Something I'm going to do from now until the fighting is over is provide three songs to listen to and get your blood pumping at the start of each chapter. For starters:

Here Comes The General from Hamilton

See Who I Am by Within Temptation

Awake by Skillet

Chapter 5: The Enemy of My Enemy:

"Sometimes, I worry about little Ienzo. The death of a parent at any age is an event that brings great sorrow into one's heart. But to lose them when he was so young, and in such a violent manner at that, would traumatize anyone. Ansem adopted the child out of guilt for the fact that one of his own guards was responsible for his parents deaths, and did the best he could to fill the void in the child's life. But because of his duties as king, there would be at least one day each week where I would be forced to play babysitter.

While I usually detest children, I have fond memories of the times when Lord Ansem and I managed to cheer him up. The feelings of pride when he showed us a successful experiment, or an idea for social programs. Where Ansem filled the role of a surrogate father, I fit the job of honorary uncle like a glove. Still, despite our best efforts, the once energetic and inquisitive boy remained firmly entrenched in his shell of shyness. And now I worry what effect my liege's latest charity case will have on the boy.

Since Xehanort's arrival six months ago, Ienzo has been fascinated by the mysterious young man, constantly asking questions. Ordinarily, I would have been overjoyed that my surrogate nephew was finally coming out of his shell, only someone who did not bear witness to the deceptions and machinations of politics would be blind to the fact that Xehanort was clearly manipulating the boy. Ansem cannot see it, because he always believes the best in everyone, but I know it's there.

I mean, honestly. When Ienzo begged his adopted father to build our new basement laboratory after already telling Xehanort no, that should have been the first warning sign. But my king's greatest flaw is that he is far too trusting for his own good. That is why betrayals by people he considers trustworthy hurt him so deeply. But Ansem has always tried to make everyone happy, and that will be his downfall one day.

Despite my opinion on the morally dubious nature of Xehanort's hypotheses, I go along with him. I always ask myself why, and then I remember the answer when an emotionally frail ten-year-old wakes me in the middle of the night because he had a nightmare and his adoptive father is working late. While I would never dream of having children of my own, Ienzo is probably the closest I will ever come to having a son of my own.

So, I bite my tongue and swallow my objections if it means I can shield him from the morality consuming quest for the secrets of the heart that Xehanort seeks. Even then, there are some things that even I cannot screen. Just this morning, he asked Xehanort if the old adage about a married couple being of one heart was actually possible. There was no malice behind it, simply a child's curiosity of the world around him and things he'd heard neighbors say about his parents.

Now Xehanort has decided to test that theory, and he's even had the gall to insist that the boy actively participate in our research. I tried to protest, but I was soundly outvoted. Dilan, swayed by the idea that the boy will need to be exposed to the horrors of the world (as if his parents' violent murder at the hands of a drunk, lecherous-minded guardsman wasn't horror enough!), sided with Xehanort and Braig. Only Aeleus agrees with my objections, having helped care for the boy as much as I have. I continue to protest, but I am under no illusions as to what road Xehanort is leading us down. May whatever gods that exist in this universe have mercy on our souls.

Even Report 0"

The Isle of Draco – Beyond the Reef:

"HELMSMAN! BRING US ABOUT!" Dr. Joshua Sweet, former medical officer of the original expedition to Atlantis and one of the highest-ranking leaders of the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge, had to shout at the top of his lungs to be heard over the din of battle as klaxons blared and the concussive shockwaves of depth charges roared around him. Rebuild and upgraded with modern weaponry and Atlantean technology, the Ulysses had served as a mobile command center for the S.A.C.K. since its formation. Now, with what would most surely be one of the most significant wars in the history of Earth and mankind as a whole, it was being called into service as a battleship.

"LOAD THE TORPEDO BAYS! SUB POD CREWS, BATTLE STATIONS!" Peggy Rogers roared just as loudly as Society volunteers scrambled to their stations. To help distract the Unchained armada, the submarine and its all-volunteer crew were assigned to cause as much undersea chaos as they could. Down on the launch deck, Neku, Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, Vinnie, Mole, the Johnsons, the FitzSimmons, the Hunters, Mack, Cobra Bubbles, Jumba, Pleakley, Kim, Ron, and ten other S.A.C.K. members scrambled into the ship's fourteen Sub Pods while Nani, David, Lilo, and the other members stationed in the ship's torpedo turrets fired crystal-powered broadsides at the nearest Unchained ship.

At the fifty mile perimeter the Legion had established around the Isle of Draco, warships and submarines from every country on the planet streamed through the water towards the island, firing at the semi-aquatic Gummi Ships as they did so. Thor used his hammer to bring a lightning bolt down on the deck of The Atlantis, setting the munitions scattered across the ship's bow on fire and tearing a hole in the upper decks while Iron Man and War Machine peppered The Anguis with missile fire and repulsor blasts. Above the clouds, Captain America leaped from the back of the Avengers' Quinjet without a parachute and hurtled down like a missile towards where The Invi was anchored off the shore of Draco. Black Widow, the Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, and Stitch followed behind with parachutes, while the Secret Warriors prepared to do the same in boarding The Vulpeus.

Jake, Rose, Falcon, Hawkeye, Black Panther, and Wasp attacked The Daybreak while the Guardians of the Galaxy provided cover fire by bombarding the upper decks of The Sokovia. In the midst of the chaos, Gummi Ship troop transports landed on the shores of Draco, where hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Coalition troops, and soldiers from nearly every army on Earth gorged out of the ships onto the crater-filled beaches. Gunshots, plasma bolts, and magic spells flew back and forth as the forces of good fought tooth and nail to break the defensive lines set up by the Hellfire Club remnants. Lightning jumped to the side as a laser blast from a Dark Elf rifle scorches the sand where she used to be standing.

In a secluded clearing near the occupied palace of Draco, Violet used her force fields to deflect incoming laser fire from a squad of Leroys while Vanitas dispatched the defenders with swift but brutal swings of his Keyblade. Cloud and Zack felled Scroop, the scouting team's commander, with a few sword strikes to crack through his armored carapace. Sonic booms echoed constantly throughout the sky as military fighter jets arrived from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to unload their payloads in brutal, punishing strafing rounds against the armored hull of the Dark Elf command ship, while on the northeastern side of the island, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and the Hulk were causing chaos and confusion among the enemy forces.

Aboard the Unchained Legion's flagship, the raven-haired woman in command of the immortal army knelt in front of a small shrine erected in the common area in the heart of the Ava. Recent events had shaken her faith in the Legion's cause, and she sought solace at the shrine erected to the fallen Foreteller like all her subordinates did.

"The only true order is the order of nature," she whispered to herself as a reminder of the Legion's eventual goals once the worlds had finally been brought back together as one. "Chaotic, but ordered. Random, but structured. We are the acolytes of the natural order. It is our duty to restore Earth and mankind to its proper state… But recent events have left me confused and doubting our purpose. I've been plagued by doubts, by questions of whether what we are doing is truly what is right in the long run. Lady Ava… What should I do?" But since the woman whose death had triggered the outbreak of the Keyblade War had never had the time to Unchained herself, her followers could receive no guidance from her. Another explosion rocked the ship and reminded Skuld of where she was. The dance of death had begun.

Meanwhile, several decks below the Skuld's feet, Kairi slipped silently through the shadows. Her clothes a dark shade of violet to help her blend in with the plush carpets along the metallic corridors of the warship. She had arrived in one of the ship's storage closets, and made her way from there. Using passcodes provided by Natasha and Rose, she was able to access the fleet's mainframe and transmit strategic data on the Legion's forces to Riku and the alliance. From there, she'd used a few carefully timed Vanish spells to reach the armory and incinerate it. They knew she was there now, and were actively looking for her.

But despite the brig's prisoner logs indicating Sora had been brought in a few days ago, he wasn't there when she checked the cell he was listed in, and the mainframe didn't have any information stating what had happened to him. She was getting frantic and was just about to risk capturing and interrogating one of the guards when she rounded a corner to find her fiancé standing there, Keyblade in hand. At first, she was relieved. But then her joy turned to confusion and dread as she noticed the angry look in his eyes and the broken five-pointed star of the Unchained Legion painted across the armor on his chest.

I decided to throw in a Report for this as an alternative to flashbacks and a way to get inside the heads of side characters who I can't really focus on a lot in the present-day storyline, as well as drop some hints about things that may play out later on in this universe. Since I already killed off Even, I decided to give him some posthumous page time. His view of Ienzo as a surrogate son is based heavily on his (technically Vexen's but they're basically the same person anyway) portrayal in the amazing Kingdom Hearts AU fanfic "Why The Sun Sets Red" on Archive Of Our Own, which I think I've already mentioned in Cloak & Dagger. I thought it would be a nice little nod to the fact that Even practically helped raise Ienzo before the birth of Organization XIII. There may probably be more "shitty science dad (as he's referred to in comments on WTSSR)" references in future reports.

Yes, the lines spoken aboard the Ulysses are quotes from the Leviathan scene in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. I figured since we're seeing that ship again, it would be fitting to acknowledge the lines spoken in the movie before it's destruction. Hopefully that won't be the case this time. ;) And you'll also probably be wondering why just about every major character who's part of the S.A.C.K. is aboard the Ulysses, actual combat experience be damned. I figured that for a crisis of this scale, S.H.I.E.L.D., The Avengers, the S.A.C.K., etc. would be all hands on deck, getting everyone to help out in some way, shape, or form. So I figured it would make sense to have most of the people who aren't Avengers or Keyblade Wielder-levels of badass serving as sub pod crews or gunners aboard the Ulysses or other air and submersible craft.

One of the Unchained ships being named Atlantis is a shout out to this new sci-fi novel series I got into called The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu. Its premise is a bit too much to explain in one Author's Note, but I assure you it's action packed and very funny. The reason they named some of their warships after Invi and the Anguis union even though they were technically at odds during the Keyblade War is that she and the Unchained Legion shared similar views on Darkness and its role in the universe. Skuld's doubts are going to become a major plot point throughout this story. There are a lot of possibilities for how this will play out, and all of them still involve a lot of blood and bodies.