The boys all called him Monster, because of his scars.
There was a burn on his face, a line that half-closed his right eye and ran across the spot where that ear should have been. His nose had been badly broken, and had set crooked. His left hand, probably his dominant hand once, was missing, as though it had been chopped off with an axe. There were two puckered round scars on his chest and back, like he'd been shot through. A vicious white line sliced around the back of his ruined left ankle.
Kairi and Selphie thought the name Monster was horrible. So did the adults, the one time Tidus was stupid enough to use it in front of one. But Monster himself, surprisingly, thought it was funny. "Monster?" he said, laughing at the younger boys. "Me? Shouldn't you be afraid of what hurt me?"
"We're not afraid of you," nine-year-old Riku scoffed. Sora shook his head earnestly.
"Arrgh," he said, making his voice low and scratchy. "You'd better be! I'm the Chopped-To-Pieces Monster!" He stood up and loomed over them, waving his hook. (He was four years older even than Riku, and the one physical advantage he did have was height.) The boys squealed and ran, as Monster stumped after them, leaning on his crutch.
-o-
Kairi didn't call him Monster, of course. She called him Brother.
They didn't look anything alike, even ignoring the scars (which Kairi always did.) He was skinny, with a narrow face and black hair, long on the right to obscure his missing ear and bad eye. But they'd been adopted together when they'd appeared on the beach out of nowhere - a broken, bleeding ten-year-old boy and a perfect six-year-old girl.
They both said they didn't remember where they came from, and the girl, at least, was too young to lie. So the Mayor took them in, and raised them together. Kairi thought the sun rose and set on her Brother, and he doted on her in return.
Sometimes she would catch him staring into a mirror, looking like he wanted to cry. "Don't be sad, Brother," she would say. "You're the handsomest boy in the world."
Usually Brother would grin at that, and say, "Even handsomer than Riku?" to make her blush.
But the blushes didn't stop her. "Yup," she'd say. "Because you always protect me."
He nodded. "Whenever you need me, Princess."
(He always called her Princess.)
-o-
The adults called him Hoshi, which was the name the Mayor had given him. They tried to keep the younger boys from bothering him, at first. He looked strange, and small boys can be cruel to someone who is different. Besides, given his health - lame, half deaf, a quarter blind, with one hand and one good lung - he wasn't fit for their rough-and-tumble games.
But they had to teach him how to row, even with one hand. On the Islands it was almost as important as teaching him to walk with one foot. And once he could row, they couldn't keep him from following Kairi to the play island.
It turned out the grown-ups shouldn't have been afraid. He won them all over in an afternoon. He made his scars something to joke about with him, instead of something to mock him for, and he told them stories. They were illusions made of words, those stories - they left Riku, especially, staring wide-eyed at the stars.
Hoshi's stories were all about other worlds, places he and Kairi might have come from, or passed through on their way. They made the most amazing games, especially when he helped them make wooden swords to play out the fights. And he could actually fight himself, if he dropped his crutch and propped himself up against a wall. He was really good - amazing, all things considered. Riku eventually learned to beat him, playing ruthlessly off his lack of mobility and balance. Sora got a touch sometimes. The others never did.
And Hoshi was smart - smarter than Riku, even. When the mayor and Sora's father offered to help them build a treehouse on the play island, Hoshi took the wood but turned down the help. He came up with amazing things to do with that lumber - not just a huge tree fort, but also walkways and ramps and a bridge out to the little island where the paopu tree grew. The younger kids were all his willing apprentice carpenters. The project made the island more fun for everybody, but when Hoshi was done, there was nowhere on that island you couldn't get to with one foot, a crutch, and a hook.
-o-
The ghost in the secret place called him Ienzo.
The secret place was a cave, a dark, quiet, solemn place. Riku and Kairi had drawn all over the walls with chalk, and it said something about the nature of the place that they called them "secret drawings" even though everyone knew they were there. Sometimes Kairi found her brother in there, touching a blank spot on the wall as if making sure it was still solid.
On this day, though, he found Sora going in there by himself. "What are you up to?"
"I'm looking for food, for the raft," Sora explained. "Aren't there mushrooms in there?"
"Yup. Come on, I'll show you which ones are okay to eat." He led Sora into the cave. "This sort is pretty tasty. See how the cap is. . . wait." Something Sora couldn't see caught his attention. He set down his crutch and put his hand on the wall. "It's. . ."
"Open." They both turned around. There was a man there, or at least, a black cloak in the shape of a man. Sora thought it might be glowing faintly green. "It's been a long time," it said. "Ienzo."
"Ienzo?" Sora said, confused.
"Get behind me, Sora," Ienzo said. He leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and smirked at the ghost. "Should I call you Ansem?"
"Little Ienzo. You've grown taller, at least." The teenager had half a foot on Sora, now. "But not wiser. You still think you can protect ignorant children. Look at him." He pointed at Sora. "He cannot even begin to understand, for he knows nothing."
"It worked last time."
"You surprised us. We didn't even think you had a weapon, let alone. . . But now you are a cripple, little Ienzo. And I am. . .. much stronger." The ghost called Ansem laughed.
"You really did it, then," Ienzo said. "You're insane."
"Brilliant little Ienzo, I know you understand. The door is open." The ghost stepped forward. Sora didn't see what happened next very well. There was a flash of light in Ienzo's hand, and Sora saw something like wings, angel and demon wings. The ghost vanished. Sparks flew from the wall where his head had been, sparks like steel made against stone. There was another flash of light, and it was over.
"Damn," Ienzo said. "Wasn't fast enough."
"What just happened?" Sora asked nervously.
"I locked the keyhole years ago. But he still. . ." He turned to Sora. "Have you ever seen anything like that before? A sword like a key?" Sora shook his head. "Have you been dreaming about a dark place with a glass floor, where you heard a voice?"
"No. What's going on? I don't understand."
Ienzo smiled. "Don't worry, it's not that big a deal. Go bring Kairi those mushrooms. I'll stay here for a while, and keep an eye on things. Okay?" Sora nodded, and turned to leave. "Oh," Ienzo said, like an afterthought. "Tell Riku I want to talk to him, okay?"
"Sure," Sora said. But when he told Riku that Ienzo had been asking about keys and dreams, something guilty flashed in Riku's eyes. He made an excuse, and avoided the secret place until they left for home. When they left, Ienzo was still in there.
That night was the storm.
Kairi got back to the island first. Rowing fast, with her back to her destination, she didn't see anything until she was tying up her boat. Then she saw Ienzo on the dock, on one knee. He didn't have his crutch. Instead he held a sword shaped like wings, which in turn made a shape like a key. He was fighting. . . creatures, shadows with yellow eyes. There were four of them, but the narrow dock was good to defend, and whenever his strange sword touched one, it faded into mist and a strange pink spark.
"Brother?" Kairi called, as he sliced the last one into nothing.
He looked around, and saw her. "Princess!" He pushed himself up with his sword, rain dripping down his face. "What are you doing here? It's too dangerous!" Lightning and thunder came at the same time, right overhead, as if to agree with him.
"I saw the storm. I had to come check on the raft, and then I realized you hadn't come home."
"Damn," Ienzo said. "I can't leave you alone, I can't take you back out on the water in this. . . The raft was Riku's idea, wasn't it? He'll come to save it, too."
"Uh, yeah," Kairi said. "Probably."
"Come on. We'll wait for him there." He started out without waiting for an answer, in the lurching jog that was his fastest pace. "Stay close!" he called, and Kairi hurried after them.
The shadows attacked them again halfway there. "What are those things?"
"Heartless." He held out his hook to her. "Take my arm." She grabbed his elbow with both hands. He leaned on her a bit, and picked his sword off the ground. "Now, hold on. Whatever happens, don't let go!"
He was her silly Chopped-To-Pieces Monster, her silver-tongued Hoshi, her faithful, crippled Brother, but in the dark of the storm he fought like a demon. Even as he leaned on her, his sword flashed around her, destroying any Heartless who came close. Twice he took the Heartless' claws in his own flesh to save hers. And they broke through to the raft.
Even then, he didn't stop. Leaning against the mast, Kairi still clinging to his arm, he fought off the Heartless that tried to board. Only one in ten managed to wound him before it died. He kept fighting, and kept fighting. . . and Riku didn't come. "We'll have to go back," he gasped. "Look for him."
"You can't, Brother," Kairi said. "You can't."
Ienzo stepped away from the mast, and collapsed, coughing. His strange wing-sword fell from his hand and clattered on the deck. He looked up, and saw another half-dozen Heartless loping toward the raft. He crawled forward.
"Brother, stop!" Kairi took up the sword herself, still holding on to him with her other hand.
"Push us off," Ienzo gasped. Kairi hesitated. The raft rocked as a wave lifted the stern. "Now, Princess!" She planted the point of the sword in the sand and heaved. The raft slid backwards, and the wave pulled it back into the stormy sea. The Heartless lined up at the edge of the water, their yellow eyes slowly shrinking as the raft drifted away.
Ienzo lifted his hand, and the wing-sword vanished in a flash of light. "Way to the Dawn. . . isn't meant. . . for a princess' hands."
"You were amazing, Brother," Kairi said, helping him sit in the center of the raft.
"Not good enough." He looked her in the eyes. "This raft. It's supposed to carry you to other worlds, right?"
"Well, yes," Kairi said, and she was young enough to half-believe it. But she was old enough that the other half knew it was just a game.
"Believe it," Ienzo gasped. "Pray that it will. Princess. The power of the heart. Maybe. . ."
"Brother, what's going on?"
"It had to be Riku. He received a keyblade, and unlocked the keyhole. Opened the door. He can't have known what he was doing. I tried to lock it again, but it doesn't work when there's a strong Heartless in the world." Ienzo coughed, for several seconds. The drifting raft creaked ominously.
"The raft wasn't meant for this weather," Kairi said. "It won't hold."
"It won't matter, we won't have time to drown. This world is dying." He coughed again. "So am I, I think," he said, clinically.
"No! Brother, you are not allowed to die. I won't let you."
"Really?" Ienzo smiled at her, his brilliant, broken smile. "Well, then. Maybe we'll see each other again, after all."
She tightened her grip on his arm. "I won't let go. No matter what happens."
"I got us through the dark pathways once," he said. "Maybe it'll work again." He closed his eyes. "If we get separated, follow your heart. It will take you to a safe place."
The raft rocked frighteningly, and Ienzo groaned. "Does it hurt very much?" Kairi asked.
"Not at all. The Heartless suck feeling out of you when they attack. The wounds are numb." She believed him. Well, so had all the apprentices, when he'd first come up with that theory, but it turned out Heartless wounds bit with a vicious, grasping frost. Live and learn.
Ienzo saw something behind them on the island. "Princess," he said. "Look at me." She did, wondering what was wrong. "Keep your eyes on mine. Don't be afraid."
The end of the world was a great black sphere, expanding from the island, eating the sea in bitter black silence. Kairi never saw it. Ienzo watched it as it overtook them.
-o-
The refugees in Traverse Town called him the Beggar. He stayed out of sight because, they thought, he was ashamed of his scars. The confused, tormented young keyblade master never saw him. Nor did the lost boy who followed after, or the servants of the King who became his protector and his teacher of magic.
Before the Beggar came, the Heartless would make occasional raids on the refuge of First District, so that Yuffie and Leon had to fight them off. No one ever figured out why they stopped. It certainly couldn't be the Beggar. Alone and crippled, he sat by himself in the back alleys, looking up at the stars.