Chapter 2

"My friends are my power. And I'm theirs!"

Isa and Lea

Isa and Lea are leaning against a stand, and they're talking to themselves. The stand they're leaning against is an ice cream stand. Scrooge McDuck is standing at the front, working the stand. He has been testing different ice cream flavors all day.

"C'mon old man! We just want some ice cream!" Lea protested. Scrooge stopped fiddling with ingredients, and turned to give a furious look at Lea. He pulled out his cane and smacked him on the head.

"I told you a million times already! No one gets ice cream until I finish making the perfect ice cream!" The duck replied. Lea rubbed his temple.

"I'm seeing stars Isa…"

"When do you think you'll have your ice cream research finished?" Isa asked, ignoring Lea. Scrooge stroked his chin, and looked at his watch.

"Soon my boys, soon! I can feel it. Just give me a few more minutes." The wealthy duck told the boys. Isa nodded and continued talking to Lea, who appeared to have a bruise forming on his forehead. He looked angry at the bird.

"You just wait till Christmas! We all love roasted du-"

"Hey you two! Young lads!" Lea was cut off by an old man nearby. He had a long white beard and was waving his hand for them to come over. The two exchanged looks, and walked over to meet the man.

"Hello young lads, my name is Merlin! I require your assistance!" The old man inquired. He seemed awkward, but wise. He stroked his bear and waited patiently for their response.

"With…?" Lea asked.

"Ah, yes! I need you both to deliver a package to the castle! Of course… A reward is in store for the both of you! Eh, what do you say?"

Lea thought to himself. At one point he turned to Isa, who shrugged his shoulders. Isa is easy going. He goes along with most things Lea does. He keeps them both alive though. He is the one in the friendship that will actually question Lea's impossible schemes. They're a perfect pair. They're best friends.

"Hmm… What do you think Isa?"

"Let's do it. Maybe by the time we're done that duck will be finished."

"Hey, good point!" Lea said to Isa. Then he turned to the old man. "Where's the package old man!"

"Old man! Eh?" said the bearded man and he then took out a wand and hit Lea on his forehead, creating another bruise. "Thank you both! Here's the package! Now don't look inside it now it's private!"

"We won't! See you in a jiff old-timer I'm gonna get the reward!" Lea took the brown package and began walking out of town towards the castle. Once out of view of the town, he halted, and crouched behind a nearby bush. Isa looked confused, but followed.

"Have you lost your way…?"

"No! Don't you wanna see what's inside this? The fire haired boy replied.

Isa paused. He glanced down at the brown package that was in Lea's hands. Of course he was curious, but this is why Isa connected to Lea so well. In times like this, he was supposed to intervene and suggest the better route, before Lea got too focused on his plan and got them both in trouble. But he hesitated to long. He was lost in his thoughts as he heard a tearing noise.

"Stop!" Isa snapped. He lunged for the box and almost had it, but Lea quickly turned around, facing the other way. "Lea! How in the hell are we going to reseal that package if you open it! You need to think!"

"Just a peak Isa, relax would ya?" He sidestepped a bit further away from his friend, and then continued to open the package. Isa grunted and crossed his arms. He was angry, even though he was curious… Wait. He had it! Isa calmly walked over to Lea.

"So much for that reward…" Lea instantly paused, both hands clutching the package still. "It's a shame really… He had a wand. He can probably use magic!" Isa shot a glance at Lea. It was working. Lea was thinking, pondering the outcome. Isa took this as his chance to finish it off. "Who knows what he could grant us as a reward… Being rich! All the ice cream we want! Just think about it. Would you rather have a magic wish or to know what's inside some stupid box? It's probably some papers anyway." Isa finished triumphantly.

Isa watched Lea's expression change from annoyance to simplicity. He looked down at the package that was slightly torn at the top of one end. He sighed, and held up the package towards his blue haired friend, admitting defeat.

"You should probably take it for the rest of the way…" Lea said, as Isa agreed and took it from him. Isa sighed.

"That was close." Isa muttered. "Let's get going, we're almost there."

Lea nodded and they both made their way to the castle. Upon arrival, they noticed no one was guarding the gates. This was peculiar, because there is always someone guarding the gates. Isa and Lea would know.

"No one is here…" Isa said quietly.

"Let's go inside!" Lea jumped towards the gate, only to be caught on the shoulder by his friend. Isa gave Lea his usual "Really…?" look.

"We can't just walk inside; let's give the package back to the old man."

"Are you kidding? Then he'll see that part is opened!"

"And whose fault is that?" Isa said sarcastically.

"Let's just sneak inside and find someone! They can't get mad we were just delivering a package and no one was there! For all we know this is important!" Lea said. Isa thought about this.

"Ugh… Something is going to go wrong, but whatever."

Isa stayed where he was for a moment, staring up into the large iron gates. He's been passed these tons of times. This wasn't the first time Lea had drug him through this black iron barrier. He broke out of his thoughts when he noticed Lea halfway up the fence. He reached the top, and then leaped to the bottom.

"Throw me the package!" Isa tossed the package over the fence, and then proceeded to climb the gate.

Once they were in the castle grounds, the walked the path up to the doors. When they reached the castle doors, they realized there weren't any guards stationed here either!

"There's something going on. No one at all is guarding the castle. Lea, this has never happened before! Maybe something is wrong…?" Isa suggested.

"Or maybe there's just a birthday?" Lea chuckled to himself. "C'mon!"

"Hopefully…" Isa said under his breath. He stood as Lea stepped forward, and opened the tall doors of the castle. This was rare for them. Usually Eye Patch Man or Side Burn Man had caught them by now. Or even the Other Man that had no defined qualities. He was a strong guard that barely ever bothered to catch Isa and Lea. He was the biggest of all the guards but the quietest. Since he had no personal features… (Except short wavy hair) Isa and Lea called him The Other Man. It fit well enough.

The first thing they saw inside the castle was darkness. No light or candle was creating light. Complete darkness.

"Let's leave." Isa said.

"No way! We've only been this far once! And that was when we took a field trip in here. I'm curious!" Lea told him. The two boys walked into the darkness, and closed the doors. Isa began feeling the walls by the doors. Eventually, he found a box of torches. He tossed one to Lea, forgetting they were in the dark and he heard the sound of his friend getting hit in the head again. He snapped his own torch and a bright white light flooded the room. He could see a big hall and two staircases on each side. He also saw Lea rubbing his head.

"Thanks…" he said snapping his own torch.

"Now, if I remember correctly, the library is to the left, and there's a laboratory downstairs. So I've heard. The field trip stopped here… So I don't know much more." Isa explained.

"Let's just explore everywhere!" Isa said excitedly, moving forward to a random door.

"Are you joking!" Who knows why the lights are off and no one is hear. We need to just leave the package somewhere, and get out!"

Lea tried the door he walked to, and turned the knob. It was locked. He jiggled the door a bit, until he heard a scream.

"Get away! Leave us be!" A woman's voice cried from behind the locked door.

"Lea, let's leave. Something is up here and we don't need to stick around to find out."

Far down the hallway, there was the sound of glass braking, then the thumping sound of something getting thrown into the wall. It was all followed by a piercings scream. Isa and Lea blankly stared down the hallway. They were frozen in their shoes. Another scream was heard, only this time, it was cut off halfway through. Lea took Isa's arm and led him out of the hall way back into the foyer. They hid behind a large red couch.

"Put away your torch!" Isa whispered to Lea.

"Isa… There's something in here." At that moment, Isa clapped his palm over Lea's mouth, because they saw something in the dark across the foyer. They could see two sharp yellow eyes. They were moving around the room. Who knew what kind of body they were attached too. Isa and Lea sit there, frozen.

He heard the creature growl. Like a dog would. Isa studied the beast as it roamed around the foyer. He couldn't see anything but its bright yellow eyes. He could only sense that massive frame this thing had. He could see the size of it as it moved through the shadows slowly.

Suddenly, the creature stopped moving. The sound of a nose at work filled the room. The eyes turned and pointed towards the ceiling. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the sound of the beast's nose. What could it smell? Isa's eyes opened wide as he thought; could it be something in the box…? He froze in fear as the eyes of the monster quickly bolted and froze in the direction of Isa and Lea. Lea and Isa watched in fear, as the intense eyes glowed in their direction. Could this thing see in the dark? It began to creep slowly towards them, its paws clashing into the ground. Each step sent sparks into the air as its claws met the stone floor.

Isa and Lea were frozen. They couldn't move. When the yellow-eyed creature was just a foot away, the light blared on. The whole room was blasted with intense white light. Isa and Lea grasped a look at the creature. It was black, and was pulsating darkness throughout its canine body. They only saw it for a second as a massive war hammer smashed through it. Isa and Lea fell to the floor in relief, the quickly crawled under the couch. Standing where the beast was, they saw The Other Man holding the war hammer over his shoulders. A voice from across the room spoke.

"Nicely done, Aeleus." The voice said. Instead of replying, Other Man just nodded, and walked towards the voice. Isa lowered his head, and tried to get a look at who was in the room. The man who spoke was Eye Patch Man. The other two who were in the Foyer were Side Burn Man and The Other Man. So is that why they weren't outside…? Because they were killing that monster. Just then another figure walked into the Foyer. He spoke in a familiar voice.

"Good. I want everything cleaned and picked up before Ansem returns. No evidence will be shown of this day. The test was a success. Continue on guarding the castle now." The voice finished, and as he walked away Lea and Isa saw the man they found the other day, the beaten up one. What exactly were they speaking about just now? Isa shook his head. He didn't want to know, he just wanted to get out of there. It's going to be extremely difficult though, due to the fact that the three guards are going to be back. How will they sneak back out? The coast was clear, so they moved out from under the couch, and made their way for the door.

"Wait!" Isa said, holding out his arm in front of Lea. "The guards are back, remember?"

"Then where can we go to get out of here?"

"Don't ask me!" Isa snapped.

"Hey! What are you two doing here!" A voice called from behind them. Isa and Lea froze. Their shoulders cringed and their eyes opened wide. They turned to see the face of the man that saw them. It was a man with long blonde hair, and ice blue eyes. He was dressed in a long white lab coat, and black boots. He was glaring at the two of them for a minute, and then his expression changed. A slight, crooked smile appeared across his pale face. One eyebrow was raised, giving him an odd look. Was he thinking of something?

"We're sorry sir! Uh… We were just delivering this package!" Lea said, quickly holding up the package. They waited for the man to answer.

"Ah, you two could be useful… Come with me! Just set the package on the table over there." The man said lazily pointing his hand to the table in the foyer, as he turned and walked to the wall. He proceeded to press his palm on the wall, and it opened the wall in front of him, revealing a passage. He didn't seem like he cared about the package.

Isa and Lea looked at each other. They were both confused and curious at the same time. Lea looked excited, while Isa seemed nervous. Isa looked at Lea and shook his head slightly. Lea smiled and hurried up to catch up to the man. Isa sighed, and followed his friend. They walked down the hall behind the man. He never turned around once, until…

"By any chance, do you have a name?" Lea asked sarcastically. The cold man slowed his pace and turned back at them.

"No." He replied. He then chuckled slightly to himself. His laugh was awkward and bizarre. "That was a joke. You see, I really do. My name is Even."

"Where are we going exactly..?"

"I made the joke so I could, how can I put it, connect¸ with you children. You know how children like to make jokes about things." He stopped walking, and turned around and put his face right next to Isa's. "Hmmm?"

"Yeah sure…" Isa muttered. Even leaned back, still staring intently at Isa. He then straightened his posture.

We're here." He added, as he pushed the door to the left open with his hand. He gestured for Lea and Isa to head in. They did so, and walked inside the room. It was a slightly blank room they noticed, and it was barely lit. The best friends stepped in further. They turned around to see where Even was. There he stood with his hand still on the door. He leaned in and laughed eccentrically.

"Have fun! You'll both make great experiments for my heartless research!" Even said, as he slammed the door. Just then, the room went black. They boys were blind, and had no idea what to do.

"Isa…" Lea whispered, grabbing his friend by the arm. The two were both frightened, especially after what they had seen earlier.

"Lea, we need to get out of here, fast." Isa urged.

Lea felt along the room until he found the wall, Isa following him with his hands clutched to his arm. They began to make their way across the room to the door. Lea took the knob by his hands and turned it, realizing it was locked. He clutched the knob with both hands, shaking the door.

"Let us out you freak!" he shouted. He stepped back, and flung himself at the door. "Let us out, now!"

Lea couldn't get the door open. They were trapped. He looked up as he hear Even chuckle from behind the door. Then there was a crash from across the room, and the sound of ripping. Isa and Lea looked behind them quickly. They saw the familiar yellow eyes, and the frightening growling noise. Lea held his breath fast, and grabbed Isa's arm, just as the beast lunged at them through the darkness.