Happy Beam is a real TWEWY pin. It's a Natural Puppy brand pin with 15 strikes before a refill. It's also really cute looking and was one of my early game mainstays in my TWEWY run. The pin Vanitas broke is the Unbranded starter pin Pyrokinesis (yes, it's just called Pyrokinesis). No fancy names or image. It's just a red flame symbol. If this means nothing to you, Brands will make sense later. I'm not going to introduce the fashion mechanic of TWEWY until it becomes important to this plot… because it does.

For those wondering about the almost month long hiatus between 4 and 5, I was sitting down with a flow chart trying to match up all my timing and lore and who does what where and when. The story's not totally written out in advance, per se, but I have all the plot beats set more or less in stone. I got myself into this mess by making it a multi chaptered fic with over 50 characters, and I will dig myself out of that or die trying.

Also, since I don't think I've mentioned this before, I am legally blind. I'm sure this thing has typos up the wazoo (I did spot a Metropolis instead of Monstropolis I need to fix), and I could really, really use a beta reader/editor. If anyone wants to help I am all ears.

I will also be speaking at PAX East next week. I'm a roboticist by day and I teach cosplay electronics. So if you're there, look for a Lea/Roxas/Kirumi (from Danganronpa) cosplayer with a blind cane, and my panel is Saturday at noon in Arachnid Theater. That also means a hiatus next week. You might get one more chapter before I go, and I'll be typing on the flights to get you all another when I get back.


"Just so you know, Sora."

"Hm?" Sora asked, perking up as a pair of nervous souls slowly approached them for their first actual barrier fight.

"Tomo and I just sat and listened. He's got his own issues to work through, but fighting isn't one of them, so when we heard Vanitas yelling at you, I shushed him and we just waited."

"You… heard the whole thing." It wasn't a question.

Riku gave a gentle nod. "But it's strange. Vanitas was never that… angry. Not that I can say I knew him well, but…"

"I don't think he was angry, Riku. I held that Unversed he spawned. You know how cats puff up and hiss when they're cornered? He's acting like that because he's scared."

Riku snorted and patted the top of Sora's hood. "You know people's hearts better than anyone. If you think he's scared, I wouldn't doubt it."

"I mean…" Sora said, downcast, noting the pair were now likely in eavesdropping range. "We'll talk after."

"You two!" Riku gruffed at the freshly dead, a young man and woman in summer clothes, who held each other's hands, looking terrified at the Reapers. "You gonna just stand there with your mouths open or are you gonna fight us?"

The man looked meekly down at his shoes but the woman sneered at Riku. "You fuckers are going down. I'm ripping my life back from you."

Sora gulped. The man might not be that strong by Underground machinations, but thanks to that woman's motivation, strikes from her were going to hurt something fierce.

Being a tutorial boss was going to suck.


Lea wiped the humid sweat off his brow, as he knelt along the molding of the twin's room with Ford's paste and a bag of unicorn hair. Unicorn hair, which, as Grenda had said, really wascovered in their blood. How the girls fought and obtained an entire tail's worth was beyond him. He'd only seen one once, about a year into being in the Organization, and that hellbeast had kicked him hard enough in the ribs to put him out of commission for a week, even with Vexen's continual application of Cure spells and snide remarks for good measure.

The redhead Wendy did tell him they hadn't actually killed the thing, just maimed it. Severely. With her axe.

He liked the young lady, smiled at the thought of unicorn directed revenge, and got back on all fours to shift a bedpost and keep gluing the ward to the house.

"Ford, do you want any of my spells too?" he yelled out the open window to the older dimension hopper, doing the same outside the house in the rapidly setting summer sun.

"What you got?" Ford yelled up.

"I know a few anti-darkness runes. Mickey's the light mage among us, though."

"If you think it'll help, I'll take it," Ford yelled back.

"So who is this demon anyway? Must have you pretty worked up to go through this much trouble."

"Can't hear you," Ford hollered.

Lea sighed, finished lining the final piece of wall he was working on, and looked out the window down at Ford in the dirt.

In the blink of an eye, he stood next to him, holding out the paper bag of remaining tail hair. "Attic's done."

Ford clutched his heart for a moment. "Stop that," he muttered. "My brother's right, you're going to give one of us a stroke."

"Old habits," Lea admitted.

"You're the only one who can do that. I know Mickey can't and your lady friend Kairi said the same. Are you a human or…?"

"I was… I was a demon once," Lea said, crouching next to Ford to help with the outside of the giant house-slash-tourist trap. "When I regained my humanity, some of my powers stayed."

Ford clenched his jaw. "Now, not all demons and specters and spooks are bad, and the fact you can touch unicorn hair says you're nothing malicious."

"So this was a test, too," Lea said snorting, disappearing back upstairs to go grab his can of paste, returning in the blink of an eye. "I get it. You're wary of strangers with strange powers. I was afraid of myself too, when I turned human again. Thought one little slip and I'd go back to being a monster. A real monster, not… that fluffy thing we showed you."

"Monsters don't have to look like ahem 'monsters'. My nephew ran into some in the forest that were perfectly kind, if a bit different on the morals."

"The Multi-Bear?" Lea asked with a chuckle. "He sounds like Sulley… Er, a friend. Dipper's been running around showing us his book. Kid's got an eye for this stuff."

"I know. I'm going to ask him tomorrow if he'll apprentice under me," Ford said, after a long silence. "It's getting dark. We can finish this come morning."

"Oh, perfect," Lea said, looking at the setting sun. "My magic's best at twilight. I'll start coating the house in runes for you."

"Thank you, Lea. And… if it's not too much trouble, would you be able to start a fire? We've got more people than expected, so a hot dog roast outside makes the most sense."

"Ask Kairi. I've been training her and she needs the practice."

"Is she your apprentice?"

Lea laughed. "Heck no. We both are apprentices to another mage. I just have about two decades of pyrokinesis on her."

"So if I asked you all if you could chill the air in the house?"

"Mickey," Lea said, with a wave of his hand. "I can barely freeze a cup of water."


Lea sighed, pacing with a long branch he'd unceremoniously ripped from a pine tree. Terrible kindling for a bonfire, but perfect as a makeshift stave. He'd never had an audience before, and suddenly he had a small army of kids, teens, and an amused Mickey and Ford watching while Stan was grumbling over Kairi's magically conjured fire, setting up a grate to grill things for dinner. Lea smiled. The man was gruff, but actually very kind under the surface.

Lea found a spot, good enough as any, and slowly walked in a tight circle, dragging the branch to make a larger rune in the dirt.

He squatted in the center, and began whipping the branch around to gather in as much mana as he could muster, surprised as to how quickly he felt full. He could feel the edges of his hair begin to spark, from the back of his neck to his arms, even his eyelashes. There was a lotof magic in these woods. If he had a mirror, he'd guess he'd be glowing by now, but a few gasps from the peanut gallery told him as much.

He really didn't like having an audience.

"Kyaaaah," Lea yelled, if only to channel the massive, unexpected overflow, before he began pushing the magic back out of him, plastering the ground around them with an interlocking array of sigils.

As quick as he'd started, it was over, with scorch marks etched in the dirt all around them. Lea exhaled, feeling the last of the sparks escape his mouth and ears.

"Wicked," Wendy said, nodding approvingly when he opened his eyes. "Very metal."

"Do we have to walk around all of them?" Dipper asked nervously, looking at one of the sigils that had burned the ground below his foot, without doing any damage to his sneakers.

"What, nah, and actually, kicking the dirt back so people don't know they're there would be even better," Lea said, with a shrug and a smile. "Don't want this demon of yours to know this place is hexed up."

"Oh! Good," Dipper said, looking relieved.

"Can we pour water on it to hide it?" Mabel asked.

"Smart thinking," Lea said, nodding. "The magic's already there, so yes, you can."

"I'VE GOT THE HOSE!" Mabel shouted, running towards the taps.

"What, no, I wanna do it!" Dipper huffed, chasing after his twin.


"Owwwww," Sora muttered, peeling himself off the pavement and healing himself by chugging one of the little cans of carbonated potion Joshua had stocked in his pouch that morning. It tasted a lot better than anything from back home.

Riku helped him back on his feet, and he shook out his sore wings.

"You can go," Sora said, trying to deepen his voice, frowning when he couldn't make himself gruff like Riku.

"You're… just a kid…" the woman said, kneeling a little to look into Sora's hood and at his eyes. "Oh my god, you're a kid. Are you okay?"

Sora's shoulders fell a little. He couldn't pretend to be mean to these people. "Yeah, I'm fine, that was a pretty good laser burst you had, ma'am. I think you'll be fine in the streets past us."

"Wait, no, no, no. I'm not just leaving you here to get beat up by everyone else."

"Ma'am," Riku cut in. "That's kind of our job."

"You, quiet," the woman hissed, turning to fuss over Sora. She must have thought Riku was much older than he, even though they were just barely a year apart. His fake voice certainly didn't help.

"Ma'am m, really, it's okay. And these are for you two," he added, fishing out their pin sets. "Please do your mission, and I hope you get your lives back!"

The woman looked at the reward, and patted Sora's hood. "So you guys aren't all assholes. Good to know. Thank you." She glared once more at Riku, looked at the pins she had on her purse strap, and swapped one out for one of the ones Sora gave her.

"I'll use this one, okay?"

The man with her carefully threaded his fingers in hers, and off they went, down a side street.

Komaeda looked down at Sora's sweatshirt. "Hey 'Youta'."

When Sora didn't reply to his fake name, Komaeda nudged him.

"'Youta'-I-Mean-Sora. You're fighting with a broken pin. Go call in another one, I'll pair with ahem-'Daiki'. Did you get Eri's number?"

"No, but I need to call Joshua, anyway," Sora said quietly.

"On the clock? Not a great idea unless it's something really serious."

"Actually, it is," Sora said gravely.

"You do you, just don't waste his time."


The woman in green- one Holly Short- led the small entourage down off the outcropping and to a vehicle. "Pile in boys… er, and girl."

Aqua laughed. "I'm guessing you're the only woman in your area of expertise, too?"

Holly groaned. "Tell me about it."

Foaly slid into the front, and started up the vehicle. Ventus peeked out the window.

"Hey, we're flying!"

"Odd choice of words for someone with wings," the giant boy chuckled.

"Well, I can fly, but," Ventus started, before realizing the kid had him in a mental corner. "We did say we came from the other side of the portal," he pouted.

"We have cars, and airplanes, but nothing this small that can just fly like this," Terra clarified.

"Ha-ha!" called Foaly from the driver's space- less a seat and more a bench for the four legged driver-slash- pilot. "Another sub-dimension with primitive tech, boy are you all missing out."

"A…nother?" Terra asked.

The giant child sighed, and took off his mirrored sunglasses, cleaning them with his eyes held shut. "You three really aren't playing stupid."

"What kind of proof would you need that we don't know a thing about this place?" Aqua asked him, watching the adult giant squirm to sit, in a vehicle that was clearly not designed for his size.

Artemis frowned. "That's actually a tough question. If we asked you about here, well, you can just pretend to not know. Why don't you tell me about your missing friends then?"

Ventus nodded. "We're looking for two teenage boys. I'd say one of them looks like me, a bit, but uhmmmmm…"

"Uhm what?" the giant boy asked, eyebrow raised. He sat leaning forward in his seat, steepling his fingers.

"Can I show him my phone?" Ventus asked Aqua and Terra.

"A picture is worth a thousand words," Aqua said with a gentle smile.

Ventus pulled out his phone, and scooted in his seat down to the giant-boy.

He frowned. "Hm," was all he managed to say, but found something interesting.

"Please show me this photo of your friend," he added after a pause. Ventus quickly navigated to his photos, and flipped through his images. "Here. This is one of the only photos I have of both myself and Sora. Riku… I have, but not with him."

"Of yourself?" The giant boy looked at Ventus's face. "You're.. the one on the left. A human?"

"Yeah… we're all humans.." Ventus admitted, flipping to another shot of the three of them. "But when we move to new worlds, we change to match what makes the most sense. I don't even know what I am right now. Some kind of flying goblin?"

"You're a sprite," the giant clarified. "The woman-"

"Aqua."

"Aqua is an elf, and…"

"Terra."

"Is a demon."

Terra panicked.

"That isn't a negative statement, Terra. Just another species. As I am human."

"But you're… gigantic! You have to be at least seven feet tall!"

The vehicle went silent, as Foaly parked, before the giant boy began to laugh hysterically. "Seven feet? How tall do you think you are, Ventus?"

"I'm about five-two or so?"

"You couldn't be an inch over three. Feet."


"Wait, but why is everything the right size?" Ventus asked, following the group through the police station.

"You're in a fairy city. Butler and I are the odd ones out. Oh, and where are my manners. I am Artemis Fowl. The second."

"What's with the sudden change, Artemis?" Aqua asked quietly.

"Ventus's phone."

"What about it?" Ventus asked. "And Just Ven is fine."

"It wasn't in any language I've ever seen. Not human, not fairy, not demon. I have no reason to doubt you three are from the other side of that portal."

"Artemis, why didn't you say so earlier?" Holly looked at him confused. "You wouldn't hold out on people that need your help. Well, not anymore, at least."

"Because I was confirming something else."

"And you're not going to say what that is?"

Artemis grinned. "No, I will not. But these three might help you with your other problem."

Holly stopped walking, turned on her heel, and looked sharply up at Artemis. "You must have an extremely good reason for trusting three complete strangers."

"Of course I do."

Holly looked at their three newest. "So you two are here to rescue someone in Shibuya- two someones- and leave the way you came?"

"Yes, we promise. We will happily accept an escort and guard if that means we can get there," Aqua insisted, always the diplomat.

Holly nodded. "Well, you're not the first that's come through. We… might need your help."

"With what?"

"There's a spring in one of the residential districts. It's… probably faster to show you, but, it's…"

"Infested." Artemis said, sharply. "It's why I was down here in the first place. No fairy magic can cleanse the pollution it's causing, but when I saw something on your images… I think you might be able to help."

Aqua, Terra and Ventus looked at each other. "Sora said he was working, which means he's fine for now," Aqua hissed. "And if we help, maybe we'll get some in return. Shibuya sounds far and none of us can make dark corridors like Lea or Isa."

The boys nodded, and prepared to turn heel when a loud alarm blared.

Holly winced. "Not now. For once I don't want an emergency surface mission…" she muttered.

"What is it?" Artemis asked her.

"Massive magical use. Near human homes. It's out in America though, so that's… not my team."

"Something bad?"

Holly shrugged. "I can't take care of every mudman problem in the whole world, Artemis. Whoever is closest to wherever it is will look into it. Let's deal with our problem closer to home?"

Artemis smiles and nodded. "Sometimes the entire LEPRecon team feels like just you, Vinyaya, Commander Kelp, and Foaly. I forget you've got plenty of other fairies who can get the job done. Maybe not as well as you, though," he added, smugly.

"Okay, Artemis, what do you want?"

"Whatever do you mean?" he asked innocently, as they turned back out the front door and Holly led them on a brisk walk down a new part of the city.

"You gave me a compliment."

"Compliments are free."

"Not Fowl ones."


"So, Ford," Lea said, eyeing him as he tried to figure out balancing a plate on his knee with a can of soda in one hand and a hot dog in the other. "What kind of demon. You seem to be avoiding talking about it."

Ford sighed, and set his paper plate to one side. "Cipher. Dimension hopper. World eater. He gets in your head. You can tell he's possessed someone when their eyes turn gold and their pupils blow out."

"Xehanort," Lea hissed.

"What?"

"Xehanort," Lea said louder. "Almost destroyed our universe, possessed my best friend."

"You've… how…" Ford stiffened. "But you say it in past tense."

"Yeah. The two kids we're looking for? Sora and Riku? Sora finally took him down."

"Are you telling me Bill Cipher is dead? When did this happen?"

"A week ago our time. Which… might have been months here. If two hours is a week, that would have been… twelve weeks to a day times seven… more than a year, if time is consistent across dimensions. But it isn't, so it could have been two weeks ago for you all, or ten years. The only thing we can guarantee is time moves forwards, and it moves consistently within the same world."

"Was this Xehanort person a one eyed triangle?"

Lea blinked, and then howled with laughter. "Not even close. Guessing each our dimensions had some ass with a similar modus operandi?"

"Well, at least onegolden eyed body possessing world ender is out of the picture," Ford said with a chuckle and a sigh. "Get some sleep after this. We'll need to finish tomorrow at first light. Kairi's small enough to take the couch in the living room, I have an old storage room that you and Mickey could use, if you don't mind sharing. There's also the trailer," he added, pointing out to the haphazardly parked car and RV.

"That's up to him. I don't have a preference, as long as I have a space to crash, I'm good. Anything past that's a bonus."


"Joshua? I'm really sorry to bug."

"What's wrong Sora? I can't say I don't enjoy a good chat, but I do have a job to do here."

Sora gulped. "Yeah, sorry. I'll make this quick. Vanitas broke one of my pins… and all of his. You… or whoever does it that takes people's entry fees- you took his strength, magic, and Keyblade, but not his ability to make Unversed."

"Unversed?" Joshua sounded confused.

"Did you see the little monster that came out of his shadow?"

"Oh yeah, that Fear Noise. What of it? All humans make Noise."

"Not where we're from. Or… I don't know, maybe our dead do."

"Begs the question of why you three ended up here. Riku notwithstanding since he was dragged over, but why did you, and those two bodysuit wearing people…"

"Vanitas and Tomo," Sora said. Riku's replica didn't have his own name before, so the least he could do was make sure he was recognized by it here. Sora clarified. "What I mean is Vanitas made what you're calling Noise while he was alive, too. And the living could see it, and it hurt people."

The other line went silent for a short while. "I'm guessing, unlike Vanitas's magic and physical prowess, he didn't particularly like this quirk. Not with the way he tried to throw away his fear."

"Yeah."

"So what does that have to do with his broken pins?"

"His Unversed- his Noise I guess- are eating other Noise. It just absorbed my fire, and my pin went blank, and it ate up all the designs right off Vanitas's pins."

"That's… not a bad thing," Joshua replied. "I mean… the whole point of this is to help keep exaggerated emotions running amok in check. If he beats them by eating them instead of fighting them, that doesn't make a difference. I'll get your pin replaced, but not his. Sounds like he just fights differently. Was that all?"

"…no."

"Well?"

"Gabriel told me my entry fee gave me perks. And it was worth more than two souls."

"What of it? Are you… asking if someone's entry fee can be returned and mooch off of yours, instead?"

"Yeah."

"Returned… no. But mooch off your perks? Yes, if there's enough power. I'd guess it could probably be used on one-to-three more people before it's equivalent."

"What's the chance it could be used for two?"

"I'd say… likely about sixty percent. Wouldn't be able to tell if it had extra juice until we used it on the first person."

"There's about five hours left before the players go into stasis right? The reapers all just get excused and go where they want after."

"Yes, that's right. You'd have the rest of the evening to yourself."

"Could you come down with about thirty minutes to spare and offer my fee to Vanitas and Tomo?"

"I could. In what order? If it only works on one of them, the other will be left partner-less."

"Both. Let them decide."

Joshua chuckled. "Smart man. I'll be there around five thirty to give them hell."

"Thank you, Joshua."

"Now go back out there and get your butt kicked," Joshua said good-naturedly. "I saw you by 104. Your lieutenant put you on tutorial duty?"

"Yeah."

"Keep up the good work, Sora. I'll do what I can."