Preparations For Disaster

Nexumair sat at his desk, thinking. He had been officially blamed for the deaths of Saix and Zexion. The Superior had yelled at him terribly for that before he had gone to visit the witch imprisoned inside the dungeons of the Guild Castle. He pondered the pros and cons of their demise. Saix's death left Nexumair in second in command. That was a good thing. But they had lost one of their most powerful warriors in the process. Saix had been strong enough to possibly defeat the Keyblade Masters. Zexion's death was bad on all sides. He had been a powerful fighter (though he hated it) and an even better strategist and tracker. He had tracked Tine to the Destiny Islands. Lexaeus and Larxene had gone to the Islands to get Tine…and only the Silent Hero had come back. It was assumed that because Larxene hadn't returned, or sent contact, that she was dead. Oh well thought Nexumair. They all had to die anyway. It didn't matter how sooner than other some bit the dust. He would continue to endure forever in the immortal universe of Nobodies that would come after the fall of Kingdom Hearts. Nexumair's thoughts were interrupted by a flash of white light that separated into three separate beings. The diminutive figures floated in front of his desk and landed on the wood. It was the group of pixies calling themselves the "Gullwings", whatever that meant.

"What do you want?" Nexumair asked them.

"What do we want?" demanded the blond one. She seemed to be the most hyper of them all, Nexumair had observed before. "We want to help work for you, silly!"

"In exchange for treasure, of course" said the black dressed one. She gave Nexumair a shrewd look. "Are you willing to accept our help?" when Nexumair didn't answer right away, she pressed a bit harder. "Well?"

"Now, Paine, don't rush him. He's got a lot on his mind right now, with having to arrest his own friends for such terrible crimes" said the brunette one.

I hate pixies Nexumair thought. All that bubbling emotion. Their kind will definitely have to be eliminated when Kingdom Hearts is----he was interrupted by the blond pixie knocking on his forehead with her hard little fists.

"Agghh! Stop it!" Nexumair said. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Rikku, stop it right now!" shouted the Yuna angrily. She floated onto Nexumair's lap and sat there. "I'm sorry about this. My cousin isn't usually this hyper, but she fell into a bag of sugar in the kitchens this morning and it took us hours to get someone to help us. By that time she had eaten a lot of it."

Nexumair sighed and shook his head. "Think nothing of it. Anyway, I have no use for your kind. I know Cid used you all for circulating messages for the Guilds, but there is no point in that anymore. I am not in charge of Radiant Garden, just the Bastion Knights."

"Yes, you are" said Paine. "You are officially recognized as the leader of Radiant until new Guild Leaders can be found…or the old ones are absolved of their crimes."

This was not welcome news. Nexumair had gotten rid of the Guild Leader because they were a threat to Organization XIII's plans. He hadn't thought he would be saddled with the burden of leadership. This was an aberration of the plan. He ran a hand through his silver hair and sighed. "Fine" he said. "I do have a job for you. Downstairs in the dungeons, there is a sorceress by the name of Morgan le Fay. She is being held only by the help of an object called the Dawn Shard. I want you to guard the Dawn Shard with your lives. I want you to make sure nothing harms it. If you do this successfully, I will give you all the treasure you could ever imagine."

The three pixies huddled together in happiness and started to laugh. "You've got it, Cap'n Nexumair!" said Rikku and the three of them disappeared. Happy to have gotten rid of the three fools, Nexumair sat back and sighed. Now he didn't have to worry about going near the Dawn Shard and feeling the strange effects it had on him.

Sora had discovered a problem with getting Tron to help them. "What are we going to do about getting there?" he asked Yen Sid. "In order to get to the interface computer, then we have to be there in person!"

Yen Sid sighed. "I meant to bring this up yesterday" he said, looking at the sunrise that rose above the clouds. "You will have to go to Radiant Garden and fight to the computer room."

"Fight our way there?" Donald asked. "What are you talking about? Why can't we do something else?"

"Because" said a voice suddenly from the Gummi port in the corner of the Lobby, "You can't even work on the Tron system from Merlin's house." It was Cid. He, Aertih, Yuffie, Leon, and Cloud shuffled out of the light, looking tired and worn.

"Guys! You're alive!" Sora yelled. He ran toward them. Before he had gotten too close, Cloud pushed the Keyblade Master back.

"Don't Sora" he said. "I don't think I could take it."

"What happened?" Donald asked, sensing that some great disaster had befallen them all.

"Tifa's dead" Leon said flatly. "She died protecting us from an Organization member. Cloud killed another one in the Castle Garden. And this is what we end up with!" Leon threw his hands up in the air. He looked at Yen Sid. "Master Yen Sid already told us about the balance." The brunette looked at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The three friends saw to their horror that the gunblade master was defeated. He had no more light sparkled in his eyes. None of the Radiant Garden crew did anymore. They were all slumped and dead looking. Even bright and cheerful Yuffie.

"Guys….I'm…:" Sora said.

"You're sorry?" Cid said. "Man, sorry doesn't cut it. Just go to Tron, and shut down the Organization's fucking machine and get this over with. And please" the gruff old engineer said, his voice breaking. Kick that ass Nexumair a little for us. Please."

"We will" said Goofy.

"No, leave the nerd jobs to the nerds" said Lea, sliding down the banister. "Let me handle Nexumair. I know his powers. You don't. If Saix really is dead, then the little brat will be Xemnas' right hand man now. I can feel it."

"Axel?" Sora said. "Why are you coming with us? I thought you were through with this?"

"I'm Lea not, Axel" Lea said. "Besides, I can't just sit back and let Roxas go into a danger zone by himself. What kind of best friend would I be?"

True, true said Roxas, worry touching his voice. But you're joined with your Other now. You have less strength and less endurance for attacks. You can't even use fire powers now. You're a normal human being now. A mortal.

"Oh, I know Roxie" said Lea. "But I have other ways of generating an explosion." She gestured to little packets arranged on her belt. "Let's burn, baby!" she cried and flung her chakrams around in a circle.

Yuffie gave a little laugh at this, but Aerith shushed her. Cloud was still in mourning over Tifa. They all were, but Cloud had been hit most of all. He seemed to think it was his fault for being occupied with Zexion and not getting there in time. The sound of laughter was painful to him. "Come back safely" said Aerith softly. They went off with Yen Sid to find food and shelter that would be provided by Yen Sid's fairy assistants. The sorcerer turned to the trio.

"Two more things. One: remember the balance…but do not speak of it to Riku. If you feel you must tell Kairi, swear her to secrecy. The reason? Riku has his own part to play in this saga. The second thing is that Flora, Fauna, and Merrywhether send their regards and their regret for not being able to talk to you all."

"Enough of the talking, old man, let's get doing!" said Lea as she burst out of the doors. She ran into the Gummi ship and sat at the controls. "Yeeeehhhaaaaa!" she howled.

"Get out of the control chair" Donald demanded his hands on his hips. Lea gave him a glare, but got off. Sora took his place and began to drive.

"I can't believe Tifa's dead" said Goofy. "We've already lost someone to the Organization. We'll avenge her thought!" he said.

"You bet we will!" Sora said. "Next stop: Radiant Garden!/Radiant Garden!" he and Roxas yelled at the same time. The Gummi ship took off and flew into the cosmos.