Sice laid out on the beach of Valhalla, hair pressed against the sand and legs crossed over each other. No wind brushed against her skin, and no sun showed through the clouded skies. It always looked the same here, yet it didn't grow dull. She felt at home in this strange, still place. She enjoyed the quiet she found on its shores, the chance to be by herself and –

"SICE!"

– Not get interrupted every five minutes.

Cinque popped in and obstructed Sice's view of the sky. "Queen's figured out what we're gonna do next!"

"Really." Sice closed her eyes. "What is it?"

"I don't know! She said she'll tell us in a meeting!"

"When?"

"Now! Everyone's gathering as we speak, and even Eight seems nervous!"

"Why couldn't she just tell me from there?"

"I-…" Cinque furrowed her brow and straightened. "I don't know. Just trying to be formal or something, I guess."

"Or she's distracted." Sice reluctantly pulled herself to her feet and looked toward the palace they'd taken for their headquarters. "Must be pretty big."

"Only one way to find out!" Cinque took Sice's hand and dragged her forward. Sice reluctantly allowed her to continue.

When they entered King and Queen's "meeting room" – which was really some huge hall like Sice might expect of a crystal repository – half of the others had already entered. King stood off to the side and stared out one of the windows, but Queen had yet to enter. Cater, and Seven sat together on a bench overlooking the oceans while Jack spoke in animated motions with Ace, who fidgeted with the hem of his damaged jacket.

Sice looked down at her own clothes, which were still tattered at the edges and burned in places from their departure. They'd get around to fixing that eventually… maybe. But her fatal injuries no longer bothered her.

And that bothered her.

"Oh, don't worry!" Cinque placed a hand on Sice's shoulder. "You look great!"

"Yeah, that's not what I was thinking about."

Cinque frowned. "Oh. Then what?"

Deuce and Nine entered together, with the latter complaining about some structure at the edge of their existence. Then came Eight and Trey in solemn silence.

Sice rolled her eyes to herself. "How much I don't like meetings like this. What are we, politicians?"

"Good question."

"Hey!" Jack waved. "Sice! What are you guessing is gonna happen?"

"My fist in your face is what's gonna happen."

Nine bellowed out a cry and leapt toward the ceiling, only to crash into the stone floor, face-first. Deuce jumped back, visibly alarmed.

Sice shook her head – he did that sometimes.

Blood pooled around him, but Nine pulled himself back to his feet with half his face missing.

"Yeah!" The man stumbled about on his feet. "I'm immortal, you piece of building!"

Deuce exchanged a worried look with Ace before touching a hand to Nine's shoulder. "I don't think we should-"

"Aw, yeah!" Nine crooked his neck both ways and a satisfying hiss sounded before the fibers of his muscle started knitting back together. Sice couldn't take her eyes off it. "I can't feel my face and I don't care!"

"Oh, he's lost it," breathed Ace. Cinque glanced his way and Sice shook her head, eyes stuck on the reforming muscle. It would take minutes for his skin to take over again.

Cater made a gagging sound and turned away while Eight just shook his head. Sice remembered the sensation of dying that took them to this accursed world and a part of her longed to feel that again. Only, she preferred to earn it in battle – not with reckless, self-destructive behavior.

"Okay, guys." Queen swept in with her somehow-pristine uniform and solemn expression and took a seat on the throne toward the center of the room. "We've settled on our next course of action."

King took the cue to join Queen by the throne and stare at each one of the others until even Nine quieted down. "We'll be sending each of you to look for one of our designated partners."

"Partners?" repeated Cater. "What are we doing, getting married?"

"No." Queen flicked her wrist and summoned the image of the cosmos in a small mist about her, lit by trails of green. "Mwynn has plans to deal with Bhunivelze, but it requires collecting his previous targets and using them to weaken and eventually consume Bhunivelze."

"You'll need means to purchase disguises and other supplies." King waved a hand and different forms of coins materialized in their hands. Sice got monochrome, jewel-toned ones.

"Fascinating," said Trey, "that others use such similar forms to ours, that gil appears to be consistent across the network of-"

"Thank divine interference," said King. "Same thing that has us all speaking the same language."

"We can't just take Bhunivelze for ourselves?" asked Sice. She loved the idea of sinking her teeth into that monstrosity of a god.

"His and Mwynn's power are distinct and separate." Queen shook her head. "It would only hurt you."

"Yay for picking up friends!" Jack pumped a fist in the air. "We'll party like there's tomorrow! Get it? Because there is no tomorrow, here?"

"The numbers could make things complicated," Eight murmured with a finger to his chin. "Coordinating work with two dozen people – that's going to take a lot of brain power."

"Leave that to us." Queen floated a book into her hand. "King and I will track everything else, we just need the rest of you to collect your assigned persons and bring them here. As it stands…" She changed the image of green trails in space to that of a dark shadow with the faintest outline of hard gold. "We're running against time. That groan we heard wasn't the result of shifting plates – it was the awakening of our enemy."

"Great." Sice groaned and folded her arms. "Are we gonna get started or what?"

King took the floor and summoned nine images. "There's one for each. Jack, you've got Claire 'Lightning' Farron, who took to Gaia II in the Odin Belt."

"Aw, nice!" Jack took a step forward to examine the slow motion of the pink-haired woman. "She looks cool – look at that scowl!"

"Sice." She perked up at King's call. "You'll take her sister."

"Sister." Sice refrained from coming forward despite her curiosity. When King directed the image her way, Sice felt a stab of familiarity and something within her recognized the girl, like seeing the picture downloaded the information to her mind given proximity.

Serah slowly – slowly as in a turtle chasing a slug – turned her face from one side to the other, the motion of it allowing Sice to take in her features. Soft skin, gentle eyes, and a twinkle to her eyes that could woo the iciest man.

Nine leaned over to Eight and whispered something before they swapped images with a roll of the eyes from Eight.

Sice raised a hand. "What if I don't want to do this?"

"I might concur." Trey looked up from his assignment. "This seems an aimless charge."

"It isn't aimless." Queen looked up from her tome, eyes cool. "We're collecting our other halves."

Jack swiped his image away. "I think it's exciting! Last one to get back is a rotten egg!"

Sice scowled. "No retakes? This one seems like a dud – I don't see how Serah's supposed to help us take down a god."

"How could any of them?" Deuce shook her head and dismissed her own image. "How could we before Mwynn?"

"They're not going to replace us, are they?" asked Cinque with thin lips. "We're not… extra, are we?"

"Or placeholders?" Seven swiped at her image and it dispersed. "Is Mwynn just using us to fill a temporary hole?"

"That's not what I sense from her motives." Queen sat up straighter and looked at each of them in turn. "We have further work to do, and I see eons pass before we complete it."

King closed his eyes. "More than eons, I'd say."

"… Right." Queen stood. "Whether any of us are qualified or not, we're the chosen ones of Mwynn and we know how to make plans work regardless of the tools provided. Does anyone believe differently?"

"I don't care!" Nine kicked at the ground and sent chips flying from the impact. "Let's just go, already!"

Sice grimaced and folded her arms, argument lost.

"Good." Queen took slow steps about her throne. "King and I will communicate with you through the long-distance connection Mwynn has established and we'll keep you updated while we get things done on this end. I'll send you respective locations of each target, though I'll have you know that we can only see you and them."

"We can talk to each other." Trey touched a finger to his chin, causing those in his closest proximity to roll their eyes or shake their heads. "That should keep our situation convenient. Should the need arise, we can ask for backup and reconnaissance updates, can we not?"

"Not quite." Queen paused her pacing and pushed her hair back. Pulled her tome before her again. "For unknown reasons, Mwynn has only established a link between you all and myself plus King. There is no back and forth capable between each of you as agents."

"More motivation to get it done quick, then!" Cater cast a meaningful glance to Eight. "You still owe me a sparring session!"

Eight hopped from one foot to the other. "I imagine you won't need one after we get back."

Queen continued, "Keep in mind that some of the pathways may provide… obstacles. There are people traveling about the worlds via 'unofficial' channels and it's causing interference in the system."

"I guess we'll just have to careful, then." Cinque swayed in place. "Best not lose each other, right?"

"Of course. And how do we leave?" Ace asked with a glance outside. "Same way we came?"

"Oddly," King took a deep breath, "yes. Unpleasant though it may be."

Queen flipped through her tome. "There seems to be a network of portals that all connect back here. So long as you can get your designated target to one of these portals, then we can take care of the rest. Ace, be warned that you'll be working near those that would form the Mystic City, so take care not to disrupt work in Saronia."

Ace quirked an eyebrow. "I guess I… will probably understand once I get there."

"Sounds easy enough." Cinque turned toward the door. "I'll beat all of you!"

"Oh, no, you don't!" Jack chased after her.

Nine let out a war cry and burst forward with such speed that Sice expected him to knock the other two down in his haste. Cater was quick to follow. Queen and King exchanged knowing looks.

Sice was one of the last to leave, along with Deuce and Trey. They reached the sands in time to see Ace and Eight trudge under Valhalla's waters.

"I can't help but worry." Deuce hesitated before the water's edge. "It seems a little too simple, doesn't it?"

"Simplicity is a fabrication of society's affectations." Trey flicked his hair out of the way before stepping into the water. Sice didn't miss the way the water didn't react to his entrance. "And simplicity in and of itself cannot affect the possibility of a fortuitous outcome."

He moved forward until the waters swallowed him.

"That's not quite what I was thinking." Deuce chewed on her lip and took steps forward.

"Trey's an idiot." Sice joined her and allowed the ocean of the cosmos to lap past her shoes – even this close, she couldn't see anything to indicate it was less than a typical body of water. "But there's also nothing to worry about. We've got a frikin' goddess on our side."

Deuce nodded, but Sice could see she wasn't convinced. Nevertheless, the other girl turned to face Sice and smile before allowing herself to fall backwards and vanish into the ocean.

Sice took a deep breath. No matter how immortal she might be, she still didn't like the idea of swimming.

Kept walking forward until the water came up to her chest, then to her chin, where it tickled the back of her neck and wetted her hair.

Took a deep breath – though that was completely unnecessary – and ducked her head under the surface.

When she forced herself to open her eyes, space met her view. Framed in the gears of the Historia Crux, Sice looked upon the vast expanse of eternity and felt a clear tug on her right hand, toward a glowing planet at a distant point in the tunnel of space-time.

She expected a rising heat when she felt the need to test that communication thing. Queen?

The answer was a moment in coming and for a second Sice wondered if she missed the part where they explained how this whole thing worked. Just when she thought to worry, a clear and quiet echo returned, … Yes, Sice. Sorry, Nine's angled himself away from Spira and I'm trying to straighten him out. Wait, he switched roles with Eight?

Hell, if I know.

Joy. What was it you wanted to say?

Just that this system is damned convenient.

Why thank you. I'll make sure Mwynn receives your appreciation.

I'm sure she'll be happy to hear it, quipped King.