Renovamen

"Namine."

"Advocatus!" Namine turned and looked over at Advocatus Diaboli. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I want to know what the hell is going on. What's wrong with me? And Lumen? And Mase? Why does he and Reno suddenly hate Noi?" Advocatus demanded. "And what's with those spirits?"

"You saw them?" Namine asked, her was shock apparent in her voice. "You… they…" she inhaled, and sighed. "They said they weren't going to show themselves."

"Well they didn't exactly mean for me to see them. I kinda eavesdropped on them."

"What's been done can't be undone…"

"Riku!"

Advocatus followed Namine's gaze to the silver haired twenty year old from the group he had been eavesdropping on.

"Although," he glanced at Advocatus, "thanks to you, we've actually been set loose to talk to people like you."

"What do you mean, 'people like me'?" Advocatus demanded. He was starting to get frustrated. He didn't understand anything, and no one was making any sense.

"The Renovamen." He answered. "You are one of them, although they reject you…"

"What the hell are you talking about? I have no family, I was not born!"

The spirit sighed. "Y'know, I hate being the bearer of bad news, I mean, I had to tell my best friend's parents that he had been murdered and that was not nice at all, but remember when you were ten? That couple you killed?"

Advocatus nodded.

"They were your parents."

Advocatus froze. "Wha…?" That was just not possible… his entire life he had been told that he was parentless and now… "I… killed them?" He fell to his knees, and punched the floor with a scream.

"This is exactly what she wanted to avoid!" Namine snapped at the spirit, and crouched beside Advocatus. She placed a gentle hand on his back. Tears fell onto the floor as Advocatus allowed himself to cry for the first time in his life. The spirit stood there, emotionlessly, with his arms crossed. "Riku!" Namine snapped at him. "You're almost worse than Xemnas!"

"EXCUSE ME?" The spirit, Riku, bellowed in anger. "I am NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING like Xemnas!" Namine only glared at him.

"Shut it!" Advocatus screamed at them. "I don't want to hear any of this!" He got up and ran away from the two.

"Advocatus!" Namine yelled after him.

Advocatus ran away from Namine and the spirit, following the hallways he knew would get him out of the palace. He saw snippets of memory-like events going through his mind.

A brunette chained to a wall, electricity passing through the shackles and into his body.

He ran further, out of the gates and down the road. People watched him with shocked expressions as he ran past them.

A burgundy haired girl standing in a cave, her face full of fear.

There were many mutterings of 'Advocatus Diaboli', but Xehanort's servant ignored them all. He couldn't care right now as the horror of what he had done sunk in.

A red blade, a wing at the end giving it the likeness of a key, slicing through anything that got in its path.

Advocatus found himself running on sand. Was there a beach near the palace? How far exactly had he managed to run? How long had he been running, anyway?

A brunette and a silverette running along the beach, racing down to the docks.

Advocatus tripped and landed on his hands and knees. The memories were taking over now. He couldn't help himself, he knew people were walking past, but he still screamed.

An island, the skies were turning from blue to a purple-y black. The island itself was breaking up.

A bedroom in a castle. There were no torches or lights lit up, engulfing the room in darkness.

A snow-covered mountain. A brunette wielding a large, golden key sliced at yellow, flying creatures.

A skyscraper in a dark city. A blond ran up the side of it, slashing two large keys at black creatures.

Advocatus groaned. His head was killing him. Fragments of memory-like thoughts still swam about in his head, but he pushed them away as he tried to grasp reality again. He could feel something damp and warm on his forehead. Slowly, he forced his eyes open, having to close them again from the sudden amount of light that reached his pupils. He slowly opened his eyes again, finding himself on a bed in an unfamiliar room. Pillows had been placed under his back in addition to the ones beneath his head to allow him to sleep in a reclined position.

"You're awake!"

He glanced to his side. A young woman with long, brown, braided hair sat beside him, wearing a pink dress. He couldn't recognize her. Probably a peasant, he guessed. She probably found him passed out and brought him into her home, not knowing who he was.

"I called the king already."

Scratch that.

"What'd he say?" Advocatus asked. His voice was weak, and his eyes would only stay half open.

"He said he would send someone over to get you."

Advocatus didn't answer, his head lolling slightly as his eyes began to slowly close. The damp cloth that had been placed on his forehead fell onto the bed as he fell into a half-conscious state.

Lumen knocked on the door again, louder this time. The house was small, it probably only had three rooms, one which would triple as a lounge, dining room and kitchen. There would also be a bedroom and a bathroom. This time, an answer came from inside the small building. Mase flicked his tail as it did.

"Coming!"

The brunette woman who opened the door seemed strangely familiar to Lumen, but he couldn't place where he had seen her before. Maybe at a slave auction.

"Hello, ma'am." Lumen nodded. "I'm Lumen, one of the servants up at the palace." He introduced himself.

"Oh, of course. You're here for Advocatus Diaboli." The woman stepped aside. "Come in, please." She glanced at Mase. He wasn't unknown – he was the dog of the top thirteen. Not to mention that she had met him when he was just a cub, having known his pack leader, Nanaki. Being a wolf-like 'animal', Mase had been overlooked by the king and wasn't subjected to a blood test at birth.

Lumen stepped into the room, and Mase followed.

"He's still a bit out of it, as you'll notice."

"That's fine." Lumen answered as the woman led him into a small bedroom. Advocatus seemed so pale, lying there half-consciously. Lumen slowly approached the silverette. "Advocatus," he put a hand on Advocatus's shoulder and shook it slightly. "Advocatus, wake up."

"Let him rest." Mase spoke. Lumen looked at him, surprised. He wasn't supposed to talk in public, was he? "Aerith," he looked up at the brunette, "would it be okay if we stayed until Advocatus wakes?"

"Of course, Mase." Aerith smiled. "There is no need to ask. You're welcome anytime." She paused. "Have you seen Zack at all?"

"Oh, that's right, he told us to say hi for him." Mase remembered.

"How is he?" Aerith asked, beginning to walk back into the lounge. Lumen placed a hand on Advocatus's forehead, which was burning hot, before quickly following.

"Advocatus has a bad fever…" He commented.

"It'll subside soon." Aerith assured him. "It always happens after a major Remembering."

"Great." Mase muttered. "I'm not looking forward to that." He laid down beside the small couch. Aerith sat down, while Lumen remained standing. It was not polite for a servant to sit without permission in a free man's, or woman's, house.

"Please," Aerith motioned to the couch, "sit."

Lumen hesitantly did so.

"In this house there are no servants or masters, only people." Aerith told him. "Can I get you two a drink?"

"Could I have some water, please?" Mase requested.

"Of course." Aerith smiled, and then looked at Lumen. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine."

"Okay, just let me know if you want anything." Aerith smiled before standing up.

"Do you know her?" Lumen asked Mase.

"She's a friend of Nanaki. He was my pack leader before the king found me." Mase answered. "I met her when I was a small cub. It's probably why the king sent me along with you."

"Guess so." Lumen hummed.

Aerith returned a moment later with a bowl of water, which she placed on the floor for Mase. He quickly lapped up some of the clear liquid.

"Lumen?"

Everyone glanced up, and Lumen shot to his feet. He darted forwards as Advocatus, standing in the doorway between the bedroom and the living room, fell forwards into Lumen's arms. The servant sat the assassin gently onto the floor, and placed a hand on the silverette's forehead. He quickly pulled it away.

"He's in no condition to return to the castle." Lumen commented. Aerith, who had stood up and walked over, nodded in agreement.

"The phone's on the counter, I'll lay him back down while you call the king and let him know." Aerith told him, carefully lifting the half-conscious Advocatus into her arms. Lumen stood and nodded, walking over to the counter. He picked up the cordless phone and dialed the number for the king.

"You've reached the palace, this is Larxene speaking."

"Arlene," Lumen spoke, revealing that he was from the castle by using her private name, "it's Lumen."

"I'll get Xehanort for you." It was easy to see that Arlene wasn't too fond of Lumen.

"This better be important."

"Your majesty, Advocatus isn't well at all. If his temperature was any higher he'd be a dead man. He can't even walk right now. He needs medical attention."

"I think I can spare Namine for a little while. I'll send her with Railamu. Do you believe that this is adequate?"

"Of course, your majesty." It had been obvious to Lumen that the king had added the last part on from pure annoyance of whatever he was in the middle of being interrupted with the news that his personal guard was severely ill. The line went dead, so Lumen hung up. "He's sending Namine and Marluxia." He told Aerith as she re-entered the room. Railamu, or Marluxia, knew pretty much everything about any plant to ever exist. Combine his knowledge of herbs with Namine's white mage training and they'd be able to help Advocatus recover from whatever was wrong with him. Now all that was left to do was wait.

It wasn't long before Railamu and Namine arrived. By this time Lumen had moved to the bedroom and was pacing back and forth. For some reason he felt connected to Advocatus. It was a connection he had never felt before in his life. If it disappeared before he knew what it was, he would hate himself for never figuring it out.

"Hello, Lumen." Namine smiled as she entered the room. Lumen nodded in response. Railamu was behind Namine, his bright pink hair making Lumen do a double take. Where had he seen that before? He couldn't remember.

Namine placed a hand on Advocatus's forehead and frowned.

"It's never been this bad for anyone else…" She muttered.

"No one else has ever been so far into the Darkness."

Lumen glanced over at the figure in the corner. He looked at Advocatus and back at the transparent man leaning (if he could actually lean) against the wall. Namine sighed.

"Riku, that was thousands of years ago."

"What about now? Xemnas's little…" The spirit seemed to spit the next word out like venom, "pet."

"Riku, he'll remember soon enough." Namine sighed.

"Let's hope so." Railamu muttered. Namine nodded.

"Let's hope so."

"If not," the spirit Namine had dubbed as Riku muttered, "the legacy of the Keybladers is dead."

"There was nothing Terra, Aqua and Ventus's reincarnations could do. Xemnas locked them in the dungeons and put into hibernation as soon as they were found." Namine commented.

"They're not the only ones… she is still down there."

"Honestly, there isn't much we can do right now… It's not like we can just let you waltz up to Lumen and tell him everything."

"This is so frustrating!"

The brunette that looked like an older version of Lumen exclaimed in frustration. If he hadn't been a transparent spirit, Reno would've muffled him then and there. They didn't need Xehanort finding them.

"It's bad enough that Roxas has appeared. The only one who remembered before the age of fifteen was Namine, and that's because of her abilities. Could you just trust me on this one?"

The spirit sighed. "Do I have a choice? You gave your life once for me and Roxas, not to trust you would just be rude at this point."

Reno smiled. "Good." He commented. "Although…" he paused, "you do realize that you're starting to sound like Riku, right?"If looks could kill… Reno chuckled nervously at the look he was getting from the ghost.

"Look, just give it time."

"That's something we don't have a lot of."

"No kidding…"