Eva walked back into the woods, unafraid of the white creatures coming back. Her hair took on a high ponytail, which kept it from moving into her face. She walked towards the pathway to the haunted mansion. She stopped in her tracks, closing her eyes to remember yesterday better.

Yesterday

Eva had walked through the hole in the wall leading to the woods. She had left Lexus at the candy shop, feeling like someone was calling her there. She took a few steps into the woods and looked around. No one was there.

"Why am I even here?" she asked herself. She turned around to go back. As she reached the hole again, about five or ten white creatures ran...erm...flew, from behind her.

She froze, not knowing what to do. They were creatures she had never seen before, let alone she didn't know how to fight them.

"C'mon guys," a familiar voice, "That's not the person we're after." A man, Eva presumed by his voice, in a black cloak appeared behind them. Eva stared at him, sad at the fact that she couldn't see his face.

The creatures continued towards her. The man threw his weapons at the creatures, and, in a flash, the creatures were cut in two pieces.

Eva's knees gave in and she fell to the ground. "This isn't happening..." she whispered.

The man walked over to her, removing his weapons from sight. He kneeled down to Eva, and said:

"Eva, seems like you've been taking care of yourself." He chuckled. "Then again," he placed a hand on her cheek, "you never did like getting into danger."

Eva smiled, followed by several tears. "I see you haven't changed," she said. She lifted her hands to his hood, planning to remove it.

"Are you letting your guard down over a girl?" a voice called out. "If you do that, you'll die."

Without warning, a sharp pain went to Eva's neck, and, everything went black.

Present

She sat down, listening to the footsteps that were coming closer. "We came off on the wrong foot yesterday," she said, looking towards a hooded man. She stood up and walked closer to him. "It's been a while," she lifted her hands to his hood and removed it to see a man with wild, spikey red hair, complemented by emerald green eyes, "Lea."

"I go by Axel now-a-days," he said, a smile crossing his face. "Got it memorized?"

Eva giggled lightly. "You always did want people to remember you," she said. "It was hard to forget you after you left. I finally gave up."

Axel frowned. "You need to watch out in the town," he said, his words becoming more serious. "I'm sure you've noticed others in a black cloak similar to mine. Most of them are looking for the person who knocked you out yesterday."

"Le…Axel…who is he? And don't tell me that he's just someone who needs to be stopped like you always did! Tell me the truth!"

Axel was dumbfounded at the way Evangiline was acting. She had always been shy and sweet. Now, she was forward and stern. He gave out a sigh. "Your friend, Tara, she's been having dreams about a boy, right?"

Eva nodded. "Riku and Alan," she told him.

Axel continued. "Alan is the one we're looking for. We're not sure of the reason, but, my boss says that he may be something called a heartless, a being without a heart."

"A being without a…heart?" She was confused.

Axel laughed, putting a hand on the top of her head. "I'll explain everything soon," he chuckled. "Until then, take care of yourself."

Eva grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "Promise me!" She said in a harsh whisper.

Axel turned to see her face covered in tears. He had never seen her like this at all.

"Promise me!" She yelled once more. "You told me that you would come back to me before a year! It's been three! This time I want you to promise me this! For the love of God…LEA-"

Axel hugged her, not wanting to hear another word, but, at the same time, he wanted her to calm down. He hated it when she was angry. "I promise," his whisper made her calm down a bit.

A few minutes passed, and Axel finally left. It had been hard to believe that it had been three, agonizing, years since he and Isa left her in Radiant garden.

Three years ago

"Isa! Lea!" Eva called to her two friends. "Where have you been?"

Isa cleared his throat before telling Eva some bad news;

"We're…um…leaving for a while…Evangiline."

Eva's face fell, and so did her heart. "What?" she asked. "Why?"

"We're going to travel around, see new worlds and such!" Lea responded.

"Lea's idea…"Isa sighed.

"How long are you going to be gone?" Eva asked.

"Maybe a year," Lea smiled.

"Can't I come with you?"

"Your parents would murder all three of us!" Isa said. They all knew Eva's parents hated them, especially Lea.

"Well then…" Eva held out two bracelets. She was always such a girl. One bracelet was blue and had a crescent moon on it, meant for Isa. The other was read with flames painted on them, meant for Lea. "I hope you two have a safe journey."

Lea looked at the bracelet. "You charmed this, didn't you?" He remembered that she could transfer her healing powers into jewelry and weapons.

Eva smiled. "You know me too well, Lea!"

Isa slipped on his bracelet. "Take care of yourself, Eva," he smiled. "Lea, you coming?" he started to walk off.

Lea looked behind. "Give me a sec!" He took one last look at Evangiline. Her hair was down, as it normally was, and her blue eyes were filled with tears. Lea put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't go crying on me!" She whispered to her. "We'll be back! Don't worry!"

"Lea!" Isa called.

Lea looked over his shoulder to see Isa about a quarter mile away. He turned back to Eva and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

He started running and said, "We'll be back! You can count on it! We'll be back in a year!"

Present

Eva pounded her fist on a tree out of anger. "That lair!" she panted. "Why did he lie to me like that?"

A/N: Dun dun duuuuuuun~!

Kat: -.- TOO SHORT!

Me: Be happy I updated at all! I've had writers block

REVIEWS!

Emi Izumi: Ask and you shall receive! I'll try to update whenever I can!

Anexi Naie Nightshade: Thank you! I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't good enough if it wasn't! My imagination has been going to LATER chapters and not chapters I'm writing now, so, not sure how soon I'll be posting.

Person with no name (there was no name): Yes, chapters are short, but, my mind says thank you for the complement. XD

Kat and me: R&R (Grammar issues! XD)