[They'd been the first two to split off. Wash wasn't entirely certain he liked the situation, but it was probably better than sending Ienzo off with pretty much anyone else in the group. He tried not to sigh too much, getting a good look at the tunnel they'd branched into.]
You said you could sense him, right? Which direction?
If it were a straight path, he wouldn't be lost to begin with. [Um. Duh. He looks in the direction indicated and chooses the split that best aligns with it.]
I'm probably going to regret asking this, but how do you do that?
It's a magical ability; Riku shares it. Essentially it's sensing the feel of a certain person's heart, which is why physical objects don't particularly block it.
[He could explain the theory behind it, but 'it just works' seems to be easier for many people to accept here.]
[It was a straight answer, but Ienzo doesn't know how helpful it might be to Wash.]
Yes. Everyone's heart is unique; the tone of it, and the amount of darkness and light that they hold. You have a great deal of darkness in yours, but it hasn't, apparently, overcome you. That's admirable.
[Ienzo heads down one of the forks without pausing.]
The explanation of my being a vampire is simpler and doesn't require a cosmology lesson. It's also untrue, but sometimes lies seem easier. I didn't think you wanted an explanation of the nature of hearts.
Yeah, well, believing someone else's lies has nearly gotten me killed more than once. I haven't had anything easy in a long time - might as well go with the cosmology lesson.
Everyone and every world in this universe has a heart. The heart is the seat of emotion - you can't have emotions without one - and the metaphysical object that defines who someone is. In order to understand how the heart defines one's identity, memory is the key. All the memories someone has, even if they can't consciously recall them, link together to make one's heart. Your experiences, the people you meet, and the decisions you make with regards to both define who you are.
[He fights to stay silent, to not give a visible reaction to that phrase even if the bits of Epsilon still in his head are starting to murmur and hiss in the back of his head. There's an abrupt tenseness in his shoulders; luckily, nothing else is visible under the armor. That doesn't stop him from taking in what Ienzo's saying, and as soon as he trusts himself to talk again, he speaks up.]
So what happens if someone's memories get messed up?
[He has absolutely no vested interest in this answer, of course.]
You're a different person than you were, obviously. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself; while our core selves tend to remain the same, people are always changing.
[He pauses; they've come to another fork, and hesitates for a long moment before heading to the right.]
If someone has the power to manipulate other people's memories, they can potentially shatter that person's heart. If one is very lucky, it's survivable. But it's not something I would worry about, if I were you. Only one person here has that ability. What Xehanort did was rather more worrying; he actively removed people's hearts.
Technically. Nature abhors a vacuum, however; a heart begins to reform once you've lost it, but it has to be nurtured. It's not the same as one's physical heart. And it's worth mentioning that being without a heart essentially makes you an abomination unto nature.
[Ienzo hesitates for a long moment.]
Namine can manipulate memories of those related in some way to Sora, but it isn't something that gives her any pleasure.
[Well, if memories make up the heart and memories are still intact, then it kind of makes sense...insomuch as anything here makes sense. Not that Wash will admit it. It all pretty well matches up with what Lea told him earlier, up to and including everything coming back to Xehanort.]
If it was the physical heart, I wouldn't have asked if you could live without it. But why would Xehanort be removing people's hearts?
[To get Kingdom Hearts, to create Nobodies...he's gotten a few answers from Lea already; he wants to see what Ienzo says. He might have more information.]
[The information about Namine gives him pause. Everyone here seems to have secrets, but he still wasn't expecting that.]
Completely aside from the fact that he thinks that destroying people's lives is funny, he wants to obtain Kingdom Hearts. [Ienzo sighed.] He's set several plans in motion to gain it, it seems, but...you must understand, other than "to gain Kingdom Hearts" his motivations are impossible to discern.
Has anyone told you the legend of how this universe came to be?
[Ienzo shakes his head.]
She isn't, but it isn't my place to give you details. One can't help what power they're gifted with.
And here I thought the villain was supposed to monologue when he set his evil plans in motion. [Because seriously, that's what this sounds like. North's comic books may or may not have been a bad influence.]
No.
[He snorts again. He'd thought his eidetic memory could be tough to deal with sometimes; what sort of hell had Namine suffered through to be saddled with that sort of power?]
He does, but he also lies regularly, so it's difficult to tell what's a real reason and what's hiding a sinister truth.
[He takes a deep breath.]
Long ago people lived in peace, and bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people’s hearts. It covered everything and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It’s the world we live now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That’s why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to innermost darkness will open. And true light will return.
Obviously it's probably not literally true - though recent events make me wonder - but it's illustrative of the belief system here.
[And really, where can North be? He must be close; the tunnels aren't that wide-ranging, unless they took a wrong turn somewhere.]
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Wash and Ienzo
You said you could sense him, right? Which direction?
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That general direction. It's not likely to be a straight path to get to him, unfortunately.
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I'm probably going to regret asking this, but how do you do that?
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I'm a vampire.
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And I'm the fucking king of England. How about a straight answer this time, Dracula.
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It's a magical ability; Riku shares it. Essentially it's sensing the feel of a certain person's heart, which is why physical objects don't particularly block it.
[He could explain the theory behind it, but 'it just works' seems to be easier for many people to accept here.]
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[...if that even was a straight answer. With Ienzo, he can't really tell.]
Kind of like a unique radio frequency. I'm guessing everyone has one, then.
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Yes. Everyone's heart is unique; the tone of it, and the amount of darkness and light that they hold. You have a great deal of darkness in yours, but it hasn't, apparently, overcome you. That's admirable.
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Really.
[There is exactly nothing admirable about what he's been through, and he's not about to talk about it, thanks.]
So you could use this to track down pretty much anyone.
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Once I knew them well enough, yes. The better I know someone, the easier it is, given the nature of the heart.
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That's...really creepy. Useful, but creepy.
[Fucking vampires.]
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The explanation of my being a vampire is simpler and doesn't require a cosmology lesson. It's also untrue, but sometimes lies seem easier. I didn't think you wanted an explanation of the nature of hearts.
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Yeah, well, believing someone else's lies has nearly gotten me killed more than once. I haven't had anything easy in a long time - might as well go with the cosmology lesson.
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[North had seemed to enjoy the illusions, but it might be easier to not use them for Wash, since they were walking.]
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[There is no room for argument in that tone.]
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[Ienzo thinks about the way to structure this.]
Everyone and every world in this universe has a heart. The heart is the seat of emotion - you can't have emotions without one - and the metaphysical object that defines who someone is. In order to understand how the heart defines one's identity, memory is the key. All the memories someone has, even if they can't consciously recall them, link together to make one's heart. Your experiences, the people you meet, and the decisions you make with regards to both define who you are.
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[He fights to stay silent, to not give a visible reaction to that phrase even if the bits of Epsilon still in his head are starting to murmur and hiss in the back of his head. There's an abrupt tenseness in his shoulders; luckily, nothing else is visible under the armor. That doesn't stop him from taking in what Ienzo's saying, and as soon as he trusts himself to talk again, he speaks up.]
So what happens if someone's memories get messed up?
[He has absolutely no vested interest in this answer, of course.]
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[He pauses; they've come to another fork, and hesitates for a long moment before heading to the right.]
If someone has the power to manipulate other people's memories, they can potentially shatter that person's heart. If one is very lucky, it's survivable. But it's not something I would worry about, if I were you. Only one person here has that ability. What Xehanort did was rather more worrying; he actively removed people's hearts.
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Can you survive without a heart?
[That doesn't seem physically possible.]
And who can manipulate memories? [Because he made it pretty clear it's not this Xehanort character.]
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[Ienzo hesitates for a long moment.]
Namine can manipulate memories of those related in some way to Sora, but it isn't something that gives her any pleasure.
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If it was the physical heart, I wouldn't have asked if you could live without it. But why would Xehanort be removing people's hearts?
[To get Kingdom Hearts, to create Nobodies...he's gotten a few answers from Lea already; he wants to see what Ienzo says. He might have more information.]
[The information about Namine gives him pause. Everyone here seems to have secrets, but he still wasn't expecting that.]
She doesn't seem the type.
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Has anyone told you the legend of how this universe came to be?
[Ienzo shakes his head.]
She isn't, but it isn't my place to give you details. One can't help what power they're gifted with.
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No.
[He snorts again. He'd thought his eidetic memory could be tough to deal with sometimes; what sort of hell had Namine suffered through to be saddled with that sort of power?]
Some gift.
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He does, but he also lies regularly, so it's difficult to tell what's a real reason and what's hiding a sinister truth.
[He takes a deep breath.]
Long ago people lived in peace, and bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people’s hearts. It covered everything and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It’s the world we live now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That’s why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to innermost darkness will open. And true light will return.
Obviously it's probably not literally true - though recent events make me wonder - but it's illustrative of the belief system here.
[And really, where can North be? He must be close; the tunnels aren't that wide-ranging, unless they took a wrong turn somewhere.]
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And you think Xehanort's trying to set off that chain of events - the door to darkness.
[It makes as much sense as anything else he's said.]
[And North wasn't kidding about being lost, jeez.]
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