"Obsession" and the general concept of "Obsession" is completely copyright Orin Drake 2006. All characters contained within are owned by Square-Enix and Disney.
Background: It turned out quite a bit darker and filled with more innuendo than I'd realized while writing it. In other words... neat-o! (And yes, I admit--while I've never managed to get a hold of Chain of Memories, I do actually read the game script from time to time. ...Yes, the whole script. Yes, every once in a while. Look, that's how I do things. grin Zexion is a bit hard to grasp given only his lines and actions in the game... but looking at his character artwork, I can seriously relate to that bitchy little cross-armed frown. ...Ahem. My point... I found Zexion a bit tragic. But I bet that comes as no surprise.)
Obsession
by Orin Drake
As incomplete beings, they were imperfect. Sometimes they reminisced. It was ridiculous, useless and utterly destructive, but... they had been human once. It was a part of all of them, no matter how hard they may try to deny it. The memories were still there, swimming in the background until triggered or called forward.
Zexion had the unfortunate first-hand knowledge of smells being able to trigger memories exceptionally easily. He was usually quite good at suppressing them before they could truly take hold, but... sometimes... there were smells he couldn't even properly label that would spark something uncontrollable from the life of his Other.
He'd been a "smart kid", Ienzo. Precocious, eager to read and learn and ask questions. Especially the questions people usually seemed uncomfortable about answering. A thirst for knowledge and a memory like a library had lead him to seek out Ansem the Wise, a man who in turn was intrigued by the boy who was both incredibly learned and yet still so naive in the ways of life.
They'd all had hearts, once. All of Ansem's elder assistants had taken him in like their little brother. Sometimes it was an obnoxious curse--but most times it came as an enormous blessing. So much to learn and so many people to teach him; when one's patience had run out, there was always another.
He always studied, observed, absorbed--and when it finally seemed that there were questions no one could answer, he began to ask for the means to answer them himself. No longer a mere timid boy, he had finally been ready to seek solutions first-hand; and so he had requested a lab. The others supported him, thought it a brilliant idea and congratulated him on it. Even Ansem had approved... and the boy had been elated.
There is an unfortunate thing that happens when one becomes obsessed, however: they focus only on their obsession. They all had their own personal ones, all revolving around the mysteries of the heart. Ienzo, however... he merely thirsted for knowledge. Of any kind. By any means. He had been a blind idiot. Any and all indications of finally going "too far", of stepping over the threshold from which one could never return... were either missed entirely, or ignored. He couldn't remember which. Nor did he care to. Somewhere along the way... they'd been lost.
As a Nobody... well, everyone changed. Without an emotional core, the sense of their former selves began to fade. Ideas like "morality" had been dropped long ago... and sometimes he had to admit to wondering what those sorts of things had ultimately invited upon them.
Sometimes, when most of the others were away on missions and the castle was far too quiet, he wondered what Ienzo would think of what Zexion had become.
No. Ienzo would not have liked him very much.