Chapter four is here! (Horns blaring, confetti falling…)

Oh, one thing, in the last chapter, I said Secret Ansem Report 1, when I meant Ansem Report 0. My bad, XD

Okay, before I go on with the story, I'd like to thank all the reviews I have gotten so far. A heartfelt thanks to: WishingDreamer5 (My first reviewer ever!), SuperXBrother, Pandamon, PandaFatty, and the one anonymous review (S'ok, I love you as much as the rest!).

Also, I'd like to give a very special thank you to my epic friend Hectopascal (if you haven't read her stories yet, READ THEM NOW!) for supporting me and urging me to continue writing when I was ready to give up.

Hailey, this one's for you.

Lost in Darkness

Chapter Four: Impulse

"Is he in there?" Lea asked, trying to look over his friend's broad shoulders. You had to admit, they were freakishly wide.

Isa didn't respond right away. He was excited, and yet afraid. What if the great Ansem didn't turn out to be all he had imagined him to be? He couldn't imagine his disappointment. And then there was the question about how Ansem would handle the fact that they had broken in to the castle.

Lea nudged Isa impatiently, his red hair contrasting greatly with the grey walls.

"How am I supposed to know?" Isa snapped back.

In his uneasiness, he'd gotten quite irritable, Lea observed. Wow, he's more nervous than I thought, Lea mused. Isa almost never lost his cool.

"Well then, are we going in, or not?" Lea questioned, his green eyes blazing with excitement as he eyed the majestic doors in front of them.

Isa took a deep breath. I can do this, he assured himself, no big deal.

But when his hands closed around the doorknob, he stopped once again. On impulse, he pressed his ear against the door, closing his eyes so he would hear, better than usual. For a second Lea stared at him like he was crazy, but when he realized what Isa was doing, he remained quiet, his gaze suddenly watchful.

Isa couldn't hear anything except for slight scraping sounds, which he guessed was the sound of someone writing. His breathing slow, he wondered whether he dared interrupt Ansem while he was writing. Just then came the sound of a chair being pushed back.

Ansem was getting up!

The blue-haired-boy made a split second decision, and, grabbing Lea's arm, he pushed himself against the wall behind the doors just as they opened, Lea barely slipping out of view as Ansem stepped out. The two of them stared in awe at Ansem's figure: tall and proud. The man was old, but had an air of wisdom that seemed to surround them.

No wonder he's called Ansem the Wise, Isa was thinking.

Lea's thoughts were a bit different. What has he done to my favorite color? How dare he wear that dark red scarf! It clashes horribly with his hair!

Miraculously, Ansem did not notice the two teenagers behind him and, hands crossed behind his back, he walked down the hallway, mumbling something incoherent.

Isa had frozen again.

Lea rolled his eyes and dragged his friend into Ansem's room, closing the door gently behind them.

"You wimped out." Lea's expression was smug.

Isa was still recovering from his freeze-every-time-I-see-Ansem disease. "Well—"

"Never mind," Lea chuckled, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Check that out."

Isa turned to see where Lea was looking, and his heart stopped short when he noticed the sheet of paper lying on Ansem's desk, a pen placed over it, implying that it was what Ansem had just written.

Lea raised an eyebrow. "Let's see what he was writing about."

Before Isa could stop him, Lea was standing beside the desk, paper in hand. He grinned at Isa. "C'mon, I know you want to read it too."

Isa gave in to the urge. He was curious, and even more so, it wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? He nodded at Lea, who held the page between them as they started to read.

Report 0

They didn't get very far though, because just then, the doors burst open to reveal Dilan, the guard with the black hair and steely eyes. The paper slipped from Lea's hands as he looked up in surprise at the sentinel's outraged expression.

"How dare you," he yelled, brandishing his spear, "You have no right to be in this castle, let alone his Wisdom's room!"

Lea shrugged. "You idiots made it easy for us."

That comment probably didn't help them out.

With a battle cry, Dilan lunged at them, holding his spear above his head as if he had every intention of running them through with it. Without even thinking, Lea dove towards the right while Isa did so towards the other direction, and before the assailant could turn around, they were sprinting down the hall they had come from.

"Can't catch us!" Lea shouted, looking back to stick his tongue out. Apparently, he found it very hard to keep his mouth shut. Of course, rubbing it in was his specialty.

"Watch out!" Isa yelled, as Ienzo emerged in front of them, his dark grey hair hiding most of his face, holding some kind of chemical in a small glass bottle.

They skidded to a halt, barely missing an unwanted group hug.

But Lea wasn't done yet. Before the little boy could warn him, Lea grabbed the tiny bottle from Ienzo's hand and hurled it towards the advancing guard's chest. The bottle missed its designated target, connecting instead with the man's hand. At once, Dilan's hair burst into flames, and he yelled out in surprise.

Dilan desperately tried to set the fire out with his spare hand, all the while cursing loudly. Ienzo had his hands clamped over his mouth, his eyes wide as he watched the spectacle unfolding in front of him, and Isa had buried his face in his hand again. Lea was buckled over, laughing.

I feel bad for the guy, Isa thought, first a Frisbee to his head, and now this… before tugging at Lea's sleeve.

"Come on! We gotta go." Lea detected the urgency in Isa's voice and nodded seriously.

They started to run, but their attempts proved futile when the muscular guard blocked their way, flaunting his giant axe that looked large enough to chop off their heads.

He wouldn't do that… would he? Lea thought, shaking slightly.

The intimidating man grabbed Lea and Isa by their arms, and no matter how hard they tried to tug away, he kept his grip firm.

Dilan stomped over to the captives. He had somehow, managed to put out the flames on his head, but his hair was burnt crisp where the bottle had connected, and there was a small circle where there was no hair. Lea suppressed another laugh, his free hand pressed against his mouth to avoid guffawing in the man's face. They were in enough trouble already, and even Lea knew when to stop, although he was very tempted to share a bald joke with them all.

"Give 'em to me, Aeleus." Dilan spoke with venom in his voice.

"Now, now, no need to be so harsh, Dilan. I suppose they were just curious." Another man had appeared. Gangly and awkward, he wore a lab coat very similar to Ienzo's, and his eyes looked slightly crazed behind his locks of long blond hair.

"Even." Dilan started, but the man cut him off.

"If it weren't for your foolishness, they never would have gotten in." he spoke sarcastically, his voice high-pitched and playfully grating.

Dilan looked like he wanted to rip Even's head off, but instead said nothing.

"Oh, Ienzo," Even said suddenly, gazing at the boy whose eyes were still wide. "Was that mixture made by you?" he gestured vaguely at Dilan's hair.

Ienzo, suddenly quite red, nodded slowly, and Even cheered. "You are learning! That is very pleasing, Ienzo."

Ienzo didn't reply. It seemed he didn't like Even that much.

"That freaking mixture nearly burnt through my skin!"

"His skin? Impressive," Even commented, his light green eyes nothing more than amused. Ienzo looked away diffidently, not wanting to hold the scientist's piercing gaze.

Dilan was shaking in anger, his hands balled into fists. Apparently, he didn't want to hear anything the blonde had to say anymore, because, without another word, he grabbed the two prisoners by their collars, lifting them into the air.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go!" Lea started to yell, struggling to release himself from the guard's uncomfortable grip. But Isa realized Dilan was stronger than he looked, and he cursed inwardly at his own stupidity. Why else would he be a guard of the castle?

Still, it hadn't all been a failure. He'd seen Ansem the Wise close up. Maybe one day he would have the guts to talk to him.

Dilan traipsed out the doors, Aeleus following close behind and closing the door behind them. Isa had crossed his arms across his chest, knowing it was useless to struggle.

Lea, on the other hand, did not like being treated like a ragdoll, and was fighting for all he was worth, his arms flailing. Or trying, anyway.

Although, he might have landed a hit if Dilan hadn't thrown them onto the ground like that. They landed hard, dust surrounding them instantly. They were coughing as they sat up to look back at Dilan brushing his hands off, Aeleus standing beside him with his hands on his hips.

"Let's go, Lea," Isa said quickly, getting to his feet and turning away from the guards. He hated the fact that they'd been caught, even when nothing had been done to them. He was suddenly glad Lea had hit Dilan with a Frisbee. And set his hair on fire. And just like that, Isa was smirking, and when Lea caught sight of his friend's satisfaction he grinned back.

That was fun.

As they walked away, Lea thought contently, His hair will probably take a while to grow back and cover up that bald spot.

And his laugh echoed all around Radiant Garden.

"Wanna try sneaking in again?"

Isa shook his head slowly. "I don't know, Lea. We got caught pretty easily."

"Aw, c'mon Isa. It'll be fun."

"Okay, maybe. But not yet. They'll be expecting it if we try again so soon."

But next time, he thought, I will talk to Ansem!

Isa leaned against the wall of the shop, crossing his arms, deep in thought. They also needed to train more, so that if they were to get caught again, they wouldn't be so useless in battle.

"Sea-salt ice-cream! Anyone? Anyone?" Scrooge McDuck, a new arrival to Radiant Garden, was standing in front of the shop, holding two bars of light blue ice-cream and yelling at anyone who passed by. Lea turned to look at him, and smiled. "We'll take those."

Scrooge happily handed them over, taking the munny from Lea's hand.

"Thank you," Scrooge quacked.

Lea offered one of the bars to Isa, who took it unhesitatingly. He could do for some ice-cream right now.

The red-head bit into his ice-cream eagerly, Isa following, both boys savoring the salty sweet taste as they looked up towards the clear sky, thinking of their recent experiences, and looking forward to whatever fate decided to throw at them next. And suddenly, Isa was ready for it. He gave his friend a sideways glance. He'd always known befriending Lea would get him into lots of trouble, but at the same time, he'd never felt more alive, or happy to be so.

Times were memorable, and there was a lot to come before they actually decided to break in again. A lot of time would pass by before they penetrated the castle again, but the next time they got in, they would never make it back out.

Okay, so, I know this took a while, so I apologize. Will try to update sooner.

I just wanted to make everyone aware of the poll, now open on my Profile, about what characters you'd like to see next in this story, so vote away! I'd love the assistance, and who doesn't want to feel like they helped create a legacy? (Just kidding… somewhat.)

Also, I've decided I'll update this every Saturday, excluding this one since I'm updating it now. ;)
One more thing…

IENZO COMMANDS YOU TO REVIEW!