Eight woke to the green and gray sands of Valhalla and to a distant tugging on his consciousness that reminded him of his duty. They attacked Snow, but for what?

"This place is poison now," King said.

Eight blinked away the sting in his eyes. He tasted ocean water laced with time current. "It has to be. His hold on the other worlds has gotten too weak. We can't let him recover."

"You feel that?"

The spreading venom in his body, the burn of a presence that wasn't his. "Yes."

"We're on a timer." King shook himself, but water clung to him. Eight watched it drip from King's hair and soak into his—

—Restoring uniform.

"King." Eight pointed.

King looked down at himself. Eight's uniform also reknitted itself, neckerchief turning gold.

King tugged at the neck of his cape. "Bastard's gone too far."

"It happens to all his possessees."

"Yeah, but we're not his dolls. Come on—it's time we shoved all this glitter where it really belongs."

Eight agreed and they left to find the Central Temple. He avoided looking at the sky, whose missing clouds spread a glaring and sunless light to burn the rooftops and sand.

"We should find Vanille, first," Eight said.

"If she's still here. He might have killed or dispatched her."

"And where would she be if she stayed?"

"No clue."

The Central Temple turned up empty, the statue of Mwynn gone from its floor. They checked the balconies where Vanille watched the oceans, but to no avail. They ran. And as they ran, Eight noticed the old depictions of both Mwynn and Etro gone from the walls and floors. They were replaced with respectful emphasis on the Creator Himself—

They paused in their old war room and Eight said, "Let's speed it up. I'm losing control."

They found the court gardens empty as well. King said, "Perhaps we should split and cover more ground."

"We won't hear each other."

"Yes, we can. It sounds different, but it's still there. And I can't even sense Hope. It's best that we find a way to blow this place to smithereens instead."

"We have no ammo."

"We'll make some." King started walking again and Eight followed.

Valhalla was a place of regeneration, sight, and worship. "He's made a big point of erasing Mwynn and Etro," Eight said.

"Yeah. He hates them and every reminder chips away at his resolve."

"We can use that."

"Not to burn Valhalla."

"Forget burning Valhalla for a minute. That wouldn't matter if we can take him out for good."

"Is that still possible?"

"Maybe not. But we'll have at least as good a chance of taking him out through more direct means than just destroying his kennel."

King put a hand on Eight's shoulder. "That's smart thinking. Let's use it."

Eight felt a rush at King's approval. "The crux is that we would need Mwynn and Etro or some equivalent. So, unless you're suggesting old-fashioned vandalism—"

"If we found Deuce, that would provide a good start. Breaking Vanille would be second. Combine that with Yeul, and we might have a plan."

"Then we need to find Deuce."

"Right." King closed his eyes and Eight knew he reached for those in his range.

"I forbid it."

A dull thud rang about them like a bullet hit a protect spell. Eight knew what happened before he turned to see Bhunivelze approach.

Eight knew this guy to be omnipresent, but a part of him wanted to believe he wouldn't catch on so soon. Yet, despite that power, Bhunivelze chose to approach them in mostly-human form. If it weren't for the blue-grey of his skin or the gold embeddings, or the eyes like jewels—

Eight clenched a fist to hold himself back from punching him.

"You know your place," Bhunivelze said, voice vibrating Eight's ribcage and echoing through his skull despite the level and almost quiet tone. "Why do you complicate plans you know to be infallible?"

King said nothing. Eight followed his example. Bhunivelze waited for a response even though Eight knew him to anticipate the answer.

"You'll not resist forever," Bhunivelze said at length, visibly unaffected by their silence. "I can keep you until you've finished acclimating."

Eight felt pulled toward him, every instinct screaming to drop at his feet and give in. The pressure of the air suffocated him. Sound dulled and his fingers numbed.

"Don't," King bit out. Eight didn't know who he directed the order to.

Bhunivelze approached and Eight forced himself to step back. Bhunivelze raised a hand in command and Eight grit his teeth. Proximity seemed to worsen the pressure.

"If you don't go by choice…" Bhunivelze put his hand on Queen's overturned desk. "… I have other means."

"We were screwed from the minute Snow stabbed us," King said. "Do your worst."

Eight tensed, ready to throw himself at Bhunivelze no matter how hopeless it was. They faced worse with the Arbiter.

"Very well," Bhunivelze said.

Eight leaped, only to slam into stone. Something bit into his leg and tore. His head pounded and he lost breath. Golden razors wrapped about his arms and tore him down. Red stained his clothes and the wire, but none of it came close to his middle.

"You'll come to regret it in time, I'm sure." Bhunivelze bound King like he did Eight, with blades cutting into his limbs and forcing him to the ground. "I'll leave you as long as I must."

Something yanked him back and Eight screamed against the burn coursing through his limbs. The razor-wire pulled him until he hit the wall near where Queen's desk used to be. King shouted in defiance.

Bhunivelze remained clear. "Use this time to think, my children, and use it to reform. I'll see you changed when I remove your prisons."

If Eight were mortal, the pain would knock him out and eventually kill him. But instead, it hurt like a Rursus' strike and he'd heal too fast to respawn. There was no reset button.

Eight screamed and ripped his arms free. The wire sliced his bones off and blood poured from his lost forearms. He kicked his legs out and landed limbless near the wire.

Bhunivelze had the decency to look stunned before Eight's arms regenerated and he used that to throw himself forward. He channeled the pain into rage and that into adrenaline.

He slammed into Bhunivelze and bounced back, legs regained by the time he hit the ground.

Bhunivelze, now covered in Eight's fading blood, turned from stunned to enraged. Eight moved faster still and punched that chin hard enough to snap the head back.

"Such insolence—!"

Eight moved again and Bhunivelze blocked him. Eight twisted himself around the block and locked himself around the middle and neck. He trapped Bhunivelze in a chokehold.

More wire attached itself to his legs and Eight kicked free before it got higher than his ankles. He didn't need his feet to keep his hold.

Bhunivelze claimed damnation for Eight before taking them both with the wire. Eight wondered why Bhunivelze didn't just evaporate if this was an avatar.

Eight pushed against Bhunivelze until the wire cut into his bone and sliced him free. He toppled to the ground in a heap, limbless again. Bhunivelze was careful not to hit the vitals. Trey would suggest that Bhunivelze didn't want them to die but dying only meant a respawn in the same place. They would only start this process over again.

Bhunivelze stabbed him through the torso and pinned him to the wall. More wire took through his shoulders and sides. When his legs and arms regrew, the wire stabbed straight through them instead of wrapping around. Pain ignited every nerve and Eight screamed.

Bhunivelze swiped at his bloodstained hands and sides. The back held the worst of it. He glared at Eight and said nothing before stalking away.

"Good job," King said to Eight. "And I mean that."

Eight couldn't turn to see him. "Didn't do any good."

"It spat in his face. If that's not good, I don't know what is."

Eight chuckled at that, the sensation of it like a great wind. It reignited the pain in his chest and he measured his breaths against the maddening sting of the wire. He said, "He acts like he's mortal despite taking no damage. Take note of that."

"Already done."

Lumina lost her hold on time. She whirled through space before landing in a bright room. She knew this one—Etro would have managed her people from here. Bhunivelze must have lost his patience.

Given he didn't meet her, she assumed herself locked in. He didn't want her leaving again until the merging worlds were dealt with. "You're not even gonna give me an explanation?" Lumina asked. "What exactly did I do so wrong?"

Nothing.

"You must be pissed if you won't even take the time to monologue. Something happened here, then?"

Nothing.

"Unless my innocent screwing around got your attention. And I don't see how I changed that much!"

Nothing.

She hummed to herself and inspected the room. It wasn't like some mortal home where she could pick a lock and find her way out, but she looked anyway. "Maybe it was both, then. But what did you expect? You didn't remove Lightning's rebellion, you just gave it form! What did you want the resulting person to do?"

The door didn't budge despite having no lock. The windows held her back without glass. She pushed at them and found no give. She was so high up, she wasn't sure what would happen when she hit the bottom.

"No one can break Lightning free without me," she said. "You made one invincible pawn, but what about the rest? Dajh, Hope, and Vanille have all been possessed before. I felt Sazh and Snow turn. Serah's gone missing. So, if I can hold back Lightning…"

"You cannot."

A flutter in her stomach at his fear. "But I can."

"There is nothing in that room with which you can harm yourself."

"Hope didn't need a room. He didn't even have a body. But he forced you into a corner, didn't he?" Lumina walked up to the table and tested the edge. "We don't even know if this will interrupt Lightning do we? You're scared of even the chance."

Silence again. Lumina imagined cracking her head against it and a sickening dread settled in her stomach.

"That's stupid," she said. "You also took the fear from her. Or, the survival instinct. It's okay, I can still work past that."

"You cannot."

"I'll try." Lumina thought of Nine breaking himself open for fun. Valhalla would heal her. It would hurt but she could interrupt Bhunivelze again. And then maybe she could get the signal out.

She slammed her head against the table.

Deuce stepped through the portal, stomach twisting at the sight of all that blood. Blood that artlessly painted the grass in a trail leading away. It was thin, and grew thinner as it went, trailing in a groove cut into the ground.

"Couldn't even be bothered to carry the spear, could she?" Sice muttered.

Deuce remembered to breathe. "We need to bring her back."

"Gotta find her first," Nine said before striking off to follow the trail.

"Come on," Sice said, "gotta move faster than that."

Deuce shook her head to clear the cobwebs. Their problem was Fang. Why was Fang here on Gaia IX? She had no connection to it… it was Vanille who they found here.

"She's in the Dark City," Sice said.

"What, bringing light or some shit?" Nine asked.

Deuce said, "Fang doesn't need a reason to kill, but it'll be easier for her to justify Treno. It's more corrupted than any other city, full of uncaring and distracted people. She'll see it as multitasking."

"Multitasking?" Nine asked. "You mean it ain't her first mission?"

"I believe she's looking for Vanille."

"Hm." Sice picked up the pace. "Then let's beat her to it."

Deuce agreed.

Fang kicked at a fallen helmet and sent it rolling down the street. She ripped her spear out of the fallen soldier stupid enough to try to stop her. The man let out a weak groan and Fang stung at the thought of killing him. How backward that Bhunivelze wanted havoc, but He hated death. "I could just blind you," she said. "Or cripple you. But even I have standards."

He choked on his own blood and Fang healed him enough to seal the lungs.

"Fang!"

Deuce, with Sice and Nine, came at her with weapons drawn. Why didn't Nine jump?

Sice threw out a dark aura, and the world went from dark to purple. Fang tried to push away from it, but the pull was too strong. She gritted her teeth and jammed her spear into the ground to hold her place, summoning greater winds to break through and carry her away.

Sice pushed on, unaffected by the magic.

The winds hit the aura and swirled with the darkness, as affected by the pull as Fang herself. She shouldn't be surprised by that. But they deterred Sice.

Fang grimaced and did a quick calculation, she had to move, and she had to do it quick. Lucky for her, this thing was domed.

Fang jumped.

Flew from the ground, using all the wind she could to gain distance. The pull carried her towards the center, but not quickly enough. She exited the dome, not quite able to change her course from stopping on the other side of Deuce.

Deuce jumped back towards Sice, flute at her lips. If she played music, Fang couldn't hear it.

Fang swung with her spear, catching the edge of Deuce's capelet as the girl danced out of the way.

Swung again only to be parried by Nine. He hit with a surprising amount of force, almost knocking the spear from Fang's hands.

"Gonna tell me what it is you guys want?" Fang asked, barely keeping Nine off her. Sice kept close by, Deuce out of range. They toyed with her.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sice asked. "You know that your buddy Snow killed two of ours?"

"Good for him." Fang grunted under the weight of another hit. Damn, these streets were irritating in close quarters. The steep drop-offs and high inclines didn't help. "If you came for revenge, you'd try harder."

"You're looking for your friend," Sice said. "Kind of sounds like you're breaking rules."

"Good guess, but wrong."

Sice hesitated. Then the music started. Fang's sight blurred.

"Come on, Fang," Sice said, almost affable. "One-on-one, we're evenly matched."

Fang touched her ear and found blood. "What do you want?"

"Your goal," Deuce said. "Remember Ruin? You knew your friends waited for you off-planet and instead you chose to stay and help people."

"I don't remember that." Fang only remembered pain from growing up alone and unaccepted by the village. Pain from starving. Pain from fighting. Pain from missing Vanille. … And the rest of the family.

Deuce continued, "So many survived because of your help, and the Eidolons? They keep that planet going now. That was your idea, right? You didn't even ask Bahamut to go with you because you knew others who needed him more."

Bahamut was a creature of Etro. The rest of the Eidolons distorted what they touched.

Deuce met Fang's eye with a hopeful look. For a moment, Fang hated to disappoint her.

"Not interested," Fang said. Deuce whipped her flute back out, but not fast enough.

Fang teleported away and hit the Historia Crux.

Bhunivelze's power, though weakened by the paths separating her from Valhalla, still reached even here. The bleeding stopped and her vision cleared. Her purpose refreshed. She had to find Vanille.

"Why not Hope?" she asked. "Wasn't he good for something once upon a time?"

"No," came the response. There was nothing to be gained before he next died and returned Home. Vanille, however, served a risk until they retrieved her. She was not conditioned like Hope.

Fang expected relief. She never knew Hope like she knew Vanille. Yet she felt a pang of fear, like when they lost the link to Sazh.

"You've developed a link like the rest. I'll work to remove these troublesome feelings for each other, but that must wait until the worlds have been subdued."

Fang swallowed her doubts and set out for the next world.