Return

After Ashe had been told that she was dead, she had retreated into a kind of trance of horror. Whenever they tried to wake her from it, she pushed them away. Finally, Sora gave up. Hades hadn't been very much help either, always quick to make a remark about "getting used to life down here."

"What're we going to do, guys?" he asked.

"I'm not sure" said Goofy. They were all gathered in the Inner Chamber of the Cave of the Dead. A Gummi Port glowed behind a cluster of rocks.

"We can't just leave her like this" Sora said. "But…I don't know what else to do with her."

"I say we try and wake her up again" said Donald. "Maybe she---" he was cut off by a loud and echoing voice.

"THIS IS THE EMERGENCY MESSAGE OPERATING SERVICE!" the voice yelled from the Port. The Gummi Port's light had begun to turn red instead of green. "THIS IS A GENUINE EMERGENCY AND NOT A DRILL. REPEAT, THIS IS A GENUINE EMERCENCY AND NOT A DRILL!"

"Someone turn that thing off!" Pete shouted, his hands over his ears. "I can't stand it much longer."

"Quiet you" said Donald over the din.

Then, amazingly it quieted down. Then clearly they could hear King Mickey's voice. "Guys, this is the King. I don't have much time now, so listen and listen well! There's a lot of trouble going on at Radiant Garden. We need your help. Kairi is gonna look for Riku. The Organization's attacking the town, and Nexumair's one of them! He's a Nobody and he attacked Kairi and me."

"That bastard…" Sora began.

"Shhh!" said Donald.

"They're after Tine and if she's gone where I think she has, then they stand a pretty good chance of getting her too. Hurry Sora! Leon and the others are pretty injured too, so we're a bit short of trained fighters."

"Okay everyone" said Sora. "We have to get to Radiant! On the double!"

"Sorry Ashe" said Goofy sadly. "But the King needs us. I hope you can forgive us." He walked into the Gummi port and disappeared. Donald did as well. Pete was about to, but Sora blocked the way with the Kingdom Key.

"Oh no you don't" the Keyblade Master said. "I still don't trust you. You'll stay here and look after Ashe. She won't need too many things because she's…well you know what she is!" he said and disappeared as well, leaving a very stunned Pete behind.

As the battles raged on, Yuffie had to put all of her ninja training to work. She hacked at the Nobodies that pressed in from all sides. Aerith stood next to her, casting Curaga spells at the need.

In the Castle Gardens Yuffie killed several Dusks with her shuriken spin attack. The problem was, for every one enemy felled, five more sprang up to replace them. "Ouch!" Yuffie cried as a Dusk's blade-like hand punctured her stomach. Yuffie clasped her hand to the wound, holding off the other Nobodies while waiting for the Curaga that would get her back on her feet. But it didn't come. She whirled to see Aerith struggling with several of the monsters.

"Are you having trouble?" asked a voice from the top of the Garden Wall. A man wearing a black robe of an Organization XIII member appeared. One lock of silver hair fell over one eye. This one eye watched the plight of the two women with cynical amusement. "It's useless, you know" he said. "They are especially devoted this time, because they smell that victory is close at hand."

"Go to Hell!" Yuffie snarled, finishing off another Dusk. She teleported to another section of the Garden in a puff of white smoke. "You underestimate the Great Ninja Yuffie!" she said, a big smile on her face. The man in black shook his head.

"How wonderful it must be to have a heart" he said. "You can still smile like that in the face of certain death. That must be…most enjoyable."

"Not really" said Yuffie as she swung her shuriken to keep back the horde of Nobodies, all while keeping her blood inside by pressing a hand to her stomach. She was beginning to get dizzy. If this didn't end soon…then it wasn't going to be pretty. Yuffie's thoughts were interrupted by a large whoosh of wind over her head. She saw half of the Dusks disappear in the swing of a huge sword. A huge familiar sword. "No…" the ninja gasped, falling to her knees. "It can't be…you can't be…is it really you?" she said to the black clad figure.

"Yes it is" said Cloud Strife as he shifted his sword to attack more of the Nobodies. "Yes it is."

Zexion frowned. "Hmmm…and annoying interruption to our party" he said, sounding like a corny movie villain.

Cloud looked at Aerith. "Aerith" he said.

"Cloud…I knew you would come back. I always knew you would. You had it in your hea---"

"Aerith" Cloud said. "Get Yuffie somewhere safe. She's bleeding badly. Then, get Squ---Leon and tell him to get his ass over here, now!"

Aerith nodded and helped the pale and sweaty Yuffie away from the fight zone.

"Now it's just you and me" Cloud said to Zexion.

"I don't have any interest in fighting you" said Zexion in a bored voice.

"I know you don't" Cloud said with a grin. "It's not so easy fighting a real warrior, instead of women, eh?"

Zexion sighed. "If you want to make me angry, it won't work. I have no emotions to flame and burst at your teasing."

"Then I'll come to you!" Cloud roared and jumped to where Zexion was. He swung down with the Buster Sword. Zexion teleported to another section of the Garden Wall. The Buster Sword took a chunk of stone from the floor. "Hmm. I missed" Cloud said in disappointment. "You sure are a slippery bastard."

Zexion smiled a thin lipped smile. "They don't refer to me as the Cloaked Schemer for nothing." He pulled out a large and thick book, seemingly from nowhere. Cloud didn't blink. He had seen much stranger things on his travels. "You would, warrior, be unwise to underestimate me, or any other member of Organization XIII" he said. Abruptly the pages of the book flew out and straight at Cloud. The former SOLDIER leapt out of the way. The pages stuck straight into the stone.

"You're full of surprises, eh?" said Cloud. He blinked in surprise as a small cut appeared on his cheek.

"Like a lover's kiss of death" Zexion said and hurled more pages at him. Cloud dodged the razor sharp missiles again and swung at the Nobody. But the Schemer was faster, and teleported before Cloud could land a hit. "Taking me seriously now?" Zexion asked. "I gave your lady friends a chance. Had I challenged them myself, they would have been dead in seconds." He dusted his hands off. "It's just that I hate fighting."

"Well, let's end it then!" Cloud swung at Zexion and missed again.

"Surely that's not all you have" the Nobody said as he hurled more pages at Cloud. "If it is, then this fight will be over very quickly." A tornado of pages surrounded Cloud.

"Not good" Cloud muttered as he called upon his SOLDIER training, trying to find a way out of the deadly trap. The pages closed in and cut through flesh like paper. "Yaaaagggggghhhh!" Cloud cried out as he was cut in a thousand different places. Th-this is k-kind of funny he thought. Death o-of a thousand p-paper cuts. Cloud collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood.

"I truly hate fighting" Zexion muttered as he teleported and left the warrior to die.

As soon as Sora arrived at the Gummi Port at the Postern, he knew something was wrong. It was way too quiet for this time of day and a hushed silence lay over the air. Then a warning siren cut through the stillness. "Okay guys" said Sora. "Let's spilt up and find the King and Kairi. "I'll find Kairi, you find King Mickey!"

"But what about Nexumair?" asked Goofy. "He won't be happy to see us."

Sora thought about it. "Hmmm. You're right. I could probably take him though. Let's go! Our friends are waiting!"

What Sora and his friends didn't know was that the Melodious Nocturne was hiding underneath the stairs that led up to the Postern. "Hee, hee, hee" Demyx giggled. "This is great! I can get rid of Sora and the others, without sharing a bit of credit with Luxord, Zexion, or Nexumair. And maybe I might…" he trembled at the thought. "Maybe I might even snag Tine! Boy, did they ever send the right person for this job!"

Boy, this is priceless. These guys are so overconfident it's not even funny…and they don't even know about their Superior's unholy alliance with what has to be the most evil sorceress of all time. See you next chapter!