A/N: Blah. Bleh. Boo. Hiya. Long time no see. This is a one shot turned three or four shot, so get ready. I have most of it planned out in my head. We'll see what happens.

Disclaimer: Right before I managed to change SQUARE-ENIX to me on the ownership documents, my pen exploded and security dragged me out of the building. Thus, none of these characters are mine. Also, the lyrics go to Bloc Party.

Antithesis

"You get sadder the smarter you get."

I

It was well past two in the morning when Ienzo entered the 24-hour coffee shop for the first time. His pale arms cradled what looked to be a forest worth of paper, the bundle of joy secured with a massive binder clip. It had been at least two days since Ienzo had last slept, two days since had had begun his feverish dissertation alongside his fellow apprentices and mentor. Sadly, though, the loud monster that was his stomach was fighting off sleep; thus, he had wearily lifted himself from the lab couch and headed toward the only decent 24-hour restaurant in a five-mile radius of Radiant Garden University. He felt sorry for whatever poor soul was going to have to deal with him now.

"Hi! Welcome to Mrs. Potts' Coffee House! Just because we're now open 24-hours doesn't mean Mrs. Potts thinks it's okay to stay up past your bedtime, but college kids were never–whoa."

The bright voice stopped in mid-pitch as Ienzo slammed the massive stack of paper onto the counter. Whether the exclamatory saying was directed at the aforementioned dissertation or the sorry state Ienzo was in was anyone's guess.

"Dude," the young man behind the register said, voice lowering despite the fact there was no one else in the store. "Dude, like, I know I don't know you and that this is probably really rude, but, dude, you look like...like..." A moment of whirring hand motions and soundless gaping ensued. Then, "...shit."

Ienzo blinked up at the employee, his eyelids batting over glazed eyes once, twice, three times before he emitted a soft chuckle. He took a moment to look at the person in front of him; messy blonde hair, tanned skin, aqua eyes, gangly limbs, and an obnoxiously decorated nametag that read 'Myde' in bubbly letters. What looked to be seaweed framed the word and colorful fish swam on the white background.

"Thank you, Myde, for your input," he said, but not coldly. Amusement twinkled in his eyes. "I didn't have a chance to look in a mirror before I left the lab, so please excuse my sorry state of being."

Ienzo brushed his periwinkle hair out of his face, stifling a yawn with his other hand. It took him a moment to make out the chalk scribbles on the shop's menu to be words. Whoever had written it out had horrible penmanship.

"I'll just take..." he began, trailing off as he fought to discern the name of a certain sandwich. "I'll have a grilled chicken panini and a large cup of chai." He dug in the pocket of his black sweatpants for munny, but was stopped by a bright chuckle from across the counter.

"Don't worry about paying; anyone who looks as tired as you while carrying around a stack of paper that thick deserves a free meal," Myde offered, a lopsided grin traveling across his face. "It'd be great if you could pay me in conversation, though. Working the late shift gets really boring."

A soft chuckle fell from Ienzo's lips and he nodded, deeming it a fair trade. It wasn't long before he and Myde were sitting on either side of a table, the latter grinning with joy as he watched Ienzo devour his sandwich. Myde always liked seeing people enjoy his food.

"So, what's the massive stack of paper all about?" ventured Myde when Ienzo's plate was clear. A spark of surprise entered his blue eyes. "Oh! I'm Myde, by the way. Myde Clearwater. I'm a junior at RGU, majoring in music and marine biology."

Myde's hand shot across the table and Ienzo's slowly came to meet it, his eyes inspecting the beaming Myde with a sense of childlike wonder. "I'm Ienzo," he said quietly, lips tugging upward due to the contagiousness of Myde's grin. "I'm also studying at RGU, a very new form of psychology to be exact. This huge stack of paper is the beginning of my dissertation."

Rejuvenated by the panini and warm tea, Ienzo's words overflowed with excitement and pride. His hand ghosted over the top page of what had become his darling child and his eyes softened.

"Wow," said Myde, his own eyes widening in awe. The younger man leaned forward and gazed at the stark white pages, trying to see what Ienzo saw in it all. "So is it like, top secret information or can I ask what it's about?"

"The three aspects of existence," Ienzo replied sharply. Steepling his hands, he rested his elbows on the table. "In other words, the heart, the mind, and the body. Under the guidance of one of the most renowned professors in the history of psychology and alongside five other students, I have been working diligently for he past four years to learn all I can about the three aspects. Once I graduate, we will turn all most of our attention to studying the affect of darkness on the heart. I'm honestly not sure why we're concentrating on that, but it seems just as important as anything else; after all, how can you understand the world without understanding evil? We already understand light, the heroes. We're taught to be like them from birth. But evil? No one ever teaches evil."

A long silence passed over the coffee shop, a silence so enigmatic that it made a shiver run down Myde's spine. His aqua eyes peered intriguingly at the all but stranger in front of him; Ienzo's lips were quirked up into the smile of a hungry scholar and his eyes were filled with dreams of foreign worlds. Myde had never seen knowledge create such happiness.

"Wow," Myde found himself repeating, awestruck once again. "That's amazing. Is that a good idea, though? Fiddling with darkness and hearts, I mean." The thought scared him, to be honest. Surely it could bring no good outcome.

"Who knows? Maybe it could bring the triumph of good once and for all."

Ienzo thumbed through the pages of his dissertation absentmindedly, eyebrows furrowing as he picked out a spelling error on page seventeen. When he saw that it was nearly three thirty, he jumped out of his chair and cursed. Ansem would be back at the University lab (quite an unsuitable lab, really) in less than three hours and Ienzo's body was begging for at least some amount of sleep.

"It was nice to meet you, Myde," he said, lips stretching into a wide smile. "I hope to see you around. You'll have to play me music one day."

Myde laughed, the prospect of showing someone his creations bubbling madly in his stomach. "Good luck with your paper," he called, watching Ienzo hurry down the lightening street with a half smile. "What a passionate little guy."

For the rest of his shift, thoughts of darkness and light, hearts and souls swam around in Myde's head. He wondered what Ienzo was discovering, how the studies could shape the world. It made his stomach twist uncomfortably, but surely something that could render such joy in someone's eyes couldn't be bad.

- - -

The lab was quiet when Ienzo entered it, just the same as it had been before. Across the room, a large burgundy couch beckoned to his tired body like a Siren Odysseus and his crew. When he collapsed onto it, though, sleep still evaded him.

"Is that a good idea, though?"

Ienzo had never considered his research potentially harmful. Conditions would be strictly maintained, after all. It wasn't as though their research would encompass the whole of the worlds. He cast his dissertation a wary glance and suddenly felt as if it added a weight to his shoulders.

"Nonsense," he muttered to the empty room, the word slicing through the air like a knife. It was derisive, dismissive, and as he said it a steely glint came to his eyes. The expression soon came to pass, but the feeling stayed, leaving Ienzo to a fitful, dreamless sleep.

Nonsense.

- - -

Tireless nights, ceaseless nights, all spent in pursuit of some higher knowledge that could save humanity from itself, that could prove nonsense wrong.

"Ienzo, why do you insist upon carrying that monstrous ream of paper around at all times? Nothing can be perfect."

"Rest, Ienzo. Just because we are here doesn't mean you need to be; you have finals to prepare for."

"This lab isn't a prison. Why don't you go out with your friends this weekend, Ienzo?"

"You've accomplished more than anyone else your age, Ienzo. You deserve sleep."

- - -

A/N: I didn't expect this to turn out as a chapter story, really. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did it would be great for you to review! Feedback is an author's chai and panini at 2am after a long day of studying. When you read but don't review…it's like holding a carrot in front of our nose and yanking it back with a howling laugh. It's mean…

Thanks for reading!