Chapter 7 Chance Encountering
A trio formed by a chanced meeting. A trio of friends, two childhood friends, the other a person who travels the worlds. A coincidence meeting in the end, but the bonds these three forged was made these three unique from others. Childhood friends since the beginning, Lea, an eccentric boy and Isa, a nonchalant boy. No one ever come close to understanding how these two could even survive each other's differences every day. What everyone did understand though, was that they were able to understand what both were going through. Lea being the forgotten child out of eight other older and younger siblings while Isa faced through beating after beating by his father.
"It must be nice not having to wake up being punched in several places," Isa said as he was icing one of his several new bruises.
"It's at least better than being the forgotten child, you get noticed every day," Lea said eating food that Isa brought for him since his father had forgotten about packing his lunch.
"I'd wish my father would just ignore me for once," Isa said, "How's lunch today."
"It's better than nothing," Lea said, "But seriously, how does my parents handle me with eight others?"
"Who knows, my mom died when I was a kid remember?" Isa asked.
"Yeah, and ever since Ellen went to college, your father no longer has his perfect daughter," Lea said.
"I miss Ellen, she was the only one who felt like family," Isa said
Just then, at that moment, something flies by with an armored teenager shouting in joy on the flying object. By the sound of the adolescent's shouts, it appeared to be a teenage boy. As he passed by, he crashed into a tree falling on the other side of the buildings.
"Do you want to check it out?" Lea asked.
"Sure, we have nothing else to do today anyways," Isa said emptying his ice bag of all the water that was in it before stowing it away in his pocket.
"Man, Aqua was right, stunts with the glider isn't the best idea," the boy said as the two approached him, "After what happened, between her and Terra, I'm not even sure if I'll ever see the two in the same room without killing each other again. I probably won't every find a way to get them to cooperate, even if it is something as little as housework chores."
"Who are you?" Lea asked.
"Oh, hi…you saw that…didn't you," the boy said.
"WE both did," Isa said, "the question is, who are you?"
"Ventus, or you could call me Ven for short," the boy said.
"Okay then Ven, I'm Lea, and this is Isa," Lea said, "do you what to be friends?"
"Sure," Ven said following the two.
That was how Ventus spent his weeks in Radiant Garden, he never thought of going to check on Aqua or Terra, it never crossed his mind. He enjoyed accompanying Lea and Isa, it was almost the same thing every day, at least until the day Isa didn't show up at all.
"Is he okay?" Ventus asked.
"Maybe, he does get beaten a lot by his father of course, but he lasts through it every single time," Lea said.
"Shouldn't we go check on him?" Ven asked.
"Isa can handle himself," Lea said just as two twins, both with slate blue hair, ran past them.
The two twins were interesting; they were far younger than the two, at least around five years to estimate. Both of them had a book tucked under one of their arms that were about three-hundred pages. They were both interesting, prodigies by the look of it. What caught Lea's attention the most was where these two twins were heading to, Ansem the Wise's mansion. The mansion had the highest security, just to pass the gates was a triumph, but these twins; they went straight towards the gardens. It wasn't the gardens Lea was interested in; it was the information inside that interested him. About all the existence of other worlds, how to reach from one world to another but most of all, how to control a heart. Control the heart; you have one way to control the body, one way to take over someone's life.
"What's with the smirk?" Ventus asked as he was trying to read Lea's face.
"Oh it's nothing," Lea said, "come on; let's go get some ice cream."
"Without Isa?" Ventus asked.
"Sure, he's not showing up after all," Lea said.
Ventus felt very uncertain so he got an extra ice cream taking it to Isa's house, finding he isn't there.
"Do you know where he might be?" Ventus asked trying not to gag at the scent of alcohol in Isa's father's breath.
"Not a clue," he said before slamming the door on him.
"Okay…" Ven said standing there still shocked by how hard the door was slammed before turning around.
"Ven, what are you doing?" Isa said.
"I came to bring you some ice cream, what happened to you?" Ven asked noticing the bandages that were wrapped around him in various places.
"Can I tell you somewhere else?" Isa asked.
"Sure, come on," Ven said taking him to what he called his home, just off of an alley.
"You've been living here the entire time?" Isa asked.
"Well, yeah, I can't really find a permanent residence here and it is sheltered from the weather. It's almost like living outside, but it's also a house," Ven said, "So what do you think?"
"Could I stay here for a few nights?" Isa asked.
"Of course, but wouldn't staying over at Lea's be better than…here?" Ven asked.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't mind some peace and quiet," Isa said, "and your place has the least amount of causes for noise."
"Yeah well there are the rats, mice, stray cats and dogs and occasional raccoons," Ven said, "but they know that this isn't their place eventually. Do you still want to stay here?"
"Why not, I don't need to bother anyone else," Isa said.
"So what about those bandages?" Ven asked.
"My dad decided to beat me and slammed me against a standing mirror and then continued to use me as a punching bag when I was laying on the ground on top of the mirror shards, that's how I got most of the cuts on me."
"That sounds a bit harsh," Ven said.
"How did your parents care for you?" Isa asked.
"I wouldn't know, I never knew them," Ven said, "But I always have my friends. They are almost like family…right?"
"I guess you're right," Isa said.
"So, do you still want to stick around?" Ven asked.
"Anything is better than home to me right now," Isa said.
In the morning, after sneaking into Isa's house for breakfast before his father woke up, they meet up with Lea.
"Hey I have an idea," Lea said.
"What kind of idea?" Isa and Ven asked.
"How about a competition of sorts? Who loses in the end, will have to take a special dare," Lea said.
"What kind of dare?" Ven asked.
"Loser has to make it past the front door of Ansem the Wise's mansion and find the room that has all of the top secret files," Lea said.
"That's insane, even I know that isn't possible," Ventus said.
"Well, how do you know about that?" Lea asked smirking.
"Fine, then, what are our options?" Ventus asked.
"Something that wouldn't be considered weapons, but not just bare handed," Lea said.
"Fine then," Ven said, "we'll do it tomorrow."
"Ven, you can't be serious," Isa said walking beside him, back to his alley shelter.
"I know, but he'll be nagging eventually," Ven said taking out and brandishing a large wooden key.
"Isn't that against the deal?" Isa asked.
"No, it's just a giant key, there is no way that a giant key could be a weapon," Ven said even though he knew well enough that the key he held was his weapon of choice, "what about you?"
"I don't know," Isa said.
"How about this?" Ven said taking out a worn toy crescent moon, it was as big enough to be kept around Lea's head, but it wasn't sharp at all.
"It will do," Isa said, taking it in his hand, finding a small button, because of it, a smaller version, a pin, came out.
Taking the pin, he pinned it to his shirt as he left to sneak back into his house without his father finding either the toy or pin just for the night before sneaking back out to go meet up with his friends, forgetting to change the bandages wrapped around him.
Ven and Lea were already dueling as the moment Isa had arrived, finishing it as a win for Lea.
"You're late," Lea said, "Just be glad that you facing Ven."
"Don't worry, I'll go a little easy on you," Ventus whispered.
"No, give it all you got," Isa said, his eyes' colors flickering from aquamarine to golden-yellow. A flash of a vision, an older Isa with golden-yellow eyes and an X-shaped scar on his face.
"Okay, if that is what you want," Ven said
With multiple parries one after the other, Ventus was proven the victor. No matter how many times Ventus tried to apologize, it was futile. Isa was already going back to Ventus' alley shelter, putting back the toy moon, but however, keeping the pin with him.
Going on ahead, late in the night, a week after their competition, Saix finally was able to sneak into Ansem's mansion, sneaking and accidentally waking up the twin prodigies.
"Huh, who are you?" the girl asked, "We've never seen you in here before."
"I'm no one important," Isa said.
"What about your friends? You should be with your friends," the girl said, "I wouldn't know what my life would be without my brother."
"Go back to bed, it wouldn't matter what happens to me," Isa said leaving their room as they went back to bed.
Closing the door, almost reaching the gates, Isa felt it through his body. Thousands of bolts of lightning being coursed harshly through his body as each cell stopped working one by one. Until in the end, was nothing left of the empty husk of Isa.
The next day and still no news about Isa. Lea went to look for Ventus, finding him in the courtyard where the three first met.
"Ven, what are you doing?" Lea asked, questioning his remaining friend's intentions.
"Terra found Aqua unconscious on the streets last night and has been with her at the hospital since then," Ven said, "he hasn't slept a single wink. I have to go back and help them."
"But what about Isa?" Lea asked, "What will we do without you when you are gone?"
"That's just it," Ven said, "I visited Ansem the Wise earlier this morning since I've been deferring my visit to him since the moment I got there. Do you want to know what I found? I found them moving Isa's dead body to a creepy van to be burned to nothing. I can't believe you Lea! I thought friends meant something to you. Well, you have one less person to worry about."
"What are you doing?" Lea asked again.
"Haven't you noticed it well enough? I'm leaving to go help the friends I should have been with instead of you!" Ven said running off.
Lea followed him, at least until he disappeared. He couldn't believe it now; he was in the world, with no friend in the world. Isa's spirit however, was restless. Seeing his friends split into separate paths. He didn't know how to think about it. All of it was confusing. He just let it happen, following Ventus as he left Radiant Garden.
Ventus was holding back tears for two reasons, because he left his only friend in Radiant Garden and that he was finally going to see Terra and Aqua again. Finally making it to the hospital Aqua was admitted into, he found the room she was in and softly knocked on the door, to be greeted by a weary Terra.
"Ven, it's been a while since I last saw you," Terra said, "You're not as short as I remembered though."
"I'm not a pipsqueak though! How's Aqua?" Ven asked.
"She's fine, but they're uncertain if she will be herself again if she ever wakes up," Terra said.
"Go get some sleep, I'll stay here and wait for her to wake up," Ven said.
"Fine, but I'll sleep in the other hospital bed; wake me up before she does okay?" Terra asked.
"I will," Ven said as Terra drew the curtains.
After hours had passed, Ven woke Terra up just before Aqua was about to wake up. Ven saw how they made up. They were happy, and Ven could finally have what he had been longing for, to see his two best friends happy together. It could just be the three of us again like before.
However, not all good things last forever, Isa watched over both Lea and Ventus, until Ven fell into a coma, no one knew when he would wake up. It was because of an accident that Aqua and Terra narrowly avoided, they both were stricken, taken turns waiting for Ventus to wake up, Aqua at night, Terra at day, nothing helped though, in the end, they too left Ventus for some time hoping he would wake up.
Lea was passing by at the hospital, shocked to find Ventus hospitalized. He didn't know why or how it all had happened. All he knew, was he didn't want to lose another friend.
"Ventus, I'm sorry," Lea whispered into his ear before leaving, not turning back to see the faint growing smile.
Isa saw this, he seemed content, it was true Ventus hadn't woken up when he witnessed Lea's apology, but the smile, was proof enough that Ven forgave Lea. With a smile of his own, he finally felt at peace.
A/N: AnimaGirl had given the idea for the Lea, Isa and Ventus trio as well as a base idea for the plot line of how their friendship falls apart, I sort of added a few things to fill in a few possible plot holes of how the trio would remain friends if Ven didn't have to leave. This also is the first time a character is repeated. I don't mind repeating characters; however, I won't repeat trios, plotlines or have a character face death more than once. Oh and to clarify one little detail, it is AU.
