'The beginning of the end.'

Fifty-Three: Crescendo

This was how the world ended.

It did not end in fire and brimstone. There were no screams, no homes torn apart, no massive catastrophe that heralded the oncoming fall—not yet, anyways. Like most ends, it started quietly. There were just little signs, here and there, that something wasn't quite right. A friend who wasn't acting quite like he should. Small disruptions to everyday life that could almost be passed off as normal. A cryptic warning that might've not really meant anything at all. But those small signs would build, and build, until something had to give.

Many wouldn't believe that, of course; many would believe that the end of this world started loud and violent, with a terrible war and thousands dead. But the reality is that the beginning of the end was a much quieter tragedy.

The end of the world began with the death of a girl—even if none of them realized it yet.

-Ephemer stifled a yawn, scrubbing his eyes and trying to focus on the paperwork in front of him.

Someone poked his arm. "Don't fall asleep yet."

Ephemer laughed quietly and batted the hand away. "No promises."

Skuld switched to shaking his shoulder instead. "We've got things to do."

"Hey, Skuld, come on." He shoved her away lightly, but it did make him feel a little more awake. He sighed, tapping his pen against the table and scanning over the pages.

"You need to eat, too." Ven, this time, giving him a worried look from across the table. It reminded him enough of Lauriam that he couldn't help laughing.

Ven just looked confused.

"I will," Ephemer promised. "I'm just—"

"Eating breakfast," Skuld finished, stealing the papers from him.

"Hey!"

Skuld held them out of reach when he swiped at them. "Nope! You can work on them later!"

"I've got them!" Ven hurried to grab them from Skuld, then scurried away before Ephemer could get them.

Ephemer groaned, slumping back into his chair. "I was trying to get ahead."

"You're trying to overwork yourself again." Skuld poked him. "We don't want to have to worry about you, you know."

"I know," he said with a tired smile and a sigh. "I'm really not trying to take on too much again."

Skuld didn't look entirely like she believed him, but didn't comment.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll try to take a break sometime today."

She still looked skeptical, but her shoulders relaxed a little. "You could always ask us for help with things, you know."

"Most things."

"The portal stuff doesn't count."

Ephemer snorted and gave her a lop-sided smile. "I've got it, I've got it."

"The papers are hidden!" Ven popped into the kitchen, grinning brightly.

"…Hidden?"

"So you couldn't find them again and work on them." Ven hopped back into his chair and pulled his cereal closer.

"Smart," Skuld said, grinning.

"Uh, you'll—you'll tell me where they are later, right?"

Ven started to nod, but stopped when Skuld cut him off, whispering, "Show me where they are, first."

"Skuld," Ephemer whined, slumping across the table.

She laughed. "If Ven and I can handle it, then that's one less thing on your plate."

"I guess." He was starting to feel a little like he was being ganged up on, and figured it was probably time to get the subject off of work. "Hey. If Lauriam's not here yet—want to have cookies for breakfast?"

"Yes!" Ven said, practically shooting out of his chair.

"Just cookies?" Skuld asked, sounding vaguely exasperated.

Ephemer was already out of his chair, helping to get the jar down. He passed a cookie to Ven, then grinned and extended one towards to Skuld. "Come on, you know you want one."

Skuld hesitated only a moment more before accepting it. "We aren't telling Lauriam."

"No way."

-"Brain? Are you there?"

Brain groaned, running a hand over his face. Not now. The portal stared at him, still corrupted and unstable. It was frustrating. No matter what he and Ephemer did, they couldn't get it to stay closed. Worse, it was starting to feel like it was opening up faster and faster. It's like it needs to form a connection here. But why?

(There was a possibility that scratched at the back of his head—an uncomfortable reality that he wasn't really willing to accept just yet.)

A hand landed on the back of his chair.

Brain started, snapping around and very nearly summoning Master's Defender.

Lauriam didn't react; he just gave Brain a worried look, rubbing a thumb under his eye. "You look like you haven't slept."

He hadn't, but he knew better than to tell Lauriam that. "Just trying to get some work done early."

"I thought you and Ephemer were working on this together?"

"We were. We are."

"Then shouldn't you wait?"

I can't afford to wait, he wanted to say, but then he'd have to explain why, and—

And maybe they deserve to know.

It was something he'd lived with for a long time—the idea that there was still something that was going to happen to them. Sometimes it felt very abstract; something that would only happen in theory, and maybe they wouldn't have to worry about it at all. Other times, it felt much more present, and it nearly sent him into a panic thinking about what might need to be done to make sure they were all safe.

But with whatever was going on with this, it suddenly felt much more real.

"Brain," Lauriam said, and Brain realized that he'd likely been quiet for too long, "why is it such a big deal if the portal opens?"

"Because we don't know what's trying to get through."

"Maybe nothing is—"

"Hypothetically," Brain interrupted, and then paused. "Hypothetically, if you knew that something terrible was coming, but you didn't know what or when or how—what would you do?"

Lauriam was quiet for several long, long moments. "Are you worried something terrible is coming through the portal?"

Yes. No. It was—complicated. "I'll—tell you more about it later," he decided finally, standing and giving the computer screen one last agitated look.

"You're coming down?"

"You're going to bug me about it until I do, right? The sooner I finish breakfast, the sooner I can get back up here."

Lauriam made a frustrated noise. "Brain—"

"I know." He made an effort to make his voice gentler as he added, "I know. But this is important."

Lauriam didn't look entirely happy about that, but he didn't argue further.

-"Lauriam!" Ven hurried after him, darting out of the kitchen to try and catch him.

The older Union Leader slowed, pausing to give him a vaguely concerned look. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, but—you're leaving early." Ven gave him an earnest look. "We have a meeting later."

Lauriam's expression softened. "I know. I'll be checking back in periodically, don't worry. There are just some things I need to do out in Daybreak Town."

"Oh. Committee projects?"

"No. It's—personal ones."

Oh. Ven should've known, really; Lauriam's hunt for the missing wielders was usually what would send him out to Daybreak Town early. His sister, he correct silently, and tried to ignore the uneasy twinge in his chest. There was a tiny part of him that wished that Lauriam would stop looking, and he wasn't sure he liked that part. (He told himself it was mostly because he didn't want Lauriam to be sad anymore, but if he were truthful, there was also a part of him that was scared.) "Can I help?" he asked, because the best way to push that part of him away was usually to do something helpful.

"I—" Lauriam hesitated, looking for a moment like he was almost considering it. Then he sighed, giving Ven a tired but grateful smile. "I think I'd rather do it on my own."

"Oh." Ven shrunk away, fidgeting, and tried not to feel too disappointed.

(Something that sounded like his old teacher hissed in the back of his head, "You pushed him away too much. How long before he pushes you away, too?")

"Ven."

Hands landed on Ven's shoulders, and he started, glancing up.

Lauriam gave him a small smile. "We'll do something together later, okay?"

Ven brightened, just a little. "Okay."

(I'm not a replacement. He's not going to push me away. He's my friend.)

Lauriam nodded, then let him go.

Just as Lauriam turned to leave, Ven called, "Hey, Lauriam?"

Lauriam paused, glancing back towards him.

There was a part of Ven that almost, almost wanted to just come out and say that he saw him as a brother, too—but it suddenly felt silly, now. He didn't even know why he'd wanted to say anything in the first place. (Except he did.) "You're—you're a good brother," he settled on finally.

Lauriam managed a smile and a small laugh. "Thanks, Ven." He paused, then added, "I hope you get to meet Strelitzia someday. I think you two would like each other."

I hope so, Ven thought, because then maybe this weird, uncomfortable feeling would go away.

-Lauriam had been looking for the missing wielders for so long at this point that he'd mostly given up hope on actually finding anything. ('Missing wielders.' Like he didn't know exactly what had happened to them.) Still, it was habit to go out and ask around for information—to explore Daybreak Town or the parts beyond to see what he could find.

(Mostly, he just hoped that he'd hear something about Strelitzia—something that could at least give him some sort of closure.

…He supposed that he could go back to the wastelands. But there were so many Keyblades to sort through, and he didn't think he'd know what to do if he found hers.)

At the very least, though, he wasn't the only one looking. Well—he supposed he was one of the few people who'd completely dedicated themselves to searching, but there were other Dandelions that had taken a vested interest in helping out. Whether that was because they had also lost people or because they thought it was the right thing to do, he didn't know; he was simply grateful that he had others he could lean on.

(Not that he couldn't get help from the other Union Leaders—Ven especially was anxious to help out—but they already had enough to manage as it was. At least with the Dandelions, he was a little less concerned about overwhelming them—and besides, any help they offered was completely voluntary.)

"I think I heard a rumor or something about people seeing smoke in the distance," the Dandelion he was speaking to was saying, "but that's all I've got for you this time."

Lauriam swallowed tightly. "It's something. Thank you." Not something he could use, but something, and sometimes, that was enough.

"Hey."

He paused, already half-turned to go.

"Why are you still doing this, anyways? You know they're—"

Gone. It was an open secret now, after all. The Dandelions might not remember the Keyblade War, but they certainly knew the other wielders weren't coming back.

"Why are you still helping?" he countered.

The other Dandelion didn't answer, and Lauriam guessed that was because he had the same one: that he'd lost someone. That he wasn't quite willing to give up hope. That he needed to do something, even if it was ultimately a lost cause.

(There was something like pity in the other Dandelion's expression, and it made something twist in Lauriam's chest.)

He turned away quickly, heading off into Daybreak Town and trying to collect his thoughts. He had—he had other things to do today, too. He knew he'd have to head back to the Clock Tower at some point to talk to the others, and there were projects that he'd have to take care of, and he promised that he'd hang out with Ven later. He almost considered just going back and giving up for the time being.

Almost. It might've happened, if he hadn't been flagged down by another Dandelion. "Hey! Lauriam!"

Lauriam slowed. "Yes?"

"You—you have a couple of people helping out with the missing wielder search, right? Volunteers?"

"Yes," Lauriam repeated, careful, wondering if this was going to be useful information or more of the same.

"Elrena's one of them, right?"

Elrena. She was, technically—but the only one that she'd agreed to help keep an eye out for was—

Strelitzia.

Suddenly, the other Dandelion had his full attention.

"She said she has something she wanted to talk to you about."

It wasn't possible. He'd been looking for so long—there was no way he was actually getting something now. But— "Can you tell me where she is?"

-Skuld caught Brain before he could slip off to the control room again.

He gave her an exasperated look. "Skuld—"

"Lauriam said that you were in the control room all night."

Brain groaned, running a hand over his face. "Of course he did."

Skuld folded her arms.

"I was trying to figure out how to close the portal."

He was hiding something. She caught his hand as he made an aborted motion for his hat and stared him down.

Brain only met her eyes for a few moments before he relented. "Fine. I'll stay here for the moment. There are things I can work on, I'm sure." He didn't sound entirely convinced.

"Brain." She took a breath and released him carefully. "The last time you did this—"

"It's not like last time." He said it too quickly, and she almost called him out on it, but he continued at a steadier pace, "But it's related."

That didn't bode particularly well. She waited, giving him an expectant look.

His eyes darted back and forth, like he was trying to figure out how, exactly, he wanted to approach this. "There's something the four of you should know," he started, finally, and the serious tone of voice made Skuld's shoulders stiffen.

The door to the Foretellers' Chambers creaked open, making them both jump. "Oh! I didn't know you guys were still in here."

Brain's expression shuttered, and Skuld tried not to groan. "Hey, Ven," she said, forcing cheer into her voice.

Ven blinked owlishly at them, a large book clutched in his arms. "Um. Do you guys mind if I'm here, too?"

The cheer became a little more genuine. "No, don't worry."

"What are you reading?" Brain asked, sounding vaguely amused.

Ven glanced at the book, then gave Brain a sheepish look. "Um. Skuld and Lauriam were talking about farming, so…"

Oh. That was…probably a good idea, actually. "Do you mind if I read, too? I could use some ideas."

Ven gave her a tentative smile. "Sure."

Brain retreated to his desk.

Skuld watched him out of the corner of her eye. She gave him a look that she hoped he understood meant she still wanted to know what was going on later—but for now, she supposed just forcing him to rest a little bit was enough.

-The control room was quiet, almost, except for a quiet hum. There was no one there to hear it, now; no one to stare at the screens and watch and wait as something on the other side of that portal pushed and pushed and pushed.

Darkness was resourceful, you see, and the collective knew that given the right direction, Darklings would do anything to get to whatever light they could find, even hunt down a pathway between two worlds that hadn't quite closed. All they really needed was a strong enough beacon.

There was a crack. The whole room flickered for just a moment. And then the shadows shifted, and an unsteady portal opened just enough to let the first Darkling through.

-Lauriam tried very, very hard to push down his anxiety. It might not be anything. It might just be another dead end. It's best not to get my hopes up.

…But what if it's not?

Elrena was sitting on the steps, her back to him. She had her head down and her shoulders hunched; he wasn't quite sure if that was good or bad. He cleared his throat and made an effort to keep his voice steady. "Hey there."

Elrena started, shooting to her feet. She lifted her head and caught his eye, relaxing after a moment. When she smiled at him, there was something both relieved and nervous in her expression, and that hopeful thing in Lauriam's chest burned brighter. "Hi!" Elrena's voice came out steady, mostly, but there was something a little like forced cheer in it. "Thank you for coming."

Lauriam took a steadying breath and made an effort to keep his voice level. Gentle. Calm. "No problem. Thanks for your help." Steady. Breathe. Just breathe. He took the steps slowly, sitting next to where Elrena had been. He half expected her to follow suit; when she didn't, he continued, prompting carefully, "I've managed to uncover some things since."

"That's wonderful!" Elrena said, and her excitement seemed genuine. Then her expression shifted towards something a little more nervous, "We actually found something too."

There it was. Whatever Elrena had wanted to see him for—it seemed like something big. Something different. Something that might actually mean something. Breathe. Keep your expectations low. "Oh?" he asked, trying and not quite succeeding at keeping his voice steady.

Elrena nodded, but she hesitated a moment. Then she took a breath and turned, pointing at the abandoned building. "After you left, we took a look inside."

(One of the last places anyone saw Strelitzia.)

Lauriam leaned forward a little, taking steadying breaths. He'd been through this building—so had Ven, actually, now that he thought about it, and Ephemer and Skuld, and—

And a lot of people, actually. If there was something there, then they would've seen something before.

Wouldn't we?

Elrena glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "We thought that maybe we could find something. We didn't at first, but when we turned to leave—we heard something that sounded like static. And then there was someone there."

(For a moment, Lauriam thought of Skuld, and of her family, and of a building left abandoned near a ghost town.)

"We saw Strelitzia," Elrena said, and Lauriam felt like he had the wind knocked out of him. "Or something like her."

For a moment, all he could do was stare. His mind felt like it was scrambling to put the pieces together. There was a logical explanation, he knew—Strelitzia's specter had likely appeared just like the ones of Skuld's family. She wasn't actually there—it was just a vision of what had happened before the war.

But for a moment, all he heard was that Strelitzia had been there.

He was moving before he'd even had time to register what he was doing, shooting towards the building as Elrena shouted after him.

-Brain flipped through his book and tried very, very hard to actually focus on what it said. It was a little more difficult than he'd anticipated, for several reasons. One was that his mind kept going back to the control room, and the portal, and what Ava had told him, and everything jumbled together into one huge mess that was hard to actually parse apart into something usable.

The other was that Skuld and Ven were still in the room, and he could practically feel their worry.

Well. Skuld's worry. She was, surprisingly, keeping her attention firmly on the book in front of her—but he guessed that if he didn't explain things, she was going to corner him later. Ven he doubted had actually picked up on anything being wrong (though he could be wrong, he supposed—the younger Union Leader could be surprisingly perceptive), but he ended up being even more distracting, considering that he kept sending looks Brain's way.

Brain sighed, turning a page in his book and trying to tamp down on his annoyance. "Spit it out, Ven."

He saw Ven jump out of the corner of his eye, then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Didn't think he'd get caught, huh? "Sorry," Ven said, and there was something a little embarrassed in his voice. "It's just that you haven't put down that book. I was just wondering what you were reading about."

Brain almost laughed. He'd barely been paying attention to the book at all; his mind had been going over and over potential ideas for how to deal with the portal and how to protect the others and—

And they should know. They should know what's going on. I should tell them.

Skuld said something, he thought, but his mind was still ringing, and before he had the chance to really think about what he was doing, he said, "I have a plan."

It wasn't how he'd wanted to start. He'd practiced telling the others, over and over again, pacing the control room at night to try and get things down. To explain what Ava had told him. To talk about how this could be the problem they have to face. To try and let them know that it would be alright, anyways. But the words came out jumbled, and he found himself jumping into a place he hadn't meant to.

From their expressions and Skuld's baffled, "What kind of plan?" he guessed that he'd just managed to confuse them more.

So he took a deep breath and tried again: "We're still headed for inevitable destruction."

"What?" Skuld still sounded vaguely confused, but there was concern there, too—and he wondered, almost, if she was starting to put the pieces together about why he had such a hard time resting in the first place.

"And I'm going to change that." He turned enough to meet her eyes and pushed his hat up, trying to ignore his shaking hands.

He saw the moment where Skuld understood—where she caught onto the fact that this was what he'd been about to tell her earlier. That he was trying, at least, to be open with them, even if his script had mostly failed him.

It was…strange, almost. He'd kept this to himself for so long, held carefully to his chest. Initially, he'd done it because he hadn't particularly trusted any of them yet; then, because he didn't want to make them worry unnecessarily; then, because he could almost convince himself that maybe nothing was going to happen at all. But it was starting to feel like things were creeping up on him. He was running out of time; they needed to know.

"This world is on a path headed for destruction," he repeated, trying to reorient himself and find words that were familiar. His book snapped closed, the sound too-loud in the quiet room. "Overwriting peoples' memories of the Keyblade War didn't change that. So I came up with a plan." He stood, lifting his head and meeting their eyes. "I'm going to become a virus and overwrite the program that is this world's future."

Both Skuld and Ven were silent. Ven looked confused and vaguely troubled, mouth opening and closing like he wasn't entirely sure what to make of everything that Brain had said. Skuld looked like she had a thousand different questions but didn't know where to start.

He glanced aside, suddenly feeling vaguely embarrassed. Maybe I shouldn't have—no. They needed to—but maybe I could've handled it better. "Go back to reading," he said, waving them off and walking past them. "I've got it covered."

He wasn't particularly surprised when Skuld ran after him, but he'd almost been hoping he'd be able to get to the control room without her hunting him down. "Skuld."

"'The world's heading for destruction?' 'I have a plan?'" Skuld waved her arms frantically. "What plan? Where is this coming from?"

He sighed, shoulders slumping, and gave her a long look.

"…The last time this happened. This is why."

"It was something Ava told me. Before—everything." Not in so many words, maybe, but the implications were certainly there.

"Brain, you—why didn't you just tell me? Why didn't you tell any of us?" But he could see the gears turning in her head as she silently replayed previous conversations. "You tried," she said, eyes widening slowly. "Back when you—after that night. You said that we might not have a choice but to leave."

"I don't know if I'd call that trying," Brain pointed out dryly.

"No, but you were testing the waters, weren't you? To find out if it'd be okay to tell us."

"For what it's worth, I did try later. Things kept getting in the way."

"Like Ven coming into the Foretellers' Chambers," Skuld said with a sigh.

"And Lauriam getting sick." Brain's expression softened. "I'm not going to let anything happen."

"We're not going to." Skuld gave him a pointed look.

"Is everything alright?"

Both of them started.

Ven peaked through the door, looking nervous.

Skuld chewed her lip, then sighed with her shoulders slumped.

"It's a lot to process, huh?" He nudged her gently towards Ven. "Well?"

She gave him an accusing look—one that promised he was definitely not done with this conversation. He'd expected as much, though. He was less worried about it than he thought he'd be.

For the moment, though, he wanted to get back to the control room and see what he could do.

-Skuld tried to go back to reading, but a book about farming wasn't really going to be more interesting than what Brain had said. It's not another Keyblade War, is it? She didn't know; she wasn't even sure Brain knew. Or maybe he does and he still doesn't feel ready to tell us, she thought, but dismissed the thought almost as quickly. If he knew what was going to happen, he would've had careful preparations set in place. A lot of what he'd done was more haphazard, like he was working off very little information and thought if he just did enough, then maybe it'd cover everything.

But now that she was looking, she could see it—and it frustrated her a little that she hadn't pieced that together sooner.

"Skuld."

She started, glancing towards Ven.

He looked nervous, and she realized she probably wasn't the only one who'd been thrown off by what Brain had said. "What do you think about Brain's plan?" he asked; the words hitched a little, like he'd switched in 'Brain's plan' at the last moment.

It was hard to say, considering he hadn't really given them much of a 'plan' to go on. 'I'm going to rewrite the program'—that's not a plan, Brain. But she guessed he was just as lost on what to do as she was, and he'd probably been saying that mostly to try and reassure them.

And Ven…didn't really need to hear that right now. "He's called Brain for a reason," she said, pushing away her own uncertainties. "He knows a lot more about this than any of us." There was a familiar, angry feeling curling in her chest, tight beneath her ribcage. "I just don't understand why the Dandelions needed to be saved from the Keyblade War if we were doomed from the beginning."

Ven looked about as lost as she felt. "I don't get it either," he admitted quietly. He lifted his head, giving her an uncertain, nervous look. "Should we talk to Ephemer and see what he thinks?"

Maybe. There was a part of her that thought maybe Ephemer knew—he was the one who'd been helping Brain the most recently, after all. But if he didn't tell any of us before—would he really know? "I think we should," she said finally, because either way, it'd help to have more people who knew what was going on.

Ven sighed, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands. "Where is everyone anyway?"

Out. Aside from Brain—who she knew had headed to the control room—Skuld didn't really have a solid idea of where the others were. She was about ready to say something when—

A flicker. Something like static. A faint, dizzy feeling that made her hair stand on end.

Maybe it was the conversation from before, but Skuld reacted before she'd really had the chance to process what she was doing, whipping around and jumping away as if she could avoid whatever was there, Starlight practically sparking at her fingertips.

Ven had just as quick a reaction, shouting in alarm and leaping out of his chair so quickly that it fell backwards. "What's that?"

The flickering thing slowly solidified, and Skuld felt like she was staring at a ghost. "Master Ava?" she breathed, and—

(And she was back in her house, surrounded by ghosts.)

Another figure flickered into existence across from Ava. They were—talking, she realized, and her mind was just able to pick up on the fact that they were talking about them.

(The specters in her house had been talking about her, too. She hadn't been able to interact with them; touching them had felt like passing her hand through static.)

Ven started to move closer, and Skuld almost, almost called out to him to stop.

(If there were ghosts here, too—maybe Skuld hadn't been imagining things. But how? Why?)

The images flickered out. Ven passed through them and stumbled; when he turned to Skuld, his face was white. She thought it was probably a little like how she looked.

Skuld rocked on her feet. "What's going on?" she breathed. "What is this?"

"Is Brain still here?" Ven asked, sounding halfway to panicked.

"Yes," she replied, but her mind was still caught on the how's and why's, "he was headed to the control room."

"I'll get him!" Ven turned, darting off, leaving Skuld to stand there and try to grapple with what she'd seen.

Alone now, she nearly crumpled, reaching out a hand to steady herself against the table. "Is this what you meant?" she asked, quiet. She wasn't going to get an answer—but she thought she knew somewhere where she might find something.

Starlight snapped to her fingertips in a heartbeat. She hoped Ven could find Brain and let him know what was going on—and maybe he'd have the answers she needed. But she wasn't going to sit around waiting.

Starlight flashed. A portal opened, and Skuld stepped through it.

-Ven was trying very, very hard not to panic.

It wasn't exactly easy; between Brain's speech and the sudden appearance of weird, flickering figures, he found himself desperate to find someone, anyone who felt like they could do something. And since Brain seemed to know the most—well, it seemed like he'd be the best choice.

The ride up the elevator felt like it was taking too long, and Ven's foot tapped impatiently. He almost wished he had taken the stairs, just because then he could still be doing something—but then again, it'd probably take longer.

Something buzzed.

Ven jumped.

For a moment, there was silence. And then something buzzed again, and again, and then he noticed some of the gears flickering, snapping into and out of existence, static-filled images that made the world suddenly seem very unstable.

"What is this?"

He—he needed to find the others. He needed to make sure everyone else was safe.

"Brain!" his voice came out half-frantic, a part of him terrified that maybe his friend had gotten caught up in all of this. He darted across the room, head snapping back and forth as he tried to find some sign of the other Union Leader. "Brain! Where are you?"

Something flickered and snapped behind him. There was something almost like a familiar whisper in the back of his head, hissing at him to get back.

He spun around on reflex, Missing Ache sparking at his fingertips.

It gave him enough time to dodge around an attacking Heartless.

"What are you doing here?" He'd wanted to sound angry and confident; mostly, he just sounded scared.

The Heartless were flickering just as much as the entire Clock Tower seemed to be. It didn't seem to stop them, though, the monsters clanging harshly against his Keyblade and leaving dents in the ground. Ven backed up, lifting Missing Ache defensively. "Brain!" he shouted again, and then was forced to focus on fighting the Heartless, trying to ignore the panic in his chest. Please, he thought, please be okay.

-Ephemer had really, really thought that he'd be able to spend some time with his friend without something going wrong. He probably should've known better at this point.

"What's that?"

It didn't take much to figure out what Chirithy was looking at: there was a flickering, hazy sort of miasma over the Clock Tower, and it made something tighten in Ephemer's chest. Of course something happened when he wasn't there.

And then something steeled. Whatever it is—we can figure it out. We've done it before.

Starlight flashed into his hands. His friend stood beside him, expression determined, and Ephemer gave them a tight nod. "Let's go and find out."

-The world ended on a day that in many ways was no different than any other. But there was just enough pressure in just the right places for something to crack.

It ended with a boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a grieving brother, and a boy who figured out what was going on too late, and friends who would do anything to try and save each other from a tragedy they couldn't escape.

ALRIGHT HERE WE GO.

So I actually debated a lot on how I wanted to handle this chapter. My original plan was just to have all of the canon scenes at the end (minus the opening scene in the Foretellers' Chambers), since most of the scenes are so packed together that there isn't really a whole lot of room for anything else? The problem was that a lot of the earlier scenes felt like they happened…well, earlier in the story! The Shift Pride stuff felt like it should've been implemented sometime before, you know…the literal end of the world, Lauriam probably would've talked to Elrena earlier on, and a lot of the character interactions felt very much like they were still getting used to each other. So I kind of ended up fudging this one a bit; it really feels like there HAS to be some space between the earlier canon scenes and all of the finale stuff, and there's JUST enough wiggle room to technically make it work. Hopefully no one minds too much, haha.

But anyways! Finale chapters! We have four of them coming up; essentially, we'll get one from each Union Leader's POV (with Ephemer and Skuld sharing the final one) in the order that they exit the finale. They're going to be a combination of new scenes, canon scenes, and expansions of canon scenes (so this is basically what the finale stuff will look like in miniature). These'll probably take closer to two to three weeks to write, since they're going to be…long. (For context: I'll be happy if the last chapter is under 70 pages, and there's a very real chance it won't be.)

The last chapter is an epilogue. If you want a hint for what the epilogue's going to look like—well. I DID promise to write a certain chapter at the end of chapter 16…

Thank you Lacan Shinn for reviewing last chapter! For the review response: Thanks, I appreciate it; the carpal tunnel's actually something I've had for a long time, I just overworked myself a lot last week, so it ended up hurting pretty bad. I didn't post on that date for any sort of celebratory reason; it's just kind of how things ended up. The place they sat wasn't specifically where Strelitzia did, but it was meant to be something of a parallel. I'm glad you liked the chapter!