Someday, when we are wiser (Post KH3 PSL: Riku, Ienzo)

[radiantlegacy]

Who: Ienzo & Riku
What: Revisiting a world where things are still topsy-turvy, hellfire's still smouldering somewhere, and grace is a thing we're still all learning to aspire to.
Where: Gummiphone Communique & La Cite Des Cloches.
When: Post-KH3
Warnings: Probably some references to... y'know, genocide & corrupted clergy? Religious skepticism. SoD!Ansem's terrible influences.

"Well, Master Riku, there is one more small matter..."

There had been several of those lately, with increasing frequency, enough to warrant several gummiphone messages a day. While no one had accused him yet of abusing the new technology, Radiant Garden's youngest apprentice was keen on keeping channels of communication open. Very open. Possibly to the point of seeming strangely desperate for attention, or itching for outside contact. Or practice at geniality.

It could just be that Ienzo still had every reason to be overly curious about the state of the universe beyond, or otherwise very invested in the keybearer's business, or personally indebted to be Very Helpful at Riku in particular. Wherever he could fling his personal redemption at the wall and pray that it would stick, there was a familiar, nagging ringtone and conversations that fumbled gingerly around small talk before retreating almost shyly into all-business.

It was a solicitous smile, near-wincing with eyes bright and brimming enough to seem imploringly sincere. Apprehensive fingers played upon the brushed chrome edges of the nearest console, and he nibbled at his lips behind his bangs.

"I thought it might be worth discussing, before you venture into those slumbering worlds..."

So many places to search out, these days, with the stars once again struggling to resettle into place.

"(Unless, that is, they have been restored to waking?)"

There was some confusion, after all, in the way Lea had relayed it.

"The Organization compiled notes of our observations, when we scouted out worlds. Even was fortunate to able to extract some of them, including mine, as raw data, which I've been working on decrypting." Breathless, brisk and busy seemed to be his primary mode of operation lately, though Ienzo seemed to teeter on the edge of too composed, for the hours he supposedly put in.

"While it may contain information you've already aquainted yourself with, perhaps it would be in your best interests to have a look-" Tipping his head, he added hastily, "If only for another perspective, or in case you stumble upon something unfamiliar. At the very least, it's something we can offer to prepare you properly for the journey." Yearning, or envy, or the cusp of something else restless lingered at the edge of his tongue.

"After all, I've gotten the impression that Master Yen Sid isn't exactly free-flowing with information even at the best of times, is he?"

Comments

[dawnward]

Another day, another circle around to Radiant Garden. He'd been back and forth with King Mickey and Ansem the Wise for weeks now, chronicling the things he was doing. Occasionally, that meant he was brushing up with Ienzo in conversation. Now, more often than not, he was conversing with the other man through the phone to compare notes, especially as Ansem seemed more and more...not withdrawn, perhaps, but his focus was elsewhere. On redemption, Riku felt, and the need to rebuild what he had lost.

To throw his complete attention towards the other worlds without looking to his own, so soon after returning, would be foolish. He understood. Or...he would, if he hadn't also chosen to leave Destiny Islands behind again.

Kairi had moved on. In her grief, she'd gone to train in that timeless forest, holding on to the hope that they would see Sora again. He couldn't blame her. He was throwing himself into his own work as Keyblade Master, and that meant repairing what had been lost, little by little, and forging new paths where they'd been closed off before. The worlds fallen to slumber were some of them.

Riku was sitting forward at the console on the Gummi Ship, phone seated in the holder that had been fashioned for him. "You can send over the information if you want. I won't say no to any kind of advantage I can have. I've been to some of these during the Mark of Mastery exam, but--" Times changed, hadn't they? And there was no telling at what point in time he'd seen those worlds. "Whatever you have is likely valuable for me to see."

He pressed a few keys, opening up the network connection for Ienzo. "I didn't realize you were working on this set of data as well. You're running full-tilt into this, aren't you?" Errant observation, accompanied with a half-smile. He could be teasing.

[radiantlegacy]

"If there's anything I can do to push things forward, it's better than dodging the responsibility." He resolved mildly, eyes falling closed for a longer moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose, waiting for the neon afterglow still pulsing behind his strained eyelids to fade off.

Master Ansem had prescribed a few more hours of sunlight and fresh air in his days, but Ienzo was bad at taking breaks without being steered along gently by the shoulders. He laughed wearily, in spite of seeming so transparent.

"I never expected that Even would ever bother trying to return my Lexicon to me, but since he went through all the trouble..." Ienzo's shrugged, glancing off. Anything less than gratitude wouldn't be so well recieved. "I'm not about to leave the files untouched."

He liked the sound of Riku's voice through the device, calling him valuable, just familiar enough by now to be vaguely comforting. It always sounded like the keybearer had miraculously sorted himself out, at his core, and it resonated through him even through difficult moments. Admirable was a word that floated up within his presence, when thoughts invariably wandered to just how far he'd come.

But you thought the same of Xehanort's progress, didn't you, when he was new and prodigious. Ienzo reminded himself, corners of his mouth pursing inward.

"I suppose it's my job now, to piece together this digital mess." He sighed, shifting around a few files to compress them into a tidier packet, resisting the urge to edit out entire chunks of unflattering details. "...but it really is the lightest of burdens to be laboring over, if you ask most people around here."

He could be picking up welding gloves and venturing out on the towers, or recalibrating weight capacities for the lifts. He could be mucking around in the flowerbeds on his knees, beside the guards and sometimes Ienzo felt guilty about feeling so disdainful about those sorts of highly virtuous, hands-on projects, particularly for knowing that everyone else doesn't expect him to participate in the physical rebuilding.

But even when he's tried at keeping his hands occupied, Ienzo's mind is always racing with long unfinished strings of binary and fragmented patches of broken code. They pester him when he's trying to sleep, and most importantly, the constancy of a puzzle keeps his heart shielded from its own vulnerable places.

But Riku was a pleasant source of interruption. A reminder of all he's been working towards.

"I'll have an overview put together for you soon." In his attempt at warmth, Ienzo leaned in a little closer to the screen, a fingertip hovering, further obscuring the half of his face already hidden. "Where are you headed off to next, do you know?" Curiousity comes to him a little more softly, natural, creeping in past the carefully layered filters of presentation. This is a question that isn't trying so hard to please, or be proper, and it showed in the way his fingers flittered off expressively, the way his eyes rose up ever so briefly, dreamily. "Or do you just... cast off into the ocean of worlds blindly, and let your heart guide you?"

[dawnward]

"Sure, it might be, but how many jobs is this that you've taken on? You've been back, what, a few months now?" Maybe he was ribbing him a little too hard. After all, Riku understood what it meant to push towards something akin to redemption. Picking up the pieces and struggling to come to terms with what it meant going forward. He knew from the beginning that atonement was likely out of reach, but he would seek it every day for the rest of his life if he needed to if it meant he could help Sora and Kairi. Even if it meant he'd never see them again.

"I'm just saying," Riku murmured, a little gentler now in tone, "that you don't need to rush." No one was running them out of Radiant Garden, after all. There was some reported relief, even, that whatever gripped Ansem the Wise seemed to be gone...and that whomever had taken his place had vanished. "Work will always be there in one form or another. I suspect every time one of you takes on a project, the rest are scrambling after them to help out in some way." That might be a pointed little jab at Even, even if he's grateful to him for his work. Roxas needed him, as did Naminé. Without Even, they wouldn't have been able to come back. Xion, too, likely.

Riku's gaze swept out amongst the stars and the lines of the highway that highlighted the pathways to the other worlds. He was lost to thought for a time, as he was wont to do, eyes examining the route forward - or, perhaps, imagining the possibilities. He almost missed Ienzo's question. Leaning back, he chuckled a little. "I know others probably do that." Sora. The curve of his lip was fond for a moment, if exasperated. "King Mickey's given me records of the pathways, though I think they naturally drift a little on their own. Like they want to keep things closed." That was a theory for another time.

His gaze focused a little better on Ienzo now. "I'm going to investigate some of the worlds that had been slumbering. I was thinking of La Cité des Cloches. It's a world I visited during the Mark of Mastery Exam."

[radiantlegacy]

Why put off theorizing about the intricacies of inter-world travel for another day? Or contemplating fallen worlds of the past, for that matter? Particularly this one, which bore certain significance...

"You mean Paris?" The scientist's eyes came alive, rounding, at once full of haunted wonder, wary interest. His lips barely moved through a mumble of distant, sighing language. "L'autre ville Lumière...."

Slowly, Ienzo nodded. "I knew that place well, once. Or rather..."

Something darkened across his brow, pensive as he paced toward the warmer light of Ansem's study, leaning upon the edge of the his Master's unoccupied desk. "It was one of Zexion's first individual assignments, to chart its decline. I remember being there when darkness threatened to eclipse that world.... but then we suddenly lost contact, leaving an unfinished point of inquiry. Whatever happened was beyond my understanding- at that time we had never encountered a vanishing world before, and so it was considered an anomaly."

But learning where Riku had encountered it changed things... or rather, allowed the pieces to align quite nicely.

"So it did fall into the realm of sleep..." Ienzo mused aloud, stroking an absent finger alongside his cheek and smooth jawline. "...and presumeably remained there, until your mastery exam re-established a connection. That's... very interesting."

Something else worth thinking about, atop of everything else already precariously piled up on his To-Do list. Was it too late to consider becoming investing in something else? Providing the keybearer necessary guidance might be justifiable, to bump it a little higher on his current ranking of priorities.

"Isn't it difficult to pilot a gummi ship alone?" He knew Cid was always working on new modifications, so it couldn't be so simple, to require that kind of attention. "Offworld navigation must be treacherous, especially now that heartless have over-populated fragments in the space-between."

"(I could see about installing better automated defenses...)" But honestly, that would just be an excuse to spend some time about Riku's vessel, testing things out. Did a yearning to escape the confines of the castle still exist in his heart?

"Ahh...Sorry, Master Riku, there I go again!" Ienzo chuckled with a self-admonishing shake of his head, waving it off. Hadn't he just been getting lectured about taking on too much work? "Potential projects like this just keep...popping up? (And with ten years of lost time to catch up on, laziness seems....unacceptable.)" A wince, still infested with the kind guilt that kept one's nose permanently affixed to the grindstone. "To embark on many undertakings may seem overly ambitious, but please trust that wherever it counts, sloppy work is intolerable."

[dawnward]

Surprise riddled his expression as he turned to look at Ienzo more closely now, listening intently. A frown overtook his lips as he took all of this new information in, settling his arms on his knees and brought his fingers together, nearly steepled at his mouth in consideration. It made him look decidedly older here, though Riku had begun to look far more mature than his closest peers some time ago. Darkness did that to a person, maybe.

"I wonder..." Did Zexion have a heart when he traveled to the city? Would some echo of him remain, or had he been there too short a time? Riku's gaze swung out to the stars once more. Too many questions. He wanted answers. He started to reach for a few of the knobs that propelled the ship into gear, getting it back towards the highway even as Ienzo continued speaking.

"It's a little difficult but it's nothing I can't handle for the moment. It'd...probably be easier if I had a slightly smaller ship, something more compact... I could travel lighter and slip between the cracks." But that wasn't what he was asking, was it? "Why? You interested in joining me?" A bit of a brazen question, sure, and when paired with a flicker of a smile that was an echo of Riku's once devil-may-care attitude... Well, it was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

He pulled the ship up alongside the next piece of highway, cutting the engine and glancing around. Likely there wouldn't be a straightforward path any longer. He'd have to rely on his heart. "Do you remember the things Zexion found there, before it fell? Do you think it might respond to you and your heart if you were there, if you came with me?"

A little too fast. Excitement was brewing in the light of his eyes. Ienzo had other projects. He needed to stay in Radiant Garden. But... "If I ensured the world was stable before your arrival, maybe that's how we could gather a better understanding-- Or I could show you with the gummiphone, right? Is there a way it can transmit data back to you or something?"

[radiantlegacy]

He didn't have to reach far within the recesses of fogging Nobody memories. The grand and gothic architecture of Notre Dame existed, each flying buttress and brilliantly illuminated rose window sharply defined, a bramble of strangely uncomfortable feelings couched along with them, like an old thorn never quite extracted.

Incredible, how formative moments had a way of sticking. Zexion had been so young then, even though Ienzo detested thinking of any part of himself that way. So young and bitter and jaded, even through layers of clinical detachment, particularly where it came to matters of prohibitive guardians and their filial piety. A hollow glorification of purified Light and its traditions fiercely upheld, long after it had become void of any true meaning.

"I remember enough of the place to know that using your gummiphone there, right out in the open, might raise some suspicions among the guard and the clergy..." Ienzo advised dryly, tugging at his fingers, eyes roaming the bookshelves and re-examining the emotions that roiled and surged in a tangle around his heart, flattening out his voice to something far more reminicsent of that disgusted half-person he had been when Riku had known him in Castle Oblivion. "Particularly if the head of the local magistrate, Judge Claude-Frollo, is still in power there." The apprentice's upper lip pulled back in a delicate sneer. "Anything of magical or advanced technological nature, outsiders of colorful distinction, were regarded as heretical and profane..."

"Which leads me to believe there may have been troublesome outer-world interferences around, long before the Organization made contact." Xehanort's past exploits, perhaps, a whole lifetime ago? Or something else, a deeper scar from the ancient keyblade wars. His plucking around world lore and investigations of key figures now lay in all those files he now tenuously offered to Riku, hopeful that something useful might be made of them.

"However, while the persecuted gypsy-folk were aggressively pursued, darkness festering within the hearts of the most outwardly pious went overlooked. A most sanctimonious sanctuary of Light, that cathedral on the Seine."

Ienzo sighed deeply, trying to shake the wave of feeling, brushing non-existant dust off his elbows, shooting an apologetic smile back toward his gummiphone screen, to at least let Riku know the change in his demeanor was nothing directed at him.

"As you might imagine, the world left strong impressions on me, even back when I was called Zexion."

Sheepishness left his head bowed, his tone reflective. It was a place he'd never imagined possibile to return to, until now. The prospect of going alongside Riku, accompanying him, observing his ways of learning and growing - wiser than anyone else he'd ever followed? Incredibly tempting.

"But I wonder... would I see things any differently, now?"

A smile crept bashfully up into the dimples of his mouth, privately giddy with fascination, an eagerness that tested his restraint. Luckily it didn't contort his face the same way Even's did when confronted with an ideal opportunity. "Well, I- I... truly wish I could just slip away with you, if only for a little mission or two, but-"

Come, Riku, convince me- Show me that it matters to you, that I can be trusted just the same as a friend, that I could lend a little more than distant information.

That you'd gladly accept my company, if I've really come this far.

"Maybe that's... irresponsible?" Ienzo retreated tactfully, lacing his hands together with reasoning doubt. "After all the grief Even gave us, and...with Braig's absence still hanging around here like a lurking stormcloud, I don't think Dilan or Aeleus will sleep easy with me going anywhere far beyond their sights."

[dawnward]

"I remember Frollo." It hardened his gaze, hearing the name again. Remembering Quasimodo's uncertainty and fear as he held this belief that he was a monster. Riku had seen monsters plenty where he was from. Quasimodo being different in appearance didn't change the bright light in his heart. Riku plucked a few buttons at his console, bringing up the notes Ienzo sent over, scanning them while the other man continued to speak.

Almost absently, he asked, "You have a heart now, don't you? Or you're aware of it now, at least, in a way that you didn't as Zexion. It would likely change everything. I think it's already changed you."

He looked over at that, fixing Ienzo with his gaze. And then, he shrugged. "I'd like for you to come. But it might be better if I check the world out first, ensure it's stabilized, see what's left of it. Then, if all is well, you can come if you'd like to." He pulled back on a valve, lurching the ship into life again. "That'll leave you time to figure out how you're going to convince them to let you come." He shot him another half-smile. "You'd win them over better than I could, anyway."

[radiantlegacy]

Ah, of course the man's reputation preceded him. Ienzo's mouth puckered into something like a grimace, and he wondered what exactly Riku had encountered there, in a realm of dreams. It might not be the ideal time to ask, though his eyes held open, expectant questioning in them until Riku glanced back up, and for what felt like a very long moment their gazes locked together across distance.

Ienzo could feel the slow, crawling heat of full flush rising up into his cheeks.

It wasn't at all easy, incremental change so much as being driven to full pivot, and adapting as quickly as he could resist bearing down into any darker instincts. But whatever he was becoming now, Riku recognized it. That meant much more than he had nice words for.

"I would hope so." he swallowed, eventually. "I'll try my best."

Was that roaring in his ears from the gummiship's engines, firing up?

"Assuring them that preliminary reconaissance and contacts have already been established would help assauge the worst of their fears, probably." Ienzo said cleanly, managing to smooth over his speech with a gentle wag of his head, bangs swaying.

"In the meantime, I'll finish cleaning up those reports for you, send them all along, and begin preparing myself for a journey."

[dawnward]

He wasn't goading for any particular reaction, not really. Maybe he was waiting for something else to rise up, something sharper or more manipulative. But Ienzo's quiet assent seemed to suit Riku just fine and satisfied whatever he might have unconsciously been looking for.

"I know you are." Trying his best, he meant.

Riku's gaze remained on Ienzo's for a time and he gave him a faint nod, swinging his attention back towards the path ahead. He sat up straighter, rather than hunching over one way or another.

"I'd appreciate it," he added, turning back towards him. "I'll send along my own initial findings once I dock and take a good look around. Don't rush, okay? There's...a lot I want to see." And he wanted to make good on his connection with Quasimodo. He missed him and wondered if his heart would recognize Riku's even if he'd never met the man outside of his heart's slumber. "Until then, maybe try to take it easy?" He made a sound that might have been a laugh. "See you, Ienzo." And once their farewells were exchanged, he ended the call.

[radiantlegacy]

Ienzo's attention to his latest projects dwindled a little, over the following days. Even noticed his detachment, no doubt forming his own hypotheses about what their junior apprentice was up to.

The potential for embarking on a new journey, far from home and into that slumbering world which had been so formative a case study, lingered on his mind and preoccupied his thoughts.

Zexion's pages upon pages of notes and observations were sifted through and re-examined, subject to minor edits, then sent along off to Riku's gummiphone with some lingering trepidation about their content. If anything, perhaps the keybearer could appreciate this... candid look at the early Organization's subtle poking and prodding and sniffing about new territories. His methods then had been highly experimental, and probably far less scientific than some of his colleagues could ever appreciate.

There were also detailed accounts of his various guises- from the birds' eye view of gargoyles up in the bell tower to the lace cassock and surplice of an acolyte in the choir-stalls, a penitent in the confessional, a gypsy in the alleyway shadows.

He finally talked it over with Master Ansem, so that his sudden departure wouldn't come as any surprise or frivolous impulse. Ansem seemed to take it... surpringly well, considering he hadn't omitted that Riku was taking him on for company in a world where heretics were burned in pyres right out in the city square.

(Maybe he honored the thought that little Ienzo had peace yet to make with himself, over the past.)

Ienzo borrowed a slim battered suitcase from Merlin, brushed up on his Latin and French, and awaited the keyblade master's arrival.