Unaware of what was going on outside, King was working on another of his experiments. It was difficult to tell what the mass of wires and bits of machine and computer were meant to be, and it'd be easily forgiven to think that he was part of it, being half buried in one larger part of a machine, working on something that only he knew what.
It wasn't unusual to find him like this, since Merle had at one point given him a large room to conduct his experiments in, rather than cluttering up his own room. Not that it cleared up his room noticably, he just ended up spending more time away from it.
Busy working on whatever it was or not, he could tell there was someone picking their way through the room to find him, and extracted himself from his work to find Danny.
"Something up?" he asked laconically.
"Sora got the position. Something's got him in a foul mood though, and he's already planning something."
"And you came to me because he needs something?"
"You know more than anyone else I've even heard of about our power, and he told me to find an expert."
"Not my best area, but I'll do what I can. Any idea what he's up to?"
"Nothing yet. He just came down from the upper floors looking furious, gave me orders to have everyone drop everything, get him information on all of us, get everything up to date, and-"
"Find an expert," King finished. "Doesn't sound like him though."
"Believe me, I know. I didn't think he knew how to get into a rage at all, but something's done it, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to keep him waiting. Can this... uh..."
"It can wait, don't worry. Just give me a moment to cap off the flow from... oh, forget it," he said, seeing Danny's blank expression. "I just have to fix one thing."
"I'll never understand how you can get so technical, and still mean so little to me."
"It's a gift," he shrugged, crawling back into the machine.
They found Sora in one of the many rooms he now owned, this one was more like a garden. The plants had been cultivated so as to make it seem like it was not a room at all, but that coupled with the ceiling made to resemble the sky on a warm summer day, it seemed like occupants were outside.
The only evidence otherwise were the windows at one end of the room, and a desk nearby. Sora had taken a leaf from Sephiroth and forced the windows to show the same view. It left an odd effect, with the grassy floor seeming to just cut off to midair.
Sora himself sat looking moodily down at the town, unaware of their arrival.
"Sora? I've got everything you asked for."
"Good."
"I brought King along with me. He can probably solve whatever you need to know about power and such."
"Perfect. The details on everyone?"
Danny put a folder on the desk. "It's all in there. There's a fair bit in there though."
"Doesn't matter, so long as it tells me what I need," he replied, turning and starting to examine the contents. His voice still carried the edge to it Danny had heard earlier, but he sounded and looked a lot calmer. "King, I know there's a link between me and everyone I own. How far does that go?"
"In what way? What specifically are you trying to do with it?"
"Heartless are difficult to take on, unless you have a Keyblade that belongs to you. As it is, I'm the only one here who qualifies. I want to share that trait between all of my people, so they can take on Heartless without needing the Keyblade itself."
King thought for a few moments, his lips moving soundlessly and his eyes distant.
"It's theoretically possible," he answered finally. "You'd essentially be giving each of us a piece of your power, which would in turn carry the trait you want. I don't know for certain if what you're trying to achieve is transferrable in this way, however."
"Only one way to find out then."
Danny's expression was troubled. "Sora, I understand if you don't want to talk about it, it's your right to do so, but whatever you're planning is sounding risky. It'd help a great deal if we, or at least I knew what you want to achieve."
"Sephiroth plans to use his Heartless to consume the hearts of everyone in Twilight Town, starting at dawn in two days time. That gives us the rest of today and tomorrow to prepare."
"For what?"
"Taking them on, and stopping them. I'm not just going to let him do whatever he want. My friends are there, I'm in part responsible for getting them into this, and I'm going to get them out of it."
"That's a highly dangerous path, Sora. It's close to openly rebelling agaist the Grandmaster."
"He said he was using it as a test. I don't think he'll interfere, and I'm going to do this, whether I have to do it myself or with everyone behind me."
"If you'l excuse me Sora, I'm going to read up some more on things, and see if I can give you a more definite answer," King told him.
"Good idea. Go ahead with it."
King left them, leaving Danny alone with Sora.
"You really care about your friends there, don't you?"
"This Arcology might have a claim on me, but I can't just drop my old life that easily. Sephiroth doesn't care what happens to them, or to his Heartless, he only cares about knowing what I'm going to do about it. It's a challenge, and not one I'm going to lose to him on."
"A challenge you're willing to risk everything you've got on."
Sora put the folder down and looked him in the eye. "If it were all of our people here, wouldn't you do anything to save them? I won't let him do it. I've fought Heartless time and time again, and with or without Sephiroth, I'll do it again, and not even he'll stop me from doing that, and if it comes down to it, I'll fight him too."
"I think I understand where you're coming from, but..."
"You still think it's too risky."
"Can you blame me? You came back from that meeting looking like you were planning on beating everything you could out of anyone in your way, and now you're taking on the Grandmaster himself."
"Not directly. Not yet, anyway."
"Just be careful, Sora. Remember you're responsible for everyone under you."
"I know. Give me a hand figuring out some kind of plan to take on the problem though?"
"Of course. I think it's worth saying we don't have enough manpower to do much though."
"Then send someone to get me Lyle and Seifer's firsts. Both should know of me through those two, I might be able to make a deal with them."
"I'll see to it."
"Roxas, wake up, will you?"
"Huh? Jamie? It's the middle of the night, what's so important it couldn't wait?"
"Sora wants to talk to you."
"Now?"
"He said it was really important."
Roxas sighed, leaning back again. "Tell him I'll be there in a moment."
Jamie nodded, then left.
Three days without a word from him, and now he appears in the middle of the night. Could he pick a worse time?
His other looked different too, he noted, picking his way toward him and Jamie silently. They were sat on the edge of a fountain facing away from him. Sora had an Organization robe, something he'd not seen him in before, and as he approached, he noticed the eyes were different. Completely black.
He knew what it meant, and he didn't like it.
"What are you up to now?" he asked, coming up behind them and taking a seat.
"The Heartless are going to attack you tomorrow morning, and do what they normally do. Sephiroth's controlling them, he's going to release them and let them do it, but leave you two out of it."
"And you know this how?"
"He told me in person."
"And you believed him?"
Sora glanced up sharply, irritation clearly showing. "Would you rather I did nothing?" he snapped. "Would you rather I just sat and decided he'd been lying and let it happen?"
"Woah, easy there. What's gotten into you?"
"Bad day," he replied shortly.
"I didn't think you had any."
"It happens. Danny and I are planning to make an attack on the outside with everyone I have. I don't know if they'll be able to do much yet, but either way, any help works out in our favour. I'm waiting on a few others to hear if they're going ti chip in too."
"How long do we have?"
"Until dawn."
"Dawn tonight?"
"No, the dawn after. That's when it would make most sense for him to let them loose. Few people awake, little resistance." He paused, then "It's the way I'd do it in his place."
"At least we'll have warning it'll happen. There isn't much we can do though."
"Guess again. Check the larger buildings to the north. I came in that way, they're blocking the exits on either side, but they're not on the roofs, and you can still get into some from this side. If you can get to the rooftops, you can break out of here."
"Wouldn't be able to take many people out before they noticed."
"If I can get the help I want, you won't need to get all the way out, I might be able to have people waiting there to port them all to safety. I can't guarantee it though. Have a backup plan in case."
"What about other exits?"
"Heartless on the other side. Better to block them off. It might not hold for long, but if it gives you the edge you need to get more people to safety..."
"Point taken. What about you?"
"I plan to lead the attack."
"I meant what you plan to do right now."
"Go back to my rooms and get some rest. I've got a lot to do before tomorrow's finished." "Good luck Roxas. I think you'll need it more than me."
"Save some luck for yourself, Sora."
"I'll remember. See you later."
Roxas and Jamie watched him leave.
"How good are you with that spear?"
"Expert. It's a gift I have."
"What do you mean?"
"I guess I forgot to mention it. Sora helped me find out. As soon as I pick something up, I know how to use it."
"Really? Useful to know. Ever done anything... wrong?"
"Wrong?"
"Like breaking and entering, thieving, that sort of thing."
"What'd I need to do that for?"
"I feel like exploring these rooftops and finding out how accurate Sora's information is, and it'd probably be better with company."
"What if the Heartless notice?"
"What if they do? I've got two keyblades, I can handle them. Any one of them goes missing, the others won't come looking to find out what happened unless another of them sees it happen."
"I guess I don't have anything better to do."
"Morning Sora."
"Danny. Anything interesting happen?"
"Not yet. You missed breakfast, you know."
"Yeah, I decided to sleep a bit later than normal. I'm going to need the extra rest for tonight."
"You're still set on it."
"Please don't start that again. At least not until I've had a coffee."
"Good thing I just made you one then."
"Thanks. Mia was right."
"Oh?"
"On the day she first brought me to breakfast here, she told me coffee practically was breakfast."
"It gets to be a habit, doesn't it?"
"You can say that again. Any word from Lyle or Seifer?"
"None yet, but it's likely you won't anyway, you'll likely get a visit from their Firsts personally. Don't be surprised if they bring someone along with them. Firsts tend to do whatever they like, much like you are."
"If they come to you before they get to me, have Merle excort them to the gardens will you?"
"You know Merle won't like that."
"She doesn't have to. If she wants to get out of her low rank, she can work for it the same as Dog did, and that starts with doing things when told."
"True. I'll see to it. Go careful around Sand though – he's Merle's ex-husband, and Mia's father, and he's rumoured to be a bit of a renegade sometimes, going his own way regardless of the direction the Arcology wants."
"Could be useful all the same. I'm going to head on over to the gardens and continue planning."
"Would you mind if I opened the café again for the day? I know it counts under the 'drop everything' you wanted, but I'll still be ready to help later."
"Go ahead. It makes sense. Don't let on about anything though."
"Worried Sephiroth might try to spy on what you're doing?"
"Wouldn't put it past him. It's the sort of thing I'd do."
Sora liked the gardens. It was almost enough to let him forget where he was, if it wasn't for the plans he was making there. They weren't very elaborate plans.
Merle interrupted him.
"Master Sora," she ducked her head respectfully. "You have guests. Firsts Sand and Swordsman ask to see you."
"Show them in. Unless you've something else to do, remain at the door afterwards."
"My duty there?"
"Announce persons coming in the way you just did."
"As you wish. I will fetch your guests now."
As there always had been since what he'd done, there was a resentful edge in her tone. She still didn't like him for what he'd done.
She didn't return with the two men who joined him next. One of them was tall and thin, and everything about him seemed to have the colour of sand, his skin, his hair, his clothes – all of them. The other looked considerably more normal, if you counted normal as having a giant sword on his back, and various bits of armour tacked on to his otherwise unremarkable clothing.
The sandy one spoke first, "Sora. I've heard a lot about you. You know my ex-wife wants me to hurt you a lot for what you've done to her?"
"You'd be Sand then."
"Right. Of course, I have no intention of doing what she wants. She brought it on herself. Her breaking rules... well, it was what set us against each other. But that's behind us now, I hear you're planning something."
"You're right. See that town there?"
"Of course we do, we're not blind," the other, Swordsman presumably, said, it coming out short and harsh.
"You really need to fix that attitude of yours," Sand told him. "You're going to get yourself in trouble with it one day."
"Too much bother. What's special about that collection of bricks, Sora?"
"There's people there who are going to get attacked by Heartless – the black creatures you can see there. Normally only I can take them on, but one of my people thinks I can share the trait needed with everyone coming with me, and let them all do it. There's more than I can handle."
"What do Heartless do, exactly?" Sand asked curiously. "I remember them being mentioned them once, but never had it explained."
"Consume hearts, in the process turning the victim either into another Heartless, or in rare cases a Nobody. They're more complicated, and not worth worrying about, there aren't any Nobodies there. At least, there aren't any against us."
"Why do they do it?"
"They try to find the collosal hearts of worlds, and consume them, which changes them, makes it a haven for them. I've restored worlds they've done that to before. It isn't easy."
"And you want to bring the two of us in to help, or at least what we can spare? Ambitious plan. What if your person happens to be wrong?"
"Then I get to take on an entire hoard of Heartless singled handed," Sora shrugged.
"You don't seem phased by it."
"It's a possibility I've come to accept may happen. There's no sense in worrying about it."
"Good plan. I can't say I can do this for nothing, bug fortunately you have something I want. Give me Merle and my daughter, and those of my people I can spare with fight alongside you."
"Why Miasma?"
"She's not just skilled with poisions, but with all chemicals. It's an impressive gift, and one I want to help cultivate, and help her turn it into a power to be feared as much as you seem to be of late." He gave Sora a sly look. "Would you believe that when Lyle came to me asking me to meet you, one of my own first rankers, Rue, was so afraid of you he tried to stop me coming to see you until I told him not to, and even then, he came close to disobeying me on that."
"Rue would be afraid of his own shadow if you let him," Swordsman growled. "It's no wonder he's never reached a promotion."
"Don't be so sure old friend. He takes on things for me that no one else wants to."
"Maybe. What can you offer me, Sora?"
"What interests you?"
"Make an offer."
"I've been a First for barely a day, and have little experience with it, little knowledge of other Firsts, and little time or patience for games, so you'll excuse me for not having one to give you," he replied cooly.
"He's got you there old friend," Sand chipped in, chuckling.
Swordsman thought for a few moments. "These Heartless. Tough enemies if we're not you?"
"Hard to make even a scratch on them," Sora answered
"I'll personally lead my people then."
"Oh? What brought around the change of heart?"
He grinned a broad, evil looking grin, "I've never been bested on the field of battle. I don't intend to let them be the first."
"You always did like a good fight." Sand observed. "I wonder if one of those battles knocked some sense out of your head."
"No lack of sense here," he replied. "Just nothing to be afraid of, and a challenge in front of me. Can't go wrong."
"Pass up that ladder."
"Hold on. Here it comes."
"Got it."
"Can you get up alright from there?"
"No trouble. Just keep the area clear."
"Give me a moment to get the ladder clear for you then."
Roxas pulled the ladder clear and onto the rooftop. A few moments later, Jamie seemed to jump up in the air, and landed in a crouch nearby.
"Easier than I thought," he commented, standing up.
"How did you do it?"
"The spear."
"Heartless?"
"Never noticed a thing."
"Perfect."
Moving silently, picking their way from roof to roof, they carried the ladder until they reached a large gap between one building, and the next.
"Will it reach?" Jamie asked.
"If not, I saw a few other places we can use it."
They each took one side of the ladder, lowering it over the gap, holding it strongly to stop it from falling. It reached, but it was close.
They shared a look, then Roxas tested his weight on it, crossing one way, then back again.
"Not a problem. How many is that now?"
"Ten routes to the roofs, and too many routes to the edge to count."
"Now we just have to find a way to get people off the rooftops again at the edge of town."
"I think I saw a few more ladders."
"Too short, or not strong enough. We need something safe, something that'll stop them getting hurt, and isn't difficult or too time consuming to set up."
They thought for a few minutes under the fading sunlight. Sunset would be along soon. That meant they didn't have long to finish up and start getting people out.
"Matressess," Jamie said finally, breaking the long silence.
"Beg pardon?"
"Matressess, from beds. There must be loads of them around here. Alright, people won't like it any more than our stealing all these ladders, but if it helps get them clear from Heartless..."
"You're a genius, Jamie. I knew it was a good idea to bring you along."
"Where to start?"
"The edge, of course. We'll at least be able to get a few set up quickly. Think you can handle a matress by yourself?"
"Should be able to."
"Good. That'll double our speed, unless we find larger ones."
"We should built them in a kind of stair shape, and maybe block off the exit routes from the city."
Roxas shook his head, "Sora will need a way in, remember."
"Shouldn't he be able to figure out what we're doing, and direct his people the same way?"
"He'll still need easy routes in."
"So block some of them but not others."
"That'll work."
A faint noise made him turn sharply, looking around. Jamie heard it too.
They approached the source silently and cautiously. It had come from a roof access on the neighbouring roof.
There was another shuffling sound, and another, growing clearer as they approached.
A Heartless stumbled out onto the rooftop. Roxas caught it from behind before it noticed them, destroying it, then listening intently to see if he could hear more.
Jamie saw something else, something behind Roxas, eyes widening. He quickly gestured to get down, levelling the spear and willing it to send forth whatever it had at the larger
Heartless behind Roxas. It was taller than the others, and was rather fat.
The spear created another slice of air, but it bounced off, reflected back at him, forcing him to duck too. A second slice, this time of fire made it reel back, giving Roxas time to get clear, and take advantage of Jamie's continued assault distracting it.
Keeping quiet and fighting this thing wasn't easy, but they managed it, ending it when Roxas finished the Heartless from behind.
"Thanks for the warning."
"Just looking out for you. I don't remember seeing any of those Heartless among the others."
"Neither do I. We'd better hurry. It might mean they've discovered what we're doing, and we don't have all night."
"Right. Let's get to work."