A/N: So…I started this one months ago, and just finally got around to finishing it ^^' The idea just came to me one night (at around 1 a.m. not 2) and this is what came of it. Let me know what you think of it!
2 A.M.
The cold halls of the Castle that Never Was were dead silent in the wee hours of the morning, as there wasn't a single being awake to dwell them nor was there any humming of machinery. Cloaked in the darkness of night, the castle was at silent peace for the time being. However, the same could not be said for five of its inhabitants. For you see, although the halls had not heard nor seen any of the residents of the castle for hours, as they were mostly all asleep, one room in the west wing was lit.
The small kitchen only ever saw a Nobody when midnight cravings called or it was time to throw together a meal for the Organization, or at least that's what was widely believed. In the dead hours of the night and early morning, the kitchen was occasionally unknowingly inhabited by five Nobodies who shared something that was not quite friendship but something akin to mutual understanding and experience. Call it what you may.
Even though these five Nobodies were often up at ungodly hours of the morning sat around a small table with mugs of hot drinks in their hands, there were never many words exchanged. Most of the time none were needed. Although their superior would scorn their meeting for comfort, which is what they were doing no matter how much any of them denied it, they secretly needed these meetings to keep them grounded. Although none would admit it, these early morning cups of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cider, and the company made them feel like they were Sombodies again. And in a world where nothing, not even them, was supposed to exist, sometimes being able to pretend to matter, even for a scant hour or two, was desperately needed.
This night found the kitchen table occupied by these five Nobodies, each clutching a mug and staring off into space as their own thoughts swirled around them. The group itself was an unlikely, yet at the same time somehow logical one. They'd been together for years, even before they became Nobodies, so it made sense that in their times of vulnerability they would gravitate towards each other.
Numbers II to V of Organization XIII.
Zexion, being the youngest of the group, had actually known the other four longer than most knew each other. He'd joined Ansem's team of researchers when he was just a boy, very young but very bright. When he first walked into the lab the first thing he saw was the large, looming form of Elaeus. Indigo eyes had widened comically as he craned his neck way back to see the, surprisingly, friendly smile that the giant of a man gave him. Elaeus had welcomed little Ienzo to the lab and took his tiny hand to show him around.
Ienzo had been introduced to Xehanort, a man with wild looking hair who'd barely glanced over when he was being introduced by Elaeus, Braig and Dilan were filling the lab with lively banter as they worked at their respective lab stations and gave the newest scientist a warm welcome, and then there was Even. Just as Even had looked up from his sheets of notes that littered his desk, Ansem himself had entered the lab and beamed down at his newest addition.
"Welcome Ienzo, I see Elaeus has shown you around." Ansem's voice was kind and his eyes twinkled pleasantly. Ienzo gave him a shy smile and nod, still holding onto Elaeus's hand. "I have heard a great many things about you Ienzo, and am honored to have you join our team. Even here shall be your mentor. He will show you and teach you everything you need to know."
"I will?" Even's sharp green eyes rounded on Ansem in surprise. He then turned those eyes to Ienzo, sizing up the little boy who wanted to hide behind Elaeus's legs but forced himself to stay put. "Hmph. Better be able to keep up with me, brat." Even said flatly before turning back to his notes.
Ienzo looked nervously up at Elaeus and Ansem. They both gave him encouraging smiles and Elaeus had even bent down to whisper, "Don't worry. He's not as mean as he likes to sound." This had given Ienzo all the courage he needed to let go of Elaeus's hand and walk over to Even's desk. Before Even could even ask what he wanted, Ienzo had already climbed up into the stunned scientist's lap and made himself comfy.
Even had glared at his fellow scientists covering their smiles behind their hands before pointedly turning back to his work, although not before carefully shifting Ienzo in his lap to make sure the boy didn't fall off.
Sitting in the kitchen of the castle beside his old mentor, a grown up shadow of Ienzo reflected back on the memories his Somebody had given to him. The slight chill emanating from the older Nobody beside him was comforting to Zexion, the way Even's warmth had comforted Ienzo as they worked side by side in Ansem's lab.
"This feels different somehow." Xigbar's rough voice broke through Zexion's trip down memory lane, causing him to look up at the soft disturbance to their usual quiet. "Tonight feels different." He confirmed when everyone had looked to him.
"Tonight is different." Xaldin growled, leaning back in his chair as he sat his mug on the table with a thump.
"Tonight may be the last night." Zexion, ever the straightforward one, came right out and said it. They had just been given the assignment to go to Castle Oblivion for a while, and though it was not written down anywhere the five of them could sense a shadow looming towards them. Although it was not said aloud, nor would it be, they all knew there was a good chance they would not all make it back.
"It is our superior's orders, and we must follow them." Vexen said in his voice that gave room for no argument. Even as Sombodies, whenever Even said something or gave an order no one would even think to argue with him.
"Of course." Lexaeus nodded in agreement.
"Right, because Xemnas has never steered us wrong before." Xaldin rolled his eyes before glaring at his half empty mug of coffee.
"He's never steered us anywhere we didn't willingly follow." Zexion replied quietly, his one visible eye looking around the table, challenging anyone to contradict him. No one seemed to want to meet his gaze. "Besides," here he paused to let out a soft sigh. "This may be our only chance to overthrow him."
An oppressing silence fell upon the table at those words.
"You're really going to do it?" Xigbar looked up at Zexion and Vexen, both of them looking unwaveringly back. "You're going to try and take over?" His undamaged eye looked from one solemn face to the other in disbelief.
"We're going to try."
More silence.
"You two are out of your minds." Xaldin said simply, draining the rest of his mug in one gulp before standing to refill it. "We all figured out that Xehanort was falling off his rocker near the end there, and Xemnas sure as heck ain't much better. I say, keep our heads down and follow his whacked plans. Less messy that way." Xaldin muttered that last part as he returned to the table.
"It's good that you and Xigbar are not involved in this." Zexion said slowly after a pause, tracing the rim of his mug with a gloved finger. When his statement was met with questioning gazes he continued. "In the possible event Vexen and I fail, you two will need to watch Roxas and make sure he finds his way. He's the best hope we've got."
"Hope." Vexen scoffed. "Since when did you become an optimist?"
"Since optimism became the only thing we've got left." Zexion replied, eyes still on the rim of his empty mug. Vexen watched the Nobody beside him for a good long while, trying to equate this grown man to the young boy he'd first met back in Radiant Garden.
"It's not right." Vexen said suddenly, voice filled with bitterness. "It's not right that this happened to any of us, that we're in this situation to begin with, and it's not right that I dragged you into this." Zexion looked up to see emerald eyes staring apologetically back at him. "And now I'm leading you to another fate that, dare I say it, will be worse than the one we've already been cursed with."
"Even," Zexion said in a steady tone, gaze remaining unwavering with the older Nobody's. "Never have I ever regretted following you through that portal that led us here, not have I ever resented you for it." Zexion looked down to the warm body curled into his, stubbornly clinging to him even in sleep. His voice was suddenly hushed as he gently brushed aside dirty blonde spikes, causing the sleeping Nobody to move even closer, holding onto both Zexion and Zeo.
Vexen looked at the tenderness in his charge's eyes that had never before been present and felt a bit of the guilt ease out of him before dropping his eyes down to his mug. A spindly vine had wound itself around the mug's handle, refusing to release its hold no matter how many times Vexen had attempted to freeze it. Even though he'd broken a few mugs, and changed the one he used regularly, the little vine always came back, proudly sporting a tiny icy blue flower bud.
Vexen looked up again, eyes traveling around the table to take in the shadows of his old friends, all of them quietly thoughtful again. Raising his lukewarm tea to his lips, Vexen knew that dawn was but a scant few hours away, and come time they would face the darkness head on. For now however, they still had time, and that was enough.
A/N: When Zeo (Ienzo's heartless) was first introduced in one of my fics a long while back, I got a review asking why Zeo was a shadow heartless and I never got around to answering it (because I'm terrible at that, my apologies T.T). I made Zeo a shadow heartless because in KH1, when Sora turns into a heartless for that brief amount of time he was a cute little shadow (that was very aggravating to control at first, lol) and since we got Roxas from Sora, I figured making Ienzo's heartless a shadow too would be plausible.