Author's Note: Well, I hope everyone's enjoying everything so far. Drop a review if you're interested and stuff!
Mysterious Tower, Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion, Disney Castle
"You okay?" Mickey asked, looking at the three.
"I'm all right, just a little shaken."
Aqua's voice sounded shaken.
"I just can't believe he's back," she continued quietly.
"Sadly, it doesn't surprise me," Terra said, equally as quiet. "This is Xehanort we're talking about."
"We'll get him this time, though," Ven said. "Right?"
"Yes," Aqua said. "We will."
They all looked at Mickey. He nodded.
"His time is running out."
xx
"I will kill him," Zack said, his face completely serious.
"Zack," Aerith said, shaking her head. "It's not that simple."
"It is from where I stand. He's a danger to this World, and all the other Worlds. I will kill him."
"He's just going to keep coming back as long as he's harbored in someone's heart."
"Then I'll help. Sora said that's what he was doing, getting rid of the Xehanort part of people's hearts. You don't get it, I'm helping."
Aerith sighed and smiled, both gratefully and still a bit worriedly.
xx
"You told me he was dead!" Kuin hissed.
"If you haven't noticed, we all thought that he was dead," Axel retorted. "He fooled the damn King! But that doesn't change the fact that he's coming back."
"Did you see him?" Kuin asked, frowning.
"No, I wasn't in the room," Axel said nonchalantly. "But I trust Sora, Kairi, and Xion."
Kuin grimaced. "I'm going to have to kill him."
Axel snorted and folded his hands across his chest. "Join the club."
Kuin looked him in the eye, her face serious. "No," she said, her voice practically a growl. "I will have to kill him. I can't trust you all to do it, so I'll do it myself."
Axel gave her a serious face of his own. "Get in line!" he said. "You're not the only one who wants him dead."
Now it was Kuin's turn to snort. "That sort of seriousness doesn't suit you."
Axel glared. "Oh, well then you don't know me. You're not doing this alone, so don't think I'm joking. You can join me, and all of my friends, though. For we are all going after him, whether you like it or not. He's pissed a lot of people off by coming back. Or you can go off on your own and try and off him, but the minute you start getting in our way in your quest to be the one to off him, I will not hesitate to clear you out of the way."
"Are you threatening me?" Kuin asked, shocked.
"Maybe," Axel said, his eyes narrowing. "We work as a team now. And I'm not going to mess that up."
"I'm not part of your team."
"I never said you were."
Kuin frowned one last time and left. Axel was perfectly fine with that.
xx
"Can I help out more this time?" Yuffie asked, looking at Cloud.
"Probably," Cloud answered with a shrug. "I don't see why not."
"Yes!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"Last time there were extenuating circumstances involving Terra," Tifa said, joining them in the kitchen. "But I think this time, all of us are going to help get rid of him."
"Oh boy, I can't wait until that stinky-face is gone for good!"
"I feel like I should tell her not to be rude," Cloud mused.
Tifa shrugged. "It's a thing. Have you heard Riku? Apparently, he really does smell."
"Like darkness!" Yuffie said.
Cloud's nose twitched.
Tifa laughed.
xx
"I think I could take him," Rinoa mused, sending her blaster edge out at a Heartless farther away.
"Rinoa," Leon said, stabbing a different Heartless. "He keeps coming back."
"Yeah," Cid said. "An' younger and younger every time!"
Rinoa snorted. "I've fought three different Sorceresses, through time, even! This'll be nothing."
Leon sighed. "Rinoa, Xehanort's been causing problems for probably his entire life. And he's older than he looks!"
Rinoa shrugged. "Okay, so maybe I can't take him on my own. But I'll help."
"Tha's all we need!" Cid said.
"In other news, I think I'll be taking a trip back to the castle in the near future," Leon mused.
"Why?" Rinoa asked.
"Well, don't you think it'd be a good idea if we got rid of the machine that creates Heartless? We've got enough things to deal with when they're all purebloods."
"I like this idea," Cid said.
"Mmm, me too! We going to do that now, or later?"
"Maybe not this afternoon, give the DTP longer to run its course," Leon said. "Tomorrow, though."
"Count me in!" Rinoa said.
xx
"It could be me!" Sora said with a groan. "What if it's my fault?"
"Sora, it's not you," Riku assured him. "Trust me. Has Xehanort even tried to go for your heart?"
"Not that I can remember… but… I mean… I was asleep for…"
"Sora," Riku interrupted. "I was half in charge of that, no. Honestly, if anyone has to worry about harboring Xehanort in their hearts, it's me."
"Riku, what will you do if it is you?" Kairi asked.
"I'll figure it out," Riku said with a shrug. Then he looked between Sora and Kairi. "We'll figure it out."
xx
"What are they talking about over there?" Xion asked, looking at Sora, Kairi, and Riku.
Namine looked up from her sketchbook and followed Xion's gaze. She cocked her head to one side, listening. "Oh, Sora's convinced it's his fault that Xehanort's returning."
"No way!" Roxas scoffed. "Seriously?"
Namine chuckled. "Right? It's not him."
"But what about Riku?" Xion asked.
Namine was quiet.
"Sorry," Xion said. "That was tactless."
No one said anything for a moment.
"You know," Xion continued. "If I wasn't so certain that it was you that built me, I'd be a bit worried about myself being the cause."
"No, I saw every bit of your memories, you're good," Namine said.
"What about the Vexen Replicas?"
Namine snorted. "Yeah right. They're good. They're all too scared of Xehanort for any one of them to be a problem. We could run into any Vexen Replica on any World and they'd probably be on our side purely because they're not on Xehanort's."
She looked down at the picture and noted that it was of Kuin and Axel arguing.
"Oh, that should be interesting," she mused.
xx
Quistis walked up to Zack and Aerith, hoping she wasn't interrupting anything. Seeing as the two of them acknowledged her, she figured she wasn't.
She swallowed. "Zell and I will stick around for a bit more," she began. "But then we'll probably head back to our own World. While Xehanort does not have clear ties there, we have had a history with the darkness. And Rinoa will inevitably start worrying about that, and I'm trying to keep her with Squall. So Zell and I will go."
Aerith nodded, smiling because she understood. "Go! Do what you need to do!"
"We'll stay another week then, ish? To ensure that everything with the DTP is going as planned."
"Sounds good to me. I think Cloud wants to leave this afternoon, but I know between Tifa and I, we can convince him to stay through the night at least."
"Yeah," Zack added, snorting. "If he's going to go after Sephiroth, he could use any good bed he can get along the way. Maybe I'll make sure he ends up in Nibelheim or Gongaga…"
xx
"Tomorrow, a group of people should go and help destroy the Heartless creation machine in the castle," Leon said, announcing it to the house.
"Do you need help with that?" Sora asked, perking up. "Because I can help with that."
Roxas batted him on the arm. "We've gotta go to The World That Never Was!" he hissed.
Sora shrugged.
"I'll help," Zack said. He nudged Cloud in the ribs. "If you stay 'till morning, you can help, too!"
Cloud grunted.
"I'll help!" Zell said.
"Send Merlin, he'll mess the whole system up without even tryin'!" Cid said. "Wait, tha' coul' backfire, nevermin'."
"I don't know whether to be offended or flattered!" Merlin scoffed.
"Well, between me, Zack, Zell, Rinoa, and Cid…" Leon began.
"And me!" Yuffie said.
"I'll help," Cloud said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah," Leon said. "We'll be good."
xx
Cloud pulled Zack aside.
"I need you to stay here and not come after me," he said.
Zack frowned. "If you're trying to go this alone…" he began.
Cloud shook his head. "Tifa and I are going. We'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'm actually going to make a stop in Nibelheim to say hello to my mother, so unless he intercepts that, I'm not even going to look for him in a while. It's just been a couple weeks and I'm getting itchy."
"You've been around here for two and a half months," Zack said with a shrug. "I get it. I'm getting antsy, too."
"Yeah, but that's the thing," Cloud hissed. "Don't leave! Or if you leave, take Aerith with you on an adventure. Don't leave her!"
"Why?" Zack asked, frowning. "Is something bad going to happen?"
Cloud shrugged. "How should I know? What I do know, is that we're not teenagers anymore, and with Xehanort around again, there's no telling what's going to happen. You love Aerith, right?"
"Yeah," Zack said, with a snort. "Of course."
"Then stick with her."
"You're one to talk," Zack scoffed.
"I'm taking Tifa with me, aren't I?" Cloud asked.
"You make a fair point."
"Aerith wants you around, she's just too nice to say it."
"I like being around her, too, so it works," Zack replied, grinning. "There's certainly enough work here to keep me busy, but I am wanting to go off-World for a bit…"
Cloud frowned.
"I'll take Aerith with me!" Zack said, holding his hands up in defense. "My mom loves it when we come for dinner anyway."
Cloud nodded, satisfied.
xx
"That was rather rude of you," 27 told 42 as they entered Castle Oblivion again. "What you said about Axel."
"Forgive me for being suspicious of him," 42 sneered. "He did kill Master Vexen."
"Perhaps I have just learned to be more trusting," 27 mused.
"The accusation of Ienzo was not much better," 34 said quietly.
"Tch!" 42 scoffed. He attempted to say several things, but nothing came out at all. 42 stormed off to a different part of the castle.
"We should check the security tapes," 27 said, shrugging.
"Yes," 34 agreed.
xx
Donald and Goofy walked up to the Castle. Nothing was amiss.
"Do you think Miss Namine was right about Hades comin' and attackin'?" Goofy asked.
Donald shrugged. "How should I know? The King just wants us here to make sure everyone's safe."
Goofy nodded emphatically. "Well, that's our job."
"Yup!" Donald agreed.
