Radiant Garden. The sound of the water gushing in the fountains and the faint smell of flowers were all too familiar to Lea. The world had come a long way since he had last been here, back when he was still a Nobody. Lea rushed over here after the battle with Xehanort. He had rescued Sora from becoming the 13th vessel. Now, he was supposed to be heading to Merlin's house to train to become a full-fledged Keyblade wielder.

On the way to Merlin's house, Lea passed by the town square. He used to play here a lot as a kid, with his old childhood friend Isa. Ever since he had met Roxas—and Sora—he started remembering things from his past, from his childhood. It seemed like every conversation he had with Roxas brought back a new wave of vivid memories from days long past. In was in this square that Lea met Ventus, too.

Maybe it was fate that I met him here, that day. The boy who looks like Roxas. The Keyblade's chosen one.

Lea took one long look at the castle which held so many memories for him. It was a castle of memories and broken dreams.

What would my life be like if I never went inside the castle that day?

So much had changed since that fateful day. Lea's mind wandered back to the past as he stared at the large looming castle, just like he once did so long ago.

Lea and his best friend Isa were playing in the central square, enjoying what was left of their summer vacation. In a few more days, it would be back to school; back to the same old routine.

"What's wrong, Lea? You're being unusually quiet," Isa asked with some amusement.

"Like you don't already know."

"If we both work on it together, it shouldn't take that long." Isa was referring, of course, to the summer homework they had both put off until the last minute.

"Ugh, can't we worry about that later? For now, I just want to do something fun, ya know?" Lea complained.

"Hmm. I know. Let's go see the dog. We haven't seen him in a while."

"You and that dog, I swear. There's no guarantee he'll be there, ya know..." Lea reminded him with a smile.

The two boys arrived in the outer gardens, looking for a gray stray dog that frequently hung out there. The locals called him "Tramp" due to his penchant for mischief. He was a bit of a troublemaker, but a good-natured dog nonetheless. He started following Lea around one day, and Isa quickly took a liking to him, too.

"Guess he's not here..." Isa sounded disappointed.

"He's a stray, got it memorized? He'll go wherever he feels like. I told you not to get too attached," Lea chided the pouting Isa.

Just then, they heard a bark.

"Hi, boy!" Isa happily greeted the stray dog.

Tramp quickly darted over towards the two boys, wagging his tail excitedly. Isa bent down and softly stroked him. Tramp rubbed his head on Isa's lap. Then he jumped up on Lea, knocked him on his butt, and proceeded to lick him.

"Hey, cut it out! Geez, why is it that you only ever slobber all over me and not Isa?" Lea complained, but he didn't mind the affection. "Let me guess, you want to play with this, huh?" Lea took out his frisbees and threw one.

Tramp scurried after it.

"Haha, you never change, do ya?"

The boys took turns tossing the frisbee to Tramp when suddenly, the dog spotted something and started walking in the opposite direction.

"What? Tired already?" Isa asked.

But he quickly realized it wasn't that. Another dog had arrived. A brown cocker spaniel with a blue collar. She was extremely well-groomed, unlike Tramp. Lea and Isa recognized that dog. Her name was Lady. She belonged to a beautiful house not far from the outer gardens. It was the first time either of them had seen her outside the large immaculate fenced yard. Lady greeted Tramp and he replied with an enthusiastic bark. Then, the two ran off together and were soon out of sight.

"Oh, boy. Looks like he's got himself a girlfriend," Lea laughed to himself.

"That's Lady, right? She shouldn't be outside of the yard. Her owners are probably looking for her."

"Aw, why spoil her fun? This is probably her first time exploring the town."

Maybe Lea was right. This could be her only opportunity to wander freely around town. But still. Lady wasn't used to the outside world. What if something bad happened?

"I'm sure her owners are worried about her, though."

"She's with Tramp. I'm sure she'll be fine and be back home before ya know it. Gotta make some memories while you have the chance."

Memories. Isa knew what Lea was talking about. They had been trying all summer to sneak into the castle. And each time, they had been summarily thrown out. They had pretty much resigned themselves to their failure, but Isa started to suspect that maybe Lea hadn't completely given up on the idea after all.

"She could use a friend to add some excitement to her life. She's kinda like you, Isa." Lea smiled in a cheeky manner.

And you're a lot like Tramp, Isa thought.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Lea blurted it out. "Ya know, I still think we have a shot."

There it is. I knew it. I knew he'd never let it go. "I dunno, Lea."

"You said you wanted to do it, right?"

"Well, yeah. But we've been kicked out so many times. I really don't think we're getting in there..." Isa sighed.

"Today we might do it." Lea was always the optimist.

"What makes you think this time is going to be any different than the last 50 times?" Isa asked dryly.

"Well, I'm glad you asked." Lea flashed a confident smirk. "Did you know there's an entrance on the side of the castle? Not a lot of people know about it. I just found out about it myself. And the best part is, the guards don't even hang out there."

"I don't think this is such a good idea, Lea. We really should be finishing up our homework. We don't have time to put it off much longer. I don't wanna get a bad grade."

"Look, if we fail today, then I promise you, I'll give up and we can finish our homework. But come on. Let's just try one last time. That way, we won't have any regrets."

"I dunno. The guards seemed pretty angry the last time. Well, even more than usual. We could get in a lot of trouble."

"Hey, no risk, no reward, am I right? Just think about it, Isa. We'd be the first kids ever to see the inside of that castle. You're gonna remember it for the rest of your life. When will you ever get the opportunity to do something like that again?"

Isa said nothing.

"Besides, what's the worst that could happen? We're just a couple of kids, right?" Lea's lips curled into a mischievous smile.

Isa could see how much Lea wanted to do this. Truth be told, Isa thought the idea sounded exciting, too. Still, he had a bad feeling about it. "You just don't give up, do you?" he sighed heavily.

"I'm doing this for you, too, Isa. If we listened to you, all we'd ever do is sit around and eat ice cream all day. Trust me, you'll be thanking me later."

It was true. Lea's enthusiasm was contagious. With him, Isa always did have lots of fun. Things were never boring with him around.

Isa rolled his eyes and smiled. "Oh, all right. I guess we can give it one more shot. It's not like we're gonna succeed anyways. Then we can get some ice cream afterwards."

"That's the spirit! Now let's go."

The boys stared at the large castle looming in the distance, then marched towards it.