CHAPTER LX

LOSING GROUND

Master Maximilian slammed his fast onto the table in the meeting room of the Nexus Machine. Moments before, a stream of tribal markings that had previously been on the Burning Man's toga had appeared above the table, separating outwards and affixing themselves equally onto each of the Legion Knight's outfits.

Master Maximilian knew what this meant – Hades had been defeated. The Dark One still avoided his grasp, no matter what he threw at him…

"Legion Knights…Hades has fallen to the keyblade masters. We accept Hades' strength into ourselves as we acknowledge his sacrifice…" he proclaimed, as the Legion Knights all bowed their heads in silence. "Further more, it has become clear that the Dark One's team has claimed two of the artifacts out from beneath our noses…" he muttered, staring at Pete's oblivious face.

"The loss of the Flame Salamander is a great one…" Maximilian said, sounding dark.

"Though not all of the news we have today is bad, Maximilian…" said the Strange Man. This was the first time any of the lesser Legion Knights had heard his voice – it was high-pitched and dramatic. Master Maximilian would have cut the throats of any Knight that called him anything less than master…though, when the Strange Man did it, Maximilian just stayed perfectly still…

"I personally have located the Frozen Eel…no, no applause necessary…" he said, his fingers pitched in a tent as he slowly walked around the table. "I'll be more than happy to decide who can go to claim it…"

Maximilian stood up, his throne-sized chair sliding backwards against the metallic floor of the meeting room. "Know your place, Knight…" he said, his voice nearly quaking with rage. "I decide which Knight is suited to each mission…"

"And judging by Hades' fate, you're doing a marvelous job…" said the Strange Man, stopping at the opposite side of the table. His hands gripped the back of the chair tightly as he stared into Master Maximilian's smiling mask.

"A minor loss. I would feel no more regret if I had fallen in that battle myself…" he shot back.

"Tell me then…why don't you go to Emptiness Crossing and claim the Frozen Eel yourself? Surely the leader of an organization such as this is powerful enough…"

"Too powerful, Strange. Don't forget that while you're in the World That Never Was. My strength is wasted with such…chores," he said, refusing to sit.

The Strange Man's head titled forward and then rocked backwards as he started to chuckle. His laugh turned maniacal, rattling the windows on the Nexus Machine – it was eerie…harsh…high pitched and frightening, even to Maximilian. It sounded…empty.

"Are you scoffing at my orders, Knight?" Maximilian said, his voice stoic.

"As funny as it is, no. I merely laugh at the fact that you can see that the mission is child's play for a man such as yourself…yet, you fail to realize that it will be even less challenging for a man of my stature," he said, turning immediately to head for the door. As it slid open, he stepped out, heading for the bay of the Nexus Machine, where a small fighter ship lay in wait for him…

Maximilian sat down in his throne angrily once again staring out the window as a one-man ship piloted by the Strange Man flew by…

"Yep, that's two down…" Sora said to King Mickey over his micro-com. "Three, if you count Riku…"

Riku didn't acknowledge Sora's comment as he piloted the ship through a small asteroid belt. Heartless vessels were coming from everywhere, firing their lasers and cannons at the Barrett…but with the new slash gummi and the laser turret, it was simply a matter of outlasting them. Kairi sat next to him, alerting him when any ships got too close.

Goofy cleared a path through the asteroids with a concentrated laser beam – luckily, it also pierced through six or seven heartless ships on the way.

Donald was getting the hang of the slash gummis – though it was still a chore to hear him pronounce the word 'slash' – as he sat in the new cockpit mounted on the Barrett. He couldn't see Goofy, but when a laser bolt fried a heartless in front of Donald's cockpit, he swore he heard him hollering with glee.

"Excellent, Sora…" Mickey said, but the rest of what he was saying was muffled by someone else's voice over the intercom.

"Sora! Ya there, buddy?" Biggs' voice came through, though the noise in the background made it hard to hear him…

"Biggs! Yeah, go ahead," Sora said, anxious to see if they had any news for him.

"Not much time…ya gotta come and help us…the entire village is being destroyed, some guy with a weird mask…" the line faded in and out as Sora was able to identify the sounds of screaming and smashing wood in the background. The line suddenly shut off – when Sora reactivated the micro-com, Biggs didn't respond.

"Set a course for Emptiness Crossing, Riku," Sora said, sitting next to Kairi on the bridge. He realized he forgot to turn his micro-com off when Cid's voice popped through it.

"Hey – the warp gummi I installed in there can help ya out…just press it when your coordinates for a world are locked in. It'll take ya there in a jiffy…though it only works on worlds ya already been ta…" Cid said as Yuffie pouted in the corner of the gummi hangar in Disney Courtyard.

"Thanks, Cid…that'll save us some time," Riku said, slamming his hand on the green button that read 'WARP GUMMI'. A few seconds later, the stars stretched into long, white streaks as they shot between them at light speeds…when they stopped stretching and the ship halted to a stop (in a rather abrupt fashion…), they realized they were only a few miles out from the World That Never Was.

Diving down as fast as the ship's engines would take them, Sora began scouring the horizon for any sign of Emptiness Crossing, or the havoc therein…but all the surrounding buildings were too tall. Emptiness Crossing was situated in the middle of a huge circle of buildings, Sora remembered, as they jumped down from the Barrett's hatch.

"Donald, Goofy, stay with Eddy while we check things out!" Sora yelled over his shoulder as he tore down the streets, Kairi and Riku hot on his tail.

"Ugh…slow…down!" Kairi panted, trying to keep up…Sora was running as though lives depended on him…he had a feeling that they did…

Taking the corners by physically stepping on the wall and pushing off, Sora never slowed down once as he navigated the narrow alleyway to Emptiness Crossing – only when he saw the ruins of the city did he finally slow to a stop.

Every building had been leveled – the gazebo which had been rebuilt was billowing in flames, as were some of the building sites. Biggs and Wedge stood a few meters into the square, holding their weapons out as they anticipated an attack. In Wedge's slender backpack, Riku noticed the gleam of a heavy looking bronze statue…he could only see the top of it as it poked out, but…was that an Eel's head marked with a shard of ice?

"Biggs! Wedge! You alright?" Sora called, summoning his keyblade. They didn't turn around when they replied.

"He killed them all…" Biggs said.

"All of them…killed…" Wedge halfheartedly mimicked.

"This…bastard…he slew the entire town!" Biggs said, screaming it so that the subject could hear.

"Who? Where is he?" Riku asked, taking caution not to summon his keyblade too soon.

"He's here…somewhere…" Wedge said, looking around at the wreckage, trying to see any sign of the man. The piles of rubble were so high and plentiful that there were plenty of hiding spaces…

The flames in the center of the gazebo parted slightly as a tall, slender man walked through them. He walked elegantly, his hips swaying in a most feminine manner – his mask bore the bright red lips they had seen back in Disney Castle. They remembered the term 'the Strange Man', and indeed, it was very fitting.

"The Frozen Eel and the Dark One, in one fell swoop? Dare I count my chickens before they have hatched?" he said in his eerie, higher-than-normal pitched voice.

"Forget it, Strange Man…we took out Hades and we'll do the same to you!" Sora said, not entirely sure of that fact.