Lea walked up the stone steps following Isa. Evan always clad in a white coat was leading the group up to one of the rooms where they performed their research. It was a walk Lea had taken a hundred times before but this time something felt different. His steps were slow and Lea felt an unsettling feeling in his stomach; something was definitely off. He felt a sharp poke at his back.

"Keep moving: Dilan growled as he poked the end of his lance into Lea's back forcing him to quicken his pace.

Dilan was one of the older researchers. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and long black dreadlocks. His ferocity matched his looks. He was the coldest of the group and seemed to lack any empathy at all. More often than not Dilan was placed as a guard during the more important experiments. From what Lea had gathered there was one group of researchers but many motives and agendas from within the group.

They were lead into one of the research rooms while Dilan waited outside. They entered the room only to see Braig and Aeleus unconscious on the floor. The sinking feeling in Lea's stomach only worsened. Xehanort was standing in the center of the room with a weapon positioned towards a small boy in the corner.

"What is the meaning of this?" Even screeched as he ran to put himself in front of the boy. Evan had always been protective of the indigo haired boy, Ienzo.

Ienzo was a few years younger than Isa and Lea and followed Evan everywhere. Probably because Evan had taken the young orphan under his wing when no one else would.

Lea couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy every time he saw Ienzo. The boy had someone who looked out for him someone to make sure he never had to experience the true hardships of being without a family. But, most of all he had someone protecting him from Xehanort making sure he never had to be a research subject. If Lea and Isa had had someone looking after them the way Evan did Ienzo, they would have never found themselves in this mess.

Without so much as a word Xehanort brought his weapon to collide with Evan's chest.

"What are you doing?!" were Evan's last words.

Lea looked to Isa expecting to share a look much like they had when they were taken prisoners the year before but Isa stood calm as could be watching the situation unfold. Xehanort stepped over Evan's crumpled form on the floor and over to Ienzo when Dilan rushed into the room having heard Evan's screams.

When Dilan entered the room He locked eyes with Xehanort for a moment before relaxing his stance and allowing the white haired man to slay the young boy in front of them.

Lea was in a panic now, tugging at Isa's jacket to get him to move. They needed to get out of there! Isa stayed motionless frozen by a mixture of fear and acceptance. Isa had expected to die in the castle, he had resigned himself to that fate a long time ago. A part of him wanted to turn and run but he knew it would do them no good. He decided he would rather face his fate head on instead of leaving this world in a screeching panic the way Evan had.

As if in response to Lea's attempt to get Isa's attention Dilan moved back a few steps to the door he had just entered and locked it.

Dilan proudly stepped in front of the two boys as Xehanort turned back to the three.

"Release my heart." Dilan said, his voice matching his proud stance.

With an exaggerated swing Xehanort sunk the weapon deep into Dilan's chest. The dark haired man let out a slight grunt before regaining his composure and falling to his knees and then to the floor.

Tears began to run from Lea's eyes. "I'm so sorry Isa." He whispered as he watched Xehanort stab his friend in the chest. Isa who had been silent until that point, let out a pained scream as he fell lifeless to the floor. Then Xehanort turned the blade on him.

Lea never felt the blade connect with him he was already gone. He was running through the field of wildflowers chasing Rae. When he had almost caught her, the field of flowers once again took on the look and feel of flames. In an instant the flames were extinguished and he found himself in a dark empty void. There was no sound, nothing to see but black, and he was alone. So this is death, he thought to himself.

The young redheads body hit the floor with a loud thud and Xehanort smiled.