A/N: A rather light beginning to Ienzo's story.
What Ienzo saw, heard, but rarely spoke of. The unread words in journals. Few fragmented truths escaped his prison. By the end, Zexion never completely trusted anyone.
No BbS spoilers in this chapter.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
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Perhaps the easiest way to understand how it all started is not from the beginning with his biological family, but from his adoptive family. His first day entering the castle blurred together with the first month he stayed there. Exploring was always something he would do in his spare time when he couldn't find Ansem to go out for ice cream. Ansem was one of the five who he considered his close family. Ansem was the one who gave him a place to stay, clothes to wear, food to eat, and people who could look after him. Since Ansem was the ruler, he didn't have much time to raise Ienzo himself. The older noble women would always treat him kindly, sometimes he felt it was out of pity. He was welcomed kindly and his lack of manners at times were easily excused. He would be corrected on what should have been done, which he learned very quickly.
There were other nobles, scientists, and soldiers who lived in or near the castle that watched out for him. Most nobles had children around his age that seemed interested in playing with him. At first it was a relief to be around other children his age. Some were selfish, only showing off what their munny could buy. Others would share, since they had all the munny in their imagination to spend from their parents. There were others that hardly spoke a word, more interested in reading or being alone. Then there was the odd child or two that rarely stayed in the castle, preferring to get out. All children could be extremely polite when necessary, which sometimes proved to be annoying when trouble was caused. Even in a higher level of wealth, the same basic troublemakers existed from where Ienzo came from. The difference here is that children would fight with words and mind games, rather than force.
It didn't take long for Ienzo to lose interest of the games the nobles would play. He was like those who liked to keep to themselves, eventually finding the library of books a quiet noble boy showed him. While reading books containing proven knowledge was interesting, he loved reading the scientists experimental logs. He liked reading their theories when they weren't sure was real or true, but wanting to find out if it was.
Most his exploration afterwards led him to the labs. There he frequently ran into the most stubborn and easily angered scientists, Even. It seemed every time Ienzo would sneak down into the labs he would be caught by Even before he could sneak back out. Eventually Even got so fed up that he reported Ienzo's 'meddling' directly to Ansem. Ienzo was afraid of having Ansem mad at him, but he was allowed to speak with being interrupted by Even for once. He just told Ansem that he wanted to be like the scientists. He wanted to learn about what hadn't been discovered. He was interested in research. In particular, he was interested in the research of the heart. After that, he was assigned to be Even's apprentice, much to both of their dislike, but at least it would give him a chance to prove himself.
To Even's standards, he proved himself adequate. To other scientists, he was considered quite intelligent for his age. Regardless, he was able to help with their experiments by fetching materials or equipment, but not actually taking part in it. He didn't care as long as he could watch and help in any way he could.
There were three soldiers that he ran into the most. There was Dilan, the soldier everyone knew, because he was the captain. There wasn't officially a rank of captain, it was just a role that most every soldier agreed was his. He was one of the few who could come with a plan quickly and calmly in a stressful situation, best leadership, and one of the best fighting skills out of all the soldiers. He and Ienzo got along alright, better than him an Even anyways. Dilan would keep an eye out for Ienzo, and their conversations would usually be short and polite. Ienzo didn't have too much of an interest in the soldier's lives but learning a little bit wasn't bad.
Then, there was the strangest man he had ever met. Braig was the most troublesome soldier than Ienzo preferred not to be with. His eyes always held some sort of gleam, his smiles were never completely innocent. He always seemed to have some sort of plan with everything he did, or some other motive. Many times Ienzo would see him doing everything else but his soldier duties. Socializing with the nobles, doing gun shows, or turning up in unexpected places as Ienzo would explore the castle. This man was the one that made Ienzo stop exploring the castle, as he was getting tired of running into him. The man never harmed Ienzo but most of their encounters would turn into Braig teasing him, ruffling his hair and fleeing quickly before Ienzo would get a chance to even glare at him.
Finally, there was Aeleus, the one Ienzo found the most relaxing to hang out with. Aeleus was quiet compared to everyone else. He didn't spew his anger over inadequate people, nor did he pop up in the most random of places scaring him. Ienzo could always feel his presence and it was never negative. He was always concerned about how Ienzo was doing, asking how his day went, taking interest in what Ienzo had to say. He usually had good advice and answers for Ienzo's questions as well. Ienzo imagined he was what the best brother anyone could ever ask for. Aeleus wasn't a fan of the ice cream Ansem and he liked, but sometimes he would take Ienzo out for some ice cream. Ienzo always favoured his time he spent with Aeleus.
Those three were different than the majority of the soldiers. They also had a strong interest in the research of hearts being conducted in the castle. Ienzo noticed that most soldiers chose to stay away from the science portion, usually feeling uneasy at the thought of carry out such dangerous research. There had been no proven harm in the research, so they weren't against it. Most were just unsure what the point of it was. The 'pursuit of knowledge' they decided, would continue on and on, with no end. Since Dilan, Braig, and Aeleus all would visit the lab frequently, so Ienzo had grown close to them. Out of the three, Braig would be the one to help conduct experiments the most, having a surprising amount of experience in the lab. Braig was always the one who would suggest the dangerous experiments, which was always turned down.
Then, there was the one who headed the research on the hearts. Ansem was the one who oversaw everything. He was kind to everyone and somehow he could put up with Even and Braig's annoying personalities. He would frequently have to ensure Braig wasn't conducting some dangerous experiment behind his back. The most time Ienzo got to spend with Ansem would be ice cream outings and times when Ansem would conduct an experiment himself. Ansem had agreed with the other scientists that Ienzo should stay away from the actual experimentation process itself. As the same with the other scientists, Ienzo was happy enough to watch and help from the sides.
These were the people who became his family. He was brought in from the middle class of life into the castle when his parents disappeared. He was told they weren't coming back and in their place he would be looked after by members of the castle. It wasn't until years later he learned that they had passed away, causes unknown to whoever he asked. Of his family now, he only had asked Even, who didn't care, Aeleus, who said he would let Ienzo know if he found anything out which they both doubted, and Ansem, who didn't know either. He didn't bother asking Braig and Dilan, knowing their responses would be unhelpful.
As time went on, he stopped looking for information on his family. He no longer felt the need to. There was one thing though, that Ienzo wished he could find out. One time when Ansem took him out for ice cream, he asked Ienzo when was his birthday and how old he was. Ienzo could only stare back blankly and asked what a birthday was. It was like he asked Ansem a question he had never heard, but he did explain the concept to him. It was a day which people celebrate the day you were born. As each year passed you would become older. Age is kept track by years. It was a day that children would look forward to every year.
After that, Ansem did his best to figure out his age. He looked through his records for his birth, but found that there none for Ienzo. He was then asked if that was his name. Ienzo was sure, knowing he hadn't been called anything else. Ienzo never doubted his name, but wondered why he wasn't in the records. Ansem apologized and said it must have been misplaced or in the other files which had become illegible from spills and ink smudges and were undergoing revival. Shortly afterwards, Ansem had given him an estimate on his age. He never did find the file.
It was the largest mystery Ienzo had around him that he cared about. Commonly he would ask how old he looked to others to see what their opinion was. They were usually close to the age Ansem gave him. The scientists would of course usually say that he may look that age, but he should really be older because of his maturity. He agreed with them, and decided his physical age shouldn't matter, but the mental age should. When he thought about people that way, he realized that many more than he expected didn't match their physical age with their physical age. Some were younger, some older. Most were around their age. For Ienzo it was his way of finding respect for people.
He never boasted to others that he was more mature, but it was his way of feeling better about his mystery. While he may look like a child, he felt older. He never spoke of it to anyone except Aeleus understood the concept, but thought Ienzo was going a little too far for himself, though he agreed that Ienzo was more mature than other kids his age.
This was his family for years. It was interesting and never dull between his close family and the other members of the castle. Ienzo believed he was content with this life of research and small experiments. Going out for ice cream and attending school to further his education, even if he was a few grades above most students. School was another aspect that didn't go by age, but by intelligence. Still he was the youngest in his class.
Memories of his time in the castle replaced the faded ones he had at his old home. It reached a point where it felt like he was born and raised in the castle. It was his home.
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