This is a Kingdom Hearts fan fiction and that game series is exactly where the cover image is from. The time line is a bit warped but this isn't a AU. So, it's during the time that between the after the end of BBS and KH1. Aqua, Eraqus, Ventus and Terra are back together and Xenhonort is not in Terra, completely gone. Everything returned back to normal with their training. This is based less than a year after BBS, let's say sixth months after.

I smiled gratefully, today was another wonderful day! Oh yeah, and after I told Lea I probably couldn't see him much, he gave me a cell phone. Now, I can talk to them anytime! My life couldn't be better! Yawning, I crept under the covers, completely content. I feel asleep pretty quickly.

Meanwhile in Radiant Garden in the middle of the night…

"Lea, do you I need to remind you why this is a bad idea? It's the middle of the night! Who knows what weirdos may be lurking."

"Ha! You mean like me Isa? You worry too much."

"It's 12:00 at night Lea."

"You mean in the morning. And besides this is the best idea ever!" Lea smirked mischievously.

"You're an idiot. I can't believe I'm going along with you."

"You can't resist the urge of the great, the wonderful, the awesome prank I created."

"More like I don't want you to get beaten the crud out of."

"That too." Their conversation was interrupted by someone roughly yanking Isa backwards and pinning his arms behind his back. Isa let out a gasp as this happened, drawing Lea's attention. Lea's eyes widened into bowling bowls then he became hostile. The man who had grabbed him was none other than Dilan, accompanied by Braig. Lea equipped his mini-chakrams that he used in his play fight with Ven.

"Let him go!" Lea snarled. Isa struggled to get out of the man's grip but to no avail.

"Nope, this boys' coming with us. Oh, but you aren't going to allow this are you?" Braig said in that tone of his, pointing one of his arrowguns at Lea.

"Don't Lea! RUN!" Isa pegged, but he knew that Lea thought he could take these guys on, but he couldn't! He's going to get himself killed!

"You should listen to the brat, if you stay here the outcome will be the same except you'll be dead." Braig sneered.

"Shut up Isa! There's no way I'm gonna leave you!"

"Lea..."

"How sweet. That'll be nice last words." Braig smirked as he started his offensive.

...

Lea lye unconscious on the ground as Isa watched in horror. Luckily, Lea was not badly wounded. Just a few scratches here and there.

"Braig, you've wasted enough time, let's go." Dilan urged.

"Alright, fine." Braig said. They started walked away as Dilan roughly dragged Isa forward after tying his hands together. Isa was extremely relieved that they didn't plan to kill Lea.

...

Lea snapped his eyes open and shot upright. "ISA!" He screamed, looking around to see no one around. "N-no..." Isa... Those jerks took him! Wait a minute... That guy I recognize him! He's the one always guarding that castle! They must have taken him there! I gotta go rescue him! But wait, can I beat them on my own? Oh, Ven's really good at fighting, I gotta get him to help me! I gotta! Lea hurried yanked his phone out of his pocket and dialed Ven's number. The time was an hour later than when Isa was kidnapped.

...

"VEN! WAKE UP! ANSWER YOUR PHONE IT'S AN EMERGENCY! ISA GOT CAPTURED BY SOME JERKS AND WE GOTTA SAVE HIM! ANSWER THE DANG PHONE!" Lea's voice came out loud and clear out of Ven's phone sitting on his bedside table. The yelling woke Ven up. Is that Lea? Wait did he say Isa got kidnapped!? Snapping awake, Ven grabbed his phone and answered it.

"D-did you say Isa got kidnapped?!" Ven worried, trying to push the last bit of drowsiness from himself.

"Heck yea I did! Come and help Ven!"

"Of course! I'll be there soon! Where can I meet you?"

"Meet me at the main square!"

"Ok!" Ven answered, hanging up the phone. Ven decided he didn't want to wake the others up unless he needed too and he believed he didn't. He thought he could be back before they woke up. Ven threw open the window, (running through the house would be too noisy and walking would take too long) and glided down the building until he got to the ground. As quiet as possible, Ven opened a portal and flew through it with his keyblade.

In the building, Eraqus had not fallen asleep yet because of some extra work to be done so he felt the disturbance. Why did they leave? Eraqus, now quite concerned, ran up to Terra, Aqua and Ventus' room.

"EVERYONE GET UP!" Eraqus screamed. Aqua, about a minute later, sleepily walked out of her room.

"What's wrong Master?" Aqua asked, trying to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes.

"Get Terra up Aqua." Eraqus commanded. Aqua nodded, and went into Terra's room. Eraqus rushed into Ven's room and sure enough he wasn't in the room. Eraqus sighed, knowing it must have been Ven who left, who he had suspected from the beginning. Eraqus walked out of the room and closed the door. A few seconds later, Aqua nearly dragging Terra out of his room.

"Master, it's late, can't this wait?" He asked, half-asleep.

"It cannot. This is important so please try to wake up." Eraqus replied. Aqua seemed to be awake now while Terra attempted to wake himself up.

"A few minutes ago, Ven went to another world." Eraqus said while Aqua and Terra looked shocked. Terra was now fully awake.

"Why would he do that at this time of night? And without telling us..." Aqua said.

"You don't think he ran away do you...?" Terra asked.

"No, Ven loves it here. Why would he do that?" Aqua reasoned.

"Yes, I do not believe he ran away, but even without the unversed the worlds can be a dangerous place. We should search his room to see if we can find any clues where he is." Eraqus said. The three of them went into Ven's room, searching for anything out of the ordinary.

"He must have left through here." Terra said as he pointed at the open window.

"Can you shut that Terra, it's freezing in here." Aqua asked. Terra nodded as he went to close the window. But as he was doing this he noticed something on the bedside table. Terra picked up the cell phone off the desk, wondering what the heck it was.

"Master, Aqua, look at this." Terra said, holding out the phone gently in his hand. Aqua and Eraqus looked at it.

"Terra what is that?" Aqua asked, staring at the device in Terra's hands.

"I don't know. But it was on Ven's bedside table." He replied. Terra, letting his wonder get the best of him, opened the phone as Eraqus and Aqua watched the strange device.

"You have missed 5 calls from...Lea. Yesterday." A machine-like voice came from the phone.

"It spoke!" Aqua shocked.

"Calls?" Terra wondered.

"Hmm, perhaps this device is used to talk to people from long distances." Eraqus deduced.

"But how could a device do that?"

"Anyway, Aqua you go look for Ventus Terra and I will search this device to see if we can find out Ventus's whereabouts. And Aqua come back if you don't find him by morning. He might come back." They both nodded but Terra had wanted to search for Ven so he was a bit upset. Anyway, Eraqus and Terra got to it.

...

Meanwhile in Radiant Garden castle...

Bearing many cuts and bruises, Isa breathed heavily, hunched forward with one eye closed. He was sitting on the ground in one of the many rooms of the castle.

"Braig, I do not believe he knows anything." Dilan deduced. "If he did, what would he gain from keeping it from us? This whole display was unnecessary and is going to get you into the Master's wrath." Huh? Does that mean that their whole group is not in on this? Isa wondered.

"Hey, you permitted me fighting that brat from earlier."

"That is different. That was necessary this was not."

"Whatever. And I don't agree. Brat's just tough, he knows something, we have proof remember?"

"That proof is not indefinite."

"It is proof though. Enough for me to beat him up a bit more." Isa flinched, having told them several times he knew nothing (which he didn't) didn't have any idea what he should do. If I screamed maybe someone would come... It doesn't seem like anyone is in on it but them. A childish scream broke their conversation, shocking Isa.

"Crap! Crap!" Braig semi-panicked while Dilan looked around for the source. It was Ienzo, who was watching from a distance away, leaning against the door with terror in his huge eyes. Before Dilan could try to get Ienzo to stop, Even rushed over with Ansem (the real Ansem) and they saw everything. Ansem looks in horror and shock while Even tried to calm the little boy.

"W-what have you done...?" Ansem stared while Braig ran off as fast as he could. Then righteous fury filled Ansem. He sprinted after Braig screaming at him the whole way. "HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SUCH AS THIS?! HOW?! DO YOU HAVE NO MORALS?! HOW COULD YOU BEAT UP A CHILD?! TELL ME HOW?! GET BACK HERE! FACE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE AN HONORABLE MAN SUCH AS DILAN! HE IS IN THE SAME POSITION AS YOU! STOP RUNNING!" At this point, relief filled over Isa. It was only them then...

"Will he be okay?" Ienzo asked with big eyes, close to tears, hand clinging to Even's tightly.

"Yes Ienzo, he will be fine." Even reassured. Dilan had retreated by this point, not running, but deciding it would be better to await his punishment from his room. Even walked over to Isa with Ienzo still clinging.

"I am terribly sorry about my fellow apprentices' idiocy. I assure you that none of us had part in this. Ienzo, please stop clinging for a moment so I can help him." Ienzo obeyed as Even went down and untied Isa.

"You are no longer a prisoner, but I hope you will let me bandage up your wounds. I am a professional and your wounds should not be left unchecked. They are not too serious but it's always better not to chance. And I would like to do it to make up for my apprentices' mistakes." Isa considered it. He knew none who could do medical things and he guessed he could get Lea to do it (or himself) but they weren't a professional. He believed that he was telling the truth but Isa really wanted to get away from this place. He had to find Lea who must be worried sick about him. Sadly, his cell phone was taken away so he had no contact to Lea. Isa tried to stand but failed to do so and started to stumble back down. Even caught him and set him gently back down. He didn't want to return to Lea in this state. It would just worry him more.

"Alright, I-I'll go with you." Even nodded and gently put one of Isa's arms on his shoulders and pulled him up to stand. Ienzo followed close to Even as they walked (Isa was limping) towards Even's medical room (luckily he had different rooms for medical and science purposes).

...

As Ven and Lea were making their way to the castle, they saw a panting Braig leaning against a lamppost.

"That's one of the guys who kidnapped Isa!" Lea whispered to Ven who nodded. Ven summoned his keyblade as Lea equipped his chakrams.

"HEY! What the heck did you do to Isa!?" Lea screamed threatening as Ven and Lea came out of hiding.

"Oh him? I wouldn't be concerned. He's no longer my prisoner."

"What do you mean?!"

"I mean he's free. My fellow group had nothing to do with the kidnapping. So I'm about to get in big trouble cause they found out. I bet Even probably helping him right now. Why don't you go see him? They'll probably let you in."

"What if you're lying?!"

"Why don't you see for yourself." With that Braig ran off.

"HEY!" Lea screamed and looks like he was about to give chase.

"Wait! Let's go check the castle. You thought he was there anyway."

"Fine, let's just hurry!" Lea gave in. The two of them rushed towards the castle.

...

Isa was not relaxed in the least but Ienzo being present made him feel a bit better. Even had tried to get Ienzo to leave but to no avail, it seems he was still jarred. But now Even was finished bandaging him up. He was lying recovering on a hospital bed.

"Why did they hurt him?" Ienzo asked innocently.

"I don't know Ienzo. But hurting people, especially this badly, is very wrong and they will be punished greatly for their actions. But you saved him from being hurt more. And that was a wonderful thing to do. You also were very strong. You are a very good boy Ienzo. I will give you more rewards later, but for now here." Even handed Ienzo a fairly big lollipop. Ienzo smiled and took the lollipop and sat on the chair. He unwrapped it, and he started licking it contently.

"I'm a good boy." He repeated.

"A very good boy." Even added.

"Are you finished?" Isa asked.

"Yes, I am. But before you go, I would appreciate it if you told me what happened. If you have the strength."

"I can tell." Isa said softly. Even motioned for Ienzo to leave but Ienzo shook his head.

"I want to stay with you." Ienzo said simply with puppy dog eyes.

"I'm sorry but you can't Ienzo. I'll give you another lollipop if you leave until I tell you to come back and don't listen through the door." Ienzo nodded and left the room. Isa explained all that happened to Even who wrote down notes to tell the others later.

"Do you have enough strength to make it back?" Even asked.

"Yes, I think I can just fine."

"You should take it easy for a while, don't push yourself too hard." Isa nodded. "This castle is quite big and hard to navigate. Let me escort you on your way out."

"Ok, thank you for everything." Even nodded and led Isa out. Ienzo was sitting on a chair near the outside. Seeing Even, he went and held his hand. Even escorted him out and Isa went on his way. When he was a considerable distance away, he heard Lea's voice calling his name and...Ven's?! Lea must have called him over. Getting to Isa, Lea and Ven were panting.

"A-are you okay?! What happened to you?! You got bandages everywhere! WHAT DID THOSE JERKS DO!?" Lea's voice became increasing furious as he spoke.

"He's right..." Ven worried, his face going sympathetic.

"I'm alright. Don't worry. It was only those two, not the whole group so the others bandaged me." Isa replied.

"Then they did hurt you! I'll make them pay for that!" Lea snarled.

"There's no need. The head of the group was as angry as you are. They'll get what they deserve. I doubt they'll be able to come back again because of this."

"You sure, about both?" Lea calmed down significantly. Isa nodded.

"Can we go back please. I want to rest." It was nearly morning by now, the sun was beginning to come up; because of this all of them were completely exhausted. Especially Isa, who was injured.

"Of course!" Lea smiled. On the way back, they were quite smiley. They all smiled at some point, happy that the others were okay and it was over. Once they had gotten home and Lea stayed at Isa's for the night (he was too concerned about him) Ven went back home. He thought he would be back in time before the others woke up. Much to his surprise, when he walked into the doors Eraqus and Terra were running towards him.

"VEN!"

"Huh? How'd you guys know I left?" Ven confused.

"I was still awake and felt the disturbance when you left." Eraqus explained. "Why did you leave in the middle of the night without telling anyone?" Eraqus questioned.

"We were worried about you Ven!" Terra added.

"I'm sorry. I thought I'd be back before you got up." Just then, Aqua came back through the doors.

"VEN! Are you okay?!" Aqua concerned, rushing up to him.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Aqua softly hit Ven on the back of the head and stood in front of Ven.

"Ow!" Ven exclaimed. "I'm sorry! I thought you would all be sleeping! I didn't want to bother you!"

"What made you leave in the middle of the night?" Aqua asked.

"Does it have to do with this?" Terra said, lifting the phone.

"Hey! Give it back! There's personal stuff on there!" Ven exclaimed, trying to grab the phone out of Terra's hand and succeeding. Ven sighed heavily. "You looked at it didn't you?"

"We thought we could use it to find you."

"Who's Lea and Isa?" Aqua asked.

"They're friends of mine who lives in Radiant Garden." Ven replied. "You use this thing to talk to people from long distances." Ven smiled.

"Why did you leave though?" Aqua asked.

"You see if you call someone and they don't answer, they can leave you a message and the thing stores it for you. When the person is leaving it, you can hear it from the phone. It's called voice mail I think. Oh yeah, and you can answer it during the voice mail. So, Lea called me while I was sleeping and the voice mail woke me up. It was an emergency really! But It's okay now because everyone's fine."

"What happened?"

...

Ansem searched furiously for Braig but so far had found nothing. By now, it made him so angry that Braig had ran away, tried to avoid his punishment. But it wasn't going to work, he'd have to come back evidentually. So, exhausted from the night's affairs he decided to go back and punish Dilan while waiting for Braig to return. When he had returned, he spotted Even with Ienzo clinging to his hand with a giant lollipop in his mouth. Ansem walked over to talk to him.

"What happened to the boy?" Ansem asked.

"I bandaged up his wounds (with his permission) and lead him out."

"Good, good. Did he tell you what happened?"

"He did."

"So, what did happen?"

"Apparently, Braig and Dilan believed that this boy knew some secrets of the heart for some reason, but the boy didn't know anything. So, they kidnapped him and had to knock another boy out to do so. Braig did this but Dilan didn't argue. When they brought him back Braig kept hurting him trying to get him to tell what he didn't know. Dilan thought hurting him at all was unnecessary." Even whispered into Ansem's ear.

"That is going way too far! I will make sure they receives proper punishment!" Ansem stomped off to Dilan's room to punish him. Ienzo kept contently sucking his lollipop.

...

"You don't know why? I mean that's pretty awful." Aqua asked.

"I didn't ask. I was too worried about him to care really." Ven replied. "I want to go back and check on him tomorrow."

"Alright, you can go." Eraqus answered.

"Yay!" Ven smiled.

"But when you go, can you ask what happened? If it doesn't sound too insensitive."

"Yah, I can ask."

"Well, then we'd better go to bed. It's been a long night for all of us." All of them went up to their rooms and fell asleep almost instantly.

...

Dilan's punishment was his weapons being taken away until he could use them properly but that's not all. He was also banned from doing his favourite thing for six months. But Ansem was far angrily at Braig for he was the worse offender. Braig had not returned by the late afternoon. Ansem thought maybe he should sent someone after him but thought against it. He knew he couldn't stay away forever. For Braig, he was also banned for his weapons until he used them the right way. But of course his punishment must be worse than Dilan's. He was banned from doing his favourite thing for a year (which is pranking people) and not's not all. He was also banned from doing any research for six months. Ansem thought this punishment was suitable, considering Braig is going to be bored out of his mind. He's going to have to find a new activity.

...

Ven stared at his clock sleepily for he had been asleep but a couple minutes before. It was late afternoon but not nighttime yet. He felt completely energized now. I should go check on Isa, he should be awake now. Ven sat up and stretched out his arms. He made a mental note not to leave without telling the others first. He didn't want them to worry. After they had woken up, he told them and was off. When he got to Radiant Garden, he saw Lea and Isa sitting around a table. Lea motioned for Ven to come over. Ven sat in the chair that was unoccupied. Isa seemed to be enjoying the light breeze going around.

"Are you feeling alright?" Ven concerned, directing it at Isa.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you both..."

"Is that why you bought me ice cream earlier?" Lea joked with a huge smirk on his face.

"Don't worry. I'll make you pay for mine later." Isa smiled.

"Ah, no fair! I demand at least ten for my services your majesty!" At this everyone started chuckling a little.

"Why, you don't need more than five my valiant servant!" Isa joked, humoring Lea. Everyone started laughing harder, as Lea tries to think of something else to say.

"I changed my mind, your majesty! I demand...100 MILLION!" By now, everyone was laughing pretty hard. When they stopped, Isa made a comment.

"If you think I'm getting you 100 million ice cream bars, your insane."

"Why thank you!" Lea joked. But Isa started clutching his side. "Are you ok?" Lea worried.

"I'm ok. It's just that it hurt a bit to be laughing that hard." Isa answered.

"Do you want not to joke then?" Lea asked.

"Nah, you're fine." Lea looked at him like he didn't believe him.

"What happened yesterday?" Ven asked carefully and gently. "But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I can tell." Isa then told the whole story to Ven and Lea. After they had finished, Lea looked ready to punch something or someone.

"Those jerks! That's an awful reason to hurt someone!" Lea snarled, Ven agreed but wasn't nearly as angry.

"Hey Lea, I have an idea." Isa changed the subject. Lea anger mostly dissipated as he looked at Isa curiously.

"What is it?"

"I'll buy all three of us ice cream." Lea smiled a big grin.

"Heck yeah!" The three of them had a good time, hanging out, eating ice cream. But too soon Ven had to go. When he got home, Ven had a huge grin on his face.

"I take it went well?" Terra asked, the four of them were gathered there.

"Yeah, and I figured out why they did that to him. He said that they were looking for the 'secrets of the heart'. And one of the the guys that did it, had an eyepatch and a huge scar on his face. But their whole group wasn't in on it, juust two guys. " When Ven said the second sentence, Aqua was surprised, and Eraqus was concerned.

"Wait, you said a guy with an eyepatch? Did he have black hair? Middle-aged?" Terra asked, his mind connecting the dots. Ven shrugged.

"Do you know him Terra?" Aqua asked.

"Maybe, I met a guy like that and he was working with Xehonort earlier."

"Either way, this is deeply concerning and we need to be careful." Eraqus commanded, everyone nodded and went about their ways.

Fin