Chapter 50:

Avalanche

"The nearest city is five miles off," Marluxia said, holding his hood to his head with his hands as a gust of icy wind threatened to tear it loose. "Reid, how are you holding up?"

The lone plain-clothes Organization member thumped his chest with one fist, though the sound was muffled a bit by the heavy winter coat he was currently wearing.

"Good as new," he said. "Between your medicines and a few days' rest in that cabin up in the mountains, I think I've just about made a full recovery."

The pink-haired man smiled.

"Glad to hear it," he said. "In that case, we should be able to reach the edge of town within the hour if we keep up the pace and the weather cooperates."

"Now, remember that we're in Fangirl territory," Vexen said, walking out ahead of the rest of the group. The cold winds and sprays of snow that buffeted the other members seemed to have the opposite effect on him, pushing him onward faster than most would think his aging body was capable of moving; even Marluxia was having a bit of difficulty keeping up with his pace.

"Avoid using your powers, or especially calling upon your weapons, unless it is absolutely necessary," he continued. "So long as no surges of power appear on their radar, it will appear to them that Reid Klavier here is traveling alone across the Russian wilderness… lone Fangirls or small swarms might seek him out, but I doubt he'll draw any more attention than that."

Reid sighed.

"Guess I won't be getting a good fight anytime soon, then..."

Vexen turned toward him and gave him an odd look.

"You only just recovered from your last good fight," the scientist snapped. "I'd recommend you not be in such a rush to get into another one, especially now that we've lost access to the base's medical facilities."

Zexion sat on the edge of the Arakaki home's roof, gazing out across the surrounding suburbs as the sun began to rise on another day. The green sky had long since saturated the western coast of the United States; though he'd had no way of communicating with Organization members who had fled to other parts of the world, he suspected that its spread had almost engulfed all of Europe by now as well. It seemed inevitable that the distortion would surround the entire Earth, and at the rate it was spreading it seemed that this would happen sooner rather than later.

"Any idea what it means yet?", Axel said, waving to the blue-haired man from his perch in a low-hanging branch of a nearby tree. "The green sky, that is. This is definitely something Fangirl-related, right?"

Zexion sighed, then nodded.

"It's similar to the void within the Internet," he said, still focusing his attention on the green sky. There were flickers of something lighter in color than the surrounding field of green, but they were too far above to distinguish their exact nature. "As we approached the core, the space around us became more and more green… Vexen's hypothesis was that it indicated Fangirl territory, as opposed to the blue glow of neutral zones of the Internet."

Axel stared blankly into the green sky, spotting the same pale flickers that Zexion had been attempting to decipher for the past hour.

"So… they're taking over the world, then?"

"Some would say they already have," Zexion muttered. "Think about it… Organization XIII scattered, our base overrun, all our research lost aside from whatever Vexen managed to smuggle out. Our leader missing… or worse."

"Only missing, at least until confirmed otherwise," Saix's voice chimed in as he landed on the house's deck with a thud that rattled the nearby windows. He dematerialized his weapon in a flash before any nosy neighbors had a chance to investigate the sound, apparently not quite realizing that the weapon wasn't the only thing about him that would look suspicious to the locals. "I refuse to believe that the Superior fell to mere Fangirls, no matter how outnumbered."

"Mere Fangirls… yeah, right," Axel muttered. "You know it was a hell of a lot more than that… you were there, after all."

Zexion flipped back through his book's pages for a few second and then thrust one finger into the middle to stop them on a particular page, added after their return from the Internet's core.

"Only four among the swarm went for Xemnas… but of course, it was those four."

He glanced over the notes he'd taken about their first encounter with the 'Uber-Fangirls,' beings that stretched the limits of their previous definitions of what a Fangirl could be.

"Our Superior was the strongest among us, yes," he said. "But if confronted by four numbered members at once, he would surely be defeated."

"Well, maybe not if it was you, Luxord, Larxene, and…"

"And you?", Saix finished with a scowl, crossing his arms. Axel turned toward him and blinked, then cracked a smile.

"...well, that wasn't where I was planning on going with that when I started, but…"

Zexion smirked.

"He's right, you know," he said. "What with Roxas patching things up with Xion and learning how to harness her power, he's certainly surpassed you now."

The spiky-haired man yawned and stretched his arms, scratching behind one of his ears for a moment before speaking up again.

"Left in the dust by a kid… and I'm feeling like I've just about hit my limit," he said with a sigh. "That last fight with Zagan took just about everything I had… well, more than I thought I had. Guess this is how it feels to be on the losing end of one of those 'student has become the master' situations, huh?"

Saix smiled slightly. Then, after a brief pause, his face broke out into the widest smile that either of the other two members had seen on the blue-haired elf in quite a while. He looked as if he was almost holding back a laugh.

"So Roxas isn't the only one who's growing up," he said, turning to Axel. "Took you long enough."

For the first time in what felt like ages, Lexaeus took a step onto soft earth rather than the bare stone of the base's labyrinthine lower chambers (and the makeshift tunnels he had formed using his powers, which had allowed them to cross over to the mainland by burrowing beneath the seafloor.) The food supplies that the group had gathered from the storage rooms had all but run out, but this was only a minor problem now that they had returned to the surface -in a country with Japan's combination of high population density and small landmass, there was always bound to be something within walking distance.

The group of non-numbered members who had fled alongside him were all in good shape, aside from their unwashed hair and sweaty clothes. Otonashi was now missing a finger on his left hand, but Toivo's acid and some spare medical supplies from one of the storage rooms made sure that the stump that remained was healing without any problems.

After a night's sleep and some food from the storage rooms, Vittorio the chef had recovered from having his energy drained and was now making good use of his food-manipulation powers -each stale old granola bar was transformed into one of the favorite foods of whoever was about to eat it, providing both nourishment and entertainment. Upon the first demonstration of this trick, Roberto had been in such a hurry to take a bite of his granola bar that that it transformed into a small burrito moments before his teeth made contact with it, causing him to bite down too hard and startle himself with an accidental pinch to his own tongue. Michiko had taken a liking to unwrapping hers with her eyes closed so the true identity of her next meal would always be a surprise -it was equally likely to be a sushi roll, a candy bar packed full of peanut butter and miscellaneous crunchy bits, or a solid block of pepper-jack cheese depending on her mood.

"Hoods up, everyone," Lexaeus said, holding one hand to his forehead to block out the sun's green-tinted glare and survey their surroundings. "Now that we're out in the open, the Fangirls are bound to be watching."

Toivo shuddered as he pulled his hood over his bald head in one swift movement.

"Don't need to tell me twice… yeesh."

The others soon followed, with Vittorio removing the chef's hat he had somehow still kept throughout his previous Fangirl encounters and tucking it away into one of his cloak's pockets. Once Lexaeus himself was hooded and everyone's eyes had adjusted to the light, they set off on their trek across the forested landscape.

As they traveled, Lexaeus was all but silent, going over the possibilities of the near future in his mind. In an ideal situation, he would have preferred to keep his focus on the present with occasional glimpses into the past, but the situation they were in now was about as far from "ideal" as you could get. The number of survivors among the Organization's ranks was unknown; it was difficult to imagine that there had been no casualties when the Fangirls had completely overrun their base. The best case scenario now was that all the numbered members were alive and none were being held captive; considering the things that would surely be done to any the Fangirls got their claws on, even a slow and painful death would be preferable. But losing any numbered member would cripple them. Losing Xemnas would all but guarantee their eventual defeat.

Their top priority at this point had to be reuniting with as many other members as they could find, but they were likely scattered all across the world by now. And, if the green sky overhead meant what he thought it might, the Fangirls would likely be out in force searching for them as well.

As he crested the top of a hill, Lexaeus was abruptly snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of metal clashing against metal behind him. Acting purely on instinct, he summoned his weapon in a rush of energy as he turned to see the source of the disturbance -but he couldn't have possibly expected what he saw.

Michiko had summoned her weapon and lunged at Otonashi with a wide overhead slash, which he had narrowly managed to block by surrounding both hands with shield-like slabs of metal at the moment before impact. She snarled for a moment, then swung one foot upward into the silver-haired man's shin, throwing him off balance as she pulled back her blade for another swing.

"Michiko!", Lexaeus called out, "What are you doing!?"

There was no response; not even the briefest turn of her head in response to his voice. Her purplish eyes were glazed over in a blind rage, glaring straight ahead at Otonashi as if he had kicked her puppy or done something else equally awful. He dove to the ground, sending a flurry of dry leaves scattering into the air as he rolled out of the path of his unexpected opponent's sword. A dozen neatly bisected leaves hung in the air for a moment before being blown away by a surge of translucent greenish energy that roared up around Michiko's entire body. She was amplifying her strength in preparation for yet another unprovoked attack.

A sudden burst of wind fluttered his cloak and pulled Lexaeus' attentions in a different direction -a few yards off down the hill, Roberto held one hand outstretched, his face blank with rage instead of his usual wide grin. Toivo had been bowled over by some sort of attack and was now lying up against a tree stump, his cloak marred with clumps of dirt and sand. The bald Organization member pulled himself to his feet, shook himself off, and summoned his spiked gauntlets in a wave of blue-green energy.

"Roberto too," the lone numbered member muttered under his breath. "And that expression on his face… this has to be the work of Fangirls."

As if right on cue, a small horde of mixed Fangirls and Fanboys came leaping down from the surrounding trees; bulky Hater Fanboys landed with a heavy thud and kicked up clouds of dirt and leaves as their impacts tore up the ground, while the lighter varieties like Shifters and Flamers made much more graceful landings. Rather than landing close to the Organization members, however, they seemed to have formed a circle around them. And even after their descent from the treetops, none of them made a move to attack.

They were there as spectators.

And just moments later, the star of the show -or perhaps more like the ringleader -made his appearance. Flipping off the branch of one of the highest trees, the Fanboy came spinning downward, somehow pulling off a variety of poses in free-fall and landing as dramatically as possible just inside the ring of lesser Internet-spawn that surrounded the black-cloaked group. After taking a moment to smirk and then stand up straight, the newcomer shifted his stance slightly and pointed one finger directly at Lexaeus, his blank white cape fluttering behind him despite the fact that the wind wasn't even blowing at the moment. In his other hand, he held what appeared to be a wireless microphone, which he kept inches from his face at all times.

"Weren't expecting this, huh?", he said, his smirk widening into a demented grin. He waved his pointing finger around at each of the other Organization members, who were still completely distracted by their as-of-yet unexplained battles with each other. "Those other guys you came with? They're bloodlusted, bro."

Roberto struck Toivo in the jaw with a heavy punch, sending him spinning backward. He recovered just in time to stop himself from crashing to the ground, spitting out a loose tooth before launching a series of counterattacks, narrowly missing the wrestler but coming close enough to shred bits of fabric from his cloak as the spikes of his gauntlets grazed past. Michiko took a swing at Otonashi so powerful that it sliced clean through a tree when the silver-haired man yanked himself upward into its branches with his whip-like weapon just in time to avoid it. Even Vittorio had gotten involved now, his bladed spatula-like weapon swishing through the air like a fencer's sword as he seemed to be sizing up his fellow Organization members and deciding which one to target first. All of them had removed their hoods now, though it was unclear if this was intentional on their part or if they had simply been knocked off by the violent movements of battle.

"And don't even try to stop the fights - I bet they can't even hear a word you say."

He spun in place for several moments afterward, stopping in an anatomy-defying pose after every couple of rotations, and then ended up in the exact same pointing stance. Lexaeus was barely even paying attention, instead following the clashes between the other Organization members and preparing to separate them at the first sign that any might be in serious danger.

"Right about now, I bet you're thinking, 'who is this guy?' Well, I'll tell ya! I am Shikujiru Shito!", he shouted, rather obnoxiously in Lexaeus's opinion. "He who seeks the ultimate warrior!"

Lexaeus paused for a moment, hefting his Skysplitter over one shoulder, and then smiled slightly.

"Sorry to disappoint you," he said, taking a heavy step forward, "But Xemnas is by far the strongest of our ranks. I suppose that means you'll have to settle for the 'penultimate warrior' today."

The Fanboy just laughed.

"Haven't you heard? Xemnas is dead!"

Lexaeus's eyes widened. For the first time since his comrades had unexpectedly started attacking each other, he was not focusing on their battles, his attention directed entirely at the unfamiliar Fanboy.

"Impossible."

"You better believe it, bro," Shikujiru said, twirling his microphone in one hand. "It was like this -in the gray corner, Xemnas! In the other gray corner… not one, not two, but four of our very own Uber-Fangirls! Four vs. one, no items, final destination… for your so-called Superior, that is! No way he made it out of that room alive!"

Lexaeus raised an eyebrow.

"But you didn't see this fight, I take it."

The Fanboy paused for a moment, his microphone lowering a bit without him realizing, then managed to stutter out a reply.

"W-well, no, I wasn't… y'see, I didn't… I…"

He paused again, the grin on his face vanishing away and then twisting into a snarl as his eyes began to glow bright red. After taking a few heavy breaths, he finally stopped pointing at Lexaeus and instead hunched over, balling his hands into fists and grumbling angrily to himself.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit… he's using logic and reasoning! No preconceived notions, no bias, not spinning things his way… just reading the situation based on what's actually there: my words, my reactions, every move I make! I… I can't compete with that, bro!"

Lexaeus began to approach the distracted Fanboy at his usual slow-and-steady pace, tomahawk at the heady over his shoulder. The sounds of the battles raging among the non-numbered members, the hoots and hollers of the Fanboys in the audience, the occasional excited squeal or disgusted shriek from one of the Fangirls… he tuned them all out. Now that he knew which of their enemies was the cause of this mess, he knew exactly how to clean it up.

The Fanboy clutched the sides of his head, almost clawing at his short, greased-up hair with the one empty hand he had. And then, suddenly, he stood upright and pointed right at Lexaeus, the obnoxious smirk returning to his face just a moment before the giant of a man got within a weapon's-length.

"Now, for what you've all been waiting for!", he shouted, pointing one finger high into the air above his head. "Forget those no-names and their little playground scuffles -it's time for the main event!"

Lexaeus froze right where he stood. The Fanboy was within his reach now. He hadn't shown off incredible speed compared to most of the previous Uber-Fangirls, so dodging or escaping would be unlikely at such close range; a single swing, even one-handed, would probably be enough to shatter him and end this madness in an instant. But he couldn't bring himself to move his arm. He couldn't take another step forward… or back, for that matter. He wanted nothing more than to destroy the scrawny little Fanboy in front of him, but something was preventing him from making any move toward that goal.

"Number Five in the Organization… they call him the 'Taciturn Stalwart,' or 'Silent Hero' depending on who you ask!", he shouted into his microphone, keeping his other hand's finger pointed high all throughout this introduction. "Commander of the element Earth, wielder of the tomahawk 'Skysplitter'... LEXAEUS!"

Michiko blinked, the red fog lifting from her mind all at once. She staggered back, nearly dropping her weapon at the sight of Otonashi standing in front of her, clutching one shoulder with a bloodied hand and holding the handle of his own weapon (the whip-like portion of which was looped around her position on the ground, as though it had fallen in the middle of attempting to encircle her) in the other. Roberto and Toivo were on the ground nearby, looking as though they had been grappling with each other before suddenly stopping. The fog in their minds had cleared as well, and neither of the two men had any idea how they'd ended up in their current position. Vittorio pulled himself back to his feet and coughed, rubbing a sore spot on his stomach where someone had landed a solid blow on him.

"Lexaeus, what's going on!?", Toivo yelled, attempting to get the attention of the group's lone numbered member who was standing just a few feet away from an unusual-looking Fanboy. "Were we just fighting… each other?"

"Mama mia," Vittorio muttered, rubbing another sore place on his head. "It does feel like I've been fighting, but…"

"You guys can't remember anything either, huh?", Michiko added.

The chef shook his head. Roberto and Otonashi followed.

"Uh… you guys," Toivo said, shivering slightly as he watched Lexaeus slowly turn around and face his gathered allies rather than the Fanboy. His face, though not normally one of the most expressive among the Organization, was a very different sort of blank than usual; the look in his eyes, in particular, was one that nobody standing on that wooded hillside had ever seen on him before.

"I think we might have a problem."