21.

Radiant Garden

Demyx expected Radiant Garden to be… nicer.

Then again, it apparently once was, if anything Ansem was saying was true. The whole city kind of stunk , a smell that made Amalia cry. Demyx knew by then it was darkness.

The three of them didn't talk much on the ferry ride over, as though saying too much might give them away. But the workers just ushered them on boredly and treated them as normal passengers, not that there were many this early morning.

"So where are we going?" Demyx asked.

"Not to worry, I've got it all straightened out," Ansem said.

So bizarre still, to think that the king was his father-in-law. He kept looking at Amalia, as though she might disappear. Demyx noticed for the millionth time just how much she looked like Ienzo-the shape of her eyebrows and eyes, her pale skin, her hair. Sometimes he thought she smelled like him.

Ienzo was alive.

Along the waves and waves of longing for him was something bitter and sharp. How could you have left me? Have left us? Demyx tried to squelch those thoughts down-it wasn't as though Ienzo wanted this to happen-but it was tough doing.

They disembarked from the ferry and walked through the streets. They were eerily empty-the few people they did see narrowed their eyes and walked too quickly. Ansem sighed heavily. "This was once such a beautiful place."

Demyx could see that too. The flower gardens were everywhere, but a lot of the flowers were limp, brown, dying. The few vibrant flowers they saw turned out to be plastic as they approached. Amalia lay against his chest limply, as though exhausted. While they saw old signs for streetcars, Demyx didn't see any on the streets.

So they walked. Amalia only weighed a little over seven kilos, but even with the sling Demyx found himself getting achy. After a while, Ansem offered to take the baby from him. "It's the darkness, making you weak," the king said out of the corners of his mouth.

Many of the houses were boarded up and shuttered, and in some places there was evidence of destruction-soot from fires, broken glass, rubble. What seemed like hours later, they arrived at an apartment building at the farthest edge of the city. Demyx's feet were positively screaming. Ansem handed the baby back and took a small skeleton key from his pocket. "This used to be the resistance's headquarters," he said, equally as quietly. "Some years ago they got smoked out."

"How is it safe, then?" Demyx asked.

"Because Xehanort thinks we're not stupid enough to return to the places we've left."

They walked up to the fourth floor landing. The building was abandoned; Demyx could feel it. It was old, dusty. Amalia sneezed. At least the power still seemed to be on, flickering unsteadily in bare bulbs. They reached a door at the end of the hall and Ansem unlocked that, too.

This must've once been a nice apartment, but dust and water damage bloated the silk wallpaper, and dirt permeated every crevice. Demyx could see spots where the resistance must have… resisted the "smoking out"; gouges in floors, cracks in the wall, a chair with one of its legs broken. Most of the furniture left was covered in sheets. Aeleus tried to open one of the windows, but it was stuck and didn't get more than a few inches. He sighed. "I don't suppose you know any wind magic," he said to Demyx.

He shook his head. "Water, mostly. Sorry."

Aeleus thought. "Actually, that might just work."

Demyx handed Aeleus the baby. It still felt weird, to use his own power after so long, but he was surprised at how easily it came. He felt like he was doing something wrong, sweeping water off of the floors, the surfaces he could see; the grime was coming up more easily than he thought. He guided the water across the furniture, too, washing it clean, then drying everything back out and dumping the waste out the window. "Would've made apartment life in college a lot easier," he muttered. The place was a different color.

"Can you ward?" Ansem asked.

Demyx felt his face heat. "...No."

He passed the baby back to him. "No matter." He started casting the then-familiar barriers at the door.

"I didn't think you were a magic user."

"My power is considerably less than Ienzo's-much like your daughter got his, my sister got our father's."

"...Magic is so weird," Demyx said.

He laughed. "Indeed it is, my dear boy."

"I'm going to see if I can find some food," Aeleus said. "Don't go anywhere if you can avoid it."

Demyx and Ansem continued to get the apartment ready for living. Demyx missed with a sudden ache his old apartment with Riku, the basement in the townhouse. Reliable clean hot showers. Restaurants, bars. Clubs. Friends.

Ansem rested a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I… know I should be glad we're together, and alive. But…"

"You miss your old life. Of course you do." He smiled kindly. "I think we all do every now and again."

"Especially you-I mean, you must've had it pretty freaking sweet."

"Things are just things," Ansem said wistfully. "I miss mostly… my family."

"Ienzo," Demyx said, feeling the now-familiar accompanying stab of pain.

"My son… Even, that dear man… my apprentices. And those members of staff who became family, too."

Demyx considered the way Ansem said Even's name. "Do you… love him?"

Ansem looked confused. "My son? Of course."

"No, Even."

Ansem looked out the window.

"You don't have to tell me. It's okay."

After a moment Ansem said, "We never… said as such. I'd hoped… things would evolve eventually, and then…"

"...Shit hit the fan." Amalia cooed as though in response. "Right."

"...I'm hoping that somehow all this nonsense will be behind us soon. That your daughter can grow up knowing Xehanort as only part of history."

She made small smacking sounds. Very deliberately, she smiled. "She likes you," Demyx said. "Well. She likes mostly everyone, but…"

Ansem chuckled. He leaned forward to take Amalia's tiny fist into his hand. "You're a seeker, right?"

"...Yeah."

"From where?"

"Destiny Islands."

"So you're-"

"...Yeah." He swallowed. "She's got the, uh, scales. You'll probably see them if you ever change her."

Ansem sat on one of the covered chairs. "You'll have to forgive me," he said in a low voice, knotting his hands.

Demyx knew how he would answer, but he said, "for what?"

"For choosing this life for you. I assure you I did not know your people intended a living person to be behind Ienzo's protection. I was… woefully ignorant of the cultural implications."

Demyx considered this. "My parents sold me so they could stay together," he said instead. "What would the alternative have been? I'd have still always been seeking Ienzo, whether or not I knew it. And I'd never have found him if I stayed where I was."

"Is that what you sought? A partner, a family?"

"Must be," he murmured. "I… I don't know. I feel divorced in a lot of ways from my past self. I didn't even remember a lot of it until recently. Swiss cheese memory."

"Darkness can cause amnesia that only time and coincidence can heal."

"Apparently."

There was a gentle knock at the door; they all tensed, even Amalia, and Demyx's heart broke a little more ( she shouldn't feel afraid like this ). Ansem drew a dagger from his boot and approached it slowly. Then he looked through the peephole and sighed heavily, and Demyx knew that kind of sigh. Longing.

Even was sopping wet as he came through the door. "Don't ask," he said, before he caught sight of Ansem. "Oh-"

"Hello, Even," he said.

Even's face had gone oddly blank. "Hello... I…" A faint flush spread through his face, and he turned instead to Demyx. "How's the baby?"

"She's fine. Want me to dry you out?"

"If you don't mind."

Demyx did so. "Nice day for a swim, huh?"

"Boy, I said don't ask. " He took off the unflattering parka he wore. He seemed to struggle to gather himself. Then, to Ansem, "I thought we'd agreed to keep you out of this."

Demyx wondered if now might be the right moment to try and get the baby down for a nap. He stood carefully and eased his way towards one of the bedrooms. "The time for cowardice is over, I think. Lest Ienzo be in more trouble than he's already let on. At some point my safety becomes complicity. Don't you agree?"

Demyx eased the door shut. They continued this discussion in low voices. Amalia squalled a little, reaching towards Even. "I know, Li-li. You missed him. But he has to talk to grandpa Ansem." He washed out the blanket on the bed quickly and tucked it into a larger drawer of the dresser. Before all this, he'd thought the babies-in-a-drawer thing was only pop culture. They used to have a pack-and-play she'd used as a bed, but they'd had to abandon it one night. That was before Isa taught him about pocket dimensions. Either way, she didn't seem to mind, and he sang her a lullaby until she fell asleep.

He must've slept too, draped in the musty armchair; he was only woken by the gentle tapping of nails on the wooden floors. Demyx jerked awake, reaching automatically for the baby, before he saw it was just Isa; moonlight bled into the room. "Your time of the month already, huh?" he asked.

Isa just glared at him with the wolf's eyes and trotted over to the baby, sniffing her once; she cooed.

"Must've been easier to swim this way though, I bet."

He just bobbed his head once.

"Everyone else still out there?"

Another nod.

"Keep an eye on her for me? I bet she's starving."

On shaky legs, Demyx walked back over to the door, which Isa had left open. Ansem, Aeleus, and Even were gathered at the small round kitchen table in the dark, their eyes on Even's phone, something like horror in their expressions.

He didn't like the sinking feeling he got. For the first time in a while his own magic pinged unpleasantly. "What?" Demyx asked.

"Oh, Demyx. Let me get you some coffee," Ansem said. He crossed back over to the pot. "I'm afraid there's only milk-"

"What. Happened."

Even just sighed, and it was a sigh of someone about to have a hard conversation. "Why don't you sit down?" He took off his glasses, but this only made him look more exhausted.

Another unpleasant ping. "Ienzo," he said, with something like desperation.

"...is still alive. Physically, anyway." Even guided Demyx over to a chair and pressed the coffee into his hand. He touched his shoulder, once; Even only initiated physical contact if something bad happened. "Take a breath. It may not be as it seems."

Aeleus just shook his head.

But Demyx had always been smarter, or maybe more intuitive, than the once-scientist thought. "He's been brainwashed."

"The picture I have is not completely clear-" He began, then took a moment to compose himself. "The city news has been unreliable, as it's now owned by the state."

"Let the other shoe drop before you give the boy a heart attack," Ansem said. He was still facing the counter.

Even's lips pursed even more. Without ceremony, he presented Demyx the phone, which was open to a news article.

Missing princess actually prince, voices support for new regime.

He thought he might faint. "Oh, shit ."