Chapter Text
Isa got the call a week later. Lea was off-world, training with Merlin again, and Isa, as was his preference, had sequestered himself away in their apartment. He still hesitated at the thought of running into Roxas or Xion when Lea was away—not out of fear for them or himself, but out of sheer awkwardness. He didn’t know how to speak to them when Lea wasn’t there to keep the mood light.
Isa was curled up on the couch, thumbing through an old magazine, when he heard the grating buzz of his gummiphone vibrating on the coffee table. He frowned. Lea hadn’t left long ago—why would he be calling? Stretching his legs as he stood—he found they had gotten stiffer since becoming human again—he picked up the phone, pressing the green answer button. Where he had expected Lea’s face, Ienzo appeared. Isa froze.
“Ienzo?”
“Hello, Isa,” said the boy. “Is this a good time?”
“As good as any. What’s going on?” Isa had spent every waking moment of the last week turning the words of their last encounter over and over in his mind, trying desperately to digest every possibility imaginable.
“No need to sound so concerned!” Ienzo said, waving his free hand. “I just thought I’d offer you an update on the matter we spoke of last week.”
“Has something happened?”
“Master Ansem has permitted the procedure. Even already has several completed replicas, and Terra has agreed to undergo the process of extraction.” There was a tinge of nervous excitement to Ienzo’s voice. Ever the academic. “We’re planning to make our effort this evening,” he continued. “As you were involved in the conversation, we wanted to invite you to be present, as well, should you have any unique insights.”
Isa’s heartbeat felt loud in his throat. “That was quick.”
Ienzo gave a sheepish chuckle. “Well, Terra, Even, and I have been looking into the subject for a few weeks. The discussion you witnessed was only us positing the idea to Master Ansem.”
“I see,” Isa said slowly. “Does anyone else know?”
“Master Ansem has discussed the matter with Yen Sid and King Mickey, and we’ve also informed Dilan and Aeleus, as they will be taking turns standing guard, just in case. I expect you’ve discussed things with Lea, as well?”
“Yes, though I left out a few finer details."
“All well and good. We’re trying to keep the procedure under wraps for the time being, at least until we’ve achieved some kind of stable result.”
“I see." Isa paused, chewing his lip. "Out of curiosity, just what ‘unique insights’ do you expect me to have? You seem to have things quite under control.” He wondered genuinely at the answer, though he kept his expression blank.
Ienzo fidgeted slightly before answering. “Well, you’re more familiar with Xemnas himself than any of us are. Should he wake in a… less than optimal manner, we believe that you would have a higher likelihood of de-escalating the situation than the rest of us.”
A frown immediately tugged at Isa's scar. “I backstabbed him in both Organizations,” he said, incredulous. “I really don’t know if that would be the case.”
Ienzo shrugged. “Terra seems to think so, and he’s the only word we have to go on.”
“I just gave you my word to go on. I know Xemnas.”
“I thought you said you were no closer to him than the rest of us?” Ienzo looked quite pleased with himself.
Isa merely grit his teeth. “I’ll be there.”
Though he knew Lea wasn’t supposed to get back for a few more days, Isa still left him a note. “Going off-world for a bit. Be back soon,” it read, scrawled in Isa’s thin, tidy handwriting and left on the stovetop. It was the least he would have expected from Lea in the same circumstance, after all. He hoped to be home that evening, but there were simply too many variables in play to be sure.
When he got to Radiant Garden, the sun had already started to set. The sunset here was more violet, more somber than Twilight Town’s eternal warmth. The air felt chilly on Isa’s cheeks as he returned to the castle. Ushered in once more by Dilan and Aeleus, he made it back to the lab, his stomach a mess of knots and his footfalls loud in his ears.
Before he even knocked, the laboratory door slid open, revealing Ienzo and Ansem behind it. The young man gestured inside.
“Isa, good,” said Even from within. “We’re almost ready to begin.”
Isa entered the lab behind Ienzo, pulling his hair over one shoulder. Two medical beds had been placed in the center, Terra sitting on one and the familiar, empty white form of a replica lying on the other. The replica had a series of wires attached to various spots on its forehead and torso, with a white sheet draped over its lower half. Its arms, Isa noticed with apprehension, were strapped to the bed. Terra gave Isa a good-natured wave, and Isa returned the gesture with what little ease he had. The replication process made him uneasy as it was; the fact that it was Xemnas being replicated only added to the cloud swirling through Isa’s mind.
“How was this possible?” Isa asked. “If I recall correctly, didn’t Sora need a special power to release a sleeping heart?”
“Since the memories started, I’ve been working to earn the power of waking,” said Terra plainly. When Isa looked at him in perplexity, he shrugged. “It’s a good skill for Keyblade wielders to have, anyway. This is a good way to try it out.”
“Seems like everyone has their motives."
“What are yours?” Terra’s gaze was painfully earnest, and Isa suddenly felt a little too exposed.
Isa toyed with a loose thread on his jacket, retreating behind its collar. “Morbid curiosity.”
He wasn’t sure he had a real answer.
Ansem’s voice cut through their conversation. “We’re almost ready. Terra, lie back.”
Terra did as he was told, folding his hands over his belly. Even tinkered with one of the machines to his left while Ienzo punched data into the computer. Isa simply stood, his eyes on the replica. Would Xemnas be the same when he returned? Just how much influence did Xehanort’s heart have? Would he even tell the truth?
A headache was beginning to form behind Isa’s eyes.
“Good luck, Terra,” Ienzo said, finishing up the last few lines of his code.
“We’ll see what happens,” replied Terra, though the small smile on his lips looked hopeful. He closed his eyes, and Isa watched as strings of indecipherable data scrolled across the giant computer screens. Ansem, after a few minutes, passed a hand over Terra’s face, reading a few details from one of the smaller screens nearby.
“He has entered the realm of sleep,” he said, looking back at the other three men. “Preparations are finished on our end?” Ienzo nodded as Even finished working on the machine.
“Looking good so far,” said Ienzo, typing a few things on the keyboard. Isa merely watched, his eyes drawn to the peculiarly familiar rise and fall of Terra’s chest. "Everything is under control."
“Isa,” Even said, grabbing Isa’s attention as he gestured towards himself. “A word.”
Frowning, Isa followed him to the other side of the laboratory. Even made a show of grabbing a few notebooks off the shelf before speaking to him softly.
“How much did he matter to you in the end?” he said.
Isa’s brows twitched. "He… didn't," he said, crossing his arms and avoiding Even's pointed gaze. "He was a means to an end."
"Hm," Even hummed, stroking his chin. "You're certain there wasn't more to it than that?"
"Does it matter?" Isa didn't particularly want to answer that question. Not aloud.
"Xemnas's heart is still partially incomplete, particularly without harboring the essence of Xehanort," Even said thoughtfully. "It will finish developing, but for now, elements of it are moldable. Aside from Terra and, perhaps, Braig, you appear to have the closest ties to him. You may be able to influence his… perceptions."
"And so the researcher becomes the subject," Isa muttered, his eyes narrowing. "So that's why you invited me. You think I can seduce him."
"Well, if it comes to that, it certainly needn't be here," said Even, his nose wrinkling slightly. "But we expect he may be more honest with you than with us."
"He told me the same lies he told the rest of you." Isa's temper had begun to flare. "That we had no hearts to speak of."
"True," said Even, "but you must admit he was far more forthcoming when it came to sharing other details with you. Did you forget that you were rank seven, and yet he put you in charge of running the entire Organization?” There was a hint of bitterness to Even’s voice.
Isa scowled. “I’ll do what I can to get you your answers, but I’m not making any promises.”
“That’s enough for me.” Even scratched a few notes into one of the notebooks before returning it to its place on the shelf. “And now, we wait.”
Isa followed him back to where Ienzo and Ansem were monitoring the main computer screen, talking quietly to one another. The ache in Isa’s skull had grown more insistent, and he passed a hand over his face, rubbing his brow bone. Standing off to the side, a few feet away from where Even rejoined the academics’ conversation, Isa’s eyes landed on the replica. Blank and white, Isa imagined it metamorphosing, its figure stretching and molding into a shape Isa knew intimately.
Staring at its blank face, Isa found himself thinking of Xion. She had once appeared to him as nothing but the empty slate of the replica—and yet she had forged herself a new identity, had built her own destiny and become her own person. Isa found himself wondering if Xemnas would be able to do the same.
He snorted to himself. How things had changed.
“What results are you expecting?” he asked. “Are there any concerns thus far?”
“Should Terra be able to release his heart, we will route it into the replica,” Ienzo explained. “From there, we will simply have to wait and see.”
“Xemnas’s heart, as you know, is a special case,” said Even. “It is difficult to predict how it will react, bereft as it now is of Xehanort’s direct influence. He may awaken immediately, or it may take some time for his heart to adapt to the replica.”
“And when he wakes? What do you plan to do, then?” Isa looked at the leather straps that bound the replica to the bed.
Ienzo replied. “His state may be volatile, but I assure you, we have taken several precautions. We plan to allow his mind and heart to recover here before transferring him to his holding chamber for questioning.”
Isa drew his lips into a line. All the researchers wanted was to probe Xemnas for information and data. Terra, it seemed, merely wanted his heart free of anyone but himself. Isa wasn’t certain what he himself wanted, but the thought of Xemnas being turned into a lab rat while the rest of them roamed free… It didn't sit right. He wondered if Xemnas even wanted to return.
Why should I care? He was a monster.
And so was I.
“You plan to keep him here, under lock and key?” Isa asked, his voice chilly.
“Is there an alternative? He is incredibly dangerous,” said Ansem. “We cannot let sentimentality put the lives of this world and others at stake.”
“It isn’t sentimentality." Isa's voice was sharp, eyes narrowing. "What power does he have now, without Xehanort, without the Organization? What goal? He knew he was never meant to exist at all. He was just another pawn.”
“You are letting your past ties blind you. Have you forgotten the lies upon which his Organization was built?”
“Of course not. Never." Isa glared at Ansem. How dare any of them pretend to understand how he felt? How dare any of them talk down to him on matters that he knew? “But we’ve all lied. We've all harmed, more than any of us can bear to admit aloud. Is he merely the scapegoat for our own wrongdoings?”
“That’s enough,” Even said firmly, stepping between Isa and Ansem. “We’re only taking precautions. That is all.” Ienzo shifted uncomfortably, a small frown appearing on his forehead, and Ansem huffed, turning his attention back to the computer.
“Fine.” Isa looked away. He wondered what Lea would think, seeing Isa riled up like this on Xemnas’s behalf. And yet Isa couldn’t help it. If they, with their blood-stained pasts, deserved a second pass at life, then so, too, didn't Xemnas? The thought frightened him, but he couldn't shake it from his mind. Perhaps he was just trying to assuage his own guilty conscience.
He stepped away from the others, arms crossed and face hidden. But before he could sink too deeply into a sulk, a sudden flash of white filled the room, casting an otherworldly hue over the equipment. Isa whirled around to see a burst of light emerge from Terra’s chest, shooting into the replica with enough force to jolt the bed on which it lay.
“That was quicker than expected,” mused Even.
“It looks like Terra was successful,” Ienzo said, scrambling at the keyboard. “He should wake soon, and the replica should begin taking shape immediately.”
Isa’s breath caught in his throat, his eyes glued to the replica. Its form began to change, limbs growing longer and filling out. There was another blinding flash, and Isa averted his eyes. When he looked back, there, in place of the empty doll, lay a body that had once been so familiar to him. His heart thudded in his chest, deafening him to the world.
There, in the laboratory where he had been born so long ago, lay Xemnas.