A lot had happened in such a short amount of time.

Axel, had become Lea ones more. He had lost his friends, the people whom made it worth living at all, but then he had found them again. Against all odds, they were together again.

Xemnas had been defeated, and so had the fake Ansem and Xehanort himself, the root of all this suffering.

The world was safe ones again.

Yet, the shadows of the past are not so easily forgotten, not so easily fixed.

In the world called radiant garden, ones a place of hope that had then been swallowed by darkness but was now restored. In a way the journey of this place mirrored Leas journey.

Seemingly the place had been restored to its former glory, yet the people who lived there, they still had memories, of the time they had lost so much, and if you looked at the walls and streets of the town, you could find cracks, traces of what had happened.

In the center of radiant garden was a grandiose castle, which also served as a grand research facility. The home of Ansem the wise, and his team of assistants, guards and researchers.

As well, as a few other guests whom had been allowed to make temporary homes there while trying to piece together what to do next.

One of these people, a young man with bright red hair that almost looked like flames, was laying in his bed as any decent person was supposed to at this hour, while the sky was dark outside.

He wasn't laying still though, Lea was tossing and turning. His eyes was squinted as he hissed, sweat pearls rolling from his forehead as he groaned, a few mumbles could be heard from his lips. "Please… Don't..." he hissed. "No… NO!" Lea shouted as he sat up straight with wide opened eyes gasping for air.

Wide-eyed Lea looked in front of himself, then all around at the small but neat room as he gasped… Another one. Another nightmare.

Lea hissed as he grabbed his forehead, why wouldn't they just stop, why?

He still wasn't relaxed at all, his body was itching and his heart beating loudly, he already knew there was no rest unless he did what he was about to do.

Even if he knew it was stupid! Beyond stupid! Still Lea threw away his bed covers as he got out off bed and headed out the room.

First he went to the door next to the door to his own room, he pressed his ears against it and heard loud snores… Roxas always snored when he slept. And he was definitely in there, okay so he was fine! Good!

Then the next one, on the opposite side of the hallway, this one was a bit more tricky, Xion was always so damn quiet when she slept, so… Lea grabbed the handle, as gently and quietly as he could, then opened the door and peered inside, to see the black haired girl laying at her place on the bed.

First then did Lea let go of a sigh of relief as some sort of relaxation finally washed over him.

Just then, the girl stirred and she glanced up. "Axel?" she asked.

"Sorry, don't mind me. Go back to sleep." Lea asked as he was about to close the door.

"Another nightmare?" Xion asked as she sat up.

Lea halted, but then opened the door again so they could see each other, he blushed as he looked down. "Yeah… I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Xion assured. "What was it this time?" she asked.

"Erhm." Lea swallowed. "There was this… big black cloud, and it… It just swallowed you right up. And I couldn't stop it, I was just useless. Couldn't even move."

Xion nodded as she stood up then walked over to Lea until she stood right in front of him, looking up at him with her blue innocent eyes. Then she reached up, and poked him on the forehead two times.

"Poke, poke." Xion spoke. "Bad dreams go away, tomorrow is another day! Another day for ice cream!"

Lea smiled amused, it was something Xion had come up with a while ago, a ritual to make Leas bad dreams go away, and the crazy thing was. It actually worked, he always managed to sleep better after she had done it.

"You think you can go back to sleep now?" Xion asked.

Lea nodded. "Yeah, I'm just… Going to check on Isa's room to. I know it's silly, he can handle himself. It's just." he scratched his neck.

"It's okay." Xion smiled amused. "I promised, this is our secret." she blinked.

And Lea smiled amused.

"It is though nice of you to include me for ones." A new voice sounded and Lea twirled around to face a young blue haired man, just slightly older than himself.

"Isa!" he gasped.

Isa smirked amused. "You haven't grown up at all Lea." he remarked.

"Hey shut up!" Lea exclaimed.

"Waking up in the middle of the night, waking others with all your worries. Man does that bring back memories." Isa commented amused and Lea pouted annoyed as he crossed his arms.

Xion blinked confused. "Did Axel do it to when he was younger?" she asked and Isa smirked.

"Hey-hey-hey!" Lea exclaimed stepping forward. "There's no need to talk about that is there?!" he asked. "I mean, it's so long ago! And… You don't have to bother Xion with that!" he insisted.

"I don't mind." Xion informed only for Lea to groan as he face palmed himself.

"When Lea was a kid, he was kind of a cry baby." Isa informed making Leas eyes widen. "He would see a bird that had been hurt and cry his eyes out."

"HEY!" Lea shouted.

"That's so sweet." Xion smiled.

"There were odd things going on in radiant garden when we were children." Isa continued. "Weird sounds came from this very research facility, Lea had become convinced they were human cries. That there were humans suffering in here, and yeah, that gave him nightmares."

"Can we stop?" Lea asked.

"As it turned out he was absolutely right." Isa then stated. "We decided to sneak in here, so we could settle it ones and for all if there were truly people suffering in here."

"And?" Xion asked.

Isa smiled amused. "That was long ago, what-ever suffering people whom were here are long gone. And the man whom did make them suffer, Xehanort, you just helped defeat him. Don't worry about it."

"I see, that's good I suppose." Xion blinked.

"See, why did you have to do that?" Lea asked. "Now you're making Xion worried over nothing!"

"I just like to see you squirm." Isa stated and Lea hissed annoyed. "Also… I really meant it, you haven't changed one bit. It's… good to see." he stated and Lea halted. "Wipe those eyes cry baby." Isa then commented as he walked out.

"hey shut up!" Lea exclaimed as he ran after Isa. "Funny, I'm not the only one who stayed exactly the same! You've always done this!"

Isa glanced at him. "Of course I have, do you remember what I said back then?"

Lea sighed deeply. "You said you would stop when I stopped being such a baby, and stopped crying over nightmares." he groaned. "For your information, I've kind of been through a lot. So… Maybe mind your own business?" he asked.

Isa looked at him, meeting Leas eyes and suddenly Lea was reminded… Isa's eyes, they had become yellow some years ago, now though, they were back to their original grayish blue and he smirked.

"Then stop having nightmares." Isa suggested. "You decided I wasn't allowed to leave again, so here's the thing. I wont stop sticking my nose in your business either, it's your own fault."

Lea squinted his eyes at him, clearly not looking happy.

"Good night then." Isa bowed his head for Lea. "Sweet dreams." and he walked past Lea towards his own room.

"Bastard." Lea mumbled, but then he smiled as he looked down. Xion and Isa sure was different… Xions way of dealing with nightmares was doing something so cute.
Isa how-ever, his way had always been to try and distract Lea somehow, make him think of other things.

Their methods were different, but the sentiment the same and Lea smiled as he held a hand over his heart.

"Thank you, Isa." he breathed and finally walked back to his own room, looking forward to a great sleep.