Eve sighed, sitting on a bench in the shade of a building. She looked toward the sky, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. It was pointless, she told herself, to be worried about these strangers. Despite their odd clothing and accents, they seemed harmless. And in any case, none of them seemed like alchemists; leastwise, none had displayed any alchemical ability and even the most skilled alchemist would need time to construct an array to transmute with, a weakness she no longer shared.

In fact, she told herself, they wouldn't be able to hurt her in any way she hadn't already been injured by her father. Still, though, the city was large and if these people were bandits, they would be the first of many. It had been several months since the cataclysm and the entire kingdom was deemed to be cursed by the outside world, so it had remained untouched except for the thousands of corpses which had rotted away to nothing in the harsh summer.

Eve chuckled to herself. It was silly, really, to be afraid of the first people she'd seen in months that weren't either corpses or actively trying to kill her. "That settles it," she muttered to herself. "Time to go see what the fuss is about."

The Alchemist moved stealthily, carefully blending into the shadows around the town square. Though he hadn't any idea where the strangers had come from, he wasn't interested in their origins. Indeed, he could care less about the rest of the world, so long as they left his city alone. He was the king of Xerxes now, and that was how it would remain.

The group in the town square was smaller than it had been several hours previous; about half had left, almost certainly wandering the city streets looting any piece of gold they saw. The alchemist clenched his teeth, glaring at the three foreigners sitting in the shade of the buildings – his buildings. He readied his knife, moving forward to strike. He would take the yellow clad girl hostage; the man in black and the giant wouldn't touch him while he had her. The alchemist smirked, stepping behind the pillar the girl was sitting against. As he clenched the handle of his blade, he saw a shape move out of the corner of his eye. The giant stood over him.

Stern's fist connected with the stranger's ribs, almost certainly snapping a few. The man flew across the ground, hitting one of the pillars with a dull crack. Billie looked up at the giant, shocked.

"Did you kill him," she asked, aghast. The marine shrugged.

"Probably," he said. "He'd have done the same to you, so what's the loss?" The Hufflepuff looked away for an instant.

"You didn't have to kill him, Stern," she scolded.

"Not to worry, miss," said a voice from behind Billie. "He didn't kill me." The stranger was standing, his blade poised to strike.

Stern pushed the witch aside, his massive power sword slashing downward only to be caught by the stranger's hand. There was an electric crackle and a red flash and Stern's sword splintered into a million pieces. Drake moved forward to attack the man, only to be thrown back by another blast of red energy. Stern swung his fist, aiming to connect with the stranger's face. Instead, he hit what felt like a wall, the armor on his right arm shredding in the same way his sword had as he skidded across the ground.

"Stupefy," shouted Billie, her wand pointed at the stranger. The jet of red light flew true, only to be deflected several inches before striking its target. The Alchemist smirked, his palms hitting the ground, red energy spiking out to the pillars. There was a rumbling in the ground, and the sound of something moving. With a whoosh, and several gigantic rings arose from the ground. There was a flash of light and the rings descended, leaving only an empty space.

Eve recognized the sound of the rings even from half the city away. She looked to the street below her, where the four outsiders who had ventured deeper into the city stood, looking for the source of the noise.

Eve sighed wearily and, after a second's thought, leapt from the rooftop she was standing on.

The Professor jumped backward when the girl landed in front of them. As she straightened herself, Rosie's keyblade leveled itself with her chest, her eyes blazing.

"What's going on around here," asked the Professor, his gaze nowhere near as intense as that of Rosie or Athena, who had drawn her wand as well.

The girl sighed, brushing a strand of her red-blonde hair out of her face. "My father," she started. "Has taken your companions to his laboratory."