The corridor of Light closed behind the four Masters. Once it so did their Dream Eaters companions. An unnatural quiet greeted them. No birds. No insects. No wind. Even the lapping waves seemed unsure if they were meant to touch here. Though only minutes old the land and its flora looked to have belonged for centuries.

"I think we've got our work cut out for us with this one," Lea commented. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"I doubt anyone has." Kairi said.

The Keyblade Masters stood on their guard. Why wouldn't have Riku been called away after this particular fight? Fighting against the other Nobody princesses had been by no means a picnic but the special power of this one honestly had them dreading the day they would eventually face her.

"Let's get to it then," Bryan said. "Like Kairi said before, we need to make the worlds brighter before a new light joins it."

A knowing smile broke across every face.

"We got your invitation!" Sora shouted. "We're ready to start this dance whenever you are!"

Snorts, grunts, hisses and snarls of agreement chorused among the Dream Eaters.

A moment of silence passed. The jungle itself shifted. Trees, leaves, shrubs and flowers bent over and apart. Doing so created a very clear path to the heart of the island. The Masters followed it without a word. Experience told them the chances of this being a trap were slim. Theatrics weren't usually expended without a grand finale planned. As they walked the trees straightened up and the undergrowth fell back into place behind them. This was just an attempt to unnerve them. Caution was exercised but not fear.

Undergrowth abruptly stopped. Trees thinned. The Masters had reached a flat lowland. Patches of rocks and scattered mats of grass were all that filled the space before them. All except a lovely blonde woman in a battle skirt of a familiar silver-blue. She saw them coming but said or did nothing as they neared.

"Some would consider all of this going a bit overboard," Lea said casually.

Cosmaira smiled sweetly like a schoolgirl being complimented on her pigtails.

"You'll have to forgive the grandeur but I could not resist. You may not believe this but I do not usually have the opportunity to use my powers on such a scale. And when I sensed you all on that reef? I couldn't challenge you there. Oh no. Our showdown would require a proper stage.

"How flattering," Kairi said falsely. "Not many foes of ours would go through so much trouble."

"I felt like being generous," Cosmaira stood up from the large stone she'd been sitting on. Her sweet and demure expression began to fade. "Sadly our pleasantries must come to an end. Our plan is nearing its final stages. My instructions were to stall you as long as I could. However, I see no reason to let you go now only to interfere later in any way. So please, show me the power of a seasoned Keyblade Master. All of you against me. I will not even call upon the lesser Nobodies that answer to me. There is only one thing I need."

From a safe distance Cosmaira removed her glass talisman. Just as they had seen her do years ago the false princess raised the Talisman to the end of a long silver arrow and shot it into the sky directly above her. The arrow sparked like reverse lightning before coming to an abrupt stop as the magic can reach its limit. Light exploded in a million refractions. The talisman stayed hovering in the air like the wishing star. The chain swung gently as though in lightly moving water.

"I must say, I am truly looking forward to witnessing how you intend to fight me, let alone defeat me." Cosmaira said, a sudden smugness dripping from every syllable.

"Well find a way. We always have." Lea said, his Keyblade catching fire.

"I commend your confidence," She said with insincere praise. "But I wonder if it is misplaced. I see you are missing several of your members. Truly foolish. Other than Xhosar himself my power is the strongest of all my sisters. Anything in this dome behaves exactly as I desire to it. Amplified one-hundred fold by my Talisman all of your defenses will be shattered and reshaped to my will." Her smile was uncannily similar to the sweet and gentle smile of Cinderella but the wicked delight in her eyes made her entire demeanor very unsettling. Another long arrow appeared in her hand and she knocked it against the beautiful bow. "My sisters were foolish to engage and disrupt your past selves. Because of the delicacies of Time destroying any of them could have unintended consequences for us. You however shall be my greatest prize. Imagine all those who will cower before me when they learn I destroyed four Keyblade Masters at once."

She fired her arrow.

The group scattered. So did the arrow. Just before it left the reach of the dome it scattered into a dozen smaller missiles of light. Some found purchase. Some were deflected. Some lost their power shortly after leaving the dome.

"Her power only reaches to the edge of the dome," Kairi said to Sora after getting out of the way. "The effect of any arrow won't last long if we're out there."

"But then we can't hit her," Sora replied. "At the same time if we go in for the attack, who knows what she'll make happen?"

"We don't have much choice," Lea said. "Spread out around the dome. Maybe she can only focus her powers on a few things at once."

The Dream Eaters huffed and stomped their feet (those that had feet) as they too circled the dome and prepared for the attack. Lea fired first by literally firing fire. Unfortunately less than a tenth of the torrents power actually reached its target. The rest turned into a swirl of red and yellow confetti. Immediately following Lea, Kairi tucked her legs up underneath herself and flew with pixie dust to attack Cosmaira from the other side. The Nobody princess merely turned her head after barely getting singed by the flames. All she had to do was look at Kairi and that activated something like a slow motion rewind; the strike never got close.

Another arrow arched through the air. This time it quickly became a bolt of lightning. The target was Rachel's first Dream Eater, Jewel the Frozluga. The gilded flying whale gracefully tried to evade but the bolt changed again into a sparking net, covering her tail and lower body. Jewel squealed in discomfort before the magic lost power.

In the few seconds it took for this to happen several attempts to attack Cosmaira had resulted in failure. However, the atmosphere of futility wasn't near as frustrating as the recognition the false princess was toying with them. Attacks of Ice turned into swarms of shimmering dragonflies. Attacks of Time slowed down the caster. Casting heal on oneself worked normally but not if it was cast on someone else. After seeing Sora take a heavy hit, Bryan cast Curaga to help him out. However, the spells color was the wrong shade of green. The spectral bell that normally appeared to dispense the magic became tangible and dropped on Sora's head.

"OW!"

"I-! Sorry!"

Bryan charged forward, feinted as he neared Cosmaira then rapidly dashed to her opposite side before striking. As soon as his Keyblade made contact she shattered into ten thousand clear glass shards.

"Over here,"

Understandably surprised Bryan turned to the sound of her voice. He barely had enough time to take a defensive stance. The false princess swung her bow upward with both hands. Like the deadliest Frisbee a bright sickle-shaped slice of silver energy came spinning at him.

Only it never made contact.

A hideous spitting hiss buzzed in Bryan's ears. Within the span of a blink White had thrown himself in front of his master and had taken the entire hit. Bryan suddenly had the electric snake a foot in front of his face, hood spread out wide like a shield.

"White…"

The spirit raised its head. His eyes had become narrow slits. The edges of the cobra hood curled down like the ears of an angry animal. The great snake turned back to Cosmaira, fangs fully extended with a livid screeching hiss. Bryan's other dream eater, Seger, had been about thirty feet away. The fire beast had seen the blade-like energy go hurling at his master and had tried to sprint to his aid. Upon realizing he was too late, despite White intercepting the attack, Seger had skidded to a terrified halt. Although, just like his battle partner, Seger recovered quickly and turned all attention and rage to the one responsible. Blue flames licked the wolfs' ankles and mane. A low, guttural growl rose up from his belly, evolving into a roar.

Simultaneously Cosmaira had returned to shooting Reality arrows at the most opportune targets. Lea had been half-right: she could only directly and completely change reality around only a few targets at a time before the effects were visibly less potent. However the dome itself seemed to have a mind of its own.

Sora made to follow up and attack Kairi failed to land but dropped as he was suddenly in a thick quagmire up to his knees. Yani, his Yoggy Ram saw this and immediately changed course to help him.

"Don't get to close! You'll get stuck t-! Yani don't!"

But the Yoggy Ram didn't listen. Yani came right up to the altered terrain and stepped right in. Back legs anchored on solid ground he lowered his head, offering his horns for Sora to grab. Sora swung his Keyblade behind Yani's horns, gripping both ends tightly.

"Careful now. Don't need you getting st-."

The ram of fire backed up no differently than it had been standing in water. As soon as Sora was free of the quicksand trap it solidified back to normal. He still had a lot of dry dirt on his shoes and clothes but Yani's white fur hadn't picked up a single grain. Sora didn't have time to consider a reason for this as Cosmaira would not stand for a single idle moment.

The false princess pulled back another arrow against its beautiful bow and shot it directly upward at the floating Talisman maintaining the dome. On contact the glass charm ignited with silver light. Sparkling streaks rained down like the arms of a firework. Though, unlike a festive firework the streaks didn't fade. On the contrary, the lights sharpened into razor sharp arrowheads of glass. Thousands of them.

The keybearers tried to shield themselves as best they could. There was no time to try and escape the dome and there were too many to realistically dodge. Fantasia, the magical unicorn lifted her head high. A hazy shimmer of green light hung above her glowing horn like an umbrella. Kairi and Riku's Komory Bat, Vlad huddled close to the UniGlow for shelter. Sora cast Aerogza around himself, hoping that might help deflect the barrage. Yani and Riku's Cyber Yog stood on either side of him shooting mighty torrents of fire and lighting at the projectiles. That scene repeated with Bryan, Seger and White. Lea created a flaming shield over himself and the two Meow Wows, Buddy and RolliPolli. As powerful as a wouncing Meow Wow could be they were not known for having significant magical defenses.

The torrential rain of glass came down full force. Each arrow that hit Fantasia's shield claked like hail hitting a windshield. The four spirits of Fire and Lightning maintained their vigilance and their magic reduced the shards to dust before they or those under their care could be hurt.

However, the same could not be said for Lea. Most of the projectiles passed right through his shield of fire. Those that did lost most of their power and sharpness but struck him and the spirits all the same. And it did not go without notice.

Cosmaira's expression wrinkled into a disgusted scowl when her attack was barely finding purchase the way it should. Upon seeing Lea's defense fail, however, that changed in half the span of a blink. Every glass arrow that hadn't hit the ground froze mid-air…before changing direction and rocketing back at Lea from all sides.

Title Translation: The Siege