The pounding of bare feet on stone has a very particular noise, mostly a painful slap, flesh against unforgiving stone. It rang out, echoing jarringly as Even sprinted down the dark hallways, moonlight peering through the windows as he passed by. His wide, vibrant eyes reflected the light with a flash each time he sprinted by a new one, horrified and unblinking. His hair flowed back in a tangled mess behind his slender figure. For someone sprinting so very fast, there was absolutely no sign of exactly how frail he felt in those hysterical moments, his stomach having dropped out when he had realized that time was of the essence.
The scientist couldn't seem to reach his destination fast enough. The stoic wooden door was rather unassuming to the eye, next to the rows of doors he had passed in his wake, but this one seemed to stand out to him, cloaked as it was in darkness. He pounded hard with his skinny fist continuing ceaselessly as though his very life depended on it, putting more weight behind it each second. He seemed almost on the verge of screaming through when the door's lock clicked and it eased open slightly to reveal an extremely irate, rather tired looking child prodigy.
"Ienzo!" Even sighed breathlessly in relief as though this were his first time ever seeing him safe and sound since their reawakening. "I-Ienzo, I had thought-"
"I had been taken by the darkness." Ienzo finished listlessly, speaking through an opening in the door barely big enough to frame his petit, shadowed face. He glared at Even through half lidded eyes, clearly unimpressed.
"Y-yes. That's exactly it." Even panted, his smile of relief fading into confusion. "How did you-"
"It was a dream." Ienzo stated flatly.
"No, it was far too vivid. He was just here." Even gestured vaguely around him, still catching his breath, shivering slightly. "Xehanort was-" He started again, quickly cutting to his next jumbled thought, "and with the keyblade-"
"How old was I, Even?" Ienzo continued, the action quite practiced at this point.
"You were...you were quite young." Even answered, his mood deflating by the second.
"And what are you wearing right now?" Ienzo gave him a scathingly bored look.
He looked down at his scrawny form, the mounting feeling of foolishness softening his voice. "...My night clothes." Even admitted, adjusting his collar self consciously as it had become askew in his flight. He looked up at Ienzo.
A pause passed between them, Even's eyes searching the young prodigy for something that might have been remarkably familiar. Perhaps compassion. He was clearly looking in the wrong place. Ienzo was simmering with rage and exhaustion.
"This is the third time in two days we've had this same exact conversation." He explained through gritted teeth.
Even's confusion had not ebbed. He reached his hand out to touch Ienzo, perhaps in confirmation that this was, indeed, real. "My apolog-"
"Go back to your room and leave me alone." Ienzo slammed the door.
Even stood in the hallway, staring blankly at the wood grain in front of his very nose, though clearly not seeing it in the slightest. Shivering, he shifted on his feet and considered how he could rage in anger at this show of disrespect, could demand for Ienzo to have a bit more understanding, but in his younger years when he was caring for the prodigy, could he seriously say that he had never been so harsh, so cold to Ienzo when the child had simply wanted a bit of comfort from him? Even hadn't understood then. Ienzo couldn't understand now.
He turned slowly, now hearing the soft padding of his own feet against the stone floor as he stepped off back down the hall, not quite comprehending where he was going. He did know, however, that the moonlight was not bringing any warmth and his mind was not bringing any solace.
A strong hand reached out from around a corner, stopping him before he reached the nearest stairwell.
"Even." The deep voice sounded mildly surprised. Aeleus, the man of unbreakable morality. If only humans could measure up to someone of that nature. Even's heart thrummed painfully, and he couldn't begin tell you the slightest bit of what that pain meant. Love? Anger? Fear? Did he even have the right to start guessing or had his misconceptions now taken him too far from the truth?
Even stared down at Aeleus's hand, his brow knit, silent, unsteady and shivering. He watched as it cautiously moved to touch his hand.
"For Light's sake, Even, you're freezing." Aeleus sounded quite alarmed this time. Was he cold? He hadn't quite noticed. He pulled the scientist aside, taking his hands in the guard's own, rubbing them, trying to warm them and finally giving up on the endeavor to take his own gloves off and place them on Even lithe hands, watching as the oversized fabric hung limply around his arms.
"Even." He repeated, and the man in question wondered why he sounded so concerned. "Even, what happened? The weather is warm. How did...?" He trailed as the academic slowly looked up at him him, shivering violently now as ice crystals crawled along his skin, painting beautiful, terrible patterns around his wide eyes, along the nails of his toes and up his porcelain white skin.
"I failed him, Aeleus." Even admitted softly, and the guard was only partially horrified to realize that the darkness, the cold was moving so quickly about the other man's form that ice crystals were forming on the tips of his long, cornsilk hair. He was shivering more violently then ever now. "I failed him. I failed you. I failed our town." Aeleus was vaguely surprised he could even form words past the ice crystals that were now blooming along his long, slender neck, the sharp angle of his jaw.
"Even, stop it."
"He does not believe in me. He does not believe I am sane."
"Give him time."
"He won't respect me. How could I possibly expect him to, when I cannot even respect myself?" There was a mounting note of hysteria, his eyes glowing so eerily, so bright in the darkness of what would have normally been a comfortable spring night. The window nearby the pair was open, but the curtains did not move in the gentle breeze. They were laden with specks of snow and ice, frozen in place. The floor was a sheet of pale blue beautiful frost. Even was shivering so violently now that Aeleus was surprised that he was still able to speak. Shaking his head from side to side, eyes staring unblinkingly, bright, inhuman, mad.
"Look at me." Aeleus bent to eye level, his voice grounded, commanding, assured and louder than he dared to speak in front of anyone but those he trusted. He took the scientist's face in his hands, directing those wide, unfocused eyes forward, feeling the ice from his form creeping, crawling along his fingertip, down his own arms. "Listen," The other man did not seem to recognize he was being spoken to. "Even," Not Vexen. Please, not Vexen. "Everything is going to be just fine." He paused, watching those eyes for any hint of recognition, a sign of something more, something feeling.
"Stay with me." Aeleus's had never felt so unsure of his own advice, yet so positive it needed to be said.
Something about the scientist's jittery breathing seemed to calm slightly as he gulped down a few breaths of warmer air. His shivering eased and he blinked slowly, as though fighting to break from a nightmare. He let loose a heavy, shaking sigh which turned to a puff of condensation. "Aeleus." He affirmed with a small, tired smile, recognizing where he was, thankful for the gentleness of the hands which were currently holding him, despite how very freezing his skin must be. "My apologies-"
"There's no need." Aeleus murmured, letting his hands calmingly stroke Even's shoulders and down his arms, shattering shards of ice and watching as they slowly broke away from his hair and thin clothing as his temperature began to rise. Taking but a moment, he neatly unbuttoned his guard's jacket from his massive form and slipped it off, revealing a meager white undershirt. He wrapped the heavy coat around his companion, biting his tongue to keep himself from laughing at exactly how large it was. He could have fit three of Even in there comfortably. Thankfully, he didn't have to fight the notion for long. The scientist was already chuckling, clearly from exhaustion, relief and a hint of disbelief .
"Why did you you..." Even trailed, not knowing the words.
"It isn't home without you."
Even looked up at him and smiled weakly. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt warm.