Author's Note: Am I posting this earlier than I intended? Yeah, probably. Does anyone really care? No, not really. Except maybe rar, because we're trying to get our universes to line up :P Honestly, I'm getting ahead so I don't fall behind later. My life has a habit of exploding.

But enough about me. Have some story!

Postern: Aerith, Age 26

For a bit there, the Heartless just kept appearing. Most of them were smaller Heartless, but they were still Heartless. Yuffie stopped trying to steal from them, when it became apparent that they had nothing to steal. She focused instead on trying to kill as many of them as possible with each throw.

King Mickey alternated between light attacks and using his Keyblade. Both methods were extremely effective. The Heartless tended to gravitate towards him anyway, because he had the Keyblade. But Aerith literally could laugh at the idea of them getting his heart. The King's heart was very strong. The Heartless would like that, but he was still stronger than them.

Quistis was a quiet fighter. She occasionally gave out useful information about the Heartless. Attacks and magic they may be particularly weak to. The biggest one was light. Which meant Aerith was casting a lot of Holy. Quistis, too, was casting a lot of Holy. Between the two of them, everyone had a good guard up.

Everyone was mostly all the way healed all the time. Between Aerith and Quistis, all of that was taken care of. The King was good at keeping himself healed. Aerith noted that he kept an eye on all of them as well. Aerith hardly had to worry about Yuffie not paying attention to when she needed health, partially because Yuffie was getting better about such things, and partially because, between the three others, she would be fine.

"Aerith, I can keep up the guards if you can keep up with the Holys," Quistis said at one point.

Aerith smiled. "Teamwork," she said.

Quistis nodded. "Learn how to handle a large portion of your magic while training alongside Rinoa? Yeah, that would do it."

Aerith laughed. "Well, you've got it."

"Anything you'd like me to do?" King Mickey asked.

Aerith found it a little ironic that the King was asking them what they wanted him to do. Sure, he could take charge if and when he wanted to (Aerith had seen it happen before), but more often than not, the King was perfectly willing to go along with what everyone else wanted, working to help others fight and better themselves, than show off his own skills. Aerith deeply admired that about him.

"You just keep doing what you're doing, Your Majesty," Quistis said. "It's working very well."

"Please," the King said. "Just call me Mickey."

Flush rose to Quistis' cheeks, and she nodded. But Aerith got a feeling that Quistis would continue to call King Mickey 'his majesty' in her head.

They had a brief moment where all of the Heartless were gone. Quistis sent up Curagas for all of them.

"Thank you," Aerith said.

"Gee, thanks!" King Mickey said.

Yuffie gave Quistis a thumb's up. Which Quistis knew to take as a sort of thanks. Quistis had been around Hollow Bastion for long enough.

"Should we follow them?" Yuffie asked.

Aerith shook her head. "We need to keep this area clear. They've got this. It's a fairly good balance of people."

Quistis nodded.

Yuffie sighed.

Then more Heartless appeared and the argument was dropped. As they fought this round, Aerith was suddenly struck with a very strong feeling of utmost dread. She blinked, what was going on? She searched her feelings and determined that nothing was wrong at the Great Maw. She had strong enough connections to all of the people there to determine that.

Which meant that Zack, Cloud, and Leon were all fine. And probably everyone else there.

The dread she had gotten was more like the dread she got when she knew someone needed healing. She looked around at the other three, but only King Mickey looked a little worried, and he wouldn't meet her gaze. She didn't think it was anything personal. He was probably trying to ignore the feeling as well. Aerith didn't doubt he felt it.

Aerith tried to convince herself that between all of the people there, they would be fine. Aqua was very skilled with magic. Sora, Kairi, and Riku always looked out for each other. Namine and Xion, too. Even Cid knew some magic in a pinch.

The feeling went away, which meant someone took care of it.

She didn't need to go.

She needed to stay here and do her part.

This wasn't like the last big battle (The Battle at Castle Oblivion) she had fought where she could move freely around the battlefield and it wouldn't matter about the enemies because Xehanort was just summoning more and more of them anyway.

Here, they needed to stay in strategic places to keep paths clear.

Finally, she convinced herself that everything was going to be okay. She went back to fighting the Heartless.

"Everyone get yourselves up off of the ground," Quistis said. "I'm going to try a spell."

Aerith immediately cast Float on herself. The King did likewise.

"I don't know Float!" Yuffie grumbled.

Aerith got Yuffie up. Before the Poolers, Aerith had never used that spell. However, since the advent of the Poolers and other Heartless like them, Aerith had gotten Rinoa and Quistis to help her refine that spell. It was immensely effective. It would also serve as protection against whatever Quistis was going to try and do.

Aerith didn't look down, it was disconcerting. It felt as if the ground was beneath her feet and she was able to move around with no impediments, but it looked so weird.

Quistis began the spell-casting and Aerith recognized what it was. Apocalypse. The sigils on the ground gave it away. No wonder Quistis wanted them all off the ground. Zack occasionally used the attack. He, too, was good about warning whoever he was with beforehand. Light poured outwards from the sigils. It pulled together and then slammed back down into the Heartless on the ground, killing all in a several yard radius.

"Thanks for the warning," King Mickey said.

"Of course," Quistis replied. "Not warning you would be rude."

They were able to get rid of that round of Heartless easily after that. However, they had less of a break between that round and the next round.

"How long do we have to keep this up?" Yuffie asked.

"Until they come back," Aerith said. "Even if the Heartless stop appearing, we stay here until the others come back."

Yuffie sighed, but Aerith ignored it. Rather, she focused on getting rid of the Poolers before they could become bothersome. Poolers could potentially be some of the most dangerous Heartless, with their propensity for dragging someone into the Realm of Darkness. It was their sole purpose. Aerith put priority on them when fighting multiple types.

"Do you think Sora will have to go into the computer again?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know," Aerith said. "It depends on how the program works."

Aerith honestly had no clue about that. She would not be surprised either way. There was a possibility it could all work without Sora needing to do any extra fighting in Space Paranoids, but there was also a possibility where he might need to fight in Space Paranoids to even get to the program. Aerith couldn't be sure.

Getting rid of that round of Heartless seemed easier than the last several rounds. Less Heartless appeared during the battle. Aerith had grown used to over the months where she would start to fight a small group of Heartless that only grew larger and larger as she fought it, like fighting a Hydra, until someone could get rid of all the remaining ones before they could call more friends. This round didn't appear to be calling for backup. The original Heartless that appeared were the ones causing trouble until they were gone.

And then they were gone.

King Mickey sent out the Curagas.

Then they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

No more Heartless appeared.

Aerith walked the distance of the Postern. Still no Heartless appeared.

"This is weird," Yuffie said.

"I agree," Aerith said.

She wrinkled up her nose as she felt a tug in the back of her mind. Something was amiss and she couldn't be sure if it were related to the Heartless or not. She didn't think it was. It felt different, more potent, more poisonous—if she had to put a word to it.

She looked at Yuffie. Yuffie was pacing the Postern just as Aerith was, shuriken still out, waiting for more Heartless. Quistis stood still, her whip poised to attack enemies that did not come.

This time, the King met her gaze. They exchanged worried glances. Something was up and they didn't know what.

But Aerith would bet that Sora was in the middle of it.

She tried to see if she could sense anything more about it, but she couldn't pick up anything outside of the massive levels of darkness that had been plaguing Hollow Bastion for months. Nothing felt any different besides that initial tug.

This, too, was slightly worrisome.

But there was nothing she could do just yet. She would just have to wait and see.

She was careful not to let Yuffie pick up on the idea that something may be wrong. She didn't want Yuffie to try and snoop around until Aerith was sure. And chances were, by the time Aerith was sure, there wouldn't be any need for snooping.

They began to relax as no more Heartless appeared. King Mickey even banished his Keyblade to discourage more from showing up. Aerith loosened her grip on her staff, Yuffie's shuriken rested lazily over her shoulder. It was eerily quiet.

"Do you suppose everywhere else has gone quiet, too?" Quistis asked.

Aerith shrugged. "I don't know."

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say they activated the DTP," King Mickey said.

"I think I may agree with you," Aerith said.

"So now we wait more?" Yuffie asked.

"Yes, now we wait more."

"Does activating the DTP mean we won't have any Heartless at all anymore?" Yuffie asked.

"I think it means we'll go back to normal levels," Aerith said.

"I don't know what normal levels are anymore," Yuffie said, blowing her bangs out of her face.

"Well, most Worlds have some small level of Heartless on them now, because of Xehanort's meddlin'. I don't think that's gonna change," the King said.

"Right," Yuffie said.

They waited some more. Then they heard footsteps.

Sora was the first one out of the castle, an angry scowl on his face. Kairi and Riku flanked him, their faces mixed with worry and anger. Xion, Axel, and Kuin were next. Then Ienzo with the two Vexen Replicas. Then Aqua and Namine with Cid.

The King caught her gaze again and gave a slight nod. Aerith was about to open her mouth to ask what all had happened, but Cid beat her to it.

"We'll explain later," he called. "In short, the program's been activated. Bu' there's other news that everyone needs teh hear, not just you guys."

Aerith nodded. So something was amiss.

"It's quiet," Xion said.

"The program seems to be working," the King said.

"It is working," Ienzo said. "The Heartless that the DCP was putting out will dwindle. It should all go back to normal."

"See?" Aerith said. "Just as I was saying. Let's regroup with the others. It sounds like we need to discuss some things. Perhaps lunch is in order, as well?"

"I'm starving," Namine said quietly.

Aerith watched her and Riku exchange glances and wondered what had happened.

"We're going to need to do something about that corridor," Pi mused. "It's not safe for most people to travel through."

"Once the darkness dissipates, it will help," Namine said. "But unfortunately, I think I'm the one who's going to have to deal with the memories floating around."

"Perhaps I could create a Program," 34 said. "Surely you have better things to do than to unstring leftover memories, Miss Namine."

Namine snorted. "You have no idea."

Aerith cocked her head to one side, confused.

"There's a hallway in there tha's full of memories," Cid said quietly. "Leftover from Xehanort's Replica Program. I dunno the specifics, but it's not a pretty sight for anyone susceptible to tha' sorta thin'."

"Mmm," Aerith replied.

"Let's work our way back to the Borough," Riku said. "I'm liking this idea of food."

"The sooner we get there, the better," Aerith said. "I wasn't sure how long this would take, so nothing is prepped."

"Jus' so lon' as Merlin don' try an' help, it'll be fine," Cid grumbled.

As much as Aerith wished Cid and Merlin wouldn't be so hard on each other, Aerith could agree with that one.