Lea and Isa exged uneasy gnces, and for a moment, Helios wahem to turn their backs on him right then and there. Lea’s face softehough, and he gave Helios a determined look.

  “Hey, you think we’re gonna just walk away after seeing something like that?” Lea said, his voice steady despite the tremor in his hands. “You saved us back there, and if these… dark things are after you, then all the more reasoick together. We’ll just have to get strong enough to fight them tht, Isa?”

  Isa frowned, his expression flicted, but finally nodded. “We ’t pretend we didn’t see what we just saw. If those things are real, and they’re drawn to you, then leaving you on your own isn’t an option.” He looked at Helios, his gaze sharp but ho. “Besides, if you’re fighting them to protect us, we owe it to you to learn how to protect ourselves.”

  Helios felt an ued warmth at their words. He’d never expected such loyalty, especially after what they’d just witnessed. But Kurai’s words echoed in his mind. For a moment, he wrestled with the urge to keep them close and save them from the path he knew he was destio walk. However, ultimately he khe best thing to do would be to push them away.

  Helios looked into their eyes, their faces a mix of ce and fear, and ched his fist as he forced out the words. “No,” he said slowly, his voice sharp. “You two… you’re too weak to try to protect me, let alone yourselves. That’s why I ’t stay with you.”

  Lea’s face fell, and Isa’s expression hardened, both of them taken aback by his words. But Helios tinued, steeling himself against the look in their eyes.

  “Listen,” he went on, his tone merciless, “if you really want to be of any use to me, you’ll o bee at least ten times strohan you are now. Otherwise, all you’ll do is slow me down.”

  Lea’s jaw tightened, his expression a mixture of frustration and fusion. “What do you mean we’d slow you down? We get stronger—just like you said!” His voice was ced with defiance, but there was a glint of desperation in his eyes that Helios wished he hadn’t seen.

  Isa’s gaze, usually calm and steady, flickered with something sharper, more vulnerable. “After all that, you’re just… leaving us behind?” he asked, his tone carefully trolled but hurt clearly visible.

  Helios took a deep breath, his face hardening as he forced himself to deliver the blow that would sever their attat. “Look, I’m dealing with things her of you uand. You’re both weak, and tagging along with me is just going to get you hurt. I don’t have time to babysit two liabilities.” His words were sharp, deliberately cutting, ached as the light in Lea’s eyes dimmed.

  Lea opened his mouth to respond, but Helios turned his ba them before he could, f himself to walk away. “Go home,” he called over his shoulder. “This is where we part ways.”

  With every step, Helios could feel their hurt like a tangible weight pressing on his back, but he forced himself to keep walking. It was the only way, he told himself. Attats were dangerous, a weakness he couldn’t afford.

  As he walked away, Kurai’s voice slithered into his mind, loleased. “Now that was an iing performance. A bit dramatiy tastes, but effective.”

  Helios’s fists ched at his sides, his heart pounding with a mixture of anger a. “I hope you ehe show,” he muttered, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

  Kurai chuckled softly, the sound cold and indifferent. “Enjoyment isn’t within my capacity,” it replied, “but I do feel that this oute is best. Attats like those have no p your world, Helios. Emotions are a dangerous indulgence.”

  Helios didn’t respond. The words stung, but he knew, deep down, that Kurai was right. His parents’ deaths were proof enough of the cost of attat, and he couldn’t afford to make the same mistake again. Lost in thought, he hardly noticed his surroundings until he actally walked into something—someone—solid.

  The impact jolted him, aumbled baearly losing his bance. A firm grip on his arm stopped his fall, and he looked up to see a man t over him. The stranger had long, brown hair and pierg blue eyes that held an intense, almost cold gaze. He wore a bck leather jacket with baggy sleeves, red wings embzoned on the back, and a silver pendant around his neck, shaped like a strange creature’s face—a lion, perhaps.

  Helinized him immediately. This was Leon, the stoic leader of the Hollow Bastiooration ittee iure. He’d always admired Leon’s strength, leadership, and most importantly his guhough now he could feel the weight of the man’s gaze bearing down on him.

  Leon’s grip on Helios’s arm was firm but impersonal, his expression unging as he released him. “Watch where yoing kid,” Leon said, his tone cold, almost dismissive.

  Helios quickly steadied himself, meeting Leon’s gaze with a respectful nod. “I apologize,” he replied, doing his best to keep his voice calm aral.

  Leon studied him for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly before he released Helios’s arm and turo walk away without another word. Helios watched him go, feeling the enter settle heavily on him. He had barely processed his iion with Lea and Isa, and now he’d run into another key figure. He headed baerlin’s cottage.

  Meanwhile, deep within the castle, a b was illuminated by the soft glow of maery and the faint green light of a taiube. Ihe tube, a Shadow Heartless floated, its eyes glowing ominously as it drifted within the tai field. The creature’s inky b seemed almost alive, pulsing faintly as it occasionally twitched or shifted.

  Even stood before the tube, his expression a mixture of fasation aement. Xehanort stood beside him, watg with an intense, focused gaze as they observed the creature tained within. The Heartless, one of those drawn to Radiant Garden by Helios’s presence, had mao separate from the others, instinctively drawn toward the stros within the castle itself. It had nearly overwhelmed the guards Din and Aeleus before Even and Xehanort had subdued and tai.

  As they watched the creature, the door to the b opened, and Ahe Wise entered, his gaze falling orange sight before him. Ansem wore a periwinkle b coat, different from his apprentices’ coats only in color, and a red coat draped across his shoulders like a cape. His long, slicked-back blond hair and shoatee gave him an air of authority, and his bright e eyes, while usually warm, held a wary edge as he looked at the Shadow.

  Ansem’s voice was measured, calm but edged with as he addressed his apprentices. “What… is this creature?” he asked, approag the taiube with caution.

  Xehan him, his expression impassive. “We believe it to be a being posed purely of darkness,” he replied. “Its form suggests aence rooted iive emotions and desire, a maion of the darkhat lurks within the hearts of all beings.”

  Ansem’s brows kogether as he studied the creature, his gaze sharpening. “Pure darkness… I’ve entered cepts of simir creatures in aexts, but to see one… How did it e to Radiant Garden?”

  Even adjusted his gsses, a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “We aren’t certain, Master Ansem. However, its behavigests it’s drawn to powerful hearts. Its rea when it sensed us was immediate, almost instinctive.”

  Ansem crossed his arms, his expression thoughtful. “Iing… though deeply troubling. A creature with the power to locate and seek out stros could wreak untold havoc. It could manipute or e those it enters.”

  Xehanort’s eyes gleamed with a faint, almost unnoticeable hint of satisfa. “Indeed, Master. This creature represents both a threat and an opportunity. By uanding it, we could learn to guard against such maions of darkness… or even harness its nature for the good of Radiant Garden.”

  Ansem’s gaze turned sharply to Xehanort, his expression hardening. “Harness darkness? Xehanort, you know as well as I do that light and darkness are forces to be respected, not trifled with.”

  Xehanort bowed his head, his voice smooth and deferential. “Of course, Master. I merely meant that by uanding it, we may better protect ourselves.”

  Even nodded in agreement, his expression eager. “Think of what we could learn, Master Ahis Heartless, as Xehanort has suggested we call it, could hold the key to uanding the baween light and darkness. It could even reveal how darkness spreads and corrupts.”

  Ansem’s eyes narrowed. “The ‘Heartless’? Why do you call it by such a name?”

  Even responded, “Sihis creature seeks out hearts we assume it needs it. So then we asked ourselves what type of being would require the heart of another. We came to the clusion that this creature or Heartless has so it seeks to take it from those who do.”

  Ansem’s eyes narrowed, a hint of doubt flickering across his face. “The ‘Heartless,’ as you call it, represents a danger I am not willing to igs existence is proof that darkness is closer to us than we might believe.” He turo the two men, his tone firm. “I will allow you to study it, but I expect extreme caution. No experiments beyond observation. Am I clear?”

  Xehanort and Even exged gnces before nodding in agreement. “Uood, Master Ansem,” Xehanort said, his voice respectful.

  Ansem regarded the Heartless once more, a look of unease passing over him. “I will be monit your progress. Remember that we are guardians of Radiant Garden’s peaot tamperers with forces beyond our prehension.”

  With that, he turned aed the b, leaving Xehanort and Even aloh the Heartless. As the door closed, Even leaoward Xehanort, his expression eager and his voice low.

  “Master Ansem’s caution is uandable, but he fails to grasp the potential here,” he said, his gaze shifting to the Heartless iube. “Think of what we could uncover if we could unlock the secrets of this creature’s nature, its source of power.”

  Xehanort’s eyes narrowed slightly, a calg look in his gaze. “Indeed. But caution is required. We ot afford to reveal our full iio. Master Ansem would never uand the y of… deeper experimentation.”

  Even smirked, pushing his gsses up. “Indeed Master Ansem’s fear of darkness blinds him. It is precisely because of that fear that we must proceed without his full knowledge. If we’re to truly uand the potential of the heart, we ’t afford to let fear dictate our as.”

  Xehanort ined his head, his expression unreadable. “We will proceed with the utmost care,” he replied, a faint note of displeasure in his voice. “The heart is more plex than even Ansem realizes. It holds the keys to powers that could shape the future of all worlds.”

  They both turheir gaze back to the Heartless, its dark form pulsing faintly within the taiube, as if sensing their attention. For a moment, a silence fell over the b, the tension thid heavy, punctuated only by the quiet hum of maery.