AN: My first fic in quite a while, huh? I actually wrote this one right after beating Birth By Sleep, so it's been sitting on my computer, staring at me. I hope you enjoy it!
I knew that the Frisbee was going to hit me. At its current velocity, and with consistent wind conditions, it could scarcely miss. Why then did I not avoid it? Well, such calculations, while barely the work of an instant, take time that could be used to evade a deadly Frisbee. That, and I lacked the necessary reflexes at that age. Or at any age, now that I consider it. Thankfully, the likelihood of suffering brain trauma appeared quite low, so I was able to take the painful blow to the head without too many ungenerous feelings towards the flame-haired idiot responsible.
"Sorry about that, little guy," the owner of the Frisbee apologized, without much visible or audible remorse. Clearly he was only apologizing at all because his slightly more rational friend had ordered him to. I did not debase myself by responding. I rarely did. Conversing with my intellectual inferiors at that age was trying. After all, after hearing me speak, few generally had much to say in response.
I was considering just silently walking away from the flame-haired idiot, who seemed to have come to the conclusion that I was deaf, and was gesticulating wildly in an attempt to convey his message, when I heard Even's shriek as he called for me. Never eager to be found by the condescending and ill-tempered scientist, I ducked behind the nearest form of concealment: the Frisbee twins. Neither had much time for surprise however, as Even came flying around the corner, his hair wild and his eyes darting about quickly. Spotting the pair of idiots, he approached.
"Have you seen a small boy in a white coat?" He demanded, not one to be civil when playing nursemaid to a precocious genius.
The idiot's friend returned Even's rudeness with far more politeness than the mad scientist deserved. "It looked like he was heading for the water purification facility, sir."
Even's rage about ungrateful brats tampering with the water supply was still audible long after he had left our part of town.
"So," the idiot began, the attention of both boys now fixed on me, "You ran away from the castle, huh?"
"I did not-" I began, but the idiot's friend interrupted me.
"You can talk, I see. Ienzo, was it?" His greenish eyes watched me impassively.
"I prefer not to speak when it can be avoided. Most people are surprised by the way I talk." I explained stiffly, staring down the track-suited freak (as he shall hereafter be known).
"I can see why," the flame-haired idiot snorted. "You don't sound like a kid at all."
"Regardless," I continued firmly, "I did not run away from the castle. I simply stepped out for some air."
"The crazy guy from the castle doesn't seem to think so," the idiot persisted.
"If I allowed him to set the terms of my existence, I should never step outside again," I answered shortly. "Excuse me. If I do not return before he does, I will be punished. Thank you for your assistance."
"Wait!" The idiot called out, obliging me to turn back. "How do you plan to pay us back for helping you out?" His tone was not joking enough for me to take him any less than seriously.
"I believe you hit me in the head with a Frisbee," I countered. "I would say that we are even. Or rather, than assisting me was the least you could do in exchange for your carelessness and poor aim."
The idiot suddenly found himself lacking in clever quips. The track-suited freak had apparently been saving his for just such an occasion. "I don't think we're even," he declared evenly. "We know your name, but you don't know ours."
This was apparently the idiot's cue, because he suddenly became more animated. "Oh yeah! I'm Lea, and he's Isa. Commit it to memory, got it?"
A strong urge to strangle Lea overtook me. A very dangerous urge for a small boy with no arm strength. He was just so annoying. "I apologize for the question, for it is based on several assumptions on your own temperment, but how can you tolerate this idiot?" I asked Isa, failing to keep my incredulity in check.
"It's complicated," Isa replied with a tiny smile, calmly enduring Lea's exclamations of shock at Isa's cruelty in not defending him. "We're all the other has."
Something stirred within me. It must have been the part of my heart that had not yet gotten over the death of my parents. "I suppose I could understand the sentiment if I had such a person myself."
Lea's professions of hurt ceased instantly. "I'm sure you have someone like that," he insisted.
"How can you be so certain?" I wondered.
"Because if you didn't, it'd be pretty sad, right? You probably just aren't looking hard enough," he insisted in an oddly cheerful tone.
"You have to be back before the man from the castle," Isa reminded me suddenly. "Hurry."
"See you again sometime, Ienzo!" Lea shouted at my back.
In truth, I did not see them again for many years, and they were both very changed by then. Not that I had not changed as well. Before meeting them, I had not noticed the watchful eyes of those who were always looking out for me. Though my actions ultimately destroyed one of those people, the other remained someone I could trust implicitly. But that is not the only reason why this one meeting with Lea and Isa is significant, unfortunately. It made me the only member of the Organization capable of observing the change that occurred in the pair of them on becoming Nobodies. This made me a danger to their plans. I could see through them in ways that the others could not. In short, I knew too much. I should have known that they would eliminate me. I suppose I thought that they were not capable of it.
Yes, I suppose I must have miscalculated that day, as the Frisbee flew towards my head. I undoubtedly suffered some form of brain trauma.
