So here is chapter 3, I really enjoyed writing this, espeically introducing the three aids properly and Even being a creepy bastard (and incidentally it was round about this point that I decided chapters would be better than a really long oneshot haha) I could say much more in this chapter but I'm super tired and I'm just going to let you read haha hope you enjoy :D

"Would it help?" I asked. "Would it make this life any easier if I did?"

"I can't answer that," my angel replied, a saddened expression on her face. "you know I can't." I turned away from her, not wanting her to see the tears welling up in my eyes. I hated it when she saw me like this – it was stupid to do so though, that was why she was assigned to me in the first place. I felt a ghost like touch against my hand and I turned to see her standing close behind me.

"Why don't you give up on me?" I asked, but not harshly. I was almost curious; I probably wasn't the easiest of people to be around most of the time and I certainly didn't make her job easy for her. I didn't do it out of spite, I could never do anything to her out of spite. I wanted to help her – I wanted to let her help me – but there was something holding me back. There was something stopping me from letting her in. She brushed my fringe out of my face and gazed into my eyes.

"Because I love ###########################################################

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I opened my eyes, groaning slightly as the bright sunlight streaming in the window burnt my retinas. I blinked a few times till I became used to the light and sat up, trying to work out why I was in the living room and wasn't in bed. I was sitting at my desk with my laptop on in front of me, my half finished chapter on the screen and several lines of hashes completing the heartfelt declaration of love I had been about to finish: I had fallen asleep on my keyboard again. My entire body tensed as I realised this, all my muscles contracting in protest for not having had a soft bed to lie in all night.

I stretched out my aching muscles and I heard several of my bones crack unpleasantly in the process. I need to stop doing this to myself; sleeping in a chair is uncomfortable and sleeping with your head that close to a whirring machine can't been good for you. Considering that they say sleeping with your head next to a mobile phones that's on can give you cancer sleeping on a computer that's switch on all night definitely isn't good for you. Sleeping with my head on my laptop was never a good idea and there was a dull ache in my temple and the base of my spine to remind me of this.

I stood up and went over to the small kitchen at the back of the flat, my legs almost giving way from being stuck in a seated position all night. I began to make myself a very strong coffee; once I had some caffeine in my system I would feel better (well I certainly couldn't feel any worse right now). I would drink my coffee, go and have a shower and make myself vaguely resemble human again and then get back to writing...although maybe take out all the hashes first.

Once my coffee was ready I held the steaming mug close to my face, letting it warm me up and inhaling the heavenly aroma. No matter what the smell of coffee was always able to cure all my ailments; freshly made coffee was my favourite smell in the world. The only thing I've ever liked the smell of better was Aerith's garden – the smell of that garden was heavenly. I realise that that statement makes me sound rather gay (Lea is constantly telling me that I say things that sound gay :- it's not gay, I'm just very well spoken!) and there is a lot about me that is quite girlie but I will always maintain that pink hair and a love of flowers does not necessarily a girl make.

Talking to Aerith yesterday afternoon had been nice; she was sweet and it was good for my pathological shyness in the long run to talk to someone who wasn't Lea every so often. Aerith saw the world in a different light to anyone I'd ever met – she saw beauty in things that others didn't and she cared. She cared enough to take the time to plant and nurture that amazing garden herself when most people would just hire someone to do that for them. She cared enough to make friends with a complete stranger who had fallen flat on his arse, making a complete tit out of himself only seconds after meeting her and she cared enough to put up all those missing person's posters of Dilan and Braig around the neighbourhood.

I wondered if anyone had heard anything from either of them over the night. It didn't seem overly likely, considering that nothing had been heard from them for coming up to a month but maybe they had suddenly realised how long it had been and realised that they needed to get in touch with their families. Ok it was a very naïve hope that they might have done but, by the sound of it, that's all everyone was doing at the moment. Hoping that they would come home or call, write, whatever to say where they were and why it had been so long since anyone had heard from them, hoping that there was a much less sinister explanation than what we had been guessing.

As all these thoughts were swirling around in my head I had been staring out of window without actually seeing anything when a sudden movement outside caught my eye. I took a step closer to the glass and saw three girls I swear I knew from somewhere standing in the opening of an alleyway a few feet away from our flat. There was something different about these girls than most of the others living in Radiant Gardens and not just the way they seemed to be skulking round the back alleys of one of the more deserted parts of town. There was something slightly deranged about them – something that suggested that they wouldn't be totally uncomfortable with the idea of ambushing and attacking the next unsuspecting person to walk past.

Trying not to draw too much attention to myself (although the girls were probably too engrossed in their conversation to even notice that I was watching them) I took another step closer to the window to get a better look at them. All three of them looked roughly the same age as me and Lea, two were roughly the same height while one was a lot taller. Both of the shorter girls had long wavy hair and it made then look very similar aside from the colour; one had purple curls while the other's was a dark green, while the taller had long black hair, tied back in a tight ponytail, that flashed blue in the sunlight.

The one with green hair had a substantial number of piercings littering her ears and face, making her look even more daunting – I would cross the street if it meant that I didn't have to cross paths with her. The one with the purple hair didn't seem quite as psychotic as the other two but that may have been because her eyes were hidden behind large sunglasses but that made her that little bit more terrifying – she could have been staring at me this whole time and I would never have known. It was the taller of the three that chilled me to my core the most, she was too calm but it wasn't a comforting calm it was the kind of calm before a hurricane or an earthquake. Out of the three of them it was clear that she was in charge – they all held the same rank in whatever it was that they did but they other two answered to her.

As I watched the tallest of the three turned her head to look down the alleyway they were standing in front of and I saw a thick black X tattooed on her neck and it suddenly clicked in my mind why I recognised them. These three girls were Xehanort's aids! I'd never seen them before so I hadn't recognised them at first but Arlene had once told me that one of them had had Xehanort's initial tattooed on her neck to show her allegiance. A chill ran over my body and I was about to leave the window before one of them saw me watching them when the tallest turned and looked directly at me.

I couldn't move, I couldn't look away, all I could do was stand there and stare back into her unhinged blue eyes. As she stared at me the corner of her lips tilted up slightly into a half smile that was full of malice. She looked totally at ease, unfazed by the fact that she had caught someone watching her and her friends while there were doing something that was probably illegal or at least dodgy enough that they had to come to the outskirts of town to meet. Still looking directly at me she smirked and mouthed the words 'three down'.

A loud bang and a muttered curse sounded from behind me and I practically jumped out of my skin, nearly spilling my coffee in the process. I whipped around to see Lea standing behind me, still in his pyjamas, holding the side of his head and a basket full of dirty clothes. Lea had a habit of walking into things or hitting his head when he was still half asleep; he'd obviously just woken up, went to get his clothes to put on a wash and hit his head on one of his shelves as he stood up. He grinned at me sheepishly.

"Morning."

"Morning." I replied. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just banged my head slightly." he stated going over to the washing machine and beginning to sort through his clothes.

"You need to be more careful." I chided. "The amount of times you've hit your head I wouldn't be surprised if you have brain damage."

"I'm not brain damaged!" he shot back closing the washing machine door. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes; Lea was a great artist but he was so clumsy it was truly unbelievable how he managed to function sometimes. Once he had finished with the washing machine he came to stand over by the window with me. "Rough night?" he asked draping an arm around my shoulders.

"Not too bad," I replied. "although I could have done without sleeping in a chair." Lea gave my shoulders a squeeze and touched his forehead to time.

"Ria you shouldn't keep falling asleep on your laptop, it's not good for you." he stated. He didn't have to ask if I'd fallen asleep at my laptop again, he just knew.

"I'm fine, I've just got a little bit of a headache." I told him.

"And you say I'm brain damaged." he chuckled softly.

"You are brain damaged." I replied, laughing too, and shook my head then turned back to look out the window. As I looked out at the street I suddenly remembered those girls and my eyes darted to the alleyway they had been standing in front of. They were nowhere to be seen! I stiffened slightly remembering the tall one looking up at me and smirking as she mouthed 'three down' (whatever that meant). The look in her eyes when she saw me had been something else :- she had looked like a criminal who was pleading guilty to the charges against them and professing that they had fun while doing it. That look would haunt me forever.

"Hey," Lea began swiftly bringing me back to reality. "what are you looking at?" I turned to give him what I hoped resembled a smile.

"Nothing." I replied. "I thought I saw a cat." It was a feeble excuse, yes, but Lea might just buy it. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Whatever freak!" he stated and let go of me. He turned and headed in the direction of his bedroom to go and get dressed when he turned back to me. "Hey I have to go and seen Dr Even in a bit 'cause that lump on my wrist is back, can you come with me?"

"Why do you need me to come with you?" I asked in mild exasperation. This happened every single time Lea had to go to the doctors; he wasn't particularly good with needles and wanted me to go for 'moral support' (moral support in this case reading hold his hand when the needle goes in while he practically crushes my bones in the process). I suppose it didn't really help that Radiant Gardens only had one doctor – Dr Even – and he creeped everyone out. If he spent less time experimenting on things and more time on his bedside-manner then he might seem a little less weird but, there you go, that's just my opinion I'm not a doctor.

"Because last time he said that if it came back again he'd have to suck it out with a needle and..." he tailed off. I rolled my eyes and drained the rest of my coffee.

"Alright, you big pussy, I'll come hold your hand." I stated. Lea ran over to me and threw his arms around my waist.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." he gushed. "I love you Ria."

"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled, embarrassed, as I tried to prise him off so that I could go shower and put some new clothes on.

About an hour later Lea and I stood outside Dr Even's office trying to work up the balls to go inside. Despite the fact that Even was the only doctor in Radiant Gardens he never had a huge queue of patients wanting to see him. In fact most people in town were so desperate not to see him they only went to see him in an absolute emergency or if it was for something detrimentally effecting their work – like the lump on Lea's wrist.

"Do you want to knock?" Lea asked trying not to sound like he was terrified, nudging me forward slightly.

"Hell no." I replied equally as pathetically scared. "It's your appointment, you knock."

"But I knocked last time." Lea whined back at me.

"Yeah cause that was your appointment too." I shot back. "When I make an appointment I'll knock on the door."

"Fine!" Lea sighed. "Why don't you ever get sick?" he muttered darkly knocking on the large wooden door.

"Because I have a decent immune system." I shot back and Lea snorted. We waited for someone to answer the door or even to hear the sounds of movement from inside but the building was silent. Lea and I looked at each other before I knocked on the door, this time slightly louder. Still no answer came. This was starting to feel wrong; even if Lea had knocked really quietly to get out of seeing the doctor someone inside would have, at least, heard me knocking.

"Shall we go in?" I asked, unsure if I even wanted to.

"Probably should." Lea replied his voice shaking slightly. "I mean, it's quite early so he might still be asleep but..." he tailed off.

"Yeah..." I replied silently wondering if we had both jumped to a similar conclusion. Two men had gone missing in the last couple of weeks could it be possible that another one had?

Lea grabbed the handle and pushed it down. The door was unlocked, which wasn't helping our suspicions about what might have happened, but it didn't look as if it had been forced open so that was something. Lea pushed the door open and we both stared into the dark office. After our eyes had adjusted to the darkness we both stepped inside, Lea walking towards the room Even usually saw his patients in at the back of the building.

"Hello?" he called out. I looked down and saw about nine or ten letters lying just behind the door. I picked them up and flipped through them, some where dated as late as last week!

"Lea look at these." I said following him further into the building.

"What?" he stopped and turned to look at me. I handed him one of the envelopes and made him look at the date on the back.

"There's mail here that was sent a week ago that hasn't been opened." I stated. Lea chewed his bottom lip and swallowed.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything." he stated trying to be rational. "He could have just gone away for a week without telling anyone because he's a creepy loner/recluse."

"Hopefully." I said and we continued towards the back of the office. The further in we went the darker it got and as I looked up at the shelves on the wall they were lined with jars filled with pickling vinegar and things inside them that looked suspiciously like human organs. I stopped to stare and Lea, realising that I was no longer right behind him, came to see what I was looking at. "Why does he keep all this stuff?" I muttered.

"The man's creepy as fuck." Lea replied, tugging my elbow and pulling me away from the jars. "Let's just see if he's ok and then get out of here, alright?" he asked, I nodded. I didn't particularly want to spend any more time in here than necessary; it had gotten a lot darker and more disturbing since the last time I was here.

We reached the back of the office and the room that Even usually saw his patients in. Once again the door was closed so we both tried knocking and received no answer. Lea tried the door and, once again it was unlocked, he pushed it open and nothing could have prepared either of us for what was inside. Inside the room was a tip; papers lay scattered everywhere, a coat with what looked suspiciously like blood was torn and dumped in a corner of the room and a number of the jars of organs, that also lines the walls of this room, were lying, shattered on the ground, their contents spilling out on to the floor, left to decay.

"Fuck!" Lea exclaimed and lifted his hand to cover his nose and mouth as the smell of rotting flesh hit us. I retched as I saw what used to be a heart lying just a few inches away from where Lea was standing, half decomposed with insects burrowing deep inside it.

"I'm calling the police." I finally managed to choke out, staggering over to the desk. I picked up the phone and was about to dial when I cried out and almost dropped the phone in surprise – the desk was covered in broken glass, blood and what looked like a number or strands of wavy green and purple hair. I took a deep steadying breath, but the smell in the room only heightened my need to be sick so I swallowed and dialled as quickly as I could.

Lea and I sat on the ground outside Even's office, tacking deep breaths of fresh air trying to clear our heads, as the police searched the house and put tape over the doors and windows. As soon as I had called them we had darted out of the house, both to be violently sick, and waited for them to arrive. They were there pretty quickly (considering the description I had given them of the scene we found they should have been) and we left them to do their work and waited for one of them to come over and question us. Neither of us had spoken much since our manly displays of digestive pyrotechnics so when a tall, dark haired policeman came over to us I didn't really know what I was going to say. I mean how do you convey 'holy mother fucking shit I've just stepped into a room full of decomposing organs' into a legitimate statement?

The policeman took our names and our address and we told him what had happened as best we could. He asked what we were doing there and how we had found the place when we arrived. It felt a little bit like we were on trial but, then again, I'd never been questioned by the police over anything before and I guess they were trying to rule out that we might be suspects. Eventually he seemed satisfied that we weren't and, flipping his notebook closed, thanked us for all our help.

"So what happens now?" I asked as he put his notebook back in his pocket.

"Well we'll conduct a search, potentially for a body but hopefully for the doctor himself, we'll also question people we think may have been close to him and hopefully discover if there was any motive for wanting him gone." he stated.

"What will it take for you to be able rule out murder?" Lea asked.

"Until a body or a suspect is found it is a case of a missing person rather than murder." the policeman explained.

"Missing person?" Lea asked. "Like Braig and Dilan?"

"In some respect," the policeman replied. "because of the nature of their jobs – leaving to work in other cities etc. - both Dilan and Braig have to have been gone longer than they have for them to be officially classed as a missing person whereas Dr Even works in the town so, with his disappearance, he is automatically classed as one."

"But there are now three people missing in Radiant Gardens, right?" Lea asked. The policeman nodded.

"We would appreciate it if you wouldn't spread it around too much though as we don't wish to cause a panic until it is absolutely necessary." he stated and we both nodded. "Thank you for your co-operation boys, I'm sorry you had to get involved in all of this." He turned and went back into the building leaving me and Lea alone. We looked at each other, still not quite sure what to say, then without a word Lea linked his arm with mine and we slowly began to make our way back to the safety of the flat.

As we walked back, both still in a state of shocked silence, I began to think about everything I had seen this morning. First those girls outside the flat and then Even's place looking like it had been ransacked and some kind of struggle had taken place. I couldn't shake off the feeling that those girls had had something to do with it and the purple and green hair I had found on Even's desk as good as proved it, in my eyes anyway. Now there were three people missing from town and as soon as that thought crossed my mind I suddenly remembered the tallest of the three girls looking up at me and my blood ran cold. 'Three down'...how many more to go?