A/N: Well, here, it is, my first finished fanfic in six years, and my first ever published online... I'm so excited! Lol, anyway, massive thanks goes to Chibi, who did a waaaaaaay better job proofreading than MS Word ever could and Nata and all of her nagging and joking that led to this fanfic's completion(from the notebook I mainly wrote in in French class to getting typed so she could finish reading it), as well as everyone else who kept telling me to hurry up and get this done in spite of the colossal setbacks this fic has experienced*eyes my laptop with it's milk-clogged keys* Because of you, I finally finished a fanfic and typed it! XD

This being said, I WILL hunt down stealers like animals to the ends of the earth. Just a kind warning.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts or it's locations, OR it's characters...however Amber, Hanabi, and the Full Bloom Festival are MINE.

Now, on with the fanfic!

Ienzo liked Amber's company; she was kind and loving as well as highly sensitive to those around her. A bit morbid at times and overly knowledgeable for her age of fifteen years, they got along quite well while coming across as older than they both were. She had been coming to the castle almost every day since she was ten; therefore Ienzo had known her since he was five. It also helped that she wasn't pushy—if Ienzo didn't feel like talking then she wouldn't push the matter. Amber had allowed him to talk to her first, after two months of waiting on her to start nagging at him for conversation and not getting a thing aside from her usual polite "Hi", he had caved to curiosity and began to talk to her.

She was hard to dislike, nearly impossible to hate. Her pale skin, thin body, and expressive pale blue eyes gave you the feeling you had to protect her as much as her small voice and frequent coughing spells gave evidence of her frailty. Amber had always been courteous, sticking to whatever rules were put down for her and she would listen to whatever you had to say. On days when it was permitted, she liked to wander the gardens by the castle under the alternating watchful eyes of Aeleus and Dilan, playing on her "helplessness" and allowing each to feel more important than they actually were. Ienzo complained the he could see their egos inflating on regular occasions. He was even pretty sure Braig had taken a slight liking to her since his recent trip to the infirmary. When she was out and about Radiant Garden (under supervision, of course), everyone spoke with her and she spoke back to bid good luck on sales, wish well to one family member or another, ask about someone, the list went on. He swore she had everyone and their families memorized, of course it wasn't too hard to believe if you knew that she spent all of her time outside of the castle at home, in bed. Her parents would let her do nothing else, as they were afraid she would be hurt too easily and it drove her insane. The castle was the only place she found she was treated like a real person, everyone was conscious of her illness and frailty, but otherwise it was hardly mentioned. She spent as much time as she could at the castle with Ansem the Wise and his apprentices where she had relative freedom.

It was most often the case the Ienzo was given the "responsibility" of keeping an eye on her while in the castle though she mostly sat by the window in an infirmary chair. If either one felt talkative, then they spoke, which was how he came to decide she was one of the most purehearted beings he would probably ever meet. She wanted to be any other girl, not a princess or a fairy like most delusional girls her age, but just an ordinary girl who wasn't terminally ill as far as anyone could tell. She wanted to be able to play with the neighborhood kids, go to school normally, have friends come over, to argue playfully with her parents over weekend bedtimes. She only wanted everything she should have had. She only wanted what she couldn't have because she was sick and nothing anyone had tried had worked, not even five year's worth of research in Even's part had produced anything helpful. For five years, Ansem the Wise and his apprentices had watched her condition deteriorate like a dying flower that nothing could repair. Her slight cough evolved into more frequent tremors that wracked her fragile body mercilessly, no matter how much they pushed for her to gain weight, she only grew thinner, and despair threatened to consume her at times, yet she tried to stay hopeful. "Holding onto light with a slipping death grip, but I'm not giving up just yet." She said often and she tried to stay positive in a situation that was rapidly going bad. Even was at his wit's end, there was no more he could think to do to keep her life from slipping through his fingers. Years of research were coming to a very undesirable end, it would be all for naught. Five years of a good friendship would come to a tragic close, Ienzo could not find any rationalization behind it all. Why did such a kind, purehearted girl have to die this way? She didn't have much longer before—

He came, or rather, appeared in the town square after a storm. He was barely conscious when Ansem found him, almost delirious-sounding when he was taken to Even for care. He could only give answer to the question of his name, Xehanort, and even that was spoken underlying uncertainty. He could not remember his past and no one in Radiant Garden came with questions about a missing family member. He had no place to go, so Ansem took him under his wing like he had done for Ienzo himself. Amber was introduced to him on a flash of inspiration from Ansem, a last hope that maybe the two could do for each other. The result was dramatic: Amber was suddenly less pale, more energetic, even the coughing lessened slightly… It appeared she was getting better. The two were really doing good for each other—or were they?

Xehanort was sly, kind with Amber, but outside of interaction with her, he was a radical thinker. In between conversations with her, he weaseled his way into the apprentices' close-knit group once he was deemed "better" enough to live normally. Ansem had become worried about the darkness in people's hearts would eventually swallow their world, and as Xehanort had not improved, it was on him that the testing began, but he was not, however, where it would end. While Ansem simply wanted to protect the world he ruled, Xehanort wanted to know more about it in general. He wanted to explore darkness, see what made it tick, wanted to know how the creatures known as Heartless came to be. "What is it that they often say about curiosity these days, Aeleus?" Dilan rumbled when Xehanort explained his main drive to be sheer curiosity.

"It killed the cat." The large, redheaded guard stated flatly, as if he didn't care. Most would have thought it imposing, but it was not meant so, among the apprentices was the only place his toneless speech was easily interpreted. Even with the flat warning from Dilan and Aeleus, Xehanort pressed for support on the idea for larger-scale research and found support in Even, and as a result, Ienzo as well. Ansem, however, was a bit wary of the idea and took time to be assured that nothing incredibly dangerous would happen. Of course, it was innocent little Ienzo that drove the final nail in coffin, convincing the older man to convert a rather generous portion of the castle's extensive basement into a massive lab for the research, which slowly began to take precedence over Amber, as it seemed she needed only conversation with Xehanort to thrive. Within the span of two months Amber had been dragged back from the edge of death by nothing but conversation with an amnesiac, it wasn't scientifically reasonable, but Ienzo didn't care. For him it didn't matter if it made no sense, he was simply happy that she wasn't going to die.

It didn't stop her visits, though. Amber still showed up regularly to talk to everyone, especially Xehanort and Ienzo. It was almost as though she was normal, like she had gotten her wish aside from the periodic check-ins with Even. Her parents were still hard on her, but were steadily becoming less strict as the fact that she was suddenly a lot better than she had been in years seemed to sink in. In between Amber's frequent visits, the darkness research continued in the basement lab that Ansem eventually left alone, allowing the apprentices to take over the research. What started as initially small, harmless experiments that followed Ansem's orders evolved into larger, more dangerous ones that were nothing Ansem would have allowed had he known about them. It was the experiments that should have been "off-limits" that still haunted him, particularly the human ones, as he could still remember the crying, the screams, the moans, the faces… "In the name of science, Ienzo." Even often told him proudly, as though he was unaffected by the horrific scenes that seemed to fill the vast lab.

In the name of science… Ienzo didn't quite agree with it, but what could he do? Nothing but go along with it and take comfort in the time Amber took him away from it. One certain instance was more prevalent in his mind than any other.

She wasn't due for a check-in or official visit that day, rather, she had come simply for the sake of coming to see everyone it seemed. That was, until he got the message from Even who told him he would probably be gone for the rest of the day. She had gone through Ansem to get permission to "borrow" him and she was supposed to be waiting for him with Radiant Garden's "king" by the main castle doors to the outside. When he finally reached them, Amber was all smiles, wearing a sundress that was a soft shade of earthy green and a random assortment of flowers braided into her wine red hair, catching Ienzo off guard. "You don't know what day it is, do you?" Her soft voice teased and Ienzo shook his head slowly while trying to recount what few holidays there were and which one today might be.

Ansem chuckled, shaking his head as if he thought the young boy was hopeless. "You spend too little time away from the lab. It's—"

"Shh! Don't tell him if he doesn't know, it leaves more room for fun! Ienzo's smart, he'll figure it out eventually…has he been before?" Amber cut Ansem off while grinning like she knew the world's biggest secret and was having quite the hard time keeping it to herself.

"No, they always worked through it. You know none of the apprentices are very social and I tend to be busy myself. This will be his first." He admitted, causing Amber's excitement to rise to the point it nearly seemed tangible.

"Awesome! This'll be so fun!" She cheered happily, causing Ienzo to look from her to Ansem and back. He had never seen her act this way and it was almost disorienting, and then a cough broke the illusion. She was still Amber, after all, just a bit excited. "Come on, I'm borrowing you for the day and you're not getting a choice—it took me forever for me to convince my parents to let me have free run today and you spend all your time holed up in the lab. You need to get out anyway." Her teasing was punctuated by snatching up one of his hands and trying to tug him towards the massive double-doors that led to freedom for them both. With a laugh Ansem stopped Amber with a quick grab of one of her shoulders and handed Ienzo a small bag of munny.

"Go have fun, and don't let her bully you too much. Amber, try not to run him ragged? I wouldn't mind it, but I'm sure Even will give me the third degree if I let him sleep it off all tomorrow…though I think it'd be good for him." Amber grinned innocently back at the older man and winked.

"I gotcha. Run him slap ragged and let you defend his honor in the name of childhood experiences. I see." Ansem laughed and patted her head as he winked back at her and wore a grin that mirrored hers.

"You got me. Just take it easy on yourself, okay?" His attention shifted from Amber to Ienzo. "Now don't forget to watch Amber, make sure she doesn't overdo it. We all know how stubborn she is, but if she doesn't look good or says she doesn't feel good then you slow her down and make her sit down. She is just as much your responsibility as you are hers, do you understand, Ienzo?" Ansem's voice was suddenly very much fatherly and serious as opposed to the joking tone it had carried before. Ienzo just nodded in response, a slight glint of humor mixed in with the seriousness in his odd blue-gray eyes.

"Yes sir. Just like old times." The reply is softly spoken, but conveys a light air of humor. The pair before him smiled fractionally at the almost-joke. Amber's hand traveled from gripping his hand to resting on his shoulder lightly.

"Still chaperoning, of course that hasn't changed, buuuuuuuuuut, this time it's just us, and I get to lead you around! And I'm a lot better than before, so we can worry less and concentrate more on the fun!" It all came out so cheerfully that it was hard to imagine she was ever sick at all, impossible to believe she had almost been on her deathbed less than a year ago.

"Of course." Ienzo gave her an angelic smile; it was a "miracle" that kept her here with him—with them all. That was all he cared about in the end-he got to keep the only real friend he had ever had rather than lose her to the disease that had killed her slowly for most of her young life. He had Xehanort to thank for that, and he wished that, as much as he cared for Amber, he didn't have to owe it to the man who created the things that haunted his dreams and turned them into horrific nightmares. Of course Amber was the antidote for that problem. She was oblivious to it all, innocent in every way, a little ball of light and love that enjoyed flowers and hugs. Amber didn't care that he was a workaholic at eleven, she just jumped the command chain if she wanted to steal him away to do something every so often—typically about once a month or so. In spite of all the horrific things he'd aided in doing in the basement lab she was somehow still there for him, arms wide open and smiling. She didn't always understand him but she didn't have to, if he was upset, then she was there to cheer him up. If he just wanted to sit with her quietly in the garden, then she would sit there until he stood and thanked her; one time he had cried and she had just sat there and let him, holding him and murmuring assurances until he stopped without ever asking what it was about. Her innocence was contagious, if she touched you then for a time you became innocent as well…at least, that was how Ienzo felt.

"Mhm. Mr. Ansem? May we leave now?" Amber's question shattered his morbid thoughts like a flask shattering upon being dropped to the lab floor (although that was inadvisable, this was preferable). He watched as Ansem the Wise seemed to think a moment before politely gesturing to the door.

"Yes, go and have your fun. Particularly you, Ienzo." He smiled as though he knew something Ienzo didn't, however Ienzo had no time to ponder it as suddenly Amber's hand darted from his shoulder to his own and took a surprisingly strong hold. Before he really knew it or could really object to it, Amber had pulled him out of the door and into the daylight. Chatter from the world at the foot of the castle's steps assaulted his ears in a dull roar, even from where they stood at the top far above. Peering over the second landing wall filled his eyes with the sight of literally hundreds of people milling about the blooming castle garden below. What the heck was going on? Beside him, Amber let out a musical laugh and grinned widely at him when he looked to her questioningly.

"Ienzo, really? You still don't know?" He shook his head, causing her to sigh in annoyance. "It's the Full Bloom Festival!" Her tone came out playfully superior as she ruffled his hair gently.

Full…Bloom…what?

"Oh."

It hit him suddenly; the Full Bloom Festival was celebrated in Radiant Garden every Spring, when most of the plants in the castle garden were found to be blooming. It was supposed to be HUGE, with every kind of amusement you could think of and almost everyone in Radiant Garden in attendance. He had never been. He hardly even knew the time, let alone the day or date, and the Apprentices of Ansem the Wise were often too busy to leave the castle before Xehanort and the darkness experiments. Amber had just discussed that matter with Ansem, of course, and yet she seemed more excited than unhappy about the fact. Actually, it was only moments before Amber's hand took his again, more gently this time, and pulled him away from the second landing to the stairs that wound down to the ground—to the festival.

"I promise, you'll love it!" Amber assured him.

The day passed in a blur of flowers, friendly people, a few rides, games, and food. Ienzo was shocked to discover Amber was a bottomless pit with a sweet tooth—every time he turned around, she had some new confection to snack on and often insisted that he try some. Most of it was good, if a little to sweet for him, but he quickly took a liking to a candy Amber had told him was called "salt water taffy" and initially forced him to try. In fact, quite a bit of it loaded down the pockets of his lab coat after that first piece Amber had made him try. It put him in mind of the sea-salt ice cream Ansem liked to share so much, and of course by the end of the festival, they ended up with some of that as well. Amber tried to avoid rides, opting for games instead and squarely defeated Ienzo at a dart-throwing game where the pointy projectiles were used to pop balloons. Amber had perfectly nailed three different balloons, landing her a Moogle plushie while Ienzo had fallen short every time. A second time proved no better, nor did a third and so on, until Amber pulled him away to prevent him from "blowing all his munny" with an amused laugh and her plushie tucked safely in her grasp.

It was just getting dark when Amber pulled him to the vendor's cart. "Two sea-salt, please, Mrs. Addison!" She ordered cheerfully, removing her own munny to pay. The young brown haired woman produced two blue-wrapped packages from the cart with a smile.

"Here you are, Amber! Are you and your friend there going to watch the fireworks?" Fireworks? There were going to be fireworks? Even claimed fireworks were the worst use of science ever, blowing up useful chemicals solely for the sake of visual entertainment. Ienzo had never seen them before.

"Of course, Mrs. Addison! The fireworks are the best part, and Ienzo has never been before—he works with Mr. Ansem and Doc. Even in the castle. We're gonna go watch them in the fountain court!" Amber announced proudly, taking the two packages and passing the owed munny to the woman.

"Is that so? You two have fun, then!" She said, waving the two off with a lovely smile. Amber handed Ienzo one of the blue plastic packages as they walked away.

"How does that sound, Ienzo? Ice cream and fireworks in the fountain court?" She asked, popping her own package open and producing a rather familiar blue bar of ice cream.

"It sounds nice… I-I have never seen fireworks before, Even says they are the worst application of science ever." Ienzo replied, opening his own ice cream package methodically and very nearly dropping it when Amber exploded with laughter.

"Ienzo, don't tell Even I said this. Ever. But for such a brilliant man of science, he can be full of crap sometimes. Fireworks are the coolest thing ever—best use of science I've seen yet. They're the best part of the Festival and they look best in the fountain court, you'll love 'em." The smile she was wearing might have suggested she was conspiring with the devil himself—if you believed in that kind of thing. Ienzo had no reason to believe a red man with horns and a pitchfork was the cause of all evil in the world. Even would hate her for this, but she quite obviously didn't care. That was the point of today—not caring the least bit for what the rest of the world.

It worked, Ienzo found it easy to forget about all else during his day with Amber. So far, Amber had been right, he had loved every minute of the Festival. As they stepped out into the fountain court, he would put his last belief in Amber to the test. "We have a few minutes, let's go get a good spot and enjoy our ice cream before it starts." Amber led him to a ledge on a higher walkway by one of the fountains.

"Won't the wall obstruct the view of the fireworks?" Ienzo asked curiously. Amber shook her head slightly, ice cream bar in her mouth.

"No, they go really high." She spoke once the blue bar was removed from her mouth. "And it's even cooler here because all the lights reflect off the water." Finding the answer satisfactory, Ienzo moved back to focusing on his ice cream. After a few minutes of silence due to Ienzo's pondering, Amber spoke up again. "I'm cold."

Obviously, it was now night, and she was wearing a sundress and eating ice cream next to the spray from one of the fountains. "Stop eating the ice cream, then." He said almost dryly.

"Why waste good ice cream? 'Sides, makes my throat feel better." The smug expression on her face seemed to say she liked being difficult. With a sigh Ienzo removed his lab coat and stood on tiptoe to place it gently on her shoulders.

"Here. Hope it helps." He said, Amber blinking in surprise as the smug expression faded.

"Oh…thank you! You didn't have to…"

"Yeah I did. You were—ah!" Ienzo's reply was cut off as the lights in the court suddenly went out, plunging them into darkness.

"Oh! It's starting!" Amber cheered before glancing to Ienzo and holding out something to him suddenly. "His name is Hanabi, okay? You can keep him so you remember today forever." Ienzo was slightly surprised to find her holding the stuffed Moogle she'd won out to him. He didn't really like stuffed animals, but… It was then that he was distracted by a flash of green that shot up, up, up…and with a rather unexpected ground-shaking bang, exploded into more green that seem to explode in the water around them as well. He jerked around, gripping Hanabi the Moogle tightly.

"Whoa!" He gasped in awe.

"Was Even finally wrong about something?" Amber questioned, that smug little smile returning to her lips. Ienzo nodded quickly while reaching for her free hand with his own (made so by quickly lodging Hanabi into the crook of his ice cream hand's arm) and taking it gently as glows of red and blue followed the green, shooting into the air and exploding and dancing on the water of the court's fountains and surrounding them in a sea of multicolored stars.

"Pretty. Loud, but pretty." He spoke slowly.

"It gets better. Mr. Cid has some that make shapes and pictures!" Amber's excitement seemed to be spilling into him from her hand, where Ienzo held it. She was loving every bit of it—the lights, the explosions, the resulting thunderous booms and tremors, the fact he was there with her feeling the same way.

As a white one exploded into the image of a flower, Ienzo realized something; he had made an error before. His hand was jerked with Amber's in the heat of the moment as she cheered and clapped at the spectacle. He couldn't help but smile at the pure childish delight on her face, though she was five years older than him. He was wrong, Amber made him feel just like a normal kid, any normal boy, made him feel like the lab experiments and darkness research was all just a bad dream and it never really happened. She… Standing there with her made all the horror, the guilt, the sadness, all of the bad things fade away until they vanished entirely. His hands suddenly felt clean and his haunted conscious amazingly clear.

Standing there with Amber, eating ice cream and watching fireworks explode overhead and reflected like a sea of multicolored stars around them on the fountains, he suddenly felt sinless.

Nothing would ever look as beautiful as that scene, ever. Not even when they went back to the Festival in the following years, and there would never be a single object that held more importance to him than Hanabi, who was often found placed carefully atop the sheets and comforter of his oh-so-carefully made bed the belonged to Ienzo.

And then things changed.

They had gone too far. They got in too deep, and soon Amber became an annoyance to everyone but Ienzo and Xehanort, but while Xehanort was often too busy with research to meet with her, Ienzo took every chance he could to get away from the basement lab. With her he could be normal and happy for a little while, and she enjoyed the company just as much as he did. However, it was distracting Ienzo and making work much more difficult for Even, not to mention Ansem was getting suspicious…

They locked the older man away to keep him from bothering them. Locked him away where he would not be found, nor could he escape. Some of them (rather, most of them) had already become emotionless shells by then, and it was at that point they removed themselves from society completely, and Ienzo's removal was not of his own free will. Even(or rather the emotionless shell) sealed off the basement lab from the rest of the castle, not allowing Ienzo outside to see Amber or anything else until the darkness and despair in his heart built up and he finally gave in. "Of course this is what I get. I was doomed to meet this end from the beginning when I convinced Ansem to build this lab… Who was I kidding, I couldn't erase my sins and neither could Amber; no more than it would have been possible to erase Amber's illness and all those years she suffered from its full force. It was all just unreliable emotion and human weakness." The newly born Zexion said to himself at some point afterward.

…But if that was true, then why did he not burn Hanabi when he was given free roam of the castle once more? The stuffed Moogle stood for everything he now claimed pointless, yet it still sat carefully placed atop the perfectly made sheets of his old bed. That was where Amber both found and left it on her last visit to the castle.

Zexion watched her quietly from the shadows, he wouldn't dare approach her as he was now, but something compelled him to watch her wander from room to empty room, calling out names no longer in use. Part of him tried to rationalize it as a final goodbye he could not tell her face-to-face, but it felt like a poor explanation. His chest continued to throb painfully as he watched, yet something refused to let him leave and return to the basement lab, which was still in use, unlike the rest of the castle.

Vexen would scold him, he was sure, but this was the last time he would see her. It was almost like closure for the dead, he would make sure she was okay and safe for the duration of her wandering, and that would be it. No more Amber Lyone except for a stray memory every so often after this…that decision would haunt him later.

He didn't think anyone left anything specific to be found on purpose. Sure, Hanabi had been left on his bed and she shook her head at that, but did not move it. Nothing else seemed to affect her until she got to the door of Xehanort's room, where she paused as though something had caught her interest. As far away as he was, he could not see what it was that had taken hold of her interest until she pulled it from the door and promptly turned around to read it leaning against the wall by the door. It seemed someone (Xemnas?) had left her a letter, or at least something on a piece of paper. Zexion could not tell what was on the paper, but Amber's worried expression quickly turned almost angry. "Why?" The softly spoken word carries to him clearly, full of pain and confusion. "Xehanort, how is the BETTER?" She shouted, but the anger in it cracked with her voice in the last word and melted into soft sobs. "Dangit…why'd you take everyone away? Why did you leave me alone…? I can't…" Zexion had the throbbing, memory-fueled urge to comfort her as she rubbed profusely at her face. It gets rid of the tears, but the emotion is still very much there. Amber, tough and morbid, yet lovely Amber is cried in harsh sobs that grated in his ears and filled his chest, locking him in place. "Is it impossible for me to be happy?" Her last words shook him, but it's their follow up that was the punch to the gut. "What did I do? And why did you have to take Ienzo, too? WHY?" The words echoed through the empty halls and reverberated in his ears, the ceiling was the only thing that prevented it from going heavenward like she might have wanted it to, not that she'd have gotten an answer even if she had been able to direct it to the open sky.

"I wish I could say I was sorry, Amber. I wish I could so much, but I can't because I could never mean it." He whispered under his breath so that she would never hear the last words he ever expected to speak to her, yet it was only after he spoke them that she turned and fled the empty castle with the paper clutched in her grasp. That would be the last time he ever saw Amber Lyone.

Or so he thought.