Hey guys, me again, hope you're enjoying the story so far and I hope it's not moving too slowly. This is where things are going to start to get interesting...

I haven't written anything for three days now. Not since Ienzo's mother had told us that he had gone missing. Since she had begged Lea and I to tell him to come home if we saw him my laptop lay untouched and ignored. There was no way that I could have written anything even if I had wanted too; I couldn't bring myself to write a love story when the real world was falling apart around me. I had sat staring at my screen for a few hours the first day but when I realised that there was no way I was going to be able to beat this bout of writer's block I gave up.

Normally I am no stranger to writer's block, it's a bitch to deal with when you do get it but it's just one of those things you have to power through, but this was unlike any writer's block I had ever dealt with. This was the link between reality and my world of fiction finally snapping. I could no longer be the oblivious writer that I used to be – I could no longer retreat into the world of my novel when things deteriorated, that world held little to no comfort for me anymore. Now I was forced to live in the real world and it wasn't the world I remembered it being.

While Lea was at work I had taken to wandering aimlessly around the neighbourhood with no destination and no purpose. As I walked I tried to clear my thoughts and think up the next section of plot so that I could go back home and actually do something productive with my life but every time I managed to tear my thoughts away from them I'd see another 'Missing' poster and my mind would immediately be back on them.

Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus and now Ienzo. Who would be next? The first time we spoke to him, just after Braig had gone missing, Cid had told us not to get involved; we were too young to get involved with nasty business like this (despite the fact that me and Lea are both in our early twenties). Could I just continue to sit by and not get involved if it was one of my friends' faces on a poster? If anything happened to Lea or Arlene I don't think I'd be able to cope. Would they be able to just sit by if I was the next one to go missing?

Lea was already raging about Ienzo's disappearance. He and Arlene had nearly come to blows last night when a discussion about those missing had turned into an argument that had resulted in Arlene walking out. Lea had been saying that something needed to be done about the disappearances, to which Arlene had responded saying 'what can we do'? Lea had then said that he couldn't just sit by and let people go missing like this. Arlene had incredulously asked him what he was honestly planning on doing, which Lea had replied with he didn't know. All he knew was that something needed to be done – Ienzo was just a kid after all. The discussion had escalated rather quickly from there and eventually Arlene had called Lea an 'idiotic hero who was going to get himself killed if he wasn't careful' and Lea had accused Arlene of being a coward. After that she had stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

I had gone after her and seen her home safely then managed to pacify Lea when I returned but they were no longer speaking to each other. What made the situation even more frustrating for me was that both of them were using me as some kind of go-between, each of them ranting and raving to me about the other. I was staying resolutely neutral throughout all of this. I could see both of their premises; Lea was right, something had to be done about all of this and if my suspicions were corrects and Xehanort's aids were involved then they needed to be stopped but at the same time Arlene was right too. What could we do? We were just kids ourselves and there was no guarantee that we would actually be able to do anything to help even if we volunteered to.

All these thoughts were buzzing around in my head like a swarm of angry hornets, certain phrases from different conversations and arguments stinging my brain and reverberating around my skull as I walked the streets aimlessly again. I had just walked passed a poster of Ienzo next to a poster of Dilan and, compared to him, Ienzo had looked so young and helpless. A stabbing pain formed in my chest and Lea's exclamation of 'Ienzo's just a kid' rang in my ears for a moment before a voice brought me out of my reverie.

"Lumaria!" a soft female voice said from behind me. I turned, immediately back in the real world and out of my head, and saw auburn waves and huge green eyes staring at me.

"Aerith," I said dreamily, finally registering her. "hi."

"Hey," she smiled and my chest tightened once again. I hadn't even thought about the possibility that something could happen to her. I had always figured that Cid was keeping such a vigilant eye on his daughter that there was no way she could go missing. Then again there was no guarantee that he would know where she was every hour of every day. "You ok?" she asked when I didn't respond.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied shaking my head and forcing myself to smile. "You?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yeah," she replied. "trying to keep busy."

"Me too." I agreed. I continued to look at her and I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought about the possibility of anything happening to her until now. I would like to put it down to the fact that I'm a scatterbrained writer but there is a point where I have to stop using that as an excuse for only focusing on the immediate. "How's the garden coming?" I asked, suddenly realising that I was staring at her and it was probably rather disconcerting.

"I haven't really had much of a chance to do much to it recently." she replied a little sadly. "Dad doesn't really like me being outside on my own much these days, even if it's just out in front of the house."

"I can understand why." I stated. "Have they heard anything about Ienzo yet?" Aerith shook her head and I could see her eyes glistening as tears began to form.

"No." she replied and her voice did waver slightly as she spoke. "I just don't understand why they would want someone like Ienzo."

"What do you mean?" I asked even though I knew exactly what she meant. Before Ienzo there had been a definite pattern in the people going missing; large, muscular and with some kind of military or martial training.

"All the guys who have gone missing are the soldier types." Aerith replied. "Braig, Dilan, Aeleus and even Even, to an extent, are pretty big guys – they can all handle themselves and it would make sense, if you're rounding up an army to have people like that. Also even if Even can't fight he's got medical training and he's ridiculously smart so he'd be useful in other ways but I just can't seen the use Ienzo would be in that situation."

"Has anyone else gone missing?" I asked not even bothering to pretend to sound casual.

"Not that I've heard of," Aerith replied. "and it's pretty much all people are talking about at the pub these days."

"Is that where you're heading?" I asked and she nodded, the waves in her hair bouncing slightly as she did.

"Dad wants me there pretty much all the time so he can keep an eye on me." she stated a little annoyed. "I can see where he's coming from though." she added sighing.

"He just doesn't want anything to happen to you, that's all." I told her and gave her, what I hoped was, a sympathetic smile.

"I know." she sighed. "I think he's thinking of moving out of here – all these missing people have really freaked him out and if anyone else goes he won't let me stay here."

"Hopefully it won't come to that." I said although in that moment we both knew that this was probably one of the last few times we would see each other. "But if it does," I added trying to sound positive about the situation. "you take care of yourself."

"You too." she smiled. "I'm really glad I met you, Lumaria, I think we would have been good friends if we'd had more time to get to know each other." She stood up on her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. I hugged back and I wished that I had been allowed more time to get to know her, she never would have replaced Arlene in my heart but we would have been very good friends. She pulled away and smiled even though I could see tears forming in her eyes. "I better go, or Dad will start wondering where I am."

"See you later." I gave her a small wave as she walked away and she waved back before she rounded the corner and out of my sight.

Once she was gone I sighed and turned to go back home, I didn't really feel like being out here on my own for much longer. Aerith was the first friend that I had made, besides Lea and Arlene (who were now at each others throats), that I didn't know through someone else and now I was having to say goodbye to her. I hate this; I don't understand what's happening in this town anymore, it had always seemed like such a safe place to live and now it was somewhere where the residents were looking over their shoulders all the time wondering if they would be the next ones to go missing. As far as I was concerned I didn't care if I was the next one to go missing, I just couldn't face saying goodbye to anymore of my friends.

A quarter of an hour later I closed the door to mine and Lea's flat and threw my keys down on the desk next to my untouched laptop. I heard the muffled sounds of draws opening and closing and I assumed that Lea was home. A small part of me debated whether to talk to him about Arlene, if nothing else at the moment I could get my two warring friends to reconcile but, so far, each time I had brought one up to the other they had ended up snapping at me so I thought better of it. I was still feeling down about my conversation with Aerith and all I wanted to do right now was have a evening in with Lea and take some time away from thinking about everything going on outside of our flat.

I shrugged off my jacket and hung in over the back of my desk chair and was about to go and make both of us a cup of coffee when a bright red bag by the sofa caught my eye. I went over to it and, on closer inspection, found that it was an old rucksack of Lea's that he hadn't used since we were in high school. It was old and worn, in part held together with patches for bands that weren't even together anymore and the ink from the various small drawings Lea had plastered on it over the years had faded considerably. I stared at it in confusion, why on earth would he be getting that out now? Did he suddenly decide to take my advice and clean out that pigsty of a room of his?

I left the living room and went over to his bedroom, his door was wide open as was his wardrobe and a number of his draws. There was a small pile of clothes on his bed and all the art supply's had been taken out of his tote bag, which he was putting a towel and toothbrush into. He had his usually untameable spikes tied into a low ponytail, too keep them out of his face, he only usually did that when he was drawing. He hadn't seemed to notice me so I softly knocked on his door and he looked round, smiling slightly when he saw me.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked.

"You going somewhere?" I asked, countering his question with my own and leaning against the door frame. He stopped packing for a moment and shuffled awkwardly before looking at me.

"Yeah, my mum heard about the disappearances around town and she wanted me to go home for a few days." he lied rubbing the back of his neck. I could tell he was lying because when he was lying he always maintained eye contact (as if trying to over-compensate for the fact that he should be avoiding it because he was lying) and rubbed the back of his neck at the same time. I folded my arms in front of my chest and looked away from him.

"Lea, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying." I stated. "Just never thought you'd be lying to me." I mumbled a little petulantly. It was true though; in all the years we had known each other Lea had never once lied to me and he had always said that he never would. I heard him take a few steps towards me and then felt his warm hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry Ria." he said quietly. "I don't know why I just did that."

"So where are you going?" I asked. Lea went back to his packing and I went to sit down on his bed, watching him intently just in case he did lie to me again. He sighed as he began putting the small pile of clothes next to me into the tote bag.

"I'm going to check out that old abandoned castle." he stated, this time truthfully.

"Why?" I asked although I could probably guess why.

"It's the last place Braig was seen and, according to one of the guys at work, Xehanort's weird aids have been hanging out there a lot recently. I thought I'd go and see if I can find some clues to why people have been disappearing round town and why they're so interested in that castle." he replied.

"But you're packing like you're going to be gone for days." I stated.

"Well if I find anything then I'll keep looking, see if I can find where they've all gone and follow them." he explained.

"Lea this is crazy!" I exclaimed. "What if one of those girls finds out and does something too you?"

"I know they're creepy and everything but I'm pretty sure I can handle myself against them." he said rolling his eyes at me.

"What all three of them?" I asked angrily standing up. "Lea there's three of them and you don't know how strong they are or what they're capable of."

"Then I'll make sure I keep out of their way." Lea shot back zipping up his tote bag.

"You can't go alone," I told him. "at least let me come with you."

"I won't be alone." he replied as he began making his way round his room, closing his wardrobe door and his draws as he did. "Isa's coming with me."

"That sycophantic douche-bag from your office?" I asked in mild disgust. I had met Isa 'the blue hair prick' exactly three times before. He worked at the same architectural firm that Lea sometimes work for and each and every time I had met him he had come across as a complete and utter tool. He had been rude, made uncouth (and vaguely sexist) jokes and had given me the same pitying look everyone else gave me when Lea had said that I was a writer but the way he looked at me was different. It wasn't just pitying it was also mocking, almost like he had been saying 'no way in hell that you'll ever be more than a loser who sits on their laptop in make believe world to avoid getting a real job'. In short I thought he was a cock.

"He's not that sycophantic." Lea stated.

"He's still a douche-bag." I shot back, childishly.

"Maybe but he's a douche-bag that might be able to help me find the people who have gone missing." Lea replied. "Besides this was mostly his idea, I'm just going with him because he came up with a plan before I could."

"But why didn't you ask me to come?" I asked. I knew I was sounding like a petulant child but Lea and I had been together through virtually everything and I was rather hurt that he hadn't thought about including me in this venture of his, even though we both knew that I would be less than useless in this kind of situation. I have no fighting skills, very little in the way of perception to things around me and I'm very clumsy and would end up tripping over something and giving away our position to anyone around or seriously hurting myself.

"Because I don't want you getting hurt." Lea stated looking at me, his insanely green eyes taking on a slightly glassy look.

"I don't want you getting hurt either." I replied trying to swallow the lump forming in my throat. I didn't want him to leave. Not when there was a chance that he might not come back. If those girls found that he and Isa were on to them I didn't want to think what they'd do, they looked as if they were capable of just about anything. "Besides you don't have to look after me anymore, I can handle myself." I told him. He put his hand on my shoulder and stared intently into my eyes, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

"I know you can I just don't want you getting hurt because I dragged you out on this crazy venture." he stated and, even though he tried his best to hide it, his voice shook ever so slightly.

"If you think it's crazy then why are you going?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper because if I spoke any louder then I would break down. I was trying to prove to Lea that I could handle myself and I wasn't doing a very good job of it so far.

"Because I can't just sit by and do nothing while kids like Ienzo go missing; he's only sixteen." Lea stated, the look in his eyes turning hard and determined. I opened my mouth to say something in protest but I knew he was right. I placed my hand on top of his and we just stared at each other in silence before something tapped lightly against the window. Lea looked up at the glass then, detaching himself from me, went over to the window and looked out.

"What?" I asked turning to look at him. He sighed heavily, picking up his tote bag and swinging it onto his shoulder.

"That's Isa," he stated. "I better go."

"You're going now?!" I asked my voice coming out in a strangled (and very unmanly) cry. Lea nodded looking at the floor then went into the living room to collect his rucksack, me following close at his heals.

"The sooner we leave the sooner we can come back." he stated and picked up his rucksack before heading to the door. As he passed me my hand shot out and I grabbed hold of his wrist. He turned to look at me and I looked back at him with tear filled eyes.

"Please just come back, ok?" I implored him quietly. I didn't care if when he came home he teased me relentlessly for this for months I just couldn't bare the thought of loosing my oldest friend, not right now. He pulled me into a tight hug and I wrapped my arms around his neck equally as tightly, as if holding him here would keep him from letting go and leaving. Eventually he pulled away but still kept a tight grip on my shoulders.

"Take care of yourself," he told me shakily. "and Arlene too. Tell her I'm sorry for what I said the other night."

"Tell her yourself when you get back." I replied trying to sound light and optimistic. He gave me a watery smile, squeezed my shoulders then turned and left the flat. As soon as he had gone I ran over to the window and saw Isa leaning against one of the other flats waiting for him. Within a few minutes Lea joined him and, after he cast one last look up at me, the two of them walked down the street and out of my sight.

Once they had gone I allowed the tears that had been threatening to spill down my cheeks and I was about to turn away from the window to curl up and cry myself to sleep when another movement in the street below caught my eye. I wiped my eyes and turned to look at the entrance to the alleyway Xehanort's aids had been standing in front of the day we found Even's office ransacked. Leaning against the wall, her arms folded across her chest and a predatory smirk plastered over her face was the tall girl with the dark blue ponytail and the thick black 'X' tattooed on her neck.

She was looking in the direction Lea and Isa had just walked then, almost as if she knew I was watching her, she turned to look up at me. As our eyes met her smirk widened and her eyes darkened threateningly as her shoulders shook with laughter I couldn't hear. She stared at me with those terrifyingly mad eyes and mouthed 'alone at last' and I felt as if all the warmth had been sucked out of the room. Hands shaking slightly I reached forward and pulled the blinds down over the window, not taking my eyes off her until I was completely shut in, but I knew she was still there and that thought made the blood in my veins run cold.

Uh oh...