed fond. Listening to them before unmuting the speaker.

-

“It’s actually really nice hearing you just speak normally to each other for once,” Kaede said through the speaker. “This feels like progress!”

“Progress towards our next in-continent war, surely.” Byakuya scoffed, honestly a little annoyed by how Theor enchanted seemed to be by a disembodied voice in the air cooing at him. Really, boy? That cutesy talk was all it took to earn your affection? Theor never was this relaxed around Byakuya. “It’s a shame we wouldn’t just be fighting Kaito, if he’s stupid enough to still want to offer Sou ambassadorship when the boy is just that. A spy and a boy.”

“Neither of which is his fault,” Kaito said, his voice evening to show how stern he was, before he sang-song, “Besides, it’s a recognized form of authority in Dicea~ A leader’s spouse going to be an ambassador for the betterment of their kingdom has historical precedence in Dicea~ They’ll respect Sou and his devotion to being a leader here~ Honestly, he’d be more beloved for his role in the government here than I am, for acting so honorably~”

“That’s not hard. Making you the bar is literally putting it onto the floor,” Byakuya said dryly, giving Theor a dry look as the baby now just looked at him. His expression blank again, like he found Byakuya just thoroughly uninteresting. 

“But he’d be happier in Luminary, as a king, Kaito,” Kaede said, “What can you offer him that I can’t? Unfathomable wealth? A castle the size of a city? Servants waiting on him hand and foot?”

-

“No one locking him in a room at their whim and terrorizing him for scheeemes~” Kaito cooed into the phone, smiling lightly as he heard Theor giggle slightly at that. Listen to the little giggly baby… Kaito wondered what he looked like. What milestone was he at? Could he lift his head? His little nephew…

Kaito swallowed the thickness in his throat, looking down and rubbing the redness from his eyes. He’d likely never know. 

“...if you’re trying to bully me into not offering him a job, Kaede?” Kaito said, “It’s not going to work. Past that? It’s up to Sou if he accepts it. But I’m going to make gosh darn sure that you don’t influence him to reject it. As far as I’m concerned, he’s as old as he says he is, he’s a king before he’s a spy, I don’t care if he was royalty before that, it doesn’t matter. He is exactly who he says he is. And I’m offering him a job. One that, frankly, our kingdoms desperately need.”

Kaede sighed over the speaker, “Honestly, Kaito… I think you’re being unreasonable. But fine. If that’s where you stand, I can’t stop you. But, this does lead to a new issue.”

“Oh, now what,” Byakuya grumbled. 

-

‘This is the bit,’ Kaede mouthed to Ventus, who nodded warily, before she said to the speaker, “I need to know, Kaito, if you’ve stolen my husband from me as part of a scheme to ensure I cannot produce an heir.”

There was silence on the end… before a long, frustrated sigh. “God, Kaede… no. I’m not you two. The thought never occurred to me. And, frankly, my husbands and I would really appreciate if you figured out the heir situation already. We don’t want Miyako to be queen of Luminary.”

Ventus noticed Kaede was staring at him. 

W…was he supposed to tell if the prince was lying? Uh. Uh. 

Ventus focused… and shook his head a bit helplessly at Kaede. No, he had no idea. He couldn’t hear anything.

Kaede sighed, before saying, “What about you, Byakuya. Any strong feelings about Theor becoming king?”

“It feels inevitable at this point, if you’re refusing to go the easiest possible route with this,” Byakuya said, “Just spread your legs for some concubine, if your husband refuses to touch you. Which I’m assuming is the reason you’re not pregnant already. Kaito’s already brought the practice back to the royal family by marrying Shuichi as a concubine–”

“Well, we don’t call it that here,” Kaito said a tad desperately. 

“--pick yourself someone halfway handsome, preferably with noble birth, claim them as a concubine and just make your own heir. I don’t know why we need to spell out the birds and the bees to you, Kaede.” Byakuya scoffed. “Now if we’re done with this farce, my son has just soiled his heir-worn diaper, and I need to find someone to take care of it.”

“You don’t know how to change a diaper?” Kaito said, something mocking in his tone, “Wow. Theor’s got it rough.”

“Do not concern yourself with a stranger’s child, Prince-Consort Ouma,” Byakuya snarled into the phone, before it clicked off.

“...Kaede, you should know, it’s literally only you being queen that’s keeping me from calling you some really shitty names right now,” Kaito said, “I can’t believe you’d spring that on me. Though, really, why should I be surprised? You didn’t ask me if you should do it first, and goodness knows you don’t have a damn conscience yourself.”

“You may go for the night, Kaito,” Kaede smiled at the phone, “I’m pleased to hear that my husband made it safely.”

The speaker went dead at that. 

“...nothing at all?” Kaede asked Ventus.

“I… I’m sorry, my queen,” Ventus said softly, “No.”

“Don’t apologize. I knew it was a long shot. But, on the plus side,” she laughed, giving Ventus a fond look, “Now you know how politics sometimes sound behind closed doors. It’s a good learning experience for you. You could be a mover and shaker someday, Ventus.”

“Yes, your highness,” Ventus said. 

-

To say the least, it was a groggy morning on both ends of the Empaths traveling. He had said it at the start, that Terra choosing to become whole on the first night of their travels was terrible timing. 

And yet? Somehow being a little tired and disoriented in the morning really didn’t seem like that much of a consequence. 

…

Lauriam hadn’t said much, after Aqua returned. Part of him knew that Terra wasn’t dead-dead. No more than any of their Nobodies, regardless of what happened. Though what happened was…

…

…they didn’t need his help anyway. So after they set off on the road again, Lauriam curled back up in his sleeping spot and closed his eyes. He was pretty tired anyway.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Vexen said, glancing over to Lauriam, looking away from a tree he was examining, “I was starting to think you didn’t feel me enter at all.”

“Wha-?” Lauriam startled slightly, seeing Vexen…for some reason in his world. And himself, in his world. For some reason. 

(The gouges had healed up, and the ground had swallowed the pieces of the signs, now only discoverable if you dug through the dirt. It was bright, again, sunlight giving the plants the energy they needed, and while quite a lot of flowers were just budding, some had started to bloom again.)

(In some ways, it was a field in early spring.)

Crossing his arms a little self-consciously, Lauriam raised an eyebrow. “...what did you feel the need to sneak into my world for? As much as I’d beg to differ, I know most of us don’t find it particularly entertaining in here.”

“Sneak is a strong word. I can’t help that I step lightly,” Vexen said, though that was a lie, he absolutely could help it. He had just been doing it so long that it felt like second nature, as he looked around the field. “And why do you think? I’ve come to check on you. Since you seem to be so intent to hide wounds from us, for some baffling reason. Now strip your shirt.”

Lauriam’s shoulders stiffened even as he gave Vexen a flat look. “Aren’t you usually a pedant? Wounds are active injuries, aren’t they?”

Still, after a moment’s hesitation, he started unbuttoning his shirt. Looking away as he revealed a lock-shaped scar on the center of his chest, just the size in height of the end of a keyblade. 

“...I wasn’t trying to hide it,” Lauriam said softer. “I found it right before we said goodbye to Terra.” The full thing, anyway. 

“Empath wounds don’t work the way physical ones do. We really need to stop equating them,” Vexen said, leaning in to peer at the wound closer, “...this seems to be a very unfortunate side effect of Sora’s abilities. Or, at least on first glance it does. It could be unrelated.” 

Straightening up, he looked around the spring-touched field. “Let’s do some exercises. Can you alter anything in this field?”

Lauriam shrugged a little, looking tired. “He did impale me. I don’t think it’s that far-fetched that my projection would take that into account.” …body. Projection. It felt a little harder to think of it solely as his body these days, when he could literally look down and see the full manifestation of his essence. 

Sighing, Lauriam looked around the field for a moment before walking over to put a hand on the tree Vexen had been looking at before. He took a deep breath, before the tree started to rapidly bloom, countless buds suddenly forming and growing and blooming, leaves unfurling to fill out the boughs. 

The plant looking a little healthier, with some dedicated attention. 

“That seems good,” Vexen murmured, “How about making something brand new? Nothing extreme. Just something that requires more energy… and also, be more careful where you put your arms, I need to stare into the hole in your chest.” Vexen leaned forward and squinted at Lauriam’s chest. 

Lauriam gave Vexen an uneasy look. “I thought between us, I wasn’t supposed to be the ‘heartless’ one anymore. It’s not a hole.”

Still, he made sure not to cross his arms as he focused, a new patch of ferns growing out of the ground, similar to some they had seen where they parked the carriages for the night. It was something of a shame, Lauriam thought, that he didn’t know the name of them, but having them in his world would make it easier to match them to descriptions or reference drawings later on. If Dicea was as green as the others kept saying, then surely he’d be able to find a plant guide somewhere. 

Vexen watched the scar. No glowing. No distortion to the shape. It just acted like a normal, physical scar.

Which made no damn sense, since, again, that was not how projections worked.

“Curious,” Vexen said, “May I poke it?”

Lauriam huffed softly. “Really time for a physical today, huh.” 

He tipped his head back a little, consenting, though he told Vexen, “If you’re looking for new Empathetic phenomena to study, you’d probably find it more interesting moving your hand a little to my left. As far as I can tell, it’s…just a scar. That’s strange, sure, but I don’t think I’ve gotten any new abilities, or lost old ones because of it.”

“Why is this more interesting?” Vexen asked, reaching forward and first brushing his fingers against the scar–normal scar tissue–before moving his hand over. “Does it hurt? Any phantom pain when I touch it?”

Even asking Vexen to do it--basically--Lauriam still couldn’t help his eyes widening in a jolt as Vexen touched the ball of light in his chest. He let out a breath before giving the older Empath a mildly incredulous look. “You’re kidding, right? It basically is me, and you think a scar from an injury you watched me get is more interesting?”

Half-shrugging, Lauriam tried to explain it. “It doesn’t hurt, no. It’s just…startling, I think. It’s like…having ice dropped down the back of your shirt.” Calling it ‘raw’ felt too much like he was calling it painful, and it really wasn’t. But Lauriam didn’t think that someone touching the whole of what made him up wouldn’t be a little overwhelming in some way.

“I assumed the light would disappear the more stable you became,” Vexen explained, “The light isn’t new. The scar is. Still, the fact that you are getting more stable and it's still this bright? Hmm.”

“And all of you is you, Lauriam,” Vexen said, straightening up and taking his hand back. “I understand the desire to treat your surface form as something that exists separate from all of this,” Vexen said, gesturing to the field around them, “But it’s not. It’s just where you’re focusing your perception. But your projection has been changed seemingly out of your own control or desire. Which is… bad.”

Vexen tilted his head. “And also fascinating. But mostly bad. We of course have known that Empaths can alter each other the same as we can alter humans, primarily through Namine’s debacle with Xion, though there have been less extreme examples of it, such as the Head Secretary pulling memories to the surface on a whim. This is the second more extreme example I’ve personally witnessed though, outside of Namine’s abilities. Sora’s construct was able to change you. And he was able to do it outside of your mind. Perhaps the difference is he was on Destiny Island, where we are all centrally connected?”

“I’m assuming it’s like what I told Axel before,” Lauriam shrugged, “I may be way better than I was before, but I still just pass out sometimes. Healing still has a ways to go. Maybe the light is just so I don’t forget it in here.”

Vexen seemingly done, Lauriam started buttoning up his shirt again as he looked around his world, frowning a bit. He did know that his world was him, but…it was so hard to think about it like that. What do you mean? He was him, how could he exist within himself? But that was just the nature of being an Empath, really. 

Listening to some of Ienzo’s theories lately… Lauriam regarded his own intelligence pretty highly, but he felt braindead even trying to conceptualize what Ienzo was talking about these days. It made no sense to him. 

(Maybe that meant he was falling behind. Everyone seemed to be sprinting forward after becoming whole, and Lauriam…)

(Maybe Marluxia really would’ve done better if he was the real one between them.)

(At least his relationship with Xaldin had been stable.)

Frowning a bit, Lauriam looked to the side. “Didn’t you guys always tell us that being injured as our projections meant our actual, physical minds were injured? Or overtaxed, at least. Why does where he stabbed me matter that much? With enough power, an injury’s an injury, right?”

“Yes, but it’s really meant to show everywhere,” Vexen explained, “But yours is centralized. Oh, you mean, why does it matter it wasn’t in your mind?”

Vexen paused, considering it, before he said, “I suppose I don’t actually have enough data to say that it does or doesn’t. But I believe up until this point I assumed that being away from your own mind, projecting somewhere else, offered a layer of protection. Our minds are vulnerable places. They are our organs exposed to the air. Standing inside someone’s mind offers you more access to the whole of them, rather than just a projected presence.”

“That is partly why Destiny Island exists,” Vexen explained, “Normally, Empaths have protections called ‘Lobbies’. They’re areas we allow visitors into that are somewhat more protected than the rest of our mind, a layer between the visitors and ourselves. We made Destiny Island our collective Lobby. It should be harder to harm you there.”

Lauriam frowned a bit, crossing his arms and cocking a hip as he took that in. That’s what The Ouma had called it before, hadn’t he. A ‘collective’. Short, likely, for ‘collective lobby’. A buffer of a psychic area, allowing Empaths to meet, but without the vulnerability of your full mind on display…

But it was all of theirs. And…it really wasn’t difficult at all to get to any of their worlds, barring Riku’s. And if someone was on Destiny Island that they didn’t want there, none of them knew how to get rid of an unwanted guest. 

…so what were they even getting in return, rather than having personal lobbies that they actually had control of? Less effort for talking to each other? Maybe a lobby at all for the weaker Empaths? If that were true, Lauriam supposed that was a good reason, but…

“...so you’re saying that because Sora’s part of the island too, it likely didn’t matter that it was a lobby, with all of the protection that would entail?” Lauriam clarified. “Because he’s not an outside source bouncing against a shield, just another part within it.”

“Hmmm. I wasn’t saying that, but it’s a good theory,” Vexen mused, “Perhaps our connection to each other makes us more vulnerable to attacks and manipulations from each other? That would make sense, though we’ve never tested that before. I wonder, if you had managed to kill one of us in the lobby, what would it have done to that person's mind?”

“It’s an interesting thought experiment,” Vexen said, “Difficult to test in an ethical way. But in theory, seeing the effect Sora had on you, if one wanted to affect multiple minds at once, presumably Destiny Island is the most logical place to do so…”

Vexen stared off into the middle distance, contemplating that…before he looked over at Lauriam with a frown. “I can feel you fuming. What is wrong?”

Lauriam winced a little at the reminder. If that theory was true? He couldn’t really believe that killing one of their projections would straight up kill them fully…but it couldn’t have been anything good. If Lauriam had managed to…what, send someone into a mental break, send them into a coma, mentally impair them for life?

He really hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. 

Lauriam frowned back at Vexen. 

(He’d just gotten his dad killed last night. He, apparently, was terrified of his little brother. He couldn’t maintain a healthy relationship with anyone, in any way, to literally save his life or anyone else’s. He’d done nothing but stumble into one fuck up after another since he’d been back.)

(God Lauriam just wanted to be alone for like five minutes.)

“Nothing, I’m just tired.” Lauriam rolled his eyes a little. “Big surprise, pushing myself in a spar meant I pushed myself.”

“Indeed. I won’t keep you much longer then,” Vexen said, straightening his jacket as he asked, “Lauriam, what was it like, becoming the flower?”

“I don’t remember,” Lauriam said dully, looking over his field. “I just remember being freaked out and panicking, then feeling you guys…and the next thing I remember is Sora stabbing me. I only know as much as I do about being a giant killer flower because Zexion tried to be very thorough while he was babysitting me.”

“I see,” Vexen said, “Would you be willing to allow me to find that memory and watch it?”

He paused, before explaining, “You managed to tap into a moment of exceptional power, Lauriam. Something any other day I think would be beyond you. There could be value, in knowing how to tap into an ability like that, if only theoretically.”

Lauriam’s shoulders dropped a bit. “...I mean sure, but…” His voice lowered a bit. “I basically lost my mind from it, didn’t I? The way you guys describe it, if The Ouma and his lot hadn’t shown up, I probably would’ve died. Even if I could tap into that level of power, that basically proves it’s too much for me to handle.”

Lauriam looked around a little before he sighed. Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “...hey, Vexen? You’ve been around forever, right?”

Perhaps some things would be worth the risk, if it temporarily gave an Empath more power than they normally had.

“I am quite old, as Demyx is so fond of reminding me, yes. Why?” Vexen asked.

Lauriam opened his mouth, before hesitating. Clearly second guessing bringing it up at all…but almost begrudgingly he kicked himself into actually asking, “You said before that the self-preservation instincts are going to definitely kick in when it’s time to get Even back, so you’re obviously not skipping right towards going back to base essence. …do…”

He let out a little huff, glaring at a far spot in the fields. “...I know Ansem and Namine even brought it up because it wasn’t working, so maybe it’s dumb even to ask. …but do you think you’re doing it better than Even would?”

“Yes,” Vexen said automatically, before pausing, “Though, you’d have to specify what ‘it’ is. I do many things better than Even. That is half the reason I exist.”

“Living,” Lauriam said quietly, gaze lowered. 

“Too vague,” Vexen said, “That’s the default. Though I like to think I’d handle dying with better grace than Even. One of those things that comes from being a temporary creature… or perhaps not. Perhaps I’ll find a way to live long after him. I’m not above a little immortality attempt.”

Sighing, Vexen looked around the grass. “...Lauriam, I’m old, I don’t want to sit in the grass. Can you make me a chair? And then we’re going to talk about this. I’m afraid you’ve said the magic words that means I have to stop doing research and be…” Vexen sighed, “A ‘dad’, if you will. Or a weird uncle. A crazy grandfather? Honestly, finding labels between us all can be taxing sometimes. You understand.”

Lauriam pouted a bit. Maybe it was too vague, but anything else felt too specific. 

Giving Vexen a half amused look, he commented, “This isn’t even your physical body, how is thinking about standing more mentally taxing than thinking about sitting?” Even still, sturdy, thin vines rose from the ground, weaving through each other until two garden chairs formed, Lauriam taking one. As he touched it, little yellow flowers bloomed like decorations. 

One leg stretched out, and one braced on the crossbar, he sighed. “Marluxia thought that he was the full, main person, right? That there was nothing more to us than what he had. …maybe that would’ve been better if it were true, than me coming back.”

“Being aware of the fallacy doesn’t make me immune to it,” Vexen said simply, sitting down with a sigh into the chair, white roses delicately blooming around him, “You should always be aware of that, Lauriam. None of us are immune to propaganda, delusion, fallacy. Giving it a name can only control those things so much.”

“Marluxia was a full person,” Vexen agreed easily. “Ansem was a full person, if a newer one. Xion and Roxas each full people with ideas and beliefs and dreams and goals. I am a full person. Namine is a full person, though I know she would disagree with me. Xaldin is a full person, and his grief of giving that up is palpable. Considering how entangled you are with him, I am not surprised you have doubts and confusion as to what we are doing.”

“Lauriam, I am a Nobody. Everyone who started trying to find a way to make ourselves whole? Were Nobodies,” Vexen said, “We did this not because we hate life or were done with it. Not even the call of Base Essence is what drew us. We did it because our family and loved ones were all in comas. And as the ones left behind? We had to make a choice. Do we leave you to your comas, selfishly go on and live our lives… or do we save you. And sacrifice what we have, to bring you back.”

“Part of what makes us ‘full people’ is, I believe, the choice to save you,” Vexen said, “That said? We didn’t save ‘lesser’ versions of ourselves. Xaldin did not encourage Marluxia to go through with his wholeness because he was feeling mean spirited. He was doing it because he cared about you. Cared about both of you, I imagine. And he knew if given enough time, he’d lose whatever nerve he had, letting Marluxia go… that’s what I believe, anyway. Xaldin can be confusingly contrary sometimes. But considering we all were dealing with similar feelings? It’s an educated guess.”

“Marluxia gave up his life to bring you back,” Vexen said, “The rest of us allowed him to. Encouraged him to. Because we love you very much. And we’d rather you both back and safe, in some manner, than you asleep forever. Whatever Marluxia’s beliefs were just before he chose to save you? He believed in you when he did. That cannot be ignored. He loved you, and saved you.”

Lauriam gave Vexen a slightly annoyed look, the pedanticness back in full force it seemed. Yes, the Nobodies were full people too, but Vexen knew what he meant. Marluxia didn’t think Lauriam existed. That it was all just him, like it was for Axel, Luis, and Aeleus. And he only went through with the whole process of ‘becoming whole’ because he wanted to win a bet. 

Marluxia hadn’t thought there was anyone he was trying to bring back. 

They had both always been selfish. Lauriam wished that Marluxia had kept being so. 

He didn’t even really get what happened at the end, there. If it had just been too hard to see that it wasn’t all just him, if it had been too hard remembering everything about Strelitzia. 

Was it love driving Marluxia as he and Luis talked by their graves?

As Vexen talked, it seemed that the words weighed heavier and heavier upon Lauriam. So maybe it wasn’t surprising that he just murmured, “I wish he hadn’t,” at the end. 

“I can see that,” Vexen said, “...could I ask why? And please keep in mind, I’m not my husband. I’m not good at ‘feelings’. I can’t promise to say anything particularly comforting.”

Lauriam gave an amused huff before sighing. “...I feel like I can’t do anything right. I’m either picking a fight or hurting myself, and it feels like things have just…been one disaster or problem to address after another since I woke up. I know Marluxia wasn’t happy that often either, but at least when he did that stuff, it was on purpose. Xaldin and I have talked to death about how it’s asking the impossible for the factory to have left anyone unchanged, but…I’m not comparing myself to when I came in, it’s only been a year. And I feel like I don’t even recognize myself.”

He used to feel confident. And he still had, when he first woke up. But between friends avoiding him, going on a rampage, almost killing himself, being genuinely scared of Sora, picking a fight with a prince, just…feeling like something his family had to navigate around now? …someone they had to sacrifice for?

“Life would be better given to someone who actually knows what they want to do, and can do it, I guess,” Lauriam said quietly. “I don’t even know if Marluxia would want to be conscious again…but I think he’d use it better than me.”

“Hmmm,” Vexen said, “Would you feel better if you could trade?”

Lauriam didn’t think he’d feel anything if he could trade, but that would be…

Looking away, Lauriam nodded a little.

“I see.” Vexen pressed his fingers together, considering. “...how would you feel about being a chibi?”

That brought Lauriam’s attention back to Vexen, as he gaped at the other man, before squinting. “...what, like Zexion?”

“Yes,” Vexen said, “Mind you, I haven’t put too much thought into this aspect of it yet, but in theory, I don’t see why it couldn’t work. What truly is the difference between Ienzo and Zexion? Beyond that we all agreed one was the ‘true’ version of himself, and the other becomes what seems to amount to, I would argue, a Nobody with aesthetic.”

“That said, chibis seem to have a freedom as constructs that is hard to argue any other has been shown to possess,” Vexen said, “Perhaps it’s the complicated matter of their construction requiring more than one person. But I would argue, thanks to Destiny Island, all of us Nobodies were fundamentally constructed by the energy of more than one person. Several, in fact.” Vexen paused, before saying, “Based on my observations, it could be argued a thoroughly well developed chibi could arguably just be another facet of a person. Same as us Nobodies. And if you decided to live as a chibi yourself, and gave the construct the body to run? You’d still be in good company. The life of a chibi does not seem lesser to me. In the same way my life as a Nobody does not seem lesser. It’s just more… support, than fully independent.”

“Could you enjoy a life like that?” Vexen asked. 

That was…true. Zexion was, inarguably, a person, and with Ienzo’s little reveal, one Lauriam had grown up with just as much as Ienzo, even if he hadn’t known that. Maybe it was a little risky, since someone else running the body while the Somebody chilled out mentally was what had gotten them stuck in the first place…

(But would that be so bad? It was what you were just wishing, wasn’t it? That Marluxia hadn’t woken you up. And, if you’re really being honest, being a Chibi, with all the freedoms and abilities it looked like Zexion had, was a probably better and less permanent choice than…well.)

(Killing yourself.)

(If Marluxia got to make choices out in the world again? Stopped fucking up your life? And you could be there for support if he needed it? Would that be so bad?)

(What about Xaldin?)

(...)

(...he’s just going to dump you once he’s Dilan all the way anyway. Maybe it’d be better this way. And Marluxia could say goodbye too.)

(He’d hardly said goodbye to anyone. He’d thought it was all fake, and anyone going through with things was a traitor. That’s why he hadn’t said goodbye to…)

Lauriam looked a little uneasy still, but he started slowly nodding. “...I think so.”

“Alright then,” Vexen said, standing up and brushing the dirt from the back of his jacket, “I will do my best.”

“O…kay?” Lauriam said, still…not entirely sure what Vexen meant by all that, but figuring the other Empath had some sort of plan. 

…it sounded like Vexen was leaving, so at least he’d be left alone and could actually properly sleep. 

…man, he…really didn’t feel good. 

(Once again, someone ran towards you and had a blade put through them for the trouble. After over, and over, and over again one by one your family dying, even if the rest were waking up.)

(You should’ve been there for Larxene. Despite how much she and Marluxia rolled their eyes at the prospect of finding your hearts, you know that she didn’t really betray him. It wasn’t her choice to bring Demyx back. She was your friend, you should’ve been there. What, you left things to Zexion and a fucking stranger? Her last performance for a measly audience of two. You should’ve cheered so hard that Demyx would still be able to feel the lingering sparks of her passion.

And now you and Demyx can barely have a conversation. If he doesn’t already, he should hate you.)

(Sora is going to be devastated if he ever realizes why you flinch every time he and the others gush about their keyblades. It’s not his fault, he was trying to save everyone. From you. Just like you thought. He did save everyone, because unlike you, your little brother is amazing. He’s able to put ego and doubts to the side, and just focus on what he really cares about. Roxas went first, before anyone thought it was even possible.

…why had they let Roxas go first? He was just a kid, and, sure, Axel and Zexion were there, but…)

(...maybe you should stop giving Xaldin a reason to be conflicted. It wouldn’t be the same push he gave Marluxia, because unlike you, Xaldin actually has a life outside of you, but maybe…)

(You should just go die, Lauriam.)

-

Vexen whistled cheerfully. 

Hell yeah. Good dad moment. 

Landing back on the beach, Vexen continued to whistle, hands interlocked behind his back, as he headed to Ienzo’s gate. Though, instead of heading inside, he politely knocked, before stepping back and waiting. 

o_o

ovo Hi, Dad.

o_o Ienzo’s helping catch Aqua back up with everything, did you need him specifically? 

“Good day, Zexion,” Vexen smiled, “Actually, if you have time I was hoping to speak to you. I’m working on a theory and I could use your assistance. I’m looking into exactly what it takes to create and successfully implant a chibi, using a pre-established personality. Not unlike yourself.”

o๐o !

Zexion’s eyes widened in interest before he nodded eagerly, though he then started tapping his chin in thought. 

o_O ‘Implant’ a Chibi? So, you’re theorizing over doing it for someone else? Intriguing… I know Amaina was initially made by Miku’s friend, then ‘given’ to her. She is a part of Miku’s mind, but didn’t start out that way, I mean, so we know it’s possible to transfer a Chibi. At least, with all parties willing.

ㅍ_ㅍ …you’re not planning an experiment on someone unwilling again, are you?

ó_ò We promised not to do that anymore. It’s unethical.

“No, I have a willing volunteer,” Vexen said proudly. Not deeming it worth mentioning that he wasn’t quite worried about the others consenting once he was certain of the process. 

His family could be a bit… silly and self-destructive, sometimes. Which was how they had just rapidly lost several members of said family. Which was both understandable and foolish. Vexen intended to correct this silly mistake. The others would adjust.

“Lauriam has expressed an interest in actually being a chibi himself,” Vexen explained, “But, to allow him to do that, it’d be helpful to have someone who can run the body himself, and so I’ll also be looking into how to bring Marluxia back to allow him to do so. My end goal being that either of them can take on the role of chibi or the surface personality as desired. Obviously, you are my resident expert on such a subject. I’d be grateful for your time and help, son.”

O_O WHAT

What??

Lauriam has expressed an interest in actually being a…

ó_ò I mean, of course I’ll help, I’d be lying if the thought of trying to gather the dispersed pieces of the Nobodies hasn’t occurred to me before, but-

Ó_Ò What do you mean Lauriam wants to be a Chibi? What did he actually say?

ó_ò And to be transparent about my own understanding of existence, I think reassigning a born consciousness into a Chibi is…significantly more difficult than it would be for a former Nobody. 

o_o We’re not not people, but unlike our counterparts, we were made with a purpose. That may give us more drive and security in going forward in life, and it’s not to say we’re static, at least given more consideration by our Somebody, but it does mean that we’re somewhat tied to that purpose, no matter what else we do in life. 

o_o I believe that that purpose and clarity holds importance to being a Chibi, so trying to transfer a born person into one…would be a slightly different experiment.

“I’m sure we’ll manage something,” Vexen said, gesturing Zexion to follow him as he headed to the pier, pulling out a small bag from his pocket, “Lauriam seemed quite determined to give up control of his body to Marluxia, and obviously sending him back to sleep is not an option. We wish to help him, not turn back the clock to old problems. He just doesn’t feel up to being the primary person in charge of his body. Which we allowed Ienzo to do until he was ready to take control of his body again. And it worked quite well for him.”

Getting to the pier, Vexen started to pull out and put down onto the wood little shiny hard-candy looking things. Beautiful little sugar candies, spaced out within a foot or two of each other, as he walked back to the start of the pier. 

“Do you think you could perhaps ask Amaina to visit, Zexion?” Vexen asked.

Zexion’s shoulders dropped a bit. 

ᇹ_ᇹ …if that is what he wants, of course I want to help, but…

ᅙ_ᅙ Are you sure he’s not just…upset? He’s been struggling a lot lately; considering our experiences, it would be easy to come to the conclusion to just cede control to someone else to avoid that pain.

ᇹ_ᇹ And it might’ve worked adequately in the factory, but I’m not so sure my arrangement with Ienzo really did work out well. 

Ienzo had decided to entirely hide from the world, rather than face anything, and in the end, that had just been hurting him. He might’ve been getting them now, but there were literal years of memories he just…didn’t have, hadn’t experienced himself because of fear. And trying to navigate a life now… They were lucky, to have a support system, but it didn’t change that they were unprepared. Emotionally and developmentally stunted, in certain ways. 

Zexion had enabled that, and honestly it hadn’t been good for him either. His ‘purpose’, that he’d explained before, of protecting Ienzo had spiraled wildly out of control.

He didn’t want to enable that for Lauriam and Marluxia too. 

But even if it was something you’d never do, science was still worth being understood. 

Sighing a bit, Zexion nodded, before he straightened, closing his eyes. 

=๐= ooeeoo

“Perhaps,” Vexen admitted, “But one thing I’ve learned is that giving people more options to help themselves tends to speed up the process, rather than brute forcing them into accepting your point of view. It might take some time for Lauriam to realize he wants to live his life. But I don’t want him to be miserable during the process. If he needs a break? We can provide it.”

And besides, it led to other things Vexen had intended to do from the moment he had seen the chibis to begin with. 

There was a moment of waiting, waiting, waiting… before suddenly, splashing out of the water majestically, hair loose and unusually full, a mermaid tail from the waist down, Amaina splashed out of the water, flipping said hair back dramatically against the suddenly inexplicably rising sun on the otherwise perpetually noon-day island. 

UoU OOOOOOOOOOO

Before she splattered onto the pier. Flopping like a dying fish for a moment in a puddle, face eerily blank… until she stilled and blinked. Sniffing the air, before looking curiously at the tiny sugar candy.

She sniffed again. Dragging herself forward in wet, flopping movements as she considered the candy… before she opened up her mouth, filled with circular razor teeth, and chomped down on it.

OoO!!

O.O A memory of a first kiss.

“Mhm,” Vexen hummed proudly, “There’s more where that came from.”

Amaina gave the scientist a wary look… before she flopped and crawled closer, grabbing the next candy with her terrible razor mouth. Licking her lips as her eyes widened with wonder at the new memory, before crawling forward and eating the next one, then the next.

“Yess, yess, this way,” Vexen said, dropping more memory-candies as he led her down a trail towards the cave. “I had hoped little bite-sized memories in the form of candy might intrigue her. Shall we retire to my world, Zexion?”

…well, it wasn’t like Vexen was talking about the change being permanent anyway. Zexion still worried about what it’d do to Lauriam to become a Chibi, but…if it was just for a little while while he licked his wounds? Maybe it’d be okay. And Marluxia had seemed to enjoy being out and about in the world anyway. 

Watching Amaina’s grand entrance, Zexion politely clapped, before…just…

ㅍoㅍ=3 She’s having fun with it, so it’s whatever.

ㅍ_ㅍ But the others are going to dunk so hard on you for this. 

ㅍ_ㅍ Let’s go.

-

Vexen’s lab was modeled after the lab he had had as a university professor, back before his research had shifted from ‘quirky’ to ‘accusations of demonic possession’ and he had been arrested in said lab. The lab had been destroyed in real life, which Vexen was still a little resentful for, but it was nice enough to work still in its recreation as Vexen sat Amaina down on a stool, before plopping a giant metal helmet onto her. Turning on a speaker and listening as static ran.

O.O

O.O;;

Amaina looked over at Zexion, ‘whispering’ He knows machines aren’t real here, right?

“It’s a construct I’m still refining,” Vexen explained, staring in perplexity at the speaker, “You know how Empaths can’t actually ‘read’ minds? Well, maybe some of us can, but I can’t. I’m trying to see if this will project your surface thoughts… Tell me, are you thinking?”

OoO Currently?

O.O

O.O’’ I don’t know how to answer that.

“I’ll keep working on it.” Vexen sighed, turning up the volume of the speaker, like perhaps that would help, before turning to her with a clipboard. “Now, I’m aware a bit that you were a gift of sorts to your Empath. Can you tell me more about that?”

OoO like what?

“Were you created before or after your… what should I refer to the Empath that created you as? The ‘non-senpai’ one?”

O.O

OoO Amaina.

“You were named after her?” Vexen asked. 

OOO I AM HER P O W E R

O.O

OoO and I’m Amaina-Chan.

“Interesting. So you do consider yourself your original creator in some way?” Vexen asked. “At least one aspect of her.”

OoO no doi.

O.O that’s what all constructs are you weirdo

“True, but you are a bit more than a construct,” Vexen said. 

OoO No I’m not

O.O I’m just older and made to talk to people

O.O

OOO AND EAT MEMORY CANDY!!!

ㅍ_ㅍ He’s trying to see if there’s a bridge between telepathic and Empathic abilities, more than the obvious of a person that has both. While there may be a level I’m not aware of, it’s true, Empaths really can’t read minds…but for most beings, emotions are so closely tied with thoughts that a high sensitivity to conscious level emotions can essentially act as mind reading. So, theoretically, there may be a link between the conscious words, sounds, and images people think in, and the emotions that accompany them.

o_o It’s quite a fascinating project, actually. 

On his own stool, more just for height purposes while they were talking than anything, Zexion wrote in his miniature Lexicon as Vexen questioned Amaina. So far not much past what they had already known, but it was always good to start with a baseline. 

Tilting his head a little, he considered the nature of constructs. 

ㅍ_ㅍ Perhaps it would be more accurate to say you’re more complex than the average of constructs, not necessarily ‘more’. As you said, you’re older, so you’ve had time to develop, and, please correct me if I’m drawing the wrong conclusions from my observations, given your relationship with Miss Miku, you two have an open and honest line of communication, so while you provide things for her, such as your eponymous POWER, she can provide things for you as well, allowing you to grow with much more fluidity than a construct, for example, made to be an inanimate object, or one that has been neglected by their Empath. 

o_O That…actually may be why the Nobodies have had particular struggles this past year, even acknowledging the stresses and difficulties of our outside environment. With our Somebodies asleep, we no longer had a line of communication and cooperation. Hm. 

OoO oh yeah I couldn’t do anything without senpai

QvQ it's a symbiotic relationship

OoO or a parasitic one if she’s annoyed with me

QnQ I love her so much

“Hmmm… I wish I could dissect you into pieces, to see how much of you was made from Amaina, and how much was made from Senpai. And presumably how much of you is still either of those people after this much development.” Vexen sighed. 

O.O

OoO;;;; okay maybe don’t dissect me though just a thought

“No, of course I wouldn’t,” Vexen said dismissively, looking over his notes with a frown, “There’s no obvious way to do so.”

OOO;; YOU ARE SO BAD AT BEDSIDE MANNER

“Yes, it was part of my construction of being a torturer,” Vexen agreed, clicking his pen, “Tell me more about Amaina. We can only get second-hand knowledge about her, but that will simply have to do. I’m assuming you two have different personalities, for one.”

OoO not really

OvO I’m who Amaina wanted to be 

O.O if she wasn’t tired all of the time. Or sad. Or afraid. Or angry. Bitter. 

OvO I’m Amaina healthy… or who she hoped she’d have been, healthy

“I see… you’re wish fulfillment, as far as personality goes. Not necessarily a copy, but an ideal,” Vexen frowned, “But she did put herself into you, not just designed you. Yes? The people I’m trying to save cannot be made ‘copies’ of, I am trying to restructure them and offer them a new form of physicality to rely on. I am trying to understand not how you are a chibi, but how you are, as you say, power. Because out of everything, that feels like the most direct thing Amaina put into you. Actual, raw essence.”

OoO we’re trying to save people?

O.O I’m not a real option for bringing people back from the dead. 

O.O Amaina’s still dead. I’m just a shard of her that lives on.

Zexion nodded a bit. That was one of the real differences between the Nobodies and the Somebodies. The Somebodies could live without the Nobodies, and frankly, most people did. The Nobodies couldn’t live without the Somebodies. Even this past year they weren’t really without them; the Somebodies had still been within them, even if they were dormant. If one of their Somebodies died? Then the Nobody would die too. 

As much as their energy lingered, that was why Destiny Island was only the 13 of them, not filled with the Nobodies of their old friends. 

Sighing a little, Zexion shook his head. 

ᅙ_ᅙ They’re not dead, we’re not trying to be necromancers. We’re talking about a Nobody, one of the constructs that’s gone back to base essence. 

…people?

ᄀ_ᄀ And…maybe the other Nobodies as well?

o_o …Dad, are you trying to bring everyone back?

“It’s a potential long-term thought,” Vexen said, making a note on his clipboard, “But let’s focus on Marluxia for now. No grand ideas are possible without figuring out the details. And this is all not worth worrying the others about until we know if we can actually do it.”

OoO oooooh bringing back constructs

O.O

OoO yeah you can do that

Vexen’s eyes widened. “You sound… very confident.”

OoO yeah it happened to my friend Chibi Kaito

O.O he was obliterated 

OoO but he came back whole from Base Essence

O.O

“...is that one of Prince Kokichi’s–”

OoO yeah it’s fine just have the power of a goddess you can do it

“Dammit,” Vexen sighed, rubbing his temple, “Comparing our abilities to the prince can feel like suggesting we can grab the sun because it is technically just hanging above us. Still, it’s a good sign overall, there is a precedent… Tell me, does Chibi Kaito also have the ability to travel,” Vexen paused, “And do you think he’d enjoy memory candies?”

OoO nah he’s totally whipped he’d never come to us

O.O Real ‘husband-brained’ kinda guy

OoO hard to get him to think about anything else

“I see, okay,” Vexen rubbed his chin, “it’s still a good sign though. But how to compel it? How does one get the ability to reach inside of someone and pull that construct whole from base essence… the mind boggles.” 

Zexion gave Vexen a long look. Lauriam may have…possibly volunteered, but Zexion highly doubted Vexen had had this conversation with everyone else. So his father had better be planning on having that conversation before suddenly bringing every Nobody back as a Chibi, right Vexen? You weren’t planning on fundamentally altering several people’s existences on the fly, right Dad?

…it was comforting to know that entirely reforming a construct from base essence was possible, though. 

Though…having to have the power level of the divine to do it?

o_o

o_O You just make cotton candy, no?

o_o I only didn’t try it with Larxene because it would’ve been unfair to spring that on her and Demyx.

“...” Vexen gave Zexion a bewildered look, “Sorry? Cotton candy?”

OoO yeah standard cotton candy procedure.

O.O pretty baseline

ㅍ_ㅍ Cotton candy is made by collecting miniscule threads of aerated, heated sugar. They are scattered and insubstantial at first, but by casting around, you start to collect them into a solid object. 

o_o Collecting a Nobody from base essence should work like that, no? You just…

Zexion thrusted a nubby arm forward before waving it around in a small circle, and then pulling it back. 

o_o Yeah?

ᄀ_ᄀ I just have no idea how to approach converting a Somebody into a Chibi.

“Fascinating, fascinating,” Vexen whispered, quickly writing that down, before tapping his chin, “Perhaps for the swap, it’s as simple as a puppeting technique, but internally. Marluxia puppets Lauriam, Lauriam puppets Marluxia, just a concept swap of self.”

OoO That’s just called ‘playing pretend’

“Yes, but the tether would make it easier to maintain it. The main issue when bringing Marluxia back is imprinting on him that his physical, projected form is a chibi. That should be as easy as donating some of my own energy to him to form the chibi form, which should give him a level of independence from Lauriam’s mind. Which is what I’ve theorized gives Amaina and you, Zexion, and honestly us Nobodies in general the ability to rebel, travel, keep secrets. We need that pinch of foreign energy that doesn’t belong to our core Empath,” Vexen said, “Which I will provide.”

OoO all of you already have that

O.O

OoO you literally live in a sludge of each other of course you already have that

O.O

OOO ARE YOU NOT AWARE YOU ARE A GIANT, UGLY CHIBI???  

QoQ just denied your adorable true form

OoO mostly because your purpose sucked asssssssss

OoO no you just need P O W E R to reset you to a pure chibi form

OOO THEN you can be cool like me

OoO and jumpy and rebellious and all that jazz you mentioned

O.O

OoO also inexplicably muuuusical~

“Power?” Vexen frowned, storing that idea that they were already chibi-like in more than just theory but structure as well away, as he looked at her, “I thought that might be the case. Approximately how much power does one need to make a chibi?”

OoO brand new?

O.O lots

“...you’ve seen the Lauriam!Flower memory,” Vexen said, “That much?”

OoO oh yeah that’d work fine

Hmm… If they were puppeting each other, that would put more autonomy in their hands to find an arrangement they liked. Though, if that were the case, Zexion wasn’t sure why they just wouldn’t…trade. Like he and Ienzo had been doing for years. The reason Zexion couldn’t do that now wasn’t due to him being a Chibi now, it was a specific mechanic that he and Ienzo put in place to prevent…well, their entire life from repeating. 

Tilting his head a little at Vexen, Zexion nodded along with Amaina. 

ㅍ_ㅍ Looking like this wasn’t some grand display of power from Ienzo, when we retrieved him. After having met Chibi Kokichi, and ruminating on Axel’s comments that Ienzo would do well with a construct like him, Ienzo imitated that aesthetic consciously when we renegotiated my role within him. 

ᅙ_ᅙ In part, we believe that if my ‘standard’ form doesn’t look exactly like Ienzo, as I did before, then I would be less inclined towards…authoritarian methods considering our system, and he would be less inclined to truly believe we’re interchangeable. 

ᅙ_ᅙ In short, it’s easier for him to remember I’m a construct when I look like this. 

ㅍ_ㅍ But he wasn’t aware that a ‘Chibi’ was more than an aesthetic when we did that. So that means that everything that makes a Chibi a Chibi was something I already was. Granted, I wasn’t initially made through the same process of making a Nobody, but I did develop in the same manner, so I don’t think it’s a significant enough difference for the desired outcome.

ㅍ_ㅍ There may be some truth in the idea that our purpose as shields for our Somebodies has tied us more closely to them, than the freedom I have now, and that Amaina has, and…perhaps the process of catharsis and reintegration, and potential future reformation is just the restructuring of that purpose into something we’d more easily recognize as ‘Chibi’. No grand display of power needed, for a pre-existing construct, at least.

ㅍ_ㅍ It wasn’t like Ienzo was having a burst while he was on the verge of exhaustion when you freed him. 

O.O 

OoO didn’t you eat like a hundred of yourselves?

O.O where did you think all that energy went?

ㅍ_ㅍ…

ᄀ_ᄀ;;;;

ᄀ_ᄀ It was more around the 60 mark, in actuality.

OoO okay cool 

O.O could you make sixty more of yourself right now if asked?

ㅍ_ㅍ No.

ᅙ_ᅙ Ienzo would be mad.

Amaina concentrated very, very, hard, and briefly managed to express back–

ㅍ_ㅍ you couldn’t make sixty perfect copies of yourself right now

OoO it took you years to make that sort of energy

OOO AND THEN YA ATE IT IN LIKE A DAY

OoO ya feeeeeel me?

-᷅ ⤙ -᷄ 

¬､¬ Your point is noted.

OOO I WIN THE HOW TO MAKE A CHIBI FIGHT!!

oOo I AM CHAMPIOOOOOOOOOOOOON

OvO What do I win?

“Bragging rights,” Vexen said, looking down at his clipboard, “Also, an offer of a deal. What if I asked to borrow your power source? Just long enough to facilitate making a chibi?”

OoO uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh

OoO no deal, i have to reserve my power for senpai.

O.O

OOO UNLESS I CAN GO SIP SIP SIP ON YOUR ISLANDS ENERGY FROM NOW ON???

“What?” Vexen frowned.

OoO You guys already have a looooot of power on that island

OvO sip sip sip

OvO I’d be so much more powerful…

OOO I COULD PUT ON THE ULTIMATE GAME OF PRETEND!!!!

“The island as a power source…” Vexen murmured.

¬､¬ =3

o_o

Zexion looked up at his dad. 

o_o We know that, right? Whenever one of us needs a boost, we don’t directly take from each other. 

ㅍ_ㅍ Or, we usually don’t barring what Sora did last night, which absolutely needs further analysis…and maybe a discussion about his protectiveness over Riku. 

o_o But we’ve always drawn the boosts we need from the island. That’s part of its purpose, and the purpose of connecting us all, other than the need for comfort and community. 

ㅍ_ㅍ…and we can’t make a deal for you to draw on it too at your discretion, Amaina. Luis and Kairi are the pillars of the island, any changes to it are things that they would feel the most. We’d need to ask their permission, if not everyone’s, first.

Q.Q But my ultimate game of pretend

O.O

OoO what if I made you all super duper cool parts of the gaaaaame?

OOO YOU COULD SCARE PEOPLE!!

“As delightful as that sounds, we have more serious matters to discuss. And yes, I know the island is a power source. But I wasn’t considering it for this experiment specifically because of Namine and Luis,” Vexen frowned, “It was more her ‘sip sip sip’ thing that had me thinking. If I didn’t take from it all at once, no one might notice it was happening…” Vexen sighed. “Doing it little by little not getting noticed, or doing it all in one big burst to get it done quickly, but potentially damaging myself… a conundrum…”

OoO You should just tell your friends that you want to give them chibis

O.O I was a surprise for Senpai and that didn’t go over well

O.O I made her sad for a reeeeaaally long time

O.O Amaina was kind of an asshole sometimes

OOO LIKE YOU!

OvO You’d have gotten along

O.O Or killed each other one or the other

“My family would say no to my proposal,” Vexen said, “But the rest of my family is currently for all intents and purposes dead. The discomfort of one does not outweigh the loss of the other. I will not let the revival of my family come down to a vote.”

ᅙ_ᅙ The prospect of scaring people again is more depressing than it is fulfilling. 

ㅍ_ㅍ But maybe not as much as it could be if it’s just for a game. Talk to us about it before you set it up, Amaina.

But, as necessary and nice as games were, they did have more pressing things to address first. Like…

ò_ó

ò_ó Dad, you don’t know that. Aqua would be thrilled to safely bring Terra back. You have no idea how anyone feels about it until you ask them. And tinkering with their consciousnesses without considering them is cruel. 

ò_ó Because you’re not just asking Demyx, Sora, Aqua… You’re asking Larxene, Roxas, Xion, and Terra through them. Because they’re not really gone.

ㅍ_ㅍ Did you even see the shit Lauriam pulled last night? That was Marluxia hands down. Xaldin wouldn’t say ‘Flower’ to Lauriam’s face if he couldn’t still see the parts of Marluxia that come through him. 

“And they may say no,” Vexen said, looking tired. His shoulders falling a little, as he said, “They may say no for the same reason all of them are gone now. Aqua wants her husband back, but Terra might feel like he shouldn’t return. Larxene might not consider the life of a chibi to be worth returning for. Roxas might not feel like he’s worthy. Marluxia might hate himself.”

“Our family are irritating, contradicting, self-destructive, and frankly more than a little egotistical on the best of days,” Vexen said, looking pointedly at Zexion, “Very much the ‘can drag them to water but can’t make them drink’ types. We all worked hard to give Lauriam his life back and it’s not even a week later and he’s ready to throw it away again. Giving them more options is good. Letting them cancel out potential ways to live is a foolish thing to allow them. I have already watched my family willingly kill themselves, one after another. I will not give them the option again.”

ò_ó Then that’s their choice! Are you even listening to yourself?!

ò_ó I’m not saying we should encourage mass suicide! If we can bring back everyone as constructs less burdened than we were, that’s incredible! But we can’t force them to accept it! 

Hopping off his stool, Zexion stood at full height, un-Chibied as he desperately glared up at Vexen. 

“Dad, everyone’s not dead. There’s a difference between making sure Lauriam doesn’t throw himself under your carriage and fundamentally changing everyone’s brains without their consent. To forcing consciousness onto members of our family that might not want it, but we can’t even categorize any of that without asking them.”

Zexion’s glare started to grow a little wet as he grit his teeth. “I know you just want everyone back, that you’re doing this out of love…but listen to what you’re saying. To not ‘allow’ us choices. You’re not the arbiter of our lives, you can’t control us because of your own pain.”

Vexen crossed his arms, looking back at Zexion. His jaw stiffening as he listened. 

“...if you do not want me to do this,” Vexen said, “You will have to stop me.”

O.O

OoO;; do you two want some privacy or–

“You will have to ask them yourself,” Vexen said. “You will have to tell them what I am doing. What the plan is. And you will have to let them decide if they intend to stop me or not. And if they do? If they choose to not return? You will have to live with allowing our family to destroy themselves,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “I will not live with that. No one can make me. You will all have to force me to give up. If our family is to remain destroyed? It will be on you. Not me.”

Turning to Amaina, Vexen bowed his head at her, saying, “Thank you for your time, Amaina. But I’d like you all to leave my lab now.”

“Dad--”

Zexion loved Vexen, Even too, but they always fucking did this. Why couldn’t his father just listen for one fucking sec--

(...could he really…pit Vexen against everyone? While they were separated and off on dangerous journeys otherwise?)

Zexion gave his father another desperate look before letting out a harsh breath and disappearing.

(இ﹏இ He wanted to go back to Ienzo.)

Vexen ignored Zexion’s call, staring at his clipboard until the two were gone… before he let out a breath, tired again. 

Tired. He was too tired. Tired of losing people. Tired of accepting limits. Tired of being temporary. 

He was old. Old for a construct. Old for a person. And the whole of his life had been accepting that too often, things were just terrible. And you had to live with that. Watching your family come into the factory loud and angry and rebellious, and over years, become quiet and frightened and withdrawn. Having to encourage that, because it was safer to submit than it was to fight. 

Had watched his son dragged away to rooms Vexen couldn’t break into, to be hurt for little more than small acts of childish brattiness or just the morbid fun of people who had immeasurable power over them. 

And the last few months, one by one, he had watched half of his family accept their ‘temporary’ status and give themselves up. For good reason. To save the rest of their family. But it had been too much to watch, for Vexen. Too much to watch, one after another, the young ones say goodbye. To grieve the lives they wouldn’t get to live. The relationships they couldn’t keep.

Vexen was sick of it. If the last thing he ever did was bring them all back, kicking and screaming? That would be his legacy. He would happily die, ensuring they would live. If they wanted him to stop? They’d have to bury him.

He was done accepting tragedies.

Determined, he headed to Lauriam’s mind.

-

Aeleus was…a little worried. In some ways, he regretted not sticking around for Aqua’s return, like observing the spars, and the more emotional moments, though it did give him peace of mind keeping watch on their camp with Axel. But he did hear about it from the others and…well, saying the kids were shaken was a bit of an understatement. But one they could move forward with. 

He wasn’t even that surprised Lauriam had been asleep all day, and considering his recovery, they hadn’t bothered him much. But now they were setting up their second camp, and he still hadn’t awoken. 

Setting up some firewood, he turned to the teens. “Would one of you please wake up Lauriam?” he softly asked, “Even if he needs the rest, he should still eat tonight.”

“Oh, I’ve got it!” Sora said, standing up quickly, “He’s still inside, right? On it!”

Sora headed into the carriage, looking for Lauriam’s bunk. Lauriam had been a little… quiet around him lately, but that was okay. There had been a lot happening lately! Anyone would be quiet sometimes! It was probably fine. 

Getting to Lauriam’s bunk, Sora whispered, “Lauuuuurie. Lauuuuuuuuuriam? Laurie Laurie Laurie… are you awake?” Sora reached over to touch Lauriam’s shoulder.

Marluxia groaned, momentarily burying himself more before groggily pushing himself up. Ugh, why did he feel like shit? He wasn’t Luxord, he wasn’t the type to drink himself until every body fluid escaped at once. But, ugh, his head…

…his? Head? 

…what?

Sitting up more, Marluxia unceremoniously bonked his head on the upper bunk, immediate flinching into an emphatic, “Ah FUCK!”

Sora laughed, not without a hint of pity. “Ouch. Sorry. But anyway, camp’s set up! Come out, we’re just about to start cooking!” Sora explained, hopping excitedly before heading out of the carriage, calling out, “Guuuuuys, Lauriam’s awaaaaake!”

Marluxia rubbed his head, grouching under his breath, Sora’s bright chatter going in one ear and right out the other. …mostly. 

…camp?

…Lauriam is awake? Yeah, Marluxia fucking hoped he was. That was… They’d done that, right? He remembered that. Xaldin, the bastard, had thrown him into a hole, and he’d seen…

His heart speeding up, Marluxia looked around the…wherever he was, spotting a covered window, and balking at the shorter, fluffier hair and dark green eyes staring back at him. 

-

Aeleus glanced over as the door to the carriage SLAMMED open, Lauriam rocketing out looking enraged as he spat, “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MORONS DO TO US?!?”

Anthony jumped, green pouring over his skin like a chameleon shift, and he glanced to Clara, a small, nervous laugh riding on his breath. 

The teens all gave Lauriam a startled look… before all looking at each other fretfully as Even sighed and asked them, “Who pranked Lauriam? What did you do?”

“I didn’t!” Sora shouted, before looking at Riku, “Is his hair shorter? Did you cut his hair?”

“What?! No! I was just joking, I didn’t go through with it!” Riku sputtered. 

“His hair doesn’t seem shorter,” Kairi said, tilting her head as she looked at Lauriam curiously, “That’s not what’s different.”

Marluxia growled as he trudged over to the teens…Kairi in particular. Not just ticked, or fuming, but genuinely furious. “I. Am. Not. Lauriam. What did you do?!” He did manage to glance around as well, before demanding, “And where’s everyone else?! Where even are we?!”

Aeleus’ eyes widened a little, before he came forward and calmly nudged Lauriam back slightly, asking after a moment, “Marluxia?”

“NO SHIT!”

Hurriedly, Kairi put up an emotion dome. Calm.

Everyone’s shoulders relaxed, as Even sighed, “Kairi, we talked about this. Our escorts don’t appreciate that sort of thing, remember?”

“Sorry,” Kairi said, not lowering the dome for another moment, giving Lauriam a worried look… before it fell anyway, Kairi taking in a deep breath, before she asked, “We’re on the way to Dicea, Marluxia. How are you back?”

The green faded back from Anthony’s skin, but after a breath, Clara frowned deeper, giving a thankful nod to Even. Though, even with Clara rubbing his back, Anthony just let out a laugh that was a little too loud. “Ha, what? No, I am totally cool with everything, very awesome, so awesome I’m just gonna--” 

‘Gonna’ turned out to be a strange little shimmy before he quickly left the clearing. 

Making a low sound, Aeleus gave Kairi a nod before looking to Marluxia and adding, “The others are heading to the capital. They are safe, and we will fill you in in a moment.”

Calmer, not by choice, Marluxia gave Kairi a half-hearted glare. “Wouldn’t I like to know. We did the whooooole song and dance, going through the processes and rules to get Lauriam back. And now-?”

For a moment, Marluxia faltered a bit, giving the group an uncomfortable look. “...Lauriam…did come back, right? I saw him, I know he was there… I…” A more confused look crossed his face, before he gave Riku a puzzled look. “...I remember him kicking your ass?”

Riku pouted. “He didn’t kick my ass, he momentarily! Had me on the ropes! But I would have turned the tide if Sora hadn’t spazzed out on me.”

“I’m soooorryyyyy I said I hadn’t meant to,” Sora frowned, looking at the field Anthony had disappeared to, “Is he okay?”

“He probably just needs some space,” Even said, giving Marluxia a concerned look, “This is troublesome. It would seem you’ve regressed? Lauriam’s been around and present for some time now. It’s curious to see you suddenly returned, Marluxia… not unwelcome, though. I simply hope Lauriam is also alright.”

“We should check inside,” Kairi said, “Maybe this is an effect of his injury?”

Marluxia snorted with a small, satisfied, “heh” before he blinked in surprise and squinted at Riku. “Wait, you’re actually Riku.”

…how…long had it been?

Clara sighed a little, also glancing over where Anthony left. “He will be. I won’t harp on it more than Even did, Kairi, but…seriously. I just don’t appreciate it, but people meddling with Anthony’s mind freaks him out. He’s just headed off to cool down.”

Rolling his eyes a little as Even said his return wasn’t unwelcome--sure, sure, he totally believed that--Marluxia did a double-take. “Wait, injury? Is that why his body feels like shit? Ugh, what did that loser even do… After fucking everything I did for him and he can’t even just stay in his own body, what a failure…”

Crossing his arms with a huff, Marluxia scrunched his eyes closed, looking inward.

He wasn’t the only one. Three fascinated, worried, and nosy teens scrambled through the beach and into Lauriam’s treehouse, running through the gate, and Vexen somehow still beat them there, looking around in concern as the teens headed inside. 

“Lauriam? Marluxia!?” Sora called through the field, “Are you both okay!?”

Marluxia, back in his usual form, though notably with his hair tied up and wearing a hoodie, rather than his Nobody cloak…well, he had started fuming. But all that anger was a little more blatantly displaying as worry as he looked down at…

◉.◉;;;

(((՛◉.◉`)))

The wide-eyed chibi was visibly sweating, and practically vibrating with anxiety as it looked at its nubby little arms.

ಡ.ಡ ∠:()

The teens and Vexen all stared at Lauriam…

“Oh, that’s probably not good,” Namine said, while Sora gasped.

“LAURIAM!” Sora gasped, hurrying over as Riku ran with him, the two looking down at him earnestly, “What happened?! You’re… you’re…!!”

“A chibi?” Riku frowned, glancing back and forth between Lauriam and Marluxia, “Mar’s is back… but Lauriam’s… a chibi now? How does that… ooph.” Riku frowned, crossing his arms. “Talk about mixed news. Sorry, Mar, I feel like I should be thrilled you’re back, but also, I’m high key freaking out about Lauriam suddenly being a chibi. Am I going to be a chibi?! Is Ansem about to pop back and I’ll be a chibi?”

“Do you think!?” Sora gasped, suddenly looking bright eyed with wonder, “Roxas will come back!?”

“One thing at a time, boys, this requires some delicacy,” Vexen frowned, stepping forward, “Children, please give me some space, I want to make certain Marluxia and Lauriam aren’t in any pain. Marluxia, you have an injury on your chest that I want to check on, Lauriam, same, I want to see if that transferred over with you when you transformed. Also? Is something wrong with your vocal box?”

“What the fuck…” Marluxia breathed, looking down at the tiny version of Lauriam. It had already been surreal to see him in that desert. To know definitively, with his own eyes that…he wasn’t real. That he’d just been a dumbass playing pretend so hard that he’d believed it. 

If he wasn’t real, if getting their Somebodies back was real, if nothing he had felt or experienced mattered when Lauriam was right in front of him, then…he’d thought, fine. Go enjoy your damn life, with your real thoughts and feelings and friends and family. 

…but now he was here, and Lauriam was…

ಡ.ಡ ∠ㅁ✖)

◉.◉ ∠👄✖)

The chibi looked increasingly panicked as it patted around his simplified, squishy face, indeed with no mouth.

“What do you mean I have a chest injury?!” Marluxia gasped desperately, his tone almost as if all the panic Lauriam couldn’t express he said for them both. “I shouldn’t be alive.”

It took every ounce of willpower Vexen had in the whole of his base essence to not visually roll his eyes. 

“Let’s consider the ethical questions of if you should exist for a later time, let’s ensure you continue to exist without furthering your injuries now,” Vexen said, kneeling down in front of Lauriam, giving him a gentle look, “You’re okay. We’ll work on this, this isn’t forever, Lauriam. But for now, may I check on your chest?”

“S…sorry, Marluxia,” Sora whispered, wincing, “I uh… I stabbed you. Or, I stabbed Lauriam. It was me. It was a stabbing.”

“Lauriam was a giant flower fire thing, I heard,” Riku said, “I wasn't there, I didn’t see it.”

“Are you okay, Marluxia?” Namine frowned, “Should I calm you?”

Tiny buttons somehow unbuttoned at his taps, Lauriam unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a chibified design of his scar on his chest, looking away from Sora shamefully. 

Though Marluxia could only balk. “You stabbed me?! O-or him, or…”

Marluxia gave Lauriam a desperate look, entirely lost on just what the hell had happened since he’d left, and…a bunch of blank speech bubbles popped up around Lauriam’s head. The chibi starting to panic a little more with each one, desperately trying to convey things that didn’t have an easy visual representation.

But Marluxia and Lauriam’s connection was a little different from anyone else Lauriam might try to talk to. And as the gaps in Marluxia’s memory started to fill in…

Marluxia’s pupils shrunk down into furious pins as he snatched Lauriam by the collar, the chibi squeaking a bit as he was shaken. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Marluxia growled, throttling his other half. “You’re the real one! You damn suicidal moron, if you wanna die that bad then just take us both out, don’t shove it all to me!! God, you’re pathetic! You can’t just tell someone you’re feeling depressed?! Oh boo hoo, I’m a real fucking person, guess I should buckle at the first sign of conflict and never tell anyone about it. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT IF YOU’RE UNHAPPY, DUMBASS!! I SHOULD JUST--gwehhh-!”

It was almost poetic, in a way. Aqua glaring sternly down at Marluxia as she yanked him off of Lauriam with a chokehold, the chibi, who had been bashed against the ground a few times, bouncing slightly and looking dazed and teary and…

…like he was taking all of that to heart. 

Because Marluxia wasn’t really saying anything new. Just aloud.

“Namine, Namine, do the calm thing!” Sora insisted, fretting as they watched Marluxia beat the shit out of a very tiny Lauriam.

“No, no, give them a moment, they have some emotions to work through,” Vexen said, taking out his clipboard and checking something off a list before disappearing it. 

“U-um, I need to restore my energy real quick and then I can–”

“Hey Mom,” Riku said, stepping aside as Aqua bolted past them, calling after her, “Marluxia is back and Lauriam’s the chibi!”

Behind Aqua, a few more people ran through as well. Demyx and Ienzo coming in at the same time, as Demyx shouted, “Woah! Aeleus was right! It’s Marluxia!” while behind them Isa and Luis came in, Luis worryingly saying, “Oh geez, are fights happening already? Was yesterday not exciting enough? Can’t we chill out for a second, folks!?”

Then in came Xaldin, who stilled for a moment, eyes widening… before he grit his teeth. Storming forward and stepping in front of Lauriam, facing Marluxia as he shouted, “FLOWER ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND!? You’re back FIVE FUCKING SECONDS and you’re already kicking the shit out of someone!? Pull it together, the hell kind of homecoming is that, you petty bitch!?”

“We heard,” Aqua said, her voice slightly strained as she held Marluxia back, giving him air after the initial shock but not letting him go any more than that. 

Getting a breath back, Marluxia snapped back, “Oh, is this not enough for you? Well isn’t that FUCKING REPRESENTATIVE!!!”

“Marluxia, calm down,” Aqua said sternly, “No one’s upset to see you, except for the fact you’re literally beating yourself up.”

“MAYBE I’M UPSET!!” Marluxia shouted back, Aqua able to feel the trembling in his body as he struggled against her. “MAYBE I’M UPSET BECAUSE I’M SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, AND THAT OVERDRAMATIC MORON THOUGHT I’M A MAGIC WIN BUTTON INSTEAD OF JUST LETTING HIMSELF BE UPSET OR FUCKING FIGHTING FOR HIMSELF! MAYBE I’M UPSET BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO COME BACK AND BE THE WORSE, FAKE VERSION OF YOU FOREVER, LAURIAM!”

Chibi Lauriam huddled into himself, just trying to shield from any more abuse. 

Xaldin bolted forward and slapped Marluxia. 

And before anyone had a chance to do anything he slapped him again, putting his whole arm into it, and looked like he’d go in for a third time, before Luis ran forward and tackled Xaldin around his shoulders, grabbing his arm and pulling him back as he shouted, “CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN, THIS ISN’T WHAT YOU WANT TO–”

Calm.

Namine clapped her hands together, eyes wide and body trembling a little, the dome covering them all again. She stared at everyone tensely, teeth chattering, as she said, “I-I c-can only hold th-this for s-so long, c-can w-we head back to our o-own worlds u-until we-we’re done att-attacking e-each other?”

“Noooot without Lauriam.” Demyx frowned, reaching forward to pick up Lauriam and then quickly walking backwards, somewhat hiding behind Ienzo as he shot Marluxia a calm but frustrated look. “He’s coming to my place.”

Marluxia’s head snapped to the side at the slap, then at the next, Aqua’s eyes widening but her back-steps not able to outpace Xaldin until Luis tackled him.

-

Outside, Aeleus frowned in concern as he caught Lauriam’s body as it crumpled, watching carefully as his breath hitched and blood started to trickle from his nose. Tipping his head forward and laying the body out against himself, he pressed a handkerchief to Lauriam’s body’s nose, hoping it was a brief bleed. 

He was…worried, if he’d still have to go in and interfere after contacting the others. 

“Anything I can help with?” Clara asked softly, giving Lauriam’s body a worried look too.

“Please keep an eye on the others’ conditions,” Aeleus said softly, giving her a thankful nod. 

-

As Marluxia lifted his head, blood trickling from his mouth, he glanced at Namine. A calm regret sinking in his stomach. …typical, huh. The moment Lauriam was back he went volcanic, and so had Marluxia. 

Watching Lauriam, barely cognizant, huddle in Demyx’s arms (since when were those two on good terms?) Marluxia said quietly, but with as much emphasis as he could manage while calm, “Don’t leave me here.” He looked over to Vexen. “Put me back.”

Ienzo straightened in front of Demyx and Lauriam as Demyx shifted behind him, but glanced over to Vexen as well, giving his father a confused, yet considering look. 

Vexen–calmly–looked back at Marluxia.

“No,” he said, “I’m afraid you’ll simply have to live with it.”

Namine’s teeth began to grind together, her ability to hold the dome failing. And recognizing another fight when it was coming, she closed her eyes, and pushed.

And with the exception of Lauriam, still in Demyx’s arms. Everyone was in their own world. 

Their gates locked and closed. 

Marluxia crumbled onto the flowers beneath him as Aqua disappeared, and he grunted on impact, spitting from blood from his mouth. And for a moment, he just laid there. But you could only be a loser for so long, so he pushed himself up, looking around the field. 

…it looked like shit. 

…what had Lauriam done to them? …that was really Aqua, huh. Slowly, he could recall…getting to say goodbye to Terra, and it did feel like he got to say goodbye, despite everything. He remembered Lauriam…he remembered him kicking Riku’s ass, some of those memories clearer than anything…

He remembered being pushed away, and Terra with a hole in his chest. A detached sense of utter horror and fear and loss, even if Terra was…

Marluxia sighed and crossed his arms over his knees, resting his head on them even if it made his swelling cheek sting and more blood fill his mouth. 

(First way Xaldin touched him since being back, huh? That seemed right too.)

…Damnit, Lauriam. Why was he back?

For all times for Vexen to not be talking in hypotheticals…

Vexen, in turn, winced as he found himself back in his lab. Well… that was volatile. But then, he had expected it would be. He had never hoped this would be an easy project. He had hoped it’d be a tad less explosive than that, though.

Still. It had been good to see Marluxia back. With all the usual Marluxia drama. 

He should go back and check on him. They didn’t didn’t know if there were any side effects to Marluxia taking over a very injured psyche. Perhaps he would have calmed down by the time Vexen…

He stared at his chained closed door. 

…what on earth… could that represent?

-

Even focused his eyes in the real world, and turned to Aeleus. “Could you be a dear and check on your door? The gate to the island, I mean.”

The good thing was that it was a relatively brief nosebleed. The more concerning thing was that Lauriam’s body didn’t look…well. It wasn’t struggling to breathe, but even with Aeleus making sure his airways were clear, it sounded a bit ragged, and he feared he was feeling the start of a fever on his forehead. 

He knew Lauriam wasn’t completely up to form when they set out, but Aeleus had hoped it would be enough to safely travel. If Marluxia’s reappearance had set his recovery back…?

Giving Even a worried, but calm nod, Aeleus knelt and closed his eyes for a moment…before frowning. 

“I see chains on my entrance,” he explained. “They feel like Namine. Is she…separating all of us?”

Opening his eyes, he gave Kairi’s body a concerned look. “...Even, may I entrust Lauriam’s body into your care?”

“Oh, whoa! You talk, big guy?” Anthony said, sounding genuinely surprised as he returned to their camp. 

Aeleus sighed softly.

“Of course, please do,” Even sighed, “It was a bit of an event in there. I believe…”

Even frowned. A wave of exhaustion running through him. “...hm. Anyway, I believe Namine was hoping to stop any more physical altercations. I doubt she can maintain this for long though.”

Transferring Lauriam’s body over gently, Aeleus rose, crouching by Kairi’s side. Checking her breathing, her pulse, any sweat on her brow, her temperature… He shot a look back at Even. 

‘For long’ could be any amount of time. If she was determined to try to save each other from themselves, then…

{Namine.} Aeleus tried, reaching out to his daughter.

There was no answer. 

There was, however, a weak, distant sound voice, as Riku sent, {Is anyone else having a hard time getting to the island?}

{I’m still feeding the horses, but what happened?} Axel sent–also sounding oddly distant–as he asked, {God, I’ve got a crazy headache all of the sudden. I think the traveling just hit me like a boulder.}

{Oh good it’s not just me. I thought maybe it was some sort of effect of having Lauriam with me.} Demyx sent, also sounding deeply weary. Tired. 

Aeleus frowned deeply as he gently smoothed Kairi’s hair out of her face. Taking a deep breath, he gathered as much energy as he could, putting it all into sending as clear a message as he could.

{Namine has locked us into our minds. She may be drawing on our energy to maintain it. I would recommend talking in person as much as we are able, and designating the strongest of each group to relay messages to conserve our energy.}

{Guys I’m gonna vom} Luis sent, his message a little clearer than the others, but sounding strained rather then tired, as he said {I need so much more alcohol I’m vibrating it’s like someone just took stones off my back and shot me full of straight caffeine what the hell is happening!?}

{My guess is Namine has taken the full load of the island on herself.} Even sent, cleaning Marluxia’s face, {And you have forgotten what it feels like to have full access to your abilities. We should check if anyone is having a seizure.}

“I-I’m not,” Sora called, sitting up, though he was notably shivering. “I-I’m fine.”

“I’m not having a seizure, but I feel really sick,” Riku groaned, laying on his side, curled up, “Why would not being connected to the island affect us physically? It’s not, you know… physical.”

Kairi…well, stable for the time being, Aeleus shifted over to check on the boys. “It is physical,” he said softly, “Mental energy is still a part of your physicality. Without it being mixed…”

Looking a little lost--only hearing a small part of the conversation--Anthony came by with blankets, handing them to the boys. “Uh, I feel dumb to ask, because obviously not, but…are you guys okay? Should…we go looking for a healer, or…”

-

Ienzo was sweating buckets.

-

ó_ò;;; Amaina, I need your help, please.

-

‘’’é_è;;; Luis

Zexion whispered, hiding under a table in the casino.

‘’’é_è;;; Offload excess to me, I’ll transfer it. Demyx looks like he’s gonna pass out, and I’m not sure what’ll happen to Lauriam if he does. 

Not to mention what Axel was probably going through, but, well…Zexion was a little biased. He’d be helped in a moment. 

…as long as he could keep up the ~Sneaky-Sneaky Kunoichi no Jutsu~ Amaina had been teaching him.

Luis, who had been pacing in his own mind, looking like a man who urgently needed to go for a RUN, looked down at Zexion and gave a near full body sigh of relief. “Oh damn, absolutely, fuck– oh wait, are we whispering?” Luis whispered, looking around warily, “Oh, she might be listening. Got it, okay.”

Forcing himself to sit down, Luis closed his eyes and felt for Zexion–who glowed like a god damn beacon HE NEEDED BOOZE SO BADLY–before grasping onto his energy signature, feeling his mind tighten around it like Zexion was literally in his hand, before he carefully started pushing energy into him. 

As he did so, he reached for his own construct, picking up a bottle of rum and sipped on it, trying to dull himself with his construct. It was hard though. He felt too full. It couldn’t have always been like this before, there was no way. He felt like one wrong step could have him just entirely in someone’s mind and manipulating–oh. Okay. Right. Maybe it had been like this.

No wonder old Luis had felt unstoppable. Power had literally danced on his skin. 

O.O

OoO soooooo I guess that escalated, huh?

Amaina asked, sitting next to Zexion under the table. 

-

Ienzo gasped softly, somehow even sweating more as he turned a little green. But he couldn’t focus on that right now.

-

‘’’é_è;;; I don’t know if she can, but if she makes it any harder to travel I don’t think I’ll be able to sneak through.

Taking a deep breath, Zexion let himself act as a conduit, receiving really, just, an absurd amount of energy…but not trying to hold onto it as he normally would have. Just letting it store, like a dolly or a battery, something temporary and meant to transfer. 

=_=;;; You could say that. 

=_=;;; Can you help? We’ve never had to regulate our power levels like this, the island does it for us. Someone’s going to get brain damage at this point if we don’t do something.

OoO how bad could it beeeeee

-

Axel stared at the horse in front of him.

The horse stared back. Munching on feed. 

Axel blinked once. Twice.

…he looked down at his legs. His nose wrinkling in disgust as he realized, oh, that’s why he was warm… well… fuck. He was taking that to his grave. 

God he was tired.

-

O.O Nevermind I did a quick peek through the others and yeah they’re suuuuper malfunctioning

OvO but on the plus side, some of them are getting to experience the joy of physicality

OvO

OWO The red-head pissed himself it’s the funniest thing holy shit

OoO anyway ENOUGH JOKES what do you need? 

O.O7 Amaina Chan is here to help!

=^=;;; Someone could have a seizure, or someone could collapse from a total lack of energy, and if their brain shuts down from that?

ᇹ_ᇹ;;;

=_=;;; We’re not letting that happen.

=_=;;; Go to Sora or Riku and ask for their excess energy like what I’m doing with Luis. Then, go to Axel and have him receive the energy. We’re just redistributing it.

OoO okaaaaaay

O.O

OoO meet on the island after?

And then she blipped out, heading to Sora. 

Flying through a mind unnoticed was tricky for anyone, and Amaina was no exception to that. But where she was exceptional was in her practice and methods for it. And half of that stemmed from being aware that she was very much a creature of the mind. 

For most people, because of the way they understood reality to be, going through firing nerves of the mind always ended up looking like long swaths of land, filled with people playing out memories or fantasies, each piece connected to each other in a maze-like, rational, but still sometimes indecipherable way. Since most people projected themselves and took in projections following the rules of the reality they were born in, that distance became difficult to navigate quickly. At best, people finding little tricks for themselves, like Xaldin’s shifting steps, or how most Empaths chose to fly. 

But for creatures of the mind, like Amaina, and Alter Ego? They simply shifted their perception of the environment. 

When Amaina was trying to move quickly and without being noticed? She shifted through the sounds of a mind. Ignoring its physicality entirely. 

She still had to follow where the sounds led, but sound was quick, and shifting through them felt like falling through tunnels at top speed, like sliding through a plastic tube that would safely deliver you to water. Amaina faded into music, and as that music, she zipped through–

“------god what the hell was I thinking, great job, Xaldin, like he’s ever gonna get over that—”

“-------Isa! Isa it’s time to come inside, father says dinner is being served early—---”

—--vague, happy carnival music, a fond memory—--

“—- we’ll get out of here someday, and we’ll see the real world together—-”

Amaina opened her eyes, and the music she was popped back into an adorable little chibi form, as she plopped herself down on Sora’s lap, before saying shhhhhhh I’m not here.

“You seem here,” Sora whispered, wincing like Amaina had shouted, his brightly lit city world around him literally seeming to wobble in the heat rays of the burning too bright sun above him, a fever clearly forming as he asked, “What are you doing here, Amaina chan?”

OoO I wanna eat your poooooweeeer

O.O

OoO and send it to piss-pants

Sora blinked… before saying a tad desperately, “I think I could use some of my power being eaten, honestly? I feel like I’m burning up.”

O.O good

OvO munch munch

To be honest, Ienzo was feeling a little energized himself. Not something overwhelming, which was good, he was pretty close to the median of their group in terms of power, but he still felt it. He didn’t think their quantifiable power was an even distribution, so futzing with how much power went where probably did have some wiggle room, but with his family on the brink of disaster like this, Ienzo wasn’t going to take unneeded chances. 

So for the extra energy he had?

-

In the gloomy, dark underwater of Demyx’s world, the vibrant corals almost entirely unable to be seen, Zexion gently cupped his boyfriend’s face, a worried but determined expression on his non-Chibi face. 

“Eyes open, Sunshine,” he said softly, starting to pass off Luis’ energy. 

Demyx’s eyes hadn’t technically been closed, but ‘technically’ was the word. His eyes had been lidded and unseeing, cradling a small body in his arms, but floating lifelessly in the water. Cold and tired. Cold and tired…

But Zexion arrived, and by the time Demyx had literally noticed him? Warmth started seeping back into his body, Demyx soundlessly twitching in the dark water for a moment, like for a moment the heat hurt… before he relaxed, bubbles starting to lift from his mouth, like oxygen had been put into his lungs, said oxygen floating him to the surface of the water, where Demyx laid on his back, Lauriam on his chest as Demyx floated. 

“...thanks button,” Demyx sighed, closing his eyes, “I’m gonna get up soon, I promise. I’m just really tired.”

“I know, sunshine,” Zexion said softly, kissing Demyx’s forehead. “Just let me take care of you for now. It’ll be okay.”

As they floated together, Lauriam slowly picked his head up. Looking beaten and wary as he regarded Zexion. 

Zexion’s eyes squinted as he took in the bruises, far more tame on a Chibi than he figured the damage actually warranted, and while he shook his head, he put a hand on Lauriam’s back. Lauriam likely not needing energy…but healing was in order, and Zexion could spare some of that, as clumsy as it was in non-expertise. 

“We’ll talk later, Lauriam. Just rest for now.”

#>.◉ ∠✔)

Demyx nodded, relaxing at that. He trusted Zexion. If he said he had it? He had it.

-

O.O

Axel stared back at Amaina. Laid out on some rock, the caves near pitch black.

“...yeah?” Axel asked, “What?”

OoO I’m just trying to figure out which rock is gonna be lava and which rock is gonna be a path

O.O

OoO okay I need you to roll like TWO FEET that way! 

O.O

OOO OR YOU’RE GONNA END UP IN LAVA GO GO GO

-

After that, it was just turning into a song again, and–

-

…Namine had a song stuck in her head. 

It had just come to her. She was pretty sure it wasn’t one she had known before. Maybe in the silence, something she had come up with? 

She doubted it. She wasn’t something that could create. Only distort. And destroy.

Not that she hadn’t wanted to be more, once. 

When Namine had been young, and new, Kairi hadn’t treated her like a Nobody. Kairi had been excited to create ‘a friend’, Namine remembered her saying. It was why Namine had been designed to look so unlike Kairi herself. Kairi hadn’t wanted to look at her and see herself. She had wanted to see a new person. One she would be excited to get to know.

It had been a bit alarming for Namine. She often got the impression that Kairi sometimes forgot what Namine did, when Kairi wasn’t around. The terrible things she did, when the mind was only hers to populate. When Kairi popped back in to say hello, she treated Namine like the two were having normal, similar days. Sometimes, Kairi would even ask how Namine’s day was going, after a long shift.

Namine always said her day had been good. She had never known what else to say. 

“Mmmhm, mhmmm,” Namine hummed, the strange song still playing in her mind. It was so clear. Maybe she had heard it somewhere before? Certainly she hadn’t invented it…

She knelt in a stark white room. A stark white room with nothing in it. Nothing had been in it for a long, long time. The more she wanted to control her abilities, the less she could have to distract herself. That was what she had been taught…

The room had used to be full of paper.

Sometimes, when Namine closed her eyes? The paper was still there. Hung proudly all over the walls. Kairi had loved to hang Namine’s pictures up. When she had insisted Namine needed something to do with all of her time–as if Namine wasn’t always, always, very busy with a job Kairi seemed to forget Namine was doing–Kairi had tried a few different things. Music like big bro Demyx! Sparring like Dad? Gardening like brother Lauriam? 

And then one day Kairi had shoved the idea of colored pencils and paper into Namine’s hands, and something had clicked. 

And Namine discovered that the blank whiteness inside of herself could be full of color. If that color came from her hands. If it felt like an achievement. 

Kairi had laughed when she picked up one of Namine’s first drawings. “I love that it’s not perfect,” she admitted, “I was afraid you were just going to ‘create’ a drawing on it that’d be like something we’ve seen already. But no! You actually drew it! That’s amazing, Namine!”

Namine missed her drawings, sometimes. 

Namine missed when Kairi would visit, and call her amazing.

But that wasn’t what Namine was for. Namine was a tool created with a purpose. And everything had to be dedicated to that purpose. 

Namine ignored the paper that wasn’t around her. She knelt in a white room. She focused, trying to ignore the song in her head, as she reached out to the island, which now only she had control over. All the energy she could possibly need, to make sure they wouldn’t hurt each other.

Calm.

-

Xaldin let out a long, calmed breath.

…dammit.

Zexion (calmly) looked around with caution, almost holding his breath to see if he’d been noticed, before he let it out and jogged over to Xaldin. It didn’t look as lifeless in his world as Demyx’s, or what he briefly heard from Amaina as they passed about Axel’s world as she headed to Isa from Riku, but, well, they were heading more towards the center. That just made logical sense. 

Still, he gave his uncle a (calmly) worried look. “Please don’t indicate my presence. Amaina and I are manually redistributing everyone’s energy. You seem…okay?” he asked a little uncertainly. “I did already use some of Ienzo’s excess to try and heal Lauriam a bit, so my apologies if it doesn’t feel like enough.”

“Relax, kid, I’m fine,” Xaldin huffed, sitting down on a broken, ancient statue, looking warily around at the relics of half-dug out temple, worshiping some god that had been lost to Luminous history, “...you know, your brother is a real pain in the ass sometimes. The pink one.”

Nevertheless, Zexion did still start to transfer some energy into Xaldin, able to feel the faint sense of relief from Ienzo. 

Joining Xaldin, Zexion smirked lightly. “Which pink one?”

“Both of them. They’re both fucking pains in the ass. Did you hear all that shit he was saying?” Xaldin scowled, kicking some ancient gem and watching it crash into the wall. “Worse, fake version. Want to be dead. I hope he still wants to be dead because I’m gonna strangle him next time I see him–”

Calm.

“Dammit. She keeps ruining my flow,” Xaldin grumbled, “Damn witch. Always knew Namine was gonna go too far some day. Though, I guess I’m grateful she didn’t mind-wipe all of us. I’m always waiting for it.”

Zexion sighed softly, guilt tightening in the corners of his face. Yeah. He’d heard all that. Pretty much the worst case scenario he’d posited to Vexen…and yet…

Ugh, how could his dad see that and still not--

Zexion shook his head a little, refocusing after the wave of calm. “...I can’t imagine it’s easy, accepting the end of your consciousness, and then just…waking up again later. I was ready to sacrifice a lot for Ienzo, but he never even let me blink thinking it was really the end. Add in Lauriam apparently being in a particularly bad mindspace, and this catching them both off guard to some extent…”

Zexion gave the sky a wary look. “...she still might. She believes it’s her duty to manage all of us. If that doesn’t seem feasible to her without absolute control…”

Even despite the calmness, something a little closer to fear crossed Zexion’s face. …Namine could destroy constructs, after all. “...I’ve been managing to travel to all of you. Do…you think it would be wise to confront her?”

“...I want to say of course it’d be, she’s a witch, but she’s still our witch,” Xaldin said, putting his forehead in his palm as he continued, “But she killed Xion. She couldn’t even explain to the rest of us why. I thought they were friends… if she could do that to Xion? She could do it to any of us.”

“...though, wait, can you confront her?” Xaldin asked, “Because so far none of us can get to the island at all. I guess I just assumed you were getting to our minds another way, like, directly, but are you still using the island tethers?”

Zexion had a sneaking suspicion that the reason Namine couldn’t explain more about what happened to Xion was because that explanation was tied to memories she had erased, and it would be counterproductive to erasing them in the first place if she just brought it up herself. Not that he approved of that in the slightest bit, but he and Namine had long disagreed about memory manipulation. 

…and, perhaps, worse? Zexion had a feeling that what Namine did to Xion was because they were friends. Because she and Sora were friends. And what Namine would do out of love and duty to the rest of them…?

Zexion flexed his hands by his sides nervously. He pursed his lips for a moment before giving Xaldin a nervous look. “I can still get to her world.”

“Oh boy… a part of me wants to say just wait it out. That she’ll stop this on her own. But honestly? A lot of us have been having some serious meltdowns lately,” Xaldin said, worrying his forehead as he lightly scratched his skin, “And that push, plus the lockdown? Now with all of the island’s energy at her disposal? A part of me is worried she’ll double down, just stay there… and a part of me is worried she’s gonna burn herself out and we’re going to have another ball of light situation on our hands.”

“...actually,” Xaldin frowned, “Fuck you risking yourself, Zexion. If anyone’s about to be wiped during a damn tantrum? It might as well be me. Marluxia and Lauriam can have their damn self-destruction hissy-fits all on their own, I don’t have to stick around and watch it. I’ve put off my return to base essence anyway. Could you show me how to get to her world?”

“Not ideal, is it,” Zexion said lowly, giving the sky another worried look. “I’m not sure what’s worse, actually. Her maintaining enough energy and function to keep this up forever, or her burning herself out so much she loses form. Lauriam may have…mostly recovered, but it’s not a state one wants to be in.”

Eyes widening, Zexion sucked on his cheek, giving Xaldin a concerned look. “...don’t make the decision to risk your existence on them. This…” More guilt colored Zexion’s face as he ducked his head. “...I should’ve stopped this before it happened. I know that’s not all you’re talking about, but the feelings are fresh. Don’t let it overrule your reason.”

“Alright, so who can we sacrifice?” Xaldin asked, standing up and stretching, “Wanna send the pissed off flower, or the suicidal dandelion? How about one of the kids? Nah nah nah, let’s send Demyx who sounds half-dead whenever he sends intent right now, or Vexen, who sounds like he started this whole thing, maybe he has it coming.”

Xaldin gave Zexion a tired look. “I’m not saying I’m ready to die, kid. I’m pissed, I’m tired, and I’m fed up, and that’s making me more willing to accept a risk… but also, someone’s gotta take the risk. Let’s make it my pissed, tired, and fed-up ass.”

Zexion let out a small, annoyed breath. “You’d think I’d be used to no one listening to me by now, but no.”

Frowning up at Xaldin, he said, “I’m not saying don’t go. I’m saying not to decide to do it because of Lauriam and Marluxia.” His expression softened slightly. “...choose to do it because of Namine.”

Zexion sniffed a little as he stood as well. “And you wouldn’t be alone regardless. You can’t get there without me, and I’ve just busted my ass covering for my little sister with a god-complex. She’s not getting away with me not getting another word in.”

“Alright, alright, that’s my bad. Yeah, you’re right. And honestly, I’m hoping that I’m wrong and Namine really won’t hurt us. But… we’ll see,” Xaldin said, “This is a rescue mission, ideally. Rescuing her from her own stupid choices.”

O.O

OoO cooooool 

OOO BUT IVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER WHATS TAKING SO LONG

“Where the hell did you come from!?” Xaldin gasped, jolting as Amaina flew off his head, “How do you just ‘show up’ places!? I swear, you’re not a construct, you’re a ghost–”

Calm.

Happy.

“Heh,” Xaldin grinned, even as his eyebrow twitched, “Dammit.”

Zexion smiled softly at Amaina. “I have a bit more involvement with my family than you do, Amaina-chan. So it’ll take me longer to check in with people. That said--are you coming too? I don’t know if you caught it, but Namine has been able to destroy constructs beyond recovery before, so that’s a risk to consider.”

“Your skill would likely be a point in our favor, though,” he admitted. “Namine is significantly stronger than Xaldin and I.”

OoO please I’m not afraid of no empath

OOO I AM P O W E R

oOo I BOOP DRAGONS ON THEIR GIANT BOOPABLE NOSES!!!

O.O bring it on

“I don’t know how seriously I should take what you just said,” Xaldin admitted, before grinning, “But hell yeah, bring it on! I’m feeling good after that energy pick me up! So like I said! How do we get there?”

OoO okay do like I do

“Alright,” Xaldin said seriously.

OoO put your hands up in the air. Like this

“O… okay.” Xaldin frowned, putting his hands up and to the left. 

OoO And your hips jutted out into the other direction, like this

“....” Xaldin did it, but he suddenly looked much more suspicious, jutting his hip out.

OoO now follow my movement. 

(((ೕ( O.O)و )))

(((ೕ( OoO)و ))) YOU’RE GIVIIIING MEEEEEEEEEEE

(((٩(OoO)و))) TOOOOO MAAAANY THIIIINGS

(ง OOO)ง BABY!!!

“Is she fucking with us or is this actually gonna do something?” Xaldin whispered to Zexion as he swayed his hips and waved his arms.

“One day I’ll parse out what you mean by a dragon,” Zexion sighed, and…well, maybe he wasn’t feeling too guilty about everything, because he absolutely just watched Amaina coach Xaldin in dancing. When Lauriam and Marluxia were feeling better? This would be an excellent memory to share. 

“Both are possible and plausible answers,” Zexion said seriously, before he smirked a bit. Waiting for Amaina and Xaldin to wave toward him before he did a little spin and grabbed their hands, the three of them disappearing from the ancient temple dig site.

-

Namine took another deep breath. Knelt on the floor and trying to focus. 

Keeping the island locked up and peeking into 12 different minds was… challenging. 

She just had to do this until everyone felt better. Then everyone would stop fighting and everything would be okay. She just had to wait until every negative emotion was gone. 

But every time she gave her family a moment, the negative emotions came back. Anger, fear, betrayal, frustration…

Calm.

Something nagged in the corner of her mind. Saying something was shifting in a way it wasn’t supposed to… but when Namine opened her eyes to check, the strain of maintaining her control over everything became too much. Briefly, her white room was full of papers. Scattered all over the floor, covering tables and couches and beds that weren’t supposed to be there, a giant, white flower that wasn’t supposed to be there–

She closed her eyes and focused. The room was white again. Empty. Clean. 

She had to remain calm. She couldn’t panic.

This was not panic.

Happy.

-

Xaldin staggered a bit when the spinning stopped, needing a second to get his footing again before looking around, feeling blind for a second, before the gradient hues of white and black came more into focus. 

He was standing at the bottom of what looked like a massive white staircase. Walls circling in on all sides. 

“Namine’s tower,” Xaldin sighed, looking up at the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase, “Only have ever been in here once, actually. Was just curious what her method was. Wasn’t a fan. Put someone in here, with only one task to do, with no other stimulation? Let them tire themselves out trying to escape to nowhere while she worked on rearranging things on their mind, figuring out the perfect conditioning method for them individually. Then they’re released into a floor custom made, just for their conditioning. Scary powerful… but reliable. Flawless. They gave her the assassins. People there couldn’t afford to be loopholes or mistakes with.”

OoO people made mistakes with the brainwashing stuff??

“Oh, all the time,” Xaldin scoffed, “We weren’t perfect. And when it was revealed a mistake had been made? The person had to be sent back to the factory to have their conditioning fixed. Man, when I say shit always hit the fan for whoever conditioned that person, if they had to be sent back? If someone you sent out came back, your life was over for about a month, every damn time. It’s shitty to admit, but there was always that moment of hearing about someone being sent back for more conditioning, where you're sitting there wondering, shit, is it going to be me? And hoping it’s not going to be… even if that means it’s going to be someone else.”

“You never met Roxas, but that poor kid never really got over the shit they put him through for his early mistakes,” Xaldin recalled, starting to head up the staircase, “This might sound bizarre, but when you have punishment after punishment after punishment hanging over your head, or coming down on you? You start to hate the people you’re conditioning, more than you hate the people punishing you. Like… why the hell can’t they just let it happen? Why do their minds keep fighting this pointless, never-ending battle with us? Just to get us into trouble? Why can’t they just shut the hell up and let themselves be conditioned.”

“It can get bad, if you let it,” Xaldin admitted, “You could vent to get the anger off your chest, but eventually someone had to remind you that it wasn’t us vs. them. Not really. We’d have fought too, in their positions. It was the supervisors. The program. It definitely wasn’t the poor bastards whose constructs hadn’t properly mutilated their damn brains.”

“I know I resented Namine sometimes, that she never experienced a punishment for fucking up a conditioning,” Xaldin sighed, “Felt like one of those ‘rite of passages’ things that everyone went through. Except her. Too powerful to fail.”

Looking over Namine’s world, Zexion couldn’t help but frown a bit. In some ways, their worlds were polar opposites for both being maze-like in a sense, Namine’s stark with no stimulation, absolute control, Zexion and Ienzo’s filled to the brim and ever-growing just to accommodate, admittedly overstimulating (at least it used to be) and filled with new interpretations and discoveries all the time. Ienzo’s mind a celebration and hoard of memory, while Namine’s the absence of it. 

Zexion rubbed his shoulder subconsciously before sighing softly. “I’ll admit I wasn’t above envy. With the power at her disposal, I was aggravated more than once that Namine seemingly never tried putting in loopholes or workarounds…but back to my senses, I’m glad she didn’t.” Zexion looked up at the tower tiredly, a wane smirk on his face. “Not everyone was so eager for punishment. And I’m glad that if any of us managed to avoid it, it was one of the teens.”

Frowning, Zexion glanced over to Amaina. “I know they’re not all that tempting for you anyway, but please don’t go out searching for memories of our time in the factory, Amaina. They’re not pleasant things.”

O.O

OoO oh yeah no of course not

O.O

O.O;;

“That looks like the face of someone who gets more tempted the more she’s told no,” Xaldin snorted, looking around the tower with more frustration as they climbed, “Not that you’ll find anything here, I’ll bet. Even super distracted, I bet Namine can keep us from getting into the rest of her mind. Though, maybe I shouldn’t put that into the atmosphere. We need to get to the top of this tower, but the staircase will just keep going until she lets it end.”

“...which means,” Xaldin said, summoning a spear and grasping it in his hand, “It might be faster just to get her attention and motivate her to send us to the top.” 

OoO oh yeah? And how are you going to 

OOO;; DON’T DO THAT

Xaldin took a deep breath, positioned the spear so that its base was caught on one of the angles of the steps, and holding onto the spear’s neck, he shoved himself forward onto the blade, piercing it deeply into his chest as he shouted. 

“AHHHHHHHH!” Xaldin screamed, taking one breath, two… before chuckling as another long, urgent CALM ran through the air. “I’m not angry, witch. It’s a logical choice, not an emotional one. F’uuuck,” he groaned, pulling the spear from his chest, blood dripping down the staircase as he gripped it, heading back up the staircase a little slower and more haggard now, “And now I’m counting. If I don’t get to a door in 25 steps? Well, we’re about to find out how much abuse my Nobody form can take before I degrade entirely, huh baby girl?”

CALM. HAPPY.

Xaldin chuckled through bloody teeth. “Don’t worry about it. I’m a sadist. I’m thrilled.”

Zexion just shook his head a little. He’d warned her. There was still worth in the small moments they shared in the time they had away from work…but predominantly their time in the factory was work. And all those memories? Not worth watching. 

Honestly, Zexion had been hoping that Namine’s distraction would give them opportunities, but he gave Xaldin a curious look, wondering just how he was planning to get Namine’s attention in a way that wouldn’t just--

Zexion jumped, flinching, eyes widening and he started to reach out to Xaldin before the wave of calm came over him. Xaldin’s rationale becoming apparent. 

…his desperation and frustration becoming apparent. 

“...Namine, please let us up,” Zexion calmly requested, “I believe Xaldin is completely serious, and the most logical way to achieve actual calm and tranquility is through dialogue, not control. Control simply begets resentment and rebellion in the gaps of the human spirit it cannot truly touch.”

“Mhm, mhm, listen to the egg-head Namine. Or in 25 steps, I’m gonna finally do that test Vexen’s always wanted to do and see if we cut off a hand, if it’ll just stay that way,” Xaldin snickered, before he counted, “19, 20, 21, 22, 23, am I about to make Vexen’s day? 24… good.”

O.O I’m a little disappointed to not find out about the hand thing

OOO BUT ALSO WHAT THE FUCK THAT WAS SO CLOSE YOU ALL ARE CRAZY

OvO it's a lot of fun

“I like your little friend, Zexion, you should invite her around more,” Xaldin chuckled, reaching over to push open the door that had appeared at the sudden top of the staircase. 

When he opened it, Namine stood in the center of a white room. Visibly trembling as she looked Xaldin over. “Why would you do that?” she asked, her tone far more even than her trembling would suggest, “You’re not even upset.”

“I’m plenty upset, I’m just not emotional about it. Sometimes you say things and I’m reminded just how young you actually are.” Xaldin scoffed, blood trailing behind him, starkly bright against the all white background as he looked around the blank white room. “What is all this… there was at least furniture and stuff in here, last time I visited. How are you living like this, Namine, this is no way to exist.”

“It’s clean,” Namine said, still trembling, “It’s perfect. Like me. Xaldin, you’re still bleeding.”

“Relax, I’m fine, it’s purely visual. I just wanted to make myself hurt for a bit to get your attention. It’s only still bleeding because this is your world and you think it’s supposed to be bleeding. Like I said, kid, I’m not emotional, I’m not having some sort of breakdown. This whole situation is bad and I’m just working to make it better. I’m already calm. I’m self soothing and all that,” Xaldin scoffed, “But all this? This looks like a ton of repression, Namine. This can’t be good for you.”

Namine glanced around before wincing. Like looking at the blank walls hurt her in some way. Briefly, as she winced, there was a flash of something. Furniture. Paper. A giant, clear flower… with mixtures of brown, pink and red.

Then it was all gone again, as she focused on them, eyes narrowing as she said, “You hit Marluxia.”

“...yeah, I did. Twice,” Xaldin frowned, “And you were right to get me away from him. I shouldn’t have done that. I was emotional then. Near out of my mind. That was a good call. Thank you, witch.”

“She’s over often, we just don’t hang out with you since you’re mainly focused on the physical world,” Zexion hummed, taking a breath before they entered Namine’s room. Despite what Xaldin had just said, he didn’t have the most inspiring track record of influencing Namine in any way. Hellfire, even at the start of this whole journey, she hadn’t done more than just blink at him when he pointed out that apologies likely wouldn’t go over well with people they were kidnapping and still trying to control. 

But failure never meant Zexion would stop trying. Experiments usually needed several trials. 

Still, he let Xaldin take the lead, though looking around the blank white room… “You have an interesting definition of perfection,” he murmured. He missed the pictures. They had been rather charming, even aside from the fact that his sister had drawn them. 

And when one suddenly appeared again…

“...Namine, would you like to draw together?” Zexion asked.

Namine flinched. “...I can’t, it’ll distract me.”

“From what?” Xaldin asked, sounding genuinely baffled, “Namine, we are out of the factory. And yeah, I know today was bad. I still think you were right to push me away from Marluxia. But also, today’s not the norm. I promise, the nonsense you saw today isn’t going to repeat, we’re going to figure this out without beating the crud out of each other.”

“...we didn’t fight this much inside the factory,” Namine said stiffly, “And I had more control there. It was easier to help. Now we’re out here and everyone’s fighting all the time, everyone’s sad. Everyone’s… going back to base essence and… and…”

She closed her eyes.

Calm. Calm. Calm.

And when she opened her eyes, Xaldin was standing in front of her, reaching out and putting his hand around the back of her neck, before pulling her into his chest.

“That is not how we self-soothe. Geez, we’re terrible examples, if that’s how you think people are supposed to get past feeling bad… Zexion’s offer is a good idea, Namine. You want to actually feel better? Doing something else for a bit helps.”

“I’ll be distracted,” Namine said, blinking. Just leaning lifelessly against Xaldin’s chest.

“Entirely the point. Use some energy, give yourself some space to think. Then do me a favor and teach that dumbass brother of yours the same thing,” Xaldin scoffed.

“I want you to get along,” Namine said.

“We will, I just handled shit badly today,” Xaldin said, patting her on the back, before stepping back, looking around the floor, “...seriously, it’s all white in here, I’ve got some blood left if we just want to use that on the walls–”

“Don’t be gross,” Namine muttered, before waving her hands. Some blank pieces of paper next to some colored pencils forming on the ground. 

“Theeere we go, now we’re talking,” Xaldin said, sitting down, grabbing a black colored pencil and squinting at the paper next to him, “I haven’t done this in ages. No one’s allowed to make fun of my drawing.”

“I won’t, I’m a severely unpracticed visual artist,” Zexion assured, summoning his Lexicon, but just to brace on his thighs as he laid on his back, placing his paper on the book. “Still, it’s an enjoyable hobby regardless of skill level.” Loosely, he began drawing in a squiggly shape. 

“...I apologize, I feel some of the more heightened emotions could’ve been prevented by me,” he said softly, glancing over at Namine, and, to his credit, only hesitating for one, guilty moment. “...Vexen intends on reconfiguring every Nobody back in the form of a chibi. He told me he spoke with Lauriam earlier, and I can surmise all this was the initial experiment…if one not communicated clearly, judging by Lauriam and Marluxia’s surprise. If I had spoken up, I believe we could’ve talked things through more fruitfully… I’m sorry I put you in that position of responsibility instead, Namine.”

He sighed a bit, glancing up at the ceiling before continuing his drawing. “...you and my father have some similar ideas of how to express your affection for all of us. It’s something I appreciate, at its core…but I do think that great ability can be a burden beyond the one happily carried in love.”

“Ah, dammit Vexen.” Xaldin sighed, taking a quick look around and deciding he’d try to draw Amaina. She was already sorta cartoon shaped. He had no idea how she was holding that pencil with those tiny stump arms, but she seemed pleased as punch to be doing so. “He’s too smart to not know we’d all hate that. Jackass… should have just talked to us. It’s not like any of us didn’t know the new construct thing was an option. Especially after watching you change, Zexion. There’s just other stuff to consider too.”

Warily, Namine sat down. She really should focus. It was important to focus. All of the time. Everyone needed her to be strong. To be a pillar. To make hard choices. 

She reached for a random colored pencil, and she got gray. It wasn’t much of a color. She didn’t know what to draw. Feeling like she just needed to make some sort of effort to participate, she started to draw aimless circles on her paper. Just spinning her wrist as she murmured, “If you’re the one with the power, you have to use it in service of others.”

“Who the heck taught you that? I know none of us did. When would it have even come up?” Xaldin asked, trying to draw Amaina’s big eyes and finding the circles hard to make just right, “Maybe it’s even true, but what does ‘service’ even look like in this case? All of us were slaves five seconds ago. The only people we served were…”

Xaldin trailed off. Hearing his own logic. 

O.O mhm, mhmmm~

OoO heeeey! I was making my cool rockstar-sona and my paper got all cluttered

QOQ MY MASTERPIECE, NOOOOOO

Namine flinched, still just making circles. “Throw it away if it has something on it.”

“Yeah,” Zexion said softly, sounding a bit more like Ienzo, for the small thrum of vulnerability in his voice. “He…intends to do it whether everyone consents or not. Particularly if not. I tried to talk with him, that if we just asked you guys I think more than he expects would actually agree, and even if some of you didn’t that’s your choice to make, but he never listens to--”

Calm.

Zexion sighed. “...I still should’ve told you guys. I’m sorry.”

He glanced over, giving Namine a curious look before glancing at Amaina’s paper and--

Flinching. Before sitting up more and giving Namine a concerned look. “...you found wisdom in his words? The things that he always specifically crafted to get under each of our skin to haunt us in personally specific ways, because he was even worse of a sadist than Xaldin.”

Namine spun and spun and spun circles into the paper. Just staring at it. 

“He served someone else,” Namine said, eyes following the neverending descent of the spirals, “He was an Empath, like us. A human. He grew up in a place where even being just human made you lesser… but he wasn’t locked in a cage, like us. He had lived away from the people he served most of his life. Got to live his own life. Got to… protect people he chose to.” Namine blinked, watching the spirals. “That’s what it means to be powerful. If you have the power? You can influence your fate. You just have to know how to serve. Do it right, and no one will lock you in a cage anymore. And you can take anyone you want out of the zoo with you.”

“Oh hell no,” Xaldin muttered, his own page filling up with a different drawing. It was originally a picture of Kairi and Namine holding hands, smiling, but it had been crossed out, with large, angry faces in the scratch marks, screaming at each other.

“I don’t want to show anyone any of this,” Namine whispered, making her swirling, swirling, swirling circles, “You should all go. I failed anyway.”

 “Ah, Namine, girl… what’d this bastard do to you,” Xaldin muttered, putting down the page and reaching for another. 

He had plenty to choose from. More pages were blinking into existence around them. Namine’s wrist movements growing faster as she made more spirals onto her own paper.

“I did terrible things,” Namine said, staring at nothing, “And in the end none of it mattered. The opposite happened. They wouldn’t let me serve anymore. And I didn’t know what was going to happen to us…”

“...more like getting lucky that your captors’ whims fall in your favor,” Zexion grumbled, “Then abuse the power you have to enslave others, for a sense of superiority and control in a world you can’t face the chaos of. Almost enough to forget the collar around your neck.”

…it didn’t help Namine to gripe at a man dead, though. 

Zexion frowned, the drawing of Guppy looking fiercer than he was capable of, blood starting to swirl in the water, despite the lack of a red pencil he’d picked up. With a sigh, he put down his Lexicon and looked up at Namine, gently nudging her non-drawing arm with the back of his hand. “...it mattered, because you’re alive now. Despite our captors’ plans, we’re alive, and even if we don’t know what tomorrow will look like…we have the ability to choose it for ourselves.”

He gave her a soft smile. “...I know it’s scary. But I promise it’s less scary when you have other people doing the same thing, to rely on and consider in turn.”

Swirl, swirl, swirl, swirl…

Namine looked up at Zexion. Her hand stilling. 

…her face scrunched up, nose wrinkling and brow furrowing, as she sniffled for a moment– CALM–

Stop that.

Namine blinked in surprise when her calm dome burst. Just the feeling of stop running through her… and Xaldin groaning, swaying back a bit as he leaned on one palm, his other running his hand over his face as he said, “How do you do that regularly? God, I’m gonna pass out, that takes way too much power.”

“It does,” Namine admitted… before her face scrunched again. Sniffling, as she admitted, “It takes a lot.”

And sniffling, she put her head in her hands, sniffling more as she quietly cried into her palms, as around the room more and more papers formed. Taped to the walls, scattered to the floor, some hanging from strings from the ceiling. The room forming a princess style bed, a lounging couch, even a window and a balcony. It looked like a young girl’s dream room. 

OoO oooooh, pretty

Amaina put on her wings and fluttered up, looking curiously at the hanging pictures. The ones hanging were clearly happy ones. Drawings of the others on Destiny Island, drawings of the ocean, one drawing of three teenage girls, one she recognized as Namine, another a red-headed girl and the third a black-haired girl. The three seemed to be laughing together. 

Down below, Xaldin picked up more pictures that had been tossed on the ground. These ones were more roughly drawn. Like Namine had put them together in fits of anger or sadness. A picture of Namine putting her hand up to a confused and dazed looking Riku. A picture of a boy that Xaldin didn’t know, but silhouetted, like all of his insides had been taken out of him. A picture of Namine and Kairi on opposite sides of a wall. 

Almost all of the pictures had Tengan somewhere in them. Watching like a creep. 

Putting down the page, Xaldin picked up a picture of Xion. It was just Xion. Her eyes looking wide and hurt. Confused. Her expression all hard edges and deep lines, like Namine had drawn it out again and again and again, trying to get the expression just right. 

“...Namine,” Xaldin said softly, “I know we’ve all asked before. You didn’t hide that you were the reason, and in retrospect, I respect that you didn’t just make us forget she was ever around… but what happened to Xion?”

Namine sniffled into her hands, curling her knees into herself. “...h-he said if I could j-just pass one last test, I could come out. A-and I could take everyone else out with me. He said they could always find new weak Empaths to throw into the factories, b-but I was worth making an exception, i-if I proved I could do what I was told. H-he said I had to choose someone…”

Namine sniffled, “A-and… S-Sora had two… n-nothing else made s-sense…”

Namine took a shaking breath, burying her head in her knees. “...h-he said I passed. A-and that’d it h-happen soon. B-but he had to take a trip first. A-and th-then a few years later, th-th-they just let us out a-anyway and it was all pointless.” She sniffed, curling tighter into her knees as she said, “A-and it couldn’t all just be pointless! I had worked so hard! Xion had… Xion… it couldn’t just be pointless! They were going to send us all away! I couldn’t protect us anymore, he didn’t follow through on his p-part of the deal! We were supposed to be safe and they were sending us away…”

Namine looked up, eyes red and bleary as she said, “I hadn’t meant to. I just wanted it all to stop.” She said, staring at something in the middle of the room, “And then I couldn’t make it start again…”

And when their eyes went back, there was Kairi. Frozen in one of Namine’s time-out flowers. Eyes closed and hovering.

“...and now it’s all my fault, that everyone has to go back to base essence,” Namine whispered, “It’s all my fault everyone’s fighting. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

Zexion’s eyes widened in wonder as Xaldin interrupted an emotion dome, a flurry of discovery whirring in his head.

But just the back of it. 

Drawing more power from Ienzo, Zexion quietly transferred some to Xaldin as he put his arms around Namine, holding her close as she cried. This the more important thing to focus on right now. His little sister, burdened by ability and duty, and now finally letting herself buckle from it. 

Zexion watched the room around them fill up again, filling with everything Namine should’ve always had. The room returning from a cage of meditation, to…a teen’s bedroom, a place of expression and repose and… He glared at the figure of Tengan in the drawings on the floor as he rubbed Namine’s back, rocking her slightly. 

A place to vent. Because a life of just calm and happiness wasn’t a full life. 

It wasn’t that Namine didn’t know that. She knew that more than Zexion would ever want. And just because flowers needed rain along with sunshine didn’t mean that you wouldn’t be upset after months of torrential storms. 

Zexion’s eyes widened as Namine revealed just what happened with Xion. Her manipulation, the agony of that…the fallout. He could only look at Kairi’s frozen form for a moment, reeling…

But he just hugged Namine more, sighing. 

=_= I’m so sorry…

Even if neither of them were better at understanding, Ienzo did seem to be the one more in tune with his emotions these days, but still Zexion felt his eyes burn, rage pulling at his joints for what that monster put his sister through, and the panic and loss that she had been dealing with…alone. 

≥_≤ It’s not your fault everyone’s fighting.

He said firmly, no room for debate in his voice. 

≥_≤ Even if we had left the factory with our Somebodies awake, the world is big, and confusing, and chaotic, and I know this doesn’t sound comforting, but we would be struggling to adjust regardless. And, frankly, we’re assholes. Even in the factory we fought, though the reason it wasn’t as much was because we had an enemy they never let us forget about, and we weren’t granted the time or energy to spend fighting amongst ourselves as much. As counter as it seems, that’s not a good thing. We’re a lot of strange, loud personalities. Clashing will happen. And that’s not your fault, nor your responsibility to prevent.

Zexion sighed, rubbing Namine’s back. 

-᷄_-᷅ ...I’m sorry that we let Tengen get to you like that. That he gave you that hope, in exchange for something devastating… I understand that…

 He swallowed another sigh. 

-᷄_-᷅  It feels practical, to trade one of us for the freedom and safety of us all. If the choice were posed to all of us… You know well the nightmare we were living in. I think a lot of us may have even volunteered for oblivion, if it meant everyone else could go free. And for a Nobody…our Somebody can just make us again, right? It’s practically a free trade.

Zexion’s voice wavered slightly. Thinking about sacrificing 14 to Axel’s dragon. Pushing 2 to Maki’s blades. Sending 8 into nothingness, for the crime of experiencing happiness. How 13 had screamed at him as they fought in the library, his pain of losing his friends real, and vibrant. 

They had all been made to be interchangeable, barely even thinking constructs at all, just advanced enough to be interesting in conversation, if only with each other. …they weren’t that. And Zexion had killed so many… He’d… He had to live, having destroyed his system. 

ಢ_ಢ But it doesn’t feel like that, does it? he whispered. ...and it shouldn’t rest on you alone to fix it. I’m sorry we made you feel that way.

Xaldin stared at the picture of Xion.

A part of him wanted to be angry. They had never known what had happened, but hearing Xion had been traded for their freedom…

…Zexion was right. Any of them would have made a similar trade. He just wished Namine hadn’t picked another one of the kids. None of them were surplus. Xion hadn’t been an extra Roxas. Namine should have picked one of the older bastards. One with a sadism streak who didn’t offer anything else…

Carefully putting the Xion picture aside, Xaldin glanced at Kairi’s enclosure, before dismissing it. Scooting closer to Namine and putting his hand on her back. “You were trying to save your family. That’s never for nothing, even if Tengan couldn’t be trusted. Hell, Namine, if he hadn’t died on that trip, maybe you really would have saved all of us. It wasn’t for nothing.”

“B-but I made so many mistakes…”

“An older person got you alone and made you feel pressured and cornered over years to change yourself in ways that would please him,” Xaldin said, suddenly gritting his teeth. “Made you do things you otherwise in a thousand years wouldn’t have considered… That's not your fault. Shit, I’m so fucking pissed right now… all that time I spent wallowing in self-pity, I didn’t even fucking notice one of the kids was actually getting groomed… God what a waste, of course, you got so damn withdrawn by the time you hit maybe 14. I just thought you were getting older, it never occurred to me something else was happening to you. I’m sorry. The others will be sorry. We’re all sorry, Namine.”

Namine took another tense, sniffling breath. “...I don’t know how to let her out. She was trying to stop me. I felt… so overwhelmed. I think I’m the reason all the Somebodies fell asleep. Whatever I did to Kairi rippled out through the rest of the island. Right before we were kicked out of the factory. Kairi and I were fighting, and suddenly all the Somebodies were gone.”

“Most of the time I can’t even see her,” Namine admitted, looking at the flower, “And when I can, nothing works to get her out. I’ve been watching how the others do it… it feels like returning to base essence really is the only way. Zexion, you weren’t made to be a Nobody in the first place, you were different, but everyone else? Had to go back to base essence, before their Somebodies came back.”

“... I think I have to do it,” Namine whispered. Wiping the tears from her eyes.

…there was so fucking little they could do against Tengan. He terrorized them all in such specific ways, like if he was getting to condition them but without the constraints of any quota. But at least they had been able to talk about it to each other. They couldn’t stop it, but at least there was group catharsis…

…if you chose to talk. 

Of course Tengan would’ve taken an interest in their strongest Empath. 

Fuck.

Zexion gave Namine an agonized look as he rubbed her arm, glancing to the ground as he wracked his mind. 

ó_ò ...we could talk to my dad? It’s true, I was initially made differently, but I don’t think I’m functionally different from you all these days. That means there could be a way to make the transition without fully going to base essence, and Vexen may know a way to help facilitate it.

…it would still take work from Kairi, though. The Somebody had to put in the effort to renegotiate their Nobody’s role within them, otherwise…well, Zexion supposed you got what had just happened to Marluxia and Lauriam. But Zexion believed that Kairi would be up to it. She loved Namine too.

“...maybe,” Namine whispered, getting up shakily, before taking some steps around the group. Staring at Kairi. “...but in truth? I don’t know if I want to do this alone anymore.”

“Xion is gone,” Namine whispered, “Roxas is gone. Ansem is gone. My friends… they all left before I ever even had the courage to say what happened. Who I stopped talking to years ago, because I killed Xion.”

Namine put her hand on the glass, staring at Kairi. “...I’m tired of being alone. I don’t want to do this on my own anymore. If they can be brought back, good. Bring me back with them. But if they can’t?” Namine turned to look over her shoulder, staring at the group for a moment… before she turned fully, smiling lightly at them, putting her hands demurely in her lap, before bowing slightly. “Thank you for coming here to talk to me. You aren’t the three I thought I’d say goodbye to, but in some ways I’m glad. It’s not much fun, looking into people’s faces when they’re sad. Zexion, Amaina, your faces are so simple. It’s a little easier.” Namine laughed lightly, straightening up. “And Xaldin… Uncle Xaldin…”

“I won’t make you stay, kid,” Xaldin whispered, “But you don’t need to take this sort of risk. You don’t owe penance.” 

“Maybe…” Namine smiled, “But it’s nice to imagine waking up with my friends. I hope I’ll see you all soon.”

“... goodbye.” 

-

Every door on the island suddenly unlocked. The chains gone.

Aeleus let out a little sigh, feeling clearer-headed all of a sudden, and if that wasn’t sign enough, the boys stopped shaking as well. 

Catching the signs, Clara looked up from the pot she was stirring, giving Aeleus a hopeful look. “You all sorted out again?”

“Hopefully,” he hummed, picking up the water pouches and handing them over to Riku and Sora, giving Anthony a thankful nod as he trotted one over to where they had seen Axel before he turned to check back on Kairi. 

After a moment, Kairi pushed herself up. Looking around in confusion. “Where…”

But she paused. Eyes immediately going up. Looking in open fascination towards the changing colors of the sunset. Vibrant colors of red and orange and purple swirling together past gently rolling clouds. Wind blowing through her hair. Grass beneath her hands.

“...is this real?” she whispered. 

“Kairi?” Sora said, standing up and looking a little woozy, but heading over to her. “Are you feeling better now? That was a bit much! But wow, I didn’t think you could do something that strong either, so that was pretty…” Sora paused, seeing the way Kairi was staring at him, “...Kairi, are you okay?”

Riku, still looking a little shaken as well, followed up behind Sora, looking Kairi over. The way her hands gripped the grass. Like she was afraid any second it would disappear beneath her. “...Namine?”

Minutely, Kairi shook her head.

“...KAIRI!” Sora shouted, crashing forward and putting his arms around her, “KAIRI! KAIRI!” 

Riku scrambled forward as well, crashing to his knees and wrapping his arms around them both as he shouted, “You’re back! You’re finally back! We’re all back!” 

“A-are we outside!?” Kairi shouted, still looking wide-eyed past them, clearly overwhelmed, “Is this real!?”

“It’s real, it’s real! Kairi, look!” Sora shouted, pulling back and pointing excitedly to the carriage, “We’re traveling in that! We’re not in the factory anymore, we’re going to Dicea! We’re going somewhere new! We did it! We left!” 

“We’re out, we’re out, we’re all out,” Riku said, still hugging Kairi, holding onto her, “We all made it out.”

“Eh… Weh….” Kairi’s face scrunched, before she gripped them back, “WE’RE OUT! WE’RE OUT! WE DID IT!” 

Axel, still looking very pale, made his way back from where he had ended up laying down near the horses. Watching the kids shout and wail together as he leaned against the carriage. Just taking deep, steady breaths… before he glanced at Aeleus. “...I guess that means Namine…”

Aeleus’ eyes widened minutely, but he had the spacial sense to get out of the way as the boys crashed into Kairi, the three of them whole-heartedly celebrating their freedom as themselves. He smiled softly. It was much louder than Roxas, Ansem, and Namine’s celebrations, but no less happy. 

Taking a moment to push himself up, Aeleus headed towards Axel--just giving Anthony a half shrug as the young man skittered back off towards Clara, feeling too sheepish to say anything about being ignored--and helped steady him. “It seems so.”

“...damn, that’s… good.” Axel sighed, watching the kids tiredly, “Good, it’s good. Just… guess I was expecting more of a heads up than that. Good. It’s good.”

Glancing at the carriage, he sighed, “Wanna do rock-paper-scissors for who should check on Laur… Mar… uh, Lauriam’s body inside?”

“I’ll check on him,” Even said, coming over from around the fire, brushing the dirt off from his pants, before heading into the carriage.

“There is only so much warning amid an emergency, I imagine,” Aeleus said softly, giving Axel’s shoulder a condoling squeeze. He could only hope that whoever helped Namine had given her comfort, at the end. He knew it would be more difficult for Axel to find the same peace in the sentiment, when it came to his sister. “I believe Clara is almost done with dinner. Eat, gain your strength back. We can do a full check in with everyone later.”

Lauriam’s body was still passed out, though thankfully it had accrued no further injuries since they’d laid him back out in the carriage. 

-

There was a frown on Marluxia’s face, and his gaze was focused, but there was no irritation about him as he gardened, the flower patches looking significantly healthier than they had earlier, blooming fuller and species with complementary needs now cuddled up next to each other. 

And a growing pile of metal scraps heaped off to the side, from where he kept digging them out of the ground. 

Marluxia was currently winding metal wires around larger prongs he’d shaped, a large sculpture starting to come together. His hair not just tied back, but pinned up completely, any top forgone and unclipped overalls hanging at his waist, covered in dirt and metal smears all over. 

Vexen landed in the grass not far off from him. Hands clasped behind his back, as he considered both the growth and the mess in front of him. “You are hard at work already,” he noted. 

Marluxia glanced placidly over his shoulder before resuming his project. “Put me back.”

“No,” Vexen said again, looking over the strange, half-finished statue, “What are you building?”

“Then I have nothing to say to you,” Marluxia said simply, observing the shape in his hand before nodding. Crouching down for a moment, he grabbed a welding torch and started attaching the piece to the whole.

“I see. That is troubling,” Vexen said, watching Marluxia work, “Why the resistance to returning? You are in control of the body again. Lauriam is returned, there’s no pressure to make any sort of sacrifice for his wellbeing. I’ve clearly misunderstood you in some fundamental way. I did not think you hated existing.”

Dooooon’t do it, Mar, remember what you decided. Marluxia reminded himself, lips pressed together as he finished welding and turned off the torch, tossing it lightly to the ground. You’re not gonna lose your head. You’re going to be calm and collected and either Vexen’s going to send you back into base essence, or he’s gonna get nothing from you at all so it’s basically like you’re still gone. You don’t owe anyone jack shit. Don’t rise to any bait, don’t be so fucking stupid they think they can just dangle a bet in front of you and you’ll do anything they want, you’re in control here. These are your terms. 

Marluxia picked up another piece of metal from the scrap pile and summoned his scythe, carefully cutting through the center of it. 

“I see. Well, I won’t disturb you for much longer. I do want to say though that I am glad to see you returned to us. Hopefully soon the others will return as well, though I imagine I’ve lost the element of surprise,” Vexen said, sighing a bit, “I believe we lost Namine just now… so in truth it’s just myself and Xaldin left. Which means next I need to ensure Xaldin goes to awaken Dilan, and I must figure out a way to awaken Even while still ensuring our revivals… If you cannot be happy for yourself? I hope you will wish me luck for the others, Marluxia.” 

Nodding Vexen’s head to him, he headed off.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

No, you’re cool, calm, and collected. You’re the best, and certainly better than fucking dipshit Vexen so just be cool. 

Marluxia kept his gaze on the metal as he pried the piece open more. 

…

That fucking asshole, who does he think he is?! Revivals?! FUCKING MAD SCIENTIST DIPSHIT, THEY DIDN’T NEED HIS SO CALLED HELP MARLUXIA DIDN’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE OTHERS WHO EVEN DID AND CERTAINLY NOT VEXEN PUTTING HIS STUPID SCIENCE LITTLE HANDS WHERE THEY DIDN’T BELONG--

“AAAAARGH!!!” Marluxia shouted, literally steaming mad as he whipped the piece of metal in his hands into the distance, seething.

Pressing his palms over his eyes as he panted, tight with anger. 

-

Demyx sat crosslegged, feeling a lot better now, though there was still the issue of… 

“Are you sure you can’t will yourself a mouth?” Demyx asked Lauriam, raising an eyebrow, “I mean, have you really tried?”

눈.눈

Lauriam gave Demyx a highly unamused stare before he shook his head. He still looked a bit beaten up, but, well, at least he could keep his eyes open now. They were, uh…certainly very open. 

‘◉.◉’ ∠:()

“Yeah man, no kidding. I can’t believe Marluxia did that!” Demyx said, rubbing his eyes as he groaned. “Maaaaan, what do we even do? It’s not safe for you to head back to your own world. You’re, like, this big!” Demyx said, spacing out his hands to be, indeed, that big, “You can’t exactly fight back! Well, can you? Can you summon your scythe?”

…he could believe it. Really what he had wished before was for Marluxia to have never left in the first place, not for…this. But wasn’t that just representative of how everything had been going lately. …Marluxia was right, what had Lauriam even done to try and make things better for himself? All he did was just…snap at people and freak out and make things worse for everyone. And then wallow and moan about that. No wonder Marluxia was pissed about what his ‘better’ version looked like. 

Lauriam let out a little depressed sigh before holding a nubby arm out, trying to summon his scythe…

And looking on in dismay as he only managed to make an oversized flower petal. The edge of it seemed sharp, at least. 

ඉ.ඉ

“...well?” Demyx grinned warily, “A+ for aesthetic?” 

“Demyx, pardon me, I’ve come to check on Lauriam,” Vexen said, landing on the stage at the center of the swirling pools of water. “I am sorry for what a fuss this has all been, Lauriam. I had hoped your transformation might be a bit… quieter, than what today proved to be.”

“Vexen, what the heck is going on!?” Demyx demanded, looking up at the older man, pointing at Lauriam, “Did you do this!? Why!? He’s tinier than Zexion!”

“I didn’t design what he would actually look like. I simply traded him with what Marluxia’s chibi form would have, potentially, settled on… though I can’t imagine how the mouth situation happened in either case. It’s a bit of an unacceptable barrier in this process,” Vexen admitted, kneeling down to peer at Lauriam. 

Lauriam startled. Wait, Marluxia would’ve been…this? 

‘◉.◉’ ∠!!!)

Banishing the flower petal, Lauriam desperately tried to get his point across, crossing his arms in ‘x’s over and over. 

‘◉.◉’ ∠💭☐✖፨ㅇ)

He glanced down, looking a bit ashamed. 

ᅙ.ᅙ∠∠ ))

ඉ.ඉ ∠:’’’()

“....did you pick up on any of that?” Demyx asked. 

“I believe he’s distressed,” Vexen said.

“Okay, did you pick up on anything other than his sad crying face then, professor,” Demyx said a tad dryly, “Because that was the only part I didn’t need help with.”

“Something about the weather, perhaps?” Vexen said after a moment.

OoO lol no

O.O

OoO He said he didn’t think you were actually going to do anything, that you all were talking in what if’s and maybes 

OOO THE CONVERSATION OF DREAMERS

OoO And stoners

“Oh, it’s you again,” Demyx said, looking up at Amaina, who waved from atop the pillar she was sitting on, “What are you doing here?”

OoO mostly watching teens girls sadly resign themselves to their own demise

O.O

QoQ this place is kinda fucked! 

OvO but I wanted to say hi to the new chibi anyway

“Hypotheticals?” Vexen frowned, looking back down at Lauriam, “I did think I was being very clear in our conversation. I wouldn’t offer a daydream for when you’re feeling suicidal, Lauriam. I wanted to offer a solution.”

“Sui–what now?” Demyx asked.

Lauriam could only slump more. Wasn’t it fitting? Marluxia accused him of never telling people how he felt, now he couldn’t talk at all. And even trying to reach out to someone…he’d fucked that up too. 

Though it wasn’t to say there wasn’t anyone who couldn’t understand him.

◉.◉ !!!

Lauriam looked up wide-eyed at Amaina, honestly stunned for a moment that she could understand him, before his gaze went slightly more alarmed. ‘Teen girls sadly resign’... Namine?

◉.◉ !!! ∠✐?????!?)

…though even with that new concern, he pointedly looked away from Demyx.

OoO yeaaaaaaaaah

O.O it was sad

OoO though the red-head is awake now

“Kairi’s back!” Demyx said, lighting up… before wilting, “And Namine’s gone? Without a goodbye? Geez, Terra, now Namine… this is already proving to be a really tough journey.” Demyx laughed weakly, before he ran his hands through his hair, scratching his scalp, clearly trying to compose himself. “...okay. Focus on the people who are still here! Lauriam! What does the professor mean, you… wanted what? To die?”

“Well, he seemed to want more to not be the one in charge of his body,” Vexen said, “Which was ideal for me, since I had needed a volunteer to learn how to bring back our lost Nobodies and create chibi forms for other minds. For the most part, it was a roaring success… with the exception of the emotional and mental stability of the people in question.” Vexen paused. “And the missing mouth thing. That is also a setback.”

Kairi was back? That was fantastic, honestly! The way Ienzo had been talking about it, Lauriam thought that they’d need the full force of every strong Empath they knew to try and sort things out with Namine. That it had happened with basically no aplomb?

…that it had happened without some of them even noticing? 

Lauriam looked down in worry…before his expression set in determination. And he disappeared from Demyx’s world.

-

Lauriam woke up in the carriage, quickly getting up and heading to the voices he could hear outside. Seeing the three kids laughing and talking animatedly with each other, he lit up and…

…a-and?

Lauriam faltered as he tried again. But he couldn’t even get his mouth to move.

It was Riku who noticed Lauriam was there, as he said, “Guys, check it out.”

“Lauriam!” Kairi smiled, “Hey! It’s me!” 

“Oh, it might be Marluxia, right? Isn’t that why everyone was fighting?” Sora asked, giving Lauriam a curious look, “Mar, is that you?”

…work with this, okay?

Taking a breath, Lauriam finished his trek over, smiling softly at Kairi before shaking his head at Sora. Making the ‘L’ kids used to learn their left and rights before pointing to himself, before pointing at Kairi and making a thumbs up, tilting his head a little.

-

…? 

…oh what the hell are you doing now you, fucking…

-

The kids, almost entirely in sync, tilted their heads at him. 

“...okay! Cool!” Sora said, recovering first, “It’s good to see you’re up, Lauriam! We were worried! But…”

“What’s with the charades?” Riku asked, “Something in your throat?”

“Are you feeling ill?” Kairi asked, frowning, “I’m sorry, I heard Namine disconnected everyone from the island for a while. I never thought it would affect everyone that much! Axel pissed himself.”

“He tried to hide it, but it was really obvious,” Riku said, shaking his head.

Lauriam gave Sora a nod, before giving Kairi a surprised look. He had seen that something was happening, with Demyx’s world going dark and him…well… And then Zexion coming by to help out, but…they’d been fully disconnected from the island? It was a miracle that no one had gotten a seizure, he’d take Axel just pissing himself. 

…heh. 

Sighing, though, he slowly shook his head. Hesitating for a moment before pointing to himself and then bringing his hands close together, starting away, then bringing them in to hopefully convey something getting smaller, then--

Lauriam seemed to tilt to the side for a moment before he blinked rapidly, a scowl coming over his face. 

“He’s saying that he still can’t talk even fronting, because his form as a Chibi not having a mouth is more than just an aesthetic,” Marluxia explained, crossing his arms before giving Kairi a worried look. “And he’s asking if you’re okay. Nice to see you back, by the way, but considering he, Demyx, and Asshole McLoser had no idea you were back until Amaina told us…”

His expression softened a bit. “Who…talked to Namine, then?”

The teens all blinked… and then, again, now entirely in sync, tilted their heads at him… 

“Okay, that’s Marluxia,” Riku said, crossing his arms and nodding sagely, “I’d recognize the tone anywhere. Very ‘I’m going to dunk your head in a toilet’.”

“I feel like him talking about Lauriam in the third person was also a clue,” Kairi said, “Lauriam’s lost his ability to speak? That’s… ooph, I hope that’s not my fault.”

“Welcome back, Mar! Are you feeling better!?” Sora asked, giving Marluxia a nervous smile, “You were pretty upset!”

“When I woke up, it was just Xaldin and… I’m pretty sure Zexion?” Kairi frowned, “He looked different, to say the least, but it was Zexion. Or, one of them, anyway. There was also a new girl. Like Zexion, tiny. A new Nobody?”

“No, she’s just a friend who comes by sometimes and… well, mostly just gawks at us,” Sora said. 

“Oh like you’re one to talk,” Marluxia grumbled before rolling his eyes, unfolding his arms to give some applause. “Yes, yes, you’re wonderful detectives, all of you, gold stars.”

Again, Lauriam’s body staggered before an aggravated expression ticked over, though it eased with a huff, Lauriam shaking his head at Kairi. He looked lost for a moment before crouching, writing in the sand, “Vexen.”

He looked a bit ashamed, trying to write as briefly and succinctly as possible, “Has lots of reasons to be upset.”

Nodding a bit hearing how Namine’s swan song went, Lauriam paused…before Marluxia sighed. “There’s only one Zexion now, and he, and the girl you saw, are what I said earlier, a Chibi. Some kind of powerful construct, ask Ienzo about it if you’re curious. But she’s friends with Zexion and…” Marluxia grimaced. “I guess intrigued by the freak show happening now.”

“I wouldn’t call us a freak show!” Sora said.

“I would,” Kairi frowned, “It’s been a year since I’ve even been awake! I was in a coma until, like, fifteen minutes ago! We’re outside!” 

“We’re traveling with a lizard transforming guy,” Riku said, looking around, “He was around earlier, we should definitely introduce you later.”

“I wish I had gotten to say goodbye to Namine before she left… but, well,” Sora gesturing to Kairi, “She’s here! So… but, what are you doing here, Marluxia? And why are you a chibi, Lauriam?”

“Why are you talking to him like he’ll answer to both?” Axel asked, having been trying to get some sleep after everything that happened, a nap while dinner was getting finished up, but hearing the teens talking he came out of the shade he had been laying down in. “Lauriam? Marluxia?”

Okay, Marluxia could only give Riku a Look at that--lizard transforming guy???--but he couldn’t help but snicker a bit. “Aw, aren’t you guys just sweethearts~? That almost makes me feel better. Alas, I’d just call the collective us a hot mess; no, I mean--”

Lauriam looked over at Axel and nodded, with a bit of fatigue holding up two fingers. Lauriam? Marluxia? Yes.

And to answer Sora’s question? He pointed to Vexen’s written name in the sand again.

“Yeah, that tracks,” Riku said, looking at Vexen’s name, “It was probably inevitable that the professor ended up breaking one of our brains.”

“Hey, Lauriam and Marluxia aren’t broken! They’re just… unique now!” Sora said. 

“I feel like Lauriam’s lost out in this particular exchange. Since he can’t talk,” Kairi said. 

Meanwhile, Axen gave the two dual-consciousnesses a long, tired look… before he called into the carriage. “Even! Even, you gotta fix this, man, this is NOT a solution!” he shouted, heading into the carriage. 

After a moment, Axel came out with Even. “Ah, so this is where you went,” Even said, frowning at them, “Fascinating… less than ideal, but fascinating.”

“You have to fix this. This is only going to get more confusing over time. Is this what you’re planning to do with all of us?” Axel asked, gesturing to Lauriam’s body, “This is NOT ‘being whole’!”

“They’re both awake,” Vexen said, shrugging, “It’s still an improvement.”

Lauriam sighed a bit, giving the teens a slightly tired look, which he mirrored when Axel fetched Even. It was…a little bizarre, feeling a flare of hot anger spark up inside him, and Lauriam, already adjusting, prepared for Marluxia taking over again…

…

…but nothing happened. 

Lauriam looked a little puzzled before nodding in enlightenment, though that wasn’t communicating much to anyone else. 

“Even,” Aeleus said as he approached the group, giving his husband a disappointed look. “This isn’t feasible long-term.” More to Lauriam, he explained, “Ienzo has described that rapid consciousness trades is straining on the body and mind. Are you alright?”

“How could either of us even tell?” Marluxia griped, “Loseram fucked us up so much we could do a mind crawl of getting kicked out of everyone’s head and not feel much different.”

“There’s still some kinks to work out, yes,” Even agreed, entirely missing the point of the reprimand. 

“You know what? I’m exhausted,” Axel sighed, running his hand over his face. “Lauriam, Marluxia, can you guys at least get a night’s worth of rest, and then we can tackle what the hell to do about this tomorrow? We’re on day TWO of traveling, and everything’s gone to shit TWICE already! Just… gah!” Axel shouted, heading into the carriage, “Call me when dinner’s ready! I’m laying down a bit!”

“He must still be feeling it from when he was disconnected,” Riku guessed, “I think he passed out at one point.”

“He’ll be fine,” Even said, “Lauriam, I’m unsure why you can’t speak at all. Clearly some sort of mental block is occuring, I just don’t understand how it’s manifested in this way. Perhaps I should ask Ienzo to look you over. I need new insights, and Marluxia is of course giving me the silent treatment still.”

Marluxia huffed, turning away from Vexen, and Lauriam could only give Axel a quietly apologetic look as he stormed off. Regardless…he didn’t think all this could be solved in a night, not when they were all already exhausted and…well…

He sighed softly. Though he gave Even a long look. Eventually just shrugging and giving him a nod. 

Aeleus didn’t back down as easily. “You need new insights because this arrangement is, at best, uncomfortable for Lauriam and Marluxia. Not just for greater understanding about chibis and the relationships between Somebodies and Nobodies.” There was an unspoken ‘right, dear?’ at the end of that.

“Yes, clearly rectifying this arrangement is the number one goal, I’ve not fully lost my mind to the grand experiment or anything like that,” Even said, “The goal has been and will remain the general well-being of all involved. We’ve simply experienced a setback, that is all.”

{Ienzo, son, Lauriam and Marluxia have apparently amalgamated into each other when presenting in the real world. And also Lauriam cannot speak. Could you please go assess them, give me your insights?}

{o๐o !!!}

{I’ll check in with them, but I must inform you, Father, that I’m not speaking to you.}

{ò^ó I can’t believe what you said to Zexion, and how you plan to treat the rest of our family, so I’m not abiding by it. Unless it’s truly an emergency, please do not contact me again until you’ve come to your senses and also have apologized to Zexion.}

Even pouted. Well, look at that. His son was on his own all of two days and already had estranged himself from his father! Typical. “I could use some wine.”