Author's Note: Oh hey! Have another chapter! Enjoy!
Mysterious Tower: Terra, Age "22"
"You gave your star shard to Donald and Goofy, didn't you, Mickey?" Aqua asked.
Mickey nodded.
"How were you planning on getting home?" Aqua asked, laughter in her voice.
"I s'pose I hadn't thought that far ahead," Mickey replied, laughing.
"How about we give you a lift?" Terra suggested.
"Gosh! Would you guys?"
"Sure!" Ven answered. "That's what friends are for!"
Aqua pulled out the star shard. The four of them grabbed each other's hands, all grinning despite the day's events.
The talk with Master Yen Sid went completely predictably. By the time they'd told him about Xehanort's return, he was already aware of it, but about the time he was going to start warning people, Sora had already done the job. He'd made the same conclusions as the rest of them had. They would need to track down the people with Xehanort still in their hearts and eliminate all traces of Xehanort before any of the Remnants had a chance to make a vessel out of someone. In the event that such a thing did happen, they would have to take down the vessel in addition to everything else. But, unfortunately, as long as someone still had Xehanort in their heart, the process would repeat again and again. Likely, it was going to be a long and tedious process. But Master Yen Sid had faith in everyone.
They arrived at Disney Castle and Terra could smell the darkness.
"Oh no!" Mickey breathed.
Dusks and Creepers surrounded the Castle. Some Heartless had joined as well, drawn to the power.
Hades was laying siege.
Terra summoned his Keyblade, finally free of all but one crack. Aqua's had a crack in hers, too, though she didn't seem particularly bothered by it. She and Ven had also summoned their Keyblades.
"Let's fight this!" Aqua said.
"Go on ahead!" Mickey replied. "I'm going to call in some more help."
"Yer Majesty!" Goofy called, running up to them. "I'm sorry I didn't call ya! It was next on my list!"
"How long has this been going on?" Mickey asked.
"Just the Dusks and the Heartless, sir," Goofy said, saluting. "Maybe ten minutes?"
Mickey nodded. He turned back to Terra, Aqua, and Ven.
"You guys willing to help?"
"Of course!" Aqua said.
Ven grinned. Terra only nodded.
Mickey nodded. "Then let's do what Aqua said," he said. "I'll join you in just a minute. First, I need to call in help. Then I need to check on Minnie."
"Her Majesty is doin' just fine," Goofy said, sounding a bit awe-struck.
Terra looked around and saw a pillar of light erupt not too far off.
"She ain't too happy!" Goofy continued.
"Well, neither am I," Mickey said.
That was all Terra needed to run off and start attacking the oncoming enemies. He wondered how Namine had known this was coming so fast.
xx
Sora's Room: Sora
"Hello?" Sora asked, picking up the phone.
"Sora, I hate to bother you…"
"Oh! Your Majesty! What can I help with?"
"Hades is attacking."
"Right!" Sora said, his eyes going wide. "Gimme a bit to round everyone up, but we'll be right there!"
"Thanks!"
Sora dove across the hallway the minute he'd hung up the phone. Roxas was lounging on his bed, reading a magazine.
"We have to go!" Sora said. "Disney Castle!"
Roxas was already sitting up and putting the magazine down. He flashed Sora a grin.
"Bag's already packed," he said, kicking the duffel at the foot of his bed.
Sora smiled. "Excellent, mine's almost ready, too."
Sora kept a bag nearly packed all the time these days. Given how they'd all been planning on taking out the Remnants fairly soon, it was more packed than usual. All he needed was his toothbrush.
"We need to tell the others," he said.
"I'll go tell Xion and Riku, if you get Kairi and Namine," Roxas said, pulling on his shoes.
Sora nodded and ran back to his room. He made sure that everything was in order, grabbed his toothbrush, and headed downstairs.
"We've gotta leave early," he said, looking at his parents in the living room. His mom's face fell. Sora sighed. "I'm really sorry," he said. "But the King needs our help, and we probably won't stop back here."
"We understand," Sora's dad said.
"Be careful!" his mom said.
"Yeah," Sora said. He hugged both of his parents, then ran out the door.
He arrived at the mayor's house in record time and nearly forgot that he should knock on the door.
"It's open!" Kairi called.
Sora burst in. "We've gotta go!" he said.
Kairi and Namine were both sitting in the front room, bags already packed.
"That's just weird," Sora said, shaking his head.
Namine smiled and tapped her head.
"My parents already know," Kairi said. "Shall we go?"
Sora nodded. "Let's meet up with the others."
Kairi and Namine shouldered their bags and followed Sora out.
"You got your sketchbook?" Kairi asked.
"Would it matter if I didn't? I can summon that now."
"I forget," Kairi replied, laughing. "You only got that edit to your data, how long ago?"
"Just a few days," Namine said, shrugging. "I got tired of leaving it places and constantly losing pencils."
"Do you have your knife?" Sora asked, knowing that her knife was nearly as important.
Namine nodded.
xx
Riku's House: Xion, Age 16
"Do you read better upside-down?" Riku's mom asked, coming into the front room.
Xion did her best to shrug, aware of how difficult it was to do in her position. However, she ended up sitting up anyway, because she heard Roxas pounding up the front walk.
Riku's mom went and answered the door.
"So, uh, Hades, and Disney Castle," Roxas said.
"On it," Xion said.
"Pack a bag," he said. He was panting, he had to have sprinted.
"No duh," she said.
"Leaving for a while, then?" Riku's mom asked.
Xion nodded.
"Oi! Riku! We're leaving!" she shouted up the stairs.
"I heard!" he shouted back.
Xion hugged Riku's mom and then ran up the stairs. She threw a few changes of clothes and a few cloaks into her bag, then ran back down. Riku still wasn't ready.
"Here," she said, handing her bag to Roxas. "I'm gonna go tell Axel."
Roxas nodded and shouldered her bag.
Xion bit her lip, contemplating just how long it would take her to run to the hotel.
"Oh, this'll be quicker," she said, a corridor already at her fingertips.
"We're meeting at the beach," Roxas said.
Xion nodded and stepped through the corridor.
"Oi!" Axel said. "I could have been naked."
"Oh hush, Axel, I knew you weren't."
Axel glared at her.
"We're leaving for Disney Castle," she said. "Hades attacked earlier than anyone anticipated."
"Namine mentioned it yesterday," Axel said. "I think that was our final warning."
Xion shrugged. "Yeah, well, pack a bag. We're not coming back here after we're done there."
"Right."
Axel got up off of his bed. He pulled a bag out from under it and emptied nearly the entire contents of his dresser into it. He, like Xion, shoved cloaks into it as well. She noted he also put a journal in there. It wasn't his, it was too well-kept to be his, no offense to him or anything…
"What's that?" she asked.
"Saix's journal," he grunted. "Seeing if there's anything of use in it."
"Is there?"
"Not that I've found yet. At least, nothing useful as far as Xehanort goes."
"Right."
She suspected there might be something that was useful to Axel in it, but she didn't press the issue. Saix was a tough subject for all of them. Xion had mixed feelings toward him herself, considering he never did consider her a person, and that jaded her quite a bit, she wasn't even going to lie. But he had been Axel's friend long ago, and had supposedly changed upon his death.
Axel gestured that they should leave. Xion used the door that time. They could walk.
xx
Aerith's House: Zack, Age 27
Everything was quiet, though Zack didn't dare dwell on that thought for too long. The minute he did, they'd end up with Heartless all over the place. It was his luck. But, so far, the DTP seemed to be working.
And, a whole group of them had gone that morning and destroyed the Emblem Heartless Creation Machine. So now all they'd have to worry about would be purebloods. Cloud and Tifa had left shortly after that. But things had quieted down.
Leon, Rinoa, and Quistis had done a round and reported that Heartless numbers were down.
So Zack found it completely reasonable to be lounging on the couch, reading a book. It was one of Aerith's—dog-eared and with pages falling out in places, a sign that it was loved. Understandably so, it was a good book.
Most everyone was relaxing in the front room. Even Cid, who usually was in his workshop. Only Yuffie was upstairs.
"Cid," Aerith said. "Why don't you go visit Shera?"
Zack's ears perked up, but he didn't take his eyes off the page in front of him. He recognized that tone of voice…
Cid hadn't caught on, apparently.
"I mean, I'd love teh, bu' we've got loads goin' on here…"
"Honestly, Cid," Aerith continued. "Now's a good a time as any! You've been wanting to test out your new gummi ship! Take Yuffie, get off World. See Disney Castle! It's a good idea, just don't lose track of Yuffie!"
Zack looked around. He fought back a grin when he saw Leon's smirk. Leon knew what Aerith was getting at, too. Rinoa looked a little confused though, so did Quistis and Zell. Zack couldn't help it, he snorted. Quistis and Zell weren't used to Aerith's 'hunches', even after nearly three months of living here. Rinoa hadn't caught onto Aerith's quirks purely because she had so many of her own.
"This is my Aerith's weirdness, and this is my Rinoa's weirdness," Leon had told him once.
Yuffie came running down the stairs. "I like this idea!"
Cid raised an eyebrow. "All righ', if yer sure ya'll be fine here."
"We will," Leon said.
Cid grunted and went into his workshop.
"Be ready in five minutes!" he told Yuffie.
"You bet!" Yuffie said.
"Should any of the rest of us be going?" Leon asked, looking at Aerith.
She shook her head. "Cid and Yuffie is all the help they'll need. Besides, then Cid can see Shera. The rest of us can keep an eye on Hollow Bastion for a day or two."
"I still don't get it," Zell said.
"I'll explain later," Leon said.
"Oh!" Rinoa said, catching on. "Hades."
"Mm-hmm," Aerith said, nodding. "Not a battle for all of us, though. Mostly, Cid's guns on that ship will be helpful."
Zack grinned at that. He turned back to the book. He wanted to get off-World, too, but he and Aerith could wait until Cid and Yuffie got back. It was only fair.