Sneaking into the city of El Dorado was as simple as landing in the jungle had been. The natives were secure behind their waterfall entrance, believing the only way in or out was by boats, carefully watched over by the guards. Perhaps less surprising was that the priesthood had long ago developed a second way, avoiding scrutiny of their movements. A narrow ledge had been carved into the cavern wall, high above the river, just wide enough to allow them to walk single-file along it.

Their first sight of the city of gold pulled a gasp from Izenu. A riot of color even more impressive than the jungle had been, beautiful enough that even Ais was impressed by it. It would be a shame for this to be locked away where nobody else could see it, he thought.

They made their way along back paths and secret tunnels to the inner parts of the temple, where Tzekel-Kan's burly acolyte enthusiastically greeted them. Cutting him off, the priest asked, "Have our other 'guests' found what they're looking for?"

"No, but they are planning to examine the temple after sunset tonight. It's the last place to be checked," the acolyte answered.

"Where are they now?" Ais asked.

"With the chief, but-"

"My lords, sunset is not long from now," Tzekel-Kan said. "If you are patient, they will come to us. In that time, I will be able to put the Jaguar at your service."

"You do that. We cannot afford to wait for the wielder of the Keyblade and company to come to us," Knosis said.

"Then, shall I give him to you as an escort?"

Ais shook his head. "Both of you, stay here and keep out of our way. Do your Jaguar thing, if you choose."

Once they made their way out of the temple and back onto the street, Izenu tapped Ais on the arm. "Are you sure it's wise to let him do that? Some of these more primitive worlds worship animals as gods for a reason. What if he angers one?"

Prevented from mussing Izenu's hair, Ais settled for shaking his brother's helmet back and forth. "Most likely he's just going to pray at some altar, maybe do a little chant or make a sacrifice. Nothing to worry about, Moonlight."

"The sun's beginning to set. We must have been in there longer than I thought," Knosis pointed out.

He was right; the shadows were lengthening, painting the world in shades of gray. The daytime noises were fading away along with the colors, allowing the Chasers to hear the footsteps heading their way. Exchanging glances, the trio readied their weapons; Izenu carried a light, bladed staff, and Knosis and Ais held their heavier and larger claymores at the ready as their quarry came into view.

In the growing twilight, the blond-haired man in an immaculate white suit stood out sharply. He was the first one to spot them, immediately training his gun on the Chasers. Next to him, a woman in a low-cut black dress lifted a staff that appeared to be topped by a moogle carving. Together they managed to make the redheaded girl between them look even more ordinary, except for the golden Keyblade she held. Ais was grateful the helmet concealed his face – it would have been difficult otherwise to hide the dismay he felt when he realized the girl was probably only Izenu's age.

"What have we here?" the woman asked casually.

"I don't know, Lulu. They look like trouble to me," the man answered. He smirked at them. "Care to explain yourselves, gentlemen? You see, we've an urgent appointment, and you're between us and where we need to go."

Knosis shook his head. "We can't let you seal this world away."

The blond's brow rose. "Really, now."

"But this world might be consumed by the darkness if we don't seal it away," the girl interrupted. "Think of what would happen to the people here."

"We are thinking of the people. If you do seal it, they'll never have contact with the other worlds again. They'll be trapped here," Izenu said.

"That's worse than being destroyed by the darkness?" she asked him.

"If nothing ever dies, where is there room for new things to be born? The darkness has to take worlds sometimes, in order to make room for new worlds to be created. Anyway, the odds of that happening are slim. You don't know it'll happen here if you don't seal it away, but we do know that this world will stagnate if you do. We can't let you do that."

Ais looked, really looked at his brother, and saw Knosis doing the same. All that extra studying his brother did was paying off, it seemed, especially since the girl was beginning to look hesitant about going on. If they could end this without having to fight a child...

But then the Keyblade lifted, and her face was determined as she shook her head. "No. My world was taken by the darkness – my parents, my sister, my school, everything's gone. I won't let that happen again."

On the last word, she sent the key spinning through the air at Izenu, who was barely able to parry it with his staff. She was rushing him then, weapon reappearing in her hand. Ais wasn't able to watch anymore, as he had to block the fireballs and ice sent his way by Lulu. Growling, Ais deflected the magic away and attacked, taking chase when she moved away. To his left, he heard gunfire mixed with Knosis's own spellcasting.

It was maddening, fighting on the water's edge, unable to turn and watch his brother's first real battle. Lulu was deft at dodging his claymore while sending more spells his way, her wide skirt not hampering her as much as he'd thought it would. Eventually, he found himself back-to-back with Knosis.

"How are you holding up, Ais?" the older man asked.

"I'm fine," he lied, shifting his weight off the leg that had caught more of that last fireball than was comfortable. "Can you see Izenu? How's he doing?"

"Holding his own."

Risking a look, Ais realized just how far away they had moved from the teens, though the two were still on the waterline and fighting fiercely. Following his gaze, Lulu asked, "Rufus, do you think we should-"

A thundering roar, followed by an explosion, cut her off. Rocks and gravel showered down on them as the dome of Tzekel-Kan's temple was destroyed and a giant stone jaguar climbed out. From the main entrance came the priest himself, eyes glowing with poison green reflected in the jaguar's eyes, laughing wildly. They were too far away to hear what he said, but his intent was obvious when he sent a whipcord of magic down at the teenagers. It knocked their weapons out of their hands and sent them flying at the water. The Keyblade simply vanished and reappeared in the girl's hand, but Izenu's staff splashed and sank out of sight.

Ais moved to rush over to his brother, but the jaguar was suddenly there, huge and snarling. Knosis and Lulu's combined spells didn't seem to really hurt it, but the creature flinched when Rufus's bullets nailed it in the face. "Aim for its eyes," Knosis ordered as he downed an ether and tossed one to Lulu.

He knew he should help, but he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from his brother. Tzekel-Kan sent another whip of magic at the teens, knocking the Keyblade flying at him out of the air and aiming right at Izenu, who held his arms up to shield himself.

A flash of blinding light made Ais squeeze his eyes shut, and his companions exclaim in surprise. When he could see again, he glanced up at the jaguar, surprised it hadn't attacked while they couldn't see. To his utter shock, it was rubbing its eyes with one paw, much the same way Tzekel-Kan was rubbing his eyes at the top of the temple beyond it. "He's controlling it," he said.

"So if we can distract it – and the priest - enough, he and Lily might be able to stop him," Rufus said.

Ais nodded his agreement, gaze moving to where his brother-

Was standing, apparently unhurt, and holding out a Keyblade of his own, silver to her gold. Tzekel-Kan's whip was wrapped around it. Izenu looked at the weapon for a long moment, then tracked the magic back up to its source. He gave a vicious jerk on the key, dissolving the whip and making Tzekel-Kan tumble down the steps. He landed in a heap at the boy's feet.

The jaguar lowered its head and roared in sympathetic pain, drawing Ais's attention back to it. This thing stood between him and his family. Shifting to a backhanded grip on his claymore, he jumped high into the air. The claymore spun in his hand and landing with a loud crack in the stone skull, cleaving a jagged gash into it. There was a scream, which cut off abruptly, from the direction of the priest and teens. It wasn't his brother's voice, so Ais ignored it, intent on widening the split in the rock under him.

Being thrown to the hard ground as the stone creature crumbled brought Ais back to his senses. He and Knosis deflected any of the stone that fell towards them, but otherwise simply watched as the inert rock came apart, most of it falling into the water next to them. When it had settled, the four scrambled over what was left, more intent on their missing numbers than on fighting each other.

Izenu had removed his helmet, his pale hair clinging damply to his head. He and Lily were yelling fiercely at each other. Tzekel-Kan was nowhere to be seen.

"How the bloody hell should I know?" Lily shouted.

"You're the almighty Keyblade master!" Izenu responded.

"It's not like it came with instructions!"

"You're going around sealing worlds away and you don't know what you're doing?"

"I didn't say that, I said I don't know why you've got one!" Lily gestured wildly with her Keyblade. "I thought this was the only one."

Seeming to calm down, Izenu scowled at her. "Obviously, you thought wrong. I wonder what else you've been wrong about?"

"Why, you sneaky little-"

"Enough, Lily," Lulu broke in. "Where's the priest?"

The Keyblade wielders exchanged glances. "Gone," Izenu answered.

"Gone how?" Knosis asked.

"Look, he's just gone, all right?" Lily exclaimed. "Let's just find that door, lock it, and get out of here."

Izenu lifted his Keyblade threateningly. "We told you earlier, we can't let you do that." Swallowing, he added, "If you lock it, I'll simply follow behind and unock it."

"Actually, I don't think we have time for this," Rufus said. "We need to get out of here before the chief decides to have us all blamed for this chaos, and punished for it. This world will simply have to take its chances until we can come back to seal it." Narrowing his eyes at the Chasers, he said, "You win – this time. Let's go."

As the two parties separated for their respective gummi ships, Izenu turned to his brother. "We're simply going to let them walk away?" he asked.

"When things go unexpectedly, the best thing for us to do is back off," Knosis answered him. "Reexamine our information, adapt plans as needed."

"But how are we going to find them again?" Waving his Keyblade, he added, "And what am I supposed to do about this?"

Ais chuckled tiredly. "We'll find them again, Moonlight, don't worry. As for your new toy, there's no reason not to keep it. You did drop your own weapon, you know."

Izenu bristled at both the nickname and the disapproving tone, too tired to hear the teasing behind it. "I didn't mean to lose it. Tzek-" His mouth snapped shut, and he jammed his helmet back on without another word.

Silence reigned among them as they moved along the secret exit, the roar of the waterfall further discouraging speaking. Once they were into the jungle, though, Knosis dropped a hand onto Izenu's shoulder. "You will have to tell us what happened eventually, Izenu."

The teen sighed. "I know," he said. "But after we get off this world, please?"

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The onboard computer chirped softly at itself as it tracked the other gummi ship, the only other object moving away from El Dorado. After setting the autopilot, Knosis retired to his bunk, bidding the younger two a good night.

"We should get some rest, too," Ais said. When there was no response, he glanced over at his brother. Izenu was staring out into space, hands clasped under his chin and an intent look on his face. He obviously hadn't heard a word. Crossing the small room, Ais gently shook the boy's shoulder. "Are you still awake, Moonlight?"

"I think I killed him." Surprised by the seemingly-random response, Ais nearly asked who Izenu had killed, but shut his mouth when the teen continued speaking. He described how, after pulling Tzekel-Kan down the side of the temple, the priest had begged for mercy. Lily was on the verge of healing the worst of his injuries, despite Izenu's disbelief, when Tzekel-Kan suddenly clutched his head and screamed. Seeing his chance, Izenu had struck his Keyblade directly into the man's heart.

"His body just vanished, and a small black creature appeared. It jumped at her, but she hit it with her Keyblade and it disappeared too. We started arguing, then you and the commander came up." Izenu had curled up as he spoke, knees now pressed to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. It was the only outward sign that he was not taking the night's events well.

Ais sighed. "Scoot over a bit," he said. The chairs weren't quite large enough for both of them, but Ais persisted, pulling his brother to lean against him, Izenu practically in his lap. They hadn't sat like this since Ais was eighteen and Izenu ten, and Ais had had to tell him that their parents were missing and considered dead. "Listen to me, Izenu. Tzekel-Kan was a danger, and you did what you needed to do to protect yourself. He was controlling that jaguar, and stopping him stopped it."

The tension was leaking out of Izenu's body. "So it was the right thing to do?"

"Yes, Moonlight, it was the right thing."

"Wish you wouldn't call me that."

"It's your name." Ais looked down at him, deciding it was too much effort to try to get himself and his brother to their proper beds. They'd survive sleeping out here.

Izenu wasn't quite done arguing, even as drowsy as he was. "Translation."

"Close enough. Appropriate, too." A white lock of hair was gently tugged in demonstration.

A small sound of disapproval was his only answer. Following his brother's example, Ais leaned his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. Sleep found him quickly.