7.

Defender

The whole streetcar ride home, Ienzo thought about the pendant. Even in his pants pocket, it kept that body heat. He wondered if he'd made some kind of mistake-if taking it were going to hurt Demyx. But Demyx would tell him, right, if he started feeling ill, or faint?

At least if he had the pendant to focus on, he didn't have to think about the way it had felt when Demyx touched him.

Demyx had a point. How to tell if any of this was genuine? And did it matter? It felt so-

"Gracing us with your presence at last?" Even asked, with a sneer. "You were with the boy , weren't you?"

"I don't care for your tone, Even," Ienzo retorted equally.

"But you were there?"

Ienzo took off his jacket and turned. "Yes. What of it?" He gathered himself and locked eyes. "Actually… I was wondering if you might help me."

" Help you? Do I even want to know-"

Ienzo pulled the pendant out of his pocket and held it up. Even squinted, then took it into his palm.

"This is his?" he asked softly.

"I told him I wanted to study it. He's lost memories, Even, and the ability to change form-he's a siren. I wonder… if this has something to do with it."

Even put on his reading glasses. "Oh," he said softly.

"What?"

He'd gone very pale. "Come with me, child."

It was the change of tone that startled him. Ienzo followed him into the study. Even turned on a few of the lamps, set the pendant down, and began riffling through some of the old tomes he always carried with them. "Do you know what this is?" Ienzo asked.

Even held open one of the books. "I'm surprised you don't."

Ienzo took it into his hands. He saw the rune that had been etched onto Demyx's stone. "I'm afraid I… Even, I don't…" A headache budded behind his right eye.

Even exhaled heavily. He went over to the mahogany desk, and took out an old tarnished silver box. Ienzo felt something in him surge. Before Even opened it, he already knew what it would contain. "I should've-put it together mentally, but I was-reeling. Forgive me, Ienzo."

With shaking hands, Ienzo took it from him. The silver, too, was warm. The blood rushed to his face. He stared down onto the white velvet to see the other half of Demyx's pendant. He mouthed words soundlessly. "What-so-" He couldn't even think of the question.

"It's yours," Even said. "A long, long time ago… it was gifted to Ansem by a seeker. A gift of… protection. I did not originally think-that there was a body behind said protection. An old form of magic."

"Pairbonding?"

He shook his head. Ienzo didn't know what to read into his expression. It was wistful, almost sad. "Soulbinding. When you told me the other day of that instance you were saved-I should've put it together right then and there. I'm sorry."

"Soul…" Ienzo trailed off. "So he and I-"

"Are bound."

"Can it be-"

"Not without causing either of you intense pain, and risking your magic ability-if not your life."

Ienzo felt as though he could not breathe. "So some… seeker… bound him to me?"

He frowned. "On a literal level, yes… but the boy's soul… had to resonate with you, had to be similar enough to…"

Ienzo took Demyx's pendant, and his own, and fitted them together.

"...Quite."

It was getting harder to breathe. Anxiety prickled in his veins. "Am I not allowed one thing, one single solitary thing, where I can make a decision?" he gasped. "Am I not allowed-" He eased down on his knees, cradling the pendants.

"Deep breaths," Even said, resting his hands on Ienzo's shoulders. "Breathe."

"So he made this decision for me? My father?"

"He did not know until just before the coup, and then he figured-"

"I could use the extra protection. Right." He could feel the excess saliva in his mouth. "So all this moving around was not just because we were being followed, was it? It was also partially to-"

"It was never a priority of mine, Ienzo, mostly because-"

"I would inevitably fall in love?" The hysteria was rising and rising. "That-perhaps-I already am? This is so-" He scrambled to his feet.

"Child, calm down. The magic-"

"No. You don't get to tell me what to do anymore," he snarled. "Why would you keep this from me?"

Even's expression went blank. "What would you have said?"

All Ienzo could hear was his own breathing.

"What would you have said?" Even repeated. "What would you have done? My job is to protect you, Ienzo, to the best of my abilities. What good would it have done, to know this?"

"It's my life."

"Your life does not belong to you, child," he replied.

"I guess…" An ache flooded him. "I guess it never did." He held the two pendants. "Right. I see." He started towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"What does it matter?"

"Ienzo-"

He slammed the door behind him.

The night air was cold. The soft crunch of the street under his shoes seemed loud. He kept cradling the pendants, unsure of what to do with them. What if he-

Ienzo set them down on the street. He gathered his magic, seeing nobody and nothing in the dark, and launched a shattering spell at both-

They weren't broken. They weren't even scratched. He picked them back up.

Even had lied to him.

He kept walking. He wasn't here to live a normal life, he was here to find his supposed mate , that he might be safe, that he might-what? How did they expect him to make good decisions as a king if he was not given the will to do one single -

He could feel he was bleeding magic, sending a signal to whoever wanted to listen-

A whisper of shadows.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the Heartless, how they were strangely humanoid, unlike any he had seen previously in other places. He braced himself. A fight was, if anything, welcome. He sculpted more blades of magic, their violet glow throwing their shapes into relief.

He thought he heard whispers.

Help us , they hissed. Help us-he-

Ienzo balked.

Our hearts… poison… darkness… help me.

His hands trembled.

Hurting. Hurting. Hurts.

Heartless were not human, they were not more than mere shadow; why was he hesitating?

He took his blades and launched them in an arc at the Heartless, felling them in one swoop. And then they were gone.

The pendants were still warm in his other hand. He opened his fist and saw that they were glowing brighter now.

Demyx…

The sound of very real human footsteps. Ienzo struggled to flick up his hood, to cover his no-doubt glowing hair, and he started to run-

"You there! Stop!"

A voice he would know anywhere. So slowly, he turned. "Dilan…" All he could see was Dilan's silhouette, so he used his darkvision spell.

Dilan looked more haggard than he had that morning at the border. "What are you doing out here this time of night?" he asked.

"I…" He had no good reason. "It really is you."

"Let me take you home."

"I… can't."

"Why not?"

He opened his hand, revealing the two pendants. "Did you know about this?"

"They never told you?"

"No."

Dilan sighed heavily. "Come along then. You'd best disguise yourself."

Ienzo chose the face of a random boy. It was always odd, to see his own appearance change; odd, but in some cases comforting. He followed Dilan on foot in silence for what seemed an eternity before finally they arrived at a small apartment building.

This wasn't the best neighborhood, Ienzo realized. There was garbage on the sidewalks, and stray cats licked at the fluids that came from said bags. The neon sign of a bar flickered brokenly, and every other shop window was boarded up. Dilan led him up a narrow, horribly lit staircase that smelled of fish and urine. He unlocked a door on the third landing.

The room was small, cramped, and dark. Dilan flicked on a light. The furnishing was nearly beyond minimal-a twin bed made with a plain cover and a single pillow, a card table and folding chair which must serve as his desk, and another more cushy folding chair. Dilan gestured for him to sit in the more comfortable one, so he did.

"Let me look at you," Dilan said softly, so Ienzo let the illusion fall away. "I can hardly believe it… not long ago you barely came up to my knee. How long has it been?"

"Twelve years." He looked around the room again, feeling guilt like rivers. "Please tell me these are not your real lodgings."

"Not quite-this is a unit we use to crash, as it were. It is… sparse, but safe enough."

Ienzo nodded. At least there was that. "So you've truly gone underground, then? Like Aeleus?"

"Insofar as I can. That, and… someone has to keep an eye on you, Ienzo."

The mollification broke the pleasure of this reunion. "So you've been following me?"

"Even wishes-but no. I do, however, run some ground patrol around that house when Aeleus is away."

Ienzo leaned back in the chair. It smelled a bit musty. "I guess I should thank you."

Dilan smiled a little. "Reward enough, to see your face again."

"You're not resentful of me?"

Dilan crossed his legs. "This is my… duty."

"Yet, not an answer to my question."

He chuckled a little. "I've missed your wit. Child, it is not possible to truly live a normal, happy life right now. Even if I could, how selfish would that be? I've lost too much because of this darkness."

"More than your freedom, your livelihood?"

Ienzo immediately regretted asking the question-Dilan's expression darkened. "My family did not live in the castle, you recall," was all he said.

The guilt worsened, making him feel nauseous now, making his anger at this whole soulbinding nonsense seem trivial- "Oh, Dilan," he said. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"There was nothing you could've done to stop it, Ienzo. You were a child." He glanced out the small window; the streetlight hit his violet eyes.

"This is because of me, because of my line-"

"The tensions were growing long before you were born. You were merely sheltered from it." He sighed. "It was always an issue. With class inequity… how could the people be anything but discontent, when their rich rulers aren't even "human?"" He made air quotes. "Xehanort's propaganda merely sowed the seeds, leading to darkness, leading to… all this. Revolution is not uncalled for-but this kind of revolution is worse than what we had before."

"So what is there to be done? And what do these have to do with all of this?" He brought out the pendants.

Dilan stared down at them hazily. "A lame attempt at peace."

"I thought it was a way to protect me."

"It was- is ," Dilan asserted. "What do you know of… the other half?" His lip curled.

Ienzo told him everything. "What do you mean by "peace?""

"This was before Xehanort, of course, but… the seekers came from an independent nation. They… said they would help pacify the people, using their abilities. Help smooth things over while real changes were made." He frowned. "The child would protect you… and his people would protect ours. But… that never came to fruition."

"They were hunted," Ienzo murmured.

"Yes."

"By Xehanort?"

"By an extremist group that has long since been enveloped within his forces, so, yes."

Ienzo wondered how much of Demyx's amnesia was a blessing. "So how do we even… begin to undo all this?" he asked. "And-why did Even keep it from me?"

Dilan smoothed at one of his braids. "The fool was always trying to protect you from the world, especially after what happened to your poor parents," he said. "I suppose he was waiting for the time to be right."

Ienzo pressed his face in his hands. "If he killed the seekers… who is he going after next?"

"Anyone who does not surrender," Dilan said softly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Bad habit, I know. Do you mind?"

Ienzo shook his head. Dilan lit the cigarette with his fingertips. "And the city-states?"

"Are being pressured to comply, else get swept over with darkness."

Ienzo twisted the tie of his hoodie. "I fought some, before you saw me," he said softly. "They were… talking to me. Something about hearts, about… poison."

Dilan furrowed his brows. "They don't have intellect. They're shadows."

"Then what did I hear?"

"...I'm not sure. I'll see if… anyone knows anything."

"How big is the resistance?"

"Sorry?" He tapped some ash into an ashtray.

"How big is it actually?"

Dilan blinked slowly and dropped his eyes. "A network of a few hundred, across the continent."

"A few hundred ? That's-"

"What did you think it was, Ienzo?" He exhaled smoke. "Of course we're trying to recruit, but getting people to agree… when they have families and other things on the line…"

"So this is all futile, is what you're saying?" He swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat. "We should just-give in to the darkness?"

Dilan scowled. "No, Ienzo. Of course not." He stubbed out the cigarette and took Ienzo's hands into his; they were strong and work-roughened. "You could… give people hope."

"The people that hate me, you mean?"

"People don't hate you, Ienzo. They hate the institution."

"That I symbolize."

"They thought you were missing. If you become the face of the resistance… that could mean something."

Ienzo hesitated. "What about Even?"

"You're an adult. Isn't it time to make your own decision?"

"Exposing my identity could kill me."

"Good thing you have something to protect you." He gestured to the pendants. "Look, Ienzo, it's up to you. Simply… let me know if you'd ever like to meet one of the contacts. Now I should see you home, shouldn't I?"