The Mechanic

by Besieged Infection

AR Sora wants nothing more than the join the front lines; to prove himself in battle. He wants to help. One problem; he's a mechanic. From the shadow of a decorated war hero, Sora struggles to find his place in the worlds, all the while becoming tangled in a series of events that will change the universe as they know it. Sora/Ienzo, eventual Sora/Leon. Undergoing rewrite.

25. In the Field

The Mechanic

Disclaimer: Besieged Infection does not own the rights to Kingdom Hearts. No money is being made from the production or distribution of this fanfiction.

Some Background: Buddhism was introduced to China in the first century while the legend of Hua (not Fa) Mulan originates from anywhere between the fourth and seventh century. Historically speaking, Sora and Ienzo walking around as Buddhist monks wouldn't have been too horribly out of place.

-T-M-

Maunder, fourteen years after the Birth By Sleep incident:

Emergency progress transmissions of team Miyano part 2.

Miyano - 15.48h Request permission to withdraw.

Academy - 15.50h Permission to withdraw granted.

Miyano - 16.05h Withdrawal failed. Ship compromised.

Miyano - 16.10h Three teammates expired. Team leader remains. Currently in hiding.

Miyano - 16.20h Bogey identified; Apprentice Xehanort. Request full-scale attack.

Chapter 25: Into the Field

The Land of Dragons (China,) fifteen years after the Birth By Sleep incident:

"Nice space today, huh? Lots of visibility." The poor excuse for a conversation starter fell so flat Sora could practically feel it fall through the ship and out into the vacuum of space, never to be seen or heard from again. Hands stilling against the Gummi ship's control panel, the mechanic sneaked a short glance over to the other seat.

Ienzo remained utterly silent, his wrists resting lightly against the sides of a stack of papers, right hand poised at the corner of a single sheet to turn it over.

The mechanic's lips split for an instant. But all too quickly they slid back against each other as he turned back to watch the movements of asteroids through the glass of the cockpit. Beside him, paper rustled. Raising a finger from the controls for an instant, Sora angled his head in his companion's direction and remarked at a passing asteroid, "Hey, that one kinda looks like Cid."

No reply.

Slouching into his chair, Sora heaved a long sigh. "You know, it's really hard to be civil when you don't say anything."

Another page turned, rustling nearly inaudibly in spite of the silence. And yet it spoke volumes. Being civil has absolutely nothing to do with speaking, it insisted in Ienzo's most matter-of-fact drawl. Stop trying so hard and actually try to look like you're not trying to crash into every meteorite we pass.

Sora huffed, which translated to, I do not try to crash into every meteorite. Turning his attention back to their route, he froze. His hands pulled insistently at the steering wheel to avoid the oncoming rock. And while he'd seen it a good ten seconds in advance the ship had decided that it was not, in fact, enough time to dodge and had taken it upon itself to let loose an incredibly long and piercing squeal as part of the hull took the brunt of the hit.

Maybe crash was the wrong word, the page continued. But must you insist on saying hello?

"Shut up," Sora muttered venomously.

"Yes, please do." Ienzo's agreement was flat, almost deadpan, and was not accompanied by anything more than the smallest rustle of paper as he lifted his fingers away from the page to wet his thumb.

Overzealous son of a fish, the appendage added helpfully.

Throwing a glare in the older man's direction, the mechanic bit back a series of phrases that would not exactly be considered 'civil.' It was three hours – three hours of silence and quiet fury and those annoying pages judging him – later that Sora finally picked up the courage to ask the man in the passenger seat, "Any pointers?"

Ienzo glanced up, eyes losing a bit of glass at the sight of the approaching planet. He shrugged. "Be polite. Bow a lot."

"Do we have a cover?"

"Traveling monks."

Sora frowned. "What if someone asks about religion?"

"Don't worry; it's Buddhism."

The mechanic's head shot to the side so fast he had a moment of whiplash. Blinking owlishly, Sora fixed the older man with a look that read of confusion. "They have Buddhism here? How?"

"Eyes front," Ienzo reminded him.

Doing just that, the mechanic huffed. His hands slipped from switch to switch on the dash board, confidently engaging the cloaking mechanism and triggering their descent into the atmosphere. When the entire ship jolted to the side his hands clutched at the seat like a lifeline until their flight evened out and they descended toward the ground. Placing his hands on the wheel once more, he tried not to turn around when Ienzo got up. "So how do they have Buddhism?"

"It's like you read at school; the worlds weren't always in pieces like this." Small hands took hold of a latch in the wall and pulled, dragging the nearly invisible compartment door open and resulting in an avalanche of fabric and bags. "It's a long story – I'll tell you some other time." Stepping away from the pile, the apprentice's hands began working at the buttons of his vest.

At the sound of Ienzo's vest being dropped to the floor Sora fought the urge to turn around. Riku's words were still there, repeating themselves over and over in his head until they were a maelstrom of something that nearly consumed him. But he needed to land, and at the moment that was more important than checking if his companion was a Heartless. So, with a good amount of self-control Sora was not aware he had, the mechanic kept his eyes on the ground and settled them in for an easy landing. Parking the ship over a batch of trees just outside what looked to be a small town, the younger man reached for his seat belt. At first it caught, cold metal fighting against his fingers and he tugged it this way and that. But then it gave way and he was free to stand up and turn and-

"What are you looking at?"

Nothing.

And everything.

It was strange. The Ienzo Sora knew had short blue hair that flopped over one half of his face, putting into contrast the deep blue of his one visible eye. His thin frame was usually clad in a dress shirt or lab coat of some kind. Something that looked official; professional. Yet in a matter of minutes that had all changed. Blue hair had somehow turned a dark black, pulled into a strict bun, and even bluer eyes had been transformed into strange muddy-brown orbs that didn't really suit the man. Thin arms were clad in thick robes that swaddled his neck and obscured the rest of his form. And, most surprisingly, the pale expanse of flawless skin had been tanned and even sported a few dark moles along the cheeks.

Drawing a hand casually to his face, Sora rubbed his eyes experimentally. After a few seconds he pulled his hand away and his gaze slid over the apprentice. Reaching up once more, he muttered, "I think there's something in my eyes."

"Oh for the love of-" Ienzo cut himself off, reached forward, snagged a piece of Sora's hair, and held it up for inspection.

Sora gaped and ripped his hair away from the older apprentice, examining the section the man had touched with nothing short of surprise.

It had turned black.

"It's like you're never seen a transformation spell before," the older man snapped, arms folding over his chest. "Look, I know this is your first time undercover, but you should have learned about this at the Academy. Disguises often require small transformation spells. Some worlds just don't take well to foreigners."

Glancing up from the lock that had been changed, Sora asked, "So you can turn it back?"

"Any time," Ienzo assured him, reaching up to his own hair, tugging on a few strands, and holding them out as they shimmered and turned their usual gray-blue. Once he was sure Sora got the point he reached up and smoothed his hands across the entirety of his forehead. As his hands passed the strands turned a flat black. "Now get dressed," he ordered, stepping to the side so the mechanic could see the pile of clothes behind him. "If you need help just ask."

Sora eyed the fabric darkly.

He...

No...

He couldn't ask for help. That would just be...

No...

Arm here, leg there... head – no no no, Ienzo's was tighter so-

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Well, if you're absolutely sure..."

Were those sandals? No – and a tie? What was that fo- oh, it tightens the leg piece things. But what was it doing on the shoe? And what was this-

"For the love of mako, would you just let me help you already?"

"No, I can do this."

"It's been an hour!"

"It has not been an hour."

"No, but by the time you get done it will have been."

"It's only been ten minutes!"

"Yes, and it took me three."

As Sora fought with the robes, Ienzo watched on with a drawn expression. "You know you're being childish, right?" he insisted, tone dark.

The mechanic didn't bother answering, hands fumbling with the ties for the arm and drawing them tight to – well, shit. That was a leg hole, wasn't it? But then the world was slowing to a crawl and Sora was looking out at a world that seemed to be rushing around him and-

He was dressed.

Looking down at himself, the mechanic eyed the uniform that had been reorganized, pulled over his form, and tied in what felt like a matter of seconds. "What was that?"

"That?" Ienzo asked, far happier with himself than he should be. "That was a slow spell."

"And it was necessary because...?"

"The spell was necessary because you insisted on being a stubborn child who refused help despite floundering about like an idiot."

Sora frowned. "That's a bit much, don't you think?"

Snatching the mechanic's bag from where it had fallen on the floor, Ienzo tossed it at the younger man with a hastily disguised smirk. "When it comes to disguises, nothing is ever too much."

Catching the bag with a drawn expression, Sora rolled his eyes and slipped the shoes on. They were small things that barely contained his feet. "Hey," he called quickly just as Ienzo was about to open the hatch, "these are too small."

Without bothering to turn and address the man, the older apprentice slid his hand along the side of the door until it responded, sliding open and inviting the cool breeze of the forest into the ship. "Those are the largest size shoes currently available in this country. It is not too small; you are simply too large." Stepping out of the ship, Ienzo left Sora to his own silence.

Glancing down at his disguise, the mechanic frowned. While the costume nearly swamped Ienzo, it barely passed Sora's knees and elbows. He was aware he'd had a growth spurt lately, but he wasn't aware of how much he had grown. It both both exciting and alarming to realize he was finally reaching the height he would be for the rest of his life.

Situating his bag over his shoulder, the mechanic stepped out of the ship and onto the planet below, allowing the cloaked hatch to close automatically behind him.

Forest. Nothing but forest.

Peeking out from behind a tree, Ienzo waved for Sora to follow. "Are you coming or not?" he demanded sharply, bending down to adjust his left shoe.

Sora turned a silent eye to his own feet, which had to sit on top of the backs of his shoes in order to fit. It was a strange metaphor for his life as he knew it. "Yeah," he called back, turning his attention back to the forest before him. "Right behind you."

-T-M-

It had taken them over an hour to find the main road, if it could be called that. The abysmally narrow path was barely wide enough for the two to walk side by side. Even worse, it eventually curved up into a hill, threatening them with landslides every other step. Eventually they gave in and allowed Ienzo to walk in front.

After almost three straight hours of walking – and pausing once to install (aka: embed) one of the devices in Sora's bag in a random tree trunk – the mechanic dragged one of the devices out and examined it for a bit. He remembered making them; small rocks with egg-like devices inside and a circle of scorch where he had melted them together. "What do these things do, exactly?" he asked, turning it from side to side, then shaking it.

"They sit there," Ienzo deadpanned.

Sora's head shot up. The last thing he'd expected was sarcasm. Ienzo hadn't treated him to something like that was at the Academy. He really is making an effort, the younger man realized abruptly. It wasn't just banter or allowing Sora near – Ienzo was making an effort to treat him as it nothing had happened between them. It was as clean a break as Sora was going to get, even if it made him feel terrible.

The shorter man laughed, bringing the mechanic out of his musing. "Giving up already, babe?"

"Umm..." the younger man mumbled intelligently, trying to extract himself from his reverie. His mouth fell open, jaw going limp with the movement and eyes going wide. "What?"

The older apprentice chuckled. It was a lighthearted sound that echoed softly down the road. He opened his mouth, preparing to tease the younger man, only to freeze in place. For a long while he remained like this, breath hissing between his lips like a nervous breakdown. Then his eyes flickered around them, landing on everything from the trees to the sky to Sora's shoes. It was upon seeing them, outlining the bit of fabric that was folded over restlessly with his eyes, that he shivered.

Sora frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's..." The man trailed off once more, hand reaching up to brush the fringe over his face to the side. "It's fine. It's all fine."

The mechanic frowned. "You don't look-"

"Someone's around the corner," the apprentice whispered harshly, interrupting Sora and spinning around, drawing his back into a rigid line. "I can't remember if they're hostile or not."

"Can't remember? What's that supposed to mean?" Carefully stepping around the occasional rocks on the path, Sora pulled into a light jog until he had passed in front of the older man. Turning to look around the turn they had been approaching Sora, much to his surprise, found a gouge in the hillside.

It was a small round field with almost solid walls of dirt on all sides, forcing the already gentle breeze to an absolute standstill. At the center was a single tree, old and twisted into a strange shape. It's gnarled trunk bent to the side halfway up and the branches drooped toward the ground. Beneath this tree, which Sora found even stranger, was a horse and a young man in armor talking to a small red lizard.

"Mushu?" Ienzo mumbled, surprised. "You weren't here last time."

Sora frowned. "Again, what?"

Without bothering to explain, Ienzo dashed forward, pulling his robes up to give his legs more free movement as he ran. Then, raising one arm up in a wave he dully shouted, "Hey."

The soldier hopped to their feet, armor clanking with every movement as the red lizard dove into the horse's saddlebag. "State your..." The man trailed off as he took in Ienzo's clothing, sword lowering slightly as reality sunk in. "What is a monk doing in the hills?"

"Long story," Sora informed him hastily, racing after Ienzo, who had sprinted toward the horse's saddle.

The soldier rushed to his horse, seemingly to prevent a theft, but he was too late. Within moments the older apprentice had reached into the saddlebag and retrieved the red lizard. "Mushu," he scolded, "If I remember correctly you are contractually obliged not to run away."

Spitting a small smolder of fire in Ienzo's general direction – which flew right over the apprentice's shoulder and landed harmlessly in a patch of damp grass where it fizzled into nothing – the lizard scoffed. "You know me, huh? Then you must know I'm a great and powerful dragon!" His claws, and it was a he going by the voice, scrambled over the magician's hands but could find no purchase. "Just..." He grunted. "Just let me go and..." The dragon grimaced, then looked up at Ienzo with a drawn expression. "Now just who might you be?" he mused, voice suddenly smooth as glass and blatantly troubled behind a sudden large grin.

"I'm Ienzo."

"You are not Ienzo," the dragon muttered. "Ienzo is a tiny little-"

The small man forced his hand over the dragon's mouth and angled a glare at it, glancing over at the soldier.

"Um..." the soldier managed after a bit, hand laying awkwardly on the horse's rump. "Do you know each other?"

"We're old friends," Ienzo replied quietly. His fingers twitched, sliding down and around the dragon's snout to clamp it shut. "He's just having issues remembering." Turning his back to the soldier, Ienzo walked out of the small encampment and turned the corner.

"You were supposed to report in when your planet was restored."

Wiggling out of the man's hands, the dragon jumped to the ground and gave him a once-over. "You really are Ienzo, aren't you?"

"Do you have any idea how close I am to reporting you?"

"Man, I wound up here," Mushu snapped, throwing an arm out to point into the wilderness. "Accidentally! And you know what I did? You know what I did the moment I got back?"

Ienzo fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"I turned to stone, because those are the rules of this backwater hunk o' rock. On other worlds I can freely break the laws of physics, but here? I can only walk around if the ancestors give the say-so. Otherwise I'm a glorified pebble stuck in a shrine. A shrine, Ienzo. You know who I get to talk to there? You know what kind of people I have for company? Dead ones!"

"Alright, I get it. Now how about we put your station to good use? Has anything changed since this world came back?"

"Yeah, man," the dragon scoffed, waving his hand in a way that spoke volumes of how obvious he thought the information was. "We're at war."

-T-M-

Sora watched the man walk away without following, eyes going wide at the scene. "Well, that was strange."

"Thank goodness," the soldier announced, a hand on their chest. "I thought I was the only one."

"No, no," Sora assured him. "That was... strange."

A short pause followed the observations, with the only sound to fill the silence the whistle of the wind overhead.

"So," the mechanic began awkwardly. "I'm, uh, I'm Sora. What's your name?"

"Ping," the man replied just as awkwardly, turning and coughing into his hand before saying once more, in a deeper tone, "My name's Ping."

Leaning into a slight incline – the polite bow his mother had made him practice over and over until his back was sore when he was five – Sora carefully shifted his weight to his toes. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ping, obviously taken off guard by the sudden formality, returned the bow respectfully. "Of course. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well."

The two straightened as Ienzo stepped back into the clearing with Mushu at his side, giving them both strange looks. "Do either of you mind if we set up came together tonight? The sun will be setting soon, and then it'll be too late to look for a good spot."

Sora shrugged. "I don't mind."

The soldier nodded his assent as well, although hesitantly. "If Mushu's fine with it, I am."

-T-M-

It wasn't until later that night, beside a roaring fire, that it occurred to Sora something might be off with Ping.

"I'm not... too feminine?"

The mechanic laughed. "You've seen Ienzo, right?"

Ping chuckled nervously. "I don't think he's quite the epitome of masculinity."

"Well, you shouldn't compare yourself to the epitome of masculinity, either. I do just fine."

"Says the man with a Riku complex," Ienzo muttered, padding quietly through the grass with bare feet and settling silently beside the fire.

Sora groaned and hung his head. Ienzo was ri- hey, his hair was black.

Oh, right, he thought. We're in disguise.

"Don't let it get to you," the older apprentice added, reaching into one of the man folds of cloth in his disguise and retrieving a small sheet of paper. "If you didn't have anything to strive for you'd just be stuck."

The mechanic laughed. "What do you strive for, then?" he asked, entirely curious.

Ienzo shrugged. "A dead man, mostly."

An awkward silence fell. Ping glanced between the two apprentices before turning his eyes to the ground. "So what brings you to out of the cloisters in the mountains? That's where you're from, right?"

Sora bit back the sudden urge to announce that Ping knew more about the religion than they did as Ienzo replied without missing a beat. "We've received reports of a darkness washing over the land. A strange evil that attacks indiscriminately and rips out the hearts of its victims."

Ping nodded quietly. "Yes, I've seen a few of these creatures. They are most terrifying."

"It is late," Mushu announced suddenly, stepping out of Ping's tent in a flourish of fabric. "What has a guy got to do around here to get some sleep?"

"I assume going deaf if out of the question?" Sora teased.

"You could always turn back into stone," Ienzo suggested.

Ping looked between the two 'monks,' then turned back to Mushu with an awkward grin.

The dragon was not amused. "Now, I'm going to sleep, and I better not hear any more of ya'll jabbering. Otherwise there will be some tents cookin' in the mornin'." With a final motion of "I'm watching you" the dragon retreated into his tent with a small blanket thrown over his shoulder.

Ienzo sighed. "Well, I'll be heading to bed, then," he mumbled, arms reaching above his head with a stretch and a groan. "I suggest you do the same, Sora. We've got a long trip ahead of us." Grabbing at his robes, the apprentice tugged them up until his legs were a bit less hindered and waddled back to their tent. It was a small thing, hitched up between two trees and looking as if one good breeze would knock it over.

Sora didn't doubt that it was magically enhanced.

Turning his eyes to the crackling fire, reaching out to take in some of the wonderful yet oh-so-temporary heat that flooded the area around it, the long-haired man groaned, popped his neck, and bid Ping a quiet, "Goodnight," before rising to his feet and climbing into the tent.

"-and it's really quite fascinating that..."

Sora paused.

Ienzo paused.

They both shared a moment of awkwardness that filled the tent like a physical thing, weighing them both down as if in an attempt to choke them.

Sora cleared his throat. "So, you talk to-"

"Not a word."

"I'm just saying-"

"Not. A. Word," Ienzo hissed, turning over on his pallet and dragging his blanket higher.

Sora laughed. "It's totally normal, you know. I talk to myself sometimes, too. So does Kairi. And I bet if you got Riku to-"

"I am not Kairi, thank you."

The mechanic laughed. Then, as an afterthought, he asked, "Hey, did you cast silence on the tent?"

The apprentice shrugged, though it was barely noticeable beneath the thick wool of his blanket. "I've been told I snore."

Sora giggled, then settled next to his pallet, which was still in a bundle on the ground. Beside it was the bag he'd brought with him from the lab – the bag Dr. Even had given him. As he nudged it aside the devices – rocks, really – clanked against one another loudly. "So I don't think you fully explained what these were earlier," the mechanic mused, turning his eyes to the still form of his companion.

"They repel smaller Heartless within a half-mile radius, and take note of those within a two-mile radius," he explained simply, voice clouded with something akin to sleep. "Now get to bed, will you? We've got an early morning ahead of us."

-T-M-

That night Ienzo shot up in bed several times, hands clutching his chest and breath rattling in his lungs. These episodes did not go unnoticed by Sora, who remained half asleep and half awake at all times, ready to spring into action. At times he found himself wondering if his suspicion of Ienzo was silly. If a Heartless were to take Ienzo's form, would it really bother to be so human?

-T-M-

Daybreak found Sora bidding farewell to Ping as Ienzo stumbled blearily from their tent, hands on his face and scowling at the cold morning air.

"Take this," the mechanic insisted, holding out one of the Heartless repelling devices. "It's a good luck charm."

Ping frowned. "It's a rock."

"Yes, from a holy stream."

The soldier looked skeptical. "What does it do?"

"It wards off small evils."

Turning his eyes to Ienzo, who was approaching rather unsteadily, Ping fixed him with a drawn expression, then reached a hand up to adjust his chest plate as he asked, "Does it work?"

Ienzo sighed. "We haven't seen any dark creatures since we set out."

It was only once the soldier was walking away that Ienzo turned to Sora and sighed. "A holy stream? That's what we're going with?"

"Why not?" Sora mumbled, striding over to their tent and tearing the stakes out of the ground one by one. "Heartless, evil spirits – as far as Buddhism is concerned they're one and the same."

The older apprentice fixed him with a strange look, with his eyebrows drawn together oddly and his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the taller man. "Have I told you recently how clever you are?"

Sora swelled. "No, actually. You haven't."

"Good, 'cause you're an idiot."

The mechanic scoffed. "Gee, thanks."

"You don't know the first thing about Buddhism, do you?"

Tossing the stakes in a pile, Sora set about undoing the knot keeping the tent upright. Reaching up to the bottom branch of the tree, he worked at the rope with gently tugging fingers. "Of course I do," he argued, frowning at the knot as it seemed to get tighter. "On Destiny Islands we practice a mix of Shinto, Buddhism, and-"

"Christianity, yes, I know," Ienzo drawled. Taking a few steps closer to what was left of the fire, he kicked some dirt onto the coals, smothering them. "I read the file."

"A file can't-"

"I know very well what a file can and cannot do, Sora," the apprentice snapped, cutting the taller man off. "Most of the files and pamphlets in use today are ones I myself wrote."

Sora's hands paused as he allowed this to process.

Ienzo traveling.

Ienzo writing travel guides.

It was almost comedic.

The scientist frowned. "That reminds me – I forgot to ask. Aren't you an Atheist?"

Shaking his head, Sora tugged the last of the rope free of the knot and let the tent sag to the ground. "I've never really thought about it."

"Never?"

"Do I have to? It's not like it's important or anything..."

Ienzo is quiet, stock still, for a long time before he seems to remember how to blink. It is then that he glanced down at the last of the fire's embers and grinned. "You're right," he admits after a while. "It really isn't."

-T-M-

A week passed is near silence. Occasionally the two would pause for the day to embed a rock deep in the road, or in a tree. But generally they made their way along the beaten path in moderate silence, becoming rather grateful when it widened out enough for them to walk side-by-side, and then wide enough for horses.

When the road split Ienzo had paused, glancing up and down the streets before freezing in place. Sora waved a hand in front of the man's face, and was rewarded with a startled jump.

"Sora, when-" The apprentice caught himself, then glanced around. "It's getting worse."

"What's getting worse?"

"I've already told you three times," he complained, glancing down at his shoes and frowning. He reached down, took hold of his right shoe, and upended it. A small rock fell out. "Well, I say you..."

"Okay, yeah, sure," the mechanic drawled, throwing one arm out to bring attention to the road. It had split into four, with the direction they had come from being the last road. "Now which way are we going?"

Ienzo shrugged, glancing down the roads individually. "Right," he said without any deliberation, still eying the center road. "We turn right."

"Okay, then," Sora agreed, adjusting his bag on his shoulder until it was a bit more comfortable. "Right it is."

For the following few hours he ignored the way Ienzo would jump at any shadows.

-T-M-

They eventually stopped at a stream to bathe. Sora noted that there was no Heartless symbol on Ienzo's chest. Would a disguise really hide that?

-T-M-

Sora wasn't one to complain, but when he saw the mountain they were approaching, and the snow that fell freely over the top, he couldn't help an almost adolescent squeak. "Holy fish."

-T-M-

Halfway up a mountainside, Ienzo jerked awake, heaving desperately. He tossed his head about, taking in the cave they had taken refuge in and the hard dirt floor. The apprentice heaved a quiet sigh before turning his attention to the man in the pallet beside him. "Sora," he whispered, nudging the mechanic with a foot. "Get up. We've got a pest control problem."

Sora grumbled. "Five more minutes," he requested, turning over and pulling the blankets over his head.

Ienzo grabbed the man's sheet and yanked it down, exposing him to the frigid air.

The mechanic hissed. "Fish! What the- we're in the middle of a blizzard. You don't just do things like that!" he gasped, scrambling for the blankets, then pulling at his robes until they were back over his arms and legs.

"We've got bigger problems."

"Bigger than frostbite and hypothermia?"

Ienzo, much to his disappointment, didn't bother answering. Instead he jumped right off his pallet and out of the cave, bare feet padding across the dirt floor. As if in afterthought he spun around and tromped right back to the pallet. Pulling his bag aside, he revealed his shoes. Sliding them on, he turned to Sora and demanded, "Hurry up!"

Tugging his shoes on as far as they would go, Sora raced after the apprentice with a grim expression. Out into the snow he went. (And, really, why did there have to be snow? He was from an island nation for fish's sake. Why would anyone in their right mind send him there?) Crunching over piles of white, he raced after the man with the head start, squinting through the wind and ice and sleet. The weather was just as bad as when they took cover in the cave. Fighting through a gust that nearly took him off his feet, the mechanic stomped through the last few feet of snow between him and the older man, arms clutching desperately at his elbows to ward off the cold.

"What are we-"

A sudden gust of wind knocked the two right off their feet, but Ienzo was up in an instant, arms flailing in the general direction of the sky. Bolts of lightning rained down around them, leaving steaming puddles of water scattered across the tundra.

Sora squeaked as he narrowly avoided one of the spells. "What are you doing?!" he gasped, shifting closer to the magician.

"Stupid fliers!" the apprentice screamed, throwing another batch of spells at the sky. He turned to Sora, taking tight hold of his arm and dragging him to his feet. "You," he snapped, waving one arm in the general direction of the sky as he screamed over the roaring with. "Get out your keyblade and aim a spell at that!"

"At what?" Sora screamed back. Then, turning his eyes to the sky, he frowned.

Can Heartless even get that big?

"You can't miss it," the apprentice informed him, taking a step away from the wielder. "Now summon your Keyblade and fire already!"

"Okay, okay!" the younger man replied testily, summoning his Keyblade to his side. He tried to remember what Vossler had said about long-distance spells back at the Academy. Something about concentrating magic at the tip of your weapon.

It was worth a try at least.

Glancing up to where the Heartless flew, some hundreds of feet above them with every flap of its wings sending a new piercing wave of cold air, Sora settled both palms against the Keyblade and brought it straight up. "I can't cast Thunder," he admitted loudly over the roaring wind. "Well, I can, but I'm no good at it."

"Then cast Blizzard," Ienzo insisted quickly. "Just hurry up."

"I can't cast Blizzard, either," the mechanic informed him. "Not one large enough to do any damage. I can cast fire, though."

The Heartless brought itself into a dive, and it streaked across the sky with grim determination. And if Sora could see through the ice in the air he might have noticed that below them was a great sprawling city.

"Then cast!"

The mechanic braced his feet against the ground and trained his eyes on the teeth of the Keyblade, using them as a mock cross-hair as he took aim at the Heartless and fired. He didn't expect the recoil, which sent him belly up into the snow with an expression of surprise. "Do you think it'll hit?"

There was a great roar which shook the air and made the mountain tremble.

Ienzo swore.

Sora made to sit up, his neck arching forward to pop his head out of the snow much like a little black daisy. "What?"

"Looks like you just angered it."

"It's a Heartless. How would you know that?"

"Because it's coming back!" the apprentice screamed, nearly in a panic. "Quick, get inside!"

"What?"

"Get in the cave! Don't come out until I tell you, okay? You only need to land one hit."

"What do you mean I only-"

"Do as you're told," Ienzo screamed, bending over to grab Sora's arm in a vice grip and nearly tearing him out of the snow. "Get inside now."

Stumbling into a patch of ice, Sora fought to catch his balance, with seemed to teeter in every which direction as Ienzo insisted on pushing him toward the cave. "I'm going, I'm going!" he insisted, shoving the apprentice's arms away and tromping through the snow. Behind him there was a crack of thunder and a flash of light, then – he could have been mistaken, but it certainly sounded like – a small sigh.

"No need," Ienzo shouted after him.

Sora paused, then carefully turned, trying not to trip over his numb feet. There, lying still in the snow, was the Heartless.

"I didn't expect it to go down with one hit," the magician scoffed as the mechanic approached. "It was weaker than I thought."

Sora tried not to think about how powerful Ienzo really was. "So, uh, what now?"

"You hit it with your Keyblade until it disappears, and we go back to sleep."

The mechanic squeezed his eyes shut, pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, and turned slowly opening eyes on the older man. "What?"

"Go on," the magician insisted, waving one arm toward the creature, which seemed to be attempting to rise. "Finish it off. We can't have it coming back."

Another beat of silence passed before Sora approached the Heartless. It was much larger than he'd thought; nearly twice as tall as him, and easily ten times longer than he was. "This will make my Keyblade stronger, won't it," he asked, bringing said weapon up like a baseball bat and taking aim.

"Yes," Ienzo confirmed, tugging at the hem of his robes until they hung straight. "It will."

Sora swung.

The Heartless screamed, then it seemed as if its very skin was shifting into something less solid. Within a few seconds it went translucent. And after this it dissipated entirely, a small light rising into the sky with a strange bell-like noise. When all was said and done – when Ienzo called from him to come back to the cave with him, and after Sora had insisted on another five minutes out in the cold – the mechanic had glanced down at his Keyblade, the Metal Chocobo, and made a noise not unlike a whine.

How much negativity – how many lives – had been wasted or lost creating a Heartless that large?

He didn't want to know.

Suddenly he felt weak.

Dragging his feet through the snow, which he could no longer feel as his feet had gone numb several minutes before, the mechanic made his way back to the cave where they had camped. Before too long he was settled on his pallet, rubbing hands warmed with a small fire spell across his feet.

"Hey," Ienzo called from the other side of the cave, where he had set up a makeshift bathing center with a bucket and some snow from outside. His face and hands were still wet from scrubbing them with water warmed from magic. Robes had been pulled away to reveal his magically tanned upper body. "Think you could do that for me in a bit?"

Sora nodded, not bothering to reply verbally. Can Heartless get cold? he wondered to himself. I don't know, a darker part of him answered. Next time I see one, I'll ask.

Finishing with one foot, he moved on to the other without any commentary. Before long Ienzo was in front of him, adjusting his pallet until it was right beside Sora's. He peeled his shoes from his feet. The mechanic watched carefully has Ienzo's hands slid carefully between his toes, then up his leg, peeling the transformation spell away as he went to reveal... The mechanic winced.

"You could have told me you had frost bite," he scolded, reaching forward with lightly warmed hands to take the first appendage carefully, turning it over in his fingers. "I would have done you, first."

Ienzo laughed. "Language, Sora. Language."

The younger man glanced up, confused.

Laughing, the apprentice shook his head lightly. "Never mind. As things are, I would have told you if I had known."

"Known what?"

"That I had frostbite."

"How do you not know if you have frostbite?"

Ienzo laughed. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

Silence.

Throwing back his head, Ienzo laughed. "Oh, god, I fell for an idiot."

Sora blinked owlishly. "Huh?"

"Simply put, darkness exposure makes your pores expand-"

"Yeah, I know that."

"-and I work directly with Darkness on a regular basis-"

"Know that, too."

"-and my pores have been expanding for years, and sensation has been slowly dying away."

Sora froze.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed that my skin doesn't have any texture to it. It's actually pretty freaky, kind of like a-"

Cutting the man off, Sora gasped a sharp, "I'm sorry."

The mechanic, to put it simply, felt like an idiot.

Ienzo frowned. "Where is this..." He paused, then his eyes widened in realization. "Did you... Did you think I was a Heartless?"

"I-"

"Is that why you've been like... and the..." Ienzo gasped, his mouth wide open in shock. He jumped to his feet and started to pace across the dirt floor of the cavern. "You've been... you... idiot."

"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry and-"

"You're a big fat idiot is what you are!" he shouted, half laughing. "That's why you asked for my file, isn't it? That's why you've been avoiding me for months! And just..." He scoffed, then drew to an abrupt halt as he realized, "Oh, fuck, where does this leave us?"

Sora didn't have a clue.

-T-M-

Hollow Bastion, fifteen years after the Birth by Sleep incident:

Keeping her eyes trained on the road before her, Aerith Gainsborough made her way through residential district two with her usual calm smile. She paused for a moment to greet some startled-looking civilians who had dared to peek out their front doors. But before long they were back inside, locking the street out with their usual sense of finality. Shortly after, Aerith stopped in front of a house with a yellow door and knocked three times. "Hello!" she called pleasantly.

There was some shuffling on the other side of the door before it swung open to reveal a tall, handsome man in his early twenties with shocking silver hair. "Hello?" Riku frowned. "What brings you to our humble abode?" he asked, teasing yet entirely serious.

"I have a message for Master Aqua," she informed him evenly.

"And that involves me how?"

Aerith peered around Riku to wave at Kairi in the kitchen. "I was told you have in your possession a transponder."

"Yeah, and you guys have on that doesn't take twenty-four hours to send a message."

The woman shook her head. "All messages have to be cleared with Leon before broadcast, and Leon-"

"-doesn't have clearance," the finished in unison.

Riku sighed, then waved her into the house. "Take a seat," he offered, pointing in the general direction of the couch as he closed and locked the door behind her. When she gracefully settled onto the closest cushion he plopped down in the chair opposite. "So what kind of clearance are we dealing with? Numbered?"

"Titled," the woman replied, rising from hr seat for a short moment to tug her dress into a more manageable position. "What level are you?"

"Trustee," Riku replied without hesitation, reaching into his vest to flash a small card for Aerith to see. Along with his height, weight, age, and photo were a series of numbers along with the line, "Clearance: T."

The woman in pink smiled an even sweeter smile and nodded. "Since you'll find out sooner or later, and you as well, Kairi," she added, garnering the attention of the princess, "I might as well just tell you now."

Kairi rounded the couch, settling in beside the smiling woman with a frown. "What's going on?"

Aerith's hands settled in her lap as she stared straight into Riku's eyes. Then, practically emotionless, she stated simply, "The One-Winged Angel is on the move."

-T-M-

End Notes: This chapter is unedited because of issues. Oh - and Merry Christmas! (Meant to have this up at noon, but FF was having a meltdown. You probably know what I'm talking about.) Update info: No more posts for a while because I'll be working on rewrites of chapters (and, well, moving to Ohio.) If you want to know EXACTLY what is going on with TM you can check in for daily posts at besieged-infection . Tumblr . Com (slash) tagged (slash) Besin (percentage) 27s-transition-and-fic-news if you feel like it. I will be posting links to updated chapters, as well as talking about my transition to Ohio.

Reviews remind me to write, and generally make me feel awesome.

EDIT: As some of you may have noticed, this chapter was posted, then removed. That is because that last scene magically didn't make it into the chapter. It's fixed, now.

Love,

Besin