A Skittering Heart

by stewart92

Taylor's trigger was interrupted by a very different source of power. With Keyblade in hand, Taylor must open the way.

32. Chapter 32

Chapter 22: From Broken Hands

_

"Why wasn't anyone protecting him?" Taylor demanded as Sabah stuck close to her, the Dollhouse and Protectorate heroes walking towards Armsmaster's motorcycle.

Armsmaster didn't stop walking as he answered.

"Because we never knew he needed protection. He was low priority... No, that came out wrong. Danny Hebert was assumed to be safe. A victim of Bakuda, lost among other victims of Bakuda. We had no reason to suspect anything was wrong with your father or that people were after him. The idea that someone targeted your father, means that they either had beef with a mentally ill man or they know who you are. Neither idea is appealing." Armsmaster said.

Taylor felt the world go grey.

Her father... Someone, and Taylor was had a pretty damn good idea who, had tried to take him or hurt him.

Because of her. Because she was Keynote.

It made her jaw clench, teeth grinding together as hate burned in her veins.

Sabah ended her call with a tap and put her phone away.

"Key? Can we talk for second." Sabah said quietly.

Taylor spun on her.

"We don't have time to talk. My Dad is robbing a bank." Taylor snapped and instantly regretted it.

Sabah nodded but beckoned her closer anyway.

"I know, and I think I know why." Sabah said under her breath. Her doll mask was back on, but Taylor could feel her blue eyes boring into her.

Taylor pushed back the guilt and anger, just a little, and nodded.

Sabah pulled her to one side as Mouse Protector crossed her arms and asked Armsmaster something Taylor didn't catch.

Sabah turned and faced Taylor then, deeming them to be far enough away.

"I phoned Mog, he almost answers Ingrid's phone more than she does these days. Anyway, I told him about what happened, he seemed confused, then I said that your Dad was calling himself 'Gilgamesh' and he freaked, said he'd meet us at the bank. I've never heard Mog sound so alarmed, not even when he saw Ultros." Sabah said quietly.

Taylor blinked at her, a feeling of dread growing to match her guilt.

"An Esper?" Taylor whispered worriedly.

Sabah shrugged.

"He didn't tell me, he just hung up, but I thought you should know your dad might not be doing this under his own power." Sabah pointed out, reaching out to take Taylor's hand.

Taylor nodded understandingly, an image of Ifrit's summoning circle flashing through her mind.

Espers were really well versed in using loopholes.

Taylor felt Sabah squeeze her hand comfortingly. She nodded decisively.

"I need to hurry then, what if this Gilgamess guy is using my Dad as a human battery? I mean Ifrit only had me for a small while and I have the Keyblade but it hurt. It hurt a lot. And Dad... he's just a normal guy, he won't last long." Taylor said quickly, her voice tight.

Sabah nodded, moving past her.

"Gilgamesh has Mog worried and that has me worried. Just don't put yourself in danger, please. I know he's your Dad, but if you're not careful you'll get hurt." Sabah warned, her voice heavy with concern.

Taylor nodded sharply, squeezing Sabah's hand back.

"I... I will. But I'm not going to let an Esper hurt my Dad. Mog can help me... I just want to rush in and save my Dad, but I know that won't work, and it makes me feel so damn useless." Taylor cursed.

Sabah reached up, putting her other hand on Taylor's shoulder.

"Take it from me, watching your Dad suffer and not being able to do anything is something that isn't easy, but I'm here for you. Don't forget that." Sabah said softly.'

Taylor stared at her, Sabah sounded so sad and yet… she cared so much.

Because her father had…

Taylor felt like ass, but Sabah's words made her stand taller.

If Sabah could get through her father's death alone, then she could damn well save her own father surrounded by her friends.

"I won't. Let's go." Taylor agreed.

Leading Sabah back to the heroes, they both got into Mouse Protector's rental, the Protectorate cape already in the vehicle while Armsmaster sat on his bike in front of them. As they climbed into the car Mouse turned and nodded at them, handing Taylor a phone.

"Armsmaster's got a plan. Buckle up, I'm putting the foot through the floor." Mouse Protector warned as the car peeled away.

"Don't you mean to the floor?" Sabah asked worriedly.

Mouse just casually adjusted the rearview mirror.

"Nope." The mouse cape answered cheerfully.

Taylor and Sabah hastily buckled their seatbelts.

As she was ramming the buckle home Taylor caught a glimpse of something off to the side, the light from the open front door of the Dallon household.

Amy stood in the frame, darkened by the light coming from behind her. The mousey girl watched them drive away, a look of something indeterminable on her face, but she was already too far away for Taylor to see her clearly.

Was it relief at their departure? Or a curiosity that her mother would have disapproved of?

Or another emotion altogether?

Still, Amy was at the bottom of Taylor's worry list at the moment, but not entirely off it though.

There was something about that look they had shared that made Taylor both curious. And worried.

But Amy wasn't going anywhere, and they had a healer date of some sort at the hospital, so she could deal with Amy then.

For now, she had an Esper, or whatever Gilgamesh was, to deal with.

"Keynote, I need you to get into civilian guise." Armsmaster's gruff tone crackled through the phone Sabah was holding. For a moment all three capes stopped, everyone staring at the phone before as one their eyes shifted to the motorcycle they were following.

Both of Armsmaster's hands were on the handlebar. So how…

Right, Tinker.

Some sort of microphone in his helmet, Taylor guessed.

Then Taylor connected the dots and felt her mouth thin.

"No, for one, Mouse Protector is in the car, two it won't work." Taylor replied.

Armsmaster was silent for a few seconds.

"You know something, explain." The Tinker pushed.

Taylor shared a look with Sabah.

Those answers lead dangerously close to magical answers. Somehow Taylor didn't think Armsmaster would buy the explanation of 'possession by magical alien spirit from another dimension.'

Taylor quickly scrambled for a more acceptable answer.

"I think... my Dad is being controlled by a projection like Mog and Ifrit." Taylor said carefully.

Armsmaster made a grunting sound.

"If they are projections then I'm a social butterfly. Keynote, please do not disrespect me, just say what you think is going on and let me decide for myself what I think." The hero said.

Taylor shot Sabah a helpless look and a mute conversation took place. 'Help me!'

Sabah nodded back encouragingly though. 'It's fine, tell the truth.'

Taylor shook her head quickly throwing her hands up. 'He won't believe it!'

Sabah crossed her arms and tilted her head. 'He didn't believe the lie either. Do it.'

Taylor sighed, there was no winning now.

"As far as me and Parian know; Mog, Boco, Ifrit, Ultros, and this Gilgamesh, are travellers from another dimension or 'realm' as they call it. They come here because they're somehow drawn to me because I have the Keyblade. They are very powerful creatures who are limited by the fact that Earth Bet doesn't have enough of their native energy for them to flourish in, so they restrict themselves to weak mostly harmless forms. You have footage of Ifrit in a variety of forms, fueled by my Keyblade and me, to retain his powers." Taylor said quickly as if that would stop Armsmaster from dismissing her outright. Mouse Protector never swerved, but Taylor could the woman was dying to interrupt or at least turn around.

There was another grunt over the phone.

"Native energy?" Armsmaster asked, focusing on the part that was likely the most interesting to him.

Taylor smiled, despite herself. Trust a tinker to ignore the discovery of aliens in favour of their potential technology.

"Uh... This is where you might get angsty, but they call it... well... magic." Taylor muttered and she swore she could see Armsmaster's armored back straighten even from where she was.

The phone crackled again.

"I see. Their words, not yours I assume? It doesn't matter, magic can appear as such to those who either don't understand advanced technology for what it is or do understand it and are right in calling it so." Armsmaster said, surprising everyone in the car before he continued.

"It's one of Clarke's laws. To a normal person in a third world country, what I might be capable of with my Halberd would seem magical. In a thousand years, what people might be able to do, would make me call it magic. One's understanding colours everything." The Tinker said, sounding uncomfortable lecturing in this manner.

Taylor smiled as she listened, the awkwardness made his words less than impressive, but still, to hear one of Brockton Bay's brightest not outright dismiss magic was... promising.

"So, yeah I think one of these beings came to Earth and somehow got a hold of my Dad. Mog, uh... the fairy that hangs around with us, he said he knew the name, but he didn't explain." Taylor carried on, nearly falling on Sabah as the car turned sharply, saved only by her seatbelt, as they followed the tinker-bike at breakneck speeds into the heart of the city.

At the front of the car Mouse Protector could no longer keep quiet.

"How are they getting in? Are there more on the way?" Mouse asked… sounding serious for once. Possibly.

Taylor shrugged.

"They appeared randomly, getting in through some kind of barrier, but Mog said that he and Boco came because they were curious, I called Ifrit, but we don't know how or why Gilgamesh is here, or how he got to my Dad." Taylor said before paling. How much had Mouse Protector heard? Had she heard 'Danny Hebert?' Did she know who it was they were going to meet?

Hebert wasn't exactly a common name, all it would take is one search or a look in the phone book and Mouse would find Danny Hebert pretty fast. From there, finding out he had a daughter and where she lived would be a quick and easy task.

Mouse nodded.

"We'll rescue Danny Hebert, and return him to his daughter before the night is through, I'm sure she's worried about him." Mouse said, taking a hand off the wheel to give Taylor a thumbs up and then turned another corner, jostling Taylor and Sabah again.

Taylor felt her worry ease off. Mouse was... insane, but she was also a good person.

"Mouse, I'll get you the disclosure forms to cover you on the legal side when we get back to base, just to be safe. But Keynote, if you're right and your Dad is indeed being mastered, then what do you suggest? Can this being be removed safely? Do you know anything about this Gilgamesh that would suggest he has a weakness?" Armsmaster's voice crackled once again.

Taylor frowned.

"I don't know anything about him, not even if he's elemental or if he's got a skill he's good at." Taylor said, knowing that Esper's could range from the magical roulette of Mog, to the speed of Boco, the fire of Ifrit and the... tracking of Ultros?

Gilgamesh could be some sort of builder or guardian if he bonded with her Dad.

Sabah looked at the phone with annoyance, Taylor could tell by the tilt of her friend's head, as Armsmaster started speaking again

"Weapons. We know that much, he's been seen carrying a multitude of hockey sticks, weighted bars, tennis rackets, a nerf gun and two night sticks from the security guards at the bank. We got some thermal imagery of him doing what Miss Militia describes as gun tricks. Besides that, we have little idea of his skills. I've alerted the forces on the ground to be careful and activate basic master/stranger protocols. If this Gilgamesh can possess people then I don't want him jumping to any of us, or Miss Militia." Armsmaster said, then paused before speaking again.

"We're approaching the bank now, if you think your father is truly under Gilgamesh's control then stay in costume. We could use more help, it's not just Gilgamesh, but the Undersiders as well." Armsmaster added.

Taylor mentally shuffled Gilgamesh away from Mog and closer to Ifrit in her mind. Then she thought of the Undersiders.

There was another question she wanted answers too.

Why were they pulling off two ballsy heists in one day? Why the bank of all things?

Did they think no one would stop them? Tattletale, the blonde girl who'd used the name Terry at the warehouse, hadn't seemed stupid... the dark curly haired one, maybe.

But what if they used the dogs they rescued earlier? That sweet pitt she had petted earlier, now snarling at her face, under the control of Bitch.

It would break her heart to attack it.

One more question to find answers to.

The car slowed then and Taylor snapped her attention to the outside world. There were flashing lights everywhere as police cars blocked off entry to the banks street from the main road.

Mouse killed the engine and peeled herself out of the tiny car.

"Let's go womba's! We have to go on foot from here, stay close and everything will be fine, not that anyone would stop you, apprentice." Mouse Protector added as an afterthought as she locked her car door.

Taylor and Sabah stared at her retreating back.

"What's a womba?" Sabah asked.

Taylor shook her head, she had no idea.

"I dunno, but we are one now in her mind…" Taylor replied as she opened her door to follow the caped cape.

Sabah got out as well and followed Taylor closely, her gloved hand grabbing on to Taylor's coat, holding tight as they passed the staring crowd of onlookers. The bank was still a street away, but for reasons of safety and security it was best that the bored people of Brockton Bay were being kept so far back.

Espers had proven to be highly destructive to everything around them.

Unintentionally for the most part, which was even scarier really.

Armsmaster joined them as they caught up, falling stiffly into step beside them. He'd been waiting for them, and as he got off his bike it made several loud beeping noises as everything locked down.

Nodding to them curtly, Armsmaster spoke.

"We'll head to the nearest hero and find out what's going on, we can plan our next move after that." Armsmaster told them, his mouth tight as he looked the three of them over.

Taylor could understand.

One was a tiny doll girl, barely five feet tall... with no dolls to use her powers on. Another was herself, the spindly 6 foot magic key wielding girl that summoned spirits from other worlds and casually destroyed everything around her and lastly, there was Mouse Protector… whose height fell between them.

If there was ever such a ragtag group…

Taylor smiled and summoned her Keyblade.

"I'm ready to help." Taylor said firmly.

Armsmaster nodded in return.

"The Protectorate extends a hand in cooperation for this incident, I look forward to working with you." The leader of Brockton Bay's Protectorate said in return.

Taylor had an odd feeling of gaining some political clout, but she wasn't exactly sure who with.

Beside them Mouse grinned.

"Let's kick some ass and save some lives." Mouse Protector agreed before she spotted something, her serious face breaking into a grin.

"Missy!" Mouse cried and walked eagerly over to a frozen Miss Militia. Without a word everyone followed, entranced by Mouse Protector's actions.

Miss Militia was looking into a PRT van, seeing blobs of color move through the bank wall, a lot of the colors meshed together making it hard to see details.

All around them was the armed forces of the police and the PRT people. Trucks and cars blocked off every road leading to and from the area, and there were people on nearby rooftops, keeping an eye on things from above.

The large empty space in front of the bank was ominous. As if none dared approach for what lay in wait inside.

"Mouse, don't call me that. Armsmaster." Miss Militia greeted, sounding relieved. Then she spotted Taylor and Sabah and straightened like she had been caught slacking off.

"Keynote and Parian, I would say it was a pleasure to see you, but given the circumstance, I'm afraid today has been one bad thing after another." Miss Militia said to them with a grimace.

Taylor could understand, it had been a very long day for everyone present and it wasn't over yet.

"What's happening?" Armsmaster asked, cutting the meet and greet off before it could become awkward.

Miss Militia seemed to ease into the role of the confident hero that Taylor had seen in the magazines at the Dollhouse.

"Twenty or so people in the bank, it was five minutes before closing so not many people were working or doing business, a plus for us. The Undersiders appeared first, making their way in through an employee entrance at the back, which is now being covered by PRT troopers backed up by Aegis and Kid Win. The Undersiders entered the employee area and somehow disabled the alarm before they advanced into the lobby, shot a few warning bullets into the ground and gathered the civilians together." Miss Militia reported calmly.

Taylor tried to absorb it all, secretly hoping the hero would hurry up and get to her Dad. The gun themed hero kept speaking.

"As far as we can see, all members are accounted for... and one more. Tattletale, Grue, Hellhound, Regent and the new member. We didn't notice him at first in the thermal imaging, but he hasn't moved since the Undersiders got the hostages to lay face down on the floor. In fact, as time went on, the thermal imagery has gotten... odd around the new member." Miss Militia said carefully, as if not to add bias to her words.

Armsmaster leaned in and stared at the screen.

"Are they... building energy?" Armsmaster asked, sounding amazingly calm.

Taylor leaned around the bulky tinker and stared at the screen as well.

Blobs of yellow and red moved about, they must be the Undersiders she had met, did that mean the new member that was glowing far more hotly than the rest was or… something?

"Not Gilgamesh?" Armsmaster asked.

Miss Militia's face darkened.

"That... man scuttled up to the roof after I knocked him down. He attempted to steal my weapon, but he didn't anticipate its return policy nor my fist. He laughed it off and said he would be back once he had his weapon. No sign of him yet. From what the scanners could pick up from the window vibrations, the new member is called Brick. I hope... no other variation of that name would be a good one. Then again… with what Hellhound calls herself, I wouldn't be surprised." Miss Militia said and snorted.

Mouse put a hand to her chin.

"Did they arrive together?" Mouse Protector questioned.

Militia shook her head.

"Separately, there seemed to be a fight when Gilgamesh dropped in via the roof, but it stopped quickly enough and they seem to be following his orders, at least for now." The gun cape answered.

Mouse became quiet at that.

Sabah took this time to tug at Taylor's sleeve, pointing to something up in the sky, before Militia's radio came to life with a cry.

"Mam, there's a giant bird coming in from above... It's, it's... It's yellow!" The woman said over the radio as Taylor spotted Boco, flapping his wings almost lazily as he touched down on the ground.

Miss Militia looked at Taylor and Sabah who were both looking up and spotted the smile just visible amidst the darkness obscuring Taylor's face.

"Stand down, friendly." Miss Militia responded before someone did something rash.

Then Boco landed in a flutter of wings. People shuffled nervously as the chocobo walked over to Sabah and Taylor.

Mog flew off Boco's back as Ifrit fell off over the side of the bird... landing with a snarl.

"Hell spit, that's what he is, Gilgamesh... Bah! If there was ever a name I did not want need to hear tonight, it was that one. I'm missing Rose of May for this and it's the season finale!" Ifrit whined at Boco, who twittered sympathetically.

Taylor's eyes darted around searching for a certain armored figure, but she couldn't see Gallant anywhere near by, which was good for the Ward. If he got wonky around Boco, then he would freak at Ifrit.

It's hard to forget a thirteen odd foot tall demon ripping into Lung. Seeing it reduced to a cuddly toy would not help.

"Who else is here?" Taylor quickly asked.

Miss Militia tore her eyes away from the approaching plush army.

"...Vista, Clockblocker, Aegis, Kid Win and Myself, oh and our newest Ward, Browbeat." Miss Militia added, looking embarrassed that she almost forgot Browbeat.

Taylor didn't think she had heard of Browbeat before, was this his first appearance?

Before she could ask Mog swooped in and flew about Taylor's head, speaking in a rushed tone.

"Kupo, Key, I didn't know! I didn't know! That Gilgamesh had... done this, kupo!" Mog cried, looking ashamed of himself.

Taylor blinked then reached up and pulled the moogle into her arms.

"Mog... What are you talking about?" She asked gently, trying to calm the moogle down.

Mog didn't answer, just shook harder.

Then Ifrit spoke up.

"The brat sensed another Esper earlier, but forgot about it after that stupid octopus Ultros showed up. It would seem that it was Gilgamesh. Now Mog thinks that if he had remembered, he could have stopped Gilgamesh. Which is stupid." Ifrit stated, his size normal once more, returned to that of a large plush cat. He began climbing Sabah quickly and stood on her shoulder, the image odd, but cute to Taylor's eye.

A doll girl and her shoulder demon.

Everyone stared at Ifrit and he crossed his soft arms as he thought about something.

"Oh yes... mortal customs. Ahem. Greetings mortals and others, I am the esper of fire and ruin, Ifrit, I come in peace." Ifrit said loudly.

Mouse Protector reached for him, her mouth open.

Unconsciously or driven by some motherly instinct, Miss Militia slapped Mouse's hands down. The army woman looked a little disturbed, her eyes a little too wide.

"The same Ifrit who fought Lung?" Miss Militia asked softly.

Ifrit nodded, looking proud.

"It was a good fight, a proper welcome into this world. Also, I must say, I find your historical dramas most interesting, well done on that." Ifrit congratulated Miss Militia as if she has personally directed Rose of May.

Taylor wanted to redirect everyone back to the hostage problem, but she couldn't seem to find the words to do it.

Armsmaster tilted his head slightly.

"You were more intimidating before, is this new form a disguise?" Armsmaster asked.

Ifrit sighed as his whole body dropped.

"Punishment. Got booted here by the Esper high council, stuffy old relics." Ifrit grumbled trailing off into unintelligible grumbling.

Mouse Protector went slightly catatonic and Taylor could see her thinking of old and wispy Ifrit's sitting in a circle, grumbling about today's youth.

It would be a lie to say she hadn't also imagined that.

"People, hostages." Taylor choked out and everyone paused then instantly turned back to the screens focused on the bank.

Armsmaster pointed to another figure that was causing the image to warp.

"That must be Gilgamesh. Mog was it?" The tinker asked.

Mog looked up, his pom-pom downcast.

"Kupo?" Mog said in response.

Armsmaster turned to face him.

"Keynote informs me you might have information on Gilgamesh, if you feel guilt at not stopping him earlier, this would be a good opportunity to make up for it." The tinker offered, sounding a little kind.

It was hard to be emotionless at a sad moogle.

"Kupo, Gilgamesh… He's a master of weapons, he's not officially an Esper... He sort of comes and goes, kupo. I've never seen him use a human proxy, so I don't know what he can do, and I can barely feel him. So I don't think he can do too much, but prepare for... everything, kupo." Mog finished.

Taylor latched onto her opening.

"Proxy?" Taylor asked, trying not to sound desperate for a good answer.

Mog nodded, but it was Ifrit who answered.

"When an Esper can't appear physically, for whatever reason, they can instead lend their power to a human, in exchange for space to reside in or even for a price. I've never heard of a complete take over, it isn't possible." Ifrit explained sounding irritated and that in turn made Taylor more worried.

Sabah stepped up next to Taylor then.

"Why's that?" Sabah asked casually and Taylor felt relieved that at least one of them could act normal.

Ifrit shrugged.

"Esper's aren't like most beings, we are chaotic at heart, we can't invade other hearts, that's Darkness's gimmick. We have to be invited in, and even then we need permission to do anything. An esper cannot just take someone over, it would cause them to lose everything." The demon answered.

Mouse pondered that, musing aloud.

"Isn't it paradoxical to need an orderly yes to perform chaos?" Mouse Protector asked.

Ifrit shook his plush head.

"Permission can cut away a lot of bullshit, a yes can let you wiggle right in; even the darkness loves an easy yes. Magic has some very basic rules. Circles are the best symbols as they are infinite, yes's give you access, and the longer the beard or hair the more magical you are. Some of the rules are iffy, but I'm pretty sure those ones are concrete." Ifrit said, sounding unsure.

Boco chirped then and Ifrit clicked his claws.

"Of course. Wishing upon stars and true love are quite powerful and absolute." Ifrit added pompously.

Mouse slapped her hands to her mouth, a gurgle coming from her throat. Miss Militia raised one finger, thought about it and turned back to the screen, one hand on Mouse's cape. Armsmaster crossed his arms.

"True love is quite unrealistic." The Tinker replied.

Ifrit just examined his claws.

"Says every person who's never found it." Ifrit told Boco, who nodded sagely.

Armsmaster stiffened and he looked ready to argue with the tiny demon. But there was sigh of pure restraint and he turned back to Mog.

"What is his weaknesses?" Armsmaster ground out.

Mog floated up.

"Can you steal faster than the eye can see, kupo?" Mog asked the blue tinker, who shook his head.

Mog sighed.

"Rare weapons and battles of honor." Mog said with a groan.

Ifrit hopped to the ground, abandoning Sabah.

"Also, he is quite fond of mockery, easily distracted in that regard. One could say he was arrogant." The demon added.

Mog looked at him.

"Potion, meet ether, kupo." Mog said and Ifrit waved him off.

"I'm not arrogant, I back up every claim." Ifrit boasted.

Boco warbled something that Taylor was sure translated as 'Oh really?'

Ifrit looked slightly abashed.

"Who knew that Ramuh could lecture for 23 hours straight? I lost a portion of my existence listening to his study of the reincarnation cycle of the green fairy boy... Still that kid has problems, but Ramuh was sure he would figure out how it all fit together in the end. He did not take well to my 'it's bloody different kids' theory, I thought it had merit…" Ifrit trailed off.

Taylor decided an intervention was in order lifted Ifrit into her arms. Walking forward she put the plushy demon in front of a soldier working a monitor.

"Does this thing get cable?" Taylor asked bluntly.

The guy looked stunned but nodded.

"Any station I need." The officer stuttered out.

Taylor pointed to Ifrit.

"Put his show on and don't let him out of your sight." She said bluntly.

Ifrit's eyes lit up.

"Hurry mortal! Channel 6, I need to know if the Lady beats the corrupt queen!" The demon shouted and the terrified worker hands flew over buttons.

One Esper down, three to go.

Boco was fine, he was the sane one. That just left… Mog.

"Mog, can you sense him? Where is he?" Taylor asked, feeling slightly intrusive at taking charge, Mog nodded.

"On the first floor, every second he grows stronger, kupo." The moogle answered.

Taylor pointed her Keyblade at the bank,

"Go fly around the windows, tell me if you see anyone injured or in danger. If no one is, look for entry points." Taylor ordered and the Moogle flew off without a word.

Taylor looked at Armsmaster.

"We can't do anything until the hostages are out right?" She asked.

The hero nodded.

"First priority. You have an idea?" Armsater asked.

Now Taylor nodded.

"Can you phone the bank, like the bankers desk?" Taylor questioned and Armsmaster punched in a number on his forearm which bore a miniature keyboard before motioning for Sabah to hand Taylor the cell phone she was still holding. Sabah looked at her and Taylor could feel the burning need to know what she was planning, but Sabah held back, letting Taylor do her thing as she took the phone from her friend, raising it to her ear. Meanwhile Mouse Protector wandered over to Ifrit, bored.

Taylor shook her head after a few moments and Armsmaster grimaced

"They didn't answer before." The Tinker said looking like he had expected this.

Taylor nodded, guessing they might have already tried this. Still…

"I think they'll answer in a moment." Taylor said, pointing her Keyblade skywards.

"Bolt." She said simply and an arc of lightning shot upwards, followed by a thunderous boom, causing the air to tingle.

Armsmaster dialed again as Taylor brought the phone back to her ear. There was a second of ringing before the other end connected.

Then Taylor heard an annoyingly familiar voice.

"You got our attention, nice to see you again Key." Was the line Tattletale opened with.

Taylor frowned.

The villain sounded so... smug.

"I can't say the same. I'm going to pass you to Armsmaster now-" she began to say, but Tattletale cut her off.

"Pass me on and I'll hang up." The villainess warned.

Taylor bit her lip. She assumed loud speaker would have the same effect.

"You didn't look like a Terry." Taylor said calmly and Armsmaster nodded, urging her to keep talking.

"Oh and what did I look like?" Tattletale asked, sounding coy.

Taylor snorted.

"Like trouble." She answered bluntly and hoped the other girl wouldn't take offence.

Tattletale didn't, in fact she chuckled.

"You aren't wrong. Ya know Key? Another time, another place? We could have been friends." The villainess stated confidently.

Taylor wanted to laugh.

"You think I'd ever agree to rob a bank with you?" Taylor asked, a touch acidly.

Tattletale made noise of amusement.

"A right word the right place, a helping hand when you needed it the most, you never know... But you've got the same problem as I do, you know what that it is?" Tattletale asked.

Taylor paused briefly as Miss Militia turned her pistol into a riot gun.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me regardless of what I say." Taylor replied dryly.

Tattletale snorted.

"Again, not wrong. You see I was fucked over by Coil too, he sent me here tonight, well... all of us. Triple pay was hard to resist, especially when you have the barrel of a gun pointed at your head." The villainess said and swallowed as there were loud voices in the background.

Taylor grunted.

"Coil... I've been hearing that name way too much." Taylor gritted out loudly. Armsmaster shared a look with Miss Militia.

The Tattletale spoke up again.

"Yeah, he gets around. In case you haven't caught on to the way he likes to play, let me tell you. This? This big play of cops and robbers? A distraction, he's cackling somewhere else while you deal with five teenagers and a weirdo. So maybe you should go be super Key somewhere else? Is that little thinker safe? How about your manager? Mars? What about the clown? Is she safe? Why are you here?" Tattletale breathed, her voice a weird mix between worried and excited.

Taylor felt her fingers tighten around the phone.

Armsmaster made a sign to Miss Militia, apparently able to hear the call on his helmet. He made a gesture then sharply turned around, stalking back towards his motorcycle.

Taylor watched him go; where on earth he was going at a time like this?

Sabah looked worried and Taylor made a call symbol to her and then mouth Ingrid. Sabah nodded and ducked into a nearby PRT van, tapping a PRT guy on the back.

"I'm here because I dunno where else to go, unless you know what Coil is doing?" Taylor asked, not actually agreeing with Tattletale, her Dad was here.

Speculative humming came down the line.

"Liar, you got a reason to be here... Argh! You always give me a headache." Tattletale complained.

Taylor felt nasty grin pull at her lips.

"Don't push yourself too hard. I give thinkers a bad time." Taylor said, sounding condescending. If she could get Tattletale mad, then maybe she would let something slip, something she wasn't supposed to.

"Cute, but leave the mind games to those who are good at it." Tattletale said, her tone less friendly now.

Taylor only felt encouraged.

"What's wrong Terry? You seemed cheerful when you got the dogs, are they in there with you?" Taylor pushed, sounding loud, boastful, unworried, but inside she was dreading the answer.

"Eh, that was between a rock and a bitch. Can't really afford to lose people these days. If I tried to bring them here, I'd be dead on the floor way before you could get to me. Bitch likes her dogs in case you didn't know." Tattletale said, sounding more in control.

Taylor frowned. The villain was regaining control… She'd just have to push harder then... Taylor hoped she wouldn't push too far though, she had a feeling Tattletale wasn't as in control as she wanted to be.

"Come on, you're surrounded, a hero at every exit. Not really a lot of places you can go." Taylor said.

Tattletale laughed.

"Listen to you, trying to be the big hero. You got the tone, the costume, the attitude, but really? You can't seem to do anything. You keep pushing me and you don't even know if I have a gun to someone's head... Wait... You do? How. Cameras? No... Thermal scanner. Cheating here, Key, I was ready to try and break you, see if you would blow something up and let us get away…" Tattletale sighed and then paused.

"Okay, let's play a new game, it's called 'let's cut the bullshit'. I was a hostage of Coil's, gilded cage and all that. Coil tried to kidnap Dinah. You've been attacked by Coil a lot. Coil, Coil, Coil. You see, all of this, the bank, Lung, Dinah, Circus, us... and more that I don't even know about, all caused by one asshole. You put us away, hurray and salutations, but it doesn't stop anything. Don't you see? We're just another way, another tool to get at you. You scare him and he hates it." Tattletale said quickly.

Taylor took this in, trying to pick apart her words.

"Doesn't matter, you're in the bank holding people hostage, not him." Taylor said after a moment's thought.

Tattletale took a deep breath.

"It was a test, in and out. We should have been gone before anyone turned up. It took a while to guess what went wrong... Coil called the police, an anonymous tip right? That's what let you know we were here. He's cutting his losses. So while you sit here and talk down to me, Coil is making a run for it." Tattletale said bitterly.

Miss Militia raised her hand and raised all five fingers, if that meant in five minutes or something else, Taylor didn't know, but she thought it might be. But then…

Till what?

What were they waiting for?

"We'll get Coil. Just surrender, the people in there are innocent in all this, they could get hurt, just let them out." Taylor bargained as Sabah reappeared, looking calm, giving Taylor a nod.

The Dollhouse was safe it seemed.

Tattletale snorted again.

"Would have, or I could have used them to escape. Either way, it's a no go. I'm not in charge anymore, well I never was, but you get what I mean. Gilgamesh is and I have a very good feeling you might know him. He irritates me as much you do, thinker wise." Tattletale answered back.

Taylor felt any connection that Tattletale drew between her and Gilgamesh was a bad thing right now.

The Tattletale hummed.

"Thinking on it… I'd say you were here for him, not us. You're breathed a little hard there. A little personal vendetta is it?" Tattletale pushed.

Taylor didn't answer so Tattletale pushed.

"Ex-lover? Old friends? Arch Nemesis? Someone close-"

Taylor hung up.

She hadn't even realized what she had done until Sabah touched her arm.

"You don't have to do this, everyone else here is just as capable, they can take that bitch down." Sabah said her sudden anger taking Taylor by surprise.

"I think the PRT calls her Hellhound." Taylor pointed out with a surprised grin.

Sabah shook her head in exasperation and huffed.

Taylor smiled at that. Sabah's anger at Tattletale's mind games had made Taylor feel more secure. As if someone else being upset at Tattletale made the girl's words less true, less real.

"You know who I mean... Come on, we can go home, let the authorities and official heroes handle this." Sabah half begged.

Taylor hesitated. She was tempted. Her dad was here. But Sabah was asking and honestly, she want to just go home, to finally unwind, curl up next to Sabah on the couch…

But Mog came flying back.

"Kupo! All hostages are being moved into the vault. One by one, Gilgamesh is clearing the lobby!" Mog said, a little breathless.

Taylor looked back at Sabah who sighed and her shoulders slumped before straightening up.

"Let's go be heroes." Sabah said with a tilt to her head.

Miss Militia nodded as the two Rogues turned back to her.

"Parian and I will go in the front. Parian? What options do you have available?" Miss Militia asked.

Sabah stood straighter.

"I got cloth in my sleeves, I can distract and even bind some Undersiders if they aren't that strong. I also have Mog and Boco." Sabah offered.

Miss Militia eyed her sleeves, taking note of her words.

"Keep behind me, if you see someone trying to escape, cut them off, just stall. If they have a gun, or overpower you, let them go. Do not put yourself at risk." Miss Militia told her.

Taylor bit her lip.

"You don't have too, I know you don't like working for the PRT like this. You don't like fighting period." Taylor told Sabah quietly.

The older girl just shook her head.

"I'm not doing it for them, I'm doing this for you, Key. That's your... That's Gilgamesh in there. If you can't... won't hurt him, then he'll hurt you. I won't let that happen. I won't let him hurt you again." Sabah said stubbornly.

Taylor wanted to say that it wouldn't happen, but... She couldn't say for sure.

If she swung the Keyblade at Gilgamesh and saw her dad's eyes, then she would freeze, and she knew it. It didn't matter if she told herself it wasn't actually him. It was her dad. The last month caring for him, pretending to be her own mother while she read to him… It had hurt. It had hurt so much, and yet being that close to her dad, hearing him ask after 'his little girl' every time she visited…

Taylor swallowed the lump in her throat back down.

"We'll do what we can. Where do I enter?" Taylor asked Miss Militia who pointed up. Taylor followed her finger, but only saw the bank.

"The roof?" Taylor tried.

The Mouse Protector appeared next to Miss Militia.

"Mog, master of kupo?" Mouse asked.

Mog turned to her confused.

She held out a pen to him.

"Could you drop this in through the skylights?" she asked and Mog saluted, flying away without a word.

Miss Militia cocked her gun, an action taken more out of comfort than need, Taylor was sure.

"Move out in three minutes."

_

Sabah smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress, Mog fluttering besides her.

A futile effort, no one was looking at any ruffles in her costume. She stared as Miss Militia's gun flashed green before it reformed into some kind of mini battering ram.

Her mind wandered to Taylor, what she would like to do when they got home, a glass of wine and a chance to relax… but she snapped it back, her mind latching on to ram facts instead.

A very long night in front of the TV following her meeting with the Empire had included a somewhat interesting documentary on SWAT.

The ram they had used looked similar to Miss Militias.

It was an entry device known as the 'enforcer' a device that could apply three tonnes of pressure to a single point without requiring any significant strength from the user.

Sabah wasn't sure why Miss Militia could make a battering ram, it didn't scream weapon.

Then again, she wouldn't like to be hit in the face with it…

"Why don't we just send in the foamers?" Sabah asked quietly and Miss Militia shook her head.

"That many foam guns in one door way would just be asking for trouble." she explained.

Mouse Protector stood behind her and then gave them both a thumbs up. She blinked away, and a shout of alarm suddenly came from inside the bank and Mouse reappeared in the same spot a second later.

"Go!" Mouse shouted and Miss Militia's device rammed into the part of the door where the keyhole was.

Taylor could have opened it Sabah mused, but the golden aura her Key trick did was a dead giveaway.

The door burst open with a few splinters flying and the Undersiders, mostly crouched behind the desk, turned around from staring at a corner, where one of the massive lizard beasts Bitch made was pulling its head out of the wall.

Most likely where Mouse Protector had teleported to, to distract them all.

The lobby was covered in darkness in an instant as the cape called Grue seemed to either panic or take charge.

The darkness was… slightly suffocating and Sabah wanted to retreat, but the soldiers outside had been given strict orders to foam anyone coming out.

Not her idea of a good time.

It would ruin her costume for one.

Sabah's part was simple. Get to somewhere safe and start throwing everything she could at them, distraction and annoyance was the name of the game.

But in the darkness she felt lost.

"Kupo! This way!" Mog cried and Sabah turned to see her friend... Glowing. In the endless abyss Mog glowed.

She followed his glowing form to a corner, where she was suddenly outside the darkness and in a small waiting room style alcove, filled with chairs and water coolers.

Turning back around, Sabah stared back at the blob of darkness, chewing her lip in worry. How was she was supposed to distract anyone when she couldn't see them?

"Mog, can you do something?" She asked frantically

The moogle nodded and pointed his pom at the darkness .

"Don't have much variety, kupo. Though I did manage to snag this off Jess.." Mog muttered and his pom-pom glowed brightly as the darkness bulged oddly, like the space it occupied was twisting.

"Demi…" he intoned and the darkness compacted into an even darker spheric shape before it dispersed, revealing everyone on the floor, clutching at their chests. Miss Militia and Mouse Protector only seemed winded though.

Miss Militia aimed her riot gun and shot the least armored Undersider. The boy, Regent, she thought that was his name, doubled over again and collapsed, gasping for air.

Mouse leapt forward and landed on one of the hellbeasts, burying her unsheathed sword into its fleshy back.

It roared and bucked, trying to kick her off.

Bitch was nearby and she whistled, causing the cyclops dog to lunge at her, Mouse teleported back to the corner with the massive dog hole in it as the two dogs tumbled over each other.

Grue, the one nearest to Sabah, seemed to struggle to stand, his helmet already leaking more darkness as he prepared to cover the room again.

Without thinking, she lifted up one of the uncomfortable chairs and smashed it into his back, knocking him down. Cloth shot out of her sleeves and began trying to plug the parts of his helmet where the dark cloud was leaking out of.

Grue tried to tackle her from his position on the ground and she neatly side stepped, into the waiting arms of Tattletale, who held a gun to her head.

"Well, hello there." Tattletale said sweetly.

Sabah froze.

Tattletale was about to say something else, but her eyes bulged and she yelped as Mog pulled hard on her long blonde hair.

"Leave her alone, kupo!" Mog cried and Sabah turned, instantly tackling her to the ground, causing the gun to skitter away under a desk.

Sabah and Tattletale rolled around, Sabah reaching for everything and anything to inflict pain on the other girl.

This was the same girl who made Taylor look, just for a second, fragile.

This was the girl who tried to hurt Taylor over the phone with poisoned words.

Sabah screamed something primal as she got a hold of Tattletales hair.

"Jesus christ, stop going for the hair!" Tattletale cried and then Sabah felt the floor shake as two of the dogs ran at her, Miss Militia flying across the room away from a figure she hadn't spotted when the darkness fell.

A guy in a leather jacket and jeans, the jacket looking silly on his wiry frame. His mask was, annoyingly, a black luchador mask.

She thought back to the dinner and the hero mask and wanted to shudder as she let go of Tattletale, who threw herself to the side as the dog's raced towards them, Sabah desperately looked for cover.

Then Boco fell from above, ahead of schedule, but Sabah wasn't going to complain.

The dog's claws made large gouges in the floor as they stopped.

Boco raised every feather on his body, screeching at them. He kicked the ground, making his own scratches in the floor.

One of the dogs barked, a deep guttural noise. Boco hissed, sounding deadly and more like a dinosaur than bird, daring them to approach.

The dogs hesitated, but Bitch whistled again and they shot forward. Tattletale crawled away, Grue not far behind.

Sabah wondered what it would take to bring Grue down? A chair across the back hadn't seemed to be enough…

The dogs charged side by side and Boco jumped, latching on to both their faces with his massive claws, the beasts instantly recoiled but Boco flapped his wings hard, lifting the two dogs up off their front paws, before crashing them down, driving their heads into the neatly tiled floor with a mighty crash sending chips of ceramic flying.

Sabah gaped, she knew the chocobo was strong, but that… that was insane.

The third dog crashed into a wall, Mouse Protector holding on by the grip on her sword, which was still buried in the beast's back.

Boco fluttered back and Sabah felt... odd.

Like she knew how proud he felt at beating back the animals, their skin reminding him of a sick behemoth.

Not the same kind she knew of, but large animals that destroyed everything around them.

Well, maybe almost the same.

As one of the dogs stirred Boco kicked it, sending the dog sliding across the room at the leather jacket clad cape.

He held out his hand and caught the dog with ease, his form not budging an inch from the impact.

Miss Militia limped over to Sabah her power still forming the riot gun, it flashed green, but it didn't change shape.

She hefted the weapon and took aim, the bag flying at the cape that had to be Brick.

The bag impacted him and bounced off, not even making the guy flinch.

"Brute, don't get close. He isn't moving, I don't think he can…" Miss Militia said quietly to Sabah, the older woman's voice sounding pained.

There was a lot of noise from the back of the building and darkness billowed out of the corridor Tattletale and Grue had vanished down.

Sabah guessed they had met the Wards waiting for them out back, cutting off their retreat.

She wanted to grin, but the dogs were already pulling themselves free. Miss Militia lined up a shot with what looked like an overly large handgun.

Then her arm suddenly jerked and the gun went off, making the one remaining skylight shatter.

Sabah saw her turn to face Regent, his body curled up under a desk. Miss Militia changed back to the riot gun, but her leg bent of its own accord and she fell on her bad leg, making her grunt in pain as she landed awkwardly.

Mouse Protector flipped herself off of the dog she was still distracting, throwing her shield at Regent's hiding spot, vanishing as it clattered into the wall.

Unfortunately, Regent proved cleverer than Sabah had given him credit for because he pointed his scepter at the shield before Mouse Protector had even teleported.. The obnoxious gold scepter crackled as it struck the hero as she appeared, before Mouse could reorient herself, and she stumbled.

Mouse Protector didn't completely fall though, so Sabah had to assume her costume was insulated to a degree.

But the sounds of jaws snapping distracted her, turning her head to see Boco being circled by all three dogs.

One of them still had Mouse Protector's sword buried in its back.

Mog gave a little cry and charged the circling beasts.

He bounced off the rear of one of them without making an impact, but he huffed and his pom-pom glowed again, making the dog with the long whipping tail float off the ground, sending the creature tumbling and howling in panic.

Boco leapt, kicking it away through the air, where it bobbed around near the ceiling and out of the fight, at least for now.

Bitch approached and she didn't look happy, her entire form radiating anger and fury.

She gave two sharp whistles and the dogs suddenly ignored Boco, turning towards Sabah.

They lunged and Sabah flung herself away, rolling under the coffee table that was provided for the bank's visitors to use.

She didn't stop rolling, and it was the only thing that saved her when the table was promptly crushed under one the dogs colossal weight.

As Sabah stared, eyes wide with panic at the death she'd just avoided she felt a hand grab her. Then Miss Militia yanked her up, the hero's weapon flashing into a large cannon of sorts that was mounted on the floor.

Miss Militia didn't even blink and a noise like a waterfall erupted as the cannon exploded with water at such pressure that the nearest dog shot across the room, its bulk having been almost nose to nozzle with the business end of the weapon. Sabah would have preferred a real cannon, but guessed Miss Militia was still concerned about casualties.

Which was the right thing to do, of course. Still if the patriot hero wanted to blow up the hell-dogs, Sabah wasn't going to stop her.

Boco landed on the back of the remaining dog, digging his claws in deep.

Instead of trying to lift upwards, he began to yank it from side to side, making the dog howl as it was thrown off balance.

Bitch surprised her by throwing herself at Boco, grabbing a hold of his feathers and trying to yank him off his perch in return.

Girl had balls.

Boco looked sweet usually, but right now he looked like a wet raptor from ages past, back from when birds could eat people.

Still, that terror bird was her friend and cloth wouldn't be able bring the butch girl down...

Sabah managed a good burst of speed and threw herself at Bitch, adding to the tottering tower of chaos.

Then the two girls fell crashing to the ground, Sabah taking Bitch with her.

As an afterthought, Sabah realized Bitch outweighed her in every way. This fact became rather clear as Bitch got the upper hand on her very quickly.

Miss Militia was a green blur in the corner of her eye, hobbling towards them, but she was cut off by the water soaked dog, not looking to happy about its rather sudden bath time.

Then Bitch's fist smashed into Sabah's mask, the force knocking her head back and with a solid crack her head bounced off the ground.

Sabah saw stars, they colored her vision and in a response that she hoped Taylor didn't see, pushed.

Bitch had been on top of her long enough for Sabah's hands to get busy.

Her energy soaked in and spread.

After enduring another punch that rattled her teeth, Sabah found what she was looking for, grateful the girl was at least somewhat civilized, and then twisted.

Bitch gave a howl and fell off her, her hands tearing at her pants. Sabah stood and panted.

"If Ifrit was here... He'd say something stupid, like don't get your knickers in a twist, but I'm better than that." Sabah wheezed between breaths.

Bitch snarled, reached down and a second later, a tearing snap of cloth sounded out and she scrambled to her feet, looking ready to lunge again, only to stop as Mouse appeared at her side, Regent's scepter in hand.

"Well, this is shocking!" Mouse said with a grin and jabbed Bitch, making the girl drop like she was a puppet and someone had just cut her strings.

"Watts up Doll?" Mouse Protector asked Sabah. The Arabic girl was torn, would she rather be back with the dogs and fighting Bitch… or have to listen to Mouse Protector for one more second?

"Well... Shit." Tattletale's voice said as she stared at the scene before them. The dogs, seeing their master down, went wild, going after the nearest person. Miss Militia looked like she was in trouble until her gun morphed into a shotgun, blowing off one of the dog's legs with near impossible accuracy.

The animal stumbled and crashed to the ground, and Miss Militia pulled something off her belt and lobbed it at the dog, the grenade hissing as foam covered the dog, trapping its back legs.

Sabah noticed she was missing one dog and turned her head to see the rather grizzly sight of Boco standing over the remaining dog, large chunks of flesh surround the bird, some sort of thick gunk oozing from the flesh, not quite blood... The large dog left unmoving.

She saw something wriggling under his claw and had to blink to see a small dog trapped between his 'toes.'

"Hellhound's dogs aren't transformed, they get covered in a moveable shell. The actual dogs will suffer no damage from this. We'll get them transported somewhere safe once everyone is contained. Your bird is... Well, honestly, it's terrifying." Miss Militia told her calmly.

Sabah was glad to hear that, the dogs should not be held responsible for being used by a villain. She nodded and was about to agree when the sound of heavy knocking carried over from behind the bank's main desk.

Everyone turned to see Tattletale and Grue hammering on a closed metal door, but as Mouse and Militia went to rush at them, Brick moved.

One second he was near the doors and next he blocked everyone one off from reaching Tattletale.

"That should just about do it." Brick said and Sabah winced, he sounded…

So nonthreatening.

"Sorry to keep ya waiting ladies, your man Brick... is here." Brick said… in a voice that sounded like he was a bad 80's actor.

Sabah idly noted that everyone on the good side was female... except Mog and Boco, but it was vaguely interesting.

Brick flexed and no one looked impressed at his scrawny frame.

Tattletale stopped hammering on the door and spun, her face red.

"Stop showing off and do something, you literally have a minute!" Tattletale shouted.

Brick nodded and then… vanished.

Sabah's eyes went wide, where did he…

"Sorry missy, orders are orders." Brick crooned, trying to sound smooth and Sabah felt her world tilt as she was thrown across the bank.

Sabah reflexively made her dress expand, trying to make the material cushion her, hopefully keeping her from hitting the wall too hard.

When she hit the portrait of the bank's founder, her dress slowed down the impact enough for her to only need to gasp and pray for the bruise to be small, the shock lessened. It also made her heavier, lowering her flight arc, so her fall was shorter than it would have been. Landing on her feet, before falling to her knees, Sabah wobbled for a moment before finding her balance.

Mouse followed her, but she blinked away before she could hit the wall.

Sabah stood, watching as the scrawny guy held Miss Militia by the throat, her gun firing point blank at his arm, but the bullets just zinged off.

Brick was cringing.

"Stop struggling, I'm not choking you! Stop shooting me!" Brick shouted, sounding like he was thrown off script and flung Miss Militia too, but his strength seemed to be waning as the military cape only travelled half as far as Sabah had.

Unseen until now, Mog latched onto his back and Brick instantly freaked out, trying to reach behind him, like a giant bug had landed on him thrashing and smashing his feet into the ground, causing large cracks to spread out from his steps.

Mog held on valiantly, his pom-pom swinging wildly.

The sounds of panic did not raise Sabah's opinion of Brick.

Tattletale began kicking the door and shouting at someone.

"Open the fucking door!" Tattletale screamed and then Mouse appeared, vaulting over the desk, rushing at them.

Grue stood in front of his teammate and raised his fists, ready to meet the hero.

Boco put his head under Sabah's arm and gently lifted her, and Sabah patted him.

"I'm fine, go help Mog!" Sabah said, sounding more confident than she felt.

Boco twittered at her, then flapped his wings and charged. His large foot hit Brick dead on, but barely moved him. But it freaked the panicking villain out even more and he tripped over his own feet, tumbling backwards, Mog crying out in alarm as he just barely managed to fly away before getting crushed.

It was odd. Why hadn't Brick moved? When Boco kicked him it had been like hitting a brick wall…

Sabah wanted to groan at the sudden realization.

She rushed to help Mouse Protector as the hero exchanged a few quick jabs with Grue, the cape leaking darkness and Sabah was sure that he was about to blanket the room in darkness again when a noise erupted over a sound system.

Not a noise.

Music.

Everyone seemed to pause as the music rang out. Even the last remaining dog, still floating in an upper corner of the roof, seemed to pause.

Mog face-palmed.

"Oh no, kupo." Mog said, almost ashamed.

Then the metal door was kicked open and Tattletale was knocked aside.

"Kept you all waiting eh? The main event is here and its name is Gilgamesh!" Danny Hebert cried, raising a hockey stick high above his head, drinking in the stares of everyone present.

Tattletale stood and opened her mouth, but Gilgamesh grabbed her in a headlock and clamped his hand over her mouth, walking forward with her having to follow or get pulled along, wildly flailing and mumbling.

Gilgamesh laughed loud and deeply.

"No need for words, Walkthrough, I, Gilgamesh, am ready for the glorious honorable battle at the big bank!" Danny shouted.

Tattletale went a bit red, managing to squirm enough to get her mouth free.

"Tat... letale." The villainess said roughly.

Gilgamesh laughed again.

"Please, you're the exposition character! Thus you are now dubbed Walkthrough!" Danny proclaimed loudly and Sabah could see his painted face stretch into a grin. He balanced the hockey stick against his body long enough to rub his knuckles into Tattletales hair.

The girl gave a cry that was more dismay than pain.

Grue reached for her and Gilgamesh grabbed him as well.

"See? You even have a broody main character leader!" Danny said and then released both of them, viewing the scene in the bank with great anticipation.

His makeshift sports gear was painted red in a hurry and his football helmet did little to hide his war paint.

"Send forth your mightiest warriors! Be it the gun mistress or the idiot, Gilgamesh shall fight all comers!" he said pointing at Miss Militia and Brick respectively. He swept his hand in an arc and carried on.

"Or perhaps the teleporter and the doll girl! Or even... Oh…" Gilgamesh trailed off, losing his momentum at seeing Boco and Mog together.

"Well, well, well, well, w-" Gilgamesh said before Tattletale slapped him on the back, rubbing her head with a scowl.

"Get on with it, we need to get out of here." The blonde villain snapped.

Gilgamesh waggled his finger at her condescendingly.

"Why, I had one more good 'well' in me, wasted now…" Gilgamesh lamented and shrugged, before turning back to the wary heroes.

"Speaking of wells and people I want to chuck down them. Mog my boy! Me and you need a little pow wow." Gilgamesh said gruffly and ignoring everyone, jumped the desk with ease.

"Kupo, go walk into a sun." Mog snapped at him.

Gilgamesh smirked beneath his helmet, and Sabah, who had only met Danny Hebert properly once, felt unease at how Danny's face made the expression so easily.

"Cute. Now, hand over the seed. I really, really, need to borrow it." Gilgamesh snapped and held out his hand.

Everyone seemed confused at the scene, but she saw Miss Militia's gun change and-

Her wrist was knocked aside as small disk smacked into it, flung perfectly by Gilgamesh.

"Ah, ah, ah! No comments from the peanut gallery! Pissy army chick trope is so overused, but I can't help but like ya." Gilgamesh said, blowing her a kiss. Mog growled and Gilgamesh's eyes turned back to him and seemed to harden.

"Look at me, I'm trapped in here. Come on, even you know that sucks." Gilgamesh said softly.

Mog shook his head, furious.

"I'd rather burn the seed than give it you, kupo!" The moogle shouted and flew at Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh's hands whipped behind his back, pulling out a tennis racket.

He smashed it into Mog perfectly, sending the moogle soaring across the bank.

"Foul!" Gilgamesh shouted and moved sideways without looking to avoid Boco's kick, the talons mere inches away from his ribs.

"Tch, count on the two of you to ruin a good party." Gilgamesh complained.

Sabah ignored the possessed man and ran after Mog, fear for his safety overwhelming everything else right now.

She ran past Gilgamesh and he paused.

"What the-" He said, reaching for her, but Boco hissed like an angry goose, snapping at his wrist, making Gilgamesh yank it back.

The warrior turned and looked coolly at Boco.

"Is this is what you're reduced to? Hissing like an old maid? That's just sad." Gilgamesh said and jumped, landing on Boco's back before the chocobo knew what was going on.

"Giddyup!" Gilgamesh yelled and Boco bucked, trying to dislodge his unwanted rider.

Sabah kicked aside a chair and found Mog stuck in a waste basket.

"Oh Mog, come here." She said and pulled the basket off the moogle.

"Sabah, kupo, run, get away! Get away from the bank! Now, kupo!" Mog shouted and flew back at Gilgamesh, his voice filled with so many different emotions it was difficult to tell if he was furious or terrified.

"Mog!" Sabah shouted and watched him touch Miss Militia, the hero looking surprised at the sudden contact.

Both of them glowed.

"Boco!" Mog shouted and Boco snapped his attention to the moogle, seeming to get some invisible message and rolled, the action awkward to the bird, but it did make Gilgamesh jump off.

When he landed Mog glowed.

"Gatling gun!" Mog yelled and a rain of glowing bullets poured from his pom-pom, which Mog began angling at Gilgamesh, the bullets chipping at the ground rapidly, but not shattering it like normal bullets.

It was like very hard pellets.

Sabah watched gob-smacked as Mog pointed his automatic pom-pom at Gilgamesh, the trail of pellets ripping into the ground as it locked-on to the man.

Being up in the air gave Mog a good clear shot and as the trail of bullets neared Gilgamesh, the man suddenly began backflipping away from the hail of magic in a series of somersaults, moving faster than a human ought to be able to.

Gilgamesh made every flip perfectly and any debris in his way was nimbly ignored as he landed behind the melting body of Bitch's giant dog, kicking the carcass at the bullets, which tore into the empty husk in a spray of watery blood, tearing the flesh apart with ease.

Mog stopped glowing and the rapid fire machine-gun noise stopped.

"Oh. Have I hit a nerve? Mog... Where is the seed?" Gilgamesh asked calmly as if he hadn't just performed a superhuman feat of outmaneuvering bullets.

"You're not getting it, kupo." Mog panted and Boco stood next to him.

Sabah just felt lost. Seed?

Like… Like a plant seed?

Gilgamesh walked forward, but stopped as Mouse Protector casually strolled into his path.

"I, for one, have had one of the busiest days of my life. I went to court, court got busted, rescued a girl, girl was high as a kite, went to save my apprentice, apprentice kicked ass, went to dinner, host wanted to kill me, and now, I came to bust a bank robbery and now... NOW! I'm being one-upped at my own show! Theme music?! You have theme music?!" Mouse said, pointing at Gilgamesh, her voice outraged.

Gilgamesh paused and tapped his foot to the beat.

"It's a good one too, the epic kind." The warrior answered.

Mouse shook violently, practically vibrating.

"Of all the injustices I have seen in this city... You, sir, have committed the worst! I am the great, wonderful, amazing, beautiful, Mouse Protector! And you, sir, are a SHAM!" The heroine cried.

Gilgamesh rocked back as if she had slapped him.

"You DARE?!" Gilgamesh responded with a mighty shout.

In the background Tattletale slid down a wall, holding her head.

"I dare, I dare so hard, it's a double dare. There's only room in this story for one kooky character!" Mouse said, pointing her sword at the painted man, making Sabah whip her head to the trapped dog, to see that the sword was indeed missing from the animal.

"Hm, you think you can out kook me? I'm afraid you're far too outmatched for that, Mouse Protector! For I am…" He trailed off and suddenly snapped his arms out, bending his legs, he swung his arms around in a circle and began running on the spot, he turned slowly, still running and flung his arms out as if to catch someone.

"THE MIGHTY GILGAMESH!" The warrior shouted.

Miss Militia looked like she was in more pain than she had been all night.

"Mouse, don't, this is serious." Militia commanded.

Mouse nodded, making Miss Militia pause in surprise.

"You're right Missy. This is serious." Mouse Protector said harshly and flicked her cape out, spinning in a circle, she bent at one knee and spreading her arms wide as fell back, before rolling back onto her feet and pointing her sword at the ceiling.

"I AM MOUSE PROTECTOR!" The heroine cried and Sabah thought, just for a moment her sword tip sparkled…

It was a trick of the light. The stress was getting to her.

It had to be.

Miss Militia's gun looked suspiciously as if it wanted to move from Gilgamesh's posed form to Mouse's.

"HAHAHAHA! Tonight! We fight like men!" Gilgamesh said, pointing to Brick.

"And Ladies!" The warrior continued, pointing at Sabah and then with a grin, carried on.

"And ladies who dress like men!" He added giving Miss Militia a thumbs up.

Miss Militia fired her gun at Gilgamesh, it made a more hollow sound than the previous bullets she'd shot Brick with had and Gilgamesh's helmet had a small chip fly off its side.

Gilgamesh didn't even flinch.

Sabah helped Miss Militia to her feet, trying not to stare at the madman.

Miss Militia had taken a shot at him, but even if the bullet was some sort of special bullet, he didn't flinch.

In fact, Gilgamesh hadn't even taken his eyes of Mouse Protector. Then there was movement in the corner of her eye and Sabah turned her head to see Grue pull Regent closer to him and Tattletale. The villainess spoke quickly and quietly to her team-mates and Sabah let Miss Militia lean on her for support, as she raised her weapon again.

"Why haven't the Wards come in to help?" Sabah whispered.

Miss Militia answered quietly, her aim barely wavering.

"The Wards are a last emergency tactic. If it was just the Undersiders, then it would be acceptable for them to engage, but with a new team member and an unknown cape or… something more, I won't let them. If something happens to them, then I will have the Director, their parents and if gets caught on camera, the youth guard judging my every action. A broken leg is preferable. Besides, it's my job to protect them." Militia said.

Gilgamesh, began to hop in place.

"Only been here… a day? So much to do and so little time. Robbing a bank is a good start, but come on, tell me… Where's the goods? Where's the legendary sword? The epic spear? Rare axe? The amazing loot and booty?" The warrior asked, clapping his hands together.

Sabah glared at him.

This was a game for him? Using Danny like… like a toy?

"Kupo, let him go." Mog said, his head practically vibrating with rage.

Gilgamesh just yawned.

"Hand over the seed and we're golden. Come on Mog, you clearly don't need it, you found some other source, Boco too and… I heard that the mutt is around. Where is Ifrit anyway?" Gilgamesh asked as if expecting the fire demon to climb out of a drawer or a plant pot at the sound of his name.

He walked past Bitch and eyed her, with a hum, he nudged her with his foot and she glowed… with green sparkles.

Sabah bit back a cry of dismay, that was Taylor's spell, her healing spell, cure.

Bitch moaned and Gilgamesh slid her across the floor towards Tattletale, Bitch's body sliding under the banker's desk.

Not that anyone was going to stop her, there was something about Gilgamesh that demanded attention.

"Some kids beating up adults, other kids getting beaten up by adults, other kids fighting dragons, time mages, space witches, heroes and villains. What a world. If only you could see me at my mighty true self, you could see why this pretty fun for me. For this old dog though? He's not had it easy, pretty broken when I found him." Gilgamesh said casually, walking towards Mouse Protector, crossing under the broken skylights as he continued to talk.

"He drove a hard bargain though. I was lucky to get out with what I did, but when you get trapped in a heart, there is only two ways to go; into dreamland down under, or up into the light. Using a human as a host, it's honestly a little embarrassing, but when in Ivalice, do as Ivalicians do." The warrior said, stopping in front of the caped hero.

Mouse Protector crossed her arms.

"What's that?" Mouse asked.

Gilgamesh grinned.

"Blow things up and hunt!" He said and leapt.

Brick fell down again at that, before he crawled away on his hands and feet towards the rest of the Undersiders, at least he seemed smart enough to keep his head down.

Mouse hunched down in anticipation, shield up and sword raised.

Then it rained fire and Gilgamesh stopped instantly, trying to backtrack but the fire spread quickly in perfect circle, before it snapped up to form a flickering cage of flames around him.

Sabah panicked and tried to haul Miss Militia backwards as the bank was suddenly awash in orange lights and dancing shadows.

The fire alarms went off, after darkness, space warping, hell dogs, moogle assault rifles and Mouse Protector, the fire alarms went off for… actual fire.

The sprinklers went off a second later and Sabah felt the cool water wash away the heat, dust and rubble, the curls of her costumes wig already beginning droop.

However, the fire ignored physics and burned on, with no fuel supporting it, ignoring the water dousing it, and offering up no good reason for why the air was burning in a neat circle.

Magic, it really didn't care.

Sabah would be impressed if her eyes hadn't locked on to Gilgamesh, standing in the middle of the cage, his outline wavering in the heat, obscured by black shadows and flickering lights from the dancing flames. He stood as far as he could from every side of the cage, in the middle of room, and from behind the flames… He looked inhuman to Sabah as her eyes tried to adjust to the dancing of light and dark, and for a few odd flickering moments, she was sure Gilgamesh was a demon.

Straight from the pits of hell as his shadow spun wildly into a six armed man before settling back to the outline of Danny.

It happened so quickly that Sabah… hoped it was a trick of the light.

Someone dropped from the skylight above, landing just outside the cage.

"Here." The cloaked figure said and Sabah almost sagged with relief at the sound of Taylor's voice.

The familiar sparks of green healing washed over Miss Militia making the woman lift herself off of Sabah.

"Keynote, thank you, my leg feels better." Miss Militia said.

Sabah placed a hand on Taylor's coat.

Taylor felt solid, as if she was in perfect control, as if this was just another battle to fight.

Sabah bit her lip as she just knew, deep down, that it wasn't true.

Taylor was afraid.

She hadn't summoned her Keyblade.

In the fire, dust, water and darkness, Taylor looked like a figure of strength, but Sabah honestly couldn't say for sure how much of that was strength… and how much was sheer stubbornness.

"Keynote… are you-"

_

"-going to be okay?" Sabah asked gently.

Taylor tried not to tremble as she nodded slowly.

In front of Miss Militia, Sabah, and countless others in the bank, she could not, would not show that tremble, her fear.

Her father was just ahead, just… He was just on the other side of that fire. He hadn't moved, hadn't said anything, just stood there.

"Keynote… Did we manage to buy you time? Have you noticed anything?" Miss Militia asked.

Taylor nodded again.

She didn't like the plan, sit back and watch, wait and analyze. But it was the best they'd come up with.

If this was something she, as Keyblader could do something about, then Miss Militia wanted her to let them wear down her Dad, let them exploit any weakness, anything that she could use.

Taylor watched as Sabah nearly died and almost threw the plan out the skylight and dove in, like Boco did.

Ifrit held her back, his tiny form pointing out the wisdom of Miss Militia's plan.

Armsmaster was off somewhere, maybe checking on Dinah or another target of Coil's. Apparently they had left her alone after the kidnapping attempt, at least one Ward with her at all times. That left Taylor as the only one on the team capable of taking a few hits and moving on, Aegis could, but they left marks on him and Browbeat…

She didn't know what Browbeat could do, she hadn't even heard of him before.

Then, to have to stand uselessly on the roof and watch her friends take a beating, dismantle the Undersiders one by one and then get thrown back by her Da-...Gilgamesh.

Even now, watching his outline in the fire, it made her stomach churn uneasily.

"Key, how did you do that? I didn't think you were that good with fire yet." Sabah asked, following her gaze.

Taylor shook her head.

"I'm not. It was all Ifrit." Taylor admitted as Mouse Protector circled the flames like a cat, watching for any openings.

Sabah stared at her.

"Don't tell me he's fridge sized again." Sabah said, her hands clasped together nervously.

Taylor shook her head.

"Not exactly." Taylor said as the Undersiders regrouped and began to back away, Bitch beginning to stand on her own again.

"Key… What does that mean? That's not a no." Sabah said very slowly and then a voice from behind Taylor spoke out.

It was both familiar and much higher.

"It means that she has a long way to go before she can use my power properly…" Ifrit's voice said and, grimacing, Taylor moved out the way to show a short green child with a horn.

Sabah's eyes moved from Taylor's tall frame to the short 4 and half foot demon child.

"If-Ifrit?!" she choked and Ifrit sighed, pulling awkwardly at his brown leather shorts, his round cherubic face was slightly ruined by a large snaggletooth sticking out from his bottom lip. His long fiery red hair was tangled and looked like he was not long from sleep.

His body was smooth and unscarred, his eyes were glowing soft red cherries, burning in their sockets.

"That is Ifrit?" Miss Militia said, blinking back surprise.

Sabah turned a funny colour as Mog came closer, wincing as he examined Ifrit.

"Partial manifestation, kupo, ouch. What happened?" He asked and Ifrit crossed his arms, his lip curling back, looking more cute than menacing.

"We were aiming for my more… human looking form, but the music and he- his annoying antics distracted her and this… is the result." Ifrit said, covering his near slip of "her father" with a grumble.

Taylor swallowed hard.

"It was enough for the cage, sorry to keep you waiting. I don't think I can see anything that will let me exorcize Gilgamesh. So… I'm going to talk to him. If he wants something, then I want to know what that is." Taylor said determinedly and nodded to Ifrit.

"I'm going in, don't let him out." She said and then…

Sabah's fingers wrapped around her forearm.

"Key. It's not him. Don't let him mess with you." Sabah said worriedly and then stepped back, following Miss Militia who decided to point her large gun at the Undersiders.

Taylor saw Tattletale wringing her hands.

Focusing her eye back onto the fiery cage, she frowned. Gilgamesh still hadn't done anything.

He was just standing in the center of the fiery ring.

As Taylor approached the fires, they peeled apart to let her walk in, and as she passed through, a wave of heat let her know that the they had reformed behind her.

Standing in the heat; the hiss of steam as the water failed to extinguish the flames, the alarm wailing away.

None of it mattered, not even a little.

It didn't matter because her Dad was standing in front of her, or his body rather, but… It was her dad. Taylor had feared that her dad would never stand on his own again, never show that confident smile again, or hug her and call her kiddo… She'd feared that he would remain in that bed forever and just keep looking frailer no matter how much magic she used… And now here he stood, strong and awake one more.

And yet…. He wasn't her dad now. Not even the damaged shell she'd come to know. His skin was painted red and white, but even the bags under his eyes looked less obvious. His wasted muscles seemed to have regrown and now practically bulged. His amused smiled made her feel like she was a little girl painting on her Mom and Dad's new wallpaper.

It was her Dad. Her dad.

But… his eyes were wrong.

Where warmth had laid after a long day of work and disappointment, these eyes burned under the helmet.

These eyes didn't see a daughter, they didn't see a loved one.

They saw an opponent.

It sucker punched her worse than anything Lung and Hookwolf had managed to do to her on their own.

Only Bakuda had ever hurt her this much when she took her dad from her the first time. And now someone else was trying to take what she had left behind.

Gilgamesh spread his arms.

"Well, well, well, the lady of the hour finally appears. Kept me waiting, huh?" Gilgamesh said and god, his voice was the same, more life and passion in it than Taylor had ever heard, but it was unmistakable.

To think that the happiest she would ever hear her Dad was under the control of a monster from between the stars.

The idea made the Slumbering Rage appear in her hands. The flash of fire less hot than it was angry.

Ifrit walked through fire and came to stand next to Taylor. His tiny form not betraying the look of understanding in his eyes when he looked up at Taylor.

"Your rage...it's slipping." Ifrit said idly.

Taylor took a deep breath of heated air, so wet with steam and noise it hurt, but she breathed deep so it filled her lungs and let go of the building heat.

Ifrit glowed and seem to sigh.

Gilgamesh watched this and grinned.

"Ifrit, is that you? I heard you had fallen lower than this, this doesn't seem so bad… Do you have the seed?" Gilgamesh asked.

Taylor twitched as she was ignored.

Ifrit yawned.

"The seed? That musty old thing? Nah, not here." The little demon said.

Gilgamesh eyed him then Taylor.

"I guess not, and so you hooked yourself up to a Keyblade? Ballsy. Then again if there was someone willing to do it, it would be me or you… Maybe a few others. But to be honest it doesn't matter. You understand my problem, right? Every second I spend here, I have this burning urge, this urge that keeps building, you know what it is Ifrit? How can you not?" Gilgamesh said, breathing a little harder.

Ifrit spread his legs slightly apart and bared his teeth.

"You're thirsty for a fight. You connected to a mortal's heart, what did you think would happen? Mortals are a destructive force, humans more so than others, what you feel? What you invited into yourself?! It's called a soul and he wants to do what's right!" Ifrit roared, and it was his own deep guttural voice instead of a child's one.

It took Taylor a moment to notice she had roared with him as well.

Ifrit charged and Taylor was close behind.

Gilgamesh drew a hockey stick with deliberate slowness, watching as Ifrit's hand ignited into a rush of flame, leaping at Gilgamesh, Taylor coming in from below.

Gilgamesh twirled the hockey stick, sending it flying out, knocking Ifrit aside as he flipped himself sideways, twirling over Taylor, using the same momentum.

Taylor skidded to a stop and jumped after him, swinging the keyblade at his back.

Gilgamesh slammed the stick into the ground, spinning around and locking his legs around the Keyblade, twisting his entire body to on side, catching Taylor off guard. The she felt her own body following, her vision rotating in a full circle she landed on the ground with a thud and a oof, the wind driven from her lungs.

She rolled back, almost forgetting the flames before she managed to stop.

Taylor watched as Gilgamesh spun the hockey stick in ridiculous patterns and at even more ridiculous speeds.

Taylor snarled and rolled forward, bringing the Keyblade up, intending to cut the stick in half, depriving Gilgamesh of his weapons, one by one.

Only... it didn't happen.

The Keyblade meet the stick and clashed.

The hockey stick glowed yellow for the briefest of moments as the Keyblade struck it and the two weapons locked together. Taylor struggled to push up as Gilgamesh pushed down with both hands.

Taylor was going to lose, and would have if Ifrit had not latched on to Gilgamesh's helmet and enveloped himself in flames.

"Strike now!" Ifrit cried, as Gilgamesh threw him off, Ifrit managing to take the helmet with him.

Taylor had already jumped, intending to bring the Keyblade down hard on his head, but when Gilgamesh turned back to her…

"How's my baby? How's my Taylor?"

She was knocked aside, hesitating at the last moment. Gilgamesh frowned.

"What was that? You telegraphed that move so hard I had time to write a reply and post it." The warrior said, slamming his stick down hard, cracking the ground.

"I…" Taylor reached for words, but nothing came, her Dad's face stared down at her.

"Annette? I hope Taylor still loves me, being stuck here in a hospital bed… can you… can you treat her to something nice tonight? I'm not sure I have any money, but help yourself to what's left…"

"I waited for this, I heard about the big bad Keyblader, kicking ass and taking names and this is what I get? This?" he said, sounding pissed.

"Taylor…? When did you get here? I missed you." He sounded so happy.

"Keyblader?"

"Taylor."

"Enough, if you will not defend yourself then get out of my sight." Gilgamesh shouted and raised the hockey stick to swipe at her.

As the stick whistled through the air Ifrit was rushing back to the cage, but he was too far away, too slow. Time seemed to slow as air whistled over the wooden stick and Taylor looked up into her father's eyes.

"Come back soon." He whispered, hugging her.

Her chest hurt, her heart twisting inside her, tearing itself apart as her father swung his weapon at her. Taylor's eye closed, tears brimming over as… as...

As her father tried to kill her.

The clunk of wood on metal was not was she was expecting. Snapping her eye open Taylor heard it before she saw it.

"Leave. My. Apprentice. Alone." Mouse Protector said through clenched teeth, her shield holding back the stick.

How did she-

Taylor saw the fire reforming around a circular hole.

Had she thrown her shield in and teleported?

"Oh? A new challenger appears? Good your 'apprentice' there was a disappointment. If she can't defend herself, then what good is she?" Gilgamesh asked and pushed.

As she was forced back Mouse Protector's foot lashed out and smacked into Gilgamesh's side, making him grunt.

Mouse slid forward, her shield deflecting the stick to one side as she slammed her helmet into Gilgamesh's face.

"She's a damn fine hero, just for being here! Took more courage than you'll ever know!" Mouse Protector yelled as she dropped her shield to grab Gilgamesh with both hands and ram her solid helmet into the warrior's nose.

Gilgamesh stumbled back and Mouse followed up with swipe of her sheathed sword, but Gilgamesh caught it bare handed and yanked. Mouse let go instantly, and Gilgamesh smirked as he pulled his arm back, to throw the weapon at Mouse. As soon as his arm went behind him though, the heroine teleported to it adding her weight to the weapon, making Gilgamesh lose his grip as his wrist bent awkwardly and Mouse Protector landed behind him.

Mouse quickly planted a foot in the back of his knee and used it to kick of, buckling the leg and forcing the warrior to kneel down. The caped hero pushed into a spin and as her legs came up she wrapped them both around Gilgamesh's neck and rolling in front of him, crossing her legs and locked his head between her knees and ankles. Then she swung forward, both hands planted on the ground throwing her whole body into a forward flip, intending to smash Gilgamesh into the floor below.

As he rushed towards the floor though, Gilgamesh threw his hands out and caught himself, shifting his legs into a handstand. Turning the move back on Mouse Protector, Gilgamesh dropped his knees and curled, aiming to ram Mouse into the ground with his knees.

Mouse Protector vanished, disappearing from beneath the painted warrior and reappearing at her shield which she'd dropped earlier.

Then Ifrit rushed in and grabbed ahold of Gilgamesh's hockey stick, running away with it, out of the ring of fire.

Slowly, Taylor stood and… wondered why he didn't just leave, the fire wasn't that thick… And some minor burns could be healed with cure, he had shown that he was capable of casting the spell.

Ifrit's face peered back through the flames and grinned, a positively evil look for a small child. Understandable coming from Ifrit really.

"Tell me you didn't? Tell me you didn't agree to safeguard the body?" Ifrit said with gleeful disbelief dripping from his voice.

Gilgamesh didn't answer, but he pulled himself back, drawing his tennis rackets, twirling them with a graceful ease.

Taylor raised her Keyblade, wary. Gilgamesh was deadly with a hockey stick; tennis rackets didn't make her feel any better.

"I might have… somewhat rushed the contract." Gilgamesh admitted and then swung both rackets at Mouse Protector.

The mouse cape went into a split so fast and quickly that it looked like she had collapsed, but she spun in a circular, almost breakdance like motion, using her feet to sweep Gilgamesh legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. The Esper reached out with one hand, slammed it into the ground to halt his fall and balanced his entire weight on it while grinning.

"You got moves, but you can't keep up with me." The warrior said and his spare hand joined the other on the ground, the rackets falling to the side, and spun his legs into Mouse Protector's face, but she was already gone.

Gilgamesh flipped his body to the side, picking the rackets up as Taylor let loose a torrent of weak fireballs.

They missed him by a fair distance, but everytime she tried to lock-on to him, to think of him as an enemy…

It hurt.

But seeing Mouse give it everything she had, and be unable to do anything herself, that was a special kind of torment all on its own.

Taylor watched as Mouse threw her shield and when Gilgamesh knocked it aside with one of his rackets, she appeared behind him, holding the shield, using the momentum of the metal to spin her and drive the disk it into Gilgamesh's back, making him stumble forward.

But he lashed out with a backwards kick, aiming blindly, and it connected with Mouse's right leg making the heroine stumble.

Taylor felt her frustration building, her ineptness, her anger, her ears ringing with the alarm and she wanted to scream.

A flash of blue caught her attention through the flames, turning her head to see Sabah crash into a bankers desk, sending wet papers tilting to the side and a monitor fall off of it.

Without thinking she sent a cure at Sabah, the girl standing unsteadily as the green sparks washed over her.

Sabah looked down at her hands and then every piece of paper lifted up, ignoring their increasing dampness and launched them all in a concentrated barrage at one of the Undersiders.

It kinda looked like when Mog cast float on something...

Taylor couldn't hear if Sabah said anything, but Taylor turned back to Mouse and wanted to hit herself.

If she wasn't willing to fight yet… She could play support.

Just for now.

Mouse Protector to her credit didn't flinch as the cure spell washed over her.

Taylor paused and came up blank as nothing else jumped out

Mouse parried one of the tennis rackets with her sword and the other with her shield.

Ifrit climbed up and launched himself over Mouse's helmet, his claws aiming for Gilgamesh's armour straps, trying to tear the plates off.

Taylor bit her lip as she went through a mental checklist.

Ice… Cure… Fire… Lightning… and… that was it. That was it. She didn't have anything else to offer. The support idea was looking like a bad idea now.

But Mog had listed so many spells…

Magic was her thing, she was good at it. It was intent and will power. And… She had cast another support spell. Once.

Gilgamesh slapped Ifrit down with a foot and caught Mouse Protector's sword between his rackets, twisting hard.

The sword flew off somewhere, but Mouse just punched Gilgamesh in the face.

If Taylor wanted to protect someone with magic, then she would do it, not try, just do it, without doubting herself.

Taylor stood straight and pointed her Keyblade at Mouse.

Mog had also mentioned something about testing spells in combat, along similar lines as bad idea and terrible plan... But she ignored that lesson for now.

Intent… Protect, safe, resist damage, increase chance of survival, live longer!

Will power… Taylor took her need to do something, her desire to save her Dad, the desire to protect all, and fed it to the spell.

To be what Mouse Protector was so effortless.

A shield of the people.

Shield….

Shield.

Taylor didn't bother repeating the word out loud, the shimmering blue wall of scales appearing around Mouse Protector before fading into her, was enough proof of her deed.

Gilgamesh's tennis racket hit Mouse's arm and rebounded as Mouse continued her dodge.

Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, but Gilgamesh instantly dashed towards her.

"Gotta gank the white mage!" He yelled exuberantly. Mouse chased him, but was too slow to keep up with his charge.

Taylor raised her Keyblade, but found her arms were heavier than usual. Her whole body seemed to struggle to move, her eyes connected to Gilgamesh's.

Her father's eyes seem to glow yellow, pulsing and Taylor struggled to pull her gaze away.

Each moment brought more feeling back to her limbs, but it was coming far too slow.

"Can't escape my gaze!" Gilgamesh said, swinging his racket at her head.

The mesh of the racket stopped inches from her face.

"...What?" Gilgamesh said bluntly. Mouse skidded to a stop, unsure what was happening.

Gilgamesh swung again and Taylor closed her eyes as one leg weakly bent under her own power.

After a few seconds she opened her eye to see that the racket had stopped again.

Taylor blinked as Gilgamesh stared at his rackets in confusion.

"Last time I rob a one munni store…" Gilgamesh said, dropping the rackets and throwing his fist at Taylor's face instead.

His entire painted knuckle froze, so close to her face that she could see the white line of his missing wedding ring.

That broke the hold Gilgamesh had over her more than anything.

"Okay… Explain? A keyblader power? One of the spandex warriors? Did you hack reality?! Bloody Keyblades! Come on, what's the point? I can't fight you, I can't hurt you, I can't stop you…" Gilgamesh trailed off and snapped his fingers.

"You are a damn unwinnable fight. No… It doesn't work in reverse. Heroes don't get that bonus…" Gilgamesh mused to himself, reaching up to rub his chin.

He stopped as he felt a tickling at his throat, Mouse Protector resting her sword tip at his adam's apple from the side.

"Don't worry about it, everyone experiences problems under pressure." Mouse said with a grin.

Then Gilgamesh turned so fast that Taylor could barely keep up with him. He grabbed Mouse's arm and swung her at Taylor.

They both went crashing to the ground, Taylor's sleeve briefly dipping into the fire, but it felt… refreshing? Either way, Mouse's shield spell apparently didn't stop physics.

Gilgamesh tilted his head as he looked at the downed pair, Mouse Protector already shifting to get up and fight.

"Huh, a gimmick boss? Now I know you're pulling my leg." Gilgamesh said, his lip curling.

Ifrit walked out of the fire near the fallen heroes.

"You shall not harm my body. You shall protect one object of my desire. You shall above all else... take my morals unto yourself." Ifrit intoned darkly.

Gilgamesh scowled at him, but Ifrit kept going.

"You agreed to the contract, but I bet you didn't read it. The mortal got the best of you, Gilgamesh. The most basic and binding contract of all and you jumped right into it. You sir, are an idiot. I wonder, do you feel them yet? The mortal's guilt? His desires? His regrets? His fears? His love? Do you feel them? I wonder how it feels? To have yourself become a servant to a man who can't even remember what day it is!" Ifrit laughed loud and deep.

Gilgamesh's fist started shaking and then his entire body followed.

Mouse and Taylor finished climbing to the their feet and watched, unsure of if Gilgamesh was anticipating their attack or if he was truly distracted.

Mouse looked ready to jump back into the fray, but Taylor held on to her cape.

Forcing the heroine to wait.

Something was… going on.

Gilgamesh tried to speak, but couldn't get the words past his gritted teeth, he tried to breathe but it turned into a pant.

When he spoke it was far harsher than anything Taylor had heard from him before.

"Servant…? You dare call me a servant?! Do not forget… who I am Ifrit! You, the Esper of Fire and Destruction, igniter of wars, boiler of blood, demon of battle, dog of hell, monster of flames, bringer of ruin. Do not forget who I am! This flesh is weak, this soul is dying and this mind is broken, yet I, alone, put it back together! You want to mock me? Then do so, by all means, feel free you insufferable little imp, but I knew exactly what I was getting into, you on the other hand… You have no idea what I am capable of." Gilgamesh finished in a whisper and slammed his foot down, a shockwave exploding out from his foot that blew the cage of fire outwards, the flaming bars buckling and fizzling into embers… and then only ash was left.

As the blast struck, everyone was lifted off their feet.

Taylor felt her world tilt as she was flung back. As she landed, Taylor saw Mouse Protector rolling with the fall near her.

Taylor pushed herself up, feeling uninjured, but wary in case she had hurt herself in the fall and had yet to realize it. Ifrit seemed to have landed near Sabah, the fiery explosion had also knocked Miss Militia off her feet, her gun accidentally aimed at a point dangerously close to a very pale Tattletale.

The Undersiders used the distraction to move behind Gilgamesh, putting him between them and the heroes.

All, but one of the dogs had returned to normal size now, leaving only one hell beast to circle around Bitch.

Brick… had vanished, somewhere in the confusion.

Gilgamesh walked out of the cracked circle, the drifting ash pushed away as if by some invisible barrier.

"I am the warrior who knows no end to his battle. I am the man who has seen the darkest of nights and the brightest of dawns, seen villages and cities wiped out by disaster and obliterated by warring gods, entire worlds brought to an end in an instant! I've held the mightiest weapons of legend, and the deadliest of cursed arms! I have travelled across realms of darkness and light! I have sought the endless quest, the desire to fight and defeat all! And now I have crossed the gap to this world and you, all of you, stand on my bridge, expecting me to bend but I will not bow! I am the warrior who time cannot stop, I am the fighter that space cannot contain, and I am the swordmaster that will not be defeated!" Gilgamesh roared, his voice growing louder and louder with each word.

Gilgamesh held out a hand and the hockey stick flew from under a desk where Ifrit had stashed it to his waiting hand, pulled by an unseen force while the football helmet faded back into view over her father's face, like an illusion made real.

His entire body glowed a dangerous pale yellow, as if radiating with his anger.

"I am Gilgamesh." The warrior said then vanished, his form flickering into view in front of Mouse Protector, his stick smashing through her shield spell, shattering it like glass, as Mouse was sent hurtling into the wall, landing with a thump.

Miss Militia turned and opened fire on him, her hands held a chaingun firing a storm of rubber at the enraged warrior.

Gilgamesh turned to look at her, his golden aura making the bullets slow down as if hitting a wall of gelatine, before falling to the ground with a dull clatter.

Taylor saw that the bullets were some odd round type, but whatever they were, they did nothing as Gilgamesh moved again and crushed the gun's muzzle.

Miss Militia changed the guns form instantly, but Gilgamesh socked her across the jaw, a single solid blow, and Miss Militia crumpled.

Taylor watched this all happen as if she was stuck in slow motion.

In two simple movements, they had lost their two best fighters.

Mog's voice made her look away for a second.

"Kupo, run, run!" Mog pleaded, pushing Sabah towards the back corridor.

Sabah fought against him, confused.

Her confusion turned to fear as she was lifted up by Gilgamesh, who Taylor hadn't seen appear, he was suddenly just there.

Taylor hurled the Keyblade, but Gilgamesh knocked it aside with the hockey stick one handed. It clattered to the ground, with a hollow sound.

Like Taylor felt at that moment as fear gripped her heart and erased all else.

"Weak, such weak willpower." Gilgamesh muttered and brought Sabah close.

"You… have the seed?" Gilgamesh said, inhaling the air around her. Sabah's legs kicked at him and Mog launched himself at Gilgamesh's face.

Gilgamesh grabbed Mog, threw the him to the ground contemptuously, and trapped the moogle beneath his boot.

"K-up..o" Mog wheezed out as Boco rushed in.

Taylor cried for him to stop but Boco raised his leg, to enraged to listen. Gilgamesh caught the kick and pulled. There was a horrendous ripping noise and Boco's leg ripped off, spilling his white stuffing on the floor.

Boco gave a wark of alarm and toppled to the side, unable to balance himself despite his fluttering wings. He didn't seem to be in pain, more… annoyed at the action.

Gilgamesh scoffed.

"Dolls and toys, what a sad sight." Gilgamesh said calmly and threw Boco's legs at the bird, casually.

He turned back to Sabah, and Mog glowed, his pom-pom going red, but Gilgamesh's yellow aura flashed and Mog's spell fizzled.

"Mog… Do not push me right now." Gilgamesh warned, but the Moogle struggled harder.

Taylor called the Keyblade, but it only shifted slightly. The hollow feeling in her chest growing…

What was happening? Why was the Keyblade failing her now?

"The seed... Where is it?" Gilgamesh asked softly.

Sabah desperately clawed at his hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sabah said, her tone angered and alarmed.

Gilgamesh roared punching the solid marble pillar built into the wall and the extravagant piece of art crumbled under his fist.

"Do not lie to me! You stink of that holy fool's magic." The warrior snapped.

Sabah only shook her head harder, blonde curls bouncing wildly.

"I don't know! I don't know!" The arabic girl yelled in a panicked voice, feeling Gilgamesh's grip tighten around her throat.

Taylor rushed at him, ignoring the Keyblade, she yanked at Gilgamesh's arm, but she couldn't even budge him.

"Gilgamesh. She doesn't know. Stop acting like a brat throwing a temper tantrum and look." Ifrit said, pulling himself free from a collapsed filing cabinet. Taylor looked at him and stared.

Half of Ifrit's face was gone, revealing a glowing molten rock under the green skin, endless pools of magma turning and twisting, threatening to rush out and burn everything at any second.

Gilgamesh seemed undisturbed but looked at Sabah, with more assessing eyes.

There was a long pause as Gilgamesh stared hard at Sabah.

Then he reared back as if struck.

He dropped her and staggered away.

"No… It is a trick, a lie!" Gilgamesh shouted and the wall he leaned on with his hand, crumbled slightly, a spider web of cracks spreading out from his palm was placed.

Ifrit walked closer to Sabah, the now freed Moogle was was frozen by fear, the sad chocobo who knew what was coming warbled on the ground.

"A soul cannot lie, it just is, and as you can see, what is done… is done." Ifrit said calmly and his face began to regrow, green skin appearing over the molten innards.

"What is done?" Taylor demanded, grabbing Ifrit's hot arm, the fire demon…. did not meet her gaze.

"Guilt is a powerful thing, you feel its effect even now, with Gilgamesh. Guilt makes us do stupid things to make things right." Ifrit muttered.

Mog grabbed his head and shook it, the alarms wailing on.

Taylor began to breathe heavily, she raised one hand and a bolt of energy seared the source of the alarm, frying the system.

The sound of gentle sprinklers was all that was left.

"Make sense." Taylor said very quietly.

She went to ask again but it was Gilgamesh who spoke first, sounding mirthless as he smiled.

"I get it, I don't believe it, but I get it. I saw them when I tried to get into this world on my own… the streams. Energy twisting across space. Mog… Tell me you didn't? Tell me not even you was that stupid?!" Gilgamesh half asked, half demanded of the quivering Moogle.

"Kupo, kupo,kupo,kupo." Mog repeated like a mantra, trying to ignore everything, shaking his head increasingly violently with each word.

Sabah staggered forward, placing herself between the moogle and possessed man.

"Leave him alone." Sabah said with anger, unsteady on her feet but firm in her conviction.

Gilgamesh just laughed, a cold edge to the sound.

"Sure, defend the murderer." The warrior jeered.

Taylor snapped her head to him so fast she almost missed Sabah taking a step back in surprise.

"Murderer? Mog's not…" Sabah began but stumbled over the words.

None of the espers spoke, even Mog had gone silent.

Gilgamesh stared at the flashing lights of the police sirens spilling through the high windows, dancing between the fading sprinkler water, making it look like red and blue smoke.

"Oh? Don't tell me you fell for the cute fairy act? I can't blame you, everyone does. Mog the Esper, Mog the fairy, Mog the innocent, Mog the fool. You see that, everyone does. No one sees Mog the spy, Mog the sneak, Mog the lonely." Gilgamesh spoke softly to Sabah while Taylor stood in front of her, using her body as a shield of last resort.

Her magic wasn't strong enough, the Keyblade was useless, she was… powerless.

She wouldn't just stand there and let Gilgamesh have his way however. She couldn't shut him up, her own curiosity and the other esper's reactions were alluding to something that both she and Sabah had been blind to, keeping her from just rushing the spirit inside her father's body. But that didn't mean she couldn't defend her friend either.

Sabah was quivering from both the cold and her own anger.

"Mog, he's my friend, I know him. He would never kill someone so casually. He isn't an animal like you!" Sabah snarled and Taylor felt the other girls body press hard into her back, as if she was using Taylor to anchor herself to the ground.

Mog didn't move, he didn't float, didn't look up. The little esper just… lay there.

Taylor noticed movement behind Gilgamesh and saw Tattletale standing apart from her group.

She was… making motions at her? Waving her hands? The purple and black swirl and eye on her chest was moving fast, as if she had just run a marathon.

Tattletale's hand made the universal motion of talking, opening and closing her hand like a mouth.

Taylor's own mouth went white, but she tried to calm down, tried to understand what the blonde girl wanted, or why, she wanted it.

Tattletale pointed sharply at Gilgamesh, then repeated the motion. She evidently knew something more than Taylor did about the spirit inside her Dad.

But, why the hell did Tattletale think Taylor would listen to anything she had to say?

"Mog is an esper? You know what that means, little miss?" Gilgamesh asked calmly, and leaned on his hockey stick.

Behind the warrior Tattletale made a gesture, something innocent to anyone else, she closed her left eye, putting a finger to it and then pointed at Taylor.

Taylor like an icy hand had just clenched her heart, the bottom of her stomach falling out.

A missing eye.

Tattletale knew about her missing eye. Something that couldn't be seen when she wore her costume and as far as she was aware, she showed no other signs of it.

Tattletale didn't grin or smile, she shook her head as she pointed back to Gilgamesh.

"She's right, Mog doesn't come off as a killer." Taylor managed to say, her gaze never leaving Tattletale.

How? How did Tattletale know? Had the villain guessed the injury, guessed the right eye, and if she knew that, knew about her injury... Did she already know?

Did tattletale know that behind the hood of Keynote was Taylor Hebert?

If she did… Then the blonde already knew who Danny Hebert was.

Taylor felt the icy hand gripping her heart shatter beneath her fear, like a thousand of tiny pieces of glass digging deep into her heart.

"Killers never look like killers, well, unless they're insane. But don't ask me, ask your dearest Mog. He has, so far, offered up nothing to defend his innocence." Gilgamesh said lightly.

Taylor gritted her teeth, hating herself for listening to Tattletale.

That would be an issue that would be dealt with after Gilgamesh, and there was no hole or crack that the blonde girl could vanish into that would keep her hidden.

Not when she knew.

She'd made that mistake once already.

"We haven't heard his crime yet, so it doesn't matter." Taylor countered and tried to pull on her Keyblade, it rattled but still remained on the floor.

Gilgamesh paused and then looked at Sabah.

"His crime is standing right behind you, breathing air on artificial breaths." The warrior snapped with sudden rage and Taylor took a step forward, leaving the warmth of Sabah behind her to…

To buy Sabah time to run if needed, but Gilgamesh didn't attack. He just stood there, looking enraged.

"Me?" Sabah questioned with disbelief, her tone quickly dipping into it's own brand of anger as she pushed past Taylor.

"You're an insane animal and you think this is funny? Stealing that body? Robbing this bank? Telling these laughable lies? Mog has never caused me harm, he's my friend." Sabah said with venom and cut her hand through the air as if that settled the matter.

Taylor… She wasn't so sure.

Even Ifrit had turned away. His scowling face looking far too old for his childlike form, Boco had closed his eyes, as if deeply ashamed.

Gilgamesh snorted.

"Oh? Really? Then let me ask you something? How does a little nobody of a girl, with no magic, no talent for the art… summon two highly magical beings of primordial chaos into a barren world, devoid of magic?" Gilgamesh hissed in triumph.

Taylor felt like the entire conversation had suddenly taken a turn that she had never seen coming, couldn't have seen coming.

Sabah made a mewling, choking noise as if she was about to explain, but no words appeared as the question seemed to gain a hold over her.

Taylor would never forgive Gilgamesh for making Sabah sound like that. The moment Sabah's voice had quieted, lost some of its courage, some of it's light... It made Taylor feel something along with the anger.

It made her feel focused. To stop Sabah sounding like that was one of the most important things to her right now.

So when she turned back to Gilgamesh, her anger honed to a fine blade of desire to protect Sabah, her hands held the Keyblade tightly.

Finally it had returned as her heart steeled itself.

As her eyes narrowed Gilgamesh kept flapping his lips.

"Mog told you a lot of things, I bet. What did he say? You were special? That it was luck? That he just hung around you because he wanted to? Here's a little magic lesson, maybe one the Moogle should have told you. If you run out of mana… or have none to begin with, and you're forced to use magic, do you know how you pay the toll?" The painted warrior pushed on, his words biting.

"I… didn't, I didn't know magic had a price." Sabah answered, her face locked on to Mog's downed form. Gilgamesh let out a dark chuckle.

"Magic always has a price. Fire requires such a small price, wind no more than a drop in a bucket, light and dark require a steeper cost, but not a deep one, but life? Death? That is magic beyond mortal ken, no… most creatures grasp. Mog used you to get into this world. And you paid for it. But you had no magic, you had no mana, you had nothing." Gilgamesh said bluntly while Sabah shook her head, as if trying to ward his words away.

Gilgamesh continued undaunted.

"You paid with your life. The very energy that sustains your soul and body, you paid with every single last miserable drop!" He thundered.

Taylor didn't understand.

Sabah wasn't dead. She was right there; talking, walking, and breathing.

His words didn't make sense, they didn't…

Ifrit interrupted her thoughts.

"Mog used these energy streams, littering your planet, rivers of pure energy or matter flowing into endless mirrors of your world. He was supposed to find the hole made by the Keyblade, but he grew impatient." Ifrit said darkly.

Mog finally spoke after him. His voice sounding so… empty.

"The streams let me just slip in, I wanted to see the world, see everything… I didn't know, I didn't know, kupo. I didn't know that they were connected to people…" Mog trailed off and floated up slowly.

Sabah stared at him, her shoulders beginning to shake from his confirmation, his lack of defence disturbing her faith in him.

"I came through, awaking in the doll, you were… You were so still and lying on the floor." Mog breathed and his voice hitched.

"I'm so sorry." Mog gasped and buried his face in his paws.

Sabah shook her head slowly, as if in denial, but Taylor could tell the action had no actual thought behind it.

Taylor stared at Mog.

He… He had… Mog had... killed Sabah? But she was alive. How could he kill her and have her not die?

Then it clicked.

"The seed." Taylor said aloud, her brain neatly putting the pieces of a puzzle that had formed together.

Sabah. Click.

Mog. Click.

Magic. Click.

Sabah dead. Click

Seed. Click.

"What is the seed?" Taylor asked, putting a hand around Sabah's shoulders, pulling her close, trying to shield her friend from the truth forming before them.

A futile effort, anything she did at this point was futile. But still, they needed to know.

Sabah sagged against Taylor, as if tired from holding herself upright throughout the talk. The older girl was trembling, shaking in fear and horror.

"I'm not… I'm alive." Sabah whispered as her trembling grew worse. Taylor pulled tighter on her, hoping to somehow translate pressure into comfort.

Mog looked up for a moment before hiding his face again, his voice somewhat muffled by his paws.

"The seed is… an ancient object. The seed that almost saved all the worlds from falling apart. It never had the chance to grow before the Sundering happened…" Mog answered, slowly uncurling as he talked, as if finding his voice seemed to bring back something of himself.

Ifrit took up the tale.

"The seed, losing its purpose, turned to stone. Alexander took it unto himself, guarding it with fondness and light. Then he gave it to Mog, to sustain himself on a barren planet as he looked for a Keyblader, though lost and separated from the light. The seed was still a powerful magical source." Ifrit continued and Taylor whipped her head around to look at him.

Source.

"Parian... you're leaking magic! A source, you've become a source! Me and Boco can feel it, kupo!"

It wasn't that Sabah had magic.

"It's more than that... But it doesn't matter."

It was that she shouldn't have magic.

Click.

The Keyblade granted Taylor her power. Sabah had gotten the Espers before they had met, but she had always assumed that it was just her thing, summoning.

That the dolls were just a happy medium.

Mog gave them both a mournful look.

"It's why Lord Alexander could push Ifrit through to you, to make him a body. Alexander's magic has safeguarded the seed for many years, it leaked into you, building a bridge." Mog continued softly.

Sabah finally found her voice.

"I don't understand! I don't have this seed! I don't have it!" Sabah screamed, tears streamed down her face underneath the mask, collecting at the bottom, where it dripped along with the water. The Arabic girl ignored it and kept pointing at Mog who drooped.

Gilgamesh strode forward and held out his hand, slightly curling his fingers.

Sabah gasped, stopping her next word, the front of her chest glowed, the brightest and whitest light Taylor had ever seen since…

Since…

The twin doors opened slowly, beautiful light washing over her face, the feeling so soft that Taylor gasped and laughed, she reached for the light, she needed the light, if she had that light, she could forget every pain, every tear, every heartache.

The light lies.

Taylor slashed at Gilgamesh, but he had already stepped back, his hand dropping.

Taylor hastily looked down at Sabah, seeing something, slightly inside the light.

It was a small rock about the size of a tennis ball, white veins travelled the surface like glowing cracks and at the very top, was a single sprout.

It was lush and green.

Behind the seed, for what else could it be, was a glowing red heart, it pulsed and the seed pulsed in time with it.

Two, beating as one.

The light faded, and Sabah leaned heavily into Taylor who held her gently, delicately.

"...Mog, you gave me the seed?" Sabah asked, sounding breathless and shell shocked.

Mog nodded, desperately.

Mouse Protector groaned nearby unseen and Taylor knew she needed to heal her, but leaving Sabah alone like this was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I never meant to hurt you, when I saw you lying there and I realized what I'd done… I didn't even think, I put the seed on your chest. It almost didn't work, but it accepted you, and Lord Alexander's magic is aligned with life and light, it brought you back. I was so happy, but… It started to go wrong, the seed went out of control! It was growing too fast, so I made you summon Boco, you hadn't even known what happened and you just summoned Boco like it was nothing, kupo!" Mog explained desperately.

Gilgamesh made a noise like a whistling sigh.

"At least you managed that much, everything on this world would have been space dust if that seed had detonated. Alex boy would have killed you as well." Gilgamesh pointed out and Mog ignored him, maybe out of fear that if he gave Gilgamesh a chance, he would ruin the progress he had made with Sabah.

Mog ignored the warrior.

"Your heart hadn't even left, it was undamaged since it didn't have to cross back into life. Kupo, Parian… I'm… so, so sorry. I used you as a human sacrifice." Mog said, his voice breaking at Sabah's silence.

Finally Sabah spoke.

"I don't... I don't remember… dying, even now, that isn't what bothers me, and that's fucked up, but, I actually care more that you lied to me, you kept lying to me. You saved my life and you didn't think you should have been told me that you stuck a magic grenade inside my chest? Mog, you're my friend, we don't lie to each other, I died, you killed me, I came back, you saved me, I can't even begin to figure out if I should be upset or not, this is… this… is so fucked up." Sabah said, collapsing to sit on the floor.

Taylor was surprised at the sudden motion, failing to catch Sabah, too busy wondering how everything had gone so wrong. She had to settle for crouching down and to keep hugging the girl she loved.

Mog came closer, reaching out, but he stopped, he turned to run and Sabah snatched him to her, holding him close.

"Friends… don't lie to each other, you… don't get to leave me now, not... not now. I can't handle this." Sabah sobbed and Mog shook as well.

Taylor watched, her heart clenching in her chest.

Ifrit's form began to fade away to dust until he was nothing more than his soft doll shape once again, the magic boosting him finally running out.

Boco was silent, his blue eyes soft.

Gilgamesh cursed and kicked a desk so hard it broke against the wall on the other side of the bank.

"Go on, cry. Cry your little hearts out, it changes nothing, you are still a source, Mog still lied, and I am still stuck in this form. This anger, it keeps growing, it keeps bubbling over the edge of my control and seeing the seed used in that manner does nothing for my mood." Gilgamesh growled, and Taylor had a small feeling of deja vu, seeing her father smash something to control his temper.

He swiped his hockey stick, smashing anything that was nearby. Tattletale immediately fled back over to the Undersiders, who now had all three demons dogs back in full fighting shape.

But they looked different, sleeker, more muscles in their legs and back.

Taylor stood in front Sabah's downed form as Gilgamesh hurled a cabinet in their general direction. A single slash from the Keyblade shattered it, the parts veering wildly to either side of them. The papers inside exploded out, instantly sodden and falling to the ground in the ongoing spray from the sprinklers.

Taylor swung the Melody of the Lost in front of her.

The drive to get her father back roaring in her heart.

"Gilgamesh." She said and began to walk forward, calmly and directly.

Gilgamesh turned with a snarl.

He saw Taylor, saw the Keyblade and gave her his full attention.

"I have no time for a pity spar, take you're mewlings elsewhere." Gilgamesh spat at her.

Taylor continued to walk towards him, unfazed at his words.

Where she had lacked before, now she found strength.

Strength in Sabah's gentle nature, to understand, to help and in Mog's nature, so happy, so prone to mistakes, so driven by his guilt to do the right thing.

They had bared their hearts to the pain and refused to close them off when it hurt, Taylor knew that she now must do the same.

To take her pain and suffering make it her strength.

Her Keyblade flashed so softly she barely noticed it at first.

Taylor stopped walking and looked at it, a small smile pulling at her lips. Warmth and determination rose up in her like sunlight breaking apart the darkness at dawn.

Gilgamesh stopped looking pissed, he turned his full body to her and looked… pleased.

"Heh, well what do you know? The Keyblade master has some bite in her after all, will wonders never cease?" The warrior cried and spun his hockey stick.

Taylor began to slowly spin her keyblade on either side of her body, slow looping figures of eight.

"I hate to ruin your fun, but seriously? Shut up." Taylor replied softly.

Gilgamesh compiled by appearing above her, his stick swinging down hard.

But Taylor had never lost sight of him, her sixth sense of scan working over time.

Taylor raised her Keyblade one handed-

"Taylor? Oh, that cake looks amazing… for me? Taylor… you're my best friend. Now get me a plate!"

Gilgamesh's attack didn't even push her arm back, barely a weight at all. He flipped off, landing in a crouch and took a wild swing at her.

Taylor met him with her own swing and the hockey stick flared golden before it was pushed aside, the Keyblade sliding down the wooden shaft of the towards Gilgamesh's fingers.

There was no doubt, no longer any room for such a dark emotion, her father's fingers would bruise, not cut.

Gilgamesh rolled back before his knuckles could suffer any damage and Taylor waved her Keyblade in the air, catching the water mist like cotton candy on the end of her keyblade before she sent it rushing at Gilgamesh, the mist and puddles of water on the floor forming a spinning roaring maw of pressure.

The painted warrior cursed and swung the hockey stick two handed down the middle of the stream, his arms flexing, his knuckles going white at the effort.

Taylor darted forward, kicking up and above her own stream of water, moving so fast it felt like the water droplets were simply floating in the air. As her water spell rushed beneath her, she let lose a flash of cold that froze Gilgamesh's hands to his hockey stick, before landing and sliding across the bumpy ice pillar as gravity brought it crashing down behind her.

Her foot reached his face before the ice gave way to Gilgamesh's strength, sending him stumbling backwards, still everything almost seemed like it was in slowmotion. The helmet had protected him, but Taylor pushed on, letting her momentum carry her back and over in a spinning flip. As she flew past her blade crackled, touching the wet and cold football shoulder pads.

The energy made the material smoke, Gilgamesh just grinned.

But he didn't speak, as if worried that it would break Taylor's powers.

Yet Taylor was sure that even if Eidolon and Scion put their heads together right now, they couldn't muster a power to make her stop, to back down, to give up.

Taylor's heartbeat thundered in her ear.

It was a cry of victory, not warning.

As Taylor landed, Gilgamesh had already spun around, his hockey stick lashing out at her once more. Taylor met him head on and and as they clashed both weapons glowed, his yellow and hers a dim white, and Taylor felt her arms shake slightly as Gilgamesh put everything into pushing her back.

Taylor placed her hand behind her, drawing on the golden wire in her head.

Heat rushed through her and her palm ignited, she then showed it into his chest with an almighty explosion that sent her and Gilgamesh flying, the Esper hitting the bank wall hard.

As Taylor flew in the other direction, she flipped mid air, landing feet first on the wall, one hand balancing herself while the other held the keyblade. In a timeless moment she looked like she was crouching on the wall, and before she even started falling, pushed off the wall, landing back in the center of the bank, the floor still bearing a black charred and cracked ring from the earlier fire and shockwave.

Gilgamesh crashed to the floor and hopped to his feet, bouncing from foot to foot.

He glowed and a pale clock appeared over him, the hands turning faster and faster.

Taylor's scan went wild as Gilgamesh appeared behind her, her Keyblade meeting a hint of resistance before he vanished again.

Taylor redirected her blade to ward off another attack, again and again. Gilgamesh rushed at her so fast she had no time to do anything else other than parry, she didn't even see Gilgamesh, just flashes of red and yellow.

It was a deadly dance and her mind moved with the Keyblade, scan guiding her hands before she even knew where Gilgamesh was coming from.

Knowing this would only keep getting harder, she jumped up at an angle, her feet barely touching a nearby support pillar before she shot out of the skylight that she jumped in through earlier.

Landing on the roof, the other skylight exploded and she lashed out, sweeping away the glass and air with a wave of ice, trapping Gilgamesh's foot this time, he moved so fast that he seemed to struggle with realising what was happening.

As the ice made him stumble, Taylor smacked him hard and Gilgamesh went skidding across the roof, cracking the roof's ledge as he crashed into it.

His time spell vanished with her hit and he seemed to pant as he stood.

"Okay. Give me a second, you're exceeding expectations here and remember, I can't actually hurt you, so that's unfair." Gilgamesh said, grinning.

Taylor stopped long enough to shake her head.

"You don't get to tell me what's unfair, you don't get to say that to me." Taylor snapped and stopped as multiple red dots appeared on Gilgamesh's body.

Taylor followed their beams back to several rooftops.

Gilgamesh grinned again.

"An audience! Ah well, let's not take any chances." The warrior said and clicked his fingers, a blue shimmering, transparent dome flashed into place.

Taylor eyed it, but it didn't do anything else, but the dots of lasers were stuck in mid air, a fair distance away from Gilgamesh.

"A barrier?" She asked dryly.

Gilgamesh nodded, cracking his neck.

"A good ole 'no escaping' brand, a favorite of mine." He answered.

Taylor frowned.

"You said you were weaker in that body, and yet… you can do all this? Were you lying?" Taylor asked, silently casting shield on herself.

"I was weaker, but your little sweetheart was kind enough to let me have a little boost." Gilgamesh said with a grin.

Taylor thought back to Gilgamesh's hands near Sabah's chest, his fingers curling…

"You stole magic from her." Taylor said, her Keyblade vibrating in her hand.

Gilgamesh waved off her comment.

"That seed was the Esper's first, it's no harm anyway, she's got so much it'd be very surprised if she even notices." He told her flippantly.

Taylor heard roaring in her ears as her heart pounded faster.

"It doesn't matter how much you took, you don't take something that's keeping her alive away from her, you don't even dare think about it." Taylor said in a calm tone, but with anger swirling around it like a storm.

Gilgamesh eyed her.

"If I wanted to hurt her, she'd be dead. You got a protective streak worse than Carbuncle, and let me tell you, that rodent gets rabid." He joked.

In response, Taylor moved.

They clashed again, Keyblade against glowing hockey stick. Taylor spun away, twirling low to sweep at his legs. Gilgamesh flipped over her, stick slashing at her head. She ducked to the side, avoiding the blow as she continued her spin back up and around, slashing down at Gilgamesh in an overhead blow. He caught it on the stick grinning at her.

Taylor scowled, jabbing at him which he deflected, trying to elbow her in return. She caught the elbow on her forearm, lifting it over her head. Pulling the Keyblade back she tried to hook Gilgamesh on it's teeth but he spun around, lashing out with the hockey stick. Taylor deflected the blow, returning with a slash of her own which was in turn deflected.

Again and again they clashed, darting about the rooftop, flipping around each other as fast as they could. Blows glancing, weapons clashing, even the odd elbow, punch or kick mixed in.

As they continued to fight Gilgamesh matched Taylor blow for blow, his stick to her Keyblade.

Sparks from the stick flew off and glittered in the air, slightly glowing, illuminating both their faces in quick brief flashes as they continued to clash.

Taylor felt the world slow down as Gilgamesh focused on disarming her, making her tired and generally doing whatever he could to wear her down instead of causing her direct pain.

The clash of weapons cleared Taylor's mind of any distractions, of any pain, of any dark thoughts.

She had never felt so skilled with the Keyblade, it moved in her hands like liquid metal, being where she needed it to be at the right moment, more than a mere sword, it became an extension of herself.

Yet Gilgamesh proved the he was indeed a master of arms as his own weapon's timing was also impeccable, matching her blow for blow even at what Taylor knew were super-human speeds.

It also raised Taylor's expectations of Armsmaster's halberd skills, if he simply wasn't a master of his weapon then Taylor would have a hard time calling him Armsmaster after fighting Gilgamesh.

They clashed again, weapons locking together for an instant and then Taylor rolled back as the tennis rackets smashed into where she had been a second ago.

But Gilgamesh was still holding his hockey stick, how did he…

An extra pair of arms spread out wide for Taylor to see.

"Ugh, I was hoping for all six, but beggars and all that." Gilgamesh said with savage grin.

"Oh… and good news, these arms? They're mine, so the contract? Can't do hoots about them and that means get ready for Gil here to up his game!" The warrior hollered with joy, his arms flexing, they were of a murky quality , as if seen through a smoky lens as they clashed with the reality around them.

Taylor should have let logic take over, to spread magic across the field, to be wary of any sudden increase of danger.

But she only felt more solid as...

"Kupo! You're doing really well! You'll be a master of magic in no time!"

The warmth erased her tiredness, her fear and left her with only grim courage.

"Bring it." Taylor growled and then pointed the Keyblade like a rapier.

Taylor flexed reality as she moved through Gilgamesh, striking hard and blunt at his torso, with such speed, she was already turning back to strike again before he turned.

On the third strike, his rackets blocked her, but she shot past him before the other one could hit her, as it glanced off of her shield spell.

Taylor yanked on the weird temporal energy that was carrying her and the Keyblade exploded with over a dozen balls of ice, each one nimbly smashed aside by Gilgamesh's rackets.

"Tch, you're branching out… but what I am complaining about? This is glorious!" Gilgamesh said exuberantly.

Taylor fired a bolt at him, just low enough to shock him.

Gilgamesh fingers pointed out and he spun his body around, carrying the lightning on the tips of his fingers and returned it back to Taylor in a single motion.

Taylor rolled out the way as the energy splashed harmlessly across the barrier that kept Taylor on the roof.

"You know, putting my old noggin to the test, I think I got you figured out." Gilgamesh said, distractedly as if he hadn't just redirected her own spell back at her.

"If I can't hurt you, then you must either be Dan boy here… Which would be confusing and slightly nightmarish, or… You're… Oh. You're the girl from the platform." Gilgamesh sighed and shrugged as Taylor's froze.

"Sorry, you look different in 3D and a coat, and facial obscurement, and a Keyblade. Plus, with everything happening, I kinda forgot that I got here in this body… through you." Gilgamesh muttered.

Taylor blinked at that and shook her head.

"I don't want to know. You tormented Mog, played your sick games with my friend, and now this? Telling everyone who I am? Keep it to yourself." Taylor gritted out from between clenched teeth and she charged, throwing her Keyblade at him, her hands glowing with a blue aura.

Gilgamesh leaned his head to the side, letting the weapon pass by harmlessly, Taylor didn't pause, but rolled, her world blurring as her hands touched Gilgamesh's feet, freezing him to the spot, getting smacked hard in the arm by the tennis racket in the process.

Taylor rolled back and Gilgamesh huffed in annoyance before he heard the whistling noise of her Keyblade returning, he panicked, broke one of his feet free, but got hit hard across the back by Melody.

His extra arms flickered wildly and the tennis rackets fell to the ground.

Taylor rushed forward and Gilgamesh reached down, pulling up one of the rackets…

Before he smashed it against his own face.

Taylor did stop this time.

Gilgamesh blinked and eyed the paddle before he sighed.

"Bad time, Dan, kinda busy." Gilgamesh said to the empty air and the wiped his bloody nose.

The arm with the racket trembled and Gilgamesh glared at it.

"You're having second thoughts? Your spawn is kicking my ass and I can't do crap about it. Let's talk about second thoughts!" Gilgamesh argued with no one.

Taylor felt vaguely ignored.

The hell?

Gilgamesh eyed Taylor and nodded.

"You didn't say she had the Keyblade." The warrior pointed out and the racket twirled cheerfully.

"You rotten little mortal." Gilgamesh spat and his form glowed, the yellow aura seeping back down the arm.

Mortal… There was only one mortal inside that body.

"M- Danny is awake in there?" Taylor tried to ask calmly and failed.

Gilgamesh nodded, rotating his arm.

"He comes and goes, sometimes lucid, other times he's a bit loopy." Gilgamesh stated bluntly.

Taylor narrowed her gaze at him.

"Don't call him that." She warned.

Gilgamesh shrugged.

"I call apples, apples. In this case, I call the crazy people crazy." Gilgamesh said unashamed.

Taylor rushed forward, if her Dad was awake in there, then all she had to do was beat Gilgamesh until he went unconscious and he might surface.

Taylor knew this was on par with the Lung plan.

Hitting her problems until something happened.

But Gilgamesh could only grow one extra pair of arms, how bad could that be?

It wasn't like she had time to call for a priest and an exorcism. The priest would have to be both a maniac and a fighter to match Gilgamesh.

Not the kind of priest she wanted near her father.

If nothing else, she could try to use more spells until one of them dislodged the freeloader in her Dad's body.

Taylor swiped across Gilgamesh's body, hoping to catch him off guard, but Gilgamesh's foot moved past the Keyblade's teeth and impacted her chest, Taylor rolled with the hit, ending up on the far side of the roof and dome.

Narrowing her eyes, Taylor sent a wave of ice towards Gilgamesh. He nimbly sidestepped it, waving at her cheerfully. Seeing this Taylor rushed him again. She swiped low at his feet again and like last time he jumped over it. Except this time Taylor dropped the Keyblade and grabbed his ankle as he tried to flip over her. With a defiant yell, Taylor spun on her heels, swinging the startled warrior through the air. A moment later she smashed him into and through the ice wall, sending ice everywhere as she let go, sending Gilgamesh flying.

Gilgamesh rolled a few times across the gravel roof, before he flipped back up to his feet.

"This fight, it's everything I wanted! But I need more, so show me, show me the power of the Keyblade!" Gilgamesh shouted and rushed her, his hockey stick flashing yellow before it morphed into a long weapon with a curved blade on the end.

"This one is from the heart, the last of the magic I got left, so I want everything, hold nothing back, if this hits you, you'll be in no state to complain!" Gilgamesh said with a flush that was clear even through the paint on his face.

Taylor held the Keyblade up with two hands.

"I won't lose." Taylor told him, no bravado, no false confidence.

I was just… how she felt.

Absolute certainty.

Gilgamesh dashed towards her, his feet a blur, Taylor pushed off as well, the only sound the beating of her heart in her ears and…

"My baby's a hero, a real one. Your mother would be so proud of you."

Gilgamesh's weapon broke with a clear ringing note.

_

"Taylor… I've missed you." Her Dad said, Taylor slowly looked around as if underwater, the details blurry.

They were… at the kitchen table, their kitchen table.

But parts of the room were missing, as if erased from existence, leaving white patches covering odd surfaces.

"Dad? I… Where am I?" Taylor spoke, but her words came out… distorted, watery.

Her Dad smiled.

"No idea. I just know that you're real. That I'm real… and so is he." Danny said with a sigh, gesturing with his chin at the figure passed out on the couch… in the hall?

Gilgamesh snored.

Weird.

"Dad. I… It's so good to see you." Taylor admitted honestly, her father's eyes were crystal clear, lucid and focused.

Taylor hurried on.

"I looked after you, you were in the hospital and I have..." She began to babble as the white spaces began to spread.

"I know. I already know. You've grown up and I missed it. I've been stuck here while my little girl's been taking on the world…" Danny mused softly, still smiling at her.

Taylor swallowed hard, trying not to cry.

"I made a few friends. I… I'm a model. I'm someone's hero." Taylor said, her Dad not knowing how she was living her life, was a pain she carried with her.

He reached out and clasped her hand, squeezing gently.

"You're doing good Taylor, so much good. You're making people smile, helping those you can. I've been wandering in this house for so long, it gets confusing, I see your mother, then I see you, and then I don't see anyone." Danny explained and shook his head.

"Gil over there knocked on the front door one day… and I would have let anyone in at that point. He got out because of me. He didn't hurt you did he?" Her dad questioned.

Taylor shook her head.

"No." Not physically anyway.

Danny sighed in relief and the white patches stretched once more, consuming the fridge and the window.

Taylor swallowed, failing to hold back her tears any longer, drops spilling across her cheek.

"Dad, I'm so sorry, I wasn't strong enough to heal you, I was getting better and I got a lot stronger, but my magic, it wasn't… It didn't..." She struggled to explain the rankings of magic and textbook statements Mog had given her but the surrealness of the moment overwhelmed her and she stood, hugging him tight.

"I missed you so much." Taylor hiccupped and her eyes… She realized she had both of them here, she could see her dad with both eyes whole once more, each trailing tears as she sobbed against her dad's chest.

Her dad hugged her, making gentle shushing noises as he rubbed her back. As she calmed, Danny lifted her chin and used a thumb to wipe each tear filled eye.

"You saved my life, you carried me to safety. I remember that. I remember the heat, the noise and the pain. But you listen to me here, Taylor Anne Hebert, you did not fail me, you have never failed me. I have never loved you so much as I do now and every moment I spend here is spent thinking about going home to you, it's the only thing keeping me here, sane and moving." He told her, his arms pulling her tighter against him, before he gripped her shoulders and stood back, looking at her.

"Which is why, you need to stay away from me. Gilgamesh is using my body… I don't want you to see me like that, to see me act like him. He takes the worst parts of me to fuel himself and I can't stop him. But he needs to obey my rules and I need you to stay away. I'm not sure what he'll do, but he's on a timer, so I'll be home soon…" Danny said, wiping away more tears, the white patches suddenly eating away an entire wall and her Dad looked at them, his eyes brimming with anger.

"Dad? Dad, what's going on?" Taylor asked. She was scared, she felt so weak in this place.

"Bad memories, don't look. I… I think it's time." Danny answered softly.

Taylor stilled.

"It's too soon, I just found you." She whispered.

He smiled at her, a smile filled with love and sadness.

"Taylor, you're going to be okay. It's good to see it in person." Danny said instead as the floor began to fade away as well.

"Taylor… Show me a smile before you go." Danny asked.

Taylor couldn't help the weak smile at his words, looking up at him, smiling even as she cried.

"Mom… loved saying that." Taylor remembered and then she looked around the white empty space.

"Is any of this… for real… or not?" She asked her Dad.

Danny shrugged.

"No idea, kiddo." he said and Taylor scowled.

"You need a new name for me, that one is old." She complained childishly.

Her Dad just smiled.

"But you're my kid, I just have to keep saying it. I still can't believe something as good as you… came from a beat up old man like me." Danny grinned and kissed her on the head.

Taylor hugged him as hard as she could even as she felt him fade away.

Gilgamesh stood up, his back to them.

"Time's up."

_

When Taylor realised she was back on the roof Gilgamesh had already vanished, presumably back down into the bank, Taylor turned, her mind confused and lost for a moment.

She was about to chase him, but was caught off balance when the entire building shook.

Looking over the edge, she looked down and gaped.

A bus stuck out from the side of the bank wall, like it had hit the building at high speed but in midair.

Taylor couldn't wrap her mind around it until a car joined it, smashing into the wall next to it, the car moving so fast it flattened like a can when it hit something harder than the rest of the wall, a steel beam perhaps?

She followed the direction of where it had come from and saw that there was no one crowd left behind the police barrier, instead there was three people riding some sort of creature.

The only thing keeping back the PRT forces was the large elongated centipede, with a lion's head instead of an insects.

The long needles it had for legs let it scale the nearby building, the people on its back only visible due to their bright red jackets.

Taylor knew them, she had done research to find out who one of the capes was… To thank him for saving Sabah.

Trickster and his teammates, the Travellers.

Looks like another group had joined the game.

_