Everyone reacted exactly how I hoped that they would to that last update. I definitely enjoyed all the remarks from my readers. But I decided to have mercy on you guys and update as quickly as I could. Which means that you won't have to remain in suspense for any longer.

He was… Where…? Not supposed… to go… Can't leave yet…

Something… pulling him away…

His thoughts thick and sluggish, he couldn't seem to remember what happened or how he ended up there. Or any real detail about anything. And yet the lack of memories didn't seem to bother him much. He felt calm.

And, as they gradually came into focus, his surroundings were peaceful and bright. And quiet.

Everything around him was slowly settling, becoming more real. Or maybe he was the one becoming more real. Either way, he could start to see.

The horizon extended in all directions, completely flat and endless. A thin layer of water covered the ground and reflected the sky perfectly. All he could see around him was the bright shade of blue and the white clouds drifting past. He could barely tell where the earth ended and where the sky began. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

As he turned his attention down, he absently noticed that he couldn't see his body. Only sparks of light, floating up like tiny embers. As if he'd dissolved into sparks. Or tiny stars. And they kept brightening and dimming, as if they weren't truly present in this calm and quiet place. As if they were barely real. As if he was barely real.

Being nothing more that sparks of light should have bothered him more. Not quite existing in this place should have bothered him more. And even his lack of memory should have bothered him more, tiny fraying threads of identity slipping through his grasp.

But the calm, the quiet, and peace made it hard to be concerned.

What was he supposed to do? Stay here? Go somewhere? There was nothing to offer a single hint on what he should do. Maybe if he just waited…

Hold on… No. He was supposed to… find someone? Two? More? He needed… He needed to find them. To find them and bring them home.

That thought seemed to pulse through him, warm and solid. His hands tightened into fists. Did he have hands? He didn't see them, but he felt like he had hands. Like he had hands, a body, and a purpose. He needed to find them and bring them back. Details about who that he was searching for didn't seem to come to him, but that didn't matter. He wasn't going to stop until he found them.

"Go on… You just keep running," he said slowly, breaking the silence. "'Cause I'll always be there to bring you back."

The words felt familiar. A promise. He grabbed them tight. His determined focus on his promise grounded him. He felt solid. Real. He held onto the promise with all his might.

Then he felt something, far away and yet connected to him. A rush of energy and strength. The ember-like sparks around him, that were him, steadied. No longer floating away or drifting. They condensed, brightening into a single light. And a distant pulsing beat filled his ears. Or at least, what felt like ears.

So far away… Whatever was happening was so far away. But… he was far away. Far away from himself, the connection thinned and weakening. Part of him was back there.

And so were the people that he needed to find.

He reached for that part of him, the broken and distant part of himself. And he held tight. Staying here wasn't an option. He didn't belong in this quiet and peaceful place where the sky met the sea.

He needed to find them. He needed to make sure that they were safe. He was going to follow that frayed connection, that distant beating sound, and the rush of strength back to them.

A new sound began to form as a shadow fell on him. Dread washed over him even as he turned. He caught a brief glimpse of a towering wave of water before it hit hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.

Oh. He had lungs again. Not the best timing though.

Donald knew, from the moment that he saw the thrown knives buried in Lea's chest, that the man was dying. The location and the depth of the blades left no doubts. There were too many vital organs there.

And, as he'd made certain to drill into Sora's head when the boy first learned Cure a couple years ago to make certain that he wouldn't become reckless, some things couldn't be healed before it was too late. Mortal injuries could kill before magic could fix the damage.

But that didn't stop Donald's voice from joining the others as he collapsed, Roxas and the black-haired girl sounding terrified as they grabbed Lea, slowing his fall. Even the just-arriving Master Ansem and Ienzo reacted to the sight, though they called out a different name than the others. No one was unaffected at seeing one of their numbers mortally wounded. Shock and horror claimed everyone.

No matter how much he might be annoyed by the former Nobody and even if he still held some suspicions in general about him, Donald didn't want Lea to die. But there was nothing that they could do as he gasped weakly on the ground, his expression pained and confused.

"No," whispered Sora, shaking his head.

The broken way he said the word made something in Donald's chest twist. It was like what happened with Flynn Rider. Or what happened with Will Turner. He hated seeing Sora hurt and he hated innocent people being killed. And this time, there wouldn't be a cursed ship in need of a captain nor Rapunzel's impossibly-powerful magic.

Her healing magic was on an entirely different level, pulling off miracles that no one else could match. Some rare people naturally had a form of magic that defied all logic. Just like Merlin and his rule-breaking time magic. Maybe Rapunzel could save Flynn, but there would be no miracles this time.

"Axel," begged the black-haired girl quietly, her fingers digging into his coat. She and Roxas leaned over the weakening man, their eyes wide and desperate. "Axel, please."

His voice shaking, Roxas said, "Don't fade again. Please don't fade."

Children. No matter how capable and strong that they and Sora might be in combat, Donald couldn't forget. That's what they were. Desperate, scared, and heart-broken children. Crying children, tears starting to streak down their faces and falling onto the former Nobody.

They deserved better than to watch someone they clearly cared about dying in front of them.

This was wrong. But there was nothing that they could do to stop it.

Ansem the Wise finally shook off his momentary stunned state enough to leave the doorway. It only took a few seconds, but it felt longer. So much was happening so quickly and yet Donald felt like he was trapped by Stopga.

"Why isn't anyone doing anything?" asked Kairi shakily, managing to get past her own shock and starting to raise her Keyblade.

"Because even Curaga won't help." Sora's voice sounded lifeless and empty. "Not in time…"

This wasn't right. But he couldn't do anything.

Besides, while he could use Cure spells, Donald was always better at offensive spells. Sora turned out to be more balanced with his magic, but Donald's strength was using it aggressive. Like Thunder and even Flare spells. It better suited his temperament and he had a knack for it, even picking up a few more powerful (and dangerous) spells from some books that Merlin didn't know he'd read. He only knew Cure spells because having at least some form of healing magic was common sense.

But not even a Curaga would have heal multiple stab wounds to the chest in time to make a difference.

Seconds. That's how long. Less than sixty seconds. It didn't even take a full minute from when Lea hit the ground for the weakening gasps, the pained and choked struggles to breathe, to go silent.

This was wrong. Completely wrong. But he couldn't do anything.

Kneeling next to the prone figure suddenly enough to make Roxas flinch defensively, Ansem the Wise pressed two fingers to Lea's neck just below the jaw. Trying to find his pulse. And when Ansem's eyes squeezed shut after a moment and his expression turned grave and regretful, Donald knew.

He knew what it meant just like he knew what it meant when Sora stabbed himself in the chest with that accursed Keyblade of Hearts to save Kairi years ago, giving his friends a reassuring smile before vanishing and giving Donald nightmares of that day even now. He was helpless then to stop Sora and he was helpless now.

No matter how unfair it was or how much it was hurting Sora, Kairi, and the other kids, there was nothing that he could do.

There was nothing…

…Aw, phooey.

Donald started frantically digging through his pocket for a mega-ether. He was going to need it.

There were so many reasons why this wasn't going to work, starting with the fact that he didn't have any more effective healing spells than different variations of Cure. But he also knew that he wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't do something.

Besides, a spell like Healing Light wouldn't be fast enough. There wasn't much time between when breathing and the heartbeat stop and when someone was completely dead. Just a few moments of leeway.

There was almost no chance that it was going to work, he was going to end up useless for the next few hours, but apparently Donald was trying anyway. He was the only one present who could. No one else even had a chance of pulling it off and maybe he would be lucky.

Not that he'd ever been lucky a day in his life, but there was a first time for everything.

"Donald?" Apparently Sora had noticed that he was up to something. "What are you—"

"Being an idiot," he said.

The mega-ether felt invigorating, almost making him think that he could make this work. Normal healing spells already took up a large chunk of his magical reserves. This was going to be exhausting.

Raising his wand and gathering up ever scrap of power that he could muster, Donald shouted, "Curaza!"

The vast amount of magic getting used so suddenly left him light-headed and wobbly. Why couldn't healing magic be as easy as offensive magic? Donald felt exhaustion flooding in. He wasn't even going to stay awake long enough to find out if it did any good, was he?

Groggily, Donald hoped Goofy or Sora would catch him when he collapsed. He didn't want to fall on his beak.

The impact of the wave sent him down, down, down… Too deep to be possible. He struggled against the current, but it kept dragging him deeper. The water grew colder and darker.

But when the burning in his chest forced him to open his mouth, even knowing that he would drown, the water vanished. And he was left coughing, his body sprawled limply on a smooth surface.

Lea had an actual body again. A tired and half-drowned body, but a body nonetheless.

And a name.

Ansem held his breath when Donald abruptly cast his spell. A glow of green briefly wrapped around the still and silent figure before sinking in. Even if he wasn't a magic user himself, Ansem recognized how powerful of a spell that the magician just cast. And when Ansem felt a slow, weak, and unsteady pulse under his fingertips where he couldn't find one before, he smiled shakily.

"There you go, Lea," he said softly, moving his hands to put pressure on the wound as the ragged and choked gasp returned. The return of a heartbeat would also mean that bleeding would resume. "His magic might just give you a fighting chance after all. If you can hold on long enough for the spell to do its work, you might pull through."

Roxas stiffened at his voice. He'd already been on guard when Ansem kneeled down next to them, not wanting to move or loosen his grip on Lea with the arrival of a stranger, but now he clearly recognized Ansem for who he once was. His actions as DiZ had returned to haunt him once again.

Anger, distrust, and hurt briefly flashed across the boy's face, intense enough that Ansem half-expected the reappearance of his dual Keyblades. He deserved such actions. But Roxas's eyes glanced back towards Lea and his concern for the young man won out, burying the anger beneath.

"Can you help him?" asked Roxas, sounding more vulnerable than he probably intended. "Will he be all right?"

The black-haired girl, the one that seemed faintly familiar and caused him a migraine when Ansem looked at her, added quietly, "Please?"

Ansem turned his attention back down to the young man. He may be a student of the heart, focusing on its mysteries and how light and darkness interact within it, but he'd learned some about the limits and fragilities of the physical body. Mostly so that he could understand how one might affect the other.

Not to mention necessary knowledge when some of his less ethical experiments towards the end risked physical harm to the subjects, but he didn't want to dwell on those dark days. Not the way that he started sliding towards more dangerous thoughts back then and how not even turning back before he went too far spared himself or others from a cruel outcome. He couldn't think about it or the countless people who were lost because of his arrogance or blindness. Not now. He needed to focus on the present and the person who was still within his ability to help.

If only Even had come back with them. His expertise would be greatly appreciated. He always had a talent for studying biology and such. That was probably how he was able to eventually create the replicas.

Despite the fact that Donald's powerful healing spell managed to give him the strength for his heartbeat and breathing to resume, Lea wasn't out of danger. Even greatly accelerated healing took time. Based on the location and probable depth of the wounds, he was dealing with at least a punctured lung and probably some damage to some major blood vessels. There even could be damage to his physical heart. With those types of injuries, there should be more visible blood than what was trying to seep between Ansem's hands, making him suspect that he was mostly bleeding into his chest cavity or his lungs. Which would explain why his weak breathing sounded so choked and strained. And what wasn't internal bleeding might be hidden by the black coat.

A small kindness, even if not for Lea. The children were already worried enough without seeing larger quantities of blood.

Ansem took all this information in within a couple seconds. Lea was clinging to life on borrowed time. Even the accelerated healing could only work so fast to fix the wounds before the damage, the shock, and the blood loss…

Focus. Prioritize.

His labored breathing and the bleeding were the primary concerns. Healing someone's lungs or even their physical heart took a little longer because the organs couldn't just hold still during the process. They needed to stabilize the young man until the Cure spell healed him enough. Judging by the types of experiments that his apprentices performed after he ordered them to drop the entire line of study, dangerous experiments that went farther and into far crueler territory, the lab might still hold supplies that could be used to treat the physical body. They wouldn't want their subjects to expire too soon, after all. At a minimum, there should at least be a few hi-potions that could be used for more localized healing of the more severe injuries and gauze. He just needed to survive long enough for the spell to do its work.

But if Lea's will and heart were strong enough to allow him to linger as a Nobody back when he was merely a teenager, then perhaps he would be strong enough to survive until his physical body healed.

A teenager. He was only a teenager during his short-lived time as the man's apprentice, even if Ansem barely spent any time around him or his friend. The reminder that Lea, Isa, and especially Ienzo lost their hearts so young sent another spike of guilt through Ansem. Even was right. They were his apprentices and should have been protected from such a fate. They should have been kept away from Xehanort. But Ansem never saw the danger hidden within the amnesiac young man until it was far too late. Nor the danger within himself.

He pushed the guilt away though. He couldn't dwell on it now. Not now.

The sound of racing feet carried over the ragged and choked gasps, causing Ansem to look up. Past a worried Kairi crouched at Lea's feet and past Sora and Goofy crowded around a quietly snoring Donald. Riku, Dilan, and Aeleus came charging down the corridor only to stop once they caught sight of them.

Finally looking back at Roxas, Ansem said, "I will do everything that I can to help him. I cannot promise anything more than that, but I will try to help your friend." Then, turning his attention back to his apprentices, he said firmly, "Aeleus, help me move him to the lab. Ienzo, if you know where some medical supplies might be stored, retrieve them." He knew that the youngest of his apprentices had lingered closer to the study and would likely have the best idea of where to find such things after so many years. "Dilan, please take the others up to the library."

"We're not leaving him," Roxas snapped, eyes still bright with tears even as he glared.

Reaching for his arm and causing him to flinch slightly, Kairi said, "We can't help Axel. We'll just get in the way. I'm worried too. I promise. And I hate waiting around and doing nothing, but we need to let them take care of him."

Roxas closed his eyes before reluctantly letting go of his grip on Lea's coat as the black-haired girl did the same. Then he and the two girls pulled back enough to let Aeleus crouch down next to the still figure. Ansem did his best to maintain pressure on the wound as his apprentice carefully gathered Lea in his arms.

"Nobodies?" asked Aeleus gently.

The black-haired girl, who still caused Ansem a headache when he focused on her, answered quietly, "Larxene."

"She tried to hit us as she left," said Roxas. "But Axel… He…"

How foolish Ansem had been to once think that this boy didn't have emotions. That he couldn't feel or truly care. But Ansem could not address the children's clear guilt. Not if they wanted to stabilize Lea's condition. So, leaving them with Sora and others far better at offering comfort, he and Aeleus hurried back towards the lab.

He didn't immediately start moving after his near drowning, lying limply and coughing up what remained of the water. He focused mostly on breathing and letting his racing heartbeat slow back down. And a few more memories began to solidify in his head. He still didn't know how he ended up in the strange empty place of water and sky, what had happened before that, or where his friends might be. But he had a name and a few more details than before. And he had a solid, exhausted, and half-drowned body. So… progress?

Though he should probably start trying to figure out where he'd ended up now.

Lea reluctantly pushed himself to his hands and knees. As soon as he opened his eyes, he knew that he was somewhere drastically new. He seemed to be somewhere dark and vast. The water and the crystal blue skies were long gone. No stars overhead and no lights in the distance. The only source of illumination was beneath him.

Slowly climbing to his feet, Lea studied the surface carefully. He was on a large circle, a platform that appeared to be on top of a tall column in the middle of the emptiness. There was plenty of room to walk around, but it would be a deadly fall if he strayed too close to the edge. But more interesting was how the floor seemed to be made of stained-glass with light shining up from below.

The illuminated image showed a couple of familiar faces. Perched on a wall, an old frisbee dangling from his fingers, was a stained-glass version of himself at fifteen. And sitting next to him with a bemused expression, as if on the verge of delivering a dry and teasing remark, was a similarly young Isa. Both of them looked exactly as they did as teenagers. Yellow bandanas and blue jackets instead of black coats. They were children instead of Nobodies.

It was everything that Lea missed about childhood. All the good parts condensed together without the shadow of later events staining his memories of those happier times. The background even looked like Radiant Garden, though with a yellow tint as if the stained-glass was attempting to mimic a sepia effect.

"I should probably question this more," he murmured.

Lea couldn't bring himself to worry about his strange surroundings anymore than he worried when he was in the previous place. He kept staring at the stained-glass picture at his feet. Isa looked so different. The scar across his face, a souvenir of the sixteen-year-old trying to save Lea when they realized that there was something wrong with the other apprentices and only managing to lose his heart first instead, was nowhere to be seen. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green rather than a disconcerting gold. And while the angle of the picture hid them, Lea knew that his ears wouldn't show any sign of being pointed.

There were so many signs that something was wrong. Physical signs and behaviors. Signs that he wrote off as just side effects of being Nobodies. Lea didn't realize what was happening in front of him. He didn't see how much his friend was changing. He knew Saïx was more distant and less concerned about their past history together except as a reason to remain united on their goals. He knew that they were drifting apart, even as Axel helped him climb further up the Organization regardless of the cost. But he didn't recognize how deeply Xemnas had sank his claws into Saïx. Not until it was too late.

He lost his friend and didn't even realize it until long after the fact. Maybe that was why he'd gone so far and caused so much pain when the possibility of losing Roxas and… and… and the girl…

Well, even if his memories of her remained slippery, he knew that she existed. She was there. A black-haired girl. And he'd seen her recently. But he couldn't quite remember where or when…

Regardless, Lea knew that his desperate efforts to keep Roxas and the girl only caused him to lose them more painfully. He'd failed them. Just like he failed Isa.

He quietly walked around the edge of the tall pillar, his gaze drifting between the glowing stained-glass floor and the endless darkness surrounding him. Lea didn't know what he should do now.

"What do you seek above all else?"

Lea jumped at the unexpected words. They seemed to echo from all around him, coming from no specific direction, but they also seemed to fill his head without passing through his ears. He knew that he should be suspicious of unknown voices in weird locations. But he couldn't bring himself to worry.

He turned and spotted three mirrors arranged in the center of the stained-glass circle. Mirrors that weren't there a couple seconds ago. Again, he should probably question that more. Lea found himself drawn towards the mirrors.

None of the reflections were quite normal. They showed different versions of himself.

On the left, the mirror showed Lea wielding the Keyblade in a huge swarm of Heartless. Powerful and giant Heartless. He cut through the enemies effortlessly, using the weapon and generating fire with equal ease. Nothing could touch him. Lea could barely believe what he was seeing. Even on his best day, he was never as strong as the version he was watching.

"To become stronger and gain new power? Is this what you seek?"

The mirror on the right showed Lea with a grim smile. One foot rested on a battered and limp figure sprawled on the ground. It took Lea a moment to recognize the man as Xemnas, broken and fading away from his injuries. After everything that he and the other versions of Xehanort had done, there was a certain satisfaction in seeing him suffer for his actions.

He deserved it.

"To enact revenge for past hurt? Is this what you seek?"

Lea turned his attention to the final mirror, the one in the center of the trio. Once again, he saw a version of himself in the reflection. This one was perched on a ledge, a small and relaxed smile on his face. Sitting next to him was Roxas and… the familiar black-haired girl. And on the other side was Saïx— no, not Saïx. His eyes were green and warmer than they'd been years. Isa was sitting with them. All four of them looked comfortable and happy.

"To recover what was lost? Is this what you seek?"

"Yes," he whispered, reaching for the mirror. "I want my friends back. More than anything."

As his hand touched the smooth glass, all three mirrors dissolved into light. And at the same instant, new panels of stained-glass materialized at the edge of the platform. They appeared one after another. A walkway formed, stretching forwards and upwards towards somewhere new.

And lacking any better options, Lea followed the path slowly into the darkness.

Well, so Lea almost died to the point he started slipping into the Final World (as a sparkly star-shaped heart thing like the others since he isn't Sora), but stubbornness and Donald managing to hit him with a powerful enough healing spell in time has given the guy a chance. Which almost makes up for years of players complaining about Donald not healing them. But if he can pull off a stunt like Zettaflare in an emergency, then I believe that Donald would be capable of pulling off a healing spell as powerful as Curaza, even if he's going to be out cold for a bit. And since Chirithy mentioned that line between death and dreams is a bit fuzzy, it managed to shove Lea into his own visit to the Station of Awakening. Which should at least be a more productive near-death experience than some.