Making History

Neopolitan stood beside the anxious Ienzo and Myde, who were waiting for the coronation ceremony to begin. Myde kept looking at Ienzo, who was staring straight at the door, boring holes in it with his intensity. Neopolitan hesitantly reached out and placed a hand on the soon to be king's shoulder, offering a reassuring smile to him, which helped him relax a little. There was no way she'd let her friend be hurt, especially today.

"Don't worry," Lea said, "I doubt you'll go down in history as the most hated king this world's had." Ienzo's glare turned from the door to the red-head, who backed away a little, not wanting to die at the hands of the smaller man.

They moved closer to the door so they could hear the speech being given. As part of the ritual, the king or queen of another world gave a speech before the new king or queen of Radiant Garden stepped out onto the balcony. In this case, it was Kairi and Sora, queen and king of a far off world called Ceres. No doubt their own guards were out there with them, all six of them standing up straight, watching the people like hawks, almost daring them to attack.

"We know you don't all trust Ienzo," Sora said, "because of what he was a part of."

"But we can assure you, he's not evil, like you all believe," Kairi added, "I've worked with him for a long time now and I can tell you all, with every ounce of truth in my body, that Ienzo loves this world, and all of you, more than you can imagine. He wants to make up for what he has done in the past."

"If you can trust anyone to keep you all safe, it's him," Sora assured. "He's seen the bad side of the darkness, and he never wants anything like that to befall this world, or its people, again. But, he's also seen the good side of the darkness. He knows how to keep the balance of dark and light, knows how to stop those that would disrupt this balance. I know many of you have put your trust in me and believe what I say, so please, trust me when I tell you that Ienzo will do all he can for you." Kairi said a few more things, but Ienzo was no longer listening. It felt strange to him having two people beg his subjects to give him a chance as king, to put their trust in him.

It shouldn't be this way he thought. No one should be begging his subjects to trust him, not even himself. They shouldn't distrust him in the first place. The truth was, he understood why they didn't. He was a part of what had destroyed their world, had helped lock their king in the realm of darkness, and aided in the deaths of innocent people for years. Back then, he couldn't feel anything, no remorse, no guilt, but now that he was a human again, it was all coming down on him.

Something wrapped around his hand and squeezed it. He looked at Myde and saw him shaking. He was terrified of going out in front of the crowd, considering all that had happened in the past few months. Ienzo being attacked at a club, which he fortunately was able to fight off with little injury, death threats sent to them, even people attempting to burn down the castle. No one cared about the five year old girl inside the castle that wasn't allowed outside in fear that someone would harm her. In fact, most didn't believe she even existed.

"Everything will be alright," Even said, but even he wasn't positive of that. Before anyone could say anything, either to agree or disagree, the door opened and Sora and Kairi stepped inside the palace, giving their best encouraging smiles. Dilan and Aeleus led the way out, followed by Ienzo and Myde, who were followed by Even and Neopolitan. The pint sized girl held her parasol tightly in her hands as she walked out, all nerves. Silently, she begged that nothing would happen, especially to Iwa, and that all would go smoothly. The last thing they needed was someone attacking them, though she would be ready for them, as well as all the others acting as guards.

Even, Ienzo and Myde stepped up to the balcony so everyone could see them. The soon to be king scanned the crowd below him and found Leon and Yuffie, but conveniently couldn't spot the rest of his group anywhere. His mind began racing, trying to think of a way to signal for Neopolitan to check on Iwa, but Even began speaking and he had to listen.

Everything was going smoothly. Too smoothly. Ienzo knew Leon had planned something, so why wasn't anything happening? He was prepared after all, Ember Celica already on his wrists, a ticking time bomb ready to go off. Myde subtly wrapped his fingers around Ienzo's, but they didn't stay that way for long.

Neopolitan was the first to react. With her small frame and quick agility, she jumped in front of the two, opening her parasol as a ball of fire came at them. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, and a few cheers from some outliers, but everyone on the balcony was already preparing for a fight. They called upon their weapons and Ember Celica grew from simple barcelets to deadly weapons. Neopolitan closed her parasol and looked at the attacker, not surprised to find a brunette girl in all black looking back at her.

"I'm sure you remember me," the attacker said, "but I'll remind you of who I am. My name is Tifa Lockhart, and I'm here to stop your reign of cruelty!"

"Cruelty?" Dilan asked, looking at Ienzo with a confused face. "But he's harmless."

"Not harmless," Ienzo replied, raising his hands, showing off the weapons resting on them. "Far from it. But I'm not cruel either."

"If anyone's cruel," Neopolitan pipped up, speaking for the first time that day, "it's your old king, Ansem the Wise."

"Ansem was a saint!" Tifa yelled. Cloud appeared behind her and they both attacked at the same time. Neopolitan jumped back and hit Tifa with her closed parasol, then went after Cloud, leaving the boxer girl to the others.

Tifa headed straight toward Ienzo, who straightened out and threw out his arm. Tifa swung just as a large, white glyph appeared before her, which her arm hit at full force. She screamed in pain and craddled her injured arm, glaring daggers at the new king stadning in front of her. He walked over to her and leaned down closer to her.

"You told me you'd swear your loyalty to me if I beat you in a fight," he said, "That makes you a liar. I'm surprised you forgot about my glyphs." She grolwed at him and raised her good arm, swining it at him, but he grabbed her fist and flipped her into the air, where she met Neopolitan, who punched her into the ground. She moaned in pain.

Cloud charged at them, angry at how they had just defeated Tifa. As much as they wanted to help, the others left the balcony to allow Ienzo and Neopolitan more room to fight. The king summoned Durandal to his hand, which he raised defensively. Upon contact with Cloud's sword, the barrel turned, landing on the yellow vial, and when he swung in retaliation, electricity shot from it. In an instant, Cloud was curled up next to Tifa, unable to control his body as it spasmed out of control.

"Let's take out the trash," Aeleus said.

"Get them to a doctor," Even told him, "We don't want them dying on us."

Just as Aeleus was about to pick her up, Tifa sprung up, not ready to end the fight. Neopolitan's punch was hard, but not enough to stop her. She was about to charge again when she felt a tugging on her skirt.

"Don't hurt my daddy!" a little squeaky voice yelled. She looked down to see a little girl that looked almost exactly like Ienzo, but with her bangs pushed to the left of her face. Tifa looked down at her in shock, not knowing what to do.

Neopolitan reacted quicker than anyone, scooping the girl into her arms and backing away with her. "Don't touch the princess," she hissed.

"Leave my daddy alone!" Iwa yelled again. She looked over at Ienzo and reached her arms out for him, so he scooped her into his arms and held her tightly. Neopolitan looked at Tifa, who was still standing in shock, staring at the princess.

"Leave," she told her.

"What?" Tifa asked, snapping out of her trance.

"Leave! Leave this palace, leave Ienzo alone and leave behind any ideas of rebellion! You refuse to give Ienzo a chance as king before he's even begun his reign, not seeing that there's so much he can do for this world!"

"He's evil!"

"You're racist!" Tifa looked at Neopolitan with a confused face, but the pint-sized girl wasn't going to back down until she'd won. She slowly walked over to Tifa, placing herself between the taller woman and the new king. "He knows what he did was wrong. He knows that you all hate him because he sealed Ansem in the Realm of Darkness, and he was a part of what led the darkness to swallowing this world. We all know he killed people, but do you know why? Because he wanted a heart again. The reason he did all those things in the first place is because someone he took ripped his heart from him, leaving him with no emotions and, in turn, no sense of right or wrong. Now that he has his heart back and is trying to make up for it, you won't let him! But you don't know what it's like to be in that position! You don't know what it's like...killing people to survive." Neopolitan stepped away from Tifa, memories of her past flowing into her head, and led Myde and Ienzo back inside, leaving the two attackers on the balcony. Dilan and Aeleus helped Tifa and Cloud get to a doctor.

Ienzo and Myde walked into Iwa's room and the king placed her on her bed. When he sat down next to her, she crawled onto his lap, unable to sit still on her bed.

"What's it feel like to be a real princess now?" Myde asked her, trying to be cute and keep the atmosphere light, but his face fell when she looked at him with a look of fear on her face.

"Are they going to hurt us?" she asked, which broke his heart. He shook his head and sat down on the bed as well, placing her on his lap.

"No, princess, no one's going to hurt us, I promise."

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Iwa?"

"Is someone going to hurt Daddy? Because I saw those pictures those people sent us." The pictures were the reason she'd been unable to sleep at night. Pictures of her father's burned body, or beaten to the point of unrecognition, or other unthinkable things nightmares are made of. Again, Myde shook his head, this time pulling her close and placing his head on top of hers.

"No, Daddy will be fine, Iwa. He can take care of himself, and he's got Neo and Aeleus and Dilan as well."

"Will I need to learn to fight?"

"I hope not. I hope that when you take over in Daddy's place, this world will be peaceful again and you will be a beloved queen that everyone trusts. I think one day, you'll be a great queen." Iwa pouted up at him.

"I don't want to be queen," she deadpanned.

"Why not?"

"Because it's scary." Myde stroked her hair, looking worriedly at his husband.

"I think it's time for you to go to sleep," Ienzo said and picked her up, tucking her under the sheets, much to the girl's displeasure, which she showed when she squeaked and kicked the blankets off. Ienzo huffed at the five year old's antics and shook his head, walking out of the room. Myde placed the covers over her again and kissed her forehead.

"Daddy's stressed honey, so let's be good for him, alright?"

"But I'm not tired," she lied, yawining slightly as she said it.

"I know Iwa, but go to sleep anyway, alright? We're all going to need all the energy we can manage." He tucked her in again and left the room, turning off the lights and closing the door softly behind him. He shook his head and went off to find his husband to scold him for being too harsh on their daughter.

When he found him in the study, Ienzo was yet again looking at papers, which caused him to look differently at him. His face no longer in a scowl, instead a look of concern took its place. He walked over to him and carefully took the papers from his hands, placing them on the desk.

"Why don't you call it a night?" he asked, "You need some rest, you can't expect to run a whole world if you're tired to the point of passing out."

"I can't be expected to run a world if I fall behind on my work."

"You'll be the first king driven into the ground from overworking and not sleeping." Ienzo glared at Myde, but for once, the other man wasn't backing down. Ever since he'd gotten his heart back and started dating Ienzo, and their eventual marriage, he'd become a stronger person, speaking up for what he believed in and not appologizing for anything he said.

"Are you sure I'm not going to be the first king to stranggle his queen to death with his own intestines."

"Aw, Ii, don't let them get to you. You know you love me and couldn't hurt me, even if you tried." He placed his hands on his shoulders and started to massage them, eliciting a sigh or relief from his husband. "Another reason you shouldn't make a habit of working this hard. I'm pretty sure Ansem didn't care about the world this much, just his research."

"And am I Ansem?"

"No, but you're also not invincible. You're the only king I've met so far that refuses to sleep, and you're probably the only one that needs it. Come on, you know you're tired. A scientist can't think on a tired mind, now can they?" Ienzo chuckled, but allowed his husband to lead him to their room, where he collapsed on the bed, unable to bring himself to change. Myde laid down next to him and smiled at him.

"Don't worry, you'll be a great king," he assured him, "and who knows, you may have already made history."