Chapter 10: Haunted
On their third night there, DiZ paid a visit to Mikage. "I thought I told you not to use your power to help the Organization," he reprimanded her.
"I haven't become one of them," she explained. "I'm just as much a prisoner as Namine."
"Not so much as Namine. What they will force her to do with her power is far worse. What do you plan to do while you're here? You seem to have traded your notebook for a broom."
"Xehanort decided not to turn me into a Dusk if I cleaned for them. It was actually Ienzo and Braig who convinced him." This was met with silence. "They're all still capable of kindness, you know. I think their use of the darkness is just an excuse to act out."
"They never needed an excuse."
DiZ disappeared just as Zexion entered the room. "Kage-san, who were you talking to?" he asked suspiciously.
"No one," she lied. "I found an interloper but he's gone now."
"I could've sworn I sensed...Never mind." He let the matter drop, not wanting to deal with the possibility of their former master having followed them there. He turned and walked away.
"Zexion-kun..."
He stopped, not used to hearing that honorific attached to his name. "What did you call me?"
"Was that not correct?"
He gave her a wan smile before walking away again. While he was glad to have been promoted from -chan to -kun in her eyes, he still told Lexaeus his suspicions. "I detected a familiar scent. When I went to investigate, I heard Kage-san talking to someone. I didn't hear it all, but..." His voice became quieter, not wanting to finish his sentence. "I thought it sounded like...Master Ansem."
Lexaeus looked concerned. "You're sure?"
Zexion nodded. "Positive."
"It's late. You should go to bed."
"I'm not that tired. Why are you treating me like a child?"
"Because you are a child." There was an awkward silence between them. "Sorry."
"It's okay. I know you're just looking out for me. You always do."
Early the next morning, Lexaeus confronted Mikage about the intruder. "Who were you talking to? Who was in the castle last night?"
"I can't tell you."
"You have to, or else I'll-
"You'll what? You wouldn't hurt me. You'd never hurt anyone...at least not before all this started."
"No, I wouldn't. But after what Zexion told me last night, I couldn't go to sleep so..." He paused. "I've never seen him so rattled, at least not since we became Nobodies... since we don't have hearts." He remembered Ienzo dejectedly wandering the castle by himself after his parents had died; he'd done the same when they arrived at the Castle of the In-between, but that was just because all Nobodies started out in kind of a daze.
Mikage relented. "He was strange, all covered up except for one golden eye," she replied, hoping he'd take the hint. She didn't want to come right out and say it since she didn't know what Ansem was capable of doing. "Angry, too. So much anger. He found me before Xaldin brought me in. He told me not to help you, but I defied him."
Lexaeus seemed to get it. "If...if something happens, and I'm not here to do anything about it, you have to promise you'll protect Zexion for me."
"Of course I will. I'll do whatever I can."
"The last thing I want is for that boy to be all alone again." "Don't worry. Big brother will play with you," I'd said, and lifted him up onto my shoulders. "Do you like being up high?" He'd at least smiled, even though he still didn't speak. It had taken both of us to get him to do that.
"I'll do my best to keep him out of trouble."
"You do that."
No comments:
Post a Comment