The bald old man stood triumphant atop the cliffs overlooking the basin where a desperate attempt at peace had been made. Now an even more desperate battle raged. His sharp-tipped goatee stabbed down towards the fractured army that stood between the darkness and its prey. Soon the darkness would swallow the whole world, causing it to fragment and separate into many worlds. Xehenort smirked wickedly. His master plan was going into effect!

He felt the rumble of magic behind him and turned to see his two prized pawns. His yellow eyes flashed brilliantly at the smaller of the two. "Well done, Vanitas!" the old man's raspy voice croaked. The red-eyed youth smirked and bowed.

"Thank you, my Master. Shall we join our dark comrades? The keyblade wielders down below are trapped but might still be trouble. A few scattered bands have even punched through and taken off."

Xehenort laughed. "What for? Their leaders are gone, and soon the brunt of them will have been taken by the Heartless. What few have escaped will have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Once they join the ranks of the Heartless, they will retrieve the shards of light they have hidden away. The darkness will have its prize, little good it may do. There is no reason for us to intervene. Besides, need I remind you our agenda is different from theirs?"

"Not at all my, Master," Vanitas chuckled wickedly. "What about that pathetic wimp you used to create me?" the youth scoffed at the presently unconscious blonde boy.

"Oh, I know just the place for Ventus, all in good time," Xehenort grinned carnivorously.

"What about the Warriors?" the man with the marked face asked indifferently.

Vanitas snorted. "Those pathetic punks? The Heartless will get them just like the rest! And who are they going to tell? Thanks to us, all the other wielders think they killed the Foretellers, no one's going to believe them!"

Then it was Xigbar's turn to chuckle. "Good point! And good thinking pinning it on them! But they all looked pretty tough, just might give the Heartless a run for their money."

"I'm counting on it!" Xehenort laughed. "After all, we wouldn't want the darkness to get too strong wouldn't we?" Again the enigmatic wizard burst out laughing as the terror and carnage ensued below. Keyblade wielders fell by the dozen, their bodies disintegrated into darkness. Only the keyblade's remained. Headstones of what was to be a massive graveyard!

Swan slid down a sand dune and took a knee. He needed a moment to catch his breath and knew the others did too. The desperate pants and painful grunts as the rest tumbled down the sandy slope proved him right. Flix slide down to his side, always the fastest runner. The last to come down were Raphael, Mercy, and Jax. The big hot-head was always last in line, had made a habit of being the rear-guard. Always hated to run away from a fight anyway, being the last one out suited him fine. Jax stayed close to Mercy, Swan shook off a stubborn tinge of jealousy.

The gang's second in command scanned the group, where was Cleo? Several breathless seconds went by, no one else came charging over the dune. Not a sound but the chilled night wind. "Anybody seen, Cleo?" Swan finally asked.

"Not since, he told us to run for it!" Rodent huffed.

"Me neither," said Apache. "Ain't seen nothing but the horizon since we broke through. I've been hauling ass!"

"I figured he'd gotten ahead of me!" Jax growled.

"He's dead!" Flix grunted. Swan and the others turned to him in shock. "The wielders swarmed him. I saw him go down."

"No!" Swan gasped. Raphael buried his face in Mercy's chest. Swan heard her sniffle.

"I'll bet he went out swinging!" Cowboy grunted.

"You just WATCHED it happen!" Jax fumed. "You couldn't give a yell, or help him?"

"He said to run so I ran! I turned around to check on him and they swarmed him! And YOU were already a mile ahead!"

"You know what, Foxy, I've had just about enough of your."

"STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!" Mercy cried as she leapt between the two of them. Swan clenched his fists, figured he could fry an egg on either of their heads.

"That's enough!" Swan snapped. "We've got enough enemies now without turning on each other!"

"He's right!" Flurry broke in. "It's fair to say the truce is finished and now the Heartless are here in force!"

"Come on guys, lighten up!" Cowboy stepped in beside Mercy. "We need to stick together now!"

"Well, what the hell else are we gona do?" Jax demanded. "You all saw what happened back there! The Foretellers are GONE! The Heartless are here, and call me Mr. Negative, but it doesn't look like we can stop them! We never COULD! The Master said so from the beginning! This has all been a waste of time!"

"There's still one thing we CAN do!" Swan broke in. All eyes were on him in an instant.

"Our Lux!" Flurry broke in. "It's all back in the safe at the hideout!"

"Exactly," Swan went on. "We'll get back there, grab the Lux and activate it before the darkness can take us."

"Yeah, then what?" Apache asked. "Just stand preening in the light until the darkness goes away? The Lux won't last forever! Even as much as we have of it!"

"We can use it to escape," Swan explained. "Ava approached me a few months ago, before she vanished," everyone gasped in shock. Swan had never shared this with anyone before. "She was trying to get me to join her splinter group. Dandelions, she called them. She said that when the darkness took the world, it would splinter and fragment into many and cascade throughout Kingdom Hearts. And that only by clinging to Lux could we escape to traverse the space between. It sounds crazy, I know, that's why I turned her down, that and I couldn't leave you guys," he paused to eye his friends. "I've been holding out hope like all of you that things wouldn't get that bad or that we could somehow fight back, but it looks like Ava might have been right."

"What if she's not?" Rodent asked. "Daybreak Town has to be about a hundred miles from here! The Heartless will be on us in no time!"

"You got a better idea, I'm all ears!" Swan snapped. Rodent hung his head, everyone else kept quiet. "Alright then, we'll head back to the train platform on the edge of the Badlands. If it's still running, it'll be easy. If not, we hoof it. Any questions?"

"I got one," Jax snickered. "Who says you're in charge around here?" he stepped towards him with a cocky grin.

"Cleo made him his lieutenant, Jax," Flix moved between them.

"I appreciate that, Foxy, but Cleo ain't around no more," Jax glared. "And I'll bet you can't even find the way back to the platform!" he chuckled.

"We don't have time for this!" Swan growled.

"Why not? That safe ain't going nowhere! I say we settle who's the boss right here and now!" the brute took another step, both fists clenched. Swan readied himself, prepared to summon his keyblade. Both Swan and Jax froze as Mercy leapt between and threw her arms around Jax's torso. Jealousy hit Swan like a slap to the face, his cheeks burned.

"Please," Mercy gasped softly. "Please stop, Jax. For me?" she looked up pleadingly into the bigger young man's eyes. "We have to be stay together now," she reached up to cup Jax's cheek in her palm. He gently grasped her hand and pulled it away. His face was softened but bitter.

"You're not playing fair now, you know that right?" Jax growled. Mercy said nothing. "Alright fine! He's in charge!" he grunted, glaring to the side with a snort. All eyes went wide as Mercy leaned upwards to plant kiss on his cheek.

"You're right," Mercy admitted to the wide eyes gazing down into hers. "I wasn't playing fair. I hope that makes up for it," she finished with a few soft pats on the cheek she just kissed. She turned away from an awkward grin and a crimson face. Swan had already composed himself, his usual stoic face restored. He even managed to keep a straight face when Jax shot him a menacing smirk. Soon Rodent broke the awkward silence.

"So I'm pretty sure you cheated me at cards a few times. So…" Rodent stepped towards her with a smirk. He stopped short as Mercy's keyblade flashed into her hand and stretched out to nearly strike his nose. The whole gang burst out laughing, all but Swan.

"And I still say you cheat at dominos too," Apache giggled. Mercy nearly dropped her keyblade laughing. Swan bit his lip to keep from joining the laughter, someone had to stay focused and it looked like that was him.

"Are we done here?" Swan snapped as the giggles began to fade. Everyone's faces went grim in an instant. A sullen silence swept in with the dusty breeze. "Let's go," he turned to lead the way in the direction he was fairly certain to be the right way.

"Swan?" Rapheal's soft voice called out. He turned to see the boy holding up his spray paint and motioning to a large boulder nearby.

"Go ahead," Swan answered with a firm nod before continuing on. It was a harmless enough outlet for the boy's anxiety. Plus it couldn't hurt to let the Heartless know the fight isn't over yet. They'd never stop anyway. Swan heard all the footsteps of his family behind him, even Raph's as he rushed to catch up.

The Warrior's new leader knew he was only reaching out to Ava's ravings in desperation. That's probably all it was for Ava too, a desperate bid for the impossible. But that was fine. He was no different than Mercy. Jax and him both knew what that peck on the cheek was back there. A bribe. A bluff. A little something to create hope where none existed. But at least Jax had felt her lips. At least there was something to keep him going. A pleasant memory to make the rest worth it. Maybe that was all their journey home was, then again maybe not. But Swan knew the whole gang would take some small pride in knowing Raph had left their gang sign behind on that rock. A memento of the brave survivors who at least made it that far.

"What kind of chicken crap is this?" Jax harshly whispered as he and the rest of the gang gazed out over another sand dune at the train platform on the edge of the trees.

"The train isn't back yet!" Swan hissed back.

"You're welcome come to do the scouting for a change if you want!" Flix softly snapped. "Big as you are you'll be the prefect target for a ranged attack from the tree line. Assuming they don't swarm you!"

"This is a load of crap! We're acting like a bunch of wimps!" Jax growled. Headlights stabbed into the night as a large vehicle rounded a curve in the tree line. The whole gang flattened themselves against the sand.

"Still want to go up there?" Flix snapped. Swan gingerly looked up to see a familiar bus slowly rumble past the platform.

"It's the Raging Bulls!" Swan grunted. The shiny shaved heads with fitted bull horns were plain to see through the windowless wheeled behemoth. Some of the Bulls were even standing on the motorized mammoth's roof, keyblades at the ready.

"Those skin-headed freaks!" Jax seethed as the bus kept going.

"They must be running a patrol, mopping up strays," Flurry whispered.

"Why wouldn't they just head back to their hide out, or get into the action back at the conclave?" Raphael asked. "That bus could have flattened hundreds of heartless!"

"Maybe their scrounging for Lux," Cowboy broke in. "Maybe Swan ain't the only one who didn't believe Ava at first. They could be rounding up survivors to loot them!"

"What? Those meat-heads?" Jax huffed. "I don't think they can think that far ahead! Probably just finally snapped."

"Maybe the darkness got to them?" Rodent put in.

"No way!" Apache snorted. "You saw them, they ain't heartless!"

"Quiet, all of you!" Swan snapped. "Here comes our ride." Everyone followed his gaze to the faint light in the trees growing stronger. The train was coming! Rodent leapt over the dune only to be grabbed by the foot and dragged back down with a gasp. "Not yet, idiot!" Swan grunted. "The train doesn't go back the other way for another minute or two! The Bulls might turn around any second!" Rodent sullenly submitted.

The train came to a screeching halt. The four thundara-coils atop the train at each corner flickered out as the engine expired. The eternally flickering thundara-tower began to hum and buzz as it began to recharge the train through the metal rails. It rarely took more than a minute to replenish the vehicle's power for the return trip. Swan figured they were about a hundred yards away. Turning to the right he saw the tail lights of the Raging Bull's bus still slowly rumbling away from the platform. Several tense seconds went by. The train would pull out soon. The Bulls must have seen the train coming! Any second they'd turn back to spot anyone fool enough to run for it!

"Swan, are we going or not?" Flix gasped impatiently. With a muttered curse, Swan leapt over the dune and sprinted for the platform, knowing the others would be hot on his heels. He never saw the bus turn, but somehow he sensed it. His heart pounded with every stride. Barely noticed the flashing of high beams. His desperate pants and those of this friends almost drowned out the blare of the horn. Reveling cheers of bloodlust burst from the bus as its engine gunned towards the platform.

Swan leapt atop the platform and rushed to the nearest entrance to the train, stopping to motion his friends aboard. They all rushed past him into the empty passenger compartment, all but Jax. Swan looked up to see the hot-head had paused at the end of the track, braced against the thundara-tower. Swan cursed Jax's idiocy as he flashed an obscene gesture at the oncoming bus, ducking away just as the vehicle narrowly skimmed the tower.

A whistle tooted and the train's automatic doors began to slide shut. Swan wedged himself into the entrance and gripped the door. Mercy and the rest were already shouting for Jax to hurry. The doors were too strong! Made of heavier metal than Swan realized and were closing with more force than he could hold. With a desperate cry, Swan stepped back from the door, stranding himself and Jax outside the train.

Jax was already panting at his side. "What are you, CRAZY?" he barked. "You should have jump inside!" Swan cursed himself and the brute. It didn't feel right to jump to safety and leave his ungrateful friend stranded. The train buzzed to life and began to move.

"THE ROOF!" the rest of the gang screamed from inside. Neither had to be told twice. Using the windows as hand and foot holes, Swan and Jax climbed atop the train. The flickering pulses of the four thundara-coils casting an eerie light on the surrounding forest as the train picked up speed. Another blaring horn and the roar of a maxed out engine, and the Raging Bulls barreled after them. The bus was catching up with them on the road skimming the edge of the track.