So we made it to the big 6-9 and... I got nothing. I'm sure you can think of something fitting by yourselves. Anyway, feel free to catch up on whatever you've missed since I'm probably going to be busy with Through Smoke and Flames for at least a week. Happy reading!


Chapter 69
Calm before the Storm

The apartment supposedly belonging to Dr. Drew Lipsky was located a few blocks away from the bio lab research facility where he worked. It was strange though. This Lipsky hadn't been on the resident list that hosted every registered home owner in the town. Squall had instead received this information from the neighbor who lived next to him. That all the people who had arrived on Xanatos' ship along with him had also registered meant that Drew could not have been among them. In other words, the man officially didn't exist. Squall supposed that was what KRONOS were good at doing anyway.

"A rather poorly ventilated building, wouldn't you say?" Cloud said, as he and Squall entered the rather stuffy, hot apartment.

"Just another thing to improve on our list then. Public approval has been satisfactory so far but there's always room for improvement," Squall replied. After going up two flights of stairs and halfway down the hallway, they finally arrived at room 206. The both brandished their weapons and stood on either side of the door.

"I like this part a lot," Cloud said. He pulled away from the walls and kicked hard against the door, throwing it open. Squall and Cloud walked in to observe a completely empty room. There was nothing to give the impression that someone had ever lived there. Had the neighbor been wrong about Drakken having lived here before? No, someone had definitely been here before. The state of the room gave that much away. That there were no dust or cobwebs proved that someone had used the room if only a few days ago.

"We're too late," Squall said. He kicked the wall in frustration before looking back at Cloud. "He may have already left."

"Did someone warn him?"

"I don't see how that's possible. You're sure you never left Xanatos alone for a single moment?" Squall asked.

"Positive. I waited for Tifa to take my place before meeting up with you. He couldn't have communicated with him at any point. Maybe it was Kefka and the other two that Mulan saw," Cloud suggested.

"That would make sense. They're the ones we can't account for at the moment. The question is whether they're still here in Radiant Garden or not," Leon said. Cloud pulled out his PHS and began texting the results to Tifa. After his thumb landed on the send button, he closed the handheld device and pocketed it again.

"I was thinking…" Cloud started with his arms folded. "What if we were to give Xanatos the illusion of freedom instead? Say we're going to ease off on monitoring him but I still keep following him without him noticing. If he is with KRONOS, he may just slip up. If KRONOS need him, they may already be keeping an eye on him and us by extension. We pretend to let him go, and they might just bite the bait."
"And we'd also have actual evidence of Xanatos' involvement. What's shadier than direct interaction, after all?" Squall nodded his head in agreement with Cloud's idea. There was no doubt in Leon's mind that the awareness of being watched was probably affecting Xanatos' behavior. Ironically, Xanatos must have understood that more than anyone having a degree in psychology. If they wanted to observe Xanatos' behavior in a natural context, then Cloud's method would ensure that. Still, Squall could see a big problem with it. "But we can't watch him all the time. During the night… in rooms… it's impossible to keep track of him without being in the same place as him."

"Don't worry about the night. I don't really get much sleep anyway. But for rooms, we don't have to necessarily be in the same room to listen in to what he's saying though," Cloud answered.

"Bugging? You've got to be kidding me," Squall said.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures," Cloud said. "But it's your choice. If you do decide to do it then I'll support your decision. Same if you decide not to. I keep following Xanatos wherever he goes and someone sneaks in and installs the audio surveillance devices. I'm sure Yuffie will have no problems with that. The difficult one though will be getting to his PHS."

"Can we… not talk about this? You're asking me to desert my ethics, my promise to the people of this town over-"

"A security risk?" Cloud finished for him. Squall sighed and looked out of the window in the room he supposed had once been the bedroom. They had been hoping to catch Drakken off guard so they had left just before dawn. Now, the sun was beginning to rise over the peaceful town. "Look. The people won't judge you for keeping them safe. They'll only judge you if you knew that a threat was imminent and didn't at least try to stop it. The way I see it is that this is a one-time thing. We're not going to start monitoring the entire town. That way, you keep your promise of as little interference as much from the committee in the townsfolk's lives. Look, if things go down south then I can take the blame and you can fire me from the committee."

"That won't work. I need you by my side," Squall admitted. He let out another sigh before submitting. "Do it. You think you can handle his PHS?"

"I might have an idea. Xanatos told me he has a date this Saturday with Colette. They'll be going to see a show and when they come back, they'll have dinner. That's when I make my move," Cloud said.

"Then I need him away if Yuffie's going to get into his apartment. I also want his office in Xanatos enterprises bugged," Squall said. Once again, Cloud could only be right. The only reason KRONOS kept getting away with things was because he allowed them to. Rolling back on his ethics slightly didn't completely mean that he was abandoning what the committee stood for. Such as the town constantly adapted, the committee's policies would also have to adapt to reflect that change. Squall left the room feeling more confident than he had when arriving.


The door slid open with a hiss and Rhea walked in to the atmospherically different and futuristic room. Monitors were the only thing to light up the dark room and despite being blind, Rhea could still somewhat tell the contrast between light and dark around the room, or at least the photoreceptive cells in her retina were able to pick up the light reflecting of the screens.

"How's she holding up?" Rhea asked. On the right side of the wall was a window which looked into the simulation room on the other side. Rhea couldn't see it, but she knew that in the middle of the room would be an armored Keyblade wielder swinging her Keyblade at thin air.

Kohle turned in his chair and looked at her. "Outstanding. She's a one of the kind. I've never seen someone adapt as quickly to the Knight's Soul as she has. Her performance levels are more than satisfactory and the compatibility with the armor we gave her was already high right off the bat, almost as if she was born to wear it. There's just one area I'm concerned with and I think it has more to do with hard-headedness. You know, I remember when I gave you yours. You were flailing your arms about screaming 'Ah! Kohle, help me!' You were so scared it was rather cute, I admit."

"Oh, you're horrible!" Regardless of this, Rhea doubled over and guffawed at his poor imitation of her. Her first time in VR training had certainly not been the greatest moment of her Keyblade wielding life—that was for sure. The simulation was good at being able to virtually construct the appropriate training scenario for the participant. From simulating Heartless under a new firmware update from Alfonso to learning to handle a Gummi Ship under extreme situations, the simulation room was effective training for Moira's Crescent. Of course it was nothing compared to real experience.

"Oh, I do hate how you reserve that cute laugh just for me. You need to be less modest in front of the others. Just be yourself. I like this you," Kohle said. He got of his seat and held her arms. Rhea ran her hands through his short straight hair and smiled. As Kohle leaned in to kiss her, Rhea's hand moved from his hair and she placed a finger on his lips.

"Oh, sure. You know I'd prefer the whole package but a finger will do as well," Kohle quipped and lightly kissed her finger. Rhea honestly had no idea how they had managed to keep their relationship a secret for so long or even why. It had been approximately six months since her boss had asked her out and they had chosen to keep it quiet for no reason other than because "it felt exciting to be naughty" once in a while as she had put it to him. Outside of their time alone together, they remained on a professional level with each other in front of the others.

Rhea backed away and dropped her finger. "How was your first time? You've never really told me about when you first became a wielder. In fact, you've never really told me much about yourself to begin with."

"Hey, how about we all go to the beach next week?"

"Kohle!"

"I'm kidding, kidding. I mean… there's not much to tell really… okay, you can see into my heart anyway so you know that's a lie," Kohle said.

"I can see the emotions in your heart, not the context behind them. You don't have to tell me if you don't-"

"No, no, it's fine." Kohle sat back on the chair and checked the monitors quickly before continuing. "I went to this academy with all these other Keyblade wielders where we all studied to become knights. We were sworn to protect the light and serve the people in their time of need."

"So, exactly what we do now."

Kohle nodded. "I suppose you can consider what I learned there as my inspiration for starting Moira's Crescent, yes, but… things happened and the academy was… destroyed. Most of the students… their lives ended there. All of them, save one, me. I've carried their hopes and dreams with me ever since."

"I'm so sorry. That must have been tough for you to bring back up," Rhea said. Kohle said nothing for a while and when he did, it was about something else entirely.

"I'm sorry about the vote. I know it meant a lot to you but there's only so much I can do in a majority rule vote. I do think there's some merit to it though. If there's even a one per cent chance that Sora can destroy everything that we've fought to keep safe, then I can't just let him sit by. Desiree made a point, about men having earth-shaking power in their hands without knowing it. I know, from experience, that she's right, and while I don't dare condone murder, because that's what it is, and that's what I don't want any of you to become, I will not let this world end. If you can get to him first before the others, Sora might be saved assuming he accepts our offer to join us. If he doesn't though, or someone else gets to him first… then there's inevitably going to be blood on either ours or Sora's hands."

"But isn't there a one percent chance that any of us could destroy the world? Could is not enough. I understand why they're doing this, because they're scared but there's more to this situation than just black and white," Rhea reasoned. She realized soon after that she was reasoning with the wrong person, but then again, that was probably because Kohle was a good listener.

"You try telling that to Alfonso, Desiree and Jill. The reason you can't reach them is because they're emotionally charged and when you're emotionally charged you tend to let fear do the talking rather than logic. Imagine waking up to the end of the world and finding all your friends gone, all your family gone, everyone you knew and cared about just gone. It's a real and very imaginable fear alright, and it inhibits our decision making. We all have something to lose if Yeul's vision comes to pass, and that's why we can't let it."

"I see… I knew it would be difficult to convince Alfonso and even Jill but I was hoping Desiree…"

Kohle stood up again and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know, you shouldn't give up hope. I know you. You're not one to give up. That and, well, when I see you hope, it feels like I can have hope too. In fact, I'd say your belief is probably the most massive contribution anyone has given to the team."

"Oh, you're being silly," Rhea said. She giggled and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

"Ow! But I didn't bring that weird dance of yours up this time. And you say I'm the mean one," Kohle teased. "But that's why I'm giving you a special mission. I shouldn't really be doing this seeing as I'm supposed to remain impartial to all members but I'm going to break this little rule of mine just this once. Find Sora before the others do. I'll keep distracting them with other missions to keep them from searching but keep in mind if they really want to then there's nothing stopping them from looking for him. Take Astra as well. I imagine she'll be happy to see her friend again, and Luna might be the key to convincing Sora to come along."

"Thank you. I won't let you down, I promise," Rhea said, bowing politely.

"Let me down? Heh, just don't let yourself down," Kohle said. He turned back to see a green text flashing on one of the monitors: TRAINING COMPLETE.

"Hey, Kohle, how'd I do? Kicking ass and taking names, right?" Astra called from the other room.

"Excellent as always. I think you should take the rest of the day off. You've earned it," Kohle said.

"Awesome! You wanna play two-on-two later on? Lysander and I are partners and Salome kind of needs someone. Don't know how she's planning on playing since she's such a shorty but you can make up for her."

"Oh, I wouldn't underestimate Salome if I were you. She's more than capable of taking the two of you on by herself," Rhea said, alerting Astra to her presence.

"Oh, Rhea, you're in there too? Well, I'm not sure what you mean but I'm sure I can handle a little girl. I played a fair amount of b-ball back in school, I'll have you know," Astra said.

"I've got to see this then. Alright, you're on," Kohle accepted her challenge, hiding a smirk with his hand.


Astra took a sip from her water bottle and set it down on the bench before heading onto the basketball court. While it wasn't technically apart of their headquarters, it was only a five minute walk to and from. They had decided on their roles just before leaving headquarters. From a winning coin flip between her and Lysander, Astra would be the one to start the game off. Another coin toss decided Kohle would start the game at the mid-court line instead of Salome.

"You ready for this?" Lysander asked as Astra joined up with him on their side of the court.

"Come on, with your competitive streak and my skills, they don't stand a chance. Actually…"

"Uh oh, what's that look on your face and why don't I think this is a good idea?" Lysander mumbled wearily.

"Oh, Lysander, old chum, have a little faith in me. Hey, you two, why don't we make this a little more interesting?" Astra asked, turning to look at Kohle and Salome.

"Okay, let's hear it," Salome said after looking Kohle's way.

"How about… if we win, you two do anything we say for a day. That includes, by the way, making me boss if I want," Astra said with a smug smile.

"Sounds good to me. Of course, you realize that also works in reverse too, right? Good, I'll have you file my taxes then," Kohle said.

"You have taxes?" Astra asked with narrow eyes.

"Is that a surprise? Our base doesn't run all by itself, you know," Kohle replied. Astra wanted to object and propose anything but doing taxes, but realizing she had trapped herself in by saying the loser would do anything that was asked of them, she didn't really have a choice.

"Fine, I guess we have all the more incentive to beat you then. Rhea, let's do this," Astra said, walking towards the midcourt line and taking position. Rhea, who was the referee and standing in between Astra and Kohle, held the ball out in front of her and threw it into the air. Kohle, who was taller than Astra, had no problem reaching for the it before she could, forcing Astra to back off quickly. Kohle dribbled the ball for a moment and waited for Salome to advance before passing to her. Astra, placed her left foot forward and pivoted her heel deliberately, forcing Salome to keep to the sideline, or at least that was what she'd hoped. Instead, Salome whizzed past her with such speed that it threw Astra off balance and sent her butt onto the ground. The small girl jumped high into the air, over Lysander's shoulder and dunked the ball into the hoop.

"Huh? Wait a minute. That's cheating!" Astra called out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what's that I hear? Is that the sound of you doing Kohle's taxes?" Salome taunted.

"Nice one. I even felt that and I'm on your side," Kohle said, giving her a high five.

"Fine. Lysander, it appears we've gravely underestimated our opponents. Who knew behind their deceitful smiles lay such a sinister stratagem," Astra said.

"Err, I did. I have played Salome before, you know," Lysander answered.

Astra rolled her eyes and turned to him. "Could you at least go along with it? I thought it was really cool. Anyway, like hell am I going to be sitting in a small room playing accountant. They want to play like that. Let's fight fire with fire."

The opposing side scoring meant that Astra and Lysander were now in control of the ball for a while. It was a while that they had to make count. Lysander passed the ball over to her and she dribbled it on the spot for a while. As Kohle came in for the defense, Astra passed the ball under her leg from one arm to the other before passing to Lysander. Salome shot through the air like a bullet using Aeroga and caught the ball before it could reach Lysander. Astra ran backwards and placed her hands on the ground just as Salome tried to pass for Kohle to score. An ice column rose up from the ground and the ball rebounded off it, soaring high above Salome's head and allowing Lysander to catch it.

They were on the offence now and making their way back out of their side of the court. Lysander passed back to Astra who tried to make her way down but was blocked off by Kohle who had warped in front of her. If he had expected her to run into him, he was soon to be proven wrong. Astra executed a sliding dash, bending backwards and skidding right underneath Kohle's arm. She corrected her posture quickly and threw the ball not at Lysander but in the direction of the sideline. The ball hit the invisible reflect screen that she had quickly cast before and flew past her and Salome who had been expecting a direct pass to Lysander. The blonde teen caught it from just behind the three point line and took the shot.

"Oh, yeah! That's our fighting spirit right there!" Lysander yelled out as the ball landed in cleanly.

"Yep, you wanted war, you got it. And that was just a sneak peak, losers!" Astra stuck her tongue out and high fived with her own teammate.

"We still have eight minutes of time left. Anything can happen," Salome said, taking hold of the ball. In those eight minutes, anything and everything really did happen. Astra left the court wiping droplets of sweat from her forehead after what had been an intense game and certainly the strangest that she had ever played.

"It was a good game. It's unfortunate you lost," Kohle said. He took up his own water bottle that had been sitting next to hers and held it to his mouth.

"Would have come on top if Lysander hadn't accidently knocked me off my balance," Astra muttered.

"Easy there, you can't blame your partner. You both work together to realize your full potential. If it was Lysander's mistake, then it was also yours. Don't get me wrong, Astra. You played with skill, but not with heart. Just like with your Keyblade, it takes two to tango. You need to synchronize with your partner better."

"I… suppose you're right. It was foolish of me to blame him. Maybe if I had been a little quicker… I'll work on it," Astra said.

"Don't beat yourself up over it too much. We have a lot of time to work with and I know you can do it. You have a lot of good friends to help you… but not for the rest of the day, I'm afraid. I'm expecting you in my office right after you finish taking a shower. Those taxes won't do themselves now, will they?" Kohle patted her on the shoulder and walked away with a cheeky smile.


Sora was suddenly awoken when he felt a sudden force pull his legs down. He looked up to see Kairi looking down at him. She flicked her auburn hair to the side and pulled back a bit.

"Don't put your feet on the console panel. Do you know what could have happened if you had accidently pressed a button?"

"Well let's see, the only thing on the right side of the panel is the coffee maker and I honestly didn't want to fall asleep anyway so thank you for waking me up. Want some coffee?" Sora asked as he got out of the seat and went to the fridge.

"Sure, thanks," Kairi said. She looked down at her feet where the basket of fruit was that they had collected from Rapunzel's tower before leaving.

After returning from Corona and meeting Rapunzel's mother and father, both of who were delighted to see their daughter again even to the point of presenting Flynn, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Luna and Kupopo with meddles, it had taken enormous strength to ask of them to let their daughter go once again even if for a little while. It was a decision that required the full details and so they held nothing back in telling them about the other worlds and the looming danger ahead. After an hour of putting forth their argument, the King and Queen finally submitted. They would never forget what the Queen had said then and there as they left the room:

"We've waited eighteen years for this moment. I suppose we can wait a little longer."

They had left with hope in their hearts through those words but now as they travelled through the vast reaches of the unknown on their Gummi Ship, their hopes faded and became less clear. No one really wanted to discuss what would happen once they reached Radiant Garden so they chose not to, much like it was an unspoken rule.

Sora returned with a packet of ground coffee and threw some into the percolator before starting it.

"How do you think Flynn's doing?" Sora asked her.

"Probably busy bonding with his future mommy and daddy," Kairi jested with a chuckle. "I can understand why he didn't want to come with us though. He's on his own personal journey. A transformation. From Flynn Rider to Eugene Fitzherbert. It's hard enough re-evaluating who you are. When Rapunzel next meets him, she'll find that either nothing has changed, or quite a bit."

"Well whoever he'll end up being, I'm sure Rapunzel will accept him for who he is. The worst that can happen is that he's the same old thief he was when we left him, but he even managed to change drastically in the short time we spent together so I'm sure he'll be okay," Sora agreed.

"Yeah. Hey, about these Paopu fruit. Do you think it was the fog that brought them into Rapunzel's world? I mean, they could also originate from her world too but it's worth thinking about," Kairi said.

"You can't shake the feeling, right? To be honest, I've been thinking about it too. Maybe we are on the wrong track but it's worth investigating. If the radiation was in Rapunzel's world, then there's a good chance it could have been on the islands at some point." Sora reached for the percolator and poured the brewed coffee into the two polystyrene cups on the holder.

"How about we go back to the islands instead then? I'm sure Rapunzel, Luna and Kupopo would love to see it and we can check in with our parents and friends and find out if they've seen anything suspicious," Kairi suggested after taking a sip from her cup.

"I did promise Luna that I'd take her… alright. Riku's not gonna like this but whatever, we're changing course," Sora said. He swapped seats with Kairi and entered in the coordinates of the Destiny Islands before switching back to auto mode. "Time for a well-deserved break, wouldn't you say?"

Kairi laughed and swiveled around in her chair to meet him. "You remember what I told you before this all began, Sora? I asked you not to change."

"That seems so long ago now. We were sitting out on the dock and watching the sunset. You were such a tomboy back then. Well, you still are I guess," Sora said.

"Hey, don't mistake feistiness for being a tomboy. That's the power of redheads everywhere and don't you forget it, mister," Kairi said.

Sora burst out laughing. "Well you're probably one of the only redheads I actually know other than Ariel and Meg but going off her alone, I'd say there's some congruity there."

"But you know, now that I'm here, I realize it was childish of me to ask you not to change. We've changed so much over the course of our journey, and all for the better. I've feared losing you and couldn't bare the possibility that you and Riku were walking ahead of me as equals and I was trailing behind. I felt like a lost voice, but I no longer feel that way. For the first time, I'm proud that I can say I'm your equal. I've always been that way. Our friendship would never have survived without the three of us all putting in equal effort into making it into what it is today. We proved that even the harshest of changes can never destroy the SoRiKai combination."

"SoRiKai? You've been thinking a lot about that one, haven't you?" Sora asked.

"I thought it sounded pretty cool," Kairi said. The two exchanged laughter and took a sip of their coffee. Despite all this change Kairi had referred to, in this very moment and time he felt like he was fourteen again, sitting on the docks with her next to him. Realizing he was visualizing a younger Kairi next to him, Sora snorted into his drink.

"Is something wrong?" Kairi asked through giggles. Before Sora could respond, the Highwind was jerked to the right by a sudden force that threw them him into Kairi. He apologized and pulled away from her to see spilled coffee pooling around their feet.

"Well at least none got on you. What in Jiminy Cricket's name was that?" Sora asked. He found his answer by checking the windshield. Tiny rock particles like sand coveted the screen and obscured their view completely. Furthermore, what Sora assumed were incredibly frequent lightning flashes happening at least every second or two lit the sky up brightly.

"A dust storm? But there was no warning!" Kairi said. Sora got back in his seat and shifted the gear back into manual as Riku, Luna, Rapunzel and Kupopo arrived in the room. Sora drowned out the sounds of Kairi explaining their predicament and concentrated instead on trying to get them out of it.

The Gummi Ship lashed back and forth against a seemingly angry storm that wanted to destroy them. Sora pulled back as hard as he could on the control yoke and pulled to the side, performing a Dutch roll continuously. After a few seconds, they all heard an explosion and Sora had to quickly steady the Highwind. When they all looked at him inquisitively, Sora returned the glance and looked back in front of him.

"I think we lost something," he said glumly. He tried to yaw to the right but the controls fought against him. He slammed his fist on the yoke in annoyance. Sitting back in the seat, he folded his arms. "Yeah, I don't know how to put this…"

"We're screwed?" Riku said for him.

"To put it bluntly… huh?" Sora was interrupted as a bright light suddenly filled the room. Something was glowing and it was coming directly from Kairi's lap. Kairi held up what had once been the puzzle box to show them all. A beam shot out of the cube of light, heading straight out of the windshield and expanding in front of the ship to reveal a keyhole. The last thing Sora remembered before passing out was a flash of images entering his mind.