A/N: Sorry for the radio silence lately! Gotta love college. Good news is that I am on spring break this coming week, so I will have time to write all of the Kingdom Hearts fic ideas that have been plaguing my brain. Y'ALL AIN'T READY! Expect 3, if not 4, fics this week. Here goes the first one of those, split into two chapters. This was inspired by Nomura confirming that Nobodies feel the pain of their deaths again upon reawakening.
Ienzo was more than a little shocked when Riku visited their lab on a slow work day and asked if it'd be possible to provide the replica with a vessel. In all honesty, even being around Riku gave him a queasy and unsettled feeling. He was ashamed of how out of breath he got during those moments.
"If our previous experimentation is any indication, I don't entirely see why not? While aspects like personality and experience may be more difficult to uncover with an entity that only existed as a replica, I don't think it will be impossible" Ienzo replied, trying to maintain some sort of cordiality and not make the unease obvious. After all, that was a different time and a different state of being. Besides, it wasn't like the true Riku did anything.
"I get it. Thanks. This means a lot" Riku said, giving Ienzo a small smile.
"Well, of course. It is part of our job" he said, nodding and managing a smile back. With that, they bid each other farewell. In that moment, Ienzo had made a personal vow that this would be a solo project. One he'd see all the way through. He wasn't sure why he felt so obligated, but stuck to what his heart was saying. It felt nice to be able to do so. During his lunch break, he thought up ways he could work this around the others.
And so it continued. He snuck out at obscene hours in order to keep up with the replica and work he was already assigned. He was certain that Aeleus and Dilan had noticed something was going on but just chose not to pry.
Eventually, the exhaustion started creeping into his bones and impeding. Things were so much more intensive than he'd originally expected. He started getting upset and borderline throwing fits over things that would usually come easy. That sort of behavior wasn't typical at all, and it started to scare him how little control he had over his reactions sometimes. Though he'd never admit it to anybody, he ended some sessions sobbing in front of the monitor with his face in his hands for a while.