Riku glared at the lines of code on the screen in front of him. He was sprawled on a chair in the control room, which he was rapidly learning to hate. Sora had draped himself across another chair and was entertaining Demyx with stories from his entirely mundane life before the apocalypse. Riku wished he could focus on listening. He wanted to know about Sora's school life and the cat that had hated him but, according to Sora, hadn't deserved to be eaten by Dark Ones.

Demyx was tense and unhappy, had been since the meeting in Xemnas' office. Riku had the distinct impression he very much wanted to say something, but couldn't.

Roxas leaned over Riku and pointed at the screen. "Can you really understand this gibberish?"

Riku batted his hand away. "It's not gibberish, it's actually very clever. And yes."

"Why do you look constipated, then?"

"I do not-ugh. I'm confused because there's nothing wrong with the code. It's exactly as I left it, it works fine. Which suggests two possibilities. One, whoever had messed with it managed to remove their changes, which isn't really a possibility, because they wouldn't have had time to do it. Two, there had never been any changes and the connection with Traverse Town is being blocked manually, which suggests the involvement of the technician crew manning the threshold. This is extremely unlikely, because at least a dozen shift changes must have occurred since Leon and Cloud's departure."

"We could interview everyone who might have had an opportunity to interfere with the threshold," Xaldin said. "It would be very time-consuming, however."

"We could and we should, but not before we get Leon and Cloud back. Now that we know the disruption's origin, we should be able to fix it. I'm calling Xemnas."

"Hurry up," Roxas grumbled. "The longer we're on high alert, the longer I'm stuck with you."

"Weren't you keeping Axel stable?" Sora asked, pulling himself into an actual sitting position.

"Zexion says they're fine without me. I don't like not knowing what they're doing to him."

Riku tuned out the conversation when Xemnas answered the call.

"Yes, Riku?"

"Whoever messed with the threshold, they did it from the control room. There might be an external device, or one of the technicians has been cleverly redirecting our attention."

A long breath. "I see. Meet me in the threshold chamber. I'll have the technicians clear out."

"Aye, captain."

Riku took a few minutes to put safety measures in place. Nothing too sophisticated – it wouldn't prevent someone from entering the system, but hopefully, it would track any new changes. Once that was done, Riku herded the others out of the room and towards the threshold chamber.

Xemnas, Saix, Xigbar and Luxord were already waiting, accompanied by a pale, blonde girl. Riku frowned as he tried to jog his memory. He was fairly sure he hadn't seen her before.

"Who's that?" asked Roxas. He kept his tone friendly.

Xemnas stood behind the girl and rested both hands on her shoulders. "This is Namine, a Relic host. She's been here for a long time and you've all met her, but most of you won't remember it."

Leon encountered an unexpected hurdle that stopped him from launching himself at the hordes of Dark Ones. Namely, there was no way to get outside the walls without opening one of the gates, which absolutely no one would agree to. Leon understood. He would also distrust two men's ability to fight off the invaders long enough for the gate to close behind them. And he would question their sanity, as Merlin was undoubtedly doing presently.

"It seems like a somewhat... hasty decision," said the old man carefully. "Perhaps you should sleep on it."

Leon almost laughed in his face. He was feeling light, giddy with the prospect of stretching out his Relic, of finally leaving the claustrophobic little town. He could see traces of similar euphoria in Cloud's subtle gestures, though to an unskilled observer the man looked as unconcerned as ever.

Rather than offend the unofficial leader of Traverse Town and their not insignificant audience of random onlookers, Leon shook his head. "We will be fine, Merlin, I promise. It has been brought to my attention that I can't possibly make things worse, but I might be able to make them better. Let me try."

"If you get hurt, I'm afraid Hollow Bastion will no longer look upon us with kindness."

"Their kindness is useless if it can't reach you," Cloud said.

"They won't blame you if we die," Leon added. "They'd assume I was reckless as usual."

"Reckless? You?" Cloud's tone was on the accusatory side, but Leon read affection in his expression.

He shrugged. "I was more reckless while I was responsible only for myself." He turned back to Merlin. "I don't expect you to open the gates for us, that would be too risky. There must be another way to get outside."

Merlin looked pained. He turned to the onlookers in a silent plea for support, but they made it clear through eloquent body language that they were entirely okay with the two madmen going out and killing at least some of the scary creatures. Merlin heaved a disappointed sigh. "Fine, fine. Of course there's a way. This is a port town, remember? Just hop on a boat and we'll rise the portcullis, if you promise to stay quiet."

That seemed like a safe option, as the portcullis was part of an inner wall and obscured from view from the outside. The Dark Ones were unlikely to realise anything was going on before Leon and Cloud were ready for them. Only one problem remained.

"I think we can manage. Could you leave the portcullis lifted slightly, so that we'll be able to swim under it on our way back?"

"Oh, so you do intend to return?" Merlin put a good dose of sarcasm into his voice, but Leon was fairly certain he detected relief under it. "We can leave a way open for you, but you'd have to swim to the bottom of the bay. That's not-"

"Humanly possible?" Leon almost smiled at Merlin's squint. "Just leave it open and we'll worry about the rest."

Merlin sighed again and turned to their audience to issue orders – masked as polite suggestions, of course.

Cloud bumped shoulders with Leon. "You're assuming I can make it to the bottom," he murmured.

"I'm confident you'd be able to walk the bottom if you couldn't swim. Either with Relic's help or without it."

"I'm not saying that you're wrong, just that you should have asked." Cloud's breath was warm on the back of his neck.

"I'll try to remember next time."

Merlin was done waving his arms around and turning in place like a confused chicken. His people were already at work. "All right, gentlemen. Let's see if you can survive your own ideas."

The boat was tiny, creaky, and had a leak.

"Perfect," Leonhart decided, hopping in so gracefully that the boat barely rocked.

Cloud sighed and followed suit. He sat down and watched the backs of Leonhart's knees as the man addressed the people up on the pier.

"We'll try to be back before it gets dark. We'll be able to help if any Dark Ones get in under the cover of night."

"If you survive until sundown, I'll be grateful for any assistance you'll be able to provide," Merlin said pleasantly.

It was late afternoon and the sun kept slipping behind big, fluffy clouds, which crawled towards Traverse Town, threatening rain. A storm would be fitting, really, and Leonhart could probably use the extra water for his ice tricks. Cloud wasn't sure about his own abilities in extreme weather conditions. Time he found out, he supposed.

Leonhart's steady voice brought him out of his musings. "If we don't return tonight, keep the portcullis raised for another day."

"Getting back is always the tricky part," Merlin agreed. "Are you sure you don't need supplies?"

"Positive."

"Well then." Merlin waved his hand with no obvious intent. He sounded like he was doing something he thought might doom them all. "Happy hunting."

Leonhart's eyes narrowed in amusement. "Stay calm and use the cannons. If the flying ones return, you know what to do." And with that, Leonhart put his boot to the pier and pushed off.

Cloud rowed, because he was already sitting at the bow of the boat. It took him a while to reduce the splashing noises to a minimum. "Sit down," he told Leonhart.

Leonhart sat, turning to face Cloud. He clasped his hands, probably to stop himself from twitching. "I have an excess of energy to spend."

"Why?"

"I'm used to more work and very little sleep. As an observer, I was off world most of the time, checking for signs of invasion, sneaking around overrun planets in search for large groups of survivors... And you know what mess I've had to deal with recently."

Cloud made a thoughtful hum. "You've visited many worlds, then."

"Yeah."

"I feel like I should be jealous."

A soft snort. "It's not like I had time to enjoy the sights, Cloud. Now, quiet."

Cloud nodded his agreement. Water carried sounds too far to risk it. They were almost at the portcullis now.

They passed it without fanfare. Cloud didn't feel any less safe outside the walls, but he expected he'd change his mind once the sight of the Dark Ones' army brought him back to reality. Meanwhile, he rowed on.

Leonhart directed him to the west, where the waters were shallow, but spotted by jagged rocks. Cloud navigated as best as an inexperienced boatman could. It was a good thing the sea was calm.

They wedged the boat between two tallish rocks and used a smaller rock for an anchor. It would have to do, and if it didn't, the swim back wouldn't be too long.

They came ashore wet and somewhat salty. Cloud put a hand to the city's wall on his left, and gazed at the plain stretching ahead and to the north, framed by rolling hills. Finding a tactical advantage would not be easy. Back atop the walls, Leonhart had spotted something of a ridge with an overhang and two wide openings. They might be able to hold it, fighting back to back. Problem was, they had to get there first.

"How do we get there without being noticed, and only then grab the attention of every Dark One in the vicinity?"

Leonhart surprised him by grabbing both his hands. "This is a fairly easy trick, not quite an illusion, and it doesn't work on Relic hosts for long, if at all," he said, and disappeared.

Except he was obviously still there, keeping Cloud's hands warm. Cloud squinted and looked closer. He noticed a disruption in the air, and small reflective particles spinning around a shape that roughly matched Leonhart's. The longer he focused on it, the more apparent it became, especially when he tried to reach out with Relic.

"Fascinating. How do I do this?"

"Think of Relic as billions of microscopic mirrors covering you head to toe. I'll let you know when it works."

Cloud made sure Leonhart could see his glare before he attempted to vanish. It took a fair amount of concentration, but Leonhart's vague instructions were more helpful than a step-by-step breakdown would have been. Cloud arrived at his own solution to the problem.

Leonhart's next inhale was almost a gasp. "Good. I'm impressed. I think only two other combatants can actually do this."

"Wh-and what were you going to do, if it turned out I couldn't?"

He felt the shrug through their linked hands. "I'd have to stretch my cover over you as well, which would be risky and tiring, but doable. Probably."

Cloud let his scowl deepen, hidden from sight as it was. They should have practised this before leaving the safety of the walls. Unless. "You didn't want the people of Traverse Town to see you do this. Why?"

"Because no one knows I can do this. An observer is not supposed to, it's a great way to overload without warning. Considering recent events, I want to keep any advantage I have over the others."

Cloud was silent for a moment. He wrapped his fingers around Leonhart's hands when he tried to tug them free. "You expect to be forced to fight one of them."

"One, or a few." Leonhart worked one hand free despite Cloud's efforts. "I respect and even like some of them, but..."

"But defeating the Dark Ones is more important?"

"Yes." A sigh. "If possible, I'd like to do it myself. Deal with the traitor, I mean. I especially don't want to involve the kids."

Cloud squeezed Leonhart's hand with enough force to make it hurt and elicited a hiss, then shifted the grip to his wrist. "You don't get to do that kind of thing by yourself. You're as stuck with me as I am with you, Leonhart."

"Ha. That's almost sweet, coming from you."

"Whatever."