Taking Back the Crown

by JCMorrigan

Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Mad Madam Mim. Yzma. The Huntsman. Wuya. Ayam Aghoul. Their mission: take over the multiverse, or look fabulous trying. Rated M for swearing, steamy implications and VERY bloody battles. Contains slash and het shipping.

44. Time Is Up

44. Time Runs Out

After Vexen, Ravess, Xayide, Neo, Firefly, Irmaplotz, and Snipe had filed through the Corridor of Darkness and into the control room of the warship, Vexen dismissed the Corridor. His mind was on what Firefly had said about the ship's defense systems trying to destroy Firefly, and he was on the verge of ordering the others to be careful while he went to investigate the problem.

The problem came right to him in the form of the interior guns swiveling to point at the seven and a voice booming out over the PA system: "HALT, INTRUSIONERS! TAKE ONE MORE STEP AND BE NEUTRONALIZED!"

"Okay, what?" Irmaplotz said in disbelief.

"It seems that the reason for the malfunction," Xayide observed, "is that while we were away, someone else infiltrated our base."

"Not possible!" Vexen barked.

"I don't remember you leaving anybody behind to make sure the base didn't get taken over," Firefly pointed out.

"This base has NOT been taken over!" Vexen argued.

The voice announced, "I HAVE TAKEN OVER YOUR BASE!"

"Wanna rethink that?" Firefly asked Vexen. "And you didn't even set any security measures, either."

"YOU!" Vexen yelled out. "INFILTRATOR! SHOW YOURSELF!"

"AS YOU WISH!" the voice sounded. "BEHOLDEN MY PRODIGIOSITY!"

"Ugghhh…" Ravess nestled her forehead in her hand.

A young man, perhaps in his thirties, strode into the control room; a long black leather trenchcoat sporting a high collar billowed behind him. With brown skin and darker hair sporting a single lock of blue, he seemed to bear a palette of mostly light blue beneath the coat; a belt holding flasks of potions in variegated colors was visible at his waist. "I am Zevon!" the man announced. "Interdimensionate traveler, apothecarium of potions, and conquester of this ship!"

"How did you even FIND this ship?" Vexen said incredulously. "We are floating in the middle of interspace, a great distance away from any world of note!"

"You also happen to be equaldistant from three of the worlds I was visiting on my way to put a new conquerest scheme into motion," Zevon explained. "It was by chance that my gummi ship landed here. So I decided to look around once I realized I was…well, that's not important. What IS important is that I – "

"Don't tell me," Ravess sighed. "You were on your way from one world to another, perhaps on the run, when you literally crashed into our base, and now your ship is unfit to fly."

"I SAID IT WASN'T IMPORTANT!" Zevon bellowed. "What IS important is how well-stocked this ship is! Its laboratory! Its weaponry! I knew I had found an evil lair, and its occupationants weren't home. So I took it over. I reprogrammized all the weapons to target any intrusioners, and I nearly caught one of you earlier! Now, I finally have the chance to finish the job!"

"We aren't intruders!" Vexen insisted. "WE LIVE HERE!"

"Then explain why you left it unguarded, for anyone to walk in," Zevon challenged.

"Yeah, Iceman," Firefly egged on. "You wanna explain that one?"

"I didn't see any of you VOLUNTEERING to stay behind!" Vexen raged.

"Alas," Zevon said dramatically, "our time together must come to an end. For I must now destructize you and complete my takeover of your old domicility!" He reached for his belt, removing a flask of bright aqua liquid. As he tossed it toward the seven, he yelled, "KA-POW!"

Xayide snapped her fingers, and the flask exploded in midflight, spilling harmlessly over the control room floor in a glittering of shards.

"I see you have magic!" Zevon observed. "Well, that's too bad for you, because I have control over all of your weapons!"

"And how do you intend to activate them from where you stand?" Vexen challenged.

"I…uh…" Zevon stared at Vexen for a full half minute before turning to bolt for the panel where he'd directed the course of the guns.

Vexen flicked his wrist, and Zevon became encased in ice up to the neck. "The joke is on you!" Zevon laughed. "I have a potion in my belt that will melt this ice immediatively!"

"And how do you intend to reach it, with most of your body frozen?" Vexen asked.

Zevon grit his teeth and refused to say another word.

"Should we crush him?" Snipe asked; Neo clapped her hands and bounced up and down with glee at the thought.

"NO!" Zevon yelled. "NO CRUSHING!"

"I say we at least keep him around for the others to look at and make a ruling on," Xayide suggested. "I do wonder exactly what connections he has across the worlds, and how far his potionmaking prowess extends. Perhaps he could be of use to us."

"I cannot conceive of how a person who lacks the ability to pronounce basic words can be in any way useful," Vexen complained.

"I DO NOT MISPRONUNCIATE WORDS!" Zevon argued.

"But all the same," Vexen went on, "our superiors will likely feel that we have robbed them of a certain degree of fun if we execute this invader without their supervision. Snipe, set down that crystal – GENTLY – and take our new houseguest to the most secure prison cells. Then leave him there. With the door LOCKED, I must add."

Snipe flat-out dropped the crystal – thankfully, it was solid enough not to even suffer a single crack – and hoisted up the Zevon iceberg. "You got it!" he replied.

"PUT ME DOWN AT ONCE!" Zevon ranted as Snipe carried him out of the room. "I WILL NOT STAND FOR SUFFERING THIS LEVEL OF INDIGNIFICATION!"

"As far as invasions go," Vexen declared, "this could have been MUCH worse."

"I am inclined to agree," Ravess stated.

"You do know this is your fault, right?" Firefly challenged.

"Not," Vexen seethed through clenched teeth, "another…word."

...

Keith, Shiro, Jaune, Cadance, Coran, and Carpet paced back and forth outside what served as a medical tent where an experienced Balmeran healer looked over Lance and Vida. They'd all attempted to hover within the tent and oversee their injured friends, but were shooed away.

"They're gonna be okay, right?" Jaune worried out loud.

"If I know Lance," Shiro assured him, "he's going to pull through."

"He always does," Keith said with a smirk. "Whether you want him to or not."

"And I may not know your friend well," Shiro went on, "but she's tough. She'll make it too."

Cadance nodded. "I believe it."

Coran glanced out over the horizon, to where the teams had entered the tunnels in the first place. "I do believe the other contingent has come back!" he announced. "Wait…only two of them? It's Shay, and the young redhead."

"Huh?" Jaune, Cadance, and Carpet all looked out to where Coran had indicated. It didn't take them long to realize that Shay was supporting an injured Chip.

"CHIP!" Jaune and Cadance cried; they and Carpet barreled toward the duo.

"Ohmygosh," Jaune babbled, "ohmygosh, ohmygosh. What happened? Are you okay?"

"He will be," Shay explained.

"We ran into trouble down there," Chip added. "It's probably better if Kairi explains it."

"Let's get you to the medical tent," Cadance urged, turning to walk alongside Chip and Shay.

"Where IS Kairi?" Jaune asked. "And the others?"

"They are behind," Shay answered. "They should be coming up soon."

"I'm gonna go ahead and see if I can find them," Jaune stated.

Cadance nodded. "I'll help Chip get settled."

Jaune rushed down into the tunnel entrance, where he all but ran into Allura; Kairi and Hunk were close behind her, with Pidge, Madison, and Genie flanking the wagon bearing the crystal. "You found a crystal!" was Jaune's first response. "All RIGHT! But…" He cast his gaze around the group, noting their somber expressions, their lack of the person they'd come for. "What about Even? Did you find him? Did something happen down there? Chip said you ran into some kind of trouble, and…oh, no…" His eyes widened.

"I think I know what you're thinking," Hunk told him, "and…no. The guy's not dead."

"Phew." Jaune wiped his brow. "Then I'm guessing you didn't find him. It's okay. We'll go back down into the tunnels and – "

"Jaune," Kairi interrupted, raising her gaze to meet his. "Even WAS the trouble."

"He…was the trouble?" Jaune repeated. "But…Maleficent – "

"Never took him," Kairi said, gritting her teeth to stem her still-shaken sadness. "He left."

"He LEFT?"

"To join Mozenrath," Kairi went on. "He was working with three other people. They almost cut us all down. One of them shot Chip, and the rest of them tried to kill us. Even froze me to bring me back to Mozenrath." She quivered; she couldn't hold it back. "All this time, I trusted him and I missed him, when I should never have been looking for him in the first place. I should have known that when he was evil…that's what he really was all along!" She blinked rapidly to deflect the tears that had sprung up.

"WHAT?" Jaune spat. "That's…he can't get AWAY with that! I'm not gonna let him get away with breaking your trust that easy!"

"I would not recommend going after him," Allura stated. "We were only just able to face four of them with all of us present, Genie included."

"And we all know there are more than four," Madison added.

Jaune fell into step alongside the group as they wheeled the wagon toward the tent. "But it's just not…it isn't…he broke our TRUST."

"In the end, our safety is more important than anything," Allura emphasized. "Part of waging war is knowing when not to attack. Keith might say otherwise, but there is a reason we don't simply launch a full-scale assault on the Galra home base."

Jaune sighed. "You're right. I just…he shouldn't have hurt Kairi that way!"

"He shouldn't," Madison agreed.

"And does he ever need to chill out!" Genie added.

"Okay, how long were you sitting on that pun?" Pidge teased.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Jaune asked Kairi.

"Yeah," Kairi said softly. "I'll be fine."

"Here!" Genie broke in. "Watch closely! Nothing up my sleeve…" He made a show of bringing a blue suit jacket into appearance on his body, rolling up the sleeves. "OR IS THERE?" He then quickly pulled a long string of multicolored handkerchiefs from the left sleeve, handing them over to Kairi. "Use these."

Kairi dabbed at her eyes with a red handkerchief. "I'm fine," she said. "Really." Then, more softly, "He said I was never going to make it as a Keybearer, though. Because I'm soft and weak."

"You don't believe that, do you?" Jaune asked. "It's a lie! You're going to be a GREAT Keybearer BECAUSE you're so nice to everybody! You're what's holding our team together right now! Well, okay, we all get along pretty good on our own, but right now, you're our team leader, and you're making it work! Look, you managed to get the crystal we needed, and the rest of us didn't! And I bet your half of the team didn't waste any time fighting over trust."

"You got in a fight?" Kairi reiterated.

"Yeah, a little bit," Jaune told her. "Mostly between me and Keith. But we're good now. Besides, we had bigger problems."

"What are bigger problems?"

"While you were dealing with Mozenrath's team," Jaune explained, "the rest of us were tangling with Mirage. One of Mirage's new buddies, actually. Some Galra guy named Sendak – "

"THAT guy?" Hunk blurted.

"But it isn't possible," Allura babbled. "He was jettisoned a great distance from here. He shouldn't have simply been able to show up on the Balmera!"

"We're betting Mirage had everything to do with it," Jaune stated. "They even brought back the cats."

"I'm glad you're okay," Kairi told Jaune, momentarily reaching for his hand and lightly brushing it before she realized the gesture would probably be too invasive and withdrawing her arm, hoping he hadn't noticed.

But he had. "I'm…glad you made it out of that battle without getting hurt," he told her. "You know…in the physical sense." He dared, reaching out for her hand that had reached for his, gently tapping her palm with his fingertips in the form of a wordless question.

She slipped her fingers through his, squeezing his hand gently, and he returned the gesture.

They caught up to Shiro, Keith, Coran, Cadance, and Carpet, who were already trading stories with Shay. "They were extremely powerful," Shay was explaining, "and they used what I can only describe as magic."

Cadance nodded knowingly. "That does sound like our enemies." She turned back to the others who had arrived. "I hear you had some trouble down in…" She blinked, did a double take, looking at Jaune and Kairi's interwoven hands.

Jaune and Kairi, flustered, immediately removed their hands from each other.

Cadance gave them a knowing smile anyway. "Down in the tunnels," she finished.

"We heard you had some problems of your own," Kairi replied.

"Is it trading stories time?" Hunk asked. "I think it's trading stories time."

"You first," Shiro encouraged.

"No, by all means," Allura replied, "YOU go first."

"No, I insist," Shiro said, putting up his hands. "You."

"No, you!"

"Tell your story first."

"NO. YOU tell YOURS first."

"Uh, guys?" Hunk broke in. "Maybe we could flip a coin or somethi – "

"WE'LL go first," Keith decided.

"That works too," Hunk relented.

The teams traded off relating the incidents that had befallen them belowground: first Keith and Jaune's team, then Allura and Kairi's. At one point, as Allura described the threats they had faced, Jaune interrupted with a "Wait. You said she had three-colored hair?"

"Why, yes," Allura reiterated. "Pink, brown, and white."

"And she was short," Jaune added.

"I don't remember saying that," Allura realized.

"You didn't," Jaune told her. "Someone else did. I think that was Neo. Roman Torchwick's sidekick. I never met her, but my friends did. She's tough."

"Nothing we couldn't handle!" Genie boasted.

The stories went on.

"From the sounds of it," Cadance observed, "we're all just lucky Maleficent didn't decide to join the party."

"Don't even joke," Jaune warned.

Lance, Chip, and Vida stepped out of the tent together, sporting new bandages. "Would ya look at this!" Lance crowed. "Your resident sharpshooter, good as new!"

"Right," Keith teased. "Because that bandage totally tells me you're ready for action."

"Hey!" Lance snapped. "Your ATTITUDE tells ME that YOU'RE ready to go be a loser!"

Pidge shot Hunk a last look as though to ask if he was absolutely sure that the people he'd mentioned in his confession weren't related to anybody they knew. Hunk, reading Pidge's glare perfectly, just shrugged.

"I wouldn't say good as new," Vida stated, "but I think Chip and I are ready to go."

"Thanks, everyone!" Chip called back into the tent.

"Speaking of being ready to go," Jaune suggested, "now that we have our crystal, and we…well, we know where Even is – "

"Vexen," Kairi broke in.

"Huh?" Jaune replied.

"He took the name 'Vexen' back on," Kairi sighed. "I guess it's fitting."

"Right," Jaune said with a nod. "We got what we came for. I guess we should probably go back."

"And we have work to do with the Voltron Coalition," Keith agreed.

"It just seems like we all already became such good friends," Kairi lamented. "And we already have to split up."

"I agree," Cadance voiced.

"I'm certain we'll cross paths again," Allura promised.

"Maybe we'll figure out a way to get to your place," Lance suggested. "We've already seen a comet that could cross realities. There's gotta be something like that for you."

"What's that mean?" Pidge asked.

"We'll explain later," Shiro promised.

"And we can definitely come back to find you," Kairi added. "We could help you take back what the Galra conquered."

"And we'd totally help you with your Mozenrath problem if we didn't have that on our plate," Hunk replied.

"Thank you all for helping us out here," Kairi said earnestly. "It sounds like if we didn't meet you, we'd all be in real trouble."

"The feeling is reciprocal!" Coran assured her.

Keith stepped forward. "Thanks," he said sincerely, offering his right hand.

Kairi clutched it in her own; they shook once, firmly. "Thank YOU."

...

As the Gummi ship containing Kairi, Jaune, Chip, Vida, Madison, Cadance, Genie, and Carpet blasted away from the Balmera, Chip wondered out loud, "You really think we'll see them again?"

"We'll just have to make it happen," Kairi replied, smiling as she steered the ship.

Jaune gingerly approached the control panel. "You seem better," he brought up.

"I am," Kairi informed him. "It's still a shock, but I'm getting over it. Having good friends around really helps."

"Good," Jaune said. "I'm glad. I just…I really wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," Kairi assured. "But thank you."

"All right," Vida suggested, "everybody remember the lyrics from the way in?"

Genie materialized a bright blue guitar into his hands, which he proceeded to use to play a complex riff. "I am READY TO ROCK!"

"ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!" Vida counted in.

The ship became alive with singing as it exited Galra Space.

...

The Euripedes Auditorium prop room was chaos at its pinnacle. Objects of all manner, old and new, from every show the theater had ever produced lay haphazardly about on a multitude of shelves and tables as well as simply the floor. It was the perfect place to hide something you didn't want to be obviously found, and perhaps that was the intent all along.

Ellington had been given very specific directions to exactly what she was looking for. Find the prop, find the message, take it down, follow its instructions, and leave the prop where she had discovered it so as not to arouse suspicion. She stepped gingerly into the room, tilting her foot so as not to land on a replica candelabra. Avoiding an obstacle course of abandoned props, she tiptoed her way through the room, finding at last a stack of books on a table in the middle of the room. The third one down was a copy of Marlowe's "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus," as promised. Ellington pried open the cover, withdrawing from a pocket her small black notepad and pen, hoping all the while that the message wouldn't take her too deeply into the book, as she was short on time.

Committing the original to memory had been the most difficult part of the escapade, but a necessary one for the breaking of the code. How else was Ellington to notice the words that had been substituted in for others, marking this edition of the play as far different from any other? It was a ciphered book; every substituted word was jotted down, and they began to take shape as a coherent message once entered in order into Ellington's notepad.

Ellington was disturbed momentarily by the sound of something clanking through the ventilation duct behind her and then plopping softly onto the carpet of the prop room: the star shard. She turned to see the source of the noise. The pile of props sufficiently covered the shard up, and she could not discern what had fallen. Shrugging it off, she returned to work.

The gait of her pursuer informed her she was not alone; Ainsley was not well-trained in stealth. "Can you put that down?" they asked from the prop room door. "Please?"

That wasn't what Ellington had expected at all. Normally, those who wished to hinder her workings didn't phrase it as a polite question. "No," she answered. "I can't. Now go away."

"Sorry," Ainsley said as they entered the room, "but I'm gonna have to take that – " They reached out to swipe the book from Ellington.

"NO." She drew it close to her chest, backing up several steps. "Who are you? How did you know about the book?"

"Listen," Ainsley sighed, "I really wouldn't care that much about what you do with that, except my boss really wouldn't want me to let you finish decoding it. He's kind of high up in the structure of the anti-V.F.D. movement."

"If you want me to stop decoding this book," Ellington taunted, "you're going to have to take it from me."

Ainsley shrugged; "Okay, I guess." They reached out for it once more, and Ellington could tell from their posture that they weren't braced for a full fight.

She kneed them in the side of the stomach, causing them to stagger. Her leg then dipped down to catch their ankle, spilling Ainsley forward onto the floor, where a multitude of awkwardly shaped props impacted in a way that would leave an array of colorful bruises across Ainsley's front side. Ellington used this advantage to quickly step in between Ainsley and the entry door. Her eyes flicked up, and she took note of a broom closet on the other side of the prop room: opportunity.

"Whoever you work for," she told them, "he can't be that powerful if you're the best he can send."

Ellington waited as Ainsley laboriously stood up. "I've never thought physical combat skill was an appropriate way to solve disputes," they informed her once they'd turned around to face her. "Usually, there's a way to reach a compromise that involves communication or – "

She rammed her shoulder into their chest, forcing them backward, closer to the closet door.

"I really didn't want to do this," Ainsley sputtered, "but I kind of have to, so…sorry?" They threw a halfhearted punch.

Ellington caught their fist in the hand not holding the book, stunned that there hadn't been much force behind it at all. "You aren't even serious, are you?" she said in shock.

"I usually don't have to do this kind of thing on my own," Ainsley admitted.

"It shows," Ellington grunted before slamming into Ainsley again, sending them reeling backward into the closet, just as she'd wanted.

Xerxes came barreling down the ventilation shaft with a cry of desperation, searching the room with his eyes in order to locate his star shard. It had become utterly lost among the mess of props, and not even a glimmer was visible.

"Perfect," Ellington muttered, quickly rushing to grasp Xerxes by the tail.

By the time Ainsley had gotten their bearings, Ellington was preparing the cherry on top; she twirled Xerxes like a lasso once, twice, three times before letting him sail into the closet right along with Ainsley. Upon the reappearance of the snakelike creature, Ainsley shrieked, pressing up against a side wall.

Ellington dashed to the closet and slammed the door, pressing the weight of her body against it. She could feel Ainsley trying to shove their way out from the other side, and strained to hook her leg around the bottom of one of the nearby sets of shelves, edging it ever closer to the door. At last, she was in a position to slide the shelf in front of the door, wedging it closed with too heavy of an object for Ainsley to displace. Then, with Ainsley's screaming and knocking on the door as background noise, she returned to her place in the book, hurrying to take down its hidden instructions. When she was confident she'd come to the end of the message, she replaced the book on the table, slid the notepad into her pocket, and returned upstairs to complete her audition.

Ainsley finally realized that the door to the closet had been blocked off by something heavier than they could move, and they were trapped in a tiny enclosed space with a tiny but fearsome creature. They sat on the floor, hugging their knees to try and become as small as possible – a difficult feat, given their height of over six feet – in order to get as much distance from Xerxes as possible while lightly hyperventilating.

Xerxes rapped on the door hard with his tail. "LET OUT!" he yelled. "LET OUT!" When he realized Ellington had absolutely no intention of doing so, he sighed, drooping in midair. "Trapped."

"You can talk," Ainsley said breathily.

"Yes," Xerxes replied as though it should have been obvious.

"Are you just one of those mimic snakes, or…?"
"No mimic," Xerxes confirmed. "Can talk. Can talk about anything. You not know?"

"Snakes don't usually talk."

"Ford not snake," Xerxes explained. "Ford eel."

"That's your name?" Ainsley found themselves calming a bit; perhaps it helped that in the darkness of the closet, they couldn't very well see what they were talking to. "Ford?"

"Well, was Xerxes. But Ford now." Xerxes paused, wondering whether it made any sense at all to begin conversation with his co-prisoner. The problem was that there simply wasn't much else to do. "Your name?"

Ainsley very nearly said their actual name. "It's…Landry." They had no way of knowing if this thing could be trusted or not. Snakes tended to be largely untrustworthy due to their history with V.F.D. Eel, on the other hand, had no affiliation as far as Ainsley could remember. "So…" Their breathing was regulating. "What are you doing here? Were you auditioning, too?"

"Ford no audition," Xerxes answered. "Ford brought here by accident. Ford missing important crystal. Crystal out there! Ford stuck in here."

"I totally sympathize with that," Ainsley said sincerely.

"You audition?" Xerxes asked.

"I was," Ainsley confirmed. "Then I got caught up following that woman because she's part of an organization my boss hates, even though he used to be part of the same organization. There was some kind of schism. I was actually just trying to have a normal day without having to get into any trouble, but I know my boss totally would have found out if I let her go and I would have been in big trouble. Actually, I never stopped her from doing whatever secret business she was doing, so I'm still in big trouble anyway."

"Ford get it," Xerxes sighed. "Ford usually in big trouble with his boss. Boss very angry about everything. Ford like him anyway. Ford miss him."

"My boss is angry about everything too," Ainsley explained. "We're not really the best of friends, but he's one of the only people I know of who actually gets me. Him and the other people I work with. I don't really conform to a lot of societal norms, and they're more okay with that than your average person on the street. They're also theater people, which is probably why they're okay with me."

"Ford boss kind of a theater person," Xerxes mused. "Boss' friends always singing and dancing. Sometimes get him to sing and dance too. Usually takes coffee."

"I could go for a cup of coffee right now," Ainsley mourned.

"Ford too," Xerxes moaned.

They realized that perhaps, fate had brought them together for a reason; they seemed to have a lot in common. They passed their time in the closet by continuing to converse.

...

Moana felt herself levitated off the boat and carried a short distance before Grimhilde propped her up against a stone wall. In order to continue the charade of being unconscious, she made sure to slump to the side; she immediately hit the side and shoulder of someone else leaning against the same wall.

"Nice job, old woman," the Dark Ace congratulated as Grimhilde settled her new prize in next to Xander. Xander flinched, afraid that the girl Grimhilde had brought in was already dead.

"It's always compassion that does them in!" Grimhilde cackled. "They never suspect that stopping to help a poor old lady will be what seals their doom! You would think she was one of the seven with a soft heart like hers!"

"Trust weakens fools like her," the Dark Ace said with a grin, recalling when Lightning Strike had put trust in him.

Xander didn't know whether or not Moana could hear him – he guessed not – but all the same, he positioned his mouth close to her ear, whispering gently, "I am so sorry."

She very nearly started, almost giving away her wakefulness; this must have been Xander!

"I suppose you will want to begin the ritual without delay," the Dark Ace suggested.

"At once," Grimhilde confirmed.

Xander saw this as his last chance. "I still think we can talk about this," he sputtered. If nothing else, perhaps he could stall until a miracle happened. "This is not a healthy way to deal with your inferiority complex about your looks at all. If you just wanted to, y'know, vent it out, I'm here to listen, but – "

"ENOUGH!" Grimhilde barked. "You will be SILENT! That will be the last time you ever try to charm me into not harming you!"

Her hands, bent and clawlike, reached forward, ready to plunge into both Moana and Xander's chests at the same time.

Moana's eyes snapped open.

Grimhilde, realizing she'd played the fool, flinched.

As Moana stood, Grimhilde had enough time to yell "WHAT?" before Moana shoved her back hard enough to cause her to fall.

"You think I'M a fool for trusting you?" Moana yelled, noting that her mouth was still somewhat numb from holding the apple's poison. "Next time, when you try and poison someone…" She folded her arms, looking triumphantly down at Grimhilde. "Make sure it actually worked."

"CURSE YOU!" Grimhilde growled.

"Don't worry." The Dark Ace grinned as he drew and lit up his sword. "This is but a momentary delay."

Moana stumbled back at the sight of the sword. It was obvious to her that this was the power of fire in the form of a blade, and she had no idea how to defend herself from it. Worse, Grimhilde was getting back to her feet, and the old woman was laughing.

"You're in over your head, dear!" Grimhilde cried as her hands crackled with electricity.

Moana put up both hands in front of her face, not knowing what else to do.

Grimhilde let a bolt of lightning surge forth from her hands with a resounding CRACK.

And the lightning struck a deep blue deflection shield that surrounded Moana and Xander.

"WHAT?" Grimhilde screeched.

"What, did you think we were just gonna give up?" Aladdin's voice sounded from the entrance to the cavern that Grimhilde and the Dark Ace called their lair.

Grimhilde, the Dark Ace, Moana, and Xander turned to see Riku, Aladdin, Luna, Nora, Ren, and Nick gathered in the entryway; Moana and Xander lit up at the sight of their allies' intrusion.

"Your persistence will be your undoing!" the Dark Ace growled, twirling his sword and charging.

"No," Riku replied, stepping forth casually. "It'll be yours." With a yell, he launched into a Dark Splicer, zipping back and forth around the Dark Ace, sword extended. The Dark Ace barely had enough time to reposition his sword to deflect each oncoming rush. It didn't occur to him this could be merely a diversion until…

"HEADS UP!"

The Dark Ace glanced upward to see Nora descending upon him with Magnhild in hand. Then he saw stars.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Grimhilde yelled as she hurled dual fireballs at the remaining four.

Luna removed her deflection shield from Moana and Xander, repositioning it to hold the fire at bay. "GO!" she urged.

Nick rushed Xander, sword in hand, and slashed through his bonds. Xander stood to full height, smiling broadly.

"So you must be Xander," Moana stated.

"Lucky guess," Xander replied teasingly. "Who're you?"

"I am Moana of Motonui. Pleased to meet you!"

"There's no time!" Ren waved them on. "Let's get out of here!"

Nick and Xander looked at each other, then to Grimhilde's back. As one, they charged, and Moana followed, guessing at what they were about to do. All three shoved Grimhilde over, disrupting her barrage of magical attacks just long enough to get to Luna. Riku and Nora were already on their way back.

"Quickly!" Luna opened a Corridor of Darkness. "To Radiant Garden!"

"What is that?" Moana asked, suddenly apprehensive.

"Just get in it!" Nick barked.

Ren and Aladdin turned and bolted into the Corridor; Riku and Nora were next after them. "I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS!" Moana yelled as she barreled in alongside Nick and Xander. Luna was the final inside, galloping into the space between worlds, attempting to close the portal behind her.

"If you could hold their portal open to follow them," Nick called back to Luna, "can't they hold yours open to follow us?"

"Yes!" Luna emphasized. "That is why we must get to Radiant Garden quickly!"

Grimhilde, from her position lying on the hard cavern floor, threw up a hand, stopping the closing portal from shrinking. It began to grow once more. Grimhilde pried herself to her feet, and the Dark Ace regained his bearings, pressing his hand to his head woozily. "AFTER THEM!" Grimhilde screeched.

The eight heroes emerged in the atrium of the Radiant Garden castle. "WHERE IS THIS?" Moana shrieked. "WHERE DID WE GO?"

"No time to explain!" Riku yelled to her. "We have to get the others! All together, we have our enemies overpowered!"

No sooner had he said that than Aerith came into the atrium from the upper door, looking down over the snake-shaped fountain to see Riku and company appear. "Riku!" she cried. "Where were you? Where were ALL of you? We were worried – "

"You still have to be worried!" Riku yelled as he charged up the stairs. "They're after us!"

"Only two of them!" Nick added. "We should be able to take them!"

Riku had his hand on the doors to the lifts when Aerith pointed at the library doors instead. "Ienzo, Merlin, and Leon!" she identified. "I'll sound the alarm for the others!" She bolted through the doors Riku had been about to open; the others changed trajectory to head for the library.

"I AM STILL VERY CONFUSED!" Moana reminded everyone.

Inside the library, Ienzo was the first to hear the slamming open of the door and the horde of feet entering. He looked up from his book, miffed, to begin to say, "I don't care what news you have of Riku and the others; this is still a lib – "

He was cut off when he saw who was actually rushing into the room. "They're after us!" Xander yelled.

At about this time, an alarm began to sound through the whole castle, activated by Aerith.

Merlin and Leon rushed to the library railing from above, looking down into the lower library level. "Who's after you?" Merlin asked.

"They want Xander and Moana!" Riku explained.

"Who's Moana?" Leon asked.

"That's me!" Moana yelled. "WHO ARE ALL OF YOU?"

"No need to go any further!" Merlin decided.

Grimhilde and the Dark Ace had arrived in the atrium, the Corridor finally closed behind them, just in time to see the last of the group disappearing through the library doors. "Got 'em!" Grimhilde laughed.

"They think they can run," the Dark Ace chuckled.

The pair burst through the door only to be faced with Merlin pointing his wand directly at them. "NOT SO FAST, MISSY!" Merlin snapped at Grimhilde.

"MERLIN!" Grimhilde gasped; the wizard was not unfamiliar to her.

Behind Merlin, Leon raised his sword, Ienzo held open a spellbook with one hand glowing, Riku positioned his sword at the ready, Nick twirled his own sword, Xander flourished his axe, Nora held Magnhild high, Ren braced himself with Stormflower, Luna's horn glowed, and Moana struck a defensive pose.

The doors behind Grimhilde and the Dark Ace crashed open to reveal a chakram-bearing Lea, an axe-sword-wielding Aeleus, a lance-twirling Dilan, a shuriken-loaded Yuffie, a spear-bearing Cid, Sadira with a cyclone of sand whirling about her lower half, and Aerith with spheres of white energy lighting up the palms of both hands.

Grimhilde could do the math. "We're retreating!" she grumbled as she summoned a new Corridor for herself and the Dark Ace, stumbling through as quickly as possible.

"Don't think you've seen the last of us!" the Dark Ace called out before charging after her.

As the Corridor closed, Aerith huffed, "And DON'T come back!"

"They're going to try," Leon said as he lowered his sword.

"Well, then, we simply can't let them!" Merlin insisted. "Ienzo! Aerith! We need to put up fortifications around this castle! Make it so that no one can use a Corridor to get in or out! And no teleporting! Anyone who wants in will just have to use the door like everyone else!"

"Right away!" Aerith affirmed; Ienzo gave a nod, and the trio hurried away to begin preparations.

"Okay," Moana said, breathing quickening. "Okay. Now that no one is chasing us, DOES ANYONE WANT TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHERE WE ARE?"

"You brought someone from another world?" Dilan spat. "You shouldn't have done that!"

"Chill out!" Yuffie told him. "She was in trouble!"

"If you have such a problem with people from other worlds," Sadira added, "do you have a problem with ME being here?"

"You already knew of our existence!" Dilan sputtered. "SHE obviously did not!"

"Everyone finds out sometime," Lea stated.

"Another…world," Moana repeated, eyes wide. "This is another world. That…actually makes so much sense! Why you didn't know the stars! You're all from this other world!"

"Actually," Nora corrected, "MOST of us are from this world. Ren and I are from another one called Remnant, Nick and Xander are from another one entirely with a town called Briarwood, Riku is from ANOTHER one called the Destiny Islands, Luna is from ANOTHER one called Equestria, and Sadira is from Agrabah, which is, guess what, on ANOTHER world."

"So this place," Moana realized, "this place…is a gathering place for people from all worlds. To be safe from people like that."

Riku nodded. "And to try and stop people like that. They came from other worlds too. If the worst of the worlds are going to come together to do their evil, then those of us with good in our hearts have to do the same thing to stop them."

"Plus, it's more fun when we all work together!" Yuffie insisted.

"I think it's time you told us where you went," Leon informed Riku. "The hourglass is still under construction, and Kairi hasn't come back with the crystal, so we had no way to even start looking for all of you. We just had to trust that because it was you, you would be safe."

"You're not going to believe this," Xander began, "but this all started because I'm too good-looking."

"Before we begin," Luna interrupted, "I think it is perhaps time to return Moana to her own world and hometown. She has had quite an adventure."

"Go home?" Moana repeated. "Now? But I just got here! I JUST learned about all your other worlds! There's so much going on here that I need to know about!" She turned to Riku. "You know what it's like! Looking out at where the sky meets the sea, wanting to know how much more is out there! I'm only now finding out it's so much more than I ever DREAMED! I just want to stay a little bit longer. Long enough to learn about you and what you're really doing. Please?"

Riku smiled at her, then gave a nod. "All right. I think it's okay for you to stay for just a little while. But if you don't go back eventually, your dad's going to get pretty worried."

"So how about the real reason you were all gone so long?" Leon pressed, smirking.

"Xander told you," Nora said with a shrug. "He's just too good-looking."

The group shared a laugh before relating the tale.

...

Tyrian paced back and forth at the base of the clock. All of the steps of the plan were in place. His trip around the world with Qilby and Hades had resulted in the successful planting of the devices that needed to be planted. And he had known that simply dropping a hint to Mozenrath's face would have made Mozenrath and his cohorts suspicious of a trap, but Sora and his friends were far more gullible. By now, Tyrian thought, they would have spread the world all over the world that the big, bad Qilby was draining the world's Wakfu through the Keyhole near the Tree of Life, ensuring Mozenrath would hear it from a much more reliable source. It was now a matter of which team would show up first: Sora's or Mozenrath's. Sora and his friends had just become disposable; they had served their purpose. But Tyrian somehow had a feeling that Mozenrath would appear first. Then he could put the final phase of his plan into motion, and there was no way Maleficent could fault him once she learned what he had done. The fact that his plot was about to leave the entire World of Twelve a dried husk full of corpses would certainly earn him brownie points as well.

The waiting was nearly killing him. His better sense told him to wait inside the clock, but he wanted to be there when they showed up. He wanted to greet them. He wanted to see their last moments of blissful ignorance while they still thought they had the upper hand.

He couldn't have done it without Hades and Qilby, he realized. Hades, for telling him about the heart of the world and what could be done with it, as well as providing some crucial intelligence about the patterns of Mozenrath and his companions. Qilby, for showing him the inner workings of the World of Twelve, explaining the clock and what Noximilien had used it for, and providing the devices. He would have to bring them to Salem's attention, he realized, the same way he had brought himself to Maleficent's. It seemed the two factions had a lot to offer each other.

Tyrian tilted his head back toward the roof of the cavern. What was going on outside? Had any of them arrived yet?

The answer was yes.

Pandiego and Jasmine marched at the head of a troop of Pandawas outfitted with crude weapons, all headed for the Sadida kingdom's gates. "Let me walk out front," Jasmine had insisted. "They might remember me as a friend of Yugo's and let us in sooner."

She was surprised when, nearing the border, another troop came into view: the citizens of Bonta, of all races, shapes, and sizes, bearing even more makeshift weapons. Yugo was at their lead; as soon as he recognized Jasmine, he waved and rushed to her.

"Yugo!" Jasmine greeted. "You're okay!"

"It's good to see you too!" Yugo said with a smile that quickly faded. "So you brought help for the attack too."

"The more people stand against Qilby," Jasmine affirmed, "the better chance we have of stopping him once and for all. They might have been able to split the seven of us up, but they can't do that to everyone here."

"It looks like someone else had the same idea," Yugo realized as he looked back over his shoulder to see the hulking machines of New Sufokia clanking toward the same destination.

Jasmine bristled. "Adal. I don't trust him with this."

"Neither do I," Yugo stated, "but I think he was her only choice." He gestured to the front lines, where Adal marched proudly alongside a glum Amalia.

Yugo and Jasmine rushed to Amalia's side; she brightened upon seeing them. "You both made it back!" she said with glee. Then, in a whisper: "I'm sorry about bringing you-know-who. But my people need help, and – "

"We understand," Yugo interrupted, and Jasmine nodded in affirmation.

Amalia was suddenly fixated on something behind the pair. "Look!" she cried out, pointing at where Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus led Melo's army.

Amalia, Yugo, and Jasmine met Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus halfway. "You're okay!" Sora cried.

"That's everyone accounted for…except one," Ruby realized.

"HE'LL PROBABLY SHOW UP IN A FEW MINUTES," Papyrus theorized.

"It looks like we all had the same idea," Yugo pointed out.

"Qilby, Hades, and that other guy don't stand a chance!" Sora said emphatically.

"Excuse me!" Adal ran up to the group. "Are you expecting me to fight alongside common PANDAWAS?"

"Yes, we are," Amalia huffed. "We're expecting you to do what you NEED to to save my home and the world! You would think this would look like an opportunity for you to build some new alliances!"

Melo approached from the other direction. "Excuse me," she said politely, "but is anyone in charge of all of this?"

"You should be, Amalia," Sora encouraged. "It's your home."

"Right!" Amalia stood tall, marching out front where everyone could see her. "ATTENTION EVERYONE!" she called out. "WE HAVE REACHED THE PLACE WHERE QILBY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN DESTROYING THE WORLD! TOGETHER, WE CAN STOP HIM! WE ARE GOING TO MAKE HIM REGRET EVER HAVING COME BACK FROM THE WHITE DIMENSION!"

A wild cheer went up from all four armies.

"FOLLOW ME!" Amalia cried. "FOR THE WORLD OF TWELVE!"

"FOR THE WORLD OF TWELVE!" the rest cried out.

Oakheart was waiting inside the gates, flanked by Armand and Stork. "AMALIA!" the king and prince cried out.

Stork simply glared wordlessly at the display before him, looking fit to kill.

"Why did you run off like that?" Armand chastised. "We didn't know what kind of danger you would be in! You need to stop doing this!"

"If I hadn't run off," Amalia emphasized, "then we wouldn't know what danger was about to befall us! As I'm sure Stork has told you, Qilby is trying to – "

She didn't notice Stork making frantic gestures for her to stop talking.

" – Drain the Wakfu of the entire world through our kingdom!" Amalia finished.

Oakheart and Armand looked at her, flabbergasted. At last, Oakheart admitted, "We knew no such thing."

"What?" Amalia was surprised. "But…"

Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Yugo, and Jasmine all gathered around Stork. "SEE?" Papyrus pointed out. "I TOLD YOU HE WOULD SHOW UP IN A FEW MINUTES!"

"We ARE all okay!" Ruby cried with joy.

"Uh…Stork?" Sora took note of Stork's grave expression. "Is…something wrong?"

"You," Stork growled. "Brought. BACKUP."

"Were we not supposed to?" Yugo asked. "It was the only way – "

"WHY ARE WE ALL FINE?" Stork snapped.

"Because Qilby just wanted to split us up?" Yugo replied, baffled.

"And WHY did they all tell us their master plan?" Stork continued.

"BECAUSE VILLAINS TEND TO DO THAT FOR SOME REASON," Papyrus answered. "I'VE ALWAYS FOUND THAT VERY STUPID."

"It wasn't stupid this time," Stork growled. "They WANTED us to tell and bring as many people as possible. As soon as I figured out I was unharmed, ohhhh, I knew their game, and I kept my mouth shut. BUT YOU ALL DID EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED YOU TO! YOU'VE PLAYED RIGHT INTO THEIR HANDS!"

"Hey!" Ruby snapped. "Just because you're probably right doesn't mean you have to yell at us!" She then pouted. "Also, I'm now ninety percent sure you're right."

"Okay." Stork forced himself to breathe slowly. "I…am…calm. I…am…fine. Damage has already been done, there's no undoing it, we're obviously doomed either way…only thing we can do now is move forward and accept our fate."

"We've been more doomed before, haven't we?" Sora brought up. "After the worlds being threatened by Xehanort, what Ruby told me about Vale being brought down by Cinder, what Papyrus told me about the underground being taken hostage by Asriel, what you told me about the Cyclonians wrecking Atmos, and Jafar taking over Agrabah, this doesn't look nearly as bad!"

"That's what worries me," Stork confessed. "I don't know what it looks like. We don't really know what we're up against!"

On the other side of the kingdom, a Corridor of Darkness spat Mozenrath, the Huntsman, Yzma, Wuya, Mim, Aghoul, Roman, Snatcher, Rémington, Grany, and Ragdoll out onto green grass overshadowed by tall trees. "You have the compass," Mozenrath told Wuya. "Lead the way to this…Tree of Life."

"On the way," Wuya promised, holding out the compass and watching its needle turn toward the new objective.

They found themselves led toward the throne room, where two Cra guards stood at the entrance. "HALT!" both yelled, drawing bows.

"No thanks," Wuya told them, raising the fist that bore Ombrage.

The guards' shadows were fleetingly swept away, leaving them hunched over, eyes glassy.

The sound of running feet alerted the group to even more guards approaching. "WHO GOES THERE?" one of them yelled before the company stopped in their tracks. "Lady Ayu?" the leader said in shock.

"Maybe," Wuya replied. "Depends on who's asking."

"You shouldn't be here!" the guard insisted. "Didn't you hear? Qilby is going to drain the world's Wakfu through the sanctuary!"

"I've heard," Wuya scoffed. "Tell me something I DON'T know."

"Well, uh…you might not know that Princess Amalia and her strange friends have brought armies from across the world to stop him," the guard stated. "You should really just step back and let them do their job."

"Amalia's strange friends," Wuya repeated.

"Oh, dear," Snatcher realized. "The boy with the key."

"And Red," Roman contributed.

"And the kid with the portals," Mozenrath sighed.

"Under any other circumstances, I would look forward to seeing Princess Jasmine," Aghoul mused.

"And they're all coming here with an army?" Wuya reiterated.

"Four armies," the guard corrected.

Wuya sighed. "This could be a problem when they find us."

"Not really," Mozenrath told her. "You could just stay out here and use Ombrage to hold them off."

"And miss all the fun?" Wuya shot back. "If that's your great plan, YOU can stay out here and use Ombrage to hold them off."

"Excuse me?" the guard said in confusion.

"Actually…" a voice piped up from the back of the crowd. Rémington stepped forward as Grany stated, "Staying out here and using a Shushu to cause pandemonium sounds like our idea of a good time."

"IT'S REMINGTON SMISSE!" the guard yelled, and the company raised their bows.

Before a single arrow could be fired, Ombrage had transformed the guards into shadowless minions that gaped at their new masters. "Well, that was useful information at the very least," Wuya pointed out. She tossed Ombrage to Rémington. "From here out, it's all you."

"Just don't forget to pick us up when you're done in there," Rémington told her as all but he and Grany filed into the throne room. He then looked to Grany; "You know I've never liked merging with them. Even what this one does seems like too much."

"Then give her to me," Grany insisted.

Rémington slipped the violet ring onto his brother's tail.

"This is incredibly undignified," Ombrage complained.

"Shut up," Grany barked at her. "You get to steal shadows, so you're getting the good end of the deal here!"

Rémington looked over the guards whose minds had already been robbed. "Everyone, put up your hands," he commanded.

The guards all threw their hands into the air, dropping their bows.

"Good," Rémington said with a grin. "Now pick up those bows and go fight the incoming armies."

The guards bent to retrieve their weapons before darting off.

"Let's find a good vantage point," Rémington advised; he sought a way to get higher up in the tree level.

Oakheart was leading the grand charge toward the throne room. "This is the way to the sanctuary," he explained. "Perhaps we can get there before they…"

He became aware of the line of Cra guards charging him, weapons raised. "STOP!" he commanded. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

They loosed their arrows of energy in synchrony.

Sora's Keyblade spun through the air, cutting through and destroying each arrow. "What gives?" he yelled at the guards.

"Sora…" Yugo tugged at his sleeve. "I've seen that look in their eyes before. They've been turned into ghouls."

"Turned into WHAT?" Sora replied.

Before the Cra guards could launch their next volley, vines erupted from the ground, encircling their bows and snapping them. "Ghouls or no ghouls, you should still LISTEN TO YOUR PRINCESS!" Amalia yelled, stamping on the ground.

"Why were they ghouls?" Stork asked, beginning to quiver.

"The last time I saw this," Yugo explained, "it was the fault of a Shushu named Ombrage. She stole people's shadows, and they ended up like that."

The ghouls were still shambling toward the crowd.

"They seem to think they can take all of us," Pandiego scoffed.

Then his own shadow was sucked away, leaving him glassy-eyed. With a roar, he struck out at his fellow Pandawas, who scattered.

"IT'S HAPPENING!" Stork yelled. "OUR DOOM IS HAPPENING!"

The entire crowd noticed as shadows began to disappear at random, ghoulifying a large portion of the soldiers who made up the armies. High above, Rémington and Grany tried to keep from laughing as they perched on a hidden branch, picking out whose soul looked ripest for stealing next.

"What about those kids who humiliated us?" Grany suggested.

"I can take them in one swoop!" Ombrage boasted.

"Not just yet," Rémington cautioned. "They're too amusing when they're confused. Let's just keep them busy fighting their own army."

The ghouls planted within the crowd began to attack wildly; the rest were thrown into mass pandemonium, torn between defending themselves and attacking their cohorts. "We have to do something!" Sora yelled. "Everyone! Stop as many of those ghouls as you can without hurting them!"

"I'm on it!" Ruby swung her scythe backward at three ghouls, knocking them back but giving them no worse than a set of good bruises.

"Someone has Ombrage," Yugo growled, "and I'm going to find out who and where." He formed a portal for himself and slipped into it, reappearing at the other end of the crowd to begin his search.

Sora cast a strong Aeroga that repelled a group of ghouls close to him; he used its protective covering to barge at another collection of them. Papyrus began to pelt the ghoulified victims with blue bones, keeping them away from those they tried to seize. The Sheran Sharm family went into action wrapping the afflicted up in vines. Stork and Jasmine punched and kicked their way through the ghouls, and as they did so, Stork whimpered, "This is it. This was the plan all along. We're never going to get to Qilby if we're too busy fighting our own people!"

Inside the throne room, the nine of the WHAM ARMY had located a small door that refused to open; the compass needle pointed directly at it. "Our target seems to be down there," Wuya noted.

Mozenrath looked to the Huntsman. "This door doesn't look so tough," he observed. "I think you and I together can break it."

"Most likely," the Huntsman agreed. He raised and charged the huntstaff; Mozenrath's gauntlet glowed.

Both hit the door at the same time, and it disintegrated, offering the nine passage down into the sanctuary.

Tyrian heard the approaching footsteps, perking up and looking in the direction of the passage. Mozenrath was the first to exit the passage, laying eyes on Tyrian. "It's you," he groaned.

Tyrian broke into a wide smile. "Indeed, it is me!" he proclaimed. "And it looks like I'm outnumbered. Oh, woe is me!"

"Hey, Tyrian?" Roman snapped. "Why don't you shut the fuck up?"

"Oh, it's 'TYRIAN,' is it?" Tyrian replied. "Or did you mean 'Fuckface'?"

There was a silence before Tyrian simply admitted, "I knew."

"Of course you did," Roman sighed.

"And the feeling is mutual," Tyrian assured him. "Surely you know that this time, Salem actually wants me to get rid of you. Which I would do, if I had the upper hand. But as I don't…farewell!" He turned to rush inside the clock. Once he was inside, he thought, he would reunite with Hades and Qilby, and then he would be able to watch as the WHAM ARMY was ruined –

He was stopped short by a pair of wiry ankles crossing in front of his throat, lightly choking him. The legs they belonged to wrapped around his upper body, and Tyrian was then flipped over backward, brought down hard on his stomach.

"I'm sorry," the voice of Ragdoll taunted as the contortionist unwound his limbs from Tyrian. "Were you going somewhere?"

Tyrian clenched the grass as he pried himself up. "You…"

"Why don't the rest of you go on ahead?" Ragdoll suggested to the other eight. "This seems like sort of an original-eight-friends occasion, doesn't it? I'll just make sure you have one less to deal with."

"One less to deal with, is it?" Tyrian cackled, standing up and holding up both arms, deploying his wrist blades. "Good idea!" He slashed both wrists out toward Ragdoll –

And missed entirely, as Ragdoll leapt forward, grasping Tyrian's shoulders and shoving the braided man forward as he landed gracefully behind. Tyrian spun in anger, now wanting only to cut Ragdoll down, but Ragdoll crumpled on the ground and the blades passed harmlessly over his head. "I would go," Ragdoll encouraged the others.

Mozenrath, Wuya, Yzma, the Huntsman, Snatcher, Roman, Aghoul, and Mim all exchanged a group shrug before barging toward the entrance to the clock.

"That…DOES IT!" Tyrian punched toward Ragdoll, shooting one of his wrist-mounted guns in the process; Ragdoll snaked around the shot and grinned at him from a safe distance. "I WILL dispose of you before I see this through!" He leapt, spinning; Ragdoll did the same, landing in a graceful arabesque several feet away. "You can't possibly be that special! I'll have you torn apart in a matter of minutes!" He completely opened fire, letting a salvo of bullets fly in all directions. Ragdoll backflipped, cartwheeled, handsprung, and avoided the ammunition altogether before landing right behind Tyrian, punching him hard in the back of the head. Tyrian's tail flicked; Ragdoll deftly avoided getting stabbed in the face by a hair, seizing the tail and using it to jerk Tyrian backward.

"Really," Ragdoll taunted as Tyrian fell onto his back, "it's like you're not even trying."

"I…WILL…END YOU!" Tyrian fired straight at Ragdoll, but once again, Ragdoll made a flying leap out of the way, landing and somersaulting before standing and taking a bow.

"Missed meeeeeee!" Ragdoll cried with a grin.

Tyrian leapt to his feet, roared, and charged. His wrists slashed in a flurry; Ragdoll simply bent this way and that, making the misses as close as possible for his own entertainment value. He flipped, and his foot knocked into the base of Tyrian's chin, earning a squall of frustration from the braided man.

"Really now," Ragdoll told him, "I'm ready to stop playing around whenever you are."

Tyrian's blows became slightly faster.

"Now that's more like it," Ragdoll muttered as he bent backward and once again out of danger's way.

Mozenrath led the charge to the largest chamber inside of the great clock. The eight ascended a small flight of stairs to find the round room filled with ticking mechanisms: needles, gears, and coils. The Eliacube was positioned on a small table in the center of the room.

And Hades and Qilby stood between it and the eight of the WHAM ARMY.

"So did you ever plan on NOT being a complete annoyance?" Hades asked. "Because everywhere we go, there you are, poking around in what is NOT your business and making life harder for us. Do you even realize how out of your league you are? Sure, you got lucky once or twice, but all you're doing is making EVERYONE'S job harder when we all know how this ends. We win. You lose. Stop making us take that long to get there."

"Have you actually looked at your odds here?" Mozenrath retorted. "Eight of us…two of you. You don't need to be as smart as I am to do that math."

"You're crunching the wrong numbers, babe," Hades told him. "But you know what? You really wanna test this? Let's go. You just try and take the cube from us. Prove to me that you aren't just wasting everyone's time."

Yzma put a hand on Mozenrath's shoulder. "This is suspicious," she hissed.

"You have a better idea?" Mozenrath asked her.

"Admittedly, no," she whispered back.

Mozenrath's gauntleted hand glowed bright blue. "This is your last chance," he warned, "to just let us take the Eliacube and go. We don't actually care what you do to this world. Just give us the cube, and we'll leave."

"Mozzy. Can I call ya Mozzy?" Hades stepped closer to Mozenrath. "I think neither of us really wants that to be how it goes." He used a bony finger to lift Mozenrath's chin up and line up their gazes. "Am I right, or am I right?"

Mozenrath smirked. "Suit yourself."

His right fist swung directly at Hades' stomach.

Hades faded into smoke, and the punch hit nothing. The death god rematerialized several feet away, beckoning; "Come and get me." He then loaded a fireball into each hand and launched.

At the same time, Qilby drew his scythe, now the same blue as the other gifts Hades had given him, from thin air, swinging it directly at Wuya. She leapt over the blade, spinning to aim a kick directly at Qilby's face. He leaned back far enough for it to miss. Yzma loaded up her atlatl, launching a dart in Qilby's direction; he caught it with a bright blue portal, using a second portal to send it right at Yzma. Mim, suddenly in the body of a wolf, soared through the air, clutching the dart shaft between her teeth.

The Huntsman stepped out in front of Mozenrath, twirling the huntstaff quickly enough to deflect both fireballs before pointing the staff forward and rushing. Hades put up a wall of flame between the Huntsman and himself; the Huntsman, Mozenrath, Roman, and Snatcher fired long-distance projectiles at him from the other side, hoping their shots would break through the flames and hit the death god.

"So you want to play SCYTHES, do you?" Aghoul cackled before bringing his own scythe to hand; he stepped in front of Qilby, and the two scythes arced through the air, clashing with each other again and again. Wuya took the opportunity of Qilby being distracted to aim a thick beam of magic at his back; it was swallowed up by a portal and aimed down at Wuya from above. Wuya deflected it with half a second to spare.

Mim shifted into the form of a water buffalo, pawing the ground before taking a run at Qilby. As her sprint became faster and faster, she focused on his midsection, ready to ram his stomach with everything she had.

Qilby took a moment to look away from Aghoul, simply smiling directly at her. A portal appeared in her path, too quick for her to dodge, and she barreled right into it.

It spat her out in a dark cavern that appeared to have been roughly carved from the stone around it. She was far beneath the surface of the island of the Crimson Claws, but she had no way of knowing that. The moment the portal closed, Mim's body was forced back into human shape. "Huh?" she said to herself. She snapped her fingers to open a new portal: a Corridor that would take her all the way back to the clock.

But nothing happened.

She snapped again and again. "Why won't this work?" she huffed. Out of curiosity, she tried to simply call a rain of hurtful sparks into her fingers, but no magic would respond at all.

She took a moment to look around the cavern. More accurately, it was a prison cell forged of stone. Iron bars set closely together formed one wall, and the rest was hard, jagged rock. Mim approached the bars, squinting to see through the darkness. She could just make out the shape of a familiar device set some distance away from the bars, too far for her to reach. Frustration bubbled up through her as she realized what it was. It was the not-quite-roundness of an Inhibitor: the anti-magical device covered with eyes that hampered the magic of whatever they saw. And Inhibitors had excellent night vision.

"Well, drat!" Mim muttered, plopping down onto the solid floor. As long as that Inhibitor sat outside her cell with no way for her to reach it, she couldn't use her magic, and had no way of getting back to the battlefield. She would just have to wait it out for the others to come and find her.

"WHERE DID YOU SEND MY MIMSIE?" Aghoul roared as he twirled his scythe, swinging it for another shot at Qilby.

"Hmm…don't know," Qilby lied. "Would you like to find out?"

Columns of fire erupted between the Huntsman, Mozenrath, Roman, and Snatcher, causing them to scatter. The great wall of fire subsided, leaving Hades temporarily open; Roman saw the opportunity and charged.

"ROMAN!" the Huntsman yelled. "NO!"

Roman swung the Cudgel at Hades, phasing right through the god once more as he became smoke. As Roman landed on the floor, a great gear detached itself from the ceiling, as Hades bade it to, and tumbled downward, threatening to crush Roman.

"NO!" Mozenrath caught the gear in a levitation as Snatcher barged forward, ready to take the brunt of the blow himself if necessary. Mozenrath then turned the gear around at Hades, planting it on the floor and rolling it at the god. Hades first blasted the metal gear with as much fire as he could muster, then used his own power to make it roll backward, right toward Mozenrath.

Wuya swooped in from the side, levitating in midair and grasping the red-hot gear with her bare arms. "Borrowing this," she said as she raised it high. "AGHOUL! MOVE IT!" She launched the gear right at Qilby.

Aghoul backpedaled to get out of the way, unknowingly stepping right into a portal Qilby had created. Qilby sliced through the gear with his scythe, sending the halves crashing into the walls of the chamber.

Aghoul found himself in another crudely dug cell halfway up the mountain where Ogrest had bawled for centuries. The bars were set partway into the cavern, leaving space for an Inhibitor to dangle outside. Aghoul immediately tried to forge a portal back to the battlefield, only to find no response.

"Oh, no," he muttered.

"HE'S TRYING TO SPLIT US UP!" Yzma realized. "RETREAT!"

"NO!" Mozenrath yelled. "NOT UNTIL THE ELIACUBE IS MINE!" He charged up another blast, letting loose a barrage at Hades in the form of several small plasma missiles that curved at odd angles to meet their target, hoping to confuse Hades into getting hit by at least one.

Hades snapped his fingers, and every single missile went up in flames. "By the way," he said, "I'm gonna need you to not have this." He zoomed right up close to the Huntsman, seizing the Huntstaff by the shaft. He and the Huntsman tugged at the weapon only momentarily before Hades broke it altogether.

"NO!" the Huntsman yelled.

"Yes," Hades replied, deadpan. "Qilbs?"

Qilby sent a portal beneath the Huntsman's feet that he went tumbling through.

The Huntsman was dumped down onto the streets of Brakmar, stumbling onto his back as he watched the sky above. He gave a wordless roar of absolute rage. Had he his staff, he could have at least attempted to use it to forge a bridge back to the clock, for all the good that would do. Now, he couldn't even try, and he realized that was Hades' intent.

"THAT'S IT!" Yzma cried. "I'M OUT OF HERE! ANYONE ELSE WITH SENSE, FOLLOW ME!"

She turned to run back down the stairs, quickly throwing a glance over her shoulder to see if anyone was following. Wuya very nearly did, but then she saw the portal appear right in Yzma's path. By the time Yzma turned to look forward, she was already running across the boufbowl field of Bonta.

"YOU BRING HER BACK!" Wuya launched herself across the field at Qilby, hands loaded with magic. Qilby's scythe sailed toward her; she flew beneath it and rammed both hands into his stomach. Qilby was sent flying all the way up to impact the ceiling.

"Ah-ah-ah," Hades cautioned. "Should NOT have done that." He flicked his wrist toward Wuya, and she was suddenly bound in chains that no amount of magic could break. As she squirmed, it was child's play for Qilby to lower a portal over her that transported her to a prison cell in Haven Port, overseen by another Inhibitor – albeit one that Hades' chains rendered useless.

Qilby, in the meantime, repositioned himself, pushing off from the ceiling to sail down toward his next target. The scythe twirled as Qilby sailed directly toward Roman.

"TORCHWICK! NO!" Snatcher hurried to shove Roman out of the way -

Pushing him right into another portal.

Qilby stopped an inch short of Snatcher. "Thank you," he said smugly.

Roman stumbled into a bamboo patch in Pandalucia. "Oh, this is just GREAT," he yelled, grabbing a bamboo shaft and snapping it over his knee.

"NOW YOU'VE GONE AND DONE IT!" Snatcher bellowed, swinging his mallet at Qilby's face; Qilby was halfway across the room before it could connect. Snatcher soon realized how much of a minefield he was standing in: it was only himself and Mozenrath, and Qilby could create a portal anywhere.

Mozenrath was still trying his best to outfox Hades, surrounding the god with an enormous blue sphere that closed in on him. Hades simply shattered it like glass with a flick of his finger. "C'mon, Mozzy, you're on a kid's level here," Hades groaned.

Mozenrath screamed as he sent lightning bolts to attack Hades from all directions; Hades rolled his eyes as an invisible deflection shield held every blast off. "Seriously?"

Snatcher looked to Qilby, standing stock-still as he tried to calculate his next move.

"What's the matter?" Qilby asked. "Not sure which way to go?"

It then occurred to Snatcher: during all the fighting, no one had thought of going for the Eliacube itself, and everyone had passed it at least once. And once he had it, Qilby would want it back, and therefore would be reluctant to transport him. All he had to do was be quick and deceptive enough. He started out at a run toward Qilby, raising his weapon.

He turned right before the portal opened up in front of him; he made a great leap, reaching out, his fingers very nearly grasping the cube.

He landed on the beach of Breta, displacing a fair amount of sand. "NO!" Snatcher yelled as he pounded the ground with his fist.

"Hey, Mozzy," Hades pointed out. "At what point did you realize we cut you off from all your little friendsies?"

"At what point did you forget they're strong enough to get through whatever you did to them?" Mozenrath retorted.

"Well, see, that's the thing," Hades told him as Qilby came to rest at his side. "All that time you were following us around the world? We were setting up these little things called Inhibitors. Every now and again, we'd set up a prison cell with an Inhibitor placed outside of it, and just now, we sent your three magic-makers to three of those cells we set up. The rest of them, we just threw wherever. So you can expect your more magical friends to be able to teleport back in three…two…NEVER, because we blocked their magic. Also, we did, in fact, scatter them throughout the whole world. You do realize what that means, right?"

"I DON'T CARE!" Mozenrath yelled, slashing through the air repeatedly and sending arcs of magic at Hades.

"Whoooooa there!" Hades replied, backhanding the magic away; it exploded against the wall. "You might wanna slow down and actually listen to what I am saying. YOUR FRIENDS ARE SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. The world which, if this machine keeps going the way it's going, will be reduced to a barren wasteland filled with lifeless corpses, including your friends, in…oh, about half an hour, maybe less."

The implications struck Mozenrath. "I'll…I'll find them first!" he barked.

"No you won't," Hades taunted. "You don't even know where to look. It is not going to take you less than half an hour to round them all up. Maybe you'll find ONE, if you're lucky. The rest of them? My domain, kid. Good thing you can just resurrect them all, right? Well, except for the fact that a little birdie named Madame Medusa told me you couldn't use your magic last time she ran into you. And, as the owner of the ORIGINAL spring of Lethe water, it didn't take long to put two and two together. Sure, you can make fireworks again, but necromancy by intent? Oi, that doesn't come back so easily, does it?"

"WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS?" Mozenrath yelled.

"Just to see the look on your face," Qilby said with a grin, "when you realized what we did to your friends. Tyrian is going to be angry he missed this."

"Where is Scorpion Boy, anyway?" Hades wondered out loud. He then shrugged. "Eh, not a big deal. Probably still out taking his walk. If we gotta leave without him, those are the breaks."

"No…" Mozenrath's memory overflowed. Roman, drinking and laughing with him in the bar at Brakmar. Snatcher doing his makeup. Mim whispering to him schemes of death at Haven Port. The Huntsman taking him aside on the deck of the Incurable Blight. Yzma on that same ship, rattling off her incredulous plan. Him and Aghoul ascending the mountain. Wuya in the hotel room after the Archmage's great victory. "NOOOOOOOOO!"

"And the best part is," Qilby taunted, "there's nothing you can do about it."

Mozenrath could feel his own heartbeat pounding through his chest. "No," he whispered. He added force to his voice: "No! There's ALWAYS something I can do about it!" He looked around frantically.

Suddenly, his eyes alit upon the Eliacube. First, he made the same realization Snatcher had. The cube was simply sitting out in the open, and ripe for Mozenrath to just take, if he cared about getting away with it alone. But more than that, like a flash of lightning, the conversation he'd had with Rémington aboard Wuya's makeshift vehicle while headed away from the Sadida Kingdom replayed in his head. "As a matter of fact," he said, suddenly confident, "I know exactly what I'm going to do."

He lunged for the Eliacube.

He didn't even notice that Qilby and Hades didn't try to stop him.

Mozenrath seized the Eliacube in both hands, though it was really his right hand that was doing all the work. If Rémington had told him correctly, the cube could in fact reverse time; it would just take a heavy toll. Mozenrath started feeding raw magic into the cube, willing it as hard as he could to go back, go back, go back before any of this had happened.

The cube glowed, responding to Mozenrath's touch, to his influx of magic. It required a lot of magic, even more than Mozenrath had suspected. He was wracked with pain, and he cried out loudly. He could feel the energy drain literally ripping the flesh from where his skin edged his shoulder as Hades gave his entire speech backward.

A portal appeared very near Mozenrath and spat Snatcher back out onto the battlefield; Snatcher ran backward, turning to face one of Qilby's portals before coming to rest in one place, looking anxiously at a spot in the air. Roman reappeared, pressing against Snatcher's outstretched hands and shoving him backward.

The pain increased. Mozenrath could now feel the strain in the center of his chest, radiating out toward his other arm.

Qilby hit the ceiling. Wuya was revealed from the ground up, then released from the chains Hades had put on her. Qilby shot down from the ceiling to hover over her, and Wuya was flung back as Yzma jogged backward out of a portal.

Skin, tearing away from bone and disintegrating, around Mozenrath's stomach. Musculature following. White-hot pain behind his eyes, nearly blinding him, but he knew he had to keep holding on, just a little longer, just a little longer –

The Huntsman erupted from the ground. The huntstaff forged itself in his hands; he and Hades pushed it back and forth before Hades let go and backed away. The great gear from the ceiling reformed, Qilby's scythe sliding through the crack as its halves reunited, and it flew into Wuya's arms as Aghoul stepped out of the portal.

It was all but impossible for Mozenrath to hold onto the cube, but still he did, focusing only on his fingers, making sure they kept gripping, kept feeding in the magic.

The gear lifted in midair even without Mozenrath there to levitate it. It then affixed itself to the ceiling once more as Roman thudded to the floor, then rose up into a graceful backward leap. And at last, Mim, as a buffalo, galloped out of her portal in reverse.

Almost done, Mozenrath thought. We just need to make it to safety. Now his legs were burning, all the way down to the tips of his toes.

Aghoul and Qilby engaged in scytheplay. On the other side of the field, blasts of green energy were absorbed by the huntstaff, explosive ammunition stuffed itself into the Cudgel, and lightning struck the barrel of Snatcher's weapon. The Huntsman spun the huntstaff, sending twin fireballs into Hades' palms. Mim threw a dart into a portal, where it reappeared from another one and settled within Yzma's atlatl. Wuya threw a punch at Qilby. And suddenly, all but Mozenrath were lined up at the far end of the battlefield, behind Hades and Qilby, who were behind Mozenrath. Mozenrath was forcing himself to look over his shoulder at this point to confirm that he'd arrived at the right time. Then he stopped feeding magic into the Eliacube.

But, he realized, he was still holding it, and the battle hadn't yet begun.

"MOZENRATH?" Yzma cried. "How'd you get over there?"

Mozenrath held up the cube triumphantly. "I believe this is what we came for," he announced, turning to stride back toward his friends, his friends who were safe, safe because he'd saved them, and was he ever suddenly dizzy and light-headed because of everything he'd done –

The moment Hades and Qilby saw the Eliacube in Mozenrath's hands, without having seen him teleport there, they knew Tyrian's plan had succeeded. And it was confirmed all the more when Mozenrath placed one foot in front of the other, wobbled, and collapsed to the floor. He'd just about killed himself, Hades and Qilby knew, reversing time with the Eliacube. Just as Tyrian had wanted.

Just as Maleficent would want.

And so, when the Huntsman barreled forward to assist Mozenrath, Hades and Qilby simply stood aside and let him.

"Mozenrath!" the Huntsman yelled, placing a hand on Mozenrath's back. "MOZENRATH! Say something!"

Mozenrath tried to pry himself upward, but he was too weak, and the pain was too great. All he could do was say the words he hated most: "Help…me…"

The Huntsman turned him over and scooped him up, one arm behind Mozenrath's back and the other under his knees. The young man was too light, the Huntsman realized. He had never weighed that little before. He didn't understand what had happened at all, but something frightening had taken place. Mozenrath still clutched his hard-earned prize, the Eliacube, in both hands. When the Huntsman saw this, his blood ran cold: not because of the gesture or the presence of the cube, but because Mozenrath's uncovered left hand was now completely skeletal.

"GO!" the Huntsman roared. "NOW!"

The others didn't need to be told twice. They rushed out of the clock as quickly as their legs could take them.

"How long, again, until he dies?" Qilby asked.

"Well, unfortunately, the cube didn't just do the job for us," Hades grunted. "But, if he strains himself or uses much more magic, I'd give him a day."

As Rémington and Grany continued to observe the brawl below, Grany forcing Ombrage to take another shadow every now and again to make the odds worse, Rémington casually said, "You know what would make this even better?"

"This better not be another one of your terrible ideas," Grany said casually.

"Trust me," Rémington told him, "this is only going to make it more fun for us." He withdrew both pistols, twirling them once before letting off a volley of shots into the crowd at random.

The benefit, for him, was that several people were struck – thankfully nonfatally – and went down to nurse their injuries. However, as soon as Yugo noticed the bullets, he knew they had to be coming from somewhere, and he followed their path directly upward with his eyes until they connected with the barely-visible sight of…

"REMINGTON SMIIIIIIIIIISSE!"

"HOW DID YOU NOT SEE THAT COMING?" Grany yowled.

Yugo immediately teleported up to the branch where the Smisse brothers stood, pointing an accusing finger. "YOU HAVE OMBRAGE!"

"That's right!" Grany laughed. "And you're about to learn the consequences the hard way!" He turned so Ombrage faced Yugo.

The moment she began to pull his shadow in, Yugo forged himself a portal, ducking into it and toward safety. "Where'd he go?" Rémington asked in surprise.

Yugo reappeared behind Grany, swiping Ombrage off the Bow Meow's tail with an "AAAAARGH!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ombrage squealed.

Down below, every ghoul suddenly regained their shadow and humanity. The fighting ceased as those who'd transformed sheepishly explained how they'd lost control.

"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Yugo demanded.

"Run," Grany whispered to Rémington, who didn't need to be told twice. Rémington scooped Grany up into his arms and leapt down to the branch below before bolting, making a parkour course through the trees on his way to the throne room. He guessed finding the path the rest of the WHAM ARMY would take would be easy. They needed to be warned.

Yugo teleported himself back to the frontlines, opting not to chase the Smisses. "TO STOP QILBY!" he cried, pointing forward, and the group charged. All the while, Yugo's mind raced. If the Smisses were here, did that also mean Mozenrath?

Rémington and Grany found the entrance to the sanctuary within the throne room mere moments before the great army burst into the chamber. The Smisses quickly dashed inside as Oakheart showed the way to the sanctuary. "There is only room for one at a time!" he exclaimed.

"Sora!" Yugo cried. "Us first, so we can head them off!"

"Right!" Sora said with a nod. Yugo was the first to hit the sanctuary's passage, followed by Sora, Amalia, Ruby, Papyrus, Stork, and Jasmine, then the rest.

The Huntsman, carrying Mozenrath, charged out of the clock to see Tyrian and Ragdoll still struggling. When Tyrian got an eyeful, he stopped what he was doing to double over and laugh. "He's dead!" Tyrian howled as Yzma, Wuya, Aghoul, Mim, Roman, and Snatcher also exited. "MOZENRATH IS FINALLY DEAD!"

"Not…yet," Mozenrath growled, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Oh, but you will be soon," Tyrian cackled. "So very soon! And it's all exactly as I planned! I knew that if I split up your friends, I could force you to save them by reversing – "

His grand reveal of his plan was interrupted by Ragdoll flipping him over backward once more to plant his face hard into the ground. "That's enough of that," Ragdoll proclaimed.

"We must get word to the Smisse brothers and leave!" the Huntsman asserted.

Rémington and Grany came barreling into the sanctuary. "We have company!" Rémington warned.

"AND IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!" Grany emphasized.

"WUYA!" the Huntsman barked. "Take us home!"

Wuya cast a Corridor that connected directly to the Cyclonian warship, and all eleven filtered into it. It snapped closed before Tyrian could fire a parting shot. All the same, Tyrian continued to laugh as he rose and scampered into the clock. He'd done it. He'd forced Mozenrath to waste his life force on magic that was too powerful for him to truly handle. He'd won.

In the jaunt through the Darkness from portal to portal, the Huntsman asked Mozenrath, "How? How did this happen?"

"Remember when Rémington said this thing could turn back time?" Mozenrath recalled. "It…takes more energy than he said it would."

"But why?" the Huntsman urged. "Where did we go wrong?"

"The high-and-mighty Qilby split us up," Mozenrath explained. "He managed to scatter us across the world, and…well, I'm not going to go into the details. All I'm going to say is that was the first and last time we're ever going to win anything by turning back time."

There was a great THUMP; ten turned back to see who had fallen behind. Ragdoll had collapsed, lying prone on the ground.

"Oh, what is wrong with HIM now?" Yzma groaned.

Ragdoll groaned before lifting his head. "I…may have forgotten to mention a…small detail," he said with his usual smile; his voice was weak. "I sustained just a…bit of an injury."

As he lay on his stomach, it was now easy to see the tear in the back of his patchwork suit, the place where something long and sharp had dragged its way through his skin for about three inches.

"You didn't get that from the TAIL, did you?" Roman asked in a panic.

"Will that be a problem?" Ragdoll asked sheepishly.

"That is NOT good!" Roman insisted. "Fuckface's tail is like every other scorpion's tail: poisonous as shit. You…are kind of dead."

"Should we leave him?" Rémington wondered out loud. "We don't need more dead weight…"

"No," Mozenrath insisted. "He held off Tyrian on his own. He…finally did something useful. Bring him back."

Mim transformed into a walking bed, using an animate blanket to flip Ragdoll up onto her mattress before continuing her run through the Darkness alongside everyone else. The exit into the warship finally came into proximity.

Yugo and Sora arrived just in time to see the WHAM ARMY disappear into the Corridor and Tyrian flee up into the clock. "I wonder where they went," Sora mused, looking at the spot where the Corridor had closed.

"Well, we know where Qilby is," Yugo replied, motioning to the clock.

Sora turned around, putting up his arms. "EVERYBODY!" he yelled to the crowd filtering in. "My friends and I are going to go in first to make sure it's safe! When we need you, we'll call for you!"

"So you'll call immediately, then," Adal sighed.

"We will be at the ready!" Melo promised.

Sora, Yugo, Ruby, Papyrus, Amalia, Jasmine, and Stork hustled inside the clock, up the stairs to face down Qilby, Hades, and Tyrian once more.

What they found was the trio of villains hovering around the small table where the Eliacube had been previously housed. Hades poured a small serving of his essence into a blue, spherical shape that flickered like flame and held the Eliacube's place. "Bada BING!" he announced. "Now, the show can go on!" He, Tyrian, and Qilby looked up to see the arrival of the seven newcomers. "Hey, hey, just in time! Now you can see that the destruction WILL go on with or without that dinky cube!"

"The Eliacube?" Yugo repeated. "Where is it?"

"Mozenrath collected his prize," Qilby explained, "and left this world with it. We had no further use for it."

"Left the world?" Sora reiterated, balling his hands into fists. "How do we know we can believe you?"

"Because in just a short while," Hades explained, "this world is going to go boom. And NOBODY wants to be here when it does. Including us." He snapped his fingers, creating a Corridor that Qilby immediately sprinted through. "Have fun with the apocalypse, kids!"

"Yes, farewell!" Tyrian giggled. "Farewell, key boy! Farewell, fair princess! Farewell, girl with – "

He finally got the opportunity that he was deprived of on Oma: to see Ruby in her own body, as her own person, close up. And once he did, his demeanor transformed entirely. "Silver eyes," he realized. "SILVER EYES!"

He lunged for Ruby – and was immediately held back by Hades seizing his forearm. "Scorpion Boy," Hades scolded. "You got a death wish? Seriously, your plan pretty much offed Mozzy. You're gonna wanna live to reap the rewards." He dragged Tyrian into the Corridor.

Tyrian struggled, unable to break the iron-like grip around his arm. "BUT THE GIRL WITH THE SILVER EYES!" he protested. "I MUST BRING HER TO MY GODDESS! MY GODDESS NEEDS HER! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! IT IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN MOZENRATH – "

The Corridor closed, silencing Tyrian's cries.

"He…knew me?" Ruby said in shock.

"ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO DESTROY THIS WORLD?" Papyrus asked. "OR WERE THEY JUST BLUFFING?"

"I've seen this machine work before," Yugo explained. "It's capable of sucking the Wakfu out of entire kingdoms when the Eliacube is powering it. I don't know what happens when that thing is powering it instead." He motioned to the blue sphere.

"It comes from Hades," Sora confirmed, "so it's not good."

All seven reached out to try and displace the sphere; it let off a protective shockwave of magic that threw them back forcefully.

"I don't think that's going to work," Stork grunted.

"Something else isn't right," Sora realized. "Something about this place feels…different."

"It should," Amalia told him. "It is the home of the Tree of Life, where every Sadida's name is written. If the machine were going through the Tree directly, every Sadida would already be dead."

"But it's not going through the Tree," Sora realized. "It's going through something else. Does anyone else feel weird about this place?"

"I think I'm feeling what you're feeling," Jasmine agreed. "It feels…sacred."

"BECAUSE IT IS!" Amalia yelled. "How many more times do I have to repeat that?"

"If it's sacred," Sora realized, "and pivotal to that much of the World of Twelve, and Jasmine and I BOTH feel something strange here, then this could be the Heart of the World!"

"The WHAT?" Amalia barked.

"Every world has a heart," Sora explained. "Someplace that's like its center. It can be locked or unlocked to connect it to or protect it from the Darkness. I wonder if the clock is working through the Keyhole. That would mean it really could destroy this entire world really soon unless we stop it!"

"Which we can't do," Stork said in a high, rushed voice, "because the magic holding this thing together won't let us take it away, so we can't take away the power source, and that means this entire world is doomed, doomed, doomed – "

"There has to be another way," Ruby insisted. "If we can't take down the power source…what if we brought down the rest of the mechanism?"

That snapped Stork out of his stressed tirade. "The rest of the mechanism," he realized, looking around at the various gears and cogs. "I…I could do it." He nodded. "I could take this machine apart. I don't know if it would be in time, but it's the only option we have." He rushed toward one of the gears, removing a wrench from his pocket, one he kept on him in case of emergencies. As he went to work dislodging the gear, he explained, "The downside is, even if I do make it in time, judging by what I've seen of the machine's setup, if I just attack its primary weak points, there is a good chance that the entire thing will just explode. So the rest of you are going to want to get out of here. Like, all the way out of here. As far from the throne room as you can get."

"WHAT?" Sora screamed. "STORK! You CAN'T die here!"

"IT'S THE ONLY WAY!" Stork insisted.

"Then I'll stay with you," Yugo asserted, "and when you finish, I'll teleport you out."

Stork's face lit up…and then fell. "You can't do that," he realized. "There are way too many innocent people in the sanctuary right now, and they're still coming in single file. You need to use your portals to get everyone out at once. And get them FAR AWAY."

"But…Stork…" Yugo choked.

"It's me or all of them!" Stork barked.

Ruby looked around the chamber, assessing the machinery. "You might not make it out of this clock alive," she said suddenly, "but you'll stop the clock before it can destroy the world." She drew Crescent Rose from its case, digging its point into the floor and prying up a panel to reveal a mess of cogs. "Because I'm staying to help you."

"Ruby, no!" Stork snapped. "It should just be me! Not you!"

"What if this is the only way to make sure the clock breaks down in time?" Ruby argued, digging her hands carefuly into the cogs set in the floor and picking them apart.

"You don't know how to disassemble it!" Stork insisted.

"I put together my own weapon, didn't I?" Ruby reminded him. "I'll figure it out! And you can just tell me the basics of what needs to be taken apart!"

"Has anyone considered that this STILL might not be enough?" Amalia barked. "It's already done so much damage to the Heart of the World!"

"But I can slow it with the Keyblade," Sora realized.

"And I'll do what I can to repair the Keyhole," Jasmine added. "Between the two of us, we just might be able to fix it."

"Did you NOT hear what I said about the clock going boom?" Stork growled.

"It's the four of us," Sora reminded him, "or all of them." He turned to Yugo, Amalia, and Papyrus. "The three of you need to focus on getting everybody out and to safety."

Yugo trembled before croaking an "Okay."

"You can count on me," Amalia promised somberly.

Papyrus, at first, appeared as though he didn't know what course of action to take. Then he said, "ALL RIGHT. I WILL EVACUATE EVERYONE. BUT ONLY BECAUSE I HAVE FAITH THAT THE REST OF YOU WILL FIND A WAY OUT IN TIME. YOU'VE ALL FACED IMPOSSIBLE ODDS BEFORE, AND I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN!"

"We just might!" Sora said with a grin. "But, Papyrus…" He reached out, taking one of Papyrus' red-gloved hands into both of his. "In case we…y'know, we don't actually beat the odds…I need you to do something huge for us. Tell everyone goodbye. Find Riku and Kairi. Find Jaune, Nora, and Ren. Find Aladdin and Finn. Tell them all what happened to us, and…that we love them."

"I ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT NEED TO DO THAT," Papyrus insisted, "BUT…JUST IN CASE, I WILL BE READY TO."

"Thanks," Sora said as he let Papyrus' hand fall back to his side. "Okay, everyone! You know the plan! Now let's go!"

Papyrus, Yugo, Amalia, Sora, and Jasmine sprinted down the stairs and outside as fast as they could. Stork ordered Ruby, "Keep working on that floor until you find the mechanism that stops the whole thing from moving." He wrenched the gears he'd just loosened from the wall. "I have to survey the other rooms."

Outside the clock, Papyrus, Yugo, and Amalia went one way while Jasmine and Sora went the other. "EVERYONE!" Papyrus called out. "I HAVE BEEN INFORMED IT IS TOO DANGEROUS TO STAY HERE! WE HAVE FIGURED OUT A PLAN TO STOP THIS CLOCK FROM DESTROYING THE WORLD, BUT THERE IS GOING TO BE A RATHER LARGE EXPLOSION FIRST! SO WE NEED EVERYONE TO EVACUATE! BUT WORRY NOT! YUGO SHALL PROVIDE THE WAY!"

Yugo concentrated on creating the largest portal he'd ever made and holding it open. At Papyrus' beckoning, the people began to rush through it, ending up a safe distance away from the throne room chamber. Papyrus continued to wave through the people who were still coming in through the passage one by one.

Amalia thought to say something to aid in the evacuation effort, but her attention was drawn by an ethereal pull. The Tree of Life was calling to her, and she turned to look at it.

Suddenly, it was as if she was standing right next to the Tree, looking closely at the symbols that represented the names of the Sadida as they crawled over its bark. An old, weathered doll with leaves sticking up at the end of long hairs on its head turned to look at Amalia with empty eyes.

"I remember you," Amalia said, not sure if she was physically in proximity or still standing on the shore. She shuddered as implications settled in: "You're…going to be hurt in the explosion, aren't you? There's no way to save my people, is there?"

The doll implanted a single thought in Amalia's head with only a look.

"You'll…be fine?" Amalia repeated. "And so will my people? But how?"

The doll gave a slow nod.

"Why are you telling me this?" Amalia asked. "Is there something you want from me?"

Another nod.

Back on the shore, Sora and Jasmine were easily able to locate the Keyhole by following the cords attached to the clamps. "It IS the Heart of the World!" Sora realized as the Keyhole glimmered into shape before him. He looked to Jasmine; "Are you ready?"

"If you are," she replied.

She placed her hands upon the wall, calling upon all the light she could muster to feed into the Keyhole, willing the wounds in the world to be repaired. Sora pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole, and a beam of light connected the weapon to the Heart, closing it off from the clock's draw. Sora attempted to move his blade away, but as soon as he did, he could feel the lock that made up the Keyhole beginning to shift back open; the clock was strong. So long as Sora kept the Keyblade trained on its target, the lock would remain closed.

At last, no one else came down through the passage. Yugo looked to the clock, which was beginning to shake.

"I DON'T THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA," Papyrus told him. "THERE ISN'T ANY MORE TIME!"

"But our friends – " Yugo protested.

Papyrus envisioned letting Yugo enter the clock to save Stork and Ruby. Immediately following that was the image of the clock exploding with all three inside. "THEY WILL FIND A WAY!" Papyrus insisted. "BUT I HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE SAFE!" He grabbed Yugo by the hand, running with him through the portal.

"WAIT!" Yugo cried. "AMALIA! AMALIA?"

He realized, as he was dragged through his own portal, that Amalia was nowhere in sight. She must have left with the evacuees, Yugo thought. That would only make sense.

Then the portal closed, leaving Papyrus and Yugo to stand with the great crowd of evacuees.

Sora and Jasmine could both feel the shaking of the clock, but neither could step away from the Keyhole, they knew, until the clock had been destroyed. "Jasmine," Sora called out, "I'm sorry! I didn't think it would have to end like this!"

"I'm all right," Jasmine called back to him. "I know what I have to do. I'm sorry it has to end this way for you."

"I know what I have to do, too," Sora replied. "At least we got to spend our last moments with each other. That's good in a way, isn't it?"

"It is," Jasmine confirmed.

Each felt a single tear escape their eyes. "I guess this is goodbye," Sora realized. "Our adventure is over."

"It was a grand one," Jasmine told him.

Inside the clock, Stork and Ruby rushed to each other. "What next?" Ruby asked.

"We got everything," Stork told her, stumbling due to the now violent trembling of the immense machine. "It's over. All that's left is…the kaboom."

"Stork," Ruby squeaked, "I'm so sorry this is how it had to go!"

"Don't be," Stork told her. "It really should have just been me!" But she was right, he realized. It had taken him longer than he'd thought to do his half of the work; she'd sped it along. Had it just been him, the results might not have been so favorable.

"Stork, I…" Ruby swallowed hard. The shaking was now so violent, it was hard for either to stay on their feet. "I'm glad I met you!"

"I'm glad I met you too," Stork admitted.

Ruby rushed forward to envelop Stork in a hug, which he emphatically returned. They clutched onto each other tightly, eyes closed, as the rumbling reached its pinnacle.

From far outside the sanctuary, the evacuees could all hear the echoing sound, accompanied by a rough quake of the ground:

BOOM.

Up until that point, though worries and fears had seized him, Papyrus still had truly believed that Sora, Jasmine, Stork, and Ruby would be able to make a last-minute escape. But the clock had just exploded, and his friends were nowhere to be found. Had he stifled their chances by dragging Yugo through the portal instead of letting him go after anyone else? He quivered, and tears poured from his sockets.

"It's all right," Yugo told Papyrus, squeezing his hand. "It isn't your fault. They did what they had to do to save us."

"I REALLY THOUGHT…THAT THEY WOULD MAKE IT…" Papyrus choked.

"Amalia?" Armand's voice cut through the crowd. "AMALIA! HAS ANYONE SEEN AMALIA?"

Yugo immediately let go of Papyrus' hand, terror blanketing him. "I thought she got out safely!" he cried, rushing to Armand. "Oh, no. Oh, no, no no…Amalia…"

Within the sanctuary, all was still. The scattered remains of the clock – millions of tiny pieces – littered the ground and sank into the water. The Keyhole shimmered, finally free of the pressure of the clock, able to seal itself for good and take Jasmine's offering of light to replace the Wakfu that had already been stolen.

A great bundle of vines covered the Tree of Life, shielding it. The vines peeled away, revealing the Tree to be unharmed. Next to it stood Amalia, who looked blankly ahead, her eyes radiating light.

Amalia was transported onto the shore, where three other bundles of vines were located within the vicinity of each other. These were bundles the Tree of Life had made, stepping into her to take control of her body once again, as it had done six years ago when Nox had first brought his clock to the Sadida Kingdom. That was how it had protected itself. But it had also read Amalia's mind, knowing there were others that needed to be saved.

Amalia – or, more correctly, Amalia's body, inhabited by the Tree – touched the first and largest bundle of vines, and it unraveled, revealing Ruby and Stork caught in their tight embrace and trembling. As soon as the light poured in upon both of them, they opened their eyes.

"I think we're okay," Ruby said shakingly, disentangling herself from Stork and backing away.

"We're alive," Stork cried, looking her up and down to make sure nothing was harmed. "WE'RE NOT DOOMED!"

"Amalia!" Ruby rushed to the shell of Amalia, arms outstretched to give her a hug of thankfulness. "You saved us!"

Amalia's body put up a hand, warning Ruby to stay back.

"O…kay?" Ruby replied, watching the shell approach the next bundle of vines.

"I…don't think that's Amalia," Stork realized.

The Tree, acting through Amalia, next let down the vines that cocooned up against the sanctuary wall. Jasmine was released, turning to face her rescuer in confusion. "Amalia?"

The princess' body shook its head.

"Then who – " Jasmine began to ask.

The Tree approached the last bundle, touching it and causing it to unravel, freeing Sora.

"AMALIA!" Sora cried. "You…you just shielded us from the entire explosion! How'd you do that?"

"It isn't her," Jasmine told Sora. "I'm…not sure who it is."

"But it is definitely NOT Amalia," Stork confirmed as he and Ruby approached the others.

Sora tilted his head at the Tree in Amalia's body. "Well, uh, whoever you are…thanks."

There was a flash of light; the glow left Amalia's eyes, and her soul took control once more. "The Tree of Life says you're welcome," Amalia said cheerfully.

"Is it you this time?" Sora asked.

"It's me," Amalia confirmed.

"How'd you do that?" Sora asked.

"A long time ago," Amalia told him, "the Tree of Life acted through my body to fight Nox when he first came to this kingdom. The same thing just happened now. The Tree needed to protect itself…and it saw, through me, that you all needed to be protected, too." She turned to look at the Tree. "THANK YOU!" she called to it, waving.

"THANK YOU!" Sora, Ruby, Stork, and Jasmine chorused, waving as well.

From the distance, Amalia thought she could see the weathered doll nod again.

Outside, Yugo sat forlornly on a large stone, head in hands. "Amalia…" he choked. "I thought…"

Papyrus hovered over him, not sure what to say.

"This is YOUR fault!" Armand accused, storming toward the pair. "You two were supposed to make sure everyone got out safely! And you let my sister DIE!"

"I'm…so sorry…" Yugo whimpered, beginning to cry.

"I THOUGHT SHE HAD ALREADY GOTTEN OUT," Papyrus added, his own tears not yet subsided.

Then there came the calls from a distance:

"Yugo!"

"Papyrus!"

"YUGO!"

"PAPYRUS!"

Those addressed turned to see Amalia, Sora, Jasmine, Ruby, and Stork barreling toward them.

"A…Amalia!" Yugo stood, rushing toward the group.

"SEE?" Papyrus told Yugo as he jogged alongside him, his long strides soon outpacing him. "I KNEW THEY WOULD MAKE IT!"

When they met, Yugo, Papyrus, Amalia, Sora, Jasmine, and Ruby collapsed into a group hug, laughing. Stork stood back and watched for a moment before shrugging and joining in.

"Amalia!" Armand gasped. "You're safe!"

Amalia wormed her way out of the hug, glaring at her brother. "I saw you scolding them!" she barked. "Were you being hard on them?"

"I thought their carelessness let you die!" Armand told her.

Amalia reached up and slapped him hard. "If they had forced me out of there," she growled, "the Tree of Life wouldn't have been able to protect itself or any of the rest of them!"

"She saved all of us!" Sora insisted once the hug broke up.

"Well, technically it was the Tree," Amalia clarified, "but then again, it wouldn't have been able to do that if I weren't there, so really, it was me who saved everyone, wasn't it? Not that I like to brag." She turned back to Sora and Jasmine. "Oh, and while the Tree was in me, it let me feel the world. Whatever you two did, it worked. Some people might be a little drained for a few days, but we'll all be okay."

"Good," Sora sighed. "Everything's gonna be just fine."

...

Everything being just fine was the truth for those whose goal had been to protect the World of Twelve. For the WHAM ARMY, however, it was another story.

Vexen was alerted to the sounds of several pairs of feet barging into his laboratory, most likely from opening a Corridor directly there instead of taking the rollercoaster. "So you're back," he grumbled as he turned the corner. "You won't BELIEVE the aggravation we – "

He beheld the sight of the Huntsman holding up Mozenrath, Mim supporting Ragdoll, and the others crowding around. "WHAT HAPPENED HERE?" Vexen barked.

"Ragdoll – Peter – has been poisoned with a very potent venom," the Huntsman explained. "But more importantly…" He nearly faltered on these words. "Mozenrath spent a great amount of his life force reversing time. I fear he is close to – "

"Don't say it," Mozenrath muttered; he'd finally given in and let his eyes close.

"Bring them this way!" Vexen beckoned. "Quickly, quickly!"

He ushered the group to bring Mozenrath and Ragdoll to where three cots had been set up for medical emergencies. The Huntsman lay Mozenrath in one while Mim transferred Peter to another.

"Now out with you, all of you!" Vexen snapped. "I won't be able to assess or cure them with YOU hovering over my shoulder!"

"I wish to stay near him," the Huntsman stated calmly.

"I SAID OUT!" Vexen yelled. "Do NOT make me use force against you!"

The Huntsman, Yzma, Aghoul, Mim, Wuya, Roman, Snatcher, Rémington, and Grany shuffled out into the main room of the laboratory, leaving Vexen alone with the patients in the medical bay.

For a long while, they remained there, standing in silence. It occurred to some that they had not yet selected a substitute leader in Mozenrath's absence, but those who remembered it forced the thought away. No one cared anymore.

...

A/N: While Zevon is taken from the "Wicked World" Descendants shorts, he is rather an AU version here. "Descendants" is not going to happen as per canon. This Zevon has had a very different life and is a bit older (in his thirties) for story reasons, but character-wise, I intend him to be the same Zevon that is known and loved by Descendants followers, and yes, his parentage is still the same.