Keaton shook them all awake while the juniors were still sleeping. The five of them dressed in silence and were taken to a group of camels in a stable next to their house. After saddling the camels with enough provisions to last them a week, they were led to the base of the wall surrounding Agrabah. Its shadow stretched past the first several blocks of houses, and with the looming structure behind him, Keaton seemed more imposing than ever.

"Yesterday we got word that a Possessor wiped out the small town Dharan. Your mission is to take the necessary actions to contain and destroy this Heartless." Keaton said. "Any questions?"

None of them replied. Keaton inclined his head and said, "Then good luck. Today the doors will open for you. You may set out when you're ready." He turned a corner and left them alone.

The five apprentices glanced at each other, and it was as if Leela had forgotten her training. Though Keaton had assigned them to find and destroy Heartless before, it had been on a smaller scale. This Possessor could be anywhere on Agrabah. Then Jean got off his camel and sat on the ground and everyone else followed. He pulled out a map from his pack and laid it on the ground. "We should start looking at nearby ruins. It'll hide among things it can possess."

"We should start with the Sohar Cluster." Kayla pointed at a spot northeast of Agrabah. "It's only two days ride from here, and the cluster would give lots of potential hiding spots."

"Why not Nizwa?" Ayuto pointed directly north of Agrabah. "It's the closest ruins to Dharan, and it would only take us a day to get there."

"A Possessor that could wipe out a town could have gone anywhere in the area." Kayla replied. "Nizwa was also destroyed almost twenty years ago, there might not be much left to Possess."

"It's a place to start, isn't it?"

"Sorry, but I'm with Kayla on this." Cindy said. "If the Possessor isn't in the Sohar Cluster, we'll loop back around to Nizwa, going through the old outposts."

Ayuto thought about this before nodding. "On to the Sohar Cluster, then?"

All of them nodded. They repacked their bags and mounted their camels. The five of them summoned their Keyblades, all of which took the forms of different weapons. Leela held a curved sword that resembled a large kukri, with a curved blade that thickened at the end. From the tip of the blade, a ray of light shone out and hit the wall. The five of them held their Keyblades aloft until the wall glowed for a second, and when the light died down, a doorway six metres tall and wide enough for entire caravans to fit through had appeared in its place. There were small slits in the walls through which Leela saw guards with their weapons ready as they rode through.

The door shut behind them. All five of them shaded their eyes from the sun, but even the sand reflected the sunlight and dug at their eyes. Jean said, "It's still a few hours until midday. We'll ride for a few hours, rest until late afternoon, then keep on going."

For the first hour Leela's heart was pounding from the prospect of a Heartless attack. Cindy shared this anxiety, and was constantly craning her neck to look behind them. Kayla dropped back and whispered to them. "Don't worry so much, you'll tire yourself out."

"I just don't want to be taken by surprise." Cindy said.

"How many Heartless do you know are stealthy?" Kayla asked. When Cindy just shrugged, Kayla continued, "And you know just as well as I do that Heartless either wander around looking for Hearts, or stay in the area where they lost them. That means the most dangerous thing out here is dehydration and exhaustion."

"I know." Cindy said. "I'm fine, I'll deal with it."

Kayla glanced at Leela, but Cindy said, "And you don't have to act like Leela's my babysitter. I can take care of myself."

"We know." Leela said. She leaned over and squeezed Cindy's shoulder. "Just tell us if you need anything, okay?"

Cindy nodded and they continued riding. The sun rose in the sky and the air grew hotter, until just breathing made Leela's throat and nose ache. She made sure to take occasional sips from her flask, but kept the drinking to a minimum. She didn't know when they would be able to refill. When she next looked up, her team were all slumping in their saddles, and Jean looked like he was about to fall off his camel. The hottest part of the day was also approaching them.

"Jean." She rode up to him and tugged on his shoulder. "We should stop."

Jean turned around. His cheeks were flushed and it took a second longer for his eyes to focus on Leela. She grabbed his shoulders and repeated herself.

He shook his head and murmured something unintelligible.

Leela trotted over to Kayla and said, "I think we should stop."

"Are you sure?" Kayla rasped. "It's only been a couple hours."

"Just look at us."

Kayla slowly looked around and nodded. "Should have been paying more attention. Jean?"

"Didn't want to stop."

Kayla groaned. "Hasn't been drinking." She pointed at a sand dune a few hundred metres away. "We'll pull the camels up there. We've been forgetting to water them as well."

Leela wanted to kick herself, but told herself that worrying about past mistakes wasn't going to do them any good. The five of them straggled into the partial shade of the sand dune. Jean dismounted, almost tripping over himself. To his credit, he still knew better than to sit in the sand, which was so hot Leela was sure they would get blisters if they were exposed.

"Let's get this set up." Cindy handed a corner of their tarp to Leela. Behind her, Ayuto was unfurling the groundsheet of one of their tents for them to sit on. They only set up a basic structure, just adequate enough to protect them from the sun, but it seemed to take hours. When they were done, Leela watered the camels and joined the rest of the apprentices, huddled together in the shade.

"I was being stupid." Jean said after a long silence. "It won't happen again."

"We all were." Kayla said. "This mistake is on us as a team." She nudged Ayuto and thrust her flask of water in his face. "Have you drank?"

Ayuto took the flask and nodded gratefully before passing it back. Leela rested her head on his shoulder and gazed back at Agrabah. The city almost seemed like a miniature drawing on the horizon. He chuckled and said, "We haven't even gone that far and we're already in this state."

"Drink more." Cindy said. "There's an oasis several hours from here, so we don't need to worry too much about conserving water."

"And we've gone farther than it looks." Leela added. "Distances can trick you in the desert."

"We've probably travelled forty kilometres." Jean's voice wasn't as slurred and he shifted behind Leela. "Things look closer than they are in the desert."

"Do we have an extra tarp?" Kayla asked. "I'm going to keep watch. Any Heartless could sneak up from behind this dune."

"There's another in my pack." Leela said.

She started to crawl out of their small tent to retrieve it, but Kayla stopped her. "Just one of us needs to keep watch. You guys rest."

Leela tried to protest but Kayla shut her down with a look. "I've got it. Don't worry."

The afternoon passed without incident. After a few hours Leela relieved Kayla on watch duty. A few hours after that, everyone else woke, made sure their camels were in good shape, and set off. They ate a quick dinner as they rode and the sun set. Leela savored the bundle of rice and meat that had been wrapped in thick leaves, though she needed to drink extra water to wash it down. Jean and Cindy rode ahead, glancing between the map and the stars to navigate. Around midnight, they paused to crunch a handful of coffee beans. Leela screwed her face up in disgust, but she soon felt the effects, and stayed alert through the whole night.

There was only once where a swarm of Red Nocturnes were spotted in the distance, and the five of them passed unnoticed. The sun rose half an hour after that, and they all shed the woolen cloaks they had worn to protect them from the cold night. Soon after, they slept for a several hours in the shade of several granite rocks (Jean and Cindy took watch this time), and continued riding in the evening.

"Well, this isn't creepy at all." Ayuto muttered. The moon was waning but still cast enough light on the ruins of the abandoned town in front of them to see. "Do we know what this town's called?"

"The map doesn't say." Jean said. "This group has just been called the Sohar Cluster since they pooled their resources together."

Kayla started to walk forwards, but Jean placed his hand on her shoulder. "Let's think about this first."

"What's there to think about?" Kayla asked. "We look for the Possessor, and if it's not here, we move on."

"This thing wiped out Dharan by itself." Jean said. "It didn't do it just by possessing a door or a fountain."

"You're thinking it could be mobile." Cindy said. "We also don't know how much of these ruins are underground. "

"So what's the plan?" Leela asked.

Cindy thought for a moment, then said. "We do need to draw it out, but we can't risk it taking out all of us in the first strike." She paused before saying, "We need bait."

"Too bad none of the juniors are here." Jean smirked.

"Not the time." Kayla punched him in the shoulder before turning to Cindy. "I should go, I'm more durable than any of you."

"Durability doesn't mean much if you're being crushed by three hundred kilograms of stone." Ayuto said. "It should be me and Cindy. We're the most agile."

Cindy nodded. "Then Jean, Kayla and Leela will be on standby on the outskirts."

"Wait." Jean frowned at the sand before saying, "I think Leela should go."

"What?" Both Ayuto and Cindy chorused.

Jean interrupted the both of them and said, "We all know Heartless are more attracted to her than the rest of us. I'd like Cindy and Leela to go."

"I'm not sure why that's a good thing." Ayuto said. "The Heartless will just be more aggressive."

He turned to Cindy for support, but Cindy was slowly nodding. "Better we draw it out quickly."

"We'll also need you to kill the Possessor once it's been banished from its body." Kayla said. "If it flies away, it's more travelling looking for the lightdamned thing."

"Get Jean to do it, his Keyblade's a bow and arrow." Ayuto jabbed his finger at Jean.

"Technically it's just a bow." Jean said. "And I'll do my best to hurt it, but with your air magic and maneuverability in the air, your daggers will do more damage."

"Don't let your emotions get in the way of your judgement." Kayla said.

"Don't start lecturing me." Ayuto started to raise his voice. He stepped forward, but Leela came in between them. "I'm doing it. It's not your job to protect me from Heartless." Ayuto wavered and she added, "We've talked about this before, remember?"

Ayuto bit his lip before nodding.

Jean made the sound of a whip cracking, which earned him death glares from the four other apprentices. He flinched and quickly continued. "We'll send Leela and Cindy in first. Ayuto and Kayla will be following twenty metres behind them or so, staying on high ground when possible. There's a watchtower on the other end of the town, and that's where I'll start off. If I see any disturbances, I'll let you know."

"And if it isn't there?" Ayuto asked.

"Then we move on to the next town." Kayla said. "Are we ready? We're wasting time."

They all nodded. Jean ran ahead to the watchtower and would send a signal when he was in position. Leela looked to Cindy, who looked much calmer than Leela felt. She summoned her Keyblade with a flash of light, and a spear dropped into her hands. The shaft glowed in the dark, and Cindy performed a basic move set to prepare herself. Her arms were steady, and Leela would never have guessed that she was nervous.

Leela summoned her own Keyblade and swung it around in a familiar figure of eight motion that took advantage of the momentum she could build. The spine of the blade was thicker at the end, and she could carve her way through several Heartless with the extra weight at the end.

"You feeling okay?" Cindy put a hand on Leela's shoulder. "Sorry we pressured you into being bait."

"I'll be fine." Leela said. "Besides, sacrifice is needed to destroy the darkness and all that."

"I know, I know." Cindy said. "You don't need to repeat Keaton's lectures to me."

An arrow laced with fire shot into the night sky and briefly illuminated the dilapidated town. The four of them glanced at each other before moving in. Leela and Cindy stalked ahead, knocking down doors and peering into the ruined houses. It felt unnatural. Most of the buildings were intact, but with no sign of life. No sounds of children yelling underfoot, or adults gossping as they walked down the streets. It almost felt like Leela was in a dream.

"For a town destroyed by Heartless five years ago, everything looks well-maintained." Leela said. The sound of her voice didn't comfort her.

"Heartless take hearts, not houses." Cindy said. She raised her spear up as they emerged into a small square with a dry fountain. The murals on walls that were now eroded glared at them. "And don't talk, we might miss the Possessor."

They continued creeping through the town. Sometimes Leela heard a louder scraping noise, or a soft thump, but when she turned around it was only Ayuto or Kayla behind them. After gradually circling through the town, the four of them made their way to the town center. A larger fountain dominated the center, with a wide base to collect water. It was dry now, but before it would be used to wash clothes and food.

Something scuttled behind the rotten hardwood of a broken stall. Cindy leveled her Keyblade in the direction of the sound, and the two of them slowly approached. Their only warning was a glimpse of yellow eyes that glowed in the night. Then a group of Bandit Heartless burst out of the ruins. Turbans covered their faces, and they carried a shamshir in each of their hands. They chittered amongst themselves, then charged towards Leela and Cindy.

It was almost with relief that Leela charged her Keyblade with lightning and cast Thundara on the incoming Heartless. The leading two Heartless stumbled and Leela sprang forwards. She sank the curved end of her Keyblade into a Bandit, kicked it away, then jumped back to avoid the others. Most of the group charged towards Leela, but before they had gotten within reach, Ayuto and Kayla fell from the sky.

Kayla smashed one to dust instantly with her gauntlets. She crashed to the ground and leapt at another Heartless, ducking under its first swipe and delivering an uppercut that sent it flying away. Ayuto stuck his two daggers up to the hilt in a Bandit's head, then cast Fira at its chest. The Heartless stumbled about and reeked of burning cloth and the bitter stench of darkness. Ayuto moved on. He summoned his Keyblade back into this hands and darted around another Heartless, who was using its longer reach to keep Ayuto away.

Leela and Cindy danced around the group of Heartless that were targeting Leela. She kept them away with Thundara and Fira spells that sent smoke wafting into the sky. Cindy then stabbed and slashed at them where their swords couldn't reach. Only one Heartless was able to duck within the reach of Cindy's spearhead, but Leela deflected its blade and smashed at it with the pommel of her Keyblade. It stumbled back just in time for Cindy to skewer its neck.

The fight only lasted a minute. By the end, all four of them were breathing heavily, but victorious. The usual stench of darkness filled the air, and Leela said, "Let's get out of here."

"If the Possessor was here, it would have come for us." Cindy agreed. "It stinks."

"Hold on." Ayuto sat on the ground and took off his shirt, revealing a gash along his chest. He held the tip of his Keyblade to the wound, and it glowed a green light. The wound slowly closed, and he tried swinging his arm. "Good to go."

"That's a messy heal." Cindy poked at his shoulder as they walked back to their camels. "You need to practice."

"Then next time you do it." Ayuto said.

"Healing you is not my job."

"Great job, everyone." Jean walked out of an adjoining street to join them. "Could have done a little better of not walking into swords," He smirked at Ayuto. "But everything else was great."

"Thanks for the help." Ayuto said.

"You guys were doing fine." Jean said. "Besides, I wouldn't want to accidentally shoot anyone." He raised an eyebrow at Kayla. "They might not speak to me for a whole month."

"You were ten metres away that time."

The two of them continued bickering until they reached their camels. The five of them took the chance to drink before riding to the next town. They arrived within half an hour, unsaddled, and took the same positions as before. The watchtower in this town looked more damaged, but Jean assured them he could climb it.

This time the arrow he sent was tinged with lightning that crackled as it soared into the sky.

"Show off." Kayla muttered.

Leela felt even more nervous, creeping through the second town. The streets were filled with sand and small bits of gravel that years of sandstorms had eroded away. No matter how Leela tried, the ground crunched with each step she took. Cindy was almost silent. Her feet almost glided over the ground. Every time they passed an alley, or an open door, Leela stared into the shadows, searching for any sign of a Heartless.

A door fell off its hinges. Leela had just turned around when an entire block of houses flew at them, like a wave of rock and wood. Leela dashed away and slid into an alley as the ruins behind her exploded. Sand blew into her eyes and mouth. She spat and whirled around. The Possessor was shaped like a six legged dog that towered over the houses. It trampled towards Leela, churning up even more ruin in its wake.

Trapped in an alley, Leela sprinted away. She couldn't hide in the houses, the Heartless would just crush her. Couldn't climb, it was right on top of her. It kicked at her with a leg that was like a column of stone tearing through the street. Leela turned and braced herself. Her arms and Keyblade surged with light, and she swung back. The impact sent a shock through her arms, and she flew back and crashed into a house at the end of the street. Her back and shoulder screamed in pain, but she cast a Cure spell that numbed the pain.

She sprang to her feet and used the space the Heartless had given her to scramble up the house she had crashed into. Meanwhile, Cindy's spearhead shone and was like a hornet darting about the Heartless. She jumped on its back, swiped at its skin, then rolled off onto an adjacent roof after being shaken off.

The Possessor's skin rippled, then sent stone spikes hurtling at Cindy. She jumped to another roof, then leapt over to Leela. She pointed her Keyblade in Leela's direction, and an amber glow settled around their skin.

"Thanks, I needed that." Leela said. The Haste spell Cindy cast took effect, and the Possessor seemed to slow as it turned towards them.

The Possessor charged. Cindy and Leela dashed towards it, sliding in between its legs and slashing at its underbelly. Chips of sandstone peppered Leela's face, but she kept her eyes open, then rolled away from a boulder that flew towards them.

She found herself up against a wall and prepared to swing at the Possessor as it swung its leg again. Instead, its leg buckled and its entire body dipped. Ayuto and Kayla had crashed on top of the beast. Leela supposed she was lucky the beast hadn't fallen and crushed her. Then Cindy was there, tugging Leela away from the fight.

"Jean wants us to lead it to the town center." Cindy yelled. She ducked inside a house that was still standing and ran up the stairs. "We don't have enough room to fight on the streets."

They emerged onto the roof just in time to nearly get blown off the roof by an explosion. Leela swore as Jean released another shower of bright red arrows at the Heartless that ripped off its stone skin with each explosion. "I am going to have a long talk with Jean after this." Leela yelled.

"In his defense it's pretty dark." Cindy said.

"It's bigger than the Land of Departure, how could he miss?" The ringing in Leela's head subsided and she stopped seeing double images.

She struggled to her feet and started leaping across the roofs to the town center. Jean was perched on what used to be the mayor's house, and he readied another wave of arrows.

"Now you're exaggerating." Cindy said. "And as long as we're criticizing fighting styles, how about your decision to swing at three hundred kilograms of stone."

"I needed space." Leela protested. "It was hard with all the rubble around me."

"You could have run behind the Heartless." Cindy said. "It can't turn around that quickly."

Leela realized Cindy had a point, but didn't have enough spare breath to retort. The two of them ran the rest of the way in silence. Ayuto and Kayla were already waiting for them as they slid to a halt.

"We've got ten seconds." Cindy panted. "Plan?"

"I shoot, you follow through." Jean raised his bow, pulled the bowstring, and concentrated as much power as he could into one arrow. It crackled with energy, and Leela hoped his shot wouldn't go wild. "Leela and Kayla, go in after that. Ayuto, get ready to pursue."

The Possessor crashed through the streets and barreled towards them. As it closed in, Jean let his arrow loose. It hit the Possessor in the forehead with a sound like a thunderclap. It roared in pain and chunks of rock flew in every direction. Cindy sprang forwards and sunk her spear almost halfway into the fleshy darkness that oozed beneath the shell of rock. Kayla dashed towards its front legs, while Leela leapt onto its forehead and hacked at the weak spot Cindy and Jean had generated.

Cindy landed next to her and was about to stab its weak point again when the world slowed. Leela's limbs suddenly felt sluggish, like she was wearing a backpack. Both she and Cindy stumbled and the Possessor shook them off. It was only when Leela crashed to the ground that she realized Cindy's Haste spell had worn off.

The Heartless turned towards them. Through foggy vision and a pounding headache, Leela picked herself up and saw Kayla stand between them and the Heartless. Jean fired arrows at it, chipping off bits of stone, but the Possessor ignored him.

Before it moved towards them, Ayuto plunged from the sky and sank his Keyblade into the Heartless. It roared in pain and its head fell forwards. Ayuto tried to extricate himself but was too late, and the entire Heartless collapsed on him. Leela yelled as he was buried under almost a ton of rock.

But the Possessor was now flying away. Cindy threw her spear at it, but it fell short. Jean shot three arrows and all of them struck, but they were too weak. It merely wobbled in the air and flew away.

Leela rushed to the pile of rocks and started digging. A burst of wind blew her and most of the rocks back. Ayuto stumbled out of the wreckage and walked over to the team. Leela said, "Thank light you're okay," at the same time Kayla said, "You idiot."

Ayuto paused and said. "Can we do this later?"

"No, this is a perfect time." Kayla screwed up her face. "I'm glad you're alive. I am. But we've failed because of you."

"Hey, that's enough." Leela made his way between them, but Ayuto shoved past her. "If it wasn't for me, that thing would have crushed you."

"You didn't know that." Kayla said. "You should have let us deal with it."

"I'm not going to stand by while something like that charges you."

"We're all alive." Leela said.

"Not exactly an accomplishment." Jean muttered.

"I could have handled it." Kayla said.

"Didn't look like it." Ayuto said.

"I thought you'd worry about you, and let me worry about myself." Kayla tried to shove past Leela.

"Shut up!" Leela pushed the two of them apart. Her body was trembling from the strain, but she yelled, "What happened happened, let's just get to our camels and run after it."

"I'm just making sure this doesn't happen again." Kayla said.

"Then don't try and take on a giant piece of rock with your bare hands." Ayuto said.

"Stop." Leela said. "Just, stop. We made mistakes. I made mistakes, and I'm sorry. But can we just please move on?" Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, and they infuriated her.

"But we've failed." Kayla said.

"Not quite." Jean said. "Our mission was to kill the thing. Master didn't give us a time limit."

"And that Possessor can't have travelled far." Cindy said. "We hurt it badly, it's got to be in one of the towns in the Sohar Cluster."

"It went north." Jean said. "That's the direction of the nearest town."

Kayla nodded. "Fine. But this isn't over."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure Master will tell me everything I did wrong." Ayuto said. The five of them started to walk back to the camels. Ayuto and Kayla walked on opposite sides of the road.

The sky had turned a dark blue by the time they straggled back to the outskirts of the town. But their camels were gone.

The five of them stared at empty space before Kayla asked, "What happened?"

Leela could sense a sarcastic retort coming from Ayuto, so she stepped on his foot and said. "Maybe we forgot to tie them down and the fight scared them away."

Kayla let out a choked yell and paced the area. Leela looked to Jean. He silently stood there for several seconds. He walked towards the nearest house, then punched it as hard as he could. The others were transfixed as he took another breath and punched it again. This time he yelled.

Leela glanced at the others who just shrugged nervously. Jean seethed for a moment before Kayla walked up to him. "Did that make you feel better?" She asked.

"No."

"Broken hand?"

"Yes." Jean held it out. "I spent all my magic fighting the thing. Does anyone have any to spare?"

Kayla ran her gauntlet over the hand, and the swollen knuckles fit back into place. They were still stiff, but Jean would be fine. "So now what?"

"We can't even make our way back to Agrabah." Cindy said. "Do we wait for Master to find us?"

"No." Ayuto said. "We can still do this."

Kayla whirled around but Ayuto talked over her. "Just hear me out. The next village is only," He turned to Cindy, who said, "Five kilometres."

"Five kilometres away." Ayuto said. He smiled and said. "Good thing one of us studied up."

Cindy smiled back and said, "You're thinking we rest up and walk there?"

"We don't have any food or water, and we're completely depleted." Jean said.

"We could rest here." Leela said. "This village was only abandoned five years ago. Trade routes with Traverse Town must have reached here," Cindy nodded in confirmation, "So there should be non-perishable foods."

"And we can get water from the town well." Kayla nodded. "So we scavenge in the morning, rest until night, then walk to the next village."

"And if the Possessor isn't there?" Jean asked.

"Then we pick up supplies and walk to the next one." Ayuto said. "Better than waiting here and giving up."

"We'll be weaker." Jean said. "More tired from the walking and the last fight."

"Then we'll be even with the Possessor." Ayuto said. "Cindy said it herself, we hurt it badly."

"Fine." Jean nodded, more to himself, then said, "Sounds like a plan."

Hope you guys enjoyed reading! As usual, first impressions/feedback are always welcome. Thanks!