Renovamen

Advocatus wandered through the hallways. It was a strange sight, him wandering around alone. He was always following the king. Lumen had been allowed to sleep in, under recommendation by Namine, who, Advocatus had noticed since he had first really met her, seemed to be almost like the lead servant. Apparently Lumen had some fairly bad wounds left over from his past masters.

"Hey! Look it who it is!"

"Hello, Reno." Advocatus said tonelessly as he passed the red-head.

"Whatcha doin' alone?" Reno asked him, moving to walk beside him.

"The king and Ienzo had some matters to discuss in private, and he dismissed me for the rest of the day." Advocatus answered.

"And you just walked off?"

"Hey, it's a day off! I'm not going to argue."

"Aye. We don't get paid overtime; shouldn't have to work it!"

Advocatus chuckled. That was such a Reno comment to make. "I thought the Renovamen didn't get paid."

"Well… err… right."

"Anything from the Turks?"

"Nada."

"Odd for them. Usually they're giving us updates all the time."

"Well, the company's been pretty busy, with President Rufus Shinra going here and there and everywhere."

"When isn't Shinra busy?"

"That's a very good question, actually." Reno frowned. "Oh, what about the new kid, how's he been?"

"He's with Namine right now, getting some injuries healed up."

"Ah…"

Advocatus stopped suddenly. He could hear a group talking nearby… he wasn't sure who it was, though.

"Do you hear that?" He asked.

"Yeah, they always hang out around here." Reno responded.

"I've never…"

"The west wing is Renovamen turf."

"Right." Advocatus nodded. That would explain why. He was always in the east wing if he ever had a day off. He had just gotten bored, since Mase was off in the forest behind the town, and decided to look for Reno. He needed something to do…

"Do you have any gun powder?"

"Wha? No." Advocatus lied. He didn't want Reno getting his pyromaniac hands on gun powder. That would surely be the end of everything.

"Pity… I'll just have to ask Braig…"

"Didn't the king ban you from explosives?"

"Never stopped me before."

"How are you going to get gun powder from Braig after what you did to his eye?"

"Threaten to take the other one."

"Right…"

Advocatus decided not to say anymore on the subject. And, thankfully for him, someone called out to them and interrupted to conversation.

"Advocatus!"

"Lumen!" Advocatus exclaimed. The brunette had to be looking at least a couple hundred percent better than he had been the day before. He'd been cleaned up, and had spiked his hair. His skin wasn't as pale as it had been, and he had gotten a couple decent meals into his stomach. Not to mention he was dressed neatly and not in the rags he had been in when they had bought him. He was wearing baggy black pants and a black jacket over a blue tank-top.

"Hey, kid," Reno held out a hand, "I'm Reno. If you heard about me outside of the palace you'll know me as Axel. The name Reno isn't to be heard by the ears of peasants." Lumen shook his hand.

"I've been called Lumen since I got here." He introduced himself. "Pleased to meet you."

"So, whatcha think of the palace?"

Lumen hummed. "I got lost several times on the way here… but…"

Reno laughed. "That's no surprise. I think the only one who knows every hallway is Advocatus, but that's because he has a map up here," he tapped the side of his head. Lumen smiled.

"I do not have a map in my head. Sometimes I wish I did." Advocatus rolled his eyes. "Besides, you forgot Ienzo."

"He does the same thing Mase does and sniffs his way around."

Lumen blinked, closed his eyes for a couple seconds, and then opened them again.

"Don't ask." Advocatus told him.

"Okay."

Reno and Advocatus spent the rest of the day showing Lumen around the palace, although they didn't get to show him the entire thing. It was too big for them to manage that. It was nearly ten at night when Advocatus led Lumen back to their room.

Lumen slumped down onto his bed, but flinched and sat back up. Advocatus noticed this action and gave him a questioning glance.

"They're wounds from my previous master. He was less than kind." He answered. Advocatus nodded, and walked over to the walk-in closet and opened the door. He stepped in and glanced around. It was full of pretty much every weapon you could imagine.

"What's all in there?" Lumen asked.

"Swords, daggers, err… shoes… guns, whips, ropes, and any other thing you can imagine that kills someone."

"How do shoes kill someone?"

"Don't ask, I didn't put them there." Advocatus answered, kicking one of Myde's sneakers out of his closet. He checked the top shelf. One, two, three, four and five boxes of gunpowder were there.

"Good. Reno didn't sneak in while we were on our way back." He said, dropping down –since he had to pull himself up using the shelf just to see what was on it – and landing softly on his feet. "If he was allowed gun powder…" Advocatus shuddered. Lumen tilted his head slightly.

"What's wrong with that?"

"This is Reno, the pyromaniac, we're referring to." Advocatus answered as he stepped out of the closet and closed the door. Lumen smiled. "Get some rest, kid." Advocatus said as he flopped down onto his own bed. He stared at the ceiling for awhile, aware that Lumen had lay down and quickly fallen asleep. After awhile he felt his eyes closing, slowly.

What good would that idiotic idea give us?

What? If we don't tell them-

They'll be better off finding out on their own, Riku. Trust me.

Hey, just because you've ended up-

Riku! Don't take this out on Kairi!

Shut up Sora, before I make you.

I'd like to see you try.

Boys! The real problem here is the Organization.

Psh. Blame it on the Organization, of course. Why don't we just say that Xehanort's Heartless is causing this, too?

Roxas, shut the hell up.

I'm going to get a headache…

Sorry, Nam.

Advocatus stirred and sat up, rubbing his forehead. He looked over at Lumen's bed, which was empty. He quickly checked his clock – six in the morning. He sighed and stood up. He changed into his black pants and black, long-sleeved shirt. After he pulled his army style boots on and laced them up, he strode out of the room.

He quickly found the king walking through the hallways in an almost bored fashion. He quickly fell into place behind Xehanort. Neither spoke a word as they wandered through the hall. It wasn't long before Advocatus figured out that they were heading to the west wing. The king stepped into a lounge room. In the corner, lying on a pile of torn up blankets, was Mase, watching them.

"Have you seen Namine?"

Mase shook his head. "No, I haven't." He was trembling slightly, Advocatus noticed. Xehanort stood there for a moment.

"Mase?"

"Ever since those spirits…" Mase shuddered.

"I'll send Namine over as soon as I talk to her."

"Thank you."

Xehanort turned and walked away. Advocatus glanced over at the trembling wolf-like creature in the corner, before following the king. Wonder where Reno is. Usually Mase, Reno and Noi were hanging out together, but, as far as he could tell, they had left Mase to suffer alone.

It wasn't long, wandering the west wing, before they found Namine in the west wing's kitchen. She was crouched in front of a slumped over Lumen, a shattered plate on the ground. The boy's breathing was heavy, and, like Mase, he was trembling.

"Namine."

"It's too soon." Namine shook her head. "It's not time yet. The others didn't remember until they were fifteen. Lumen's only fourteen… and so is Mase…"

"Take him with you, and go to the lounge. I told Mase I'd send you over to him."

"Of course, your majesty." Namine bowed her head. Advocatus's breath hitched as he found himself having a hard time breathing.

"It's victory, or oblivion."

"You say this Keyblade is a fake? Don't say such a selfish thing!"

"My heart belongs to me!"

"Riku… it's Riku… Riku's here…"

"Do you hate me for taking away your friends?"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing."

"You understand what this means?"

"If the world is made of light and darkness, we'll be the darkness."

"Take care of her."

Advocatus groaned, and sat up. What was he doing in his room? He glanced around. A raven haired girl, around fourteen, was curled up in the corner, dressed in all black.

"What the hell?"

The girl looked up, and then back down at the floor.

"Noi, are you okay?"

"They hate me."

"What?"

"Mase and Reno. They hate me."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know." She answered.

"Noi, no one hates without a reason."

"Supposedly."

Advocatus sighed. "Don't stick around too long. People might get the wrong idea."

"You were screaming."

"Huh?"

"When they brought you in after you passed out, you were screaming…"

"Did I say anything?"

"Not that I understood."

Advocatus nodded and stared out the window.

"The king told me to let you know that he wants you to rest for the day."

"That's fine." Advocatus answered, although he wasn't really listening. He looked down at the courtyard. Was that Lumen? No, Lumen was younger than that. Advocatus opened the window to listen in.

"Shut up already! Do you think I wanted that to happen? Strange things happen when me and Roxas get near each other."

"That could be taken so many ways, Sora."

Was that… Advocatus froze. The second man looked almost exactly like him, but about five years older.

"Shut it. I can't be bothered rewording something just to keep your head out of the gutter, Riku."

"Both of you! If you two don't shut up I swear I am going to be killing one of you."

"Fat chance, Roxas!" The first two exclaimed in unison. The third, Roxas, had blond, spiked hair, and appeared to be about fifteen.

"You get the point."

"Guys, if you haven't noticed, someone is eavesdropping, Riku." The forth person looked exactly like Namine. The group looked up just as Advocatus pulled his head in and closed the window. Something was strange about that group… it wasn't their appearance… he peered out the window again.

They were transparent.

"I must be going insane."

"Who isn't anymore?" Noi shrugged.

"That's a good question… I just wish I knew the answer… or better yet…"

He wished he knew what the hell was going on around here.