FROM NOW ON THERE PROBABLY WILL BE SPOILERS FOR KH3D SO YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Lea was summoned by Ansem to his office so the boy obliged. He hoped punishment was not why he was to go there. Maybe Xehanort had told him about how they were messing around instead of guarding the doors. His pace slowed as these thoughts unravelled. His heart thudded with fear. No, he thought, Whatever Xehanort wanted to do seemed urgent. He wouldn't have had time to tell on me and my new friends. Plus, Braig stood up for me. And those two are best friends. And there's no bigger trust than between two best friends. This thought cleared all his worries for that time. About his upcoming 'lecture', about Xehanort's goals and about his best friend's safety with said man.
Lea approached a well-crafted brown door which he knew was Ansem's door. He knocked thrice and heard the deep voice of the amber-eyed man's voice, "Come in, Lea." Lea pushed the door open carefully, with its intricate craftwork, and slid in to see the man sitting in a throne-like chair behind a desk. Braig stood beside the seated Ansem.
"Hey, kiddo!" Braig laughed loudly.
"Yes, thank you Braig for that," Ansem chuckled. "Lea, Dilan has brought to my attention that you are getting… a little bored out there." Lea confirmed this with a slight nod. "Well I thought it would be for the best if you worked with someone you got on well with." Lea perked up a little. Will I finally get to work with Isa, Lea thought, finally have fun?
"I see you and Braig have hit it off," Ansem continued, which disappointed Lea, but he kept a cheery face, not to hurt Braig who was obviously keen to work with him.
"Oh… yeah, that's great," Lea enthused. "What will we be doing, exactly?"
"All you'll be doing is going around the castle and checking everything is secure," Ansem instructed, seeing Lea's face fall. "I know it sounds boring but…"
"You have your new best pal with you," Braig grinned. "And you know how awesome I am, don't you flamesy-locks?" He put his arm around Lea.
"Yeah… of course," Lea squirmed uncomfortably.
"Well, feel free to ask me anything but I am rather busy," Ansem declared standing and sorting a bundle of papers on his desk. "Anything?" Lea shook his head. "Very well, goodbye, and have fun." Lea liked those last words. He punched Braig's arm and yelled 'TIG!' and took to his heels, running out into the various winding corridors.
Isa woke from a nightmare. Those things. They were back. They were everywhere, consuming him. He was so relieved it was a dream. He looked around the room he was in which was apparently the lab again. It was light outside. Any threat from his dream had now completely vanished. He rose from his bed and gasped at the feeling of the icy floor on the soles of his feet. He was dressed in blue silk pyjamas. He noticed his clothes had been discarded into a corner of the room but the black cloak was nowhere in sight.
"Oh, so you're feeling better?" asked a voice from a dark corner of the room. Isa turned to see the familiar face of Xehanort smiling at him. Isa nodded. Xehanort handed Isa a lab-coat and a fresh set of clothes similar to his own. "Get yourself dressed into your uniform. You are ready to start work." Xehanort left with these few words. Isa got dressed and followed where Xehanort went. When he got out to the corridor, he noticed Xehanort had completely vanished. Isa sighed. 'What am I supposed to do?' He wondered. Suddenly he heard someone coming, someone running. Oh no. It wasn't one of those creatures was it? Isa approached a corner of a corridor, ready to ambush any shadowy creatures. He waited. The running got closer so Isa jumped out, forcing the running figure to knock into him, knocking them both to the floor, beside each other.
"Ow...wait, Isa?" a voice said. Isa looked into a familiar face.
"Lea!" Isa rejoiced. Lea hugged his friend, his eyes dripped a tear.
"What happened to you?" Lea begged to know. "No one would tell me the truth."
Isa remembered Xehanort told him not to tell anyone of where he had been. To be honest he had no idea where he had been. To him they were just moonlit sea sides. He wanted to tell Lea of the weird place he'd been, but maybe it would work out for the best for both of them if he didn't tell him the exact truth. Yet, not lie either.
"I was ill," Isa said. "I wasn't eating properly and then moved around too much so I fainted, and apparently I was sick a couple of times too."
He told no lies. They had told him he was sick, he did move around too much while not having enough energy to supply this. He just refrained from telling about dark realms.
"Oh… okay, if you say so," Lea talked. "So, what do you think of Xehanort?"
"Erm… I dunno, he is really nice to me, but I've been asleep most of the time," Isa shrugged. "I haven't been able to find out what he's been up to."
If what I've heard is true, then of course he likes him, Lea said into himself."Well, just watch out ok, remember what I told you about not trusting him," Lea said through gritted teeth. In an instant, Xehanort stormed around the corner and stood with them.
"Hello Lea. Hello Isa," Xehanort greeted. "I am sorry if I am interrupting an important conversation but I need your assistance, Isa. I'm sure you have work to do too, Lea."
"Oh, yeah, we were just catching up," Lea stammered.
"Don't be so frightened of me, Lea. We are colleagues now," Xehanort smiled, "Isa trusts me enough," he added, while signalling Isa to follow him. Isa waved to his friend.
Maybe Xehanort wasn't as bad as he thought. But something about him wasn't right. And he hated that Xehanort's words to him were probably true. Isa did trust him. Lea told him not to, but he can't hide it. Isa trusted Xehanort. That was the worst thing. It is obvious he wants us to split up. Well that will NEVER happen. Lea waved Isa off as his friend and that person walked into the distance. Suddenly he felt two hands clamp down on his shoulders. BRAIG.
"I got ya!" Braig smiled. "Now, let's get a little more serious and do our job, shall we?"
"Okay," Lea sighed. "Just tell me, is the thing you said bout Isa and him true?"
"Why would I tell a lie like that?" Braig chortled. "Of course it's true!"
"…." Lea stuttered.
"Sorry, kid?" Braig squinted. "I didn't quite hear that."
"That's because I didn't say anything, old man!" Lea laughed, secretly hating Braig's answer. This resulted in Braig slapping Lea across the back of the head playfully. Lea hit him back.
"Look in all seriousness kid, how friendly are you with Isa?" Braig asked. "You two don't exactly seem to have much in common."
"Isa's been there for me since I was like 5," Lea smiled. "We're in no way similar but I guess that's what makes us special. And they do say opposites attract…"
"He's that important to you, huh?" Braig smiled, intrigued. "I wonder what you would do if you lost him." Braig started to walk away towards the lift.
"Well I would never… Wait, why did you say that all of a sudden?" Lea yelled, running in front of him and blocking his way to the lift. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Of course not, now let me past so we can start work, carrot-top!" Braig defended himself and tried to get past Lea. For once he actually wantedto go to work and stop this boring talk. "Seriously kid you must have some paranoia issues or something. I just know nothing lasts forever. People change. I just wanted to know, if that happened to Lil Miss Blue, would you do everything you could to get him back? Even risk your own life?"
"Yes, of course I would!" Lea shouted at the man who was still trying to get by him. "Coz, you see, I made a promise to Isa way back when we were kids, that I would always be there to bring him back if he got lost or fell into the darkness- of course I made this promise when he was in the hospital after eating my homemade jelly beans so he probably won't remember I made this promise since he was out for days- but I'm not gonna just say that I didn't make that promise just coz he can't remember it. I do. I've got it memorised," Lea rambled on.
"Lovely! Now could you get out of my way before I make you forget everything you've ever known?" Braig threatened in his usual sarcastic tone. Lea stepped to the side, watched Braig enter the lift, and then followed him in. "Great, now let's get to work!"
The two stood awkwardly in the lift together, and then Braig carried on the conversation.
"But I don't think courage and your Frisbees are going to protect Isa from the darkness. You'd probably need a heart completely devoid of darkness to do that."
"You trust me, don't you Isa?" Xehanort wondered aloud to the blue-haired boy. They were both in one of the labs but Xehanort hadn't told Isa what they were actually going to do yet.
"Yeah, you haven't given me reason not to," Isa replied, puzzled at what he was getting at. "Why?"
"Well Isa, you are aware that Even, Ansem and I are scientists, correct?" Xehanort questioned. Isa nodded. "And little Ienzo too of, course." Isa nodded. These were obvious to him. "Well, we have been searching for the perfect candidates for a new experiment and it just so happens that you and your young friend are fit for the roles if, of course, you agreed to them." Isa glanced at his body that was drenched in a slightly oversized white lab coat. If he said 'no' would that mean they would have to leave? He contemplated it for a second. Then he thought about what Lea would be thinking.
"I'm sorry but I'll have to respectfully decline, sir," Isa bowed, hoping he wouldn't get angry with him or something. Xehanort's brow lifted. "My apologies."
"Before you finalize your decision I think you should listen to what we are doing the experiment for."
"I guess I could but it's very unlikely that you would change my mind."
"Very well," Xehanort sighed. "I shall tell you anyway. The creatures that have been appearing all over the gardens are called Heartless. It seems they are born from the darkness in people's hearts, and there is darkness within every heart, with very few exceptions." Isa looked intrigued as Xehanort spoke. "We've come to the conclusion that if we rid the darkness of people's hearts, we will be able to eventually rid the world of these monsters."
"I see what you're saying," Isa agreed. "However I still have to say no, at least until I know what Lea thinks of it all."
"Why? Do you not trust me, Isa? Do you not want the chance to save this world?"
"That's not it at all. Lea is to be part of this experiment too, remember? I can't make this decision for him."
"Very well, Braig should have told him all he needs to know about it. I'll allow you to accompany Lea to lunch to discuss it with him, but for now, we have work to do," Xehanort said, pulling out a mountain of paperwork from a filing cabinet on the right side of the room.
Great. I've just woken up and it's back to school already.
Braig had just explained the situation to Lea, and since Braig had just informed Lea of how he'd probably need a heart of pure light to save Isa, he was more than happy to comply. They seemed to be walking aimlessly down the endless hallways, peeking their heads round each door they passed looking for nobody. Fun.
"So, how risky would the experiments be?" Lea queried.
"Pfft, no risk at all!" Braig scoffed. "One of you- most likely you- will have the great Ansem the Wise working on you. That way there would be no chance of harm coming to you."
"What about Isa? Who would experiment on him?"
'Okay now', Braig thought. 'You can't say Xehanort here coz flame-boy will opt out.
"Even obviously," Braig announced. "Trust me, Even's all super brainy when it comes to these things and he doesn't let you forget that. I have that memorised."
"Hey, that's my line!"
"So are you in, little guy?"
"I sure am. Get that memorised. And don't ever use my line again!"
"Okay, okay! That's just what you get for blocking my way earlier, flamesy!"
"You're the one who couldn't fight his way passed a sixteen year old, Patchy!"
Braig was about to reply when he suddenly looked at his watch. It was lunch time.
"Well it's lunchtime, flamesy-locks, so I'll run along and inform Xeh…Even of your decision. You can eat with baby blue today." Lea shook his head at the choice of name for Isa Braig had gone for this time. He watched him saunter off and Lea followed him, stomach rumbling. Wow talking all day really does make you hungry. Mission 1: Get food. Mission 2: Talk to Isa about the experiments.
Braig joined Xehanort at an oversized table and put his lunch down roughly, startling Xehanort who was deep in thought. Xehanort glared at Braig.
"So remind me why you are doing this experiment thingy?" Braig yawned, clearly showing interest in what he was asking. Xehanort sighed audibly.
"It was unexpected. It was Ansem who wanted to carry out these experiments to turn the darkness in their hearts to light. But I have thought of a way to make it work into our idea."
"Uh huh? Enlighten me."
"Well we allow Ansem to rid the darkness in Lea's heart like he was going to. However I will take over Isa's operation and instead of cleaning it of darkness, we clean it of light. When Ansem asks you to bring him the light needed to complete Lea's pure heart, you will bring him the light we have taken from Isa instead of the light we've extracted before from our 'terrible' old experiments. And you sneak out with Lea's extracted darkness for Isa."
"But won't Isa's heart be left incomplete? Surely Lea doesn't have enough darkness to make up for Isa's light." The two stopped conversing for a moment when Ienzo skipped by. When he had gone they continued whispering.
"Let's just say… I have that covered," Xehanort smiled deviously, tapping his finger on his own chest. Braig's golden eye lit up as he understood the plan.
Thanks for reading I really appreciate it. Sorry for taking so long. School got in the way and then I forgot where I was actually going with this. Thanks for the reviews too. Reviews are always welcome even if it's just to tell me how crap I am... I will cry but at least you'll have taken time to read it :)
