Renovamen

Advocatus was trembling when Riku pulled his hand away. Not because he was in the first stages of a Remembering, but because of what he had just seen. He had even felt Riku's emotions… He blamed himself for his friend's death… he kept thinking that there was so much more he could've done.

"What did you show him?!" Namine, who he only just realized was in the room, practically shrieked. Riku shook his head, walking over to the window. "Riku! What did you show him?!"

"I showed him the events leading up to and in mine and Sora's deaths." He hit his head on the window.

"Riku!" Namine groaned.

"Namine, leave him alone." Sora snapped, before slowly walking over to the silver haired ghost and placing a hand on his shoulder. "There was nothing you could do, Riku."

"How do you know that?"

"I did make you promise to stay and protect the island."

Advocatus, meanwhile, was trying to figure out exactly what he had just seen, and who all those people were. What was weirder was that he knew things about people he hadn't even met! The Princesses of Heart, 'King' Mickey (Advocatus was still certain that Xehanort was the only king), the Restoration Committee, and other people as well. But under all those facts, he found something else.

He hated Xehanort more than anything else in the world.

How could he protect a man he hated? Why did he hate Xehanort? How could he take orders from a man he hated? Suddenly, Advocatus was questioning everything about the current monarch, and the Top Thirteen. He found himself hating almost all of them. Mase, Noi and Reno were 'okay', but he hated the rest of them now…

"What's happening to me?" Advocatus whimpered, clutching his head. "Why do I hate everyone?"

"You'll have to remember that on your own." Riku answered him. Advocatus snapped.

"You give me a snippet of your memories and expect me to remember the rest on my own when the memory's caused me to hate the king, the Top Thirteen and the rest of them! Is this your idea of fair?"

"I never said it was fair." Riku answered. "It's not fair that I can't save my friend who's half-dead already, is it?"

Advocatus didn't answer.

"Look, life's not fair. You've had it easy, being Xemnas's shadow. When you remember why you now hate him, you'll find that life will be a lot harder."

Advocatus nodded.

"Prepare yourselves, Advocatus, Lumen. You're about to be thrown into a legacy as old as the worlds." Riku looked at Namine. "Get Axel, Xion and Roxas, tell them to get out and meet in Cosmo Canyon."

"Isn't that the first place they'd look for Roxas, though?"

"Trust me on this one." Riku turned to Sora, and nodded. Riku began to glow a purple color, while Sora was glowing a light blue. Advocatus found that his headache was gone, and he felt 100%, while some memories continued to pop up into his mind. He stood up slowly, and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a glowing, purple pebble.

Use this if you ever need to talk to me, or hold it in your hand if you start going through a Remembering.

Advocatus nearly jumped when he head Riku's voice in his head. He stared at the stone for a moment, before putting it into his pocket. He looked at Lumen.

"We'll leave tonight when everyone's asleep."

"Cosmo Canyon's a ways away, Lumen." Advocatus commented as he started going through his closet to decide what he needed to bring. He had already pulled out his ropes, knives and daggers. Lumen had taken one of the daggers and strapped its sheath to his belt. "We'll buy you some proper travelling clothes in the next town. We're meeting Namine, Reno, Mase and Noi at Cosmo Canyon, so it'll just be the two of us. Anyone else they contacted will meet us there, too."

Lumen nodded. "Okay."

"You sound nervous."

"I was born a servant… going against my master isn't something I was raised for."

"Same here, Lumen, same here." Advocatus said as he grabbed his katakana and attacked its sheath to his belt. He had a knife strapped to his forearm, and a dagger on either shin. He also grabbed a couple of guns and slipped them into the large backpack he had placed the ropes in. "I don't have any tent supplies or anything like that…" He frowned.

"We can pick some up in the next town." Lumen shrugged. Advocatus nodded and walked over to the window.

"Throw the bag down to me when I'm ready." He ordered and then jumped down. Lumen darted over to the window, seeing Advocatus land easily on his feet. He gave Lumen the thumbs up, so the brunette servant grabbed the bag, it was fairly light right now, but he knew it would get heavy, and dropped it. He saw Advocatus catch it easily. The king's personal guard motioned for Lumen to jump, but he had frozen in fear. He hadn't been trained to jump from that height… Advocatus bit his lip. He gripped onto the gaps in the bricks where the mortar had been placed to hold the palace together and began climbing up. He pulled himself inside and sat on the sill.

"Are you okay?"

"It's too high to jump from…" Lumen answered. Advocatus frowned.

"Come here."

Lumen stepped towards him. Advocatus grabbed a hold of him, gently picking the brunette up and turning so that he was sitting on the outside of the sill. Lumen clung onto him for dear life, so Advocatus wrapped his arms around the servant comfortingly.

"Hide your face."

Lumen buried his face against Advocatus's chest just as the silverette pushed off the wall and jumped. Lumen wanted to scream at the sudden sensation of falling, but that would alert people to their escape. Instead, his grip tightened, and he pulled himself closer to Advocatus. The fifteen year old landed easily and gently stroked Lumen's spiked hair.

"Hey, it's over now." He whispered to the brunette, who was shaking uncontrollably. "Let go now." Lumen continued to cling onto him. "We won't do that again, okay?" Lumen nodded. "Come on, let's go." Lumen finally loosened his grip and let go. Advocatus picked up the bag and swung it onto his back. He looked over at the servant, who was still shaking. Suddenly, the younger teen clung onto Advocatus's arm. The silver haired reincarnation couldn't help but smile.

"Let's go, Lumen." He began to walk, Lumen clutching onto his arm as he walked along beside him.

"Your Majesty!"

"What is it, Ienzo?" Xehanort asked, stopping. It was four in the morning, before sunrise.

"Xehanort, there are several bodies missing from the castle."

"Who?" Xemnas demanded. No one would go AWOL on his watch.

"Namine, Noi, Reno, Mase, Advocatus and Lumen."

"The memory witch, Xion, Axel, Roxas, Riku and Sora…"

"Don't worry too much about Advocatus and Lumen. I put poison in Lumen's dinner. It should be kicking in soon."

"Advocatus… I don't feel too good." Lumen groaned, clutching his stomach. Advocatus glanced around. They were in the middle of a forest. They hadn't planned to get to the next town until dawn.

"Sit down." Advocatus ordered. Lumen collapsed, only to be caught by the older reincarnation. "What's wrong?"

"I feel sick…"

"What was the last meal you ate?"

"Dinner."

"It was probably poisoned."

Lumen groaned, clutching his stomach. Advocatus rubbed his back gently. He was starting to feel protective of the younger servant.

"We need to get you to a doctor." Advocatus muttered. Lumen's face was pale, and, despite the chilly night air, sweat was rolling down his face. He lifted Lumen into his arms and stood, running into the woods with only a glance at the sky to make sure he was going in the direction of the next town.

"Advocatus- WHOA, easy there!"

Advocatus kept his gun trained on the figure in the shadows of the trees. Lumen was lying down beside him, the boy having felt worse than before. The man he was aiming at had spiked, black hair, and was wearing a black outfit, a backpack strapped firmly to his back. His eyes were blue, and glowed slightly.

"Zack Fair." Advocatus remarked, lowering his gun. Zack was Aerith's boyfriend, he knew, so he could trust the raven-haired man. "You surprised me."

"Obviously." Zack chuckled, sitting down in front of Advocatus. He looked over at Lumen. "So that's him?"

"That's him." Advocatus answered.

"Never thought anyone would soften your heart."

"What are you inferring?"

"That you have a friend?" Zack put his hands up. "I wasn't inferring that."

"Good thing, 'cause I still have a gun here."

"I'm aware of that." Zack commented, eyeing the black pistol in Advocatus's hand. He looked over at Lumen again. The poor boy looked so sickly, looking at him almost made Zack want to throw up. "What's wrong with him?" Advocatus looked at Lumen.

"I think Ienzo poisoned him."

Zack whistled. "Poor kid." Advocatus nodded.

"He's asleep right now. We'll have to get Chocobos in the next town, otherwise we'll never make it to Cosmo Canyon." Advocatus looked at Zack. "You didn't happen to bring any munny, did you?"

"Brought all I had, I figured you might need something."

"Yeah, I only barely managed to get together enough for the supplies we'll need in the next town." Advocatus sighed. Zack seemed to remember something, and pulled some black clothing out. "For the kid. I hope they fit him." He commented, putting the clothing back in his bag. Advocatus nodded.

"Thanks. That'll save us some expenses."

"No problem."

Zack carried Lumen for Advocatus the rest of the way, since the silver haired teenager's arms were sore from carrying the boy as far as he had. It was a couple hours past dawn before they reached the next time.

"Halt!" The guards at the city pulled out their weapons.

"They're with me." Zack interrupted, noticing how Advocatus reached for a knife.

"Oh, of course, sir!" The guards put their weapons down. "We weren't aware that the castle guards had been sent to capture them."

"Hmp." Zack walked past them into the town, making a beeline for the local healer's house.

The house they came to was much like Aerith's, small, although this one had four rooms; a main room/dining/kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom and a healer's room, where the patients were taken. Zack stepped into the house.

"Excuse me?"

The mage looked up, and then stood. Her hair was brown, and the back section had been grown out to form a braid, with red leather straps wrapped around it. The rest of her hair was cut short. She really didn't look like a white mage at all.

"Hello. I'm Yuna."

"I'm Zack Fair, from the palace." Zack answered, and then motioned to Advocatus. "This is Advocatus Diaboli."

"I didn't realize…" Yuna quickly bowed.

"Don't bow." Zack closed the door, and changed to an undertone, "We're… AWOLs."

"Oh!" Yuna rose again.

"One of the Top Thirteen expected our departure and poisoned our friend here. Would you be able to heal him?"

"Of course!" The young woman nodded. Advocatus Diaboli bit his lip. Something seemed… familiar about her.

"Have you been through a Remembering?" Advocatus asked. Yuna looked at him, surprised.

"Yes, I have."

"Our friends here have just started experiencing their first Rememberings." Zack explained. The brunette woman smiled.

"They'll calm down for you after awhile, now, come with me." She stepped off towards the small healing room, Zack and Advocatus followed her.

There was a small cot with a few blankets laid out on it in the room, and there were no windows. There were various potions and what not on the shelves. Zack laid Sora down on the cot, and stepped back.

"Make yourselves at home." Yuna told them. Zack gave a mock salute and left the room. Advocatus nodded and followed Zack.

"Lumen will be fine. We'll be out of here tomorrow." Zack told Advocatus, who nodded.

"The sooner the better."

"No kidding."