Unexpected

Rafe barely noticed the voices outside at first, other than a distant part of his mind noting that the weren’t actually in the shop in front, so it had nothing to do with him. The rest of his focus was on the gather he was working with - red hot, molten, glass wasn’t exactly a thing that you wanted to deal with while you weren’t completely focused. Besides, he didn’t want to mess up on this, not when it was the first time in a long time that he’d had a chance to do something just for himself.

The creak of the gate that lead around the back of the building was also not really acknowledged, other than a vague realization that it was probably one of his friends from the Reconstruction Committee coming to find him. Then he put both sounds out of his mind.

He had a chance to take a breather a few moments later, and looked up as he set his tools aside. The sight of the empty studio caused him to paused in confusion. He could still hear voices, but there wasn’t anyone in the workspace itself, which was unusual. Most of his friends were aware of the unspoken signals when it came to the studio. When he had the double doors of the studio shut, it meant he was working on something that required complete focus and couldn’t be disturbed. When he had the doors open for the fresh air - like they were today - that meant that he wasn’t that busy. Any of his friends who had bothered to come around to the back would have taken that invitation and already be in the building. Even if they knew better than to outright interrupt him, they would still have been around, and hard to miss. Cid in particular tended to start talking or grumbling before he could tell what he was doing, and Rafe had asked him several times to not smoke in the shop. His customers didn’t like it.

Instead, the studio was empty except for him and three cats, and he could hear voices outside. It couldn’t have been a customer - the door to the shop out front was obvious and you would have to look to find the gate that lead around the building. For a moment he wondered if it was heartless, but no, those were human voices. Besides, his fat brown and white cat Cocoa was sprawled out on a window ledge, and another of his cats was just visible through the open door, contemplating if jumping up on the back fence was worth the effort. Neither of them would have been that calm if there were heartless around.

He frowned a little and carefully set everything aside before heading out through the door. Maybe it really was just a customer that had gotten lost, though how they had even found the gate was a mystery to him.

“Can I help…” he started once he set foot outside, but when he saw who was standing there suddenly he forgot even that simple sentence. Deja vu smacked him in the face, and for a moment he wondered if he was dreaming.. Because this, this was reminding him of a moment back before his world had been ripped away all those years ago.

He hadn’t known all of Ansem the Wise’s apprentices that well. Usually had only met them in passing because of Even or even Ienzo. He knew that uniform the two men standing in the small space behind the shop were wearing, even if it had been years since he’d seen one of the castle guards.

Back before he had even known Traverse Town existed as more than a distant concept.

Yet here, they were, staring at him in surprise, as if he was the one who had suddenly appeared from the past. As if the pain from the last few years had only been in his mind, and if he went outside the damage they had been working so hard to repair would have been undone.

“So you’re here,” one of them said. Dilan, his mind managed to drudged up though the buried depths of his memory. “Since you are then maybe you can tell us…”

“Why are you here?” Rafe said haltingly, his mind finally reminding him that he knew how to use words. “How are you here? You….” died seemed to be a strong, considering they looked very much alive and he was pretty damn certain that he hadn’t spontaneously developed the ability to see spirits, “..disappeared.” He decided was the best phrase.

Both of them glanced at each other, a look that seemed to hold a wealth of information and told him a lot even without them saying anything.

Besides, they had been sneaking around his shop, yet clearly had been looking for him. There was something going on here, something more than two people finding their way back to a home that had only recently been restored.

“That’s not not relevant right now,” Dilan said calmly, as if he hadn’t just appeared after almost ten years gone, “right now, we…”

“‘Relevant?’ To what?,” Rafe cut him off and crossed his arms as he leaned against the door frame, “ We thought everyone in the castle was lost.”

“It’s complicated,” Dilan growled, “and we don’t have time to argue about it. Have you…”

“We’re looking for Even,” his companion spoke up then, voice quiet but firm. “Have you seen him?”

“Aeleus,” Dilan snapped, but Rafe barely noticed.

“Even?” it was a gut punch, a smack across the face. This strange reminder of the past had brought the name up to the forefront of his mind, but he’d been doing his best to ignore it, and the vague raising sense of hope it brough. “He’s alive?” His mouth was dry, the words hard to get out. Aeleus gave a little nod, making his heart jump a little at the confirmation “I haven’t heard from Even since Radiant Garden fell. I thought…” he pushed away from the wall, not even sure what he was feeling, just that a bubble of emotion that was caught in his chest. Alive, the word kept repeating itself in his mind over and over. Even was alive. It was like someone out there had heard one of his unspoken wishes (or would it be regrets?) and granted him a second chance at it.

But if Even really was alive, why hadn’t he heard from him? The scientist wasn’t the sentimental type in the slightest, but he would have thought that he would have heard something from him. Or hoped he would at least.

Dilan muttered something that sounded like a curse under his breath. “Not here either?” he said, to no one in particular, before turning to Aeleus. “If he’s not here, then we need to go search another area.”

“He’s here?” Rafe stepped towards them, “back in the town?” He kept feeling like someone was yanking a rug out from under him. Not just that Even was still alive, but that he was apparently so close. “You’re looking for him? Why come to me?”

Dilan glanced at him, but looked more like he wanted to dart off. “Because I remember you and Even use to meet back...before everything,” he said. “If he was going to wander off anywhere we hoped it would be to someone...familiar.” He shook his head, “but apparently we were wrong. We’ll look elsewhere.” They turned to leave.

“Wait,” Rafe didn’t like the way they had worded that, or that they were so fast to dash off. “You didn’t answer the first part of the question. Why do you need Even now? I’ve been here for the better part of a year, and I haven’t even seen you around the city before, and believe me I’ve been all over it. Then suddenly you’re here, looking for Even? Who you seemed convinced is here as well? What’s going on? What do you need him for?”

“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” Dilan said curtly as if that settled the matter. “If he does show up here, just tell him that we were looking for him.”

“Look, you came here because Even and I were friends,” Rafe wasn’t sure that Even would agree with that statement, but that didn’t matter. “I spent years thinking he was dead, or lost to the darkness. Now I know he’s still alive, right here in the city, and even though you thought he would come to me, now it’s none of my business.” He coked his head, watching the two with thoughtful eyes. “And you’re not just looking for him just to say ‘hi’. Not when you’re apparently doding a careful sweep of the area. You’re looking for him for a reason.”

There was a long silence from both of the other men. “It would take too long to explain,” Dilan said at last, “and we don’t have that kind of time at the moment.”

Rafe let out a long breath, his mind flashing to the possibilities that meant. There was a million things he wanted to say, but he decided there was really only one question that was really important at the moment.

“Just tell me, is Even in trouble?”

That got a long measuring look from the two. “We don’t know,” Dilan admitted at last. “We don’t think he is, but he was unstable when we last saw him.”

Rafe felt a chill settle over him, stomach dropping. “What do you mean by unstable?” he snapped, harsher than intended. Dilan just gave him a look and he sighed, “let me guess. It’s going to take to much time to explain?”

He wanted to demand how they could let this happen. If Even was that bad off, why did their take their eyes off him? ‘Unstable’ could mean so many things. Sick? Hurt? Suffering from some sort of breakdown? Whatever it was, he didn’t want to think of the scientist wandering around in a weakened state. Not when there were still pockets of heartless around. They had cleared them out of the main city proper, but if Even managed to wander away and into the outskirts...him running into them would be bad.

His heart hurt. He had already spent time mourning Even. Trying to accept that he was gone, and running through all the things in his mind he could have done differently. Wondering if he could have changed something if he had actually managed to get the scientist to talk to him instead of just assuming everything would stay the same. He had even started to make a sort of peace with himself over it.

Then fate goes and dangles this in front of him. Offering him hope, only to hold it just out of reach when he tried to grasp it. Even was alive, but something was wrong. Knowing he was so close made it worse in a way.

“It’s the truth,” was all Dilan said, as if the blunt statement would be enough.

Rafe sighed and rubbed the back of his head, “I get it,,” he said, since he did understand even if he didn’t like it. “If you think it’s that bad then we should get going. You can explain while we search.”

There was a sharp look from Dilan “We?”

Rafe shrugged nonchalantly, feeling oddly calm about this now that he had decided on a course of action. “You really didn’t think I was just going to stay behind, did you?” he said mildly, “after you tell me that Even’s stumbling around somewhere?”

“I didn’t say….” Dilan sighed. “I supposed we can’t stop you,” the guard said, “Just keep up.”

Rafe hurried a few steps to catch up to them as they left. Aeleus gave his shoulder a brief clasp as he caught up, an acknowledgement of some sort. He still wasn’t entirely sure he understood what was going on, and he had far more questions than answers - including why Even would have avoided him if he had survived. But those could wait. Once they found Even, once he could see for himself that h he was okay, that he really was still there...then he could ask him that himself, face to face.

He just was not going to waste this chance he had been given.

This time, he would make sure he didn’t have any regrets. He wasn’t going to just walk away from the person that he had discovered meant more to him than he had realized.