Chapter 53: When the Curtain Falls

CRASH!

Hundreds of people fled in fear as buildings collapsed around them, crushed and flattened by a frightening stone foot. Alexander, the titanic Unversed born from Paris's own Palace of Justice, let out a guttural roar that shook the city. High up above, high enough that Alexander's mighty black wings just brushed them, the storm clouds thundered nearly as loud as Alexander had. With the thunder came their cargo, and soon gallons of rain began to pour down upon the world.

Frantic footsteps splashed through the still-forming puddles. Xion, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Quasimodo, and Zidane made their way through the slick streets of Paris, pushing through crowds that were trying everything they could to get out of the city limits. Xion looked up as Alexander extended its wings, coating the world in shadows. And yet the rain continued, with thunder and lightning rocking the sky as Alexander's footsteps rocked the earth. The downpour was so bad that already the Seine was beginning to flood, further adding to the chaos as water levels rose.

And it was all the work of one woman.

Our enemy…is Larxene!

Xion had not known Larxene well, having been little more than a puppet during her early days in Organization XIII when the Savage Nymph was still around. But she knew her reputation, especially from Demyx: sadistic, cruel, manipulative. She had perfectly mimicked hatred and disgust in her time as a Nobody, and now Xion could see why. Clearly, Larxene had plenty of memories to base her personality off of.

Xion and Sora knocked aside several Black Mages as they ran, not even stopping to fight the Unversed. Relena's hatred and disgust, her racism and bigotry, toward the Gypsies had been an open buffet to Unversed, and emotions were already high with Frollo's fire several months ago. And now she had even managed to create a colossal Unversed with those emotions! Vanitas's shadows had spiraled Relena right back into the darkness…or had she ever even left it?

"Xion! Zidane! Guys, over here!"

The group's attention was called by Phoebus, Esmeralda, and even Clopin, who took refuge from the rain inside an abandoned bakery. That wouldn't do them any good when Alexander came this way, but it would have to work for now.

Goofy raised a hand to them in acknowledgment. "Stay right there, we're comin' over!"

Of course, with the people of the city running this way and that, getting over there was much easier said than done. The group had to resort to Goofy nudging crowds away with his shield, apologizing with every push and awkward step. But aside from a few unfriendly looks and unkind words they made it through without a problem. The people were simply too busy trying to get themselves to safety to worry about anyone else.

Speaking of which, the baker who owned this temporary refuge had obviously fled only recently. The warm scent of freshly-baked bread flooded Xion's nose as she stepped foot inside, followed quickly by the wave of heat from an open and active oven.

"What happened out there?"

Xion turned to Phoebus as he asked the question, realizing for the first time that he was decked out in his full plate armor, sword and all. But it was askew, and some straps not pulled on quite right—obviously done up in a hurry.

"Relena still has Dagger," Zidane's curt reply came from behind Xion.

Esmeralda raised an eyebrow. "Relena? You mean…?"

Donald nodded. "Yeah, Steiner's 'Madame'! Apparently she knows us, too, but I don't remember her."

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Xion, you said she was part of Organization XIII?"

"Organization XIII?" Clopin asked. He rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, then pushed himself up to sit on the shop's counter. "You mean the group that rogue Demyx was a part of?"

"Right, that's the one." Xion leaned her side against the wall and her hood over her head; a gesture that was only a response to the rain, but she belatedly realized fit given the conversation. She turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "She was a part of the Castle Oblivion team, so she must have fought you during your first visit there."

"Right, got it…"

"Who cares about any of that?!" Zidane snapped. He still stood outside, the rain pelting his body. Water was streaming down his face, but Xion couldn't be sure that was rain. "Dagger is still up there! Those...things that Relena commands have her!"

Esmeralda looked out the window, to Alexander in the distance. "You mean she's behind that thing too?"

Quasimodo nodded, a grave expression on his face. "And the storm too. She has…powers, you guys. Magic! Things I've only seen Xion and her friends capable of. If we don't do something fast, Relena will cause way more damage than Frollo ever did!"

"They're called Unversed," Goofy said. "They come from bad feelings, and it looks to me like Relena is full of 'em."

Phoebus clicked his tongue and moved like was going to say something, then paused. A few moments passed, his brow furrowed, and when he finally spoke it was a question. "And what happened to Steiner?"

The group glanced around at each other before shrugging helplessly. "We…don't know. We kind of just left him there," Xion said.

"But at the end even he seemed shocked at what Relena was doing," Sora added.

"Weren't you guys listening?!" Zidane shouted. "I'm leaving with or without you!"

"Calm down, Zidane! We're coming!" Phoebus called back out to him. He drew his sword and nodded his head toward the door. "Okay, come on. We'll take the fight to Madame Relena and her Unversed before anyone else is lost."

But as he moved, Esmeralda grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back. "You think you're leaving without me?"

A grimace passed over Phoebus's face; he tried and failed to hide it. "Look, Esmeralda, you—"

She sighed and shook her head. "I'm just messing with you. Clopin and I will handle evacuation. No matter how fast you are, you won't be fast enough to stop that thing before it does more damage and displaces more lives." Before Phoebus could get another word in, Esmeralda pulled him down to eye level and kissed him on the cheek. "So we'll worry about the people, and you worry about Relena."

"Yes, ma'am!" Phoebus smiled and saluted as he pulled away, then turned to Xion and her friends. "Let's get going!"

"Finally!" Zidane shouted.

With Zidane well ahead of everyone else the group moved toward the heart of the chaos, Alexander's form visible even from this far away. The closer they got to the stone monster the thinner the crowds grew, though the fleeing, panicking civilians never completely vanished.

As they neared Alexander, the world grew darker—and it wasn't just the shadow cast by his wings. The shadows around them seemed to expand, to darken…to rise off the floor. Xion gasped and held her hand out. "Everyone stop!" But one of them wasn't behind her to stop. "Zidane!"

The shadows in front of Zidane erupted out of the ground with ablaze of purple fire. Unversed manifested right in his face, Black Mages casting their spells from mere inches away. With a pained cry, Zidane was flung back by an explosion of fire and crashed into the stone wall of a building that still stood. Quasimodo immediately moved to help him up, leaving the others to deal with the Unversed.

"We don't have time for you!" Sora shouted.

Phoebus chuckled. "Hey, don't antagonize them." But at that moment a roar rocked their world, the sound alone enough to shake the street and buildings. Xion bit her lip and looked up at Alexander, which had begun to move again.

"Sora's right, we don't have any time to waste fighting these guys!" She called her Keyblade into her hand and knocked away a Blizzara blast, then turned toward the road that would lead them closer to Alexander. But there were so many Black Mages, too! What were they supposed to do?

"We'll handle 'em!" Donald stated proudly, his wand held in front of his chest.

Goofy stepped up beside him. "Yeah, you guys keep goin' and stop that thing!"

Quasimodo, with Zidane beside him, rejoined the group. "But you guys…"

"Aw, we can more than handle these! You fellers need to take care of the source, and save Dagger too!"

"…Thanks," Zidane said quietly, a smile on his face despite his downcast expression. Drawing his daggers, he waved toward the next road. "Guys, come on! Relena's waiting, and we can't keep a lady waiting, now can we?"

Phoebus chuckled. "The boy's got spunk, I'll give him that. Let's go!" But Phoebus's advance was halted prematurely as more Unversed joined their comrades. Black Mages rose out of the ground and appeared in bursts of flame, eager to battle. Lightning flew from their fingertips and Phoebus screamed, then dropped to one knee with his body quivering.

"Phoebus!"

"We're surrounded! We have to fight!"

"There's no time!"

Shing! With the sound of sharpened metal, Unversed fell in a single strike. Heads turned with the heavy clinking and clanking of footsteps that approached the group. Heaving a heavy sword up over his shoulder, Phoebus's savior tipped his rusty helmet in salute.

"Rusty?!" Zidane gasped.

"There is no time to talk, you fools!" proclaimed Adelbert Steiner. "I will stand and fight these monsters. You go and save Mademoiselle Garnet! That's an order!"

Zidane grinned and hurried past Steiner, down the road, but he slid to a stop and spared a second's glance over his shoulder. "…Thank you."

"Do not thank me yet. I still do not like you!"

"Heh, right."

The quakes from Alexander's steps only grew worse the closer they got to it and Relena, to the point that running stably was proving a challenge. But they continued on without complaint. It was only as they entered Alexander's shadow that Xion realized how truly massive it was. The transformation from building to Unversed had clearly caused it to grow. It towered over Notre Dame, which was already the tallest building in the city. But remnants of the original Palace of Justice could be seen in the way the stone making up the Unversed's body was molded, and there was a distinct spiraling staircase moving up one of its four massive legs.

"Let's get up there!" Sora called over Alexander's roars. "Relena has got to be on the head!"

The climb was perhaps one of the most challenging physical feats that Xion had ever done. Moving around, climbing up ledges, jumping over gaps—that was one thing, but this was another. Organization training had not prepared her for climbing what amounted to a living castle. Even Quasi, having grown up climbing the walls of Notre Dame, was clearly having trouble. She could almost swear that Alexander knew they were climbing it with the way the stone beneath their feet shifted and shook. All of them nearly fell to their depths more than once. But despite that all, there were no enemies to fight, which Xion was more than thankful for. And they made it to Alexander's head without losing anybody.

Xion tried her best not to look out over the city from way up here. It was maybe as high as the clock tower in Twilight Town was, but that wasn't constantly moving and shifting. It was like being on a ship out in the open sea, or at least she imagined that's what it would be like. Alexander's head was large and flat, with a circular area in the center perfect for a battlefield. Above their heads, held up by black lightning, was a figure in orange.

"Dagger!" Zidane ran over to reach her, but stopped short when he noticed the woman standing in the center of the area. His grip tightened on his daggers and his jaw set in anger. Xion and Sora readied their Keyblades while Quasimodo raised his fists.

"Relena, stop this now!" Sora shouted.

"Why should I?" Relena turned around to face them. Lightning and a purple aura still coated her body, and she raised a hand to examine the blue and yellow knives held between her fingers—Foudre. Larxene's knives. "You Gypsy vermin ruin this city. You are nothing more than scum, thieving scoundrels and cheating heathens! What do you do for Frenchmen?!"

Quasimodo sighed. "True, there are people like that… But not all of us are! Me, Zidane, Esmeralda, and even Clopin, and there's more of us out there! But that doesn't mean they're all bad! There are bad people at every level of society."

Zidane sneered, his voice dangerous. "I'm looking at one right now!"

Relena laughed. It was a high, shrill laughter that seemed to jab knives into Xion's ears. She raised bother hands, crossed them over her chest, and sent lightning flowing through the metal. "It's time to close the curtains to this silly drama!"

A massive bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens, and when it struck Relena it surged over her body before flying out in a wave. The lightning danced between the rain drops and flowed over the water-coated ground, sending the four of them into convulsions and stunning them, leaving them open to attack. With another round of laughter, Relena thrust both of her hands forward and sent twin streams of lightning at Xion and her friends.

Before they could recover from the blow, Relena was suddenly right up next to them. She slashed Sora with her daggers as if they were claws, then sent an electrical ball at Zidane. He dodged it and replied in kind with a slash of his daggers, but Relena vanished at the last second and reappeared behind him. She struck, he turned around, and she vanished again. Their game of cat and mouse repeated until Xion saw an opening—she swung.

Relena cried out in pain, but the cry turned into laughter and then she split apart. Five copies of Relena dashed around the area, moving too fast for the eye to see and laughing all the while. They would interrupt their movement only to send a lightning bolt flying or to swing at someone with their knives, but otherwise opted to stay out of range.

"Freeze!"

"Wind!"

Sora and Xion's spells merged together, a blizzard expanding around them. The freezing winds swirled outwards and struck the Relena copies, causing all buy two to vanish. Angered, the two Relenas charged at the nearest person: Zidane. But Quasimodo intercepted the blow, slamming his fists into the two of them. The blows sent them flying into each other, at which point their bodies blurred and merged.

"You hunchbacked freak!" Relena swung down at Quasimodo, but two Keyblades intercepted her attack. Sora and Xion struggled against Relena, pushing her back, until smirked. She gripped the metal and sent lightning coursing through their weapons. The Keybearers screamed in pain, pain high enough that their fingers loosened to alleviate it. The Keyblades slipped from their grasp, and Relena had an opening. Laughing once more, she pressed her palms against their chests and sent who knew how many volts through their bodies.

Xion fell to the ground, Sora beside her, and they attempted to recover from the shock. Zidane, meanwhile, engaged himself with Relena. Knives and daggers clashed against each other as both moved with swiftness. It could almost be called a dance, the way Zidane and Relena fought, the clinging of metal on metal. But Relena got a hit in first, and she followed it up by calling down a bolt of lightning that exploded at Zidane's feet.

"Zidane!" Xion pushed herself up to her feet. She withdrew a potion and hurried over to him, dropping down to his side and bringing the green liquid up to his lips.

"Look out!" Quasimodo shouted. Two Relena copies charged at the group with electricity crackling around their figures. One of them, knives armed, approached Xion at such startling speeds she didn't have time to react. At the last second before a painful impact, Quasimodo jumped between the two of them and grabbed Relena by the wrists with his powerful arms.

"Quasi!"

"I've…got this!" Despite this unrivaled upper body strength, Quasi struggled against the Relena copy. Quasi gripped her at the wrists, pushing against her surprisingly strong grip as she attempted to drive a knife into him. Quasi spread his legs further apart and planted his feet more firmly, giving himself stronger support, but it was useless against electricity. Relena's snarl turned into a sadistic smile and she relented, pulling back the pressure—and then sending waves of electricity over her body.

"Quasimodo!" Xion cried over the screams of pain as high voltage rocked his body. But he held firm, continuing to keep Relena's wrists in his hands and his feet firmly on the ground.

"She…can't…stop me!" Quasimodo let out a roar and thrust his body forward, knocking his hard head into Relena's. The impact dazed both of them, cutting off Relena's electricity, and Quasimodo recovered first. With swiftness belying his appearance, Quasi released his grip on one of Relena's wrists and grabbed the other arm with both of his hands. She was open to attack, but could not react in time. Quasi began to spin rapidly, taking the dazed woman with him.

But there were two Relena copies that had charged at them, not just the one. As Quasi battled his, the other one meanwhile occupied Sora, who brought Oathkeeper up to block each knife she attempted to strike him with. The problem, of course, was that the Keyblade wasn't as quick as knives were. For all his skill and speed, Sora just couldn't match a smaller weapon's swiftness. Eventually, he slipped up.

Sora cried out in pain as a knife dug into his bicep. His grip on his Keyblade faltered, and his footing with it. But Sora turned that opening into an attack, sweeping his feet out as he fell. The Relena copy tripped, her feet giving out beneath her at Sora's attack. In the middle of the fall she thrust another knife at Sora, but he recovered from his earlier fall and sidestepped the attack. Gripping his Keyblade tight with both hands, Sora slammed the broad side of the weapon into her chest, knocking the wind out of her, and then grabbed her by the wrist.

Without speaking, Quasimodo and Sora knew what to do. Quasi ceased his spinning and sent the Relena copy he held onto flying. Sora spun once, in contrast to Quasi's veritable whirlwind, but nonetheless the dazed copy flew. As the two identical women crashed into each other lightning crackled around them. Their bodies blurred and merged, and the true Relena crashed onto the stone beneath her.

Sora and Quasimodo did not give Relena time to counter. Before she could climb up to her feet Quasi slammed a fist into her side, which Sora followed up by swinging Oathkeeper in a wide arc that struck Relena across the chest. Relena turned her momentum from the blow into a twirling strike, swinging her fist at Sora with knives held between her fingers. Sora leaned back in time to avoid scarring at his face, but the knives caught his clothing. Relena pulled back, tugging Sora with her, and with her other hand jabbed an electrically charged knife down into his shoulder.

Or at least, that's what she tried to do. Quasimodo grabbed Relena's arm inches before she pierced Sora. Letting out a mighty roar, he lifted Relena up and tossed her back over his shoulder and away from Sora. Relena flipped herself upright in the air and tossed several knives down at the battlefield, which upon impact sent waves of electricity across the soaked stone. But Sora quickly tossed up a Reflect spell, the countering explosion once it shattered sending Relena off-balance once again.

As Sora held his Keyblade back, wind began to pick up around him. With a battle cry he sent a Strike Raid right at Relena, but after it pierced her he did not call Oathkeeper back into his hand. Instead, Quasimodo took a running leap up into the air and grabbed the blade in one hand, the other taking hold of one of Alexander's stone spires. Spinning around, Quasi let the Keyblade go and sent it back toward Relena for another blow.

The instant the Keyblade was back in Sora's hands he cast a round of Blizzara. Relena's body blurred and she vanished as the ice spell exploded, and an instant later to Relena copies appeared near the edges of the battlefield to send bolts of lightning at their foes. Sora once again coated himself and Quasimodo in Reflect before the copies vanished to be replaced by the real Relena, who shot down at them from above.

"Enough!" Relena shouted, thrusting her arms out and grabbing both of her attackers by the arms. Electricity ran over her body and then surged into the two of them, amplified by the rainwater that coated their bodies. As the two were blown back, Relena turned her attention to Xion and the prone Zidane. Bolts of lightning simultaneously raced from her hands and fell from the skies, but Zidane had downed enough potion in time—they were able to dodge the blows.

Just as she narrowly avoided the attack, Xion whipped her head around. "Zidane!"

"Together!"

Keyblade and daggers ready, the two of them charged at Relena from opposite Relena struck out at them, they swerved away at the last moment and, rather than attack her right away, grabbed each other by the spun each other around, Xion releasing a wave of light from her Keyblade as she did so that struck Relena but did little to hold her back. As their enemy charged at them Zidane released his hold on Xion, her momentum carrying her forward. Slashing Relena across the chest, Xion then leaped back and sent a volley of Pearl spells flying. The orbs of light exploded at Relena's feet.

But Relena recovered. She let out an angered shriek and tossed several knives high into the sky. Lightning from above struck them and connected between the metal points, forming into a web of electricity that fell onto the battlefield. But Xion and Zidane rolled out of the way—and right into range of new Relena copies. Charged knives sliced and jabbed, but Xion brought her Keyblade up and knocked it into the copy's head. She swiftly moved behind the dazed copy and gave a hard kick to the back just as Zidane spun and tossed his. They blurred together and merged.

"It's not over yet!" Zidane shouted, delivering a kick to Relena and knocking her into the air. Leaping up after her with both weapons primed, Zidane struck at Relena's prone figure and kept going out past her. His feet pressed against the far wall and then he pushed off of it, striking Relena from another angle and once again going past her. He repeated this process many times, as many as he could fit in while juggling Relena in the air, pushing off the ground or wall with every blow.

After the last strike Zidane slid to a stop a small distance away from Relena, but he wasn't finished yet. "And for the final touch…" Spinning his daggers around in his hand once, he then connected them into the double-bladed sword and twirled it above his head. As it spun Xion cast a powerful Aeroga, kicking up a whirlwind around Zidane. "Fly away!" The wind followed him as he dashed forward and swung his sword at Relena. He spun around her with the wind, hitting her at every conceivable angle and finishing the onslaught with a spinning blow that lifted the two of them up into the air before Relena came crashing down.

Far below, the cacophony of screams and thunderous footsteps ceased as Alexander came to a halt. While the sky continued to rage up above and the rain continued to pelt their bodies, darkness began to rise up off the stone around them. Black wisps like lingering smoke rose into the sky and vanished, the power of the Unversed leaving the Palace of Justice behind.

"It's over," Sora said. He dismissed his Keyblade and looked over to Relena's prone form. The noblewoman was a mess, her body battered and bruised, and her wet hair matted to her face; though to be fair, none of them looked much better.

Zidane didn't waste any time exchanging words. "Dagger!" The black lightning that had held the sleeping Dagger had vanished, and—still unconscious—she dropped to the hard floor with Zidane saving her at the last moment. Xion smiled and almost moved to join them, but…

"It's…not over yet…" Relena groaned. She pushed herself weakly back onto her feet, one arm holding the other as she panted heavily. No lightning surged over her body and no dark aura surrounded her. The Unversed had left.

"It is, Relena, but it's not too late. If you stop now, we can rebuild Paris. Together." Quasimodo took a tentative step forward, which Relena replied to by taking a step back.

"Never…" she hissed through narrow, hate-filled eyes. She took another step back, and then another.

Xion's eyes widened, and she turned from Relena to what lay behind her—or rather, what didn't. "Relena, stop!"

But Relena didn't hear her. "When the curtain falls…" Relena's heel slipped. One side of her body hung out over open air, the other following quickly behind. "It is I who shall back in the applause!"

"NO!"

"RELENA!"

Xion ran forward with her hand outstretched, but the ground was still wet from the rain. She slipped, toppling forward and landing face-first in a dirty, blood-soaked puddle. And Relena vanished over the edge.

x-x-x

Lamps shone brightly across not only the stage but also the entire square before Notre Dame. Atop the hand-crafted stage, a girl with short brown hair walked across the plywood castle, her expression contemplative. Dagger moved with her head low and her arms behind her back, but then stopped as she caught movement on the stage before her. Gasping, she ran down and embraced the hooded man who stood before the castle walls.

"Marcus? Sweet Marcus, I fear I love thee more than I should!"

No smile could be seen beneath the concealing black hood, but his voice radiated relief and hope—a spectacular actor by any stretch, to convey those without being seen. "Princess... Wilt thou be happy, married to a lowly peasant such as I?"

Dagger shook her head. "Prithee, call me 'princess' no more! Marcus, wilt thou truly cherish me, the king's only daughter? Or is such a desire too dear to wish for!? After our nuptials, shall I become no more than a puppet? A mindless puppet, never to laugh, never to cry? I wish to live my life under the sky. At times I shall laugh, at other times cry. For no life is more insincere than that lived as a masquerade."

Only now was Dagger's hug returned to her. "So much consideration thou hast given it! But worry not! Cast away thy trappings of royalty, and I shall swaddle thee in a gown of pure love! Never again will I pare from thee! Pray, my love, make me thy canary to keep forever in the cage of thy bosom! Let us embark on the first ship tomorrow, before dawn can tell of our elopement!"

Dagger buried her face in his chest. "All my fortunes at thy foot, I lay, and I shall follow thee throughout the world!"

"No cloud, no squall shall hinder us!" Pulling apart, he gave Dagger a brief glance farewell from beneath his hood before running offstage. He passed by an awaiting Xion as he went, who looked up just in time to see a toothy grin flash beneath the hood.

"O, love is the sweetest joy and the wildest woe. All I wish is to be by my sweet Marcus's side." Dagger continued her lines, and that was Xion's cue.

Xion slowly snuck onto stage, staying in the shadows near the stairs so that the audience could see her plainly but Dagger could not. "Fie! It shall be war again unless this marriage is stopped. Ne'er will I let their plan come to fruition." Standing up straight, she stepped out into the spotlight. "Good day to ye, Highness."

Dagger took a wary step back and raised an eyebrow. "Good day..." she replied slowly.

"Wist thee with Marcus?"

"Marcus!? What news dost thou bring?"

Xion took a deep breath and clenched her fist. "This!"

Xion swung with a right hook so that from the perspective of the audience her hand went behind Dagger's head, allowing her to actually miss what could have been an otherwise painful blow. But Dagger reacted as if she had been hit regardless, her legs going limp and her eyes shutting. She held out her hand as she fell, allowing Xion to grab her. Xion picked Dagger up and then carried her off stage, before returning as Phoebus entered the scene.

"Where is she!?" he demanded as King Leo. "Where has mine only daughter gone!?" Turning to Xion, Phoebus nodded and walked over to her. "Blank, good woman! Hast thou seen Cornelia?"

Xion shook her head. "Worry not, Majesty. I shall make sure Cornelia marries Prince Schneider. Be thou at ease."

But despite the words, Phoebus bristled. "At ease, sayest thou? How can I rest, not knowing she is safe? Could it be...thou hast betrayed me?"

Xion held her hands up in shock and stepped backwards. "Be my troth, sir. I betrayed none other than poor Marcus!"

"Thou had the gall to betray thy dearest friend. Wouldst thou not betray me as swiftly?"

Xion shook her head wildly. "Stay thy hand, I merely..." Phoebus interrupted her as he drew his sword, and Xion gulped. "I merely sought a lasting peace between the two kingdoms!" But this mattered not one bit to the cruel King Leo. Jabbing his sword forward, Xion caught it under her arm and twirled around before falling onto the stage, 'dead.'

At Xion's death cry, King Leo's two guards ran out on the stage. Donald's stage fright had not proved conquerable in the short time before rehearsal, but one man in particular had spoken up to be his understudy.

Adelbert Steiner stood tall and gave a proud salute. "The traitor is dead!"

Beside him, Goofy cried with his hands in his fate. "O, cruel fate!"

Phoebus knelt down and picked up Xion before he began to leave the stage. He turned back to Steiner and Goofy. "You two... Quickly, find Cornelia and bring her before me!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," the two stated together before they ran off in the opposite direction.

Phoebus shook his head, his voice carrying over as he walked off himself. "Wretched daughter! How dare she disobey her father's wishes!"

The instant they ran off, Sora ran onto the set himself with the hooded Marcus following behind him.

"The time for our departure is long past. Where is Cornelia?"

Sora turned around and pointed off behind him. "Marcus, the ship soon embarks! Board ye this boat alone, and peace could come to both kingdoms, as Blank so said. Speak, Marcus!"

"She told me that she could not live without me." "So, the sun is our enemy, too. The eastern sky grows bright. Will we not spread our wings, as yonder birds in joyous flight?"

Sora shook his head. "Hark, Marcus! They cannot wait any longer! The ship departs!" To emphasize his point, he ran off toward the imaginary harbor.

But Sora left without his companion. "Could she have betrayed me? Nay, ne'er would my love speak false. I must have faith! She shall appear if I only believe! As the sun lends me no ear, I pray instead to the moon! I beseech thee, wondrous moonlight, grant me my only wish!"

Reaching up, he pulled the hood off and tossed the cloak away. Zidane grinned up at the moonlit sky and stretched his arms out toward the audience.

"Bring my beloved Cornelia to me!"

I'm glad I got this done in time. I'm moving soon, and so starting tomorrow the next few days will be pretty busy. The good news is that after that I'll have a lot of free time just sitting around in a hotel.

Well that's the end of La Cité des Cloches, I hope you enjoyed it! A lot changed at the last minute while writing these chapters, but ultimately I think it was for the better. Hey, want to learn more about the behind the scenes process? I just put this up after posting the last chapter, can't promise I'll update it too often though:

rememberthetidesficdottumblrdotcom (replacing the "dot"s with a . of course)

For the future, we have one more major Disney world to go through, but before that we'll be making a quick stop somewhere else with Riku and Mickey.