Isa would usually not go to the castle guards to ask for their help. He and Lea had had plenty of run-ins with them, but Isa usually was making it a point to avoid them focus on sneaking into the castle before those inevitable run-ins happened.

But he wasn't the type that considered himself too proud to ask for directions, at least.

So, with the straightest face he could muster, trying to act like he had never had a less amicable meeting with them, he walked up to them and got to the point. "Have either of you seen a little girl with auburn hair in a purple dress, about this tall?"

Of course, the guards pretended they hadn't even heard him. Isa rolled his eyes. "Blue eyes? Probably picking flowers or something?" he added.

Dilan and Aeleus glanced at each other, but still ultimately didn't answer.

"You guys are kinda useless for guards…" he muttered, giving up and turning to walk away.

"Red hair, purple dress, blue eyes…"

Isa nearly jumped in surprise when Braig appeared as if out of nowhere and put a hand on his shoulder. Instead, though, he just looked slightly miffed and took Braig's hand off of his shoulder.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Princess, now, would you?" Braig said.

"Princess? You mean Kairi?" Isa turned towards him and demanded, "Have you seen her? Where did she go?"

"Man, something sure has you riled up, huh?" Braig shrugged. "Heh, is the little princess giving you trouble? I'd think you should chase after some older girls than her, but I guess you're into that."

Isa facepalmed, suppressing an annoyed groan. Lea could be a handful, but at least he had some redeeming features. Braig was more childish than Kairi and easily the single most annoying person in Radiant Gardens. He'd have to remember this in case he ever got lucky enough to pull the shots on Braig. "I guess you're speaking from experience, old man…" Isa said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"As if. I'm a hit with the ladies." Braig made a grand gesture with his hand, as if he was insulted by the mere implication. "Well, I guess you and firecrotch don't need anyone's help getting into trouble. Sneaking into the castle and breaking one of THE Ansem the Wise's toys? Y'know if you're not careful, one of these days you might find something of yours broken. Wouldn't want that, right kiddo?"

"That would be childish revenge…" Isa said, glancing to the side. "We already said we'd get the money to pay for that."

"Easy there, kiddo," Braig threw his arms up. "I'm just saying. Lots of scary rumors lately. People disappearing. Monsters crawling up from the shadows. Just seems like you're the kinda kid who might wet his pants from seeing crap like that."

"I don't buy into silly rumors at face value," Isa said. With an accusative voice and sharp eyes, he added, "And if something strange really is going on, surely the Kingdom would have its most 'trustworthy' elite scientists working around the clock to keep its people safe, right? Although… wouldn't it be something if somewhere in the castle laboratories is the cause of all the problems in the first place? Shame only our trusty scientists can get down there."

Braig threw his head back in laughter. "You're not bad, kid. You must think you're some kind of detective." He straightened up and put on a sly grin. "I'm pretty sure I saw Kairi near the fountains, now that I think about it. Better keep an eye on the little princess, right?"

"…Thanks," Isa said, and took off running towards the fountains. Talking to Braig always felt like pulling teeth, and he didn't feel like wasting any more time on it.

The fountains were as colorful as ever. Kairi knelt down and looked at her reflection in them.

Kairi's absolute favorite thing was the flowers that grew in the city, but if Kairi had a list of things she loved, the fountains would be high ranking for sure. Plus, her grandma always loved getting flowers from Kairi, but she spent more time admiring the fountains than admiring the flowers. The castle was probably her grandma's favorite place, but the castle was for Ansem and the people who worked with him, like the guards and the researchers. There was a public library in the castle that her grandma took her to so she could read, but Kairi couldn't read except for a few words her grandmother had taught her, so she didn't really go there without her grandma. And lately, even though Kairi wouldn't say so out loud, the castle scared her.

It's not that she was afraid of big places or anything. She considered herself a very brave girl, and she considered the castle guards and the researchers she actually got to meet her friends. And the castle would be the first place she would run to check for her grandma under normal conditions.

But lately the castle seemed… bruised. Like it was really hurt and crying out in pain, like Kairi when she was not so brave. She mentioned her worries to her grandma once, and she was a little afraid that she would laugh at her, but instead, she had said that she wouldn't let anything hurt Kairi, she promised. Kairi couldn't tell if it was because her grandma believed her or not, but it made her so happy that Kairi immediately responded by promising to keep her grandma safe, too.

But her grandma also told her that it was bad to be rude, and even if she was upset about a lot of things, she probably shouldn't have gotten upset at Lea and Isa like she did. She really, really needed to find them and apologize, after she found her grandma.

Kairi was so deep in thought as she stared at her reflection that she almost didn't notice when the shadow she cast in the water suddenly seemed a lot darker. She blinked, then closed her eyes and rubbed them, because no, that wasn't her shadow getting darker, but it was definitely a shadow, and she swore it was moving.

Something grew up out of the flat shadow and Kairi jumped back, falling and landing on her butt. It reminded her of that thing that had chased her before, but this was blacker and darker. It was twitchy, with yellow eyes that were looking right at Kairi. And it felt familiar, like someone Kairi knew. Someone who disappeared before. Grandma had assured her that they moved away somewhere all of a sudden, but Kairi couldn't shake the feeling, and her eyes started to water at the thought of what that meant.

She crawled back when it lunged at her and quickly scrambled up, looking for something to fight with, like that women who fought to protect her did before. It was all she could do to just avoid the thing, though. It didn't move that fast while it was up, but it kept turning back into a shadow and sliding around. She finally found a stick among the vines near the fountains and scooped it up in her hands and turned to swing at it, but it had disappeared into the ground again and she'd lost sight of it.

She looked around, holding her stick like that woman with blue hair had held her sword. She heard a rustle from behind her and turned around, holding up her sword to try to block its claws and letting out a loud scream.