I've recently edited this chapter so the grammer is better now.

Well, it appears there are enough of you out there who actually found an interest in this fic of mine. Which means I have to get it into gear now and update more often on this. Actually, this would've been done sooner if I had more days off of work and my cosplay making wasn't eating up my extra time. Don't worry, I more days off of work now and I've set aside some extra time to update fics like this one.

...But I swear, if I stay up another full night again working on this, I'm going to stake myself.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts I, II, Chain of Memories and all of it's characters within it are copyrighted to Square Enix and/or Disney which is not owned by me, so therefore the characters used in this fic or mentioned in here are not owned by me either. (If I did, then Axel would've been killed off by something random before he had even dared to have Zexion destroyed in such a way. Next to Saïx's, Zexion's death had to be the most heart shattering for me.)

Chapter Two: Under Luminous Midnight

"Ienzo? Ienzo! Where did that runt go off to now? Man this is bogus; he's way past the age of needin' a baby sitter." One of the older apprentices passed down one of the many confusing halls within Ansem's complicated castle. It was truly a wonder that no one ever got lost in this place for long. A young man in a lab coat stood quietly against the wall, while he waited for the middle aged, prematurely gray haired man to leave the area. The young man with pale blue eyes glanced around the corner before swiftly making his way out of the massive structure. As soon as he reached the outside, he breathed the hefty scent of the night air before sighing peacefully. The heavens were simply beautiful with the blanket of stars that were painted across it. In the world of Radiant Garden, the deep night skies looked as if you could just pluck one of those burning lights right out of the air. When Ienzo was younger, he use to imagine as if he could actually do so, but these days, his mind has been full of nothing but logic.

'No room for creative thoughts these days.' The sixteen year old made a slightly disappointed sigh as he went about wondering around old town roads that looked as if they've been ignored for years. Ienzo was making yet another daring escape from lab work yet again. It has been about three weeks he's been doing this, which has earned him quite a few scoldings. If he hadn't been constantly doing this, the others wouldn't get so upset. It was very much different from Ienzo's normal nature to sneak out and not finish with work on time. After all, he was almost the perfect apprentice.

Back when he was five and came to Ansem with Aeleus, he had always been the polite little boy who had his nose stuck in a book; studying vigilantly while the older men preformed very amusing experiments while he did all the paper work and small tasks. Now, he was almost the a very accomplished apprentice in Ansem's eyes, for his logic and knowledge from the years of observations made him not just smart, but the wisest of the group. Book smart was one thing, but wisdom is a special gift that's a very rare trait, especially for one so young as this messy haired male.

"They need to learn to make choices on their own these days anyways." Ienzo said to the dark of the night as he came open a field of tall grass. It was his usual spot in an old part of the town. Nothing here, but a crumbling structures that had vegetation crawling about it everywhere. The grayish blue haired boy discarded his lab coat and tossed it aside onto the long strands of green. He then himself, fell backwards upon the soft ground. Those pale blue eyes of his were lit up by the starry skies, and he went into almost a trance.

He found memories to be important and most must be reflected on constantly or else you could lose valuable information in later times. This is why he had to get away from work, studies, and everything these past few weeks or so. He could never have any peace anymore to do this sort of task for himself. He knew he could never tell the others, for most of them would laugh and tell him he should stop being a little "dreamer."

'Fools can never understand the importance of memories. That's why they make mistakes, for they don't remember how to think with common sense. If Braig actually did some recapping once in a while, he might actually get through an experiment without harming himself again. He never remembers his past mistakes.' Ienzo let out an annoyed sigh as he felt an oncoming headache. No, this was his time, and he wasn't going to let such thoughts about work fill his mind. Though, some memories from the lab were really nice to reflect upon.

The young man recalled the time when he first came to this beautiful world. Before then, he had no one. He was nothing more than a pest of a child, sniveling at a street corner alone. He never was sad, just empty. Most said he was some emotionless shell, that he was cursed that way since he was born, which is why he was abandoned. Soon, he started to believe that and almost started to live by it.

Then, he was found by a man who seemed to be in his twenties or something of the sort. He use to visit the young boy every week, talking to him, even though Ienzo never responded back. Soon, it was a visit everyday. He still never spoke back, but his eyes would light up when the man came. One day, the man didn't come. The young Ienzo waited that whole day, then another, and then another. It had been two weeks and the boy believed he was being abandoned again. After a few more days, the people seemed to be in a panic, but the boy didn't care what the foolish and selfish adults were worrying about. Later that same day, there was no sign of life. This is when the man came back and promised to take him away from the awful place, for he found a way to travel to another world. He also promise to protect Ienzo no matter what happens or where they went. To this day, Ienzo remembers that promise that Aeleus made and he plans on never letting the older man ever forget it either. See? Wasn't recollecting old memories once and a while a good thing?

Ienzo also briefly went over some more old occurrences deep within his mind. From when Aeleus took up the offer of working for the wise elder who was considered the king of this world, from all the times when he won a verbal argument with Braig even when he was only eight years old, the times when Even got furious whenever he disproved the blonde's theories, to whenever Xehanort preferred to listen to what Ienzo had to say rather than the others. Eventually, the young man started to drift off from recapturing all of those moments in time. He was half asleep when he noticed something out of the corner of his sleepy eyes.

"I do believe it's not safe at all, for someone as young as yourself, to be drifting off to sleep in such a place as this."

Ienzo's eyes shot open and he jumped up into a sitting position. He twisted around a bit to see a man dressed in an almost aristocrat attire, if you'd want to call it that. Strange, Ienzo had never seen anyone dress in a cream colored blouse with a long cravat before; and with black leather leggings tucked into long boots as well. The younger male had heard the saying, "It's impolite to stare." many times before, but he couldn't really help it. This man was...interesting. Not as in, what's with this creep, sorta way, but something else...

The man tucked back some of his lightly reddish, pinkish, auburn hair behind his ear as he seemed to get slightly annoyed with the boy not responding for some time.

"Well, whether you care or not about being out this late, you're still trespassing on private property. I must ask you to leave at this moment." The pale blue eyed boy snapped away from his thoughts as he gave the stranger a questioning look.

"Private property? I'm sorry, whoever you are, but I do believe these parts of town have been unclaimed for almost fifty or so years." Ienzo then started to rise onto his feet while other man huffed at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, aren't we the smart one." The wavy haired male glared at the smaller male. Obviously, he must not like those younger then himself to outwit him. Ienzo brushed the few stray bits of grass off of his clothing before matching the stranger's deep sapphire glare with his own light blue one.

"You could say that. You can find out almost anything and everything about this town by just visiting the local library here. Any halfwit that has any literate bone in their body can find out about this specific area." The taller man narrowed his brow at the other, but then closed his eyes and sighed. Ienzo could faintly hear the other mumble something that sounded like, "They would try to claim it as public property now, wouldn't they?" The young apprentice decided to question this unknown man further.

"May I ask, why are you in place anyways?" Ienzo didn't know many people outside of the lab, but he knew most of them had more than enough sense to not wonder into this area. Also, the chances were of finding his secret get away spot upon coincidence was uncanny as well. The sapphire eyed man gave a dull and uncaring gaze towards Ienzo before starting to walk around a bit among the tall grass.

"This area happens to belong to the old family of Athair. Those little books you read at your so called library won't tell you that. Therefore, you're truly trespassing. To even place foot on their lands is very rude for a local peasant to do, so that's why, again, I must ask you to leave." While the auburn haired man went back to giving him a stern look, Ienzo raised an eyebrow. Curious, that he's never heard of such a name. It was also strange that the man thought of Ienzo as something lower than himself.

"Oh really now? You insist I'm trespassing, but I've never heard of such a family. Do you happen to have any documents or proof your family once lived here or still owns this place?" The man shifted his posture a bit to show some unease as the smaller male questioned him on this. The taller man's cheeks tinted red in slight anger as he huffed again.

"N-no...I don't. And just don't assume that it's my family I'm speaking of. Peasants always assume..." As he spoke, he couldn't even look at Ienzo and had to stare off towards somewhere else. The young man smirked as he saw he was winning, and decided to sit down on the grass once again.

"Well, if it's not your family you speak of and you don't have any documents, then I suppose I'm not really trespassing, now am I? If there is an issue then this so called Athair family will have to come speak with me personally." With that statement, the aristocrat looking man gave a dark glare down towards the other.

"How dare you ask to see any member of Athair! If you had any respect for the deceased..." The man's sentence trailed off as some hurt look came to his eyes. He looked away from the sitting boy again as he tried to calm his anger. Ienzo observed the strange man and his actions. Apparently, this place must have some deep value to this man and he must have caused him to remember some past memories that seem to hurt this older male. He carefully shook his head to move some strands of his grayish blue hair out of his face, to see the other better. He realized that making the other upset in such a way wasn't very mature of him at all. Sure, he liked making people flustered or agitated, but not by remembering some kind of grief or something of the sort. Ienzo sighed out calmly as he tried to speak with this mysterious man again.

"By the way, I'm not a peasant as you claim. I'm not sure if you know, but we don't use such a title anymore these days." Ienzo pulled his knees up to his chest as he waited a bit for the other to respond. When he didn't, he went back to talking himself. "To be honest, I'm an apprentice for a great man of science here. If you happen to see that old castle like structure to the south, that's where I and my fellow associates conduct our experiments and work." This seem to catch the other's attention, for he gazed over towards Ienzo again. This time, his expression was less hostile and upset than before.

"You could say I'm a scientist, but my studies and procedures are more...natural." The standing man closed his eyes as if he was focusing on some kind of thought that came to him. When he opened them, he decided to sit himself down from where he was standing. "I was once an alchemist, working for the Athairs before they all were gone." Ienzo nodded towards the other, seeming to show he understood. He never experienced having to lose something or someone close to himself, so he never understood why others got so upset when they did. Still, it was better to act understanding then to fight again with this man, for he didn't want to be asked to leave again.

"Alchemy? Isn't that an old form of science with speculative theories, where those try to find cures to unique and strange diseases and even everlasting life? I never knew there were still alchemists around." 'This man would probably get along with Even. He's always studying what past alchemist have done.' Ienzo always thought that alchemy was a useless waste and with ridiculous theories; and it was a shame that some of the greatest minds fell into following such a study. The man chuckled smoothly as he gazed upward.

"You could say that, but I never go as far as say...trying to turn metal into gold. No, I work with what mother earth gave me." The wavy haired man picked a small daisy from between the tall strands of grass and twirled the steam between his fingers. "I mainly used plant life in my research and experiments." The slate haired boy gave a curious look towards the other once again. He knew a few plants and such held medical purposes and other things of the sort, but he never heard of many alchemists from the past using plants.

"Are you some kind of botanist as well?" He heard the other man's smooth and soft laugh once again, and it was actually...enjoyable to listen to.

"I guess I am. Heh, here I've been chatting away with some boy that wondered upon here. It's really not like myslef to socialize often, especially to some trespassing stranger." Ienzo shook his head at the man's comment.

"I told you, to my knowledge, I'm not trespassing. Also, I thought I told I'm an apprentice and I'd rather not you call me boy. I'm at a higher level of maturity than most of my generation." The elegantly attired man tilted his head and smiled slightly towards the pale blue eyed male.

"I'm sorry, but I do not know who you are. When I do not know someone, I make assumptions about them. Do you have a name, boy?" Ienzo glared at the man when he called him boy again, which only cause the other to smile some more. The apprentice let out a long sigh before looking up towards the starry heavens.

"...Ienzo." He simply stated not wanting to look at the other man's reaction to his name.

"Lovely and unique. Both which are good qualities. Thank you for gracing me with your name, and now I might consider not assuming you're just some mere brat trampling carelessly on these grounds." Ienzo held his legs closer to his chest as he mumbled something in slight annoyance. After waiting for a moment or two, he finally looked back towards the unknown man.

"You know, it's usually customary to provide your own name after one has given theirs to you." The grayish haired boy commented flat out, a bit pestered he'd been speaking with this man for a while now and wasn't even able to get his name. The auburn haired male simply smiled slyly as he responded to the other.

"Isn't it also customary for one such as young as yourself to only speak unless spoken to? Yet, here you've been, questioning me the whole time I've been here. How rude, and to think, I had let you get away with trespassing here too." Ienzo had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the trespassing comment again. The man chuckled at the younger one once again. He seemed to get enjoyment out of teasing the other a bit. Finally, the man stopped laughing, but kept that smirk upon his face. "It's Amaru Ciel Roseveldt."

Ienzo still glared a bit towards this person named Amaru. This man seemed a bit bothersome, but he guessed it was ok to actually know someone outside of the lab for once. Just hopefully this man wouldn't be here every time he ventured to this place, but that seemed doubtful.

...-head-desk- Ow! Ok! I understand! Sleep then fanfic work from now on. Man, the things I do for Kingdom Hearts. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty stressed out because of my fandom for it. (I'm talking about fanfics, cosplays, and skits for KH altogether.) Anyways, DO NOT get on me about Amaru's last name. Roseveldt is Dutch for the field of roses and I didn't just choose it because it has to do with flowers and what not. I wanted his whole name to have European origin to it, so that's how it went. In case you're wondering, Ciel is French for from Heaven.

Aww, no kiss yet huh? Be patient! I promise something like that will happen soon...maybe. Thanks for the reviews guys! Please keep reviewing, making suggestions, and such too. Why? Because I don't like updating fics with no reviews that's why, for it makes me sad in the empty space where my heart would be. :(