Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its subsidiaries. This is a not-for-profit fanwork.

***THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF A MEDICAL PROCEDURE SOME MAY FIND DISTURBING***

XIII.

Alterations

Demyx woke on Lea's couch with the sun directly in his eyes. It was very early—courtesy of going to bed before eight—and he was groggy and vaguely headachy. He sat up and ran his hands through his hair.

He noticed Lea in the kitchen, nursing some sort of hot drink. There were prominent circles under his eyes. "Oh good, you're awake," Lea said. "I'm afraid you're on your own if you want a good breakfast. I haven't got much of anything."

"That's fine," he said. Despite it being nearly summer, it was cold in the room, and he kept the blanket around his shoulders as he shuffled over to the table.

Lea yawned. "There's still coffee."

"Did you sleep at all?"

"I tried to." He leaned back in his chair. "But I'm on Heartless duty, and they needed me, so off I went."

Demyx poured himself a cup and sat down. "I guess being a hero is pretty exhausting."

"You don't know the half of it."

For a moment there was silence. The room smelled like stale coffee and cigarettes. Lea shut his eyes for a long moment, and then opened them.

"You have to go back," Lea said. "The others are worried about you. Dilan was bitching about it."

It was too early to know how he felt. The potency of the coffee, combined with an empty stomach, made him jittery. "Are they," he said. "Then why didn't they tell me the truth?"

Lea huffed. "I'm not going through this with you again. For once in your life, won't you just do what you're supposed to?"

Silence. Demyx looked into his mug.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He jiggled his leg under the table, and Demyx felt the vibrations through the wood. "I get cranky when I'm tired."

He stood. "I guess I'll go then. Thanks for the hospitality." He set the mug in the kitchen sink and set the blanket on the couch.

"Hey…" Lea said. "You really shouldn't take everything so personally. You know? You'll be a lot better off."

He nodded without making eye contact and then set off.

Home sweet home. Or whatever.

He cleaned up and ate. The whole floor where they all lived was eerily quiet. He could hear his own breathing as he moved from place to place. The tap in the bath seemed deafening in comparison.

What now?

Demyx knew he should find Even or Ienzo, and tell them where he'd gone and why. And then they would probably lay into him about running off, and then he would get angry and hurt again at their neglect, because anything that had to do with him was not important enough to be mentioned in passing.

"I really have to stop," he said out loud to himself. Wallowing in self-pity was plain pathetic.

He headed towards the library and tried not to listen to his own breaths. As he approached, a cold, skittering sensation formed along his spine and he jerked his head around. There was no one there; maybe it was a draft?

The sensation deepened and tightened in the pit of his stomach. There was nothing… bad, about it, particularly, and in fact it was vaguely familiar. He took a couple of steps back to compare.

He felt their blood, he realized. It was nowhere near as terrifying or painful like immediately after the darkness in the water had fucked with him, but it was still there. He closed his eyes and reached a little farther into the silence around him, until he was able to feel the water in the pipes not too far overhead.

Okay. So that was a thing. Right now completely useless, but at least it meant his powers were on the mend. Maybe the rest of him would be too. Some hope.

There were at least three of them there. He couldn't tell who they were, just that one was still and two were moving. Was someone sleeping? Or hurt?

He exhaled. "Of fucking course."

Demyx followed the feeling down into the library. A hush of startled whispering crept at him from down the stairs.

"…I'm not certain what happened. One moment our work was going smoothly. And then… everything collapsed. I did my best to get us both out of there before we were smothered." Dilan said. He was coughing.

"I'm trying my best—but I'm not sure I can do much more. He might lose the arm."

Demyx froze, and steeled himself for what he might see.

"We need to get him to the lab. There's only so much I can do from here." Even's tone was resigned. "Careful, Dilan. Careful."

Demyx saw them coming down the stairs. Dilan carried an unconscious Aeleus in his arms, and both of them were caked in blood and dust. His whole left arm looked battered and flat like a shirt sleeve, the skin mottled purple as the blood oozed under it. Demyx's hand flew up to cover his mouth and he tried not to get sick.

"…Nine," Even said with a note of surprise in his voice. "Good timing. You might be able to help me. Come."

"Do I have to?" he said without thinking.

Even gave him a distasteful look and grabbed his wrist. "Since when are you so squeamish?"

Demyx followed them all the way downstairs, keeping his eyes stubbornly on the floor instead of on the blood. Even rushed them into the lab and over to a cleared table. He doused it in disinfectant and dried it hastily. "Set him here," he said. Dilan put Aeleus down and dropped to his knees, coughing and wheezing. His face was a concerning shade of purple.

"Wash your hands," Even barked at Demyx. "And get over here."

He did as he was told. What did Even mean by "helping him"? He wasn't going to have to… cut anything, right? Wasn't that Ienzo's purview?

"Won't you give him something for the pain?" Dilan said in a hoarse voice.

"He's beyond feeling anything right now," Even said as he cleaned off the arm. "I sealed the wound," he explained. "I froze the blood supply. The bones are completely shattered."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Demyx asked. He couldn't get his eyes off of the battered arm.

"I need you to keep his blood moving through the procedure. I'm afraid that if we keep the blood frozen, the tissue will die," he said.

"The procedure?" he repeated. "You're not… you're not going to—"

Even probed the bones. "I believe we can grow the bones back," he said. "It's not as if the shoulder is crushed, just the arm."

"It'd be more merciful just to amputate," Dilan said from his corner, still coughing. "He… he could work around it. You'd rather subject him to weeks of agony?"

"Then what would we do with it?" Even asked. "Throw it out? So it would become Heartless bait?"

Demyx was convinced this was a surreal nightmare, and he was still on Lea's couch.

Even went back to the sink. He piled up his long hair and pulled it under a cotton cap, then began meticulously and thoroughly scrubbing his hands. He slid on latex gloves with a snap and Demyx flinched.

"There's no need for you to stay, Dilan," Even said to Dilan. Dilan fled, still coughing, trailing dust out the door.

But why can't I leave? Demyx thought.

"No need to look so frightened. I'm only removing the shattered bone," Even said in a voice he must have thought was comforting. "I've done the very same thing to your ribs. Won't be nearly so difficult. I remember that. Ienzo didn't sleep for eighteen hours, keeping vigil, keeping you unconscious through the worst of it."

Demyx shook his head. He felt at his ribs convulsively.

"Oh goodness—you needn't even look, so long as you can keep his blood moving. Enough to keep the tissue alive, but not so much as to hinder me, you understand?" He pulled a scalpel and forceps out of a sterilizing machine. "I'm going to unfreeze it. There are ethers right over there. You might want to take one."

He took the small blue bottle and looked down at Aeleus. He shut his eyes—equally in concentration and disgust—and felt the blood supply. It was strange to do this after so long, and slightly straining. Many of the distinct vessels in the arm had burst, or been cut, so he rerouted the flow as best as he could. It was an oddly intimate experience because he could feel Aeleus's nerves and capillaries, and the strength in the muscles. And, dimly, the pain.

"Good," Even said. Demyx tried not to hear what he was doing as he set about working. And the smell—the dust and the blood—made him dizzy. He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about what would happen if Aeleus woke up.

"I would have been so useful to have you in the Organization," Even said casually. Demyx heard slight ticks of bone against a bowl. Aeleus's pain began to beat against the back of Demyx's eyes. "But then again—you are so very good at slipping away at the worst moments. How's it feel?"

"Me or him?" he asked in a strained voice.

"You."

"Hurts," he said.

"Pain has to go somewhere," Even said. "It felt you were there and jumped to you. I know I've asked a lot of you. He'll be grateful to know you helped. Really. Amputation. Dilan must have a very low opinion of me. I am no amateur. Drink some ether, and sit if you need. You're losing your color."

He did so and flinched at the oily taste. The pain subsided for a moment.

It seemed to go on for a long time. Demyx could feel his own heartbeat in his throat, and Aeleus's. He started trembling, and a cold sweat crept under his arms.

"That's the last of it. Let me fix the vessels and your work will be done."

His muscles had started to cramp up.

"Nine, breathe. Slowly. Deeply." Even worked for another few long, torturous minutes. "Very good. You've done so well. You can let it go now. Slowly, though."

It wasn't something that could be done slowly; it was more like a rubber band that would snap. The magnitude of what he'd done hit him only once he'd detached himself from Aeleus's vascular system. "Oh, god. Oh, fuck." Aeleus's pain had left him, but the strain on his power had given him a magnificent migraine, and he was shivering uncontrollably. He opened his eyes. The room seemed much brighter than it used to. If he'd slipped even once, or if his powers had decided to act up, he could have hurt him. Or worse—

"Breathe. Breathe."

"I am breathing!" he snapped. His whole chest was tight. He looked at Aeleus. The arm was better in color, though still bruised, and now it looked more comical than horrific. And then he made the mistake of looking slightly to the right, at the bone fragments.

"If you must be sick, there's a waste bin over there," Even said calmly. Demyx was too tense to get sick, but his hand hovered over his mouth anyway. "Did you happen to sense whether or not there was bleeding in the brain?"

"There's not even any swelling," he said weakly. He sank to the floor.

"Excellent. Excellent! If only I had your power…" He cleared the bone away into a hazardous waste bag. "I supposed I'll have to get Lea to dispose of this."

Demyx heard Even take off his gloves. He shivered in sharp bursts. Even draped a wool blanket around his shoulders and checked his vitals absently. "…Fascinating," he said. "Low body temperature. Shallow breathing. Blood pressure and heart rate are quite low. But no need, I feel, to be concerned. Oh, dear." He passed Demyx the waste bin just in time for him to finally and quite violently get sick.

The door slammed open. "I came as soon as I heard," Ienzo said breathlessly. "I—oh. Oh my."

"Where in the blazes have you been?" Even snapped, though he didn't move from Demyx's side. "Get him some electrolytes. The purple, I think. Do you feel faint?" The last question was address towards Demyx.

"My head hurts," he said through the acid in his mouth.

"Of course it does," Even said soothingly.

Ienzo still breathed hard. "I found something," he said. He handed Demyx a glass of viscous liquid and two white pills. "Even, you would not believe. But what… what happened here?"

"Come, Nine," Even said. He helped him stand. He was still shivering, but the purple stuff was starting to help, even if it tasted like snot.

"I want to hear," he said.

"You will. We need to get Aeleus settled first."

A few moments of transition. Ienzo gave him some more purple goo. Dilan came back, clean but still wheezing, to shepherd off Aeleus to his room. He shook his head disapprovingly. "He'll have to deal with the loss either way," Dilan said.

"Perhaps not. Nine was a great deal of help," Even said. "Why don't you meet us in the kitchen? Once this is all done." And then they were all gone.

Demyx shuffled back upstairs. The medicine he'd been given had numbed the pain but made him fuzzy. How long had he been in there? Hard to tell. He made it, somehow, and slumped into a chair. He knew he should eat, but couldn't find the strength to prepare anything, so he sat staring at the empty glass he'd carried all the way up here.

Dilan came in and put up a pot of coffee. Wordlessly, he made a peanut-butter sandwich and passed it to him.

"What's this for?" he asked.

Dilan shut the cabinet and said nothing.

He forced himself to eat. The bread tasted like paste. Maybe there was something wrong with his tastebuds. Once the coffee had finished, Dilan gave him that, too, boiling and black.

"Um, thanks, but I can—"

"Why is it that something like this happens only as soon as the truth comes out?" He asked. His expression was cold and fierce.

It took him a moment. "What do you mean?"

Dilan turned; his face set in a scowl. He said nothing and stood frozen at the corner of the small room. Demyx sipped at the coffee even though it was too hot, but it eased some of the shivering.

Even and Ienzo returned. Even seemed relieved; Ienzo's face was hard to read.

"Good, you're eating," Even said. "I'm afraid I may have pushed—"

"What is going on that you're not saying?" Dilan asked. "What happened out there?"

"I am not sure what you're implying, Dilan, but I could do without your ugly tone," Even replied coolly.

"You were the one to witness it, were you not?" Ienzo asked. "Why don't we start from the beginning?"

"We were clearing tunnels belowground. We've done this work for days and we've never yet had an issue. But today… Aeleus seemed off," Dilan said. He began to pace. "Tired. Strained. It seemed like he was having difficulty. I suggested we might rest, but he refused. And then it seemed like his powers stopped working. I saw him going through the motions, but nothing happened. And the tunnel collapsed. We barely survived. His arm got crushed in the debris." He looked at Demyx.

"I think exhaustion is natural," Even said. "We all know Aeleus never speaks of his discomforts. He made a mistake."

"He never makes mistakes. And if you're correct, then by all means, I should be burning out as well."

"Then what do you think it is?" Ienzo asked tersely.

Dilan grunted in response. "We've all been having some sort of trouble. What if it's… advancing?"

"What trouble?" Demyx asked.

Silence. Even stirred his tea.

"You mean nobody's told the boy?" Dilan asked.

"Nobody tells me anything!" Pain shot through his head and his vision grew fuzzy for a moment. Even came over to him and stared into his eyes, as if looking for something.

"Perhaps we should wait," Even said.

"Dilan is right," Ienzo said. "What I found today concerns us too. We've all been altered. Every one of us."

Happy Halloween!