Title: No Leaf Clover
Rating: T
Warnings: A bit of language, Spoilers if you've not played through Kingdom Hearts 2 in its entirety, or don't know everything there is to know about Organization XIII. I don't really know at present what or even if I'll be doing in the way of pairings, but this chapter is fairly tame in that regard at least, in spite of several comments to after-hours activities.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the Intellectual Property of Disney and SquareEnix.
Summary: In the beginning, there were six…and not a single one could have suspected that attempting to complete their education would cost them so much. How did these reasonably normal science students become the foundation for a force that nearly destroyed a dozen worlds?
Chapter Two
To his credit, if Dilan had been jealous of Braig's good fortune he had the courtesy not to mention it to his friend's face. He'd wished him good luck, and the other had enough sense to leave Dilan to his own devices after that. Braig expected nothing less from Eleaus when he found out, and Ienzo still didn't understand enough about the group to put up a fuss. Even might put on an amusing show if he felt jilted but it was far more likely he'd be smug that Xehanort had needed help of any kind.
He didn't get much of a chance to talk to anyone else the next day although he'd run into Xehanort at breakfast, surprisingly enough. He'd asked once again for more information, but it had only lead the other man to repeat exactly what had been said last night.
As a result, Braig felt a bit stupid leaning against the wall in the basement of the Bastion, the dial on his wristwatch announcing that it was 8:15. Xehanort had yet to put in an appearance and the Chemistry student was wishing he'd brought a book, or something else to entertain himself with. He took to glaring at a spot of black that decorated the plain grey brick, hoping that this experiment wasn't something totally lame like bacteria. Or mold.
Finally, the sound of footsteps echoed in the gloom, and a long unusually-shaped piece of metal equipment that Braig had never seen before preceded Xehanort down the stairwell.
"Finally. What the hell is that?" he asked, pointing. It looked like some kind of weapon, with a serrated edge on one side that resembled nothing so much as a bat's wing.
"Nice to see you too." Xehanort replied flatly, hefting the instrument in his right hand. "This attracts them."
The way the other man had emphasized 'them' was of enough interest to Braig to miss that his question had been somewhat dodged.
"Them?"
In response, Xehanort reached into his back pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He flipped through the ring, and stepped up to the storage room, Braig vying for a vantage point over his shoulder as he pulled the heavy door open.
For a moment, all was anticlimactically dark, but when Xehanort raised his right arm the room lit up. Not from a light, but from a half-dozen pairs of yellow, glowing eyes.
"Fuck!" Braig yelped, shock evident on his features. He backed off involuntarily as they started towards Xehanort who let the crudeness slide, an expression of concentration on his face. In a moment he'd heaved the door shut again.
Having recovered himself from the shock somewhat, Braig's opinion of this thesis had just gone from zero to thirty. He'd been studying chemistry for the past ten years of his life, and biology for the past nine. He knew full well that there was no record of anything like those shuffling, shuddering little creatures anywhere in the known world. "We're discovering a new species? A…mammal? No, a reptile?" He glared at the closed door as though he could will himself to see through the solid metal. "Shit. Shit, that's going to make history!"
"You see why I need your help?"
"Shit." Braig repeated one last time and gave his head a shake to focus. "Yes. Okay. Where are we starting."
"I was hoping we might be able to capture a specimen tonight. He waved the blade again. "When Ansem originally spoke to me about them, I tried to come down here and get one myself." He hiked up a pant leg to reveal a fairly nasty-looking gash on the front of his leg. "They don't look like much at first, but they've got sharp claws, and I barely got away when they started to swarm me."
"Barely got away?" Braig raised an eyebrow. He'd only caught a brief glimpse, but they couldn't have been any larger than a medium-sized dog.
"I couldn't allow them to escape the storage room."
"Sure." Braig began sarcastically, but caught a look at Xehanort's expression and reset his mind to the task. "Now, if they attack as a unit, then we're going to have to get one separate from the group, if we want it."
"If we can, we ought to try getting more than one. It's important to know if they have a hierarchy. I left some extra equipment down here last night, cages and the like. I've already reinforced them with the basic magical stuff, so it's pretty unlikely we'll have trouble."
That had been Braig's next question anyway, so he set himself to trying to determine just how they would go about culling one or two from the group. After a moment, he remembered Xehanort's blade. "How does that thing work, anyway?" he asked.
"I have a few hypothesizes." He started. "One is simple: namely that they're merely attracted to a color or design. The other and more highly probable idea is that they view it as a threat. It was in here with them, and they didn't seem to take much notice of me until I picked it up. It'll be just another thing to experiment on when we've got our samples."
"How 'bout this: We'll get a snare apiece and a cage ready. I'll run in and they'll go for you, right? Then, lob that over to me. One or two are bound to get confused, and we can use that time to grab one of them. If we're quick enough about it, we should both be able to lock the remainder in here without any trouble."
Xehanort thought the suggestion over, then apparently having deemed it plausible, went to retrieve the necessary items. As he opened the door again, Braig slipped inside using a torch to see his way through the gloom.
The beam of the torch scattered the creatures, sending them scuttling out of the light's way, and parting the ranks like subjects before a King. That reaction of control and food-chain superiority tugged gently at the edges of a scientific mind, but the more logical assumption and the one that the Chemistry student decided on was that retinal expansions and contractions ruled their reactions to the sudden exposure to the bright, intense light after being confined to such a dark space.
What was far stranger to Braig was the way that Xehanort held his new tool, glittering in a defensive stance at his shoulder. Cast in silhouette by the stairway lights, he looked as much a shadow as the creatures in the room.
"Braig!"
The unusual slip in concentration was rare for the Chemistry student, but he rallied nicely, stretching up his hand for the knife that was even now sailing through the air towards him. Xehanort was no athlete, but his toss was right on target, and it surprised the hell out of Braig when his own hand closed around nothing but air.
Inwardly cursing himself, Braig was braced for the inevitable ear-splitting scrape of metal against gravel floor. It never came. Instead, Xehanort was left blinking almost stupidly as his own hand re-closed spasmodically around the knife handle. If the circumstances had been different, Braig probably would have deduced that Xehanort had found a boomerang, but from his position in the middle of the hive, the black creatures had quickly converged on the unfortunate researcher.
Xehanort charged the specimens with his long knife held aloft, but Braig was quicker. His grasp of magic easily flattened the beasts under a gravira spell and he scrambled up, making a beeline for the door. Predictably, Xehanort's chief concern was the fact that several of his specimens were dead and flatter than pancakes making even the corpses useless for further research, thanks to his partner's panic attack.
That reaction quickly switched to a horror Xehanort had no desire to mask as the insectile beasts rose from their 2D strata in the floor, resuming their shivery scuttle towards the scientists.
Ignoring the horrible pain that coursed upwards from the top of his thigh where one of the creatures had sliced right through the thick fabric of his jeans, Braig hurtled in, pulling the stricken Xehanort to safety and slamming the door on the questing creatures. He finally slumped after that.
"Amazing." Xehanort gasped as he sorted himself out, the bizarre situation with the knife currently far from his mind. Braig knew he wasn't talking about the rescue attempt, but he didn't care. Given the size and shape of the animals, their strength was truly impressive. Even Braig's magic had seemed to have done little recognizable damage.
"We can't catch them on our own." he noted. "We'll need some one stronger." He caught Xehanort's eye.
It was a rare moment. At any other time the sight of the Biology student caught looking truly humbled would have sent his colleague into a fit of laughter. Now, the glory glittering behind Xehanort's eyes was contagious, and Braig was unable to resist the pull of their now common goal.
"Eleaus."
Xehanort sat in a chair outside Ansem's office, barely paying attention to the muffled thrum of conversation coming from its depths. His hands were on his knees and he was attempting to calm his breathing. After the second disastrous attempt to capture a specimen, Braig had convinced him that perhaps the entire group of them should be in on this project. Even, Dilan and Eleaus were at least trustworthy, and there was enough work involved to keep them all occupied without stepping on each others toes. Xehanort wasn't stupid, he knew he'd really made the suggestion about Dilan to cover his best buddy's ass and then had been too polite to leave Even out of things as well.
Of course, there was the fact that Ansem had to okay the whole deal, and Braig had wisely left that task to Xehanort himself. The silver-haired man's relationship with their mentor was a great deal different than the other students for good reason: Xehanort was an orphan and the professor had become his guardian. From what he knew, whoever his mother was seemed to have left him at the Bastion and Ansem had hypothesized that because it was so busy, he'd be sure to be found by someone. As that someone had been the professor, he'd grown up following his caretaker around, leading to a natural aptitude for science. The others came from a variety of different, but unspectacular backgrounds. The way Braig told it, his step mother was the devil incarnate, and his five younger step-siblings were equally demonic. Even was unsurprisingly the middle child of three while Elaeus claimed that his older sister had long married and moved out, having taken a job in the accessory shop in town. Xehanort figured she was probably the red-head he often saw in there but had never asked. Dilan was the only one of them without siblings, and his parents had been married for twenty-three long, boring years.
Nonetheless, Ansem was the closest thing that Xehanort had to family and as such, he knew a thing or three about how to get what he wanted out of him. When he was little, this had been limited to something along the lines of not having to eat vegetables he disliked and defiling his ice cream with chocolate syrup and candied cherries. The things his selfish mind desired had naturally changed since then so he got his game face on when he heard the door to the office squeak open.
His carefully thought out speech slipped his mind for a second when the visitor emerged. He couldn't help but stare at what was definitely a four-foot mouse dressed in garish red shorts sauntering out. Their eyes locked for a second, and the creature gave him a rather cheery grin which he was still too stunned to return. He recovered himself long enough to raise his hand in a return wave as he disappeared down the hall.
"Xehanort!"
He spun to face his mentor in the doorway, composing himself as he did so. "Sir!"
"Ah, I see you've met King Mickey. He's a relatively new friend of mine, but very clever indeed. He's helping me with...yes, well best that remain a secret for the present. What brings you here? I know you're busy, as am I, but we'll have to make some time for each other. After all, you're going to be what, twenty-six? I daresay that's as important a birthday as any other. And how are you and Braig progressing with your project?" Having exhausted his full concerned-parent and teacher repertoire, Ansem seated himself behind his desk, smiling proudly at his student and charge.
In his turn, Xehanort measured his reactions carefully. "Thank-you Sir. Yes, I will be twenty-six in about three weeks time." he nodded, bobbing his head in polite acquiescence to Ansem's ensuing hearty congratulations. "I've come to see you today on behalf of Braig and myself, however."
"Oh?" Ansem steepled his fingers while leaning forward on his elbows to give his full attention.
"We've had some difficulty capturing a specimen, and we...I'd like..." he amended. "I'd like to work with everyone together, instead of looking for outside help. Dilan and Eleaus and Even too. Braig agrees with me that it's such a large project, we need a team instead of just one or two of us." Crossing mental fingers Xehanort was on tenterhooks, waiting for the decision.
To his great relief, Ansem's face split into a wide smile. "Of course!" he nodded, delight evident in his voice and features. "Project aside, it's wonderful to see you taking an interest in others, Xehanort! If you'll forgive me for saying so, you were always so aloof from everyone and you have such a knack for leadership. Of course you can include the others. I'm sure they'll be delighted to work on such an intriguing project. It's actually quite helpful to me while I set…ah, again, I'm about to say too much."
Xehanort had not missed this second near-lapse in his guardian's secrecy, but he was too excited to try for a second victory. Instead he stood, heading directly for his quarters and the nearest telephone. He felt a powerful surge of adrenaline. Everything was in motion, he was accelerating faster and faster towards something, but he didn't know what.
"Dude!" Braig raced across the quad to catch up with Eleaus, who mercifully had paused to talk to a girl carrying a few Bunsen burners and a laptop bag similar to Braig's own. He reached them in time to hear the last few snippets of their conversation.
"I don't see you much around the gym anymore." the girl was saying, and Braig noted that she like Eleaus was clearly a fair bit on the athletic side.
"Don't have quite as much time as I used to, Una." he said apologetically. "I'm working on my dissertation this year, and..."
"How's it going?"
The taller man smiled modestly. "Well, I haven't had any brainwaves yet, but you never know."
"Ah well, best of luck." she waved and took off with the hurried, perpetually nervous stride that all undergrad students seemed to subconsciously adopt in front of their elders.
"Oh, hi, Braig." Eleaus started, evidently heretofore unaware of Braig's presence.
"A girlfriend of yours?" The chemistry student's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into his hairline.
The taller of the two shook his head. "No, just someone I know from the gym."
"She wasn't bad-looking." Braig said fairly.
"Bit young for me, frankly. She's a second year."
"Geology?"
"Physics, I think. Besides, I'm a bit more interested in getting my degree before I worry about a relationship. I'd like to actually have time to dedicate to someone."
Braig shrugged, then changed the topic. "Listen. How's your Tuesday schedule looking? Around one or so. It's important."
Eleaus thought. "It'll be cutting it close for my office hours, but if it's important, I can squeeze it in."
"Perfect, We'll meet in the lab down the corridor by Ansem's office."
When Tuesday rolled around, Eleaus had not been expecting to meet both Dilan and Even on his way to the lab in question. "Did Braig ask you to come too?" he asked.
Dilan nodded, but Even shook his head. "Xehanort."
They entered together, silent. Whatever this was, they at least wouldn't have to wait very long to find out.
Their two colleagues were already there, deep in a somewhat hushed conversation that was interrupted when they heard the door. Xehanort took a seat in one of the chairs, Braig sitting on the desk.
"Gentlemen." Xehanort nodded politely.
"Hey guys." Braig offered, but his obvious excitement was tempered by an obviously serious edge.
It didn't take them terribly long to give an overview of the project, nor did it come as a surprise that not a single individual among their number did not wish to participate. As Braig had commented earlier, this was indeed a big deal.
Even had wanted to see the black creatures straight away, but Xehanort was completely convinced that they were nocturnal.
Fortunately it was Braig that had brought that point up, so an argument was avoided. A brief account of their disastrous earlier attempts to corner a specimen was discussed, and Xehanort gave the three new additions a detailed report that he felt would help them out in their second try tonight. Not a one of them, Even included argued that idea.
At that point, Elaeus had to return to his work, and Braig had booked some lab hours, so the meeting was adjourned rather abruptly.
Slipping out of the office, Ienzo looked at the sea-salt ice cream bar in his hand, feeling a great deal better about his class situation. He'd taken Even's first-day advice and gone to speak with the professor. Ansem was friendly enough, had given him some ice cream and asked him questions about the course work, that he'd been gratified to find he could answer. He'd been honest with him, and said that he still had some way to go, but was confident that Ienzo would do well. All truth be told, in the final analysis his new supervisor was a touch on the odd side, but not a bad sort overall.
He was just deciding that the ice cream was kind of a cool perk, when he heard a voice he thought he recognized issuing from a lab at the other far end of the corridor. Curiously, he turned around, wandering back up the way he'd come. The door was ajar, and as he'd predicted, Dilan was there, talking to all of the rest of his classmates.
Ienzo's heart started to pound with nervousness. Had he missed something important? No, that was impossible. He'd just been with Professor Ansem, so he couldn't have missed a class meeting. Maybe he'd missed a message from one of them. He wondered if he should go in and excuse himself for not showing up.
No, he'd listen for awhile longer first. He was already late, and he'd look ridiculous if he didn't know what he was apologizing for.
"…shouldn't be a problem…" that was Braig. "Elaeus, you can work out a report on their habitat, Even and Xehanort can figure out something about their physical structure apiece, Dilan, we know they're resilient to magic, so I'm sure you can use that to your advantage, and I'll look into genetic makeup. If you don't decide or want to do those suggestions, who cares?! There's enough to keep us working on the things for the rest of our natural lives, let alone our thesis."
Ienzo pulled away. He'd heard about Braig working with Xehanort of course, but now it was all of them? Ienzo was certainly mature enough to understand why they hadn't thought to include him, but Braig's words echoed in his mind as he strolled slowly back up the hall, thinking carefully to himself. There was a lot of work involved. That should stand to reason that the group would probably not be too terribly concerned if one more individual joined up.
The question was of course, how to do it. None of them, not even Eleaus seemed vulnerable to the long-suffering sighs of an oh-so-overworked student. Braig or Dilan might be impressed by the balls needed for a direct request but Even and Xehanort would veto rudeness.
Ienzo sighed, but set himself. He'd just have to work on each separately and play to their individual weaknesses. His mind was already formulating a plan of attack however and at least he knew he'd be in within the week.