Chapter Text
The tall keyblade wielder walked down the musty unkempt halls of the large lab of Radiant Gardens. He looked slightly lost as he traveled through the endless tunnel full of small rooms on both sides of the hallway, looking through each one trying to find his way. It had been a long time since he had last been here, and back then he hadn't done too much exploring of the large city. As the young man peered into a random room, he was met with a surprised and concerned glare from a shy silver haired boy who was organizing papers by his laptop. He looked as if he saw a ghost. The visitor continued to hang, oblivious, in the door frame, ignoring or not noticing the glare, and instead taking note of the blips and beeps of the small mechanical marvels he didn’t understand. He was still adjusting to modern technology after being trapped for 10 years in his former psycho mentor.
“Have you seen the other scientist that works here?” Terra inquired, still peering in slowly as the boy shook off his shocked stare and answered, “Apologies, um… you’ll need to be more specific, we have many researchers stationed at this facility now…” Ienzo steadied himself on the built in lab tables on the left side of the room, eyes darting uncomfortably first from left to right and then to his stack of papers, waiting to go back to what he was doing initially.
Terra relaxed from his awkward state on the door frame and stood gentlemanly in the doorway, “Oh! Um. I’m sorry I don’t remember his name but he has long blonde hair and Aqua says he worked here back before the world was... overtaken by Darkness.”
“You’re looking for Even,” Ienzo loosened his posture, eager to explain something, even if it was only directions, “He’s in the last lab on the right; it is the larger heart experimentation and research room, it should be marked but I haven’t gone over there in a while. You’ll see it.” Terra gave the researcher a small nod of gratitude and turned away to find his own way to the examination room. As he left, Ienzo gave a small sigh and returned to his laptop.
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As Terra slid open the laboratory door of Even’s favorite place of study, he was met with loud murmurs of scientific mumbo jumbo. From the look of it, Even was conducting some sort of diagnostic on his gigantic monitor while animatedly talking to himself, but Terra didn’t know what any of that code could mean or understand anything the scientist was saying. Approaching Even from behind, he asked the man bluntly, “Excuse me Even, but you called for me?”
Even practically jumped in surprise, before composing himself and turning to face the confused and, in his eyes, short young man. “Ahem, yes, Terra is it? Just hold on a moment.” Even waved him off to sit on an examination table near the center of the room. Terra situated himself on the bench and watched as the disorganized scientist shuffled a stack of papers even larger than those of Ienzo into a semi-neat pile before shoving the whole lot to the side. Even turned to face Terra, who had sat down with one foot up on the bench, knee pointing up as the other slouched down, barely making contact with the dirty unsweept lab floors.
“Yes. Now how can I be of service Terra?” Even asked, softly.
This voice? It seems both extremely strange, yet also… familiar? Isn’t he typically much louder….?
“aHEM,” Even coughed, breaking Terra’s strange distant stare.
That’s a bit... better?
Terra moved off the uncomfortable perch and addressed Even, “Sorry Sir. You, uh, asked for me a while ago. You wanted to run some sort of test if I remember correctly.” Even crossed the lab past the bed-like device that Terra was standing next to to kneel down on the ground (almost like a complete cat crouch since he was quite tall). Muttering to himself, he dug around the lower cabinets, pulling out fresh examination papers, pens, wires, and small devices the keyblade wielder didn’t comprehend. The brown haired young man continued standing and watching-- silent and still, almost like a military official waiting for commands from a superior.
Even rose quickly from his search, slamming his head on the interior of the cabinet in the process. Rubbing his head in frustration, he did another quick scan of all the contents before exclaiming, holding up a small square of paper, “Ah, there it is! ‘Terra -- examine Heart 11/12’. I gave this to an intern weeks ago! What is the point of memos if they do not get read and go into a useless pile?!”
The high-pitched complaint made Terra’s shoulder relax slightly in relief. Even talking so mild-mannered and calmly had felt wrong and off, though he couldn’t begin to say why that was. The yelling and complaining felt like a wrong set right, as paradoxical as that sounded.
As Even rose again from his search (carefully this time) he started towards the back of the room to find a replacement part for such-n-such. While searching the back cabinets for a matching wire, he also ranted quite extensively about Ansem the Wise using his supplies without asking. Terra listened attentively, somehow almost nostalgically, as the scientist criticized Ansem the Wise's poor management of his equipment. Just as he didn’t understand why Even being quiet felt wrong, he didn’t know how he was supposed to be feeling nostalgic. He hadn’t been to these labs in over ten years, and even then he didn’t exactly speak with Even of all people. From what he could remember, the Radiant Garden scientists spent almost all their time secluded inside the lab, so why did he seem to know them? Terra quickly shook his head of those thoughts before he could get totally lost in them. They were trying to accomplish something here, and his confusion and overthinking would only mess with everything.
“Here we are!” Even sighed in relief, plugging the wire into the scanner shaped device. He, once again, passed by an unmoving Terra as he strode back towards his computer on the other side of the room. He plugged the dangling cord into an adapter, then into the computer. Terra wished he understood the inner workings of this process but he could only stand there in awe as Even set up his intricate equipment, tapping away at the large keyboard, inputting what looked like codes in an equally oversized monitor. “Lay on the bench and sit still,” the tall scientist instructed, absently flapping a hand towards Terra and the metal platform he stood next to. Terra complied, laying back down onto the table.
Looking between a clipboard and the computer’s set up Even continued, “I want to do a quick experimental scan of your Heart first. And, in the event we sense any odd activity, we can do a more detailed scan tomorrow.” Terra squirmed on the cold white slab of metal pretending to be a bed, attempting to get as comfortable as he could. Terra suspected that this lab was usually used for much smaller people. (From what he has heard, Ventus, Xion and Roxas come here often for occasional checkups so Terra decides that this is like those children’s rooms of Doctor’s offices where everything was smaller than it should be.)
“Does the detailed scan include sleeping for a long time like Kairi?” Terra asked, cringing at the idea of being separated from the world he had just rejoined.
“Yes it does. That is why Ienzo and I have perfected this scanner. We do not want to be messing with Hearts or memories if nothing is wrong.” Even finished booting up his multitude of programs and moved to the center, scanner in hand. “Simply lay back and try to relax. The scanner is still relatively new technology so it is sensitive to movement, body heat spikes, and drastic changes in brain waves during scanning.”
Terra followed the instructions and shut his eyes, expecting a loud sound, beaming light, or even pain of some sort. But Even just hovered the scanner over his body and gently moved it down from head to toe in a remarkably quick and simple fashion. “You can get up now, If it is more comfortable,” Even allowed, setting the scanner down on the lab table built into the wall.
Terra immediately sat back up, grateful it didn’t take too long (Science truly was incredible nowadays) while Even impatiently waited for results. Terra could hear him murmuring under his breath about the slow result time, writing a note on the notepad beside him. Once he scribbled down a few, what Terra assumes to be maintenance notes, he looked back at his monitor to see the data loaded completely.
“Oh my!” Even exclaimed, bewildered and eyes widened beneath his long bangs. Terra went up beside him to look at the data, but couldn't make anything out of the charts and numbers on the screen.
“What's the matter? Is there something wrong with my Heart!? What does all this stuff mean?” Terra had many concerned queries as Even looked over the data thrice more.
Furiously jotting down more notes, now barely looking at Terra, Even composed his findings into a simple conclusion Terra could understand with ease. “You will definitely need to come back tomorrow for the full scan. It would seem your Heart is not alone.”