Nico and Aeris burst out their apartment, Nico looking frantically down each side of the hall. Once he saw it was clear, he grabbed his sister's wrist and dragged her behind him. His Keyblade materialized into his other had. His eyes locked onto the apartment of Sarah and Rin as he ran through the halls. He skidded to a halt in front of their room and banged his fist on the door. He jumped when he heard a shriek from the other side. Quickly, he pointed his Keyblade at the lock. A beam of light erupted from its tip and shot through the keyhole and the twins heard a loud click. Nico shouldered the door open and his eyes widened in shock. Sarah was backed into a corner with a barricade of furniture in front of her as she shot frost out of her palms to hold of what looked like hoard of Heartless. At first glance, they looked like Shadows but these were more humanoid and their antennae and claws were much longer than the average Shadow. The new type of Shadows did not seem to notice the twins, their focus was on Sarah. There were strained groans coming from Sarah and from the flickering lamp beside her, the twins saw her gritting her teeth and sweating. She must be low on Mana. Aeris flowed her hands around themselves mystically, green and pink whips of light gathering between her palms and weaved between her fingers. Nico rushed forward while Aeris built up her mana, gripping onto his Keyblades hilt with both hand. He jumped high, reeling his arms behind his head. With a roar, he swung his Keyblade down onto the head on one of the new Shadows, splitting its head open and making it burst into black dust. In the corner of his eye, he saw some of the new Shadows turn their attention to him. He smirked at this, internally happy that he got them to leave Sarah alone. Aeris rushed behind the barricade and pushed the beams of light out of her palms, the whips encircling Sarah, healing her and restoring her mana slowly. Nico knew now that he had to keep the Shadows busy and on him so Aeris could finish her complicated spells. He threw the Keyblade at the hoard, the Keyblade slicing through a hand full before returning to his hand like a boomerang. He jumped back when a blast of heat burst behind his back, feeling hairs on arms getting singed. He glanced over his shoulder to Rin, ring blade in hand. She growled at the Shadows and spun the ring on her wrist, cutting upwards through their sternum. She took the ring blade in both hands and took it over her head, leaving it resting on her waist. She swung it like hoola-hoop as she made her way forward to Nico, mowing down the Shadows that dared get too close to her. Rin slammed her arms in front of her body, making the ring drop down to her ankles. She hopped one of her legs out of the ring before she kicked her other leg up, sliding the ring down her calf and with a swift kick, the ring whirled around to connect to another shadow. She pressed her back against Nico's, kicking the ring blade her arm, sliding it to rest on her shoulder. Rin crossed her arms into an "x", flames starting to dance around herself and Nico. Nico raised his Keyblade when he saw the tip set on fire. He locked eyes with Rin before nodding his head. With a yell, Rin whipped her arms to her sides, setting the Heartless aflame along with Nico's flame charged weapon. The remaining Heartless turned to ash.

Nico panted over his question, "Is…is everyone alright?"

Aeris closed her palms, releasing the healing magic into the room, healing everyone within. "Sarah and I are fine. Thanks for distracting those things."

Rin threw a crossbow to Aeris, who fumbled to catch it. "What the hell is going on?"

"Mom's attacking Traverse Town," Nico answered.

Rin's pupils widened. "Are you kidding me right now?" Nico shook his head, making Rin sputter her lips. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's not—Leon said that the Organization couldn't infiltrate Traverse Town."

"Well, they did because they had help from the inside," Nico explained. He looked around the apartment. "Where's Yumi and Roxas?"

Sarah's shoulders dropped, her head hanging low. Her voice was barely a whisper, "They're…the Heartless…the Heartless snuck up on them. They turned into…those things."

Nico and Aeris' hearts skipped a beat, not believing what they had just heard. The Keyblade Masters were dropping like flies. How could it happen, they wonder. Aeris took a mental tally, realizing there's only a handful of Masters left. If they could fall so quickly, what chance did they have. "This can't be happening…" Aeris said under her breath. "We need to get to somewhere safe!"

"And where would that be?" Rin exclaimed. "Traverse Town is the safest place for us to be! And it's falling thanks to your mom's Organization! There's nowhere else to go, there aren't very many Masters left! We may as well surrender while we're still breathing."

"We can't give up that easily," Aeris told her. "There must be a way…"

It was Sarah who responded, "Well, what about Xeha? He was part of the Organization, right? He might know what to do!"

Aeris thought for a moment, her head still spinning slightly thanks to resent events. She vaguely remembers Braig saying that he left due to the changes in the Organizations leadership. Was he talking about her mother? Aeris slowly connected the dots in her mind. As soon as Braig showed up, the Heartless and Nobody attacks increased. When Xeha appeared, the attacks became more violent. It seemed like all the straggling Nobodies and Heartless always headed towards the jail that held the two. It clicked. "The Organization is trying to get to Xeha and Braig. That's why Mom appeared. She knows they're here. If we want Xeha, we have to get there before Mom and her goons do."

The group exchanged glances between each other. Doubt and fear reflected in their eyes. They all knew what they were about to do was basically a suicide mission. Nico took a deep breath and broke the silence. "Okay. We have to hurry." They rushed out of the room, hoping that they were not to late.

The square was on fire. The trees crackling and the buildings burning, a thick smoke drifted in the air, choking passerby. The people of the town were trying to escape but they found no sanctuary. No matter wherethey ran, a Heartless struck them down. The smoke turned pitch black as it trailed behind the newcomer. She held out her hand as a heart floated her way. She smirked at the heart lightly before she crushed it in her palm, dust crumbling out of her hand as she clasped it tighter. It puffed into smoke The woman cupped the smoke in her hand and knelt down to the ground, grasping a handful of ash. She combined the elements, making a dark orb form before her eyes. She smiled softly before blowing the orb away. The orb floated in front of her and once it hit the ground, smoke exploded from it and a Heartless appeared in the orb's place. She took a deep breath in, feeling the ash and smoke come into her lungs. "Isn't it beautiful, dears?" She whispered. She picked a white flower from a tree next to her, its delicate petals shriveling up at her touch and turning black. "To finally be able to set foot here…" She turned on her heel to face her comrades. "Fan out. Find them."

"Ya go' it, lass!" One of the twins yelped. He gestured his brother to follow him.

The youngest of the group went to follow them but the woman grabbed his arm, making him stop in his tracks. He tried his best to suppress his urge to tense up under her grip. He didn't dare look the woman in the eyes but he could feel them pierce through him. "Ah, ah, ah, Dante. You stay with me…" Dante gulped.

"Tiaxek!"

Tiaxek's eye twitched at the voice. She slowly turned her head to see Riku, Lea, and Terra standing in her way. They all had their Keyblades wielded. "Well…if it isn't you three. I knew it was too good to hope that you were taken in the attacks."

Riku pointed his Keyblade's tip at Tiaxek. "Where's Katie, Tiaxek?"

Tiaxek chuckled, "Oh, how things never change…it's been, what? Seventeen years since the last time you asked that?" She cackled manically, holding onto to a petrified Dante to support her as she laughed. Tiaxek cleared her throat and stepped forward, her hand over her chest. "Our dear little Katie has decided that it was time for her to take a vacation…she handed me the keys, sort of speak." She wielded her Keyblade. Dante took example and wielded his scythe. Tiaxek ran her finger against her blade's curves. "Now that I answered your question, answer mine….where is Vanitas?"

Terra growled, "Like we would tell you."

Tiaxek's eyes narrowed at Terra. She blinked a couple times while making a sheepish chuckle. "I-I'm sorry…I believe I've misspoken, my dear." She snapped her fingers. The darkness forming behind her shot out towards Terra, knocking him down hard on the pavement. He yelped when the darkness lifted him off the ground and dragged him over to Tiaxek. Tiaxek grabbed his jaw, looking intensely into his eyes. "Let me try again. Where…is…Vanitas?" She gasped when Terra spat in her eye. She wiped it slowly, her eyes hardening. "Fine. You want to this the hard way, eh?" She pierced her Keyblade into his chest, making Terra scream in agony. She watched happily as his hair slowly started to white, his blue eyes slowly turning gold. "Now." She let him go and commanded the darkness to release Terra. "Where is Vanitas?"

Terra looked blankly at her as he answered, "He is evacuating the townspeople to Castle Oblivion."

Tiaxek smiled and patted his cheek. "Now there's a good boy." She glanced over her shoulder at Dante, who's face was paler than snow. "Well? You have your objective. Get him."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Dante scrambled away from her, thankful that he no longer had to be in her presence. He made his way past the corner of the square, out of sight of Tiaxek. He bent over on himself, resting his hands on his knees as took in deep breaths of air. Did he dare look back? No. The less he sees of Tiaxek, the better. He truly believed that she was a better option than Xehanort in his own universe where he was in danger of becoming one of Xehanort's vessels. But this woman makes Xehanort look like a bloody angel, she was absolutely insane. He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to go home, back to his own reality. He wanted to see his friends again, his coworkers again. He sputtered his lips, hesitantly opening a dark portal to Castle Oblivion. He didn't want to do this but he feared the alternative. Before he could channel his darkness, he crashed into the ground, a weight crushing him to the pavement. He growled and pushed off the person that ran into him. He grumbled under breath, "Oh, pour l'amour de Dieu…watch where you are going—!" He looked up and gasped. "Ti-Tiaxek! I'm sorry, I didn't know it wa…" He blinked. No gold eyes, no silver hair…much younger. "You're not Tiaxek."

Nico raised an eyebrow at him. "No…? Um…sorry I knocked you over. You alright?"

"You." Dante summoned his scythe, making Nico jump back. "You're one of her kids. Where is the other?" He yelped when a fireball exploded in front of him.

"Get away from my brother!" Aeris growled. Rin and Sarah followed close behind. Rin took the ring blade off of her shoulder, Sarah brought her wand and pointed its tip at Dante. Aeris quickly asked, "You okay, Nico?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine…could everyone just calm down!" Nico yelped. "We're running out of time. We gotta go—" Dante blocked his path. "Hey!"

"You're not going anywhere, Heart."

"How do you know my last name?" Nico slowly approached Dante. "Look, man, we aren't looking for a fight. Just…let us pass and we'll be on our way."

Dante shook his head hard. "No. I can't let you leave." He looked between the four, sighing at the realization that he was severely out-numbered. He lowered his scythe, making Rin and Sarah follow his example. He groaned at himself.'Zis is a stupid idea…but this is your chance.' "Listen, I am part of the Organization—"

He jumped back when Rin threw her ring blade at him. "I knew it! I knew that he would be trouble!" With a yell she sent flames towards the boy, who easily dodge the attack. Rin growled and threw the returning ring blade at him once more. She gasped when Dante grabbed it out of the air. She tried her best to summon the blade back but failed. Dante smirked at her. "Got it out of your system?" He tossed the ring blade back at Rin, who struggled to catch it. "Good. Now, I was zaying…I am part of ze Organization…but not this version of ze Organization. I am no' from here, I am from a different reality. I vaz taken from m' own, by Tiaxek. I cannot handle her rule anymore. So…I am offering a deal. I help 'ou with…whatev'ar 'ou are doin' and in return…'ou find a way to get me home." He hesitanly dismissed his weapon and then held out his hand. "Wha do 'ou say?"

The four looked over each other, mentally debating amoung themselves. It was Nico who smiled and nodded. He took Dante's hand and shook it. "Sure, we'll help you." Dante forced himself not to grin. He could go home! "Now…uh—"

"Dante."

"Oh, cool name. Anyway, we're on our way to get our friends. You know where everyone is. We need to make our way to the prison, are any of the Organization near there."

Dante shook his head. "Non. At least, not yet. Why?"

"I'll explain along the way."

I really want to get this story done and over with mates. I want to finish it before KH3 comes out, well that and I just...don't want to write this story anymore. I kinda want to start all over, the entire LOADH series. Since KH3 will basically destroy the universe that I have created lmao. But, for the handful of people who still read this story, I'll try my best to finish it, even though my motivation is next to nothing. Anyway, I hoped y'all liked the chapter.