Companion piece to The Lost Two and Foolish Apprentice, and won't make much sense unless you've at least read the first one. Braig, Xehanort, and Lily still do not belong to me. Slightly spoilery about Ansem of KH2.
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Radiant Garden's epidemic was finally dying down. Most of the victims responded readily to the medication distributed by the apprentices and other volunteers, after countless hours in the labs.
Some people were already too close to the edge for the medication to make any difference.
Xehanort slipped into the private hospital room, shutting the door behind him.
"Braig?" The young woman's voice was hoarse from coughing, reduced to a raspy whisper.
He crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed, gently taking her hand between both of his. "Braig wasn't able to come, Miss Evens. He asked me to check up on you for him."
"Oh." Her eyes opened, their green shade dulled from her illness. She focused on him and sucked in a sharp breath, her brow furrowing.
Giving her a comforting smile, he said, "I'm Xehanort, one of Ansem's apprentices."
She gave a slight huff of laughter. "The boy with no memories. Braig told me about you." Her fingers briefly tightened around his. "It's hard losing everyone like that. Your family must miss you."
"I'm afraid I wouldn't know, Miss Evens," Xehanort said. "For all I know, I'm all that's left."
"Miss Evens...is what my professors used," she told him. "Call me Lily."
"Lily, then." He gently moved a short strand of her red hair out of her face, listening to her increasingly labored breathing. It was really too bad that Braig wasn't here; Miss Evens – Lily – didn't sound like she would last very much longer.
Her eyes slowly blinked shut as she leaned into his hand. "I'm sorry," she murmured.
Xehanort frowned. "You've nothing to be sorry for," he said.
"Everyone else," a breath, "is gone." Breathe. "I'm leaving you all alone."
"Lily, you've mistaken me. I'm not..." Xehanort trailed off, waiting for her next breath.
It didn't come.
"...not who you think I am," he finished quietly.