It took a while to lay it all down. By the time Riku was finished, Sora had constructed an impressive leaning tower out of kitchen utensils, and Kairi's expression fit somewhere between horror and disbelieving awe.

"I want superpowers," she said after a while.

Sora burst out laughing, and had to hastily disassemble his tower before it could scatter all over the table. "Who doesn't?"

"I'm serious." Kairi straightened her shoulders, and Riku knew there would be no talking her out of it.

"Kairi..."

"I don't see why you shouldn't have superpowers," Sora said. He was arranging everything on a tray to carry it back to the dispensary. "Apparently you have to pass a test or something, but if you can, you'd make an amazing observer or combatant. You were great when we fought the tentacle monster."

"Sora, I didn't do anything. Okay, yeah, I threw a rock, but..."

"I think many people would have panicked and ran, or fainted." Sora stood, balancing the heavily laden tray, and smiled. "Don't sell yourself short. All the qualifications I needed, I got while surviving my world's end. You have the same experience."

Riku watched Sora walk off with all their trays. He felt a little raw inside. When he turned to Kairi, she gave him a look. "Sora survived alone in the ruins of a city for a while," he explained. "Then a soldier helped him, and literally hours later, they were noticed by our people and brought here."

"You don't know any details?"

Riku ruffled his bangs with an exhale. "No. The topic is somewhat difficult to approach."

"You should do it anyway. If you're as close as you're acting."

"I want to." Riku chewed on his lip. "Thing is, anything could happen tomorrow. One of us could die. All of us could die. I don't want to disrupt a rare peaceful moment, and – Sora is so kind, he..."

"I think he's good for you." Kairi watched Sora fiddle with the dispensary, clearly giving her and Riku time to talk. "And I think you like him. If you want it to last, you have to be good for him, too."

"I know." Riku fell silent. Almost immediately, Sora stopped fiddling, got the drinks he must have intended to get, and made his way back to the table.

Three tall glasses thumped down on the metal surface of the table. Riku eyed his, blue-green and somewhat frothy. "What is this?"

"Something with seaweed. I tried it before, it's good." Sora took a sip of his own drink, which seemed to consist of yellow and red splotches.

Kairi got purple. She dipped the tip of her tongue in it, and made a surprised sound. She drank a few gulps. "Good."

Sora grinned. "Of course. I experiment only on myself."

Riku's tablet buzzed. Judging by the way Sora jumped, his did, too. They slipped the devices out of their pockets.

"Is this an emergency?" Sora asked.

"Yup." Riku read the message, downing his drink. It really did taste good. He put the empty glass back on the table. "Sorry, Kairi, could you get these for us?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Is there a problem?"

Sora was done drinking, too. He stood. "Most likely not on the premises. But just in case, you should stay in your room."

"We'll be checking on you," Riku said.

Kairi traced the edge of her glass. "I'm no superhero, but I'm not helpless, either."

Riku smiled. "I know. Just don't look for trouble."

Kairi shook her fist in mock-offence. Sora laughed, grabbed Riku's wrist, and pulled him out of the cafeteria. Feeling affectionate, Riku tugged until their palms were clasped. This got him no visible reaction from Sora, except for a gentle squeeze.

They released their hold before entering Xemnas' office. Appearances weren't entirely insignificant.

It looked like all the active combatants were already inside. Even Roxas perched on Xemnas' desk, flanked by Yuffie.

Sora hesitated at the sight of so many people, some of whom he hadn't met before. Riku pushed him further into the room so he could close the door, and left his hand pressed to Sora's back.

"What's up?" he asked, keeping his tone light. "Are we preparing a frontal assault or something?"

"Possibly," Zexion said. He was perched on the armrest of the only armchair in the room, occupied by Lexeus. "Although I believe that the outcome would be disastrous."

That did not sound good. "Okay, seriously, what's going on."

Xemnas sat behind his desk, mouth hidden by steepled fingers. Saix stood just behind and to the right of him, straight as a rod. Both looked tense.

"Leon and Cloud left for Traverse Town two days ago. We haven't been able to contact them since."

Riku's first thought was that someone must have been messing with the system again. Then he realised that his and Sora's excursion would have made communication with another world very difficult. "Ah."

Xemnas smiled tiredly. "No, don't worry. We're almost certain someone has been blocking our communication on purpose."

A murmur went around the room. Riku gaped. Blocking communication from the last bastion of humanity in an overrun world required no small amount of casual disregard for people's lives.

"Reports of technical difficulties from the day before Leon and Cloud departed have just reached me," Xemnas continued. "I'm disinclined to think it a coincidence."

There was something like defeat in his tired voice. Riku didn't like it. "Okay. So someone wanted them stranded in Traverse Town. They succeeded. What do we do?"

Saix shifted, bringing attention to himself. "You, Lexeus and Luxord go over system logs and try to find out who, when and how. All three stick to your partners. You will also be provided with additional protection." He looked to Xemnas, who frowned.

"Yes, I think... Xaldin and Demyx, and Roxas, can be assigned to Riku and Sora. Marluxia and Larxene to Zexion and Lexeus. Luxord and Xigbar, you will have to stay close to myself and Saix."

A murmur of grudging consent went around the room. No one was happy about having their freedom limited.

"The deadline is six hours," Saix said, "by which time we hope to have recalibrated the threshold, and we will need to send in at least two teams."

"Who?" Xaldin asked.

Riku noted that Demyx looked rather uncomfortable next to him. He fidgeted and averted his eyes whenever Riku tried to meet them.

Xemnas made a show of thinking about it. "Hmm, I suppose you and Demyx can go, to test your compatibility. As for the second team, I'd like to send Luxord and Xigbar, if you're both feeling well enough?"

The two of them occupied a corner table. Xigbar gripped the edge and rested most of his weight on it, while Luxord perched on the opposite side, hands free to play with a pack of cards. Both smiled.

"Sure we are," Xigbar said. "Just point us at what needs t'be shot."

"I believe we've had entirely too much rest," Luxord added.

Xemnas gave them a brief smile. "Fantastic. Let us hope Leon and Cloud can hold out until we are able to reach them."

"This does not look good," Cloud commented.

He and Leonhart stood on the battlements overlooking the Dark Ones' army. The army which had seemingly dropped out of thin air, overnight, when Traverse Town was busy removing the flying Dark Ones from their list of things to kill before the end of the world. Now there were only a few stragglers left roaming the skies, hardly a danger to people who knew they could defend themselves.

The army was another matter. Before, Dark Ones had Traverse Town surrounded in a loose ring, roaming the hills beyond the walls without any obvious purpose. There couldn't have been more than a couple hundred of them. This number increased tenfold within hours.

Leonhart's gaze was drawn to the elephant-like armoured types, with glistening carapaces and long, sharp tusks. "Will they climb the walls, or will they break through?"

"Why not both?"

"Good point." Leonhart's hands slid up his face and sunk in his hair at the back of his head. "We can't be everywhere at once. If they get in, everyone in Traverse Town is as good as dead."

"Obviously."

"We had options before." The hands fell limply to Leonhart's sides. "If we could reach Hollow Bastion, get all combatant teams out here, we'd have a fighting chance. Now..."

Cloud gazed across the sea of dark carapaces. The Dark Ones hissed and clicked away in their peculiar language and kept out of the cannons' range. They looked less like a besieging army and more like a casual gathering of chatty aliens.

Cloud sat with a sigh, dangling his legs over the edge of the wall. Kicked his heels against it. "Maybe the wall will hold."

"Then they only need to pile up and climb over each other to the top."

Leonhart's fatalistic mood was getting on Cloud's nerves. He tugged and pushed at the man's pant leg until they were sitting side by side. "How about we get down there, hit them as hard as we can, then pull them in towards the wall within the cannons' range?"

"Why not?" Leonhart shrugged like he was discarding the weight of responsibility. "The more we kill, the better. Merlin's preparing some sort of special gunpowder. Whoever thinks themselves capable is running drills and last-minute training sessions. The people seem unafraid."

Cloud had noticed that, too. Most citizens prepared for the battle with a sort of deep-rooted satisfaction, like they had been waiting a long time and were finally getting their way. According to Merlin, it hadn't been more than half a month since the siege began.

"It's a shame they'll all die," Cloud said, thinking out loud. "They'd make good soldiers."

Leonhart hummed his agreement.

"Maybe with soldiers like them, you could start fighting back."

Leonhart chuckled and pressed his shoulder against Cloud's, briefly. "That so? Aren't you just full of grandiose plans."

"It's called an imagination." Cloud turned to take a real look at the man next to him. He threw caution to the wind and tucked Leonhart's bangs behind an ear, uncovering his face. "I bet there's a way to do it, too."

"Don't push me." But Leonhart turned his face, chin brushing the backs of Cloud's fingers. Clearly, he needed the comfort.

Cloud was happy to deliver. He put his hand to the other side of Leonhart's face and pulled until their foreheads were touching. Leonhart's eyes slid shut.

Cloud tangled his fingers in dark brown hair. "Make a decision. Now."

A sigh. "I don't..."

"Look. I don't care about whatever trauma you carry. Here and now is more important, and you can make a difference." Cloud found it difficult to assume a threatening tone this close to his partner. He managed anyway. "Don't disappoint me. I'm fairly sure I know what you're capable of, and I think I deserve your best." A pause. "So do the people of Traverse Town."

Leonhart's eyelids lifted to half-mast. There was something like humour in his eyes. "Enabler."

"Think of it this way: we're all going to die if no one does anything. We're probably going to die if someone does something. You might as well go down fighting, and the people might go down hopeful."

"And you?"

He wouldn't be able to stop the smile if he tried. "And I get to watch a battle rather than a massacre."

"Hm. You'll take part in it, I hope." Leonhart stood abruptly, tugging himself free of Cloud's hand. He stood with the tips of his boots over the edge of the wall, not at all bothered by the gusts of wind buffeting his back. "You're right. I can't make things worse if I try."

Cloud was reminded of a general he once admired. Leonhart's gaze seemed to encompass the battlefield, the present situation and its outcome. He rested a hand on Cloud's shoulder. First there was tingling, then a stab of cold. Cloud craned his neck to see a patch of ice, like the petals of a flower, growing into his vest.

"What's this?"

"Keep it, and I'll know where you are if we get separated."

Cloud rotated his shoulder, getting used to the weight and temperature. It wasn't too uncomfortable, he supposed. "All right. Does this mean we're going down there?"

Leonhart's answering smile had teeth.