Past Lives
Disclaimers: All Kingdom Hearts characters are owned by Disney and square Enix and are all copied without permission. I have made this story for fun and not profit.
Writer's Note: This idea just came to me and I had been thinking of what it was like for Ienzo before he became one of Ansem's apprentices.. After doing a bit of research about him, I found a few things that made me think of writing this story.. This might be a bit difficult to write since I'm not used to writing for certain characters.. I hope you all enjoy.
*One-Shot*
Ten-year old Ienzo looked up from the book he had been reading as he heard a knock on the door.
"Ienzo?"
The young silver-haired boy looked up at the young woman who entered the room. She was a petite blonde haired woman.
"It's a beautiful day outside," the woman smiled. "You should go out and enjoy it with the other children."
Ienzo turned to look out the second floor window at the other children playing out in the yard before turning back to the woman. He then looked back to the pile of books next to his bed.
"Ienzo?"
Ienzo's attention went back to the woman, who gave him a worried smile.
"You should really go out to play.. Don't worry," she assured him. "Your books will still be here when you get back."
After a few moments, Ienzo let out a soft sigh and nodded. He soon rose from his bed and began to make his way toward out of the room. It had been nearly five months since he had began his life at the Radiant Gardens Orphanage and he still had difficulty in finding things in common with other children his age. Many of them would rather spend the day playing games rather than reading. He, however, had always loved books. Ienzo would find himself lost within the worlds created for him within each page of which ever book he would read.
His mind snapped back to reality as he made his way out of the main door and winced as the bright light stung his eyes. As he made his way down the steps of the building, many of the children stopped what they were doing and looked at him with surprise and curiosity. Ienzo looked at each of them, feeling a bit uneasy.
"H..hello.." he muttered softly.
The other children however, seemed to only give him curious and unusual looks. Ienzo bit his lower lip as he heard the children begin to whisper and mutter to each other.
"Do you know him?" whispered one.
"I think he's been here for a while." replied another.
"We barely see him so.. I guess he's new."
Ienzo looked to and from each of them and after gathering his resolve, he stepped forward.
"M..my name.. Is I-Ienzo." he stammered out, reaching out to shake hands.
The others, however, seemed to regard him a bit indifferently. Feeling a bit uneasy, Ienzo let his arm drop back down.
"Um.."
Before he could continue, he froze as he noticed a rather large group of men and woman making their way toward them. Almost instantly, the children gathered up on the steps. Ienzo looked up at the group of people, a feeling of hope returning to him. Every month, groups of adults would arrive at the Orphanage. He remembered the first couple months he had been at the Orphanage, there had been many other children. However, as the time went by, he saw a good few would be taken to loving homes.
Ienzo soon snapped out of his thoughts as he took in the group of people. Although, the entire group of people weren't always the same, Ienzo took notice of a man among the group. The man had blonde hair with a matching beard dressed in a white robe with what seemed to be a red scarf. Ienzo's eyes grew wide as he realized it was the man from the previous months. Ienzo froze up a little as he realized the man was looking at him. Ienzo averted his gaze to the ground, feeling a bit uneasy. When he looked up again, he noticed the man walking away. Ienzo looked all around and noticed a few of the children were leaving with a few of the adults, while others in the group began to leave.
"W-wait..!" he yelped.
Some of them turned around as Ienzo stopped in front of them.
"I-I'm Ienzo."
They looked at him with a slightly unsure glance.
"Oh, I'm sorry.." said a woman. "We are not looking to adopt today."
"B-but-!"
Ienzo trailed off as they left. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the same young woman from earlier.
"It's alright, Sweetie.." she comforted.
Ienzo only hung his head and nodded as he and the other children were led back inside.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Ienzo sat alone in the front yard of the building, going through one of the many books he had found discarded around the town. He had made an effort to clean up what he could of the pages, finding many of the pages ripped or stained.
Ienzo continued to read, trying to shut out the background noise of laughter of the other children. It was then that he noticed many of them went quiet. Looking up, Ienzo was surprised to see a large group of men and woman making their way toward the Orphanage. The group was not as large as the one from the last few visits but there still seemed to be quite a few.
As the adults got to know the children, a young couple approached Ienzo. The silver haired boy looked up at them eagerly. Maybe this was it. Maybe.. He could have a family. Ienzo opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he noticed them turning toward another child. He turned toward another group of people and felt his heart sink as they walked past him to other children.
As the day came to a close, Ienzo stood in front yard of the Orphanage, many of the other children now leaving with their new families.
Ienzo hung his head as he felt a deep sadness forming in his heart. As they went inside, Ienzo hurried to his room. He then made his way over to his bed, hoping to catch up on his reading. However, when his gaze landed on the book he had been reading, he couldn't help but think of the other children and how long he had been at the Orphanage. He let out a sigh and solemnly set the book aside before turning to look out the window.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
As the months went by, Ienzo could feel more and more of his hope beginning to fade away. Every monthly visit had led to more and more of the children being taken in by loving parents. He continued to gaze outside, tears of sadness beginning to form in his soft blue eyes. Every time he had attended the monthly adoptions from the Orphanage, he continually would be over looked. After a moment, Ienzo pulled his knees to his chest, sobbing quietly into his arms. It now felt as though years had gone by and not a single adult had arrived to take him with them.
Ienzo jumped as thunder echoed from outside. After wiping his eyes clear of tears, Ienzo gathered up what belongings he had and made his way toward the window, carefully pushing it open, allowing the rain from outside to pour in. Ienzo raised an arm to shield his face from the pounding rain. After a few moments, he lowered his arm and gazed out into the raging storm. Ienzo turned to take one more look at the room that had known much of his life. He then turned back around and carefully began to climb out the window. Ienzo let out a yelp as he slipped from the rain-slick windowsill, thankfully grabbing a hold of a bit of ivy that had begun to grow along the wall of the building. Ienzo clenched his eyes shut as he fought back his tears which mixed with the falling rain around him. After re-gathering his strength, Ienzo slowly and carefully made his way toward the ground.
Ienzo looked up at the building he had once called home and after a long moment, he let out a sigh and began to make his way through the mostly empty streets of Radiant Gardens. As he continued making his way through the streets, Ienzo found the storm was becoming worse by the second and soon quickened his pace. The rain continued pounding as thunder echoed high above, causing Ienzo to jump with a yelp. He continued to race up the street until he collided with something, falling back into a puddle of muddy water. Ienzo quickly recovered and stood back up, shocked to find two figures standing before him.
"Well, well.. What do we have here?" one of the figures said.
Though it was difficult to see their faces due to lack of light, Ienzo could tell the one who spoke was male and by the sound of the voice, the boy had to be at over twice his age.
"Ya lost, Jr.?" asked the second figure.
At that point, Ienzo knew the two were boys, the second who spoke was at least a bit younger than the first.
"I.." Ienzo bit his lip. "I'm sorry.." he whimpered. "I d-didn't know you were here.. I-I can go somewhere else.."
Ienzo nervously turned around to go back, finding a third of the figures was now blocking the way.
"What's your HURRY?" asked the third figure. "We just wanna TALK."
Ienzo took a few steps back, bumping into the first figure. He let out a cry of fear as they grabbed his arm. Acting quickly, Ienzo took out one of his books and slammed the corner down on the boy's hand, causing them to let go. As the boy let go, Ienzo ducked away from the others and took off into the streets.
"AFTER him!" yelled the group leader.
As the group of larger boys took chase, Ienzo could feel tears of fear and despair slipping down his cheeks as he continued to run, trying his best not to slip and fall. He could hear they were closing in on him and so he continued to run.
After running what had to have been hours, Ienzo stopped, skidding on the rain-slicked surface before turning and heading into a nearby alleyway. It had become so dark, he could barely see where he was going. Thinking quickly, Ienzo took cover within the jumbled mess of the junk that had been shoved into large heaps against the wall. There he waited, hidden beneath a pile of junk, inside an old and empty crate.
Ienzo stiffened as he heard the loud thumping footfalls drawing closer.
"Where'd he GO!?" he heard one shout.
"He couldn't have gotten FAR!" said another.
Ienzo clenched his eyes shut as he held his breath and remained as still as he possibly could. While the storm continued raging around him, Ienzo still dared not to make a sound. After what seemed to have been hours, the footfalls took off down the alley. As the sounds faded, Iezno soon opened his eyes. Ienzo waited for over ten terrifying minutes before he finally peered out from his shelter. He let out a yelp as thunder echoed loudly around him and he ducked back into his shelter.
Ienzo clenched his eyes shut as his tears once again began to stream down his face. He had made a mistake.. He shouldn't have left.. He could find his way back to his house, but he couldn't remember where his home was. In his panic and fear, Ienzo lost all sense of direction. There was no way he could find his way back now.
Ienzo pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms. Hot tears slipped down his cheeks as he wept quietly into his arms. Ienzo took in a sharp breath as he suddenly heard footsteps approaching him from somewhere within the alley. It was them! It HAD to be THEM! As Ienzo began to panic once again, he noticed something was off.. There was only one set of footsteps. Ienzo's frantic mind soon began to reason that it may be one of the thugs and the others had gone home or to wherever they resided at. That had to be it! It was the leader! He had come back for him! He-..
It was then that the footfalls stopped and Ienzo clenched his eyes shut again.
"I know you are here.."
Ienzo fought back a yelp and bit his tongue.
"Do not be afraid.."
Ienzo opened his eyes as he realized the voice was nothing like that of any of the thugs he had seen earlier. This voice was smooth and gentle compared to any of the thugs' voices. After a bit of hesitation, Ienzo slowly peered out of his hiding place. He could just make out the sight of a pair of boots in front of him. Ienzo sniffled as he glanced up. Lightning lit up the night sky, granting Ienzo a momentary view of the man standing before him. Ienzo's eyes went wide as he recognized the man as the same one he had seen during the monthly visits to the Orphanage.
"Why are you out here alone?"
Ienzo bit his lip and as the rain continued falling upon him, Ienzo shivered and buried his face in his arms.
"Hey now.." said the man gently.
He knelt at Ienzo's side.
"It will be alright.."
Iezno sniffled and looked up at him.
"My name is Ansem the Wise.." he informed gently. "What is your name, young man?"
Ienzo bit his lip and fought not to start crying again.
"I..Ienzo.." he managed to squeak out.
"Well, Ienzo.." said Ansem. "Why are you out here all by yourself?"
Ienzo let out a shaky breath.
"I left.. I.. I am useless.. No one wants me.."
Ansem reached out and gently rubbed Ienzo's shoulder.
"You are not useless.. You are as important as anyone else in this world.."
Ienzo sniffled.
"Now then.." Ansem began. "The castle is not far from here.. You may stay for the night.. And in the morning, I will have a talk to the caretakers of the Orphanage.."
Ienzo's heart fell and he hung his head.. That was, until Ansem continued speaking.
"I will need to inform them on where you will be staying from this moment on."
Ienzo's head snapped up as fresh tears began to form again.
"Y..you mean that?"
Ansem turned toward him and gave him a warm smile.
"Of course.." he smiled. "It has been a long time since I have had a young one at the castle.."
Ansem took a few steps away before turning toward him.
"Let's go home.."
With that said, Ansem began to head down the alley. Ienzo quickly scrambled to his feet and hurried over to his side, taking Ansem's hand and for the first time in what seemed like a long time, Ienzo smiled.
~fin
Author's Note: I apologize if this may seem a bit rushed, but this was what had come to my mind while writing this.. I hope you all enjoyed the story and have a great day.