.
Lea had to admit, if there was something you could say about Isa, it was that he was always prepared.
Also he was just smart! Lea could only marvel at how clever his friend was, and strong to! Really if you thought about it, it was kind of insane a person like Isa would be friends, let alone best friends with such a normal guy as Lea.
He wasn't nearly as smart nor talented as Isa, couldn't even come close, that's why he had no issue just letting Isa handle things.
Lea didn't even ask any questions as he followed Isa's lead, back into the palace, he knew the best thing he could do was just following orders, keep quiet and not be in the way.
Isa's new way in was a lot easier than the old one for sure! He had found a second secret entrance, this time though the entry point was outside in the castle gardens, they still had to crawl over the wall and avoid being seen, but they didn't have to make it inside the castle to reach the entry point which made things a heck of a lot easier for sure.
Ones again they found themselves at a dark stair well, this time though they had come prepared and brought flash lights to light their path, though keeping quiet to make sure they wouldn't run into anyone in front of them.
Lea concentrated on his breathing, trying to keep himself as calm as he possible could, preparing himself for all those monsters he knew lurked down there.
Those… Heartless.
Finally they had reached the bottom of the stairs and what proved itself to be a big metal door and Isa turned off the flash light. "Stay calm, keep quiet. We don't want to upset those creatures again." he instructed Lea ones again and Lea nodded. "And stay close to me."
"Of course." Lea affirmed.
"Ready?" Isa asked.
"Yeah." Lea replied and ones again, they both pushed the door to let it open, back into the big room.
Lea held his breath, and then slowly they started to move, making sure to keep in the middle of their path, as far away from the cages on each side of them as possible, in the beginning Lea had his eyes firmly on Isa's back, then though he started to glance around, then he started to frown. "Isa.." he whispered.
"So, you noticed?" Isa asked.
"Yeah." Lea confirmed. "The cages…. They are empty now."
"Makes sense." Isa stated. "If they have realized there have been intruders, they would want to dispose of what-ever they were doing down here. Or… That blond scientist, he did say they were all failed experiments, another reason to dispose of them."
"So… There's nothing to worry about anymore?" Lea asked.
Isa frowned. "I think that's a very optimistic thought." he stated. "Fact still is, they were here." he stated. "And this place is being kept a secret." he stated as he walked forward. "Hopefully the computer hasn't been removed or destroyed." he muttered.
Lea chewed on his lip then glanced up. "Let's search for clues." he stated. "They can't just have gotten rid of everything." he stated.
"Careful." Isa asked. "We need to be aware of each others location at all time."
"Got it." Lea nodded as he walked to a cage and peered inside… True enough, it just looked empty. And he started to look around as Isa as well looked for clues.
Then suddenly, Isa halted. "Isa." he spoke in a low voice. "Hey Isa."
"What is it?" Isa asked.
"Over there." Lea pointed. "A light."
And Isa glanced to indeed, there seemed to be a small beam of cold white light falling down on one of the cages. Lea tilted his head as he looked at the cage in question then he started walking only for Isa to reach out and grab his wrist.
Questioning Lea turned his head to meet Isa's eyes.
"Careful." Isa asked and Lea nodded as Isa let go of his wrist.
Then together, they slowly moved towards the cage in question, though as they came closer Leas eyes widened. "There.. There's something in there!" he gasped and he ran forward.
"Hey! Lea WAIT!" Isa shouted as he ran after his friend whom only stopped as he reached the cage and now grabbed the bars as he looked inside with wide eyes.
Isa as well looked and saw… What looked like a bundle of cloth in the middle of the beam of the light, except… It was moving. And there were strains of black hair appearing.
"Excuse me." Lea spoke. "Hello! Can you hear me?" he asked. "Hey." he shook the cage.
Just then the figure gasped as a head looked up, it was… A girl! A girl with long straight black hair and dark eyes, her skin though was pale, almost white as she horrified looked at the two, and then she scrambled back and away from the light, towards the other side of the cage as far away from the boys that she possible could, pressing herself up against the cage as she gasped for air.
Wide-eyed the two boys looked at her as she wide-eyed looked back at them with terrified eyes.
"Nice Lea." Isa commented in a sarcastic tone. "You scared her."
"I.. I'm sorry." Lea let go of the cage. "I didn't mean to frighten you. What are you doing in there though?" he asked. "Hey, maybe you know what happened to the creatures there were in here?" he asked.
The girl kept quiet as she just looked just as terrified at them.
"Hey, it's okay." Lea assured in a comforting voice. "Isa here is not as scary as he looks."
Isa didn't look amused. "It wasn't me she was scared of, Lea." he pointed out.
Lea though looked at the girl, not only was her skin ghostly pale, like she hadn't had sunlight for a very long time, but she was also skinny, a simple white dress looked simply huge on her as it threatened to slip down her shoulders, and the long sleeves covered her hand. She seemed so delicate, like just a small push could break her. She made Lea think of those delicate porcelain figurines rich people liked to buy and then you were never allowed to touch them because they were so afraid they would break.
"I'm sorry I frightened you." Lea continued ignoring Isa. "We can try again, my name is Lea. Got it memorized?" he asked in a gentle smile. "And this is Isa, my best friend."
The girl blinked, finally looking less frightened, but more confused.
"Do you have a name?" Lea asked.
Still the girl didn't reply.
Then Lea sat down with crossed legs. "What are you doing in there? Can't you get out?" he asked. "Do you want us to get you out?" he asked.
The girl frowned, clearly confused and Lea looked around. "Where's the door on this thing?" he asked as he started to crawl around the cage. "Ah! There we go!" he smiled triumphantly as he saw what looked like a door that could be opened. "Okay! Leave this to me!" he beamed as he reached for it.
That finally made the girl react as she gasped. "No.. STOP!" she shouted and Isa suddenly realized as he shouted as well.
"LEA!"
It was to late though, Leas hand had touched the door and suddenly a great surge of black energy erupted thrusting Lea aside on the ground.
"Lea!" Isa exclaimed again as he ran to his friend grabbing his shoulders. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah… My hand just hurts." Lea hissed holding his hand where what looked like a burn mark had appeared then he looked up. "What was that?" he asked.
Isa turned his head. "A defense mechanism clearly." he stated. "And it looked like… It used magic."
The girl inside the cage swallowed. "I… I'm sorry. I should have warned you."
Lea blinked then he smiled. "Hey! So you can talk! That's good!" he smiled crawling back towards the cage.
The girl looked at him with those dark eyes. "You two..." she breathed. "You are not… With them."
"Who?" Lea asked.
"The scientists of the castle?" Isa asked. "No, we are not." he stated. "We snook in from the outside." he informed.
"So you're not with.." The girl swallowed. "The silver haired man, with golden eyes."
Both boys blinked at the girl then confused looked at each other.
"You really aren't." The girl gasped then she smiled. "Why are you here then?" she asked.
"We are trying to figure out what is going on in here." Lea informed. "Something is really fishy about this place, and we are trying to figure out what it is." he stated. "Hey, maybe you know something?" he asked.
The girl tilted her head. "I… Don't know much. I'm sorry, I don't think I can help a whole lot."
Isa frowned. "Perhaps at least you can tell us, why are you in a cage?" he asked.
The girl silenced then she looked down. "I'm sorry, even that I don't know." she informed.
Lea blinked. "How did you get in there then?" he asked.
"I don't know that either." The girl swallowed. "I..." her eyes grew wet. "Suddenly… I was summoned, to this place. But I can't remember from where!" she stated as she looked up.
"Summoned?" Lea asked.
"At least, that is what I think." The girl informed. "All I remember… Was all this darkness." she closed her eyes as tears rolled down her face.
Isa looked at her, then he to sat down in front of her with crossed legs. "That's quite a story." he had to admit. "Perhaps, you could tell us your name at least."
The girl looked up, and Lea was stunned with the amount of sadness in them.
"You don't remember that either huh?" Lea asked. "Man, that sucks."
The girl swallowed. "Do you know what this place is?" she asked the boys.
The two boys looked at each other then back.
"Well… You're in radiant garden." Lea informed.
"Radiant.." The girl blinked. "That sounds so lovely."
"It is." Lea smiled warmly. "You are below the garden right now, but up on the surface. It is a beautiful garden, with a ton of flowers and big water fountains with clean water."
The girl gasped then she smiled. "Right above us?" she asked as she looked up. "I had no idea, it does though sound… Amazing."
"Well, right above you is the castle, in the center of radiant garden." Lea informed. "It also works as this research facility. Lead by Ansem the wise. How-ever yeah, all around the castle is all the gardens."
"I see." The girl nodded.
"Now we told you about this place." Isa then stated. "Perhaps then, you can tell us about what has been going on down here?" he asked. "have you seen the creatures that were here?" he asked.
"The heartless?" The girl asked. "Yes… The silver haired man with golden eyes destroyed them, he said they were useless."
Isa frowned. "What is a heartless?" he asked. "Do you know?"
The girl silenced, Lea as well kept silent.
"They.." The girl swallowed. "They were people… People were turned into… The heartless."
That made both Leas and Isas eyes widen in horror.
"I… I saw it." The girl swallowed and she sniffed. "Darkness… Darkness overtook them and then… And then." she squinted her eyes and then she sniffed.
"Hey." Lea spoke softly. "If you need to cry that's all right." he assured. "You're locked in a cage! That's just awful. I.. I'm sorry I can't get you out."
And the girl burst out crying finally moving closer to them.
Sadly Lea and Isa looked at her.
"That.. That's okay." The girl cried as she came closer to them. "You… You are the first whom has been this nice to me since I got here." she bawled placing her hand on the bars.
Then Lea lifted his hand, and put it on hers as his eyes met hers, his too looked teary. "That's unforgivable." he stated. "Listen, we are going to get you out. I swear!"
Then a third hand touched theirs, it was Isa, putting his hand on Leas and the girls. "Me to, I swear as well." Isa stated.
And the girl smiled as the tears doubled and she leaned her forehead towards their hands as she cried.
Just then, a sound could be heard, a door opened, the girl gasped as she looked up. "Oh no… The silver haired man." she gasped. "You have to get out of here!"
"But." Lea tried.
Isa put a firm hand on Leas shoulder. "We can't help her if we get caught ourselves." he stated
Lea swallowed, but then he nodded and he turned back to the girl. "We'll be back for you!" he swore. "Tomorrow! We'll see you tomorrow."
"That's okay." The girl swallowed. "You don't need to.."
"You like ice-cream?" Isa cut her off. "I'll bring you some!"
The girl halted, then she smiled, tears rolling down her face.
"Come on Lea." Isa grabbed his friend. "We need to get out so you can bring her that ice-cream tomorrow."
And Lea nodded. "Okay." and they both hurried to their own exit just as foot steps sounded from the other end, there was no time to look back nor examine the new person, they just had to focus on getting out.
Finally as they burst out, back into the sunlight both Lea and Isa had to squint their eyes due to the sheer brightness of the sun, then they looked at each other.
"Isa..:" Lea breathed.
Isa held up a hand. "I know." he assured. "What-ever they are doing to that girl, it's not right. No one should be kept in a cage."
Lea looked at his friend, then he smiled.
"We need to be careful." Isa stated. "And if you see a man with silver hair and golden eyes, be on your guard."
"I can't say I know to many people fitting that description." Lea commented thoughtfully then he looked up. "Got it."
Isa nodded seriously.
"I know, we need to be careful." Lea assured and he glanced down as he held a hand over his chest. "I… I wont be in the way. I swear."
Softly Isa looked at his friend, then reached out grabbing his shoulder. "I know you wont." he assured. "We'll get her out. For now though, we need to get your hand looked at." he pointed.
Lea blinked as he looked down at his hand, and first them was reminded of the burn he had received trying to mess with the cage, and it was like... Remembering just turned on a switch so Lea became aware of the stinging pain alongside the blisters that were forming, not to forget the horrid smell! And he hissed as he stepped on the ground, then stuffed the entire hand into his mouth trying to combat the pain.
Isa didn't comment any further, merely grabbed Leas arm to pull him in the correct direction, Lea couldn't exactly object, he had his entire hand inside of his mouth.
That wasn't to bad though... All Lea had was a minor burn, the girl whom was kept there though. Inside of a cage in the dark? Lea shivered by the thought.
He would safe her! No matter what, he would do it!