When I'm Gone

by eiahmon

Step 1: get keyblade. Step 2: save the universe. It had all seemed so simple to Lea then. Now he has a new goal: save Isa. Easier said than done when no one knows where Isa is, and he has no one to help him search anyway. Or does he? Join Lea as he chases his best friend across the worlds with assistance from an completely unexpected corner. Rating is for Lea's mouth.

4. Games Without Frontiers

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I just stopped writing for a while. I didn't really want to post this now, since I was writing four chapters ahead, and I wanted to keep that gap, but I figured that ya'll had waited long enough. So here's Chapter 4, and hopefully I'll be able to get Chapter 8 done soon.

4.
Games Without Frontiers

Dear Isa,

I'm not even sure where to start here.

Yesterday was... Yesterday was just weird. There's just no other word for it. First Xehanort drags me out here to this desolate place, (After he scared the shit out of me when I inadvertently insulted his old master – I never want him to look at me that way ever again. I thought for damned sure he was going to kill me with a look.) and it's in total ruin. Except for the little cabin we're staying in, I couldn't see any intact buildings as we flew in.

Did I mention that it's also infested with Heartless?

The damned things are everywhere. I couldn't see them through the trees, but I sure as hell could sense them. The only things stopping them from getting us is a set of wards around the cabin that Master Limahl put up years ago. Why he did that is something that Norty hasn't bothered to explain, and that's if he even knows.

He certainly seems to know a lot of other things though. I learned more about the Council of the Keys in a few minutes than I had learned in a couple of years from Yen Sid and the others. I wonder why no one really bothered to explain any of this to me. Of course, Xehanort could be lying about it all too, and I would have no way of knowing. Part of me would like to ask Mickey or Yen Sid if it's all true, but then they would want to know where I heard all of this, and that would be an awkward conversation.

So yeah, right after we got here, Xehanort hauled me outside and proceeded to swing his keyblade at me a lot. I had to either block the swings or try and evade them, but good gods, that man moves fast. I didn't know it was possible for someone to move like that. He makes Larxene look like she'd been wading through waist deep mud with the way he moves. He never actually hit me with his keyblade though. He always stopped the swing just a hair away from me.

And he can cook too! Hey, don't look at me like that. You know I've always appreciated a good meal, and he served up some real nice rabbit stew. He said he'll teach me to cook as well, since I might need that skill one day. Anyway, while it was cooking, he explained what he knew about the Council and how they were after his keyblade, No Name. For what, he didn't know, but he also said the Council wants to get their hands on the Land of Departure for some reason.

The weird part comes in when I realized I was actually interested in what he had to say. If Xemnas had been half as good at storytelling, we might have all paid attention at meetings. I swear that he talked sometimes just to hear the sound of his own voice and dragged the rest of us along for it. Maybe I ought to ask Norty about it.

Eh, maybe not. I asked him a lot of questions last night, and he answered most easily, but there were a couple though... I asked him about Ventus, and the damned lights in the room got dim for a moment. It was the creepiest damned thing ever. I never saw Xemnas do anything like that, so I hadn't been expecting it at all. And then later, when I snarked off to him, it was... He glared at me, and I couldn't look away! It was like something had a hold of my head and wouldn't let me turn it. And then I suddenly felt like I was standing out in the middle of the desert at high noon instead of a little cabin on a world in the middle of fall, and then he just said he'd be back, and then he went out the door.

I didn't see him come back. I thought for damned sure he was going to put the hurt on me for pissing him off, so I tried to stay awake for when he came back, but I ended up falling asleep anyway. I woke up later though, because he was back, lying in his own bed, and mumbling things. I told him to knock it off, because c'mon, what a better way to try and sucker someone into trusting you than playing the sympathy card, but he didn't answer me. I went outside (and it was cold out there!) to take a leak, and when I came back, he was quiet.

He was already up when I finally woke up in the late morning. He's making breakfast now, and he looks like hell. Makes me wonder just how late he was out last night. He hasn't said a word to me, not even when I retrieved this book from my pack to write you a letter. I'm almost afraid to find out what he's got planned for me today.

Time to pay the piper, as it were, I guess.

Later,
Lea

Lea closed the book and glanced up at Xehanort, who was sitting down in front of the fireplace, minding a skillet with sizzling eggs and slices of ham. Nearby, the pot that last night's stew had been cooked in was sitting on a bed of coals, with its lid on, and more coals piled on top. The smell of baking biscuits was filling the cabin, along with the bacon and ham.

Xehanort was staring with a vacant expression into the fire, and his face was pale, with dark bags under his eyes. If it had been anyone else, Lea would have been concerned, and he would have been asking what was wrong. But this was Xehanort, and Lea shoved down any hint of worry as he put the book back into his pack. He put his boots and coat on and went outside to take care of things. When he came back in a few minutes later, the eggs and ham had been plated up and were on the table, while Xehanort was using a long metal rod with a hook at the end to lift the coal covered lid off the pot to check on the biscuits. He then set the lid aside and used the hook to snag the pot by one of its handles and drag it off of the coals, before he used a knife to dig out the biscuits.

Breakfast was eaten in silence. Xehanort had nothing to say, and Lea wasn't too keen on trying to start a conversation. The washing up that followed was equally quiet, and once everything had been put away, Xehanort finally spoke.

"Come outside." He then went out the door himself. Lea took a look at the frost coating the windows, shivered, and made sure to zip his coat up all the way before he stepped out.

Outside, his breath puffed out in front of him as a weak sun shone down on the clearing. The frosted grass crunched under his boots as he walked out to meet Xehanort, who was standing halfway between the cabin and the wards.

"We're going to work on magic to start with."

Lea gave him a strange look. "I already know magic."

"No, you know how to use the fire that you gained after breaking the laws of the universe. There is so much more to it than that, and you need to know how to at least heal yourself before we leave."

"Fire's good."

"It's also dangerous when battling indoors, unless you want to set the structure around you on fire, with you in it?"

Lea thought about that for a second. "No, I guess that would be bad."

"It would indeed. Lucky for you, since you already know how to call up fire, then you know the basics of how to call up the other elements as well. The biggest difficulty you will face is breaking yourself of the habit of using fire exclusively."

Xehanort held out his hand, palm up, and a small flame appeared, hovering just above the surface of his glove. He then squeezed his hand into a fist and then reopened it. The flame was gone, and in its place as an ice crystal, in the shape of the flame that had been there previously. The crystal hovered there for a moment, and then it cracked and started to break up. The ice crumbled away, and Lea felt his jaw drop when the flame from before seemed to almost be encased within the crumbling ice.

"How did you do that?" he asked in a hushed voice once the ice was gone, leaving the small flame in its place.

"Every magic user, no matter how they acquired the magic to begin with, has a natural affinity to at least one element. You are fire. Even, even before he became Vexen, had a talent for ice. Becoming a Nobody simply boosted his power significantly. I have a dual affinity for water and fire. Ice falls under that as well, since ice is merely frozen water. Master Eraqus was -" Xehanort's voice trembled just the slightest bit. "a dual fire and light elemental, while Master Aqua is water. Sometimes the definition of "element" can be stretched a bit, as one would have a hard time calling the moon an element, yet Saïx was clearly influenced by it.

"Sometimes the affinity seems to be completely random. No one knows how Even came by his ice affinity, for example, but in others the reasons are clear. Before he lost his heart, the castle gardens were Lumaria's only escape and refuge, so it makes perfect sense for Marluxia to have had such an affinity."

"What about you, where did yours come from then?"

"My ancestry."

"What, do you have fire and water users in your family history?"

Xehanort flicked his eyes up at the pale sun that was shining down on them through a thin sheen of clouds. "You could say that, yes." He squeezed his hand into a fist again, and the little flame vanished.

Lea realized something then. "Wait. Your affinity, that's how you snuffed out my fire on Meadowseele."

Xehanort smirked. "Indeed it was. My fire affinity is stronger than yours, and my magic levels are even higher still. In a battle of magic against magic, yours lost to mine and was snuffed."

"Ugh, damn it, that sucks!"

Xehanort's smirked widened for a moment, before it relaxed into a more serious expression. "Be at ease about it, Lea. I only did that then to get you to listen and to prevent you from starting a forest fire. I won't be in the habit of suppressing your magic unless it's critically important.

"Anyway, the difficulty lies in learning to summon and control elements that you do not have an affinity for." Xehanort abruptly spun around and pointed at a tree on the other side of the ward line. Lightning arched from his fingers, streamed across the wide gap, and impacted the tree trunk with a loud, sharp boom! that echoed off of the other trees and rattled the windows of the cabin. There was a brief pause, and then the tree swayed, tilted, and fell over, its trunk broken clean in two.

Lea simply stared, and Xehanort dropped his hand and turned to face him. "Using a keyblade to channel magic can make things easier, but it's always good to learn to channel without it. For the more magically inclined, like myself, Master Yen Sid, and Master Aqua, it is easy. For those less so, like Terra, casting without a keyblade is extremely difficult, or may even be impossible. All keyblade wielders can use magic, but not all of us are good at it." He gave Lea a sardonic smile. "Now, let's find out where you are in that spectrum."

Lea felt his heart sink. "I don't think I'm going to enjoy this."

"Probably not. Learning magic is always difficult. It took me months to get so much as a spark, and Eraqus had similar problems. Unlearning old habits is even more difficult, all the more reason to get started."

"So where do I start?" Lea asked with a glum expression.

"Not the way you learned of your fire affinity, that is for certain."

Lea glared at Xehanort. "I only did that once!"

"And you completely gutted the interior of the room that you and Saïx were sleeping in."

"I never heard the end of it from Xigbar either."

"He thought it was hilarious actually. His exact words were 'We have a firebrand on our hands!'" Xehanort sighed. "It took him weeks to shut up about it." He shook his head. "But the best way to go about this is to think of how it feels when you call your fire. Close your eyes."

Lea merely looked at him, and Xehanort arched an eyebrow. "What? Do I have something on my face? Close your eyes, Lea."

"You're acting almost... normal again. It's weird."

"Yes, I do that a lot nowadays, or so I've been told. Now, for the last time, close your eyes."

Lea huffed. "Fine." He closed his eyes and shivered at the feel of the Heartless watching.

Xehanort somehow knew the reasons for the shiver. "They cannot cross the ward line, Lea. We are safe here."

"So you say."

"Yes, because Master Limahl knew what he was doing. Since your intention was not to insult him, I will refrain from slapping the back of your head for it – this time."

"Gee, how generous of you."

"Focus, Lea. The more you delay, the longer it will take us to actually start tracking Isa down."

"Okay, I get it. What do I do now?"

"Prepare to cast your fire, but do not actually do so. Just pull it up, and have it at the ready."

"Alright, alright."

He felt the magic coursing through him as he called to it, racing like liquid fire through his body, waiting to be released to burn everything in sight. He halted it before it could go, held it back, and waited. Strangely enough, the magic almost seemed to be... annoyed with him at being held back, but Xehanort interrupted him before he could think on it.

"You command the magic, not the other way around. Order it to do as you wish, bend it to your will, while thinking strongly of what you want it to do. When you're ready, I want you to cast lightning at the treeline."

"But, I can't use -"
"You can, and you will. This is your magic, and it has to obey you. Now cast."

"But I don't know how!"

"I just told you how, Lea. Now cast!"

Lea screwed up his face, pictured lightning like Xehanort's flying from his hands, and let the magic loose. The magic rushed through him, and he felt a tingling through his fingers, followed by a crackling sound. His eyes flew open in excitement – had he done it? - but the magic fizzled out of existence with his concentration broken.

"Try again, Lea." Xehanort said in a calm voice. "Try not to look like someone just kicked you in the crotch this time."

Lea glared at him, to which Xehanort only looked back at him with a serene expression.

"Try again. You were very close."

Lea looked away and closed his eyes again. He called the magic, it surged through him, he heard the crackle of electricity, but there was no boom, like he had heard when Xehanort had cast. He opened his eyes to see the trees across the way not even smoking.

"Don't look so disappointed." Xehanort said with a small smile. "You successfully cast Thunder."

"But it didn't hit anything."

"Of course it didn't. It's only the tier one spell, and it's an element that you're unfamiliar with. Give it time and practice, and you'll get better at it."

"But we don't have time. Isa doesn't have time."

"We are not rushing into this, Lea. I need you to at least have some idea of what you're doing before we leave this world." Xehanort took a step back. "Now, cast it again."

OOOOOO

Hours later, Lea dropped bonelessly into a chair. He kicked his boots off and rubbed at his aching feet before the cold air of the room made him put them back on. His hands shook as he did so, and his shirt stuck to his back with sweat. Once his boots were back on, he crossed his arms on the table and laid his head down on them. Who knew magic could be so hard? His head ached as he closed his eyes. He would just sit here for a moment, and then he'd relight the fireplace like Xehanort had told him to. Just a moment...

"Lea,"

A hand came down on his shoulder, and he bolted upright as his eyes flew open. He looked up to see Xehanort looking down at him, but the amusement he expected to see was not there.

"Are you all right?" Xehanort asked, and the urgent tone in his voice made him seem... concerned? Was Xehanort actually capable of that?

"Lea, are you all right?" Xehanort asked again, and Lea blinked and shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

"I'm fine." he said as he shrugged Xehanort's hand off. "Just tired." Xehanort's hand reached down and pushed his head up and back to look him in the eye. "Hey!"

"You're more than just tired. You're magically exhausted." Xehanort reached into a pocket and fished out a small glass vial. "Drink this; it will help."

Lea reached up with a shaking hand and tried to grab the vial, but his fingers didn't feel like cooperating, and he dropped it. The sound of the glass shattering on the floor sounded explosively loud to him, and he winced.

"Here," Xehanort fished out another vial. He didn't hand this one off, instead he popped the cork off, and then tilted Lea's head back again and held it to his mouth. "Open up."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, unless you would like to lie in bed the rest of the day, feeling sicker than a dog?"

"Fine," Lea opened his mouth, and Xehanort tipped the contents of the vial in. Whatever it was, it had no real taste, but it tingled all the way down into his stomach.

"Now go lie down." Xehanort told him. "Have a nap while I make lunch."

"Okay," Lea stood up from the table, but the room spun, and his legs wobbled under him. Xehanort caught him by the arm and half carried him over to the bed. Lea found his eyes closing before he even made it the short distance to the bed, and he was dead to the world by the time his head made contact with the pillow.

OOOOOO

It was Xehanort's voice, calling for him to wake up, that roused him later.

"I'm still tired." Lea grumbled as he blinked his eyes open. The scent of something delicious touched his nose then, and his stomach growled in response.

"You'll feel much better after you've eaten. Now, get up."

Lea shifted under the blanket – wait, blanket? He raised his head and blinked down at the blanket that was covering him. He hadn't covered up...

"Did you cover me up?" he asked.

"I did." Xehanort replied from the direction of the table. "Now get up. You have to eat to finish recharging."

He sat up and scratched at his head. "I've never had that happen before."

"That was my fault: I pushed you too hard. I assure you that it won't happen again. Now get up. We have more work to do later."

Lea sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Do I have to?"

"The longer you procrastinate, the longer it will take us to find Isa."

"Damn it, fine." Lea stood up and made his way on legs that still wobbled a little to the table, where he nearly fell into the chair.

"You'll feel better once you've got some food in you." Xehanort added, pushing a plate of steak and potatoes over to him.

Lea picked up his fork and poked at the still sizzling meat. "Are there cows here?"

"There are, feral descendants of domesticated cattle, but I had no desire to deal with the bulls and their horns while trying to bring down a cow, so we're eating deer today. I have more meat packed away for later."

Lea cut off a piece of the meat and ate it. "So when are you going to teach me how to hunt and all of that."

"Not until we're off of this world. There are too many Heartless here to risk it."

"C'mon, I know how to handle them."

"No, you don't." Xehanort looked up at him. "You have a heart, and you have a keyblade. The Heartless will never stop trying to get to you now, when before they would have been content to ignore you until you got too close or attacked first. This world is too dangerous for you until you learn how to handle yourself better."

"Didn't you say that you and Eraqus had your Mark of Mastery exam here?"

"That's Master Eraqus, Lea, and yes, we did – when we were at the age of 20, and we had years of experience with keyblades and magic. Despite all of that, Master Limahl still hovered nearby during our entire exam, ready to intervene if we got in over our heads. And let's not forget, we just barely made it within the time limit that he had set."

Lea took a bite of the roasted potatoes and spent a moment trying to identify the spices, before he asked his next question.

"So what are you going to have me work on later?"

"Your keyblade." Xehanort said shortly as he focused on his own meal. "By the time we eat and wash up, you should be feeling well enough to work."

"And if I'm not?"

"Then I will send you back to bed, which will add another day until we can leave here to look for Isa." Xehanort looked at him. "And I will know if you are faking it, so don't even try."

Lea grumbled under his breath as Xehanort went back to eating, and he focused his attention on his own meal.

Once they had eaten and washed up, Lea plodded outside after Xehanort, and he shivered when the cold air outside brushed across his face.

"I swear it's colder every time I step outside." he grumbled.

"Winter is closing in." Xehanort said in response. "This world has very harsh winters and mild summers. The first snow should arrive within a week or two, and within a month of that, it will be up to your waist."

"Who would want to live here?"

"People who had no way off of the world and so had no choice but to stay. A few did escape without the aid of any Keyblade Master, though to this day, no one knows how they managed it."

"Really? Who?" They stopped several feet away from the cabin.

"One of Master Limahl's brothers, actually." Xehanort replied as he turned to face Lea and summoned his keyblade, which prompted Lea to do the same. "Master spotted him and his wife in Radiant Garden one day, living it up."

"And he didn't approach them or anything? Why not? Wasn't he happy to see him?"

Xehanort shook his head. "Master Limahl had been estranged from his parents and brothers for years, so much so that he didn't count them as family. He made note of them and made sure to avoid them from then on." He raised his keyblade. "Enough of that subject, however. You're out here to learn, not chat, so let's get started."

"What are we doing then?"

"The same as yesterday." Xehanort raised his keyblade. "Now, defend yourself."

OOOOOO

Lea groaned quietly as he rolled over in bed. His overworked muscles protested the movement, and he wondered again what the hell he was doing. Traveling with Xehanort, accepting training from him, eating food that he cooked. Was he out of his mind?

"It's for Isa." he whispered in the silence of the room, which was dimly lit by the dying fire in the fireplace. "I have to find him, no matter what I have to do, even if it means eating Xehanort's cooking."

"I didn't hear you complaining about it earlier." Xehanort said from the other bed, and Lea froze at being overheard. "If I remember correctly, you had seconds, so it couldn't have been too horrible."

Lea felt like pulling the blankets over his head, but he quashed that. "You said you're going to teach me to cook, right?"

"I will, yes. Why? Worried that I'm planning to poison you?"

Lea growled quietly. "Maybe."

Xehanort made a quiet "Heh," and then he was silent for a moment. "If you feel that you can handle having yet another lesson on top of the other two, then we can start that tomorrow. Hunting and gathering, however, will still wait until we are off of this world."

"Is that all I'm going to be doing? Learning how to throw magic and swing a keyblade?"

"And cooking, since you asked."

"And cooking. But, seriously, is that all?"

"For now. Navigation by the worlds will come later, and wilderness survival and other useful skills will get added once we're away from here. Keyblade swinging, as you put it, and magic are all one needs to learn to attain mastery, but it is so much involved than it sounds. As I told you before, learning to wield a keyblade is normally done over the course of several years, but we do not have time for that now."
"So you're fast tracking me."

"You could say that. I need you to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, if only to stop you from being a dangerous liability later."

"Oh come on! I'm not helpless or anything!"

"Mind your tone." Xehanort hissed. "And yes, you are. You have nothing on the Council in terms of skill, and you had better believe that they know everything there is to know about you, including your skill level and magic strength. You're not fighting Heartless this time, who care only for their next heart. You are dealing with humans: powerful, intelligent humans who won't hesitate to take you down if you get in their way."

Lea huffed and flopped over onto his back. He put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling as the last light from the fire faded. "Why did they take Isa? Why him and not any of the others?"

"My personal belief is that he was the easiest to get a hold of. Isa has no free will of his own left, so he will only move if I tell him to." Lea winced, and his heart twisted, but Xehanort ignored his reaction and continued. "I can only assume in that short span of time when I was not able to tell Isa to get up and leave, they grabbed him."

"How can you talk about this like... like it's nothing?" Lea clenched his hands into fists for a moment. "You make it sound like Isa's just an... an... object, a piece of furniture."

He saw Xehanort sit up out of the corner of his eye. "How else would you like me to speak of him?"

"Maybe as a person? As my best friend? As someone other than one of your damned vessels! He's not a thing! And why in the hell didn't you tell him to leave! You could have, couldn't you!"

Xehanort sighed. "No, I couldn't." he said, and Lea stilled at how quiet his voice had become. "I couldn't tell him anything. I was there in that castle that day, too, seated in the chair next to Xemnas. While the old man version of me was carrying on about returning as a complete person – which was a lie, as he had come from a time before the possession of Terra had taken place – he kept me controlled and contained. I couldn't have moved if I had wanted to. Perhaps he realized that his most future self was having seconds thoughts? We share a heart, so it is a possibility, but the point is that I could do nothing. I was as firmly under his control as Isa was. It wasn't until we returned to our own points and places that I was able to have independent thoughts once more, and by then, the Council had already snatched Isa and taken him."

Lea chose to ignore that part for the moment. "This whole time travel thing is mind melting."

"It is, and I am the one living through it. I have no idea what convinced me that it was a good idea."

"I can't believe your youngest self went along with it. Really, what kind of kid agrees to help shatter someone's heart?"

"I can." Xehanort said, his voice suddenly quiet. "And he – I had my reasons."

The cabin went silent then, and Lea propped himself up on his elbow to look over at Xehanort, who was lying down and staring at the ceiling. He opened his mouth to ask about that last statement, but Xehanort spoke first.

"Go back to sleep, Lea." he said, and then he turned over onto his right side so he was facing away from Lea. Lea stared at him for a moment, before he lowered himself back down, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

OOOOOO

The next few days were more of the same: get up early, have breakfast, spend four or five hours dealing with magic, have lunch, and then spend four more hours swinging a keyblade around, followed by dinner, and then falling into bed for the night. Xehanort had him assist with cooking their meals, and Lea was surprised to learn just how many little things went into making food. His mother had made it look so easy all those years ago.

The weather continued to cool, and true to Xehanort's word, the first snow arrived five days after they had come to stay in the little cabin. Unfortunately for Lea, that was also the day that Xehanort started making him work on healing magic, something that he had never used before and knew nothing about.

"It is the same as everything else you've done so far." Xehanort explained from within the depths of his coat hood as his breath puffed out in front of him. "Call up your magic and command it to heal you."

Yeah, Lea thought, sure. It's so simple.

Except it wasn't.

No matter how much he concentrated or how much he willed it to happen, healing magic stubbornly refused to come to him. It didn't matter what he did: screwed up his face, tensed his muscles, even stamped his feet, his magic remained stuck in place within him, almost as though it was confused about what he wanted it to do.

He stood outside in the cold and snow for three hours and had nothing to show for it when Xehanort allowed him to come back inside for lunch. He slumped down at the table and massaged his aching head as Xehanort put a bowl of venison stew with hot, crusty bread on the side, down in front of him. A second later, the green magic of a healing spell washed over him, relieving the tension in his neck and shoulders and vanishing the headache.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Lea asked as Xehanort sat down on the other side of the table with his own bread and stew.

"Until you master healing magic." Xehanort blew across a spoonful of the soup and then ate it.

Lea sat up straight and looked at him. "That might take a while."

"Consider it incentive then."

"Why in the hell didn't you have me work on that first?"

"Because if you think it's difficult now, imagine how it would be without learning to call up other magic first."

"But this is going to take forever, and I want to start looking for Isa!"

Xehanort glared at him. "Lower your voice; you do not speak to me that way."

Lea stood up, and the sound of his chair skidding back across the floor sounded too loud in the small room. "I'll speak to you however I damned well please." he snarled. "You drag me out here, and for what? We were supposed to go look for Isa, and instead I'm stuck on this little rut of a world with only you for company!"

"Lea..." Xehanort's voice was low.

Lea put his hands on the table and leaned down over it, and he felt a spike of annoyance when Xehanort merely looked up at him with a bored expression.

"Why in the hell did you drag me out here anyway! Was it to just waste my time, prevent me from finding your vessel?"

"Lea..."

"Didn't want me to interfere with you getting that X-blade, did you? Is this just a way for you to finally do what you couldn't during the days of the Organization? Will I finally leave here with golden eyes?"

"Lea." Xehanort's voice was louder, more firm, but Lea ignored it.

"Why are you wasting my time, Isa's time!"

"Enough!" Xehanort's voice boomed through the small space as he stood up from the table, moving so fast that Lea didn't see the motion. The hair on his arms stood up, and he broke out into a cold sweat as the lights in the room suddenly dimmed.

"Wasting your time, am I?" Xehanort hissed, his golden eyes glowing. "Is that what you think? Well then, let me rectify that!"

A portal opened next to Xehanort, and Lea had just enough time to realize what that meant before he was flung head first into it. He tumbled down in a tangle of limbs and coat down on a familiar floor as the portal closed behind him. He sat up as the room stopped spinning around him, and he heard Ansem say from behind:

"One week, Lea. You lasted one week."

Lea shook his head and started to get to his feet. "Well, no need to sound so disappointed."

"Of course I am. I owe Heir Xehanort munny now."

Lea spun around to stare at Radiant Garden's king, who was sitting calmly behind his desk, piles of paperwork in front of him. "You made a bet with him? About me?"

Ansem nodded. "I did. He insisted that it would take you no more than a week to push him to the limits of his patience, while I claimed that your desire to find Isa would allow you to keep your mouth in check." He frowned. "Now I've lost 200 munny because of you. It appears that you don't want to find Isa as much as you claim."

"I do want to find Isa!" Lea shouted, bristling at the accusation. "It's fucking Xehanort! I can't stand him! Him and his damned insistence on being called by his title! Why in the hell does he deserve that kind of respect? How does he get off on demanding obedience from me after all the shit he's done!" He began to pace about the room. "He destroys the worlds, unleashes the Heartless, ruins so many lives, takes my best friend from me, and now he wants me to be a good little apprentice and swallow his every damned word with a smile!"

"Lea..."

"Seriously, who in the hell does he think he is!"

"Lea."

"I should march right down into town and tell everyone where he is. Yeah, I'm going to do that right now!" Lea turned towards the door and began to walk in that direction.

"Lea Rosso, you will cease this foolish notion at once!"

The command in Ansem's tone made him pause for a second, but then he continued towards the door. "Nope, not gonna happen, Lord Ansem. I want everyone to know where that fucker is so he can pay."

He heard Ansem's chair abruptly scoot back. "I am warning you, Lea. Do not go out that door!"

"I'd like to see you try and stop me." he replied as he reached out for the door handle.

"Gladly." came Xehanort's voice from directly behind him. Lea froze in place for a second, and then he turned to run as he felt Xehanort's magic settle over him like it had that night on Meadowseele. His step slowed and faltered, and he was aware of falling to the floor as Xehanort's magic put him to sleep.

OOOOOO

Water was dripping somewhere nearby. The sound of the drops splashing down echoed loudly inside Lea's aching head as he started to come around. He groaned as each drop slammed into his skull like a hammer, and his stomach rolled and heaved. He managed to drag himself over onto his stomach and retched. His head only throbbed harder at the movement, and he groaned as he collapsed to the cold, hard floor beneath him.

Where was he? He opened his eyes, but he could see nothing. The scent of water touched his nose, and behind the dripping, he could just barely hear water flowing somewhere nearby. He groaned again.

The waterway. He was in the castle dungeon. Ansem had thrown him down here? Why? Oh wait. No doubt it was to protect his precious murdering bastard of a son from the painful death he so seriously deserved. Heaven forbid the people of Radiant Garden get justice on the one who betrayed them all in the worst possible way.

Lea's fingers scratched across the rough cut stones of the floor as he carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head pulsed painfully in time with his heartbeat, and the muscles in his neck and shoulders throbbed along with it as he leaned against one of the stone walls that made up what undoubtedly was a cell. The stones were damp to the touch, and the cool humidity of the area brushed across his face and hands as he slumped back, hoping that holding still would ease his headache. He would rest for a bit, and then he would summon his keyblade and get the hell out of there. He then would go to anyone who would listen and trumpet that Lord Ansem was in league with Xehanort.

Lea leaned his head against the wall and waited. As the minutes ticked by, he realized that the cell wasn't in total darkness. Faint light could be seen through a small, barred window in the cell door, and it just barely allowed him to see the outline of the door, and the walls, floor, and ceiling immediately around it. The farthest corners of the cell remained in shadows, and he closed his eyes against it and sighed. It he could see light, he couldn't be too deep into the dungeon, which mean it should be easy to get out once he felt well enough to move around.

He had no idea how long it took for the worst of the throbbing to subside, but when it was down to a bearable level, he raised his hand to summon Proud Flame, so he could unlock the door and slip out.

But nothing happened.

Lea blinked and tried again. Again, Proud Flame did not appear. A third attempt got the same results.

"What the hell?" A fourth attempt also failed. He then reached down for his magic, and he found it there, but when he tried to summon it to burn out the door, it did not materialize. He tried again, focusing on the feeling of the magic surging through him like Xehanort had taught him (Ugh...) but it seemed to slam into some kind of barrier before it could appear.

Lea frowned in confusion as a third attempt resulted in the same feeling of his magic running into an impenetrable wall. He held his hands up in front of his face, and the dim light just barely allowed him to see something on his wrists.

He dragged himself to his feet, wincing as the throbbing of his head and neck returned full force, and he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes for a few minutes to wait for it to settle. He then stepped carefully towards the door and held his hands and wrists up to the window.

Wide cuffs encircled his wrists, looking very much like the ones he'd seen on Xehanort's wrists days ago. He squinted and titled his head to the side (Which hurt, a lot.) and he was just barely able to see some kind of etching. A quick check confirmed that the cuffs were leather and had no buckle or any other way to take them off.

"They are magic blocking cuffs." Xehanort's voice spoke softly from one of the darkened, back corners of the cell, and Lea spun around to face him. The sudden motion made his head screech in protest, and his stomach heaved again. There was nothing more for him to vomit up, and he dry heaved for a minute or two before he could straighten back out. His head was throbbing as badly as he had when he'd woken up, and he groaned a third time as he slumped down to the floor and clutched his head in his hands. It felt like it wanted to explode at any second.

Xehanort said nothing more as Lea waited for the throbbing to ease again, which seemed to take forever. Time was measured in heartbeats at the migraine clawed at his head and neck, until it finally began to settle down and subside as he held still.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he rasped as he continued to clutch his head in his hands.

"Making sure that you're not dead, for one." Xehanort replied, still speaking very softly. If the area hadn't been nearly silent, Lea knew he wouldn't have been able to hear him well enough to understand him.

"What, not man enough to finish me off?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Can't have me tell everyone that you're here, after all."

"No, and that is precisely why you are down here. If word were to get out about Lord Ansem being in contact with me, it would result in him being slaughtered by a lynch mob. I will not allow anything more to happen to him because of me, Lea, and if that means keeping you down here until everything is settled, then so be it."

"So do you intend to just sit there and babysit me for the rest of our lives."

"I have no need to do that. This part of the dungeon is inaccessible to all by myself and Lord Ansem. No one will find you here, and those cuffs you bear around your wrists will prevent you from escaping."

"So you're just going to leave me here? In the fucking dark?"

Xehanort sighed, and lights on the cell walls suddenly came to life, flaring brightly before settling down to a much dimmer level. Lea flinched back from the sudden brightness and blinked away the spots in his eyes before he took a look around.

Perhaps "cell" wasn't the right word. Except for the barred door and lack of windows, the room looked like any other comfortable furnished room that one might find at a respectable inn. A inviting looking bed, covered in quilts and fluffy pillows, took up one corner of the room. A small table and chair sat next to it. Up by the door was a sink and a toilet, with a large, well stocked bookcase situated opposite to the right of the door. A light dotted each wall roughly in the center, and a lamp was sitting on the table.

Xehanort was seated in the remaining corner, the one furthest from the door, and the lights nearest to him were off, shrouding him in shadow. His black coat seemed to only absorb what little light came his way.

"Still hiding in the darkness, I see." Lea couldn't help but snark as he dragged himself to his feet and made his way to the chair at the table. The glow from the table lamp allowed him to see where he'd vomited on the floor, right next to the rug aside the bed. Why had he been lying on the floor anyway?

"The Darkness has always welcomed me, Lea." Xehanort said with a dry smile. "Centuries ago, my ancestor was cursed to forever wander in darkness, bereft of the light and warmth of the sun. Since then, his descendants have always found comfort and safety in the shadows where Lord Asoth's light cannot reach."

Lea blinked as he slumped down into a chair. He vaguely remembered Sora and Riku saying something about an Asoth, the Destiny Islands' sun god, months ago, but he pushed those thoughts aside.

"So you've seen that I'm not dead," he asked, "so now what are you going to do?"

"Offer you a choice."

Lea rubbed his temples and closed his eyes against the light. As dim as it was, it still seemed too bright to him.

"And what makes you think I give a damn about any choice you might offer?"

"Give me credit, Lea. I am not the fool that you take me for. I am only down here because Lord Ansem wasn't happy about one of your choices and begged me to talk to you about it."

"Say what you came to say then and get the hell out, so I can try and sleep off this headache." He raised his throbbing head and looked at him. "Why in the hell do I have this damned thing anyway?"

"A combination of a deep sleep and you slamming your head against the floor when you fell."

"Why the fuck didn't you heal me then, or do you always leave your apprentices with concussions?"

Xehanort raised an eyebrow. "Quit being so dramatic. You don't have a concussion, and you are no longer my apprentice, if you remember. I threw you out due to your gross disrespect of myself."

"And I suppose you were never disrespectful to your master? Did he chuck you out too?" Lea met Xehanort's gaze, and he was pleased to see something flicker in the man's golden eyes. Score one point for him...

"I was a child, not a grown man, and I never dared speak to him the way you shouted at me." Xehanort stood up and approached him, and Lea nearly flinched back before he caught himself. He schooled his expression into one of boredom and looked up at Xehanort as he came to stand in front of him.

"Here are you choices, Lea. You can stay here in this dungeon, until I have taken care of everything that needs to be dealt with. You will then be released to live out the rest of your life. You will be well fed and cared for while down here, but you will not be able to leave. Your magic and keyblade will remain blocked, and only Lord Ansem and myself can remove the cuffs that are keeping your powers contained."

"And my other option?" Lea said, acting for all the world like none of it mattered to him, even as his heart accelerated at being stuck down there for who knew how long.

"You apologize to me, and I mean that you must truly apologize and mean it. I will then reinstate you as my apprentice, and we will go back to what we had been doing before you mouthed off. This, however, will be your final chance. One more incidence of disrespect from you will result in you living down here, whether you like it or not."

"No third option?"

"No." Xehanort said in clipped tones.

"How long do I have to decide?"

"Until tomorrow morning." Xehanort pulled back the sleeve of his coat to look at his watch. "You have eleven hours. Use them wisely."

Xehanort turned on his heel and walked out of the cell. Lea thought for a brief moment of trying to follow him, but he discarded it quickly. Xehanort would simply catch him and throw him back in. Instead he hauled himself back onto his feet as the cell door shut and moved over to the bed, whereupon he promptly collapsed down onto it and was asleep in seconds.

OOOOOO

The cell door swinging open startled him awake untold hours later, and he raised his head as panicked thoughts about sleeping away all of his allotted time swirled around in his mind. His racing heart calmed though when he saw Ansem coming through the door, carrying a tray of food. The smell of it touched Lea's nose, and his stomach growled loudly. How long had it been since he'd last eaten?

Ansem didn't say a word as he set the tray on the small table and then moved to sit in the chair that Xehanort had been in earlier. He gave Lea an expecting look, and Lea gingerly stood up from the bed. He sagged and let out a sigh when his head did not protest the movement, and he had only a lingering ache as he walked to the table and sat down.

The meal that Ansem had brought him was simple: soup, small salad, a sandwich cut into quarters, and a pitcher of lemon water, and Lea wasted no time in making short work of it. Soon only crumbs and little drops of salad dressing remained on the plates. Lea just barely covered his mouth in time for the belch that came out, and he looked over his shoulder and gave Ansem a sheepish look.

"I see that Heir Xehanort hasn't had much luck in improving your table manners." Ansem said with a disapproving frown.

"Well, it's not like his opinions matter to me, so it's not important." Lea stood up from the table and stretched. "Coming to visit so I don't go stir crazy down here?"

"I came down to speak to you about the choice that he gave you."

"Why do you care?"

"I am afraid that my reasons aren't entirely selfless. Simply put, I need you to help my son to keep his head."

Lea gave Ansem a strange look. "The hell does that mean?"

"Heir Xehanort will never be free of the Darkness, Lea. After falling so far, it is a part of him and cannot be removed. I'm sure that you have noticed flickers of it whenever he is angry."

Lea suddenly thought of that night, of feeling the Darkness after Xehanort had abruptly left the cabin, and he shivered. "Yeah," he said quietly, "I've noticed."

"Help him to not fall again, Lea."

Lea whipped his head up to stare at Ansem. "How in the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Be attentive when he teaches you. Learn from him. Be a companion. He's been dark aligned for decades, but he has told me that he did not completely fall until his Master Limahl had passed on, as he hadn't wanted to disappoint him. I need you to take Master Limahl's place as his anchor to reality, his light against the Darkness that wants to devour him. He has clawed his way out of the mire once; he won't be able to manage that a second time."

"Why should I do anything for him, after everything he's done? For that matter, why should you?"

"Because he's still my son, Lea. You look at him and see the monster that destroyed Radiant Garden. I look at him and see the lost boy that I welcomed into my home and heart years ago."

"That lost boy experimented on the people he was supposed to protect, threw you into the Realm of Darkness, and destroyed the world if you remember. Why should I help him?"

Ansem looked at him for a moment. "Please, Lea," he finally said, and Lea was startled to hear the Lord of Radiant Garden begging. "Please. He is my son still, despite everything, and you're his best chance for coming through this with his sanity intact. He won't stay here and let me help him for fear of endangering me. You're my only hope for not losing him to the Darkness again."

"Again, why should I care?"

Ansem closed his eyes, bowed his head, and sighed. He then looked up at Lea with a serious expression.

"Because everything that he's told you: about the Council of the Keys, about Isa, and about what they will do when they no longer have any use for him, is the complete truth. He is Isa's only hope, so if you want Isa back alive, with his heart intact, then you need Xehanort."

"Are you blackmailing me or something?" Lea asked as he gave Ansem a dirty look.

"Just stating the truth as it stands, Lea. No more and no less. You need Heir Xehanort to have any chance of bringing Isa home, and Xehanort, whether he admits it or not, needs you to hold his Darkness back long enough to do so."

Lea growled and raked his hand back through his hair as he realized the truth of Ansem's statement. "This is so damned unfair."

Ansem nodded. "It is. I am not unaware of the atrocities my son has committed, Lea, and I am not ignoring his crimes. By the laws I swore to uphold after my father passed, I should have him hung, but I am a parent, and no true parent wants to execute their own child. But..." Ansem trailed off, and his eyes took on a faraway look for a moment. "Xehanort is the only one who can right his wrongs. No one else has the power or the knowledge."

"And once he has done all of that, then what? What will you do then?"

Ansem took a shuddering breath. "I try not to think that far ahead. My father and grandmother would be horrified to learn about what I allowed to happen to this world, but I like to think that they would understand the difficulties that I am facing with my son." He stood up from the chair and stepped over to the table. Lea looked up at him as he collected the dishes, leaving the water pitcher and glass behind. "Xehanort will return within the hour, to hear your decision, Lea. I suggest that you think hard about what you want to have happen until then."

Lea said nothing as Ansem walked out of the cell, and once the door shut behind him, he shivered and folded his arms on the table before lying his head down on then. As much as he hated to admit it, he did need Xehanort's help to bring Isa home. Masters Mickey, Yen Sid, Aqua, and Riku had talked about how unfair it was that the Council had taken Isa, but none of them had actually tried to do anything about it. Sure they had other things to worry about, but that was no reason to just let Isa suffer all alone somewhere! Lea slammed his fist down on the surface of the table. It wasn't fair! They were supposed to have gotten their hearts back after the Organization's destruction and go back to living the lives that Xehanort had stolen from them! Instead he was stuck facing an impossible choice: doing nothing and being just as useless as everyone else when it came to finding Isa, or swallowing his pride and begging Xehanort's forgiveness. He could just let Xehanort handle it himself, but after what Ansem had said, it didn't seem as though Xehanort was capable of lasting that long. Despite everything that had happened, Lord Ansem had never lied to his people, and Lea had no reason to believe he would start now.

Ugh...

An hour later, the cell door opened, and Xehanort swept into the room, with only the rustle of fabric to announce his arrival.

"Choose, Lea." he said.

Well, there was really only once choice to make, was there?

Lea sighed, stood up from the chair, and looked Xehanort in the eye.

"Master Xehanort," he said formally, "I offer you my unreserved apology for my blatant disrespect of you earlier. It was rude and completely uncalled for, and I completely ignored the help you were trying to give me." His skin crawled, and the words felt dirty on his tongue, but he forced himself to keep talking. He had to do this, for Isa. "I ask for your forgiveness and assure you it will not happen again."

Xehanort looked at him for a long moment, without saying anything, and Lea felt sweat pop out on his forehead as he waited. Had he bought it? Or was he simply going to walk away and leave Lea behind?

The silence stretched out between them, and then Lea felt his body sag with relief when Xehanort smiled at him. It was a genuine, warm smile, and it was reflected in his golden eyes. Lea found himself thinking of the days before Radiant Garden's fall, of how Xehanort's smiles had made people melt. His horrific injuries upon his rescue had caused many to speculate that he'd been trying to escape an abusive home, and everyone had come to care about him as a result. Offers to take him in had flooded in from everywhere, and his adoption by Ansem had resulted in a world wide party that had lasted for three days.

"Well done, Lea." Xehanort said, startling Lea out of his memories. "You have just shown me that you are serious about seeing Isa safely home. Still, this is your final warning. I expect obedience from here on out. If you push me to the point I throw you back here again, I will not accept you back a second time. Am I understood?"

Just saying the words made Lea feel like he needed a shower, but he did so anyway. "Yes, Master Xehanort, I understand."

Xehanort nodded sharply. "Good." A healing spell washed over Lea then, relieving the remains of the migraine, and a portal opened up next to him. "Let's go."

Lea hesitated only for a second before he walked through.