Author's Note: Welcome to Chapter III!

LOOK! points Kingdom Hearts stuff! You found it after all. Told you this chapter would have some…

Zeke and Lia met for the next few weeks. Zeke would sneak out food of some sort, trying to bring new stuff every night, and Lia would listen to him talk as she ate. He would talk about anything: what happened at the village today, his friends, his family… Lia enjoyed listening to him; it seemed he never ran out of things to say. Soon they became closer than any other friend either of them had.

One night, as Zeke was walking up to the cave, a sandwich and a small bag of chips under one arm; something caught his eye in the darkness. He stopped to stare at it. Two yellow orbs of light were looking at him through the leaves of a bush. He blinked and tilted his head. Fireflies? Shivers ran up his spine as the lights mirrored his action. The owners of the lights scuffled forward, claws scraping against leaves noisily. Zeke's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at a little black animal with long curled ears, its bright eyes remaining focused on him as well. Suddenly, it flattened itself, winding its way towards him soundlessly. He gasped, dropping the food, and backed away from it, never having seen anything do that before. After awhile it paused and inflated itself again, glowing eyes never leaving his body. It leaned forward, nodding its head and shifting its weight as if it were nervous about something, leaves crackling underfoot once more. Suddenly, it snapped its head away from him, looking through the trees as if it had heard a loud noise. It looked back at Zeke momentarily before turning again and shooting off into the darkness.

Zeke stood there for a second, trying to sort out what had just happened. Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched scream, coming from where the animal had raced off. His heart skipped a beat. Lia! He took off. Not again, he thought. Witnessing one of her heart attacks was painful enough, but having to go through it all over again… He hoisted himself up the rocks as fast as he could go. Reaching the cave, he froze in surprise.

Lia wasn't having an attack, but she wasn't in the best of shape either. She was backed up against a wall, surrounded by eight of the same little black monsters from before. She was covered with black cuts, some of them deeper than others. Blood was oozing from a few of them. The girl looked over to him and gasped in surprise and relief. Zeke bent over, picking up a large rock roughly the size of his head. "Leave her alone!" he cried, chucking it in their direction.

They all turned to look at him as he lobbed the rock at them. The rock landed squarely on one of the black things, but rather than making an impressive squishing noise like the ones made when killing a large bug, it made a hissing noise as it dissolved into black dust. Zeke wasted no time getting more ammo, hucking rocks at the remaining animals. He managed to hit most of them, but the ones that were smart enough to dodge the rocks were proving more troublesome. Zeke, quickly running out of easily accessible grenades, decided to pick up a large stick and use it as a sword to fight these smarter ones. He smiled and ran at the remaining monsters, thrashing at them like he was born doing it.

Lia had escaped to the back of the cave when she had gotten the chance, hiding behind a large stalagmite. She licked at her wounds to clean them. She had gotten cuts before, but she never had anything like these. The blackish-blue skin was frightening her, she wondered if the skin would always be that color.

Zeke eventually conquered the beings, whatever ones he didn't destroy he managed to knock out of the cave to the rocks below. He looked over the forest, spotting bits of movement through the trees. There were more of them, and they were coming up fast. In the distance, he spotted Starlight Valley. A sickening jolt ran through his stomach. Would they attack there? He hoped that they could manage to fight them off as he had.

Not hearing any activity, Lia peered out from behind the stalagmite. She watched Zeke, standing at the edge of the cave. "Zeke?" she squeaked. He turned as she crawled out. "A-Are they gone?"

He nodded. She bowed her head, sighing in relief. "There are more out there." He said. "We've gotta do something."

Lia looked up at him and shook her head, eyes wide with fright. She stood and motioned to herself. "Do you see what they did? No way am I going out there!"

"Well then, you stay here." He said simply, shrugging. He knelt down and began his descent. Lia stared for a moment then ran forward to stop him. "No!" she said, grabbing his wrist. "Don't go! They'll kill you! You can stay here with me, stay here, please!" she pleaded. "I-I can show you the rest of the caves, it's really big and exciting, please, just don't go down there…"

Zeke looked up at her waveringly. Growls alerted his attention; he looked down to see more of the glowing-eyed beings down at the bottom. Fear spread through him. He looked back up, a resolution reached. "Okay. I'll stay." He said, scrambling back up. Standing, he took her hand. "Take me into the caves, and whatever you do, don't look back." He said. She nodded, confused at his conditions, but she obeyed anyway. She led her into the back of the cave as darkness enfolded the both of them.

Lia knew the caves by heart, having explored them time after time on her own. A growling, scratching sound alerted her attention, but Zeke kept a firm grip on her shoulder. "Don't look back, just keep going. Faster." He said sternly, picking up their pace. Lia swallowed thickly, her curiosity begging her to turn around and look, but she refused to do so.

They walked until Lia ran smack into something solid. She squeaked and felt whatever it was. It was wooden, like a door, but there was no knob or keyhole or anything. "This wasn't here before… This isn't supposed to be here..." she whimpered, hammering on it. Zeke turned his head and gulped as many tiny orbs of light were visible in the distance, getting bigger and closer by the second. He turned back and blinked. A large keyhole was now noticeable in the door, illuminating the cave. Lia was still feeling over it as if they were still in the dark. "Lia, it's right there." He said. "What?" she replied, "Where?"

"You don't---" He paused as the thought dawned on him, "You don't see it." He whispered. It was another thing that only he could see. Zeke clenched his fist. He was tired of this, tired of running, tired of seeing things that no one else could! He turned and faced the monsters, then blinked as a second light appeared. He held up his hand, realizing the light was coming from it. The light elongated and changed shape, forming a large key that fit snugly in his hand. He blinked in surprise, letting it clink to the floor as its weight brought it to the ground. Lia stared at it. "What is that?" she said in awe. Zeke grunted, trying to lift it. He held it up, but it was difficult to keep in the air and it quickly fell to the ground again. "I dunno." He said, looking up to notice that the black things had stopped. He swung it about, they backed up, apparently terrified by the large key. He grinned. "They don't like it, whatever it is."

He turned to stare at the keyhole. Large keyhole, large key… it all fit, quite literally. He held the key to it, the keyhole shimmering brightly. Lia gasped, seemingly noticing the keyhole for the first time. The things apparently regained their bravery as Zeke turned his back on them, they quickly flooded the area. Lia screamed as the animals pushed past her to get to the door. Zeke dropped the key in surprise as the beings tripped him in their attempts to push past. He picked himself up and stared as the black animals flooded the keyhole, squeezing inside it like cats through a cat door. A bright light flooded the cave, Zeke experiencing a very scary sense of premonition as it did so. He pushed past to Lia and grabbed her arms, knowing without understanding why that something incredibly bad was about to happen. His heart sped up in a small bout of panic. What was happening?

"Lia, whatever happens, we will see each other again. I promise!" he said as a shudder rocked the earth beneath them.

The girl looked up in fright. "What's going to happen?" she cried, tears filling her eyes.

"I don't know!" The cave walls began to crack and split, emitting more light. Lia screamed and clung to Zeke. "What's happening?"

Then, a ripple of energy pulsed through the door. The entire cave cracked, giving way to the light. They and the many animals left behind were set adrift. Soon, the animals dissipated, breaking up into clouds of the same black dust.

Lia hugged Zeke tightly, not wanting to float away. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." He said, looking around. Eyes settling back on his friend, he gasped as Lia began to fade out in his arms. "Lia?"

She cried out in panic. "Zeke, don't go!" but she had already vanished into the whiteness.

"Lia!" he cried in anguish, tears coming to his own eyes. Everything dear to him was gone now. He growled in anger. What had happened, what was happening, why? He had absolutely no answers to reassure him that it would all work out in the end.

The light around him vanished, sucked down into oblivion to be replaced by the darkness. Zeke felt out, trying to find Lia, calling out her name every so often. No one would respond. He was lost in dark, without a light to comfort him.

Something cold and wet drenched him, and soon colors began to fade in. He thrashed out, fighting to bring himself back to reality.

"Calm down, boy, you're going to hurt yourself!" A female voice with a strange accent rang in his ears. He opened his eyes and stared up into a woman's face. She had dusky blue eyes and brown hair, and she was smiling agreeably. "Well, it's about time you woke up!" she said brightly. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, looking around. "What… Where am I…?"

"Why, you're in a jungle, young man!" she said, standing up and brushing off the dust on her red skirt. "My name is Jane." She said, holding out a hand to help him up. He took it and stood, brushing off dust as well. "Zeke." He muttered, staring up into the lush canopies. "How'd I get here?"

"Well…" she said. "I don't really know. Last night, I spotted a shooting star, larger than any star I'd ever seen, and today I followed it to see if it had landed anywhere, and I found you instead."

He rubbed his head; then looked at the hand he had scratched it with, realizing he was holding something. Enclosed in it was a small rose earring. His eyes widened as the previous night's events resurfaced. Those animals… that key… the light… "Lia!" he cried, looking around. "Lia! Where are you?"

"Who?"

"A-A girl, she was with me, and we were fighting off these monsters, and there were too many, and bright light and now she's gone… Lia!" he blurted, running off through the trees.

Jane stared after him and then began to chase him down as she realized she would soon lose him. "Wait, what? Monsters? Hey, slow down!" she said, catching up to the boy and grabbing his arm. He fought against her, trying his hardest to break her grip, but she wouldn't let go. "Stop this right now and talk to me!" she said. Zeke stopped struggling, his arm extended by her grip. He sighed. "A girl, about this high, black hair, gray eyes, re-eally skinny?" He placed a hand at his chest then looked at her hopefully. She shook her head. "I can have Tarzan go out and look for her, if you'd like."

He blinked. Tarzan? What an odd name. He nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay. Let's go back to camp and get you cleaned up." She said, smiling cheerfully. She released his arm and began walking back to camp.

-----

Lia awoke groggily in the arms of something brown and hairy. She groaned softly; then realized what was happening, screaming and lashing out in terror. The thing grunted in surprise as she jumped to her feet and turned to stare at whatever had been carrying her. She backed away in shock as she took in the features of a huge beast. He walked on two legs, but everything else about him screamed 'quadruped'. Easily seven feet tall, with a large jaw line and overbite complete with pointed teeth, claws, a bushy tail and horns, it all added up to one thing: scary monster who can eat you alive.

It was staring at her with a puzzled look on its face. She backed away, her breath quick and harried. She looked around the courtyard, the memories of last night's events sprung fresh in her mind. "What did you do with Zeke!" she screamed at it. Its head snapped back, possibly even more perplexed than before. "Zeke?" he growled in a low bass voice.

She stared at him, not expecting that type of answer. "H-He… You…" she inhaled sharply, biting back tears. Everything was so confusing!

"Are you alright?" A female voice said from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see a woman stepping out from behind large doors, walking lightly down the steps to her. She stood and backed away from the both of them. "Where am I?" she cried.

"Beast, who is she?" the woman asked softly, looking at the monster for answers.

"Found her on the bridge." He growled. "Now I'm sort of wishing I hadn't."

"Are you lost?" the woman asked, her dark brown eyes locking on Lia's gray. The girl sniffed, rubbing her nose with her hand. "Yes."

"Where do you live?"

Lia was silent. "Nowhere." She said finally. The woman glanced over at Beast. "Well… We have plenty of room here…"

"No we don't." Beast growled, turning to walk towards the castle. Belle frowned and turned; her hands on her hips. "If she doesn't stay, I don't stay." She stated simply

Beast froze. "I hate it when you threaten me like that." He grumbled. "Fine. She stays in your room. That's final." He walked into the castle without another word.

The woman's face softened as she turned back to the girl. "Sorry about him." She said, smiling apologetically. "He's a little grumpy at times. My name is Belle."

"L-Lia." She said softly. Belle walked up to her and hugged her before placing a hand on her back and leading her towards the doors. "You'll be fine. We have lots of food, and I think you'll like the people we have here. Beast takes some time to get used to, but you'll see, we usually have a splendid time---"

"Do you know a Zeke?"

"No… I don't think so…"

Lia frowned. Her heart ached at the loss of her first and only friend. She recalled his promise thoughtfully. Whatever happens, we will see each other again... She placed her hand into her dress pocket, reaching for her only possession: her pair of rose earrings which she had found one day in the village. Her hand clasped one, but the other was missing. Her eyes widened in surprise. She had lost one? Pulling out the one, she ran her finger over it thoughtfully. She would never lose this one, she thought. Never.

Lia looked to the gray cloudy sky, clutching the earring. We will see each other again…I promise.