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.

100. Catastrophe

A/N: I do hope you took my warning seriously about Kingdom Hearts III spoilers, because starting with this chapter, we're going full spoiler mode.

...

Cid Highwind didn't hear Jim Hawkins when the brunette boy entered the Gummi garage; Cid was, at that moment, underneath a propped-up ship and working on its underside, while Jim was silent as a mouse as he slipped through the area, taking in the sights of the ships and the various tools that adorned the disorganized workspace.

Without thinking, he suddenly said, "Now that's pretty cool."

Cid was startled into whacking his head on the underside of the ship, yelling "God DAMMIT!" in response.

"Whoa," Jim said suddenly. "Sorry."

Cid crawled out into the open and stood to full height. "You got any idea what you're doin' in here?" he drawled condescendingly. "You could get hurt, kid."

"I'm not a kid," Jim snorted. "And I mess with this kinda stuff all the time."

Cid raised an eyebrow. "You work on Gummi ships?"

"Well, not ships," Jim clarified. "But I've tinkered with other things. I once built a solar surfer out of scrap under a time limit in order to save me and my friends from dying in a horrible explosion. No big deal." This was punctuated with a smirk.

"Is that so?" Cid responded.

"Besides," Jim went on, "it's not like transitioning to working on ships would be that hard. You just have to figure out what you're looking at and how it works, then make sure it does what it's supposed to."

"That's some big talk," Cid scoffed. "How do I know you can back it up? Seems to me all you did with the last ship you were on was get it blown up."

"That was NOT my fault!" Jim groaned. "And if the surfer I'd been working on hadn't gotten blown up with it, I could SHOW you what I'm able to do! I just – "

The door swung open again, and now two distinct voices, one high and feminine and the other soft and masculine, were heard deep in discussion:

" – and I'm supposed to have a sparring session with them this evening, but I can't show Kairi any scythe techniques if I CAN'T UNFOLD IT INTO A SCYTHE!"

"Okay, okay, don't panic! I'll figure out what's wrong with it, okay? We can fix it!"

Ruby Rose, practically misty-eyed, cradled the folded-up Crescent Rose like an overlarge baby while Kazuichi Soda hovered over it at her side.

"Something wrong?" Jim asked.

"Crescent Rose is jammed!" Ruby babbled worriedly. "It's supposed to unfold into an awesome scythe, but I think I accidentally broke it, and now it won't do what it's supposed to!"

"Okay if we use your stuff to try and fix it?" Kazuichi asked Cid. "I promise we won't get in your way. You won't even know we're here!"

"Now I doubt that," Cid sighed, "but I'll let you have the space anyway."

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" Ruby cried.

"C'mon!" Kazuichi waved Ruby over to the nearest empty worktable. "Let's get the patient ready for diagnosis!"

"I wanna see this," Jim decided as he moved to stand beside them.

Cid, now intrigued, followed, taking a place where he could observe all three.

Ruby lay the sniper rifle on the table, and Jim regarded it with confusion. "I don't see how that's a scythe," he admitted.

"IT UNFOLDS!" Ruby barked. "OR AT LEAST IT'S SUPPOSED TO!"

"Okay, okay!" Jim put up his hands. "Don't yell at me, okay? It's a pretty impressive gun already."

"Lemme see…" Kazuichi attempted to unfold Crescent Rose himself, and Jim could see the outline of the scythe taking shape before the machinery jammed as Ruby had described. "Okay. So I think I see where the problem is. We're getting hung up right around…here." He gestured to one of the finer mechanisms. "I'm guessing something rusted."

"I clean my weapon every day!" Ruby said indignantly. "There's never any RUST on Crescent Rose, and there never will be!"

"Hold on," Jim broke in, pointing to the affected spot. "I think that piece is blocking that one from moving."

"Oh, yeah!" Kazuichi cried. "It fell out of place because of a loose bolt! See right there?"

"So we'll have to start by untangling that part," Jim stated.

"Then we bolt it down again so it can't happen again," Kazuichi stated. "Though, now that I'm looking at it, there are a couple more pieces that look like they might come loose any time now, so we should probably give the whole thing a tune-up."

"Do you need to be able to take the whole thing apart for repair?" Jim asked. "I'm just thinking you'll have better luck with those plates staying in place if we weld them instead of just using bolts."

"Huh," Ruby replied. "I mean, some of it, I really will need to take apart, but some of it, I really don't…"

"And how about we brush up the paint while we're at it?" Kazuichi suggested.

"I would say yes," Ruby stated, "but I don't want you turning any of my weapon that weird yellow-green color you like."

"If he tries," Jim teased, "I'll just paint his FACE."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Kazuichi snapped. "You guys are supposed to be my friends!"

They shared a laugh after that before buckling down to work. Cid found himself impressed as he watched Jim and Kazuichi passing off the workload to not only repair Crescent Rose to full capacity but restore its paint job and solidify its construction, all meeting Ruby's strict specifications. Within what seemed like no time, Ruby was holding the rifle once more, gingerly activating its unfolding sequence until it reared into a curved blade that she held aloft.

"YES!" Ruby cried. "YESYESYEEEEEES! THANK YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH!"

"Wow," Jim said with wide eyes. "That's…a scythe, all right. And it's also a gun?"

"I gotta go get some practice in," Ruby said as she collapsed Crescent Rose once more. "You guys are the BEEEEEST!"

With that, she'd darted out the door.

"Pretty impressive job," Cid stated, and Jim and Kazuichi flinched in unison, neither having realized that he was still there.

"So," Jim asked as both young men turned back to Cid, "believe me now?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Cid stated. "Actually, was startin' to wonder somethin' about the two of you."

"Like what?" Kazuichi asked. "Hey, wait a minute! You're not wondering if we – I don't do dudes, you know? And I only have eyes for Miss Sonia anyway!"

Cid sighed. "Not like THAT. I was more thinkin' 'bout your skills. See, with all the new traffic, includin' now havin' to build a whole new fuckin' ship to replace the one Mozenrath went and blew up, I'm workin' overtime down here. Ain't barely got any time for Committee work at all. I've been tryin' to get help from the others, but Goofy's the only one who wanted to pitch in, an' he ain't gonna cut it. Fella can't take two steps without trippin' an' droppin' the whole load he's holdin'. That's why I started wonderin' about you two. I need hands that are good with mechanics to help me out down here. It's tough work, but you two are tough fellas."

"Damn straight," Kazuichi confirmed.

"I'd say that's accurate," Jim added.

"You fixin' up Ruby's weapon done convinced me," Cid went on. "You're 'bout the only two people I'd even trust anywhere near my work. Well, maybe Stork, but I don't need him cleanin' up the garage every two seconds 'cause of germs and OCD. I got a system, get it? I know where everythin' is. So, you fellas in?"

"You…wanna teach us how to build ships like THAT?" Jim asked, pointing toward the Gummi ship behind Cid in awe.

"Let's just start with repairin'," Cid stated. "Buildin'll come later."

"Oh, I am SO in!" Kazuichi cried. "ENGINES REVVING! And this'll be a good place to come down to take my mind off…well…some shit."

Cid nodded. "Figured it was a good way someone could keep an eye on you, too, without it getting' awkward."

"Why does someone have to keep an eye on you?" Jim teased. "What, do you hitch joyrides on solar surfers and graffiti walls when no one's watching?"

"It, uh…" Kazuichi said nervously. "It has more to do with – "

"Never you mind that," Cid stated coldly. "That's his business. Your business is to learn the art of Gummi repair. Got that?"

"Got it, gramps," Jim replied.

"And don't either of you call me 'gramps' again!" Cid huffed as he pointed to both young men. "Now follow me. I got some ropes to show ya before I can turn ya loose on any projects."

Jim and Kazuichi tagged along after Cid eagerly. Though Cid remained gruff in his movements and tone, he was really warming up to the idea of having the pair around. He still saw a good deal of himself in Kazuichi, and after the amputation incident, he'd felt as protective of the young man as everyone else. This would be a good way to keep him safe nearby and maybe get him to work through some issues. Jim, Cid had only just met, but already, his attitude was endearing, and perhaps he was a mirror for a different angle of Cid. That boy was no pushover. The fact that both of them seemed to have a natural aptitude for figuring out how things worked just by examining them was promising.

Cid caught himself smiling.

...

His temper still smoldering, Mozenrath made his way into the communal kitchen. His plan was as follows: obtain a bagel, slather it in crunchy peanut butter, then spread the good word that Roman Torchwick was an incompetent loser.

Of course, knowing now that Garfield and Peter were back, he sighed as he reached for the cabinet door. "I know," he stated to no one in particular. "This is the part where I find Peter curled up in the cabinet with his knees bent backwards to fit, eating all my bagels and not sorry about it."

He flung the cabinet door open.

He did not find Peter Merkel inside of it.

What he did find was a cat.

A flat "What" was all that came out of Mozenrath's mouth.

It looked to be a Balinese. Its fur was white with black accents, and its wide, soulful blue eyes looked almost wistfully at Mozenrath.

Mozenrath was unaffected.

The cat bounded from cabinet to countertop, then hit the floor and strode away, tail held high.

"Okay," Mozenrath said to himself. "That was…not what I expected."

He brushed white cat hair off the packaging around the bagels, selecting one.

"Mew!"

Mozenrath rounded on the cat. "What do you WA – "

He stopped. Looked carefully at the one who'd addressed him. Then, pointing at the fluffy orange cat, stated, "You are not the same cat I found earlier."

"Mew," the orange cat replied.

Another "Mew!" made Mozenrath's neck hairs stand on end. A third cat, this one almost blue in its gray-striped coloration, was padding across the countertop.

"No," Mozenrath said as he backed away in horror, shaking his head fervently. "No, no, NO!"

The more he looked, the worse it got. A horribly fluffy cat was nestled among the stove burners. A cat spotted like a jungle variety was batting a loose crystal around across the floor. A black cat hopped down from a high cabinet and strode right in front of Mozenrath.

"WHERE ARE ALL THESE CATS COMING FROM?" Mozenrath yelled.

From behind him, the last voice he wanted to hear: "Ha! Snookums crossed your path! That's seven years bad luck! And bad luck is the BEST kind of luck, if you ask me!"

Mozenrath whirled about to see Mim standing behind him, holding up a cat with ragged orange fur.

"Mim," Mozenrath growled, on the edge of total detonation, "tell me you are not responsible for all of these vermin."

"All I did was bring them here," Mim stated innocently. "Ashley was the one who gave me the idea."

Mozenrath shut his eyes. Opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "WHO is Ashley?"

"Um, that would be ME."

Mozenrath turned his head to see Katnappé, out of her costume and clad in a pink T-shirt over jeans, strolling into the kitchen. "At least, that's who I am when I'm not all dolled up for the Heylin," Katnappé – or, more accurately at the time, Ashley – explained. "And can you really blame me for missing all my kitties back home?" She walked up to the island counter, where a snow-white cat with heterochromia (one blue eye, one yellow) approached her for attention. Ashley put out a hand to nuzzle the cat's head, positioning her fingers to scratch behind its neck, right at the sweet spot. "Turns out reuniting me with them was the one good deed Mim was willing to do."

"Well, I brought all of Ashley's cats, all right," Mim explained. "And then I went and added a few more! Also, one dog. Only one. Because Ashley said it was an important dog."

"How many cats total?" Mozenrath asked, fearing the answer.

Mim's eyes twinkled. "I'm not telling you THAT. You'll just have to find it out for yourself."

"HOW MANY CATS, MIM?"

She held the orange cat closer to Mozenrath. "I'm adopting this one, personally. I think I'm going to call him – "

The cat hissed at Mozenrath, swiping a paw at the sorcerer's face. Mozenrath gave a yelp of pain; four mildly bleeding claw lines had been drawn along his lower cheek.

"SPITFIRE!" Mim decided. She cuddled the cat close, and it struggled to get away from her smothering grip; "You are a little spitfire, aren't you, Spitfire?"

"YOUR CATS HATE ME!" Mozenrath spat.

"Was the big bad sorcerer being a bully?" Mim asked Spitfire, who had still not succeeded in escaping her grasp.

"You should probably let him go," Ashley advised. "Not all cats are cuddlers."

Ashley went utterly ignored by Mim.

Mozenrath, in the meantime, felt the sensation of tiny pinpricks against his back. Craning his head back over his shoulder, he could see two tiny kittens, one black and one spotted gray-and-white, climbing up his cape like a piece of playground equipment.

"That is IT!" he yelled, whirling around and firing what would have been an utterly devastating blast of magic at both hitchhikers.

Instantly, the sense of an electric shock coursed through Mozenrath's body. Where there should have been the corpses of two fried kittens, there were instead two perfectly healthy kittens that almost seemed to be laughing at Mozenrath.

"Hang on." Ashley stepped forward, putting a gentle hand around each kitten. "Let go of him, babies. There you go. Good." She returned the kittens to the floor, where they began to wrestle each other.

"WHY CAN'T I HURT THESE CATS?" Mozenrath raged.

"Oh, you can hurt them," Mim informed him, "but not TOO badly. I've put a little spell on them that prevents anyone from harming them to the point of death or mutilation."

"You did this just to spite me," Mozenrath seethed.

"Why else would I actually help someone reunite with cute, fuzzy animals?" Mim retorted. "I hate cute! Though Spitfire here is just ugly enough to work for me!"

Spitfire had finally squeezed out of Mim's embrace and hit the floor running.

"It's a very interesting spell I came up with, by the way," Mim went on. "I call it a 'Pact Enchantment.' The long and short of it is – "

"I don't have time for the minutiae!" Mozenrath snapped. "I now have an entire base to PURGE OF CATS!"

He opened a portal in the floor that emptied out into the interspace below the warship. He swept the white cat off the table, dropping the animal down into the portal.

The cat bounced right out, landing on his feet. Mozenrath was subjected to the same electrical shock.

He sighed to Mim, "Let me guess. Your Pact Enchantment also goes for trying to remove the cats from the ship altogether."

"You really are a genius," Mim replied. "And you ARE going to want to know how the spell works, because it's going to frustrate you to no end once you do! A Pact Enchantment only has as much power as it does when multiple people feed into it. They don't have to be inherently magical, however. I've teamed up with one other person to forge an agreement to leave the cats unharmed. So long as that person and I both agree the cats stay, then the cats stay, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Ashley," Mozenrath growled, rounding on Katnappé. "I know it's no use trying to convince Mim of anything, so I'm going to give you an ultimatum. If you don't withdraw your end of the pact – "

"Who said it was me holding the pact?" Ashley retorted. "I have no idea who it is. It isn't me, though. All I know is that Mim said she'd take care of protecting my babies, and the next thing I knew, that spell was stopping you from launching them into orbit."

"That's the best part!" Mim cackled. "I didn't just get ANY old person to agree to the pact! It's one of the very founders of the WHAM ARMY! That's two of us against the rest of you!"

"TELL ME WHO IT IS!" Mozenrath screamed at Mim.

Mim casually folded her arms. "No. I don't think I will."

"MIM, TELL ME WHO HAS THE PACT, OR – "

"Or you'll WHAT?" Mim asked. And even though she had encouraged Mozenrath to make a threat, it was soon clear that she was the one doing the threatening through that sentence.

Mozenrath appeared to calm down. "All right," he stated flippantly. "I don't need you to tell me. In fact, I know exactly who it is. And I'm going to make sure she gets what's coming to her."

He watched Mim closely for a reaction.

After a few seconds of silence, Mim crowed, "Ohhhh, no, you don't! I'm wise to THAT game! You think I'm going to either say something about not bothering 'her' or correct you and say it's actually a 'him'! Him, her, them, it, I'm not telling which!"

"Well, I think we can rule out 'them' and 'it,'" Mozenrath sighed, "unless you promoted a potted plant to the inner circle without my approval."

Mim opened her mouth, eyes sparkling –

"DON'T GET IDEAS," Mozenrath warned. "I'll just have to go on a little quest to figure out who your partner in crime is, and whoever they are, they'll know in no uncertain terms that they have to withdraw their end of the pact or pay the price."

He flinched suddenly. "And, in fact, I know exactly who you agreed to this with."

"Oh, DO you, now?" Mim retorted.

"I don't know how I didn't see it before," Mozenrath growled. "There's only one person in our circle who has a history with cats." His voice dripping venom, he seethed, "YZMA."

...

Aerith stepped outside through the castle's front doors to observe the day's conditions. She couldn't help but smile as soon as she felt the warmth of the sun and the gentle cool of the breeze that blew lightly. The sky overhead was a brilliant blue, punctuated here and there with puffy clouds.

Aerith was pleased to see this, not for her own sake, but for that of her companion. She turned back to look at the girl who still stood within the shadows of the entrance hall. "Come on out!" Aerith encouraged with a sweet smile. "It's a wonderful day!"

With trepidation, Naminé crossed the threshold, stepping into the light. Immediately, she felt the same sensations Aerith had noticed: the warmth of the light, the soft pressure of the breeze. The wind carried with it dual scents, as well: a more natural aroma reminiscent of plants and the smell of someone cooking food down below in the city.

"It's amazing," Naminé said breathlessly.

"If I remember," Aerith stated, "you weren't outside much."

Naminé nodded. "I did get to see the outside world more than once, but I spent most of my life locked up, either in Castle Oblivion or the old mansion. It almost feels strange, to be able to walk in the open air, under the sun."

"Is it a good kind of strange?" Aerith asked.

"Yes," Naminé confirmed. "Very good."

Aerith nodded. "You know, I actually used to be a little nervous about going outside, myself. No particular reason. It's just that when I was a little girl, I thought the sky was too big and empty. Now I love spending time outside. It feels like being able to spend time with someone you care about."

Naminé nodded. "Thank you for inviting me to help you. I want to stay out as long as I can today."

"This will take some time," Aerith confirmed. "Though your white dress might get a little dirty."

"I think I'll be fine," Naminé said in response.

Both moved aside to let their other companions out of the door. Aeleus pulled a wooden wagon filled with flowers that had been uprooted from Aerith's personal garden in the courtyard and repotted. Behind that were loaded heavy bags of flower seed, and behind those bags, Yuffie sat on the edge of the cart, legs dangling off.

"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded lightly while Naminé giggled. "Don't sit on the cart like that! You're just making it heavier for Aeleus to pull!"

"It's not like he MINDS!" Yuffie protested. "You're strong enough to carry all of this and me, right, Aeleus?"

"Yes," Aeleus said simply and confidently.

When Aerith had first invited Naminé and Aeleus to come with her on her mission, she had requested them for different reasons, not thinking about the combination. Naminé, she wanted to give an excuse to get outside into the world. Aeleus was indeed strong enough to haul all of the supplies they needed down to their destination. Too late, Aerith had recalled their bad past, but the two of them hadn't seemed to mind when they'd reunited. Aerith figured by then it was better not to question it.

"So let's go!" Yuffie urged. "Giddyup! Mush! We're burning daylight!"

Aerith led the way; Naminé followed, and Aeleus took the cart behind them, Yuffie still hitching a ride all the way down. They ended up in the square that formed the entry to the kingdom. The flower beds here were in disarray, the once-colorful plants having been uprooted and mangled by the various disasters the Overtakers had wrought upon the city.

"All right," Aerith said. "Let's get to work."

She, Naminé, Aeleus, and Yuffie circled up around the cart, reaching in to grab the plants that Aerith had fostered.

"We'll have to space the fully-grown blooms out evenly," Aerith stated. "If too many are clustered together, it will draw attention to the empty space where they aren't. There obviously aren't enough to refill the beds completely, so we'll plant the seeds around them once they're arranged."

The quartet immediately got to work planting. Naminé ended up with soil streaks on her skirt within minutes, but minded none.

"I've always loved flowers," Aerith admitted. "What's your favorite flower, Naminé?"

"I don't know," Naminé admitted. "I haven't seen too many of them. I guess…there's a kind of flower called a 'forget-me-not,' and I've always liked that name. It means something to me."

"Myosotis!" Aerith cried happily. "They're beautiful flowers. They come in clusters of purple and blue. I'll try to find some to show you!"

After some time, Yuffie let out a loud groan. "UGGGGHHHHH. You didn't warn me this was gonna be BORING."

"Nobody's making you do this," Aerith reminded her.

"I might ditch you in a bit, then," Yuffie warned. "I'll at least help you get this bed finished up, though."

Aeleus was at the opposite flower bed, silently and solitarily planting seeds with laser focus. Aerith wondered if he might feel left out, keeping such distance from the other three. "Aeleus!" she called over him. "You're doing really well. I didn't know you gardened!"

This netted her no response.

"Did you do a lot of gardening before?" Aerith called over.

"Some" was Aeleus' only reply.

"Geez," Yuffie groaned. "Was he always like this?"

"Yes," Naminé confirmed with a smile. "Even in the Organization. It frustrated some of the others. Zexion always did most of the talking for him. I think Zexion was one of the few who wasn't bothered by his silence."

"That does sound like our Ienzo," Aerith stated.

"He was…different, then," Naminé admitted. "You wouldn't think of him as your Ienzo. But I'm glad he's changed. It suits him better this way. Aeleus, too."

"It does sound like Aeleus was just as creepy back then as he is now," Yuffie commented.

"YUFFIE!" Aerith scolded.

"NO OFFENSE!" Yuffie yelled over to Aeleus.

"None taken," Aeleus replied without looking at her.

"So, are you guys, like…okay?" Yuffie asked Naminé. "I heard that you and him have been through some stuff."

"It's a little odd to be at peace with Aeleus," Naminé admitted, "but I don't have any reason to doubt him." She looked over to him. "I trust you now."

"Thank you," Aeleus stated.

"And…you're cool with her?" Yuffie asked him.

"Yes," he replied, still not even looking over at the others.

The attention of Aerith, Yuffie, and Naminé was suddenly drawn upward as the flash of a rainbow crossed the sky. Rainbow Dash was coursing over the city from above, taking in all the sights.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Yuffie called up to her, waving frantically.

The blue pegasus halted, then sped down to land in the center of the square between the flower beds. "Hey, guys," Rainbow Dash greeted. "Whatcha up to?"

"Planting flowers," Yuffie explained. "But I'm about done." She wiped her forehead. "I'm starting to get all sweaty and gross."

"It is a little bit hot today," Aerith realized.

"Too hot?" Rainbow Dash reiterated. "Leave it to me!"

"Leave WHAT to you?" Yuffie asked, but by then, Rainbow Dash was already gone. Within a minute, a large shadow had cast itself over the four gardeners. A glance upward revealed that Rainbow Dash had shoved a large cloud into place above them to shield them from the heat.

"Thank you," Naminé told Rainbow Dash once she landed on the ground.

"Ah, it was nothin'," Rainbow Dash told her. "All in a day's work for your local Rainbow Dash."

"It has been hot and dry," Aerith observed. "I hope it doesn't get too dry for the flowers to grow."

"I can help with that too!" Rainbow Dash declared before speeding off again. She returned shortly with a smaller cloud that fit perfectly over the recently planted bed. "You might wanna steer clear of the splash zone."

Once Aerith, Naminé, and Yuffie had backed away, Rainbow Dash delivered the cloud a solid kick. It began to drizzle out its rain onto the flower bed.

"That's amazing!" Aerith cried.

"I used to be a weather pony back home in Equestria," Rainbow Dash explained. "Stuff like this was just part of the job! But I haven't seen any other pegasi around this place, so I'm guessing weather ponies are in short order. Hey, if you wanted, I could check in on this spot every now and then to make sure it's getting enough water and sun. Plants aren't really my thing, but I can at least handle that part!"

"That's so nice of you," Naminé replied.

"Heh," Rainbow Dash laughed. "'Nice' is my middle name. You might as well call me Rainbow Nice Dash. …Or maybe Rainbow Awesome Dash. I'll sit on which one's cooler."

"Well," Yuffie declared, "I'm gonna bail. My bed is done, and I'm really sick of plants." She dusted the excess soil off her clothing, then turned to head back for the castle. "Now to find something actually fun to do."

"Mind if I tag along?" Rainbow Dash was suddenly trotting alongside of her. "I've already memorized the bird's-eye view of the city. And I'm in the mood for some fun of my own!"

"Let's go get in some trouble together!" Yuffie said with a smile as she broke into a run, Rainbow Dash keeping pace.

"I hope it's the good kind of trouble," Naminé said in concern.

"With Yuffie, you never know," Aerith said with a shrug. "Anyway, if we assume Aeleus has that bed covered, there are two more we have to work on."

"I'm glad," Naminé stated. "I almost want to stay outside forever."

"Well, that might get a little uncomfortable when you want to sleep," Aerith laughed.

The two returned to their work. When Aeleus finally did look up from his work, Naminé and Aerith were laughing together, paying him no mind.

Seeing their mirth, he smiled, though they would never know.

...

In almost no time since the arrival of the cats, the laboratory had descended into utter chaos.

Yzma and Zevon had teamed up to work together on potions for the day. This involved lining up all of their glass beakers, test tubes, and flasks on the edges of the counters. Of course, when cats see glass items lined up on the edge of high furniture, a primal instinct kicks in, and there is only one thing they ever want to do in such a circumstance.

Zevon made a dive to save a flask full of mint-green potion from hitting the ground. After he let out a "phew" of relief, the calico cat who'd knocked it over then proceeded to spill a heliotrope-tinted brew right onto Zevon, causing Zevon himself to turn a bright shade of heliotrope.

"GET AWAY FROM MEEEEE!" Yzma yelled as she desperately peeled cats off the table and chucked them across the room.

Things weren't going so hot back in the robotics and mechanics division, either. Jack and Irmaplotz were once again steeped in conversation while Jack tuned up his bots. A striped orange cat came plodding along Jack's worktable, and Jack had immediately been distracted, dropping his wrench and going starry-eyed.

"KITTY!" he shrieked. "YOU'RE SO CUUUUUTE!"

Irmaplotz's heart swelled. She really did love how Jack, evil as he was, had no reservations about appearing sweet or feminine when the occasion called for it.

"Nice kitty?" Jack reached out to pet the striped cat. "Awww, you're the most adorable thing! What are you doing all the way down – "

And then, as events always turn sour for Jack Spicer, the cat suddenly went rogue, deciding it didn't like Jack's face and leaping on him to scratch violently at him.

Jack let out a high-pitched, piercing scream, followed by a falsetto "GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOOOOOOOOFF!" while he tried to shove the cat away, resulting in a flurry of limbs and a tumult of fur.

Thinking quickly, Irmaplotz seized the cat by the scruff, bringing it close to her face. "YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she yelled at the feline.

The cat gave a disappointed yowl. Irmaplotz turned an about-face, tossed the cat down the hall, and watched it stalk away indignantly.

"Whoa…" Jack said with eyes that sparkled all the more as he watched his girlfriend's firm, confident stance.

She whirled about to observe him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jack replied. "Just a couple owies. And it hurts – " (In fact, his eyes were watering slightly, and Irmaplotz could see scratch marks here and there on his pale face) " – but at least it didn't get my eye or anything, right? Thanks for – hoooooOOOLY COW WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?"

"Oh." Irmaplotz realized what was happening. He was probably noticing the redness and swelling. Why did she always forget until after the fact? "That's probably because I'm allergic to cats. Like, really allergic."

"HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?" Jack shrieked. "YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE GONNA POP LIKE A BALLOON! WHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOOOOOOOO IDUNNOWHATTODOOOOOOO!"

All of a sudden, Herb had descended, shoving an implement into Irmaplotz's hand. "Stab yourself in the thigh!" he demanded.

Irmaplotz didn't question it. She did as she was told, and upon feeling the needle's prick, she suddenly found it a lot easier to breathe. "Is this some kind of magic potion?" she asked.

"I mean, I guess," Herb replied. "I kinda roll with the theory that 'magic' is really just science we haven't explained yet. Like, don't tell Mozenrath that. He wouldn't be down. But that's just epinephrine. It's a common med to treat allergies. Scarlet and I started carrying pens after we adopted Snatcher into the family. That whole milk thing. …He's cool talking about that now, right? You guys knew?"

"Yeah," Irmaplotz said with a nod. "We know."

"You're a lifesaver," Jack told Herb.

"Nah," Herb denied. "Just lookin' out for the fam."

"Are…we the fam, now, too?" Irmaplotz asked.

"Duh!" Herb replied with a smile. "I got your backs, kiddos!"

He returned to his workstation, removing yet another cat from in between the framework of planks and bedsheets he'd put up to obscure his project.

"You REALLY don't want us seeing what's behind there, do you?" Irmaplotz observed.

"Gothel wanted me to keep it on the down-low," Herb explained. "No hints. Though I will say that I'm more than a TINY bit excited to see its EXECUTION, if you catch my drift."

Irmaplotz and Jack looked between each other, confused.

"Unless you're making, like, a tiny guillotine for executing small creatures and nothing else," Irmaplotz suggested, "I have no idea what that hint even means."

"You'll just have to wait for the grand unveiling!" Herb laughed.

Mozenrath's bellow of "YZMA, WE NEED TO TALK!" echoed across the whole lab then.

The sorcerer was attempting to look as dignified as he could, storming toward Yzma while adjusting his clothes and headwear from the momentum of the rollercoaster. "I know you're behind – " He halted to glance curiously at Zevon. "Why are you heliotrope?"

"Oh my – " Yzma cried. "Mozenrath, you can't just ASK people why they're heliotrope!"

Mozenrath shrugged. "I guess those recessive purple genes had to kick in sometime. The point is, I know about you and the cats."

"Oh, REALLY?" Yzma retorted. "You KNOW how they've been plaguing my every waking moment? You KNOW how they've been sabotaging all of Zevon's and my work?"

"No," Mozenrath growled, "I KNOW HOW YOU'RE HOLDING UP THE PACT THAT KEEPS US FROM GETTING RID OF THEM!"

"Wha – I am doing no such thing!" Yzma cried.

"YOU USED TO BE A CAT!" Mozenrath yelled at her.

"AND I HATED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!" Yzma snapped back. "Sure, I might still gravitate to a feline aesthetic and cat-related bedroom pet names, but – "

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say that last part," Mozenrath muttered.

" – seeing this many cats brings back memories I'd rather not recall!" Yzma cried. "Of all of the…the…"

"UNDIGNIFICATION!" Zevon yelled.

"THAT!" Yzma agreed. "I want these cats OUT! Unfortunately, all of my attempts to rid myself of them have led to pain, which I'm guessing links to this 'pact' you're talking about."

"Someone in the founder circle contributed to a Pact Enchantment with Mad Madam Mim," Mozenrath seethed, "and until that person gives it up, we're stuck with the cats!"

"Well, don't look at ME!" Yzma cried. "You think I want all of these wretched creatures ruining my day? If you're looking for the culprit, think about who might actually want to help Mim in her neverending quest to torture everyone in sight! Her partner in crime! Her constant companion!"

"Aghoul," Mozenrath seethed. "Why didn't I see it before?"

Without any further comment, he turned and practically bolted out of the lab.

"Mother!" Zevon cried as he struggled to pick up a row of graduated cylinders one by one before the calico could send them spilling. "We have to strategerize a new plan for getting rid of these felinae!"

"Oh, and of course, Vexen isn't even HERE and HIS counter remains untouched," Yzma groaned.

"Probabilitary because he puts all of his glasswarings in the cabinet," Zevon grunted. "Who wants to waste that much time on organizationality when you can spend it on actual productivation?"

"Yes, well," Yzma sighed, "so long as his things aren't out on the counters, the cats will stay focused on – "

The idea hit them both at the same time.

Immediately, they rushed to empty out Vexen's cabinets and line up as much of his glassware on the edges of his workspace as possible.

...

"Hey! Jasmine!"

Upon hearing the familiar voice call her name, Jasmine halted her stroll through the shopping district, turning to see Aladdin run to catch up with her.

"Guess what I found," he said cheekily with his hands behind his back.

"What?" Jasmine asked coyly.

"It's a surprise," Aladdin told her. "Turn around."

So she did, and immediately, his hands worked quickly to fasten something thin and cool around her neck. Once he'd finished, Jasmine took the item that now lay against her upper chest into her hand, turning it up so that she could see the pendant she was now wearing.

"Oh, Aladdin!" she cried upon observing the carved white dove. "It's beautiful!"

"Made me think of you," Aladdin admitted. "Abu thought I was being too sentimental by picking it up, but I knew you'd love it."

"Where is Abu, anyway?" Jasmine asked, facing Aladdin once more.

"Huh?" Aladdin replied, gesturing to his shoulder. "He's right – "

But he wasn't.

"ABU?" Aladdin said in a panic.

"You don't think something happened to him!" Jasmine gasped.

"I'm more worried about him thinking he can do a little shopping of his own without actually doing the paying part," Aladdin groaned.

"Or trying to pick the lock on Ienzo's safe again," Jasmine sighed. "Let's go find him."

They hustled through town, calling out the monkey's name:

"Abu?"

"Abu!"

They agreed to make a quick sweep of the public gardens and the fountain court before returning to the castle to make sure he wasn't making trouble there. As soon as they entered the gardens, however, they could hear a lone voice from around the corner:

"…Yes. That's very exciting. You sure have had a lot of adventures, haven't you?"

A familiar chattering responded.

Aladdin nearly cried out Abu's name, but Jasmine gently put a hand over his mouth. She then removed it, creeping quietly toward the sound and beckoning for Aladdin to follow.

"Oh, I get it," Aladdin whispered before padding silently after her.

They peered around the corner of a rock wall to see Abu up in the branches of an emerald-green-leaved tree, leaping from branch to branch as he told the tales of his life in Agrabah with intense gestures and emphatic chirps.

Down below, Fluttershy sat beneath the tree, watching him. She gasped; "Really? That sounds so scary. I'm glad you made it out okay."

Abu gave a dismissive wave and a cheep that was utterly braggadocious.

"What else happened to you back then?" Fluttershy asked. "I wanna hear all about it."

Jasmine gave Aladdin a nod before moving back, and he followed her away from the scene, out of the public gardens and back into the residential district.

"I've noticed a lot of the newcomers finding friends already," Jasmine told Aladdin. "Mal and Lianna have caught up with Riku and taken to his friends. Dr. Doppler and Amelia have been socializing around the castle, and I think I even saw Doppler talking to Twilight earlier. Kazuichi follows Sonia wherever she goes, though last I heard, he and Jim had actually taken up somewhat of an apprentice position in Cid's garage. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had talked about joining the informal baking club later, and Rarity was speaking with Leon about setting up some sort of studio. I passed Rainbow Dash with Yuffie on the way here. Sora, Roxas, and Rosalina finally found the Lumas they were looking for and brought them back out to the outer gardens; I said hello to them too. And I know Aerith had wanted to invite Naminé out today. I was a little worried this whole time that I hadn't heard anything about Fluttershy until just now. She seemed so shy when we were all getting introduced."

"Well, it is in her name," Aladdin pointed out. "Still, I'm glad she found a place. Didn't Pinkie say she liked animals? It makes sense Abu would fall in with her."

"I wonder if maybe she does better talking to animals than to other people," Jasmine theorized. "Well, she isn't a human…but you know what I mean."

"No, no, I get it," Aladdin replied. "We'll leave them alone for now. If this friendship helps Abu stay out of trouble, I'm all for it!"

...

Ravess surveyed the auditorium. Row upon row of empty seats, save for the two in the upper left balcony. One of whom she knew wasn't even looking at her, and the other of whom she knew was waiting for her to finish up so he could take the stage for his own practice session with that awful guitar.

The fact that Vexen's attention was divided didn't matter to Ravess. It never did. He always heard what she wanted him to nonetheless. As for Aghoul, she had plans to make him wait. If he wanted to usurp her stage, he would have to survive her longest concerto.

She lifted the violin to her chin, the light pressure of her skin making contact with the wood an almost deafening sound in the large, near-empty chamber. Then her bow raised up, came down upon the strings, and began to saw rapidly, blaring an emphatic, urgent piece that spoke of importance and elegance in its fast-paced notes. She was alone on the stage save for the grand piano that had always graced the performance space.

Vexen had chosen the balcony because of its height. Yes, it was further away from Ravess, but he knew their understanding covered this. He wanted to be able to watch her while working undisturbed. Surely no one else would think to find him in the upper left balcony.

And yet Aghoul wasn't just anyone else. Of course the moment he'd located Vexen, he'd intentionally chosen to sit right next to him and talk his ear off while waiting for Ravess to evacuate the stage, and it was taking all of Vexen's willpower to focus his eyes on the page of the journal he was filling and his ears on Ravess down below without simply blasting Aghoul right off the balcony in a burst of frost.

"I hope she hurries up," Aghoul huffed. "I need to practice a little 'axe murder,' if you know what I mean. Because a guitar is an 'axe' and I'm going to – "

"I know what you mean," Vexen snapped. "And you can't rush her. Silence yourself and listen to actual art."

"Say," Aghoul said as he attempted to peer over Vexen's broad shoulder, "you've been awfully focused on that journal. One might say dead set."

"Haven't you run out of puns by now?" Vexen barked softly as he shifted to keep the journal covered.

"Whatever's in there must be VERY important," Aghoul guessed.

"Perhaps it is merely something I have chosen to focus on so that I do not have to deal with you," Vexen grunted.

"And yet here I am," Aghoul pointed out, "and you're still doodling, for all the good it does you getting rid of me."

"It is not DOODLING," Vexen hissed. "These are DIAGRAMS."

"Of what?"

"Of things you have no business knowing or caring about! Now BE SILENT! Have you NO respect for Ravess' performance?"

"So this is what you're like in love," Aghoul teased. "It's almost adorable."

"HOW MANY TIMES MUST I ASK YOU TO BE SILENT?"

"Show me what you're doodling – I'm sorry, DIAGRAMMING – and I'll be quiet."

"NO!"

Ravess scowled as she heard the hushed argument coming from above. Though she had little idea what was being said, she was confident it was Aghoul's fault. She would just have to play all the louder and faster to get him to notice how brilliant her composition truly was.

His attention was soon to be brought to the stage, however, by the worst possible attraction.

A cat darted out onto the stage as if being chased. It did this because it was, in fact, being chased. By one of the many who were frustrated by the cats, no less. And he was about to get three more people on that boat with him.

Barreling after the cat, Snipe screamed, "AAAAAAAAAAAAA!", mace held high. The cat darted beneath the piano, in and out, to the other side, and before Snipe could realize that the feline was already to safety, he had begun to bash the piano to bits, one great dissonant chord playing out before it gave way to the sounds of splintering wood and snapping strings beneath Snipe's repeated blows.

"SNIPE!" Ravess finally stopped playing, whirling on her brother. Above, Vexen and Aghoul watched meekly. Ravess' face flushed with anger as she yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"I'M GETTING RID OF THESE STUPID CATS!" Snipe insisted as he continued to bash the lifeless piano. "AND I'M GONNA DO IT IF IT TAKES ME ALL DAY! ONE BY ONE!"

"You are RUINING MY PERFORMANCE!" Ravess barked. "And there are no CATS in that pile of what USED to be our piano!"

"Hey, if anything, I made your nerd performance better!" Snipe argued. "That's what we call 'percussion'!"

"NO IT ISN'T!"

"Idiots," Vexen whispered. "She and I are magnets for idiots. And I have no idea how to reverse it."

"Oh, well," Aghoul said with a dramatic shrug. "Looks like the show's over. The stage is all mine."

"At least you will stop bothering me with questions," Vexen muttered.

"He might," Mozenrath's voice sounded from behind them both, "but I have a few."

Vexen and Aghoul both whirled, crying "MOZENRATH!" in surprise.

"Specifically for you." Mozenrath pointed accusingly at Aghoul with his right hand while holding a Russian Blue by the scruff in his left. "Do you know what this is?"

"…It's a cat," Aghoul answered. "I really thought someone as well-read as you would at least know what a CAT is."

"I KNOW WHAT A CAT IS!" Mozenrath roared. "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT AND ITS FIFTY BROTHERS ARE DOING IN MY BASE!"

Aghoul shrugged. "Scratching up furniture. Taking up an entire bed by sitting in the exact middle of it. Cat things."

"YOU AND MIM ARE HOLDING A PACT ENCHANTMENT TO STOP ANYONE FROM KILLING, MAIMING, OR EVICTING THESE CATS," Mozenrath accused. "And you will withdraw your half of that enchantment now if you don't want to know HOW I CAN MAKE YOU WISH YOU COULD DIE A SECOND DEATH."

"Technically, I never died a first death," Aghoul stated. "But you've got the wrong man."

"DON'T LIE TO ME, AGHOUL!"

"Mim never said anything to me about any enchantment or any cats!" Aghoul pouted. "She went ahead and did this without me, just to make me feel left out! …Why does that turn me on so much?"

"I – you – " Mozenrath sputtered. "That…does actually make sense as to how you two work." He sighed. "All right. You're off the hook…for now. But if I find out you lied to me…tonight, you're going to rest in pieces."

He dropped the Russian Blue cat directly in Aghoul's lap before storming out.

"You know," Aghoul commented, "over in Egypt, they know how to give their pets a PROPER burial."

"Why do I get the sense that you were lying to Mozenrath's face?" Vexen asked.

"Because you're paranoid," Aghoul stated. "This is actually the first I'm hearing of any cats. If I'd've known Mim was going to release a plague of them, I would've helped her obtain more."

Vexen regarded Aghoul with suspicion before turning his attention back to the stage below, where Ravess and Snipe were still yelling at each other while the target of Snipe's chase watched from a front-row seat, tail twitching.

Aghoul tried to take advantage of Vexen's diverted attention to get a look at the journal. Vexen, without turning his head a millimeter, slammed the book shut.

...

To Sora, Riku, Papyrus, and Katara, the fountain in the Outer Gardens looked like exactly that: a fountain. There was no longer any sign of the Gate that led back to the Observatory. Instead, the fountain seemed once more to be in working order, water cascading down all four sides.

Rosalina stood before the quartet, looking first at the fountain, then turning to face them. "What do you see?" she asked.

"Nothing," Sora said as he scratched his head. "Is that Merlin's charm, or is the Gate just…gone?"

"I'M NOT EVEN CERTAIN WHERE I'M SUPPOSED TO SEE A GATE," Papyrus admitted.

"This has to be Merlin's magic," Katara said in anticipation. "This is going to be amazing, isn't it?"

"And to think you didn't use to believe in magic," Riku chuckled.

"I've learned a lot, okay?" Katara countered teasingly. "And I can still tell the difference between a fake magician and a real one."

"Allow me to show you the way," Rosalina stated. "What you must all know, and can never tell another…is that the Gate is hidden in this fountain."

"But we knew that," Sora said, confused.

However, he soon remembered how the Fidelius Charm worked when to the eyes of all present, the water falling down the back side of the fountain suddenly ceased, revealing itself to be a mere illusion. The Gate was clearly visible now.

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus' eyes bugged out of his sockets. "THAT IS AMAZING!"

"Come inside, please," Rosalina said with a smile.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Sora said before charging in, Riku following. Rosalina gestured for Papyrus and Katara to go ahead, and once she followed, the Gate was visible to no one.

On the Gate platform, Riku, Papyrus, and Katara gasped and gaped at the sight of the Observatory, its myriad of Lumas buzzing about.

"I TOLD you this place was cool!" Sora asserted.

"INCREDIBLY COOL!" Papyrus agreed.

"It's BEAUTIFUL," Katara told Rosalina.

"Thank you," Rosalina replied demurely.

"And you traveled between the worlds on this?" Riku asked. "I'm not gonna lie…that doesn't sound like a bad life. You get to stay in one home, but everything around you changes. You don't get bored or feel trapped."

"Hey, that is pretty nice," Sora realized.

"It is," Rosalina confirmed. "No matter where I go, I am always home, among my family." She stepped toward the beam of light leading to the upper walkways. "Come with me. I wish to show you how the domes work."

Within minutes, all five had reached the fountain dome below. "Do you see that star up there?" Rosalina asked, indicating the ceiling.

"Yeah!" Sora said with a nod.

"It is a pull star," Rosalina explained. "You can use it to enter the upper dome and look at the places it is linked to. That is how we observe. From there, if you see somewhere you want to go, then you may simply focus on it and the pull star will transform you into a launch star that transports you. Try it out if you wish, though if you were looking to launch, I will have to find a Luma to send alongside you for your return."

"We'll just look for now," Riku suggested.

Sora was the first to attract himself to the pull star, floating up into the upper reaches, beyond the ceiling, where it opened out onto the vast reaches of space. "Whoa!" His face broke out into a wide smile once he took in the view. "RIKU! You gotta come up here and look! It's gonna blow your MIND!"

"Hang on, hang on! I'm coming!" Riku laughed as he drew himself up to Sora's position. Once the ceiling view melted away, he went slack-jawed in awe. "It's wonderful," he said breathlessly.

"Look at that!" Sora pointed toward one of the locales the dome was linked to. "I've never seen that much water before!"

Riku looked to where Sora indicated, spying from far away a series of cascading waterfalls with swaying rope bridges strung between them. "That's a far cry from the falls back home," he commented. "That could give us enough drinking water to last a year out on the raft or more."

"Look over there!" Sora cried suddenly. "That one's even cooler!"

Riku turned his gaze to regard a thick jungle through which a tranquil river flowed. "Now, that's a race course waiting for us," he laughed.

Sora seized his hand suddenly, and his heart leapt. "OVER THERE!" Sora cried, tugging Riku's hand to show him what else he'd seen. It was incredibly endearing, Riku thought; Sora could see the beauty in anything new, and he was so good at showing that beauty to others. Riku had for so long wanted to "escape" the Destiny Islands, hoping for new horizons. But could he really have appreciated them for what they were without Sora's point of view?

It was almost disparaging. Sora had brought so much light into Riku's life. What did Riku have to offer Sora?

He pushed those thoughts aside, looking to Sora's new point of indication. A multilayered meadow that crossed ever-rising plateaus was bordered by floating celestial objects carved completely of wood.

"AHEM!" Papyrus' voice came from down below.

"You guys have been up there for a pretty long time," Katara chimed in. "Maybe you should give us a turn?"

"There are five other domes that offer similar views," Rosalina explained to them. "You could use another to look at your leisure. The kitchen may offer you some surprises."

"THEN LET US BE OFF AT ONCE!" Papyrus seized Katara's hand in his red-mittened one, and he practically dragged her out of the fountain, both of them laughing all the way. Rosalina followed after giving the fountain dome ceiling a quick glance. Sometimes, two people just needed their privacy, and she wasn't going to deprive Sora and Riku of that basic courtesy.

The two boys were soon aware that they'd been left alone. "There's so much out there," Sora said in awe. "I wish we could go see it."

"We can," Riku reminded him. "We just have to find the time."

"Well…what if we went right now?"

"Huh?" Riku was taken aback.

Sora was suddenly energized. "We could go right now! All we'd have to do is pick a place and focus! We could travel to all of those places! Together! Just the two of us!"

Riku had trouble finding words, at first. Then he laughed; "Kairi's rubbing off on you."

Sora cocked his head; "Huh?"

"She told me how she said that to you, back when we were building the raft," Riku admitted. "She wanted to apologize for almost leaving me behind. It doesn't bother me. Things were different when we were younger. And if I'm being honest, I'd love to go with you, right now. But we have things to take care of here. And even if we went now, how would we get back?"

"Oh, yeah." The last point in particular seemed to strike Sora. "Well…maybe we plan on it later. When there's less going on. We could race through the jungle, ride down the waterfalls, and spar in the meadow together!"

"That sounds pretty perfect, actually," Riku admitted. Then, deciding to air the laundry that had gotten slightly soiled earlier: "Are…you sure it's me you wanna go with?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Sora asked. "I love you."

"It's just…" Riku sighed. "You always know how to bring out the bright side of things. When you're around, I never have to worry about falling back to hate and anger, because your smile chases it all away. Everything looks brighter with you. What do I give to you?"

"So much, Riku!" Sora insisted. "I can handle a lot on my own, but I get in over my head sometimes. You always know how to clean up the mess and get us both to stable ground. Castle Oblivion, the Mark of Mastery…both times, I got trapped, and the bad guys would've had me if you hadn't been there for me. I still can't believe that the whole time, when Naminé had me out to fix my memories, you waited for me that whole year, and you were the only person who remembered I existed."

"Not the only person," Riku corrected him.

"Yeah, yeah," Sora dismissed. "The point is, you remembered me when pretty much everyone else didn't. The thought of being forgotten by everyone is scary. But I know I don't have to worry about that with you. I'm actually sorry I made you wait."

"It wasn't your fault," Riku told him. "If anyone needs to apologize to me, it's the Organization, and for more than just that."

"I know we haven't had our missions line up a lot since this whole Mozenrath thing started," Sora stated. "But every time I'm away, I still think about you and how you're doing. I know that everyone else you're helping has to be doing fine, because they can count on you, just like I know I can count on you. That's what you give to me, Riku. You're always there. And…well…I feel strong with you."

The grip of their hands tightened, and it was unsure who had initiated it.

"I like what you said about the Observatory, by the way," Sora went on.

"How so?" Riku asked.

"Being able to stay in a home while flying from world to world," Sora clarified. "When we grow up and things settle down…if it's okay with you…I wanna live like that. With you."

"That actually sounds perfect," Riku stated contentedly. "Though you do realize that if we traveled like that, things never would really settle down for us. We'd basically be looking for trouble."

"I know. But isn't that what you want?"
"Yeah," Riku admitted. "It is. And I KNOW you don't slow down."

"Then we'll do it."

They floated there for quite a while longer, chatting about the future as the cosmos whirled around them, and regardless of any warning anyone could have given them, that future didn't scare them at all.

...

As soon as Discord became aware of an improv troupe having semi-regular meetings on the WHAM ARMY base, he made a point of attending, as improvisation was one of his favorite things. That day, the only three others who had turned up were Snatcher, Scarlet, and Gothel, all of whom were learning quickly that while Discord was quick to come up with dialogue at the drop of a hat, his penchant for randomness often meant a scene would make less sense than usual. Take, for instance, when the four of them had attempted to make a word-at-a-time story.

Snatcher: "Once…"

Gothel: "Upon…"

Scarlet: "A…"

Discord: "Chicken."

Now, Scarlet and Discord were up to play the Alphabet Game as the other two watched.

"Okay, so this game is really simple," Scarlet explained. "You and I take turns saying a sentence to each other to make a scene. But I'll start my sentence with a letter of the alphabet, let's say A, and then the next sentence you have to say starts with B. Then I do C, and we go to the end. If we start in the middle, then A follows Z, and we just go right back around to where we started."

"Question," Discord broke in.

"Yes?" Scarlet replied.

"If everyone here is from different worlds, and, furthermore, different nations within those different worlds," Discord asked, "how can we possibly all know the same twenty-six-letter alphabet?"

"DON'T!" Snatcher cried from the front row of the audience. "DON'T question it! We've thought about it, we've reached NO conclusions, we've driven ourselves mad for a day, and we ultimately resolved never to try and make any sense of it again!"

"Fair point," Discord relented. "So, how do we decide where to start?"

"First audience suggestion is my starting letter!" Scarlet called out.

"Oh, give me a chance to think – " Gothel broke in.

"I heard an 'O,'" Discord teased.

"I didn't mean the letter," Gothel sighed.

"Taking the O!" Scarlet decided. "Gothel gave us the letter – "

"I didn't give you the letter!"

" – so Snatcher gets to pick the scene."

"Hmm." Snatcher thought it over. "How about…a publisher rejecting a terrible author's drivel manuscript?"

"How perfectly cheery," Discord said sarcastically.

"You're the author," Snatcher stated pointedly.

Scarlet clapped her hands together, grinning excitedly. "Let's do this." She turned to face Discord, putting on her most dour expression. "Okay, Mr. Discord, I'm sorry to inform you of this, but we can't accept your manuscript at this time."

"Pray tell, why not?" Discord replied.

"Quite simply," Scarlet stated, "it's garbage."

"Really?" Discord pretended to act shocked.

"Some people might even call it the worst novel ever written," Scarlet went on.

That was when the white cat with one black spot around its eye jumped up onto the stage behind Scarlet. Discord's eyes immediately widened. Without thinking, he cried, "That is a cat!"

Caught off guard and thinking this another of Discord's attempts to "spice up" the scene, Scarlet said with trepidation, "Undeniably…so?"

"Very adorable, at that," Discord stated, having forgotten about the improv role play entirely.

"Will you focus on the subject of your terrible book here?" Scarlet asked.

"Excuse me," Discord replied, "but I'd rather talk about the cat."

Still thinking Discord was playing along, Scarlet decided to try and correct him in character; "Zounds, it amazes me that you think 'excuse' starts with 'X.'"

"Actually, it might as well," Discord stated, still not even realizing the pattern he was continuing.

"But it DOESN'T," Scarlet sighed.

"Couldn't you make an EX-ception just this once?" Discord asked.

"Don't test me," Scarlet grunted.

"Entertainingly enough, a lot of my favorite words happen to fall into that pattern," Discord commented, "like 'EX-perimental' and 'EX-pendable."

"For real," Scarlet asked, "WHAT are you doing?"
"Giving out Easter Eggs for the sharp-eyed," Discord stated.

"Hey, can we get back to the point?" Scarlet asked.

"I can go back to talking about the adorable cat," Discord told her.

"Just forget the cat!" Scarlet cried.

"Kitty is so ADORABLE!" Discord clasped his hands together as he gawked at the cat, eyes glittering. The cat had begun to groom itself by licking its paw and wiping off its head.

"Look," Scarlet resolved, "the book is trash and I'm not publishing it."

"Might I ask what you mean by 'book'?"

"NO!" Scarlet yelled.

"SCENE!" Snatcher and Gothel yelled in unison.

"Scene…?" Discord looked at them in confusion. "But I stopped playing almost immediately to discuss the cat."

Scarlet's gloved hand hit her forehead. Then she realized. "Oh, don't tell me there really was a – "

She turned on a heel, and the sight of the white cat set her off entirely.

Not into a fit of anger, though.

"KITTY!" Scarlet rushed over to the feline, crouching beside it to offer it light pets. "You're so cuuuuute! Aren't you so cute? You're the cutest little thing!"

"Game's not going to go anywhere like this," Snatcher sighed. Then, more loudly, "Miss Overkill. Kindly forget about the cat so we may – "

"Nope." Scarlet held up a hand to silence him. "Taking a break. Cat time."

"Great," Gothel groaned. "Absolutely wonderful."

The door to the karaoke hall banged open, and Mozenrath stormed in. "ARCHIBALD SNATCHER!" he cried.

"Oh, what have I done NOW?" Snatcher retorted, rising from his seat to round on Mozenrath.

"The cats," Mozenrath told him. "You're the one holding the other half of the Pact Enchantment, aren't you?"
"The Pact WHAT?"

"The Pact Enchantment," Mozenrath clarified. "The one that keeps any of us from getting rid of any of the cats without enduring barely-tolerable pain!"

"I wasn't aware any such – " Snatcher halted himself, taking note of another part of Mozenrath's sentence. "Did you say 'cats' as in multiple?"

"You mean you haven't noticed THE INFESTATION?" Mozenrath roared.

"I'D ONLY THOUGHT IT WAS THE ONE!" Snatcher snapped back at him. "And you can see how well ONE is treating our little meeting, can't you?"

Discord and Scarlet were now fawning over the cat together. Discord had conjured up a dangling mouse-on-a-string toy and was using it to entertain the cat, which had become a frenzy of batting paws.

"Ugh," Gothel groaned, rolling her eyes. "Just when I get respite from having to raise a child, suddenly I'm responsible for several CATS."

"Not for long," Mozenrath stated. "Because I'm going to find whoever's holding up the other end of Mim's Pact Enchantment – "

"None of us yet has ANY idea what those words mean!" Snatcher reminded Mozenrath.

" – and get them to withdraw so we can have A MOMENT OF PEACE." Mozenrath clenched teeth and fist alike. "You SWEAR it isn't you?"

"Lord Mozenrath, I am quite patiently waiting for you to explain to me what a Pact Enchantment is in the first place!" Snatcher said in frustration.

"It doesn't matter," Mozenrath growled, looking aside. "I've ruled out everyone except two. And of those two, I'm not approaching a ten foot radius of one."

"Really, Lord Mozenrath!" Snatcher insisted. "The sooner you put aside this childish resentment toward Torchwick for – "

Mozenrath wasn't listening. He'd already turned to stalk out. "Wuya had better be the one responsible for this," he snarled to himself.

Gothel cleared her throat loudly. Snatcher looked up onstage, where three more cats had joined in, and Scarlet and Discord had been reduced to cooing messes.

"Well, there goes our improvisation session," Snatcher sighed.

...

"And so begins our baking session!" Rapunzel proclaimed, looking around the kitchen. "Thanks for joining in with us today, Nani."

"Hey, it sounded like fun," Nani replied. "I figured I could use this time to brush up my cooking skills."

"So what're we gonna make today?" Sadira asked. "A cake? A pie? Something completely wild and new and different?"

"Nothing TOO wild, I hope," Stork broke in. "Not that there's any rational reason to fear baking a dessert that could come to life and taste human flesh in a dramatic role-reversal irony, but this IS a place full of magic…"

"We'll be ready to defend the kitchen if that happens," Rapunzel declared, "and everyone's getting out alive."

Stork had to admit her conviction gave him a sense of relief.

"What about you, Pleakley?" Sadira asked. "Any ideas?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Pleakley sighed, looking not so much at Sadira as through her. "Whatever everyone else wants to try, I guess…"

"Is something wrong?" Sadira asked in concern.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong," he protested suddenly. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"If you're sure…" Sadira replied, doubtful.

The door creaked open, and the sound of eight sets of hooves clacked against the tile. "Well, hey, there!" Applejack greeted.

"Hi!" Rapunzel waved. "It's…Applejack and Pinkie Pie, right?"

"YUPPEROO!" Pinkie confirmed as she bounced in place. "We heard you guys had this super-cool BAKING CLUB, so we came down here to see if we could join in! I'm GREAT at baking, you know! Back home, I worked at the Sugar Cube Corner bakery, and my personal record for cake layers was thirty-five high!"

"The more, the merrier," Nani stated. She couldn't really see how creatures without hands could hold baking implements, but at this point, she wasn't about to question anything.

"What about you, Applejack?" Rapunzel asked. "Any baking experience?"

"Plenty!" Applejack confirmed with a nod. "Maybe I don't have the range of experimentation Pinkie's done. She's worked with all kindsa desserts."

"I've done chocolate cakes and caramel pies and marshmallow puddings and cranberry tarts – " Pinkie began to rattle off.

As she kept listing, Applejack continued, "But the Apple family's legacy's always been with apples, an' that means makin' 'em into all kindsa treats. You name it, if it's got an apple in it, I can do it. An' maybe I can pick up a couple other tricks if we keep meetin' regular. Learn how to use other stuff besides the basics."

Rapunzel gasped. "Apples! What if we make apples the flavor of the day?"

"Sounds delicious!" Sadira cried.

"I'm in," Nani confirmed.

"I suppose those have a very low risk of coming to life and cannibalizing their makers…" Stork mused.

"Yeah," Pleakley agreed, lackluster. "Sure."

"Okay, something is DEFINITELY wrong," Nani said as she looked to Pleakley.

"You…wanna talk about it?" Rapunzel asked.

"No," Pleakley sighed. "It's…it's nothing. Really!"

"Is there anything we can do to help cheer you up?" Pinkie asked. "Sing songs? Take a dance break? Paint the kitchen a prettier color before we start?"

"Or maybe Pinkie an' I just gotta sit this round out," Applejack suggested. "If ya don't feel like talkin' 'cause us strangers are here, well, we can leave ya alone with the people ya trust."

"Oh, no, no, no, please don't do that!" Pleakley protested. "Seriously, I just didn't sleep well last night. I…should actually go see if I can catch up on lost time." He forced a yawn. "See? I'm just tired. You all have fun without me."

He left the room quickly, visibly drooping.

"Something is DEFINITELY wrong with him," Nani insisted.

"I wonder how we can get him to talk about it," Rapunzel mused.

"You can't," Nani informed her. "Believe me. Most of the time, when Pleakley's upset, you'll know. He makes it INCREDIBLY clear. You can't even get a word in. But if he doesn't wanna talk about it…you're not getting out of him until he decides."

"I feel kinda terrible just…letting him be upset, though," Sadira bemoaned.

"Well, maybe there IS something we can do to cheer him up!" Pinkie suggested. "If we can't get him to talk about what's wrong, we can at least get him a gift he wants, or do something he likes!"

Rapunzel gasped. "Maybe THAT can be our project today! Making a dessert for Pleakley! Nani, what are his favorite flavors?"

"Gosh," Nani replied. "He likes EVERYTHING he's tasted on Earth. Even things that just don't go together. One time, he brought me pineapple and tuna sandwiches to work. I think it's easier to list off the things he DOESN'T like."

"Well, what doesn't he like?" Sadira asked.

"My vegetable loaf…" Nani thought it over. "And that's about it. He was even ready to eat a Yule log once. Though he does really love sweets and junk food. Anything with a lot of sugar in it is going to be a hit."

"We coooouuuuuld just make an overload cake with everything," Pinkie suggested.

"He'd probably like it," Nani agreed, "but I'm not sure that because we CAN means we SHOULD."

"Well," Rapunzel suggested, "if he's not picky, that kind of brings us back around to being able to use anything, so we could go back to apples like we planned. But how could we make apples special so Pleakley would like them?"

"Is he more of a pie person or a pudding person?" Sadira asked.

"Actually," Nani recalled, "he always loves dumplings whenever I make them! He told me they 'combine versatility with portability.' You can make apple dumplings, right?"

"O'course!" Applejack confirmed. "I do it all the time!"

"Just apple dumplings?" Pinkie commented. "We gotta spice this up a bit! Especially for a cheer-up treat for a guy with a sweet tooth! Come on, everypony! Let's put those creative brains to action!"

"I'm still new at this," Stork piped up, "but from what little I know, isn't caramel the flavor that goes with apple? Finn always has to get a caramel apple EVERY TIME WE GO TO TERRA NEON, after all."

"I think more of cinnamon with apples," Nani admitted. "Apple cinnamon pie…mmm."

"Both mighty fine choices!" Applejack stated. "Worked with both a lot!"

"So, which is it?" Sadira asked. "Caramel apple, or cinnamon apple?"

Rapunzel's face lit up. "Could we do BOTH?"

"YEAH!" Pinkie Pie cried. "I've made caramel cinnamon sauce for the Cakes' tarts fifty times at least!"

Rapunzel gasped. "What if we floated the dumplings in the caramel cinnamon sauce?"

"Looks like we picked a winner!" Nani proclaimed.

"So we'll need somepony to chop up the apples," Applejack listed off, "to butter the pan, to heat up the oven, an' to make the batter for the pastry dough."

"And somepony to make the sauce!" Pinkie chirped.

"Okay!" Rapunzel decided. "Applejack, apples are your territory, so you take charge of those! Sadira, you're on apple duty with Applejack!"

"Maybe I actually CAN become a royal fruit inspector," Sadira laughed.

"Nani, you can head up the pastry batter," Rapunzel directed. "Pinkie, you can start on the sauce. I kind of wanna learn how to do both of those things, so I think I'll bounce back and forth between you two as needed. Stork, you're on duty buttering the pan and preheating the oven."

"About that," Stork broke in.

"Oh, right!" Rapunzel remembered. "Okay, new plan. You can help Nani or Pinkie, your choice, and I'll do the prep work."

"Why can't he do what she just said?" Applejack whispered to Nani.

"Stork is afraid of a lot of things," Nani whispered back. "He's kind of afraid that if he handles the oven wrong, he'll start a fire and burn down the kitchen. He said he wants to get over that fear, but he's not quite there yet."

"I get it," Applejack replied. "Mighty sweet a her to take that off his plate, then…but won't all that hair a hers risk gettin' caught up in the oven anyway?"

"I don't quite understand it," Nani answered, "but apparently her hair is magic, and it can't be damaged by anything. It's even fireproof."

"That's handy," Applejack commented.

Stork decided to play errand boy for Nani, bringing her ingredients as she called for them so she wouldn't have to leave the mixing bowl. Rapunzel returned to assisting Pinkie as soon as she'd gotten the oven warmed up. Within very little time, the warm smell of baking apples wafted out of the kitchen and through the entire level of the castle.

...

Wuya and Hannibal had wanted to use the training room for their new pet project, but as the Huntsman, Neo, and Xayide had declared it occupied, they were forced to clear out a different room to make a small battleground. It was here that they brought Draco Malfoy (the subject of their work) and Tubbimura (the tool they intended to use to mold him).

"Boy, you're halfway to Heylin already," Hannibal stated. "But you're only gonna reach half potential if ya put all your stock in magic and nothin' else."

"Believe me," Wuya sighed, "one of these days, some high-and-mighty warrior apprentice your idiot friend drafted into the group is going to can your magical abilities, and you'll be left with only hand-to-hand combat skills."

"How many times I gotta keep payin' for Chase's mistakes?" Hannibal groaned.

"How many years did you let him run around making them?" Wuya retorted.

"I don't see how this is supposed to help me at all," Draco sneered. "I've got magic for a reason. It's what makes me superior to the average Muggle. I don't NEED Muggle skills when I have magic."

Wuya and Hannibal exchanged knowing glances. "All right, kiddo," Hannibal said with a sly grin. "Go on an' show us what you can do with that wand."

Draco matched Hannibal's grin in equal measure. "All right, then."

He withdrew his wand and flicked it; "PETRIFICUS – "

Before he could finish, Wuya had zipped up to him at inhuman speed and snapped the wand in half.

"Oops," she said slyly. "But you're naturally superior to Muggles like Tubbimura here, so you should still be able to defeat him without your wand, shouldn't you?"

"You…you arse!" Draco gasped. "Wands like that aren't COMMON, you know!"

"And I'll fix it," Wuya promised. "After either you either prove your point or I prove mine."

"I'm not at the level of wandless magic yet!" Draco protested. "How do you expect…me…to…"

Wuya raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fine," Draco huffed. "I don't need it. But I don't need your combat lessons, either. It's all a load of rubbish."

"So you think you can take Tubbimura in a fight?" Wuya countered.

Draco laughed in response. "THAT lardass? Presuming he can even move without falling over, all I'll have to do is tip him onto his back!"

"Very well," Wuya said with a smirk that really should have tipped Draco off. "Do it."

Draco faced Tubbimura down. "I don't see how you think you stand a chance," he stated.

"I don't see how you think you're the first person who's said that to me," Tubbimura responded.

It happened in the blink of an eye. The heavyset ninja had roundhouse-kicked Draco, body-slammed him, and pinned him to the floor with no effort whatsoever.

"I'm surprised this one isn't BROKEN," Tubbimura jeered.

"Get off of me!" Draco gasped.

Wuya clapped, slowly and sarcastically. "Great job tipping Tubbimura over. I can definitely see how you don't need magic OR combat skills."

"All right," Draco relented. "Teach me."

Soon, he and Tubbimura faced each other on more of an equal level, Tubbimura merely acting as a sparring partner to let Draco practice the movements Wuya had shown him.

"I can't believe you've never even thrown a punch before," she sighed. "Is everyone in this generation that out of touch with physical combat?"

"Nah," Hannibal broke in. "You just missed it 'cause of that whole box thing for that millennium, but every century's got its handful of hopeless weaklings."

"Well, I think THIS weakling isn't COMPLETELY hopeless," Wuya stated.

"Call me a weakling again and I'll walk out," Draco threatened.

"Without your wand?" Wuya countered.

"I'll tell Mozenrath," Draco stated. "What will he think of how you've treated me?"

"And you honestly think Mozenrath would care?"
Draco thought it over. "…Damn."

"Now do it again," Wuya commanded.

Tubbimura gently blocked Draco's incoming punches, noting the increasing ferocity that fueled them once the blond managed to get his arm straightened and move his thumb to the outside of the fist. As the fight continued, Wuya and Hannibal touched up Draco's form, and while there was little they could do for his sheer lack of muscle mass, he could be quite agile when given time to practice, definitely more so than Mozenrath.

Wuya called Draco off for a moment, taking his place before Tubbimura. "We've done a lot of focus on your arms," she stated. "Now I want to see how you use your legs. I'm going to demonstrate a simpler kick. Watch carefully."

Draco had meant to. But as Wuya began, Draco's eye was caught by a flicker of white in the doorway to their sparring room. A fluffy snow-colored cat had entered, regarding the scene with an air of disgust.

Draco found himself smiling.

"And that's how you do it," Wuya stated. "…Were you even watching?"

"What?" Draco flinched. "Oh. Of course I was."

"Then tell me what I just did."

"You, er…you kicked him."

Wuya rolled her eyes and sighed. "One more time, then."

She went through it again.

The cat had rolled over onto its side, clearly relaxed.

"That should have cleared things up," Wuya stated. "…Draco Malfoy. What are you looking at?"

His head snapped back toward her. "You."

"Then tell me what I just did."

"…It's not easy to describe."

"Very well," Wuya said as she stepped aside. "SHOW me what I just did."

Tubbimura squared off.

The cat had rolled onto its back, batting at dust particles that floated through the air.

Draco ended up pulling off a halfhearted kick that went nowhere, his foot biting the air a good two feet to Tubbimura's left as he tried to watch the cat.

"Congratulations," Wuya said dryly. "You managed to miss the largest target you'll ever have to kick."

"What's got you all distracted, boy?" Hannibal asked.

"NOTHING!" Draco spat.

"Is that so?" Wuya strode up to him, placing an index finger on his forehead.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked.

Wuya didn't answer. Instead, she recoiled, having seen his preoccupation with the cat. "I can't believe you."

"What did you just – " Draco gasped. "You just used LEGILIMENCY on me!"

"Is that fancy-talk for 'she read your mind'?" Hannibal asked.

"A cat?" Wuya said in disbelief. "A CAT? You've been missing out on my lessons because you're distracted by a CAT?"

Draco at first felt compelled to deny it – but then realized he actually felt free to dig his heels in going the other direction. "You have some sort of PROBLEM with that, Wuya?"

She opened her mouth to gape at him in disbelief…then closed it, sighing. She'd been through this kind of thing with Jack Spicer before, and there was only one way to solve it. "Go pet the cat for five minutes."

"I think I WILL," Draco spat before then approaching the cat surprisingly gently, kneeling down before it as he softly cooed, "Hello, there…"

"Hmph!" Tubbimura scoffed. "Distracted by a CAT! He'll never make it as a Heylin! Not to mention cats aren't anywhere NEAR superior to DOGS!"

"You take that back," Draco spat without turning around.

"NEVER!" Tubbimura insisted. "I had a dog of my own back on our homeworld! I…I actually miss that dog every day. I'd do anything if I could just see – "

The sudden yipping of a chihuahua echoed down the hall. When Ashley and Mim had insisted upon bringing back one very important dog, it was out of Ashley's consideration for her teammate. The chihuahua barged into the room, barking loudly enough to scare off Draco's cat.

"Bloody bastard!" Draco hissed at the dog.

However, Tubbimura's eyes widened as he recognized the tiny creature's outline. With a bellow of "MUFFIN FACE!", he hurried toward the dog, kneeling to vigorously pet him. Muffin Face rolled over immediately, letting his owner scratch his belly. "I missed you, Muffin Face!" Tubbimura said gleefully.

"This is what our training session has turned into," Wuya groaned as she and Hannibal watched Tubbimura baby-talk to Muffin Face while Draco tried to coax the fluffy white cat down from a high shelf.

"Never had this problem with Chase," Hannibal teased.

"With the legion of cats he had under his command?" Wuya replied. "That's a flat-out lie and you know it."

"You were in the box. You can't prove nothin'."

When Mozenrath walked in on the scene, his eyes flicked from Muffin Face to the white cat to Muffin Face. "THAT HAD BETTER BE THE ONLY DOG," he said far too loudly.

"Cat troubles?" Hannibal asked.

"Cat troubles?" Mozenrath responded. "CAT TROUBLES? There are at least fifty cats running rampant in the warship, maybe closer to a hundred – I lost count thirty cats ago – and they're distracting everyone and ruining EVERYTHING! Wuya, you had BETTER be the one upholding the other half of the Pact Enchantment, and you had BETTER be in the mood to break it!"

"I don't even know what that is," Wuya said flatly.

"A PACT ENCHANTMENT!" Mozenrath repeated. "SOMEONE ELSE IN THE WHAM ARMY FOUNDER CIRCLE MADE AN AGREEMENT WITH MIM TO KEEP THIS MANY CATS, AND AS LONG AS THAT PACT STANDS, THE CATS ARE INVINCIBLE!"

"That actually sounds like a multipurpose spell," Wuya mused. "I wonder if Mim came up with that on her own."

"She's a brilliant little one," Hannibal stated. "Not to mention a looker."

"NO, SHE'S NOT!" Mozenrath yelled.

"I should ask her how this enchantment works," Wuya went on.

"STOP PLAYING STUPID!" Mozenrath roared. "WITHDRAW YOUR PACT RIGHT NOW!"

"Mozenrath," Wuya said, deadpan, as she looked him in the eye. "THAT is the student I am trying to train in the Heylin combat arts." She pointed to Draco, who'd gotten the white cat to jump down into his arms. "THAT is the student I expected to pass on his wisdom of seniority." She pointed to Tubbimura, who had picked up Muffin Face to let the chihuahua lick his face. "If I could have these animals gone, I WOULD HAVE."

After thinking it over, Mozenrath grumbled, "You're right. And I hate where this trail is leading me."

As he stalked out of the room, he muttered, "I can't believe I'm actually hoping George turned on me."

After he left, Wuya declared, "Five minutes are up. Draco, put the cat down or you don't get your wand back."

...

As Amelia stepped off the lift, she found herself on the same path as Jumba. She inclined her head to him in greeting; "Mr. Jookiba."

"Captain," Jumba replied.

"Going my way?" Amelia asked.

"Indeed," Jumba explained. "Am interested in perusing collection of analog data known as 'library.' Seems highly inconvenient concept. When information changes, cannot be updating of book that is already printed!"

"The library is the only source of information around here that makes any sense at all, really," Amelia countered. "I've been through the laboratory already, and I don't understand the scope of their computer. They seem to claim that as much information as can be found in the library can also be stored within that device. On one screen! What happens if that one screen is destroyed, then? Apparently it's already happened once this year and they had to piece it back together with magic. Well, what if the next time, the perpetrator takes the entire device and leaves nothing to repair? Now, the library, you destroy or lose one book, you've still got the rest. It might take you a bit longer to get another volume explaining the migratory patterns of astrogulls, but at least you won't lose your knowledge of literally everything else in the process."

"Am agreeing to disagree," Jumba stated.

"A rational solution," Amelia agreed. "I'm surprised to find you so agreeable. Rumor has it you're some sort of nasty character who styles himself one of the villains."

"Rumor is true!" Jumba laughed. "Am evil genius, renowned throughout galaxy for devastating experiments of destruction!"

"And yet you've cast your lot in with a bunch of do-gooders."

"Am token evil teammate," Jumba explained. "Very useful for getting in minds of evil opponents."

"Is that so?" Amelia smirked. "I suppose I must seem a threat to you, then. I am, after all, a proponent of law and order."

"Intergalactic law-enforcers are not scaring me anymore," Jumba stated. "Last one they sent to keep me in line was even more of stick in mud than you."

"And how did you solve that particular problem?"

"He is now boyfriend."

"I see."

"You have come with husband of your own, yes?" Jumba asked. "Was almost married to Pleakley, once. Must admit…do not mind concept, though he would make bigger deal of matter. That is why no proposal yet. But back to point: husband of yours is also law-enforcer?"
"Astronomer," Amelia corrected. "Actually, I came down here to find him in particular. He took the children to do his own perusing of the library catalog, and no doubt he's gotten lost in some tome about gravitational fields. I do hope the children aren't too bored."

By then, they had reached the upper balcony, entering the library's upper doors. From there, they meandered through the shelves until they heard a pair of voices speaking in turn: one masculine, one feminine.

Peering around the shelf, they saw not Doppler invested in a tome of heavy reading, but instead, him and Twilight Sparkle seated on the floor before a picture book that Twilight had enlarged with her magic. Anne, Abigail, Isaac, and Marie watched in awe, Anne actually crawling up to the book to touch the page.

"The sorcerer said – " Twilight put on a posh British accent. "'You have truly impressed me, Princess. Now I see that your worth is not in your beauty, but in your heart.'"

Twilight gently flipped the page, allowing Anne a grace period to back off. Upon reading the next text, Doppler took over: "To which the princess replied – " His voice went falsetto. "'You have just as much worth as I do in your own heart. Let us work together to keep protecting the Land of Rainbows!'"

The page flipped. "And so the Land of Rainbows was safe from the shadow birds forever," Twilight concluded.

"The end," Doppler punctuated.

The kids squealed and clapped; it was uncertain if, at their age, they'd actually picked up the nuances of the story, or any of the story at all, but still, they had been more than entertained.

"I suppose I've learned my lesson about underestimating him," Amelia whispered to Jumba.

She then strode forward, applauding softly. "Brilliant performance," she complimented. "Simply marvelous. You do play the part of the princess quite well."

"Well, I have had practice," Doppler admitted. "Used to read these sorts of books to Jim, you know. Of course, that was a long time ago."

"Miss Sparkle, was it?" Amelia asked. "You've also got quite a knack for entertaining children."

"I don't know about that," Twilight said sheepishly. "I just thought this would be fun."

"Thank you, regardless," Amelia stated.

"I should get back to my reading," Twilight stated. "There's just so MUCH here. Don't forget your books, Dr. Doppler." She inclined her head to indicate a staggeringly tall stack of books that towered up from the ground, each thicker than the last. She then used her magic to levitate an equally comically high stack of books, taking it along with her as she descended the stairs to peruse the lower level.

"Easy to see how you two met," Amelia remarked, bemused.

"It actually took us a while to decide who got to take which book," Doppler admitted as he got to his feet. "We were both looking for similar reading material. I wouldn't mind a longer conversation with Twilight, actually. She seems to know quite a lot about all of these magical phenomena I can't even begin to explain. A lot of the books I have are primers in the subject, actually. She's also taken a vested interest in astronomy, though her cosmos are quite different from ours." He smiled at Amelia and Jumba. "I see you're also making friends!"

"Quite so," Amelia confirmed, "if an unorthodox one. Mr. Jookiba seems to claim he's the exact sort of person I'd have thrown in jail on sight, were he at the top of his game."

"Is true," Jumba stated with a smirk. "I see you are very curious person."

"'Curious' hardly begins to describe it," Doppler replied. "Everything here is so new and wonderful! Sometimes I have to slap myself to be sure it isn't a dream! …I have, of course, come to the conclusion that it is NOT a dream, as evidenced by the fact that half of my face has practically gone numb."

"Heh," Jumba chuckled. "You remind me of Pleakley. For him, everything is fascinating. New planet is new adventure in which all things are beautiful and he is practically ray of sunshine."

That was when Pleakley came plodding up the library stairs, visibly depressed in how he was bent over.

"Pleakley!" Jumba waved him over.

"Huh?" Pleakley looked up rather listlessly.

"Come over and say hello to new friends!" Jumba encouraged.

"Oh," Pleakley sighed. "Okay."

As he trudged over, Doppler muttered, "I'm…not sure I see the whole 'ray of sunshine' aspect."

"Hmm," Jumba replied quietly. "Is odd…"

Pleakley approached, giving a lackluster "Hi."

"It truly is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Amelia stated, "but we must be moving on now, and we've got four children and a copious amount of books to move. Mind giving us a hand?"

Introductions were exchanged as the quartet walked back toward Amelia and Doppler's quarters, Jumba and Pleakley shouldering the weight of the books. From there, the conversation continued.

"…theories suddenly being proven left and right," Doppler babbled. "It's almost a bit much to handle."

"Yeah," Pleakley said morosely. "Kinda is."

"Well, I've rambled on enough," Doppler stated. "Tell me some more about yourselves."

"Actually," Jumba said, deciding to test the waters, "am sure Pleakley has several questions about your world of origin. Pleakley?"

"I dunno," Pleakley sighed. "I'm not that curious."

Jumba halted in his tracks. "You will excuse us." He abruptly dropped his stack of books, grabbing Pleakley by the upper arm and dragging him away.

"Hey!" Pleakley cried as his own stack of books slipped out of his arms.

"Must be attending to things!" Jumba called out as he quickly escorted Pleakley to the nearest open door. "Be going on without us!"

They disappeared behind the door, which slammed abruptly. Amelia and Doppler looked to each other in confusion.

"You don't suppose this had anything to do with Pleakley's rather…melancholy mood?" Doppler suggested.

"I suppose that has everything to do with it," Amelia whispered, "but we'd best save such gossip for further out of earshot."

They began strategizing how to pick up the fallen books while still hoisting the children.

The chamber that Jumba had dragged Pleakley into appeared to be a barrack and changing room for a royal guardsman. The roomy and well-lit space included a simple bed, a wardrobe, and a tall cabinet that was propped open to reveal an array of lances and spears.

"You are going to be telling me what is wrong," Jumba demanded.

"Nothing's wrong," Pleakley insisted.

"Am not buying it," Jumba stated. "You are usually 'fascinating' this, 'fascinating' that! We are in whole new world, and is no longer fascinating to you? Something is most definitely wrong, and we are not leaving room until you tell me what it is."

"I…" Pleakley croaked. "I dunno if I wanna even say."

"Whatever you say will not leave room we are currently in," Jumba told him. "Am evil, but am not disloyal. No matter what you have to say, I will keep the lip zipped."

Pleakley sighed. "It's just…everyone's been so nice to me, and they're all trying to hard to make it feel like home. I don't just wanna say that I'm miserable here after everything they've done. How rude would that be?"

"So," Jumba deciphered. "Is feeling of homesickness."

"Not just that!" Pleakley cried; now that the floodgates were open, the tide couldn't be held back. Even in the literal sense, as his eye was beginning to water. "Do you have any idea how much danger we're in? Remember how bad it was when it was JUST Hämsterviel we had to worry about? And now it's him plus a ton of other people! Nothing bad's even happened to US yet, but I'm looking around and seeing the damage we're helping patch up, and I've talked to some of the people whose homes got wrecked, and now I'm hearing about these missions where Aladdin got turned to this chaos version and Riku got swarmed by the physical embodiment of nightmares and it's all just so MUCH! We could all die at any minute! Or face a fate WORSE than death! But we can't go home, or the Council and Bubbles will send us right back, and I just don't know what to do! I'm SCARED!"

He trembled violently, and Jumba instinctively lightly pressed his thick hands to either side of Pleakley's round face, running his thumbs over green skin. "Is not much I can do about looming threats on the horizon," he admitted. "But all the same, will do everything I can to make sure you are safe, no matter what. No harm will come to you if I have say. Whatever happens, am here for you, and am not about to leave you to horrible fate."

Pleakley stared at Jumba in awe for a moment before throwing his arms around the larger man, burying his face in his chest. "Thank you," he moaned, voice muffled.

Jumba gently patted him on the back. "After all," he said with a cocky smile, "would practically dare all those villains to come out-villain me. I know how they think!"

"You're reformed," Pleakley reminded him, still pressed against him.

"Shhhh," Jumba teased. "Is secret between you and me, remember?"

They held each other a moment more; then, all of a sudden, the door banged open and an obscene amount of pink and floral-patterned suitcases came spilling into the barrack all at once.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" a lilting sigh sounded before Rarity trotted after her luggage. "This is absolutely PERFECT! Just enough space for all of my – "

Her eyes traveled over the room and to the now flabbergasted Jumba and Pleakley.

"Oh, dear!" Rarity cried. "Have I interrupted something? I see I have. I'm going to leave you to it, then once you give me the all-clear – "

"No, no, no!" Pleakley said with more energy than he'd previously had, backing away from Jumba as Jumba's grip flew off him. "We were just finishing up, really." A nervous laugh.

"You are sure?" Jumba asked him.

"Well…what more could you have said?" Pleakley asked with a trembling smile of appreciation.

"Well, all right," Rarity said. "If you're SURE. In that case, I really would like to begin setting up my studio!"

"Your studio?" Pleakley asked. "What kind of studio are you building here?"

"Why, a fashion design studio, of course!" Rarity squealed. "The Committee said I could use this space, as apparently, the guard who it belonged to vacated some time ago…and from what I could gather, they were eager to repurpose his space as literally anything else. It does make one wonder…but I suppose the more important question is how I'm going to get rid of the bed, and WHERE all those dreadful weapons are to be relocated. But of course it can be done quite easily if I simply take it piece by piece!"

"A fashion design studio?" Pleakley's eye lit up. "You're going to be making clothes?"

"It is what I do best," Rarity stated. "Well, the idea was primarily to focus on repairs, but while I'm here and have the time and resources, I may as well expand the wardrobes of those in need, no? Already I'm thinking that Sonia will be needing some more casual wear she can move more freely in…and that's to say nothing of that COMPANION of hers. You don't suppose I could convince him to change to a more subtle color, do you?"

"From what I have heard," Jumba said dryly, "shark boy was very insistent on obtaining clothing of that exact color."

Rarity let out a dismayed sigh. "Oh, well. I'm sure I'll get used to the sight of that shade of green combined with that shade of pink EVENTUALLY. Then, of course, there's the matter of all those belts Leon wears."

"Some people actually swear they see more belts turn up on him every day!" Pleakley stated. "To tell you the truth, that's been bothering me since I got here! If I didn't think it would be COMPLETELY gauche, I'd have told him a long time ago that he does NOT need that many belts to keep his pants up!"

"I know well the struggle of holding one's tongue in the face of terrible fashion choices," Rarity stated. "Are you familiar with the art, by the way? You seem rather passionate about this."

"Oh, I dabble." Pleakley waved his skinny hand dismissively, rolling his eye back in a casual manner. "I only picked up Earth fashion customs within a month of exile there, not to mention being proficient enough with a sewing machine to fashion my niece a princess dress for her Halloween costume within an hour of knowing she'd need one from scratch. Buuuuut it's nothing to brag about."

Rarity gasped; her eyes glittered. "It's not every day I meet a stallion who cares as much about fashion as I do!" she gasped. "Tell me! What's your opinion on glitter?"

"Why does everybody keep saying you shouldn't overdo it with glitter?" Pleakley responded with a shrug. "There is NO such thing as too much glitter. Believe me."

"Yes, is definitely such thing," Jumba grunted.

"Oh, hush," Pleakley told him, his earlier funk now dissipated completely. "You wouldn't know fashion if you looked at it with all four eyes. I have to coordinate all your outfits for you, or we'd never get anywhere!"

"I quite agree with you on the glitter front," Rarity stated. "It's only too much when it actually literally blinds the observer, and I've yet to reach that point."

"What about the whole pink-and-red debate?" Pleakley asked. "Everyone back home always said that those colors don't go together, but then, when Valentine's Day rolls around, suddenly every card is exactly those colors! Now, HERE, we have one particular redhead who INSISTS on pink, and I think she pulls it off pretty well!"

"I never have understood the stigma against it, myself," Rarity admitted. "True, the combination can be a bit much when you don't know what you're doing, but an artful dressmaker can put red trim on a pink gown in such a way that it accents PERFECTLY!"

Jumba gave a hearty laugh, clapping Pleakley on the back. "It seems our Aunt Pleakley is making new friends!"

"Aunt?" Rarity flinched, realizing Pleakley was wearing a dress and becoming instantly horrified. If she hadn't used the word "stallion" earlier, then she could've played it off; after all, he'd read as masculine to her, but she could see how her impression could've been mistaken. She'd used the word, however, and thus was the apology necessary. "Oh, dear, I am so TERRIBLY sorry for misgendering! I assumed entirely incorrectly, and that's on me – "

"Oh, no!" Pleakley waved his hands hurriedly to try and calm the situation. "It was more of a little…nickname. See, back on our homeworld, Jumba and I had to pass as humans, so we disguised ourselves as a heterosexual couple, and I was the woman. I'm a 'she' if I'm trying to pull off the disguise, but a 'he' casually, so you're fine!" A pause. "Although…" He bit his lower lip.

"Is no need to discuss with perfect stranger if you do not want," Jumba said softly.

"Oh, I know," Pleakley replied. "It's just that, well, if this turns out going anywhere, people will have to know, right? I, uh…sometimes feel like the 'digsuise' is more than just a disguise. Sometimes the 'she' feels like it actually fits, if that makes sense. But not all the time. Less than half. I'm still trying to figure that out."

Rarity nodded. "I completely understand. Do let me know if there's any update that's essential for me to refer to you respectfully, though you're by no means obligated to share EVERYTHING, and I can always dance around gendered pronouns altogether if need be. After all…between you, me, your partner, and the fencepost, I am most certainly a 'she,' and that isn't going to change, but there was a time when that was not the case."

"Oh!" Pleakley nodded. "Okay, I get it!"

"Now," Rarity went on, "to other matters, I was wondering as of our conversation just now if you had any interest in assisting me with outfitting the residents of this castle in proper attire. It seems to me that if we combined our skills, we could become fashionista extraordinaires!"

"You mean I could help you make new clothes?" Pleakley said eagerly. "Sewing AND designing?"

"That is EXACTLY what I am suggesting, my dear…Pleakley, was it?"

"Yeah, it was!"

"There's definitely enough space in the studio for two artistes," Rarity observed. "Or there will be once that bed is gone, at least."

"I'll help you get it moved out of here," Pleakley volunteered.

"Am not so much interested in fashion part of your operation," Jumba stated, "but can definitely assist with relocating of weapons. Am interested in examining primitive Radiant Garden armaments anyhow. Am not seeing how that is useful at all for range."

"It is if you throw it," Rarity stated, taking a look at Dilan's old cabinet of lances.

"Ah, I see," Jumba stated dryly. "Makes perfect sense. Throw weapon, it hits target, you have lost weapon, rest of targets surround and eliminate you."

By the time Rarity, Jumba, and Pleakley had gotten into the thick of moving Dilan's personal things out and Rarity's property in, creating a workspace filled with fabric bolts, workbenches, and sewing machines, Pleakley's mood had been much improved. When Nani, Rapunzel, and Sadira showed up at the studio door to offer the trio their freshly-baked cinnamon caramel apple dumplings, he practically burst into tears of joy.

...

The reason the Huntsman, Neo, and Xayide had commandeered the training room was because they had come across a cache of Cyclonian weaponry and battle crystals, and though all were satisfied with their own arsenal, curiosity got the better of them all. Would Neo find something she liked better than her saber? Would Xayide find a crystal that granted her a power her magic couldn't accomplish? Was there a better fit for the huntstaff than its standard power gem?

The experiment began. Neo tried her hand at swinging around a thick-bladed sword with not one but two slots for crystals in its hilt. She then discarded it flippantly without even trying to bolster it with so much as one crystal. The size of the blade was far too unwieldy compared to her parasol saber.

"Ravess and Snipe spoke of such a thing as an Oblivion Crystal that banishes the victim to a realm apart," the Huntsman stated as he rifled through the gems. "However, they also mentioned that Cyclonis kept what few of them she had hidden under lock and key. I don't suppose we are so fortunate as to have any in our current repository."

Neo then picked up a crossbow, weighing it in one hand and an orange crystal in the other.

"I wonder if the Oblivion Crystal's destination is the Realm of Darkness," Xayide mused. Then, noticing Neo's deliberation, she stated, "The orange indicates fire."

Neo nodded, loading the Phoenix Crystal into the crossbow's power chamber. This was unlike other Atmosian ranged weapons she'd seen; usually, the arrows or bolts of a given weapon were what bore the crystals, not the actual bow. This crossbow, however, seemed to fire perfectly ordinary bolts, implying the power was supplied from the weapon, not the ammo.

Neo clicked the crystal in place, then raised the crossbow at a distant target, cocking it.

What none of the three had noticed was the trio of cats that had sidled into the half-open door and begun to meander about the field.

Neo aimed the weapon, clicking on its red dot sight to place the tiny yet brilliant light over her target of choice.

The ringleader of the cats, an agile gray, was suddenly drawn to the presence of a red dot of light.

At the moment Neo pulled the trigger, the gray cat leapt for the dot.

The bolt careened through the air in a spray of fire, leaving a comet-tail behind it from the Phoenix Crystal's effect. The blazing bolt connected with the cat that was positioned between it and its mark.

Neo gasped, not having realized the presence of a cat, and horrified at the prospect of killing one.

The Pact Enchantment remained strong, however, and while the gray cat was only slightly inconvenienced by a bruise, Neo felt a jolt of electric pain wrack her body.

"NEO!" the Huntsman cried upon seeing her double over.

Neo raised a shaky hand, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Interesting," Xayide observed. "There seems to be some sort of protective enchantment on those cats that prevents them from being killed, instead dealing the damage back to the offender."

"Not for long," the Huntsman growled as he turned the huntstaff, now bolstered with an Enhancer Crystal that increased its power, upon the trinity of cavorting cats.

Neo shook her head fervently, trying to stop the Huntsman from firing – partly out of fear for the cats, and partly because she knew exactly what was going to happen.

The Huntsman's fire collided with all three cats. Instead of killing them, the blast sent a punishment pain through the Huntsman, threefold what Neo had felt. He was brought to his knees.

Neo folded her arms and smirked at him, indicating that was what he got for trying to hurt adorable animals.

"H-how…" he sputtered. "The staff…counters magic…"

"Perhaps it is the nature of the enchantment," Xayide proposed. "The staff's primary purpose is to deal damage, and to repel magic secondarily. The enchantment filters it out to counter the damage, thereby canceling the repulsion."

"That doesn't make SENSE!" the Huntsman growled.

"I believe we have a certain new recruit who would tell you that isn't a watertight argument," Xayide retorted.

Mozenrath swept into the room just as the Huntsman was standing; within a moment, the Huntsman found Mozenrath clutching at the front of his tunic desperately, staring up at him with wild eyes.

"George," Mozenrath said hoarsely, "I know you would never betray me by letting a bunch of invincible cats run rampant in our base. But please, please, PLEEEAAAASE tell me that just this once, you're the one who betrayed me by doing exactly that."

"So you have also tried to destroy the cats," the Huntsman realized.

"No," Mozenrath eked out in a whisper. Then, louder, "NOOOOOO!"

"This is in no way my doing," the Huntsman reiterated. "I am…admittedly not certain why that is a bad thing."

"It's him." Mozenrath let go of the Huntsman in a daze. "I have to deal with him." His face screwed up in anger; "Of COURSE it's him! This is how he's getting back at me! If he thinks he can get away with this, he's going to learn why he shouldn't have tried to avenge himself while on my bad side. DO YOU HEAR ME?"

He stormed out.

"…Yes," the Huntsman said after he'd left. "We heard you."

"Do you know what that was about?" Xayide asked.

"No," the Huntsman admitted. "Not a word."

Neo shook her head and shrugged.

But then it occurred to her, and the bottom of her stomach dropped.

...

Splash. Splash. Splash.

Roxas' feet disturbed the shallow water of the darkened waterways beneath the castle, where he glanced down every side hall and through every grate. "Huh," he remarked.

Turning around to make his way back from a dead end, his vision was suddenly filled by another person who he hadn't even hear coming up behind him. "WHOA!"

"Hey," Mal said casually, raising a hand to wave.

"What're you doing down here?" Roxas asked.

"Could ask you the same thing," Mal replied.

"I'm just exploring," Roxas said honestly. "This castle is so big. I wanted to see it all."

"Right on." Mal nodded. "Kind of the same for me, actually. I was looking at what was different from when my m – when Maleficent had control of this place." She smirked. "So you're not afraid of…" She raised her hands to waggle her fingers dramatically. "The graveyard of lost warriors, or the beast that lurks in the deep?"

"Graveyard?" Roxas repeated. "Beast?"

"Stories Maleficent told me to tell Riku if he started poking around down here," Mal clarified. "She was pretty sure there wasn't a way out that the barrier didn't cover, but better safe than sorry. So if he got nosy, I was supposed to act all scared and tell him about the fact that down here, the waterways link up to a catacomb that was used to bury a troop of soldiers from a century-old war, and that their ghosts would wreak vengeance on anyone who broke the seal to their tomb. Also, that the water here eventually gets deeper, and an enormous fish god swims around down below the castle, waiting to eat anyone who gets too close to its domain."

"Was any of that true?" Roxas asked.

"One HUNDRED percent made up," Mal clarified. "I mean, not hard to believe, since, y'know, what is hard to believe for us anymore? But it's just scary stories." She nodded her head back down the way they'd both come. "Wanna head back?"

"Yeah," Roxas confirmed.

Together, they strolled through the dank hall. "You know," Roxas said, "that kinda reminds me of Pence. He was…sort of my friend. I used to watch him and his two best friends from a distance when I was in the Organization. Riku and Ansem made data versions of those three to keep me company in the digital Twilight Town. The personalities were pretty close, and I'm pretty sure data Pence was like the real Pence in most ways. Anyway, Pence – data Pence – liked to collect trivia and stories about Twilight Town. We spent a whole day investigating the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, which were supernatural phenomena that…kinda just turned out to be glitches in the data. But they made good scary stories. And one night, before we all split up to go home, we traded scary stories we knew, and Pence had a bunch that he knew were fake but liked anyway. Like the story about what really happened to the architect of the bell tower."

"Sounds like fun," Mal remarked. "Wanna tell me one?"
"How about we make a deal?" Roxas suggested. "I'll tell you a scary story Pence taught me after you tell me a scary story Maleficent made up for you."

"Okay," Mal agreed. "Let's see…she also had a story for if we went poking around in her personal stuff. The demon of the chapel. Legend says that a thousand years ago, when this castle was first built, the king of this land built in the chapel in order to worship holy creatures. But one day, he heard a voice answering his prayers, giving him strange instructions for a weird ritual. What he didn't know was that it wasn't a spirit at all, but a malicious demon…"

By the time the pair had reached the atrium, Roxas was finishing his first story. "…And they say that at midnight, sailors out on the ocean can hear the bell tolling from deep down below the water."

"Oh, THAT'S creepy," Mal said in satisfaction.

A gasp drew their attention up the stairs.

"Are you telling ghost stories?" Sonia Nevermind cried.

"Yeah!" Roxas confirmed. "Know any good ones?"

Sonia rushed down the stairway to meet him and Mal. "I know many scary stories!" she gushed. "Though most of them are not about ghosts. They are about serial killers and violent crimes. The best part is that they are all true!"

"Hit us," Mal encouraged.

The trio meandered through the castle aimlessly, now seeking not so much a destination as simply a course to wander while telling their tales.

Stork exited a side bathroom, where he'd finished washing cinnamon-caramel sauce off his hands. He happened upon Mal, Roxas, and Sonia just as Sonia was concluding, "That was when the truth finally came out. The reason no one had ever caught Genocide Jack was because he was not a man at all, but a high school girl – more specifically, the split personality of a high school girl, who went into hiding after every murder, and only took over at the sight of blood!"

"Whoa," Mal said, clearly impressed. "That is HARDCORE."

"Do not worry," Sonia said with a smile. "She works with the Future Foundation now, and has actually put her slaughtering skills to good use fighting evil robotic bears."

"That sounds like a whole other story," Roxas laughed. He then put up a hand to wave to the one they were passing; "Hey. Stork, right?"

"Yeah." Stork fell into step alongside the trio. "Roxas, Mal, Sonia, if I remember correctly and the mindworms haven't taken hold."

"Three for three!" Mal confirmed.

"I thought you would be hanging out with Lea," Stork said as he fixed the eye not covered by raven hair on Roxas.

"We're gonna meet up later," Roxas explained. "Get some ice cream, like old times. …We needed to set aside some time to just really talk."

"For now, we are telling scary stories!" Sonia said in delight.

"What kind of stories?" Stork asked with trepidation.

"Demons," Mal answered.

"Ghosts," Roxas contributed.

"Serial killers!" Sonia chirped.

"Riku mentioned you were kinda freaked out by that stuff," Mal remembered. "No offense."

"None taken," Stork replied. "It is true, after all."

"We can talk about something else," Sonia suggested.

That was when a completely unnerving smile crossed Stork's face. "Oh, no," he said. "Don't stop on my account. Though if you're planning to ask ME to tell you one, well, you better be ready."

"Ready?" Roxas was confused. "Ready for what?"

"I know of things you couldn't dream of in your worst nightmares," Stork said dramatically. "The tales of the most horrific fates that ever befell the missing in Atmos. The monsters they say roam the wastelands, and what they can do to you if they find you, which is worse than death itself ninety-nine percent of the time. Things that have happened to me and my squad that I can never unsee. And some things…well, some things I just see when I close my eyes. Once I've told you about what I know, there's no going back. You'll have gotten a good look into a world of terrors and threats. You'll spend the next day watching your back. Sleep won't come easy to you. Don't say you weren't warned."

"TELL US ALREADY!" Roxas urged.

"You're gonna kill us with the suspense worse than the monsters in your stories could," Mal added.

"I wish to see if you truly CAN scare me!" Sonia dared.

"All right," Stork resolved, relishing the opportunity. "Since you chose to take this risk…this is the tale of the discovery of the Black Gorge."

...

Within Roman and Snatcher's apartment, Roman, Rémington, Grany, Peter, Garfield, and Hämsterviel sat around a rounded table to play poker – though perhaps it was more accurate to say five of them were sitting "around" the table while Hämsterviel was sitting "on" it.

Roman acted dealer for the night, flipping up the turn card.

"Ngh…" Peter grimaced visibly at his hand.

"Mister Twister." Roman let out a sigh. "You…fucking suck at this game."

"Oh?" Peter replied, this seemingly news to him.

"You looked at the first two cards I gave you and said, 'That's not good,'" Roman reminded him. "Haven't you ever fucking heard of a poker face?"

"My apologies." Peter looked at his hand again with a completely straight face…that twisted into a frown immediately.

"This is OUTRAGEOUS!" Hämsterviel screeched. "You expect me to win with a ridiculous hand like THIS?"

"POKER FACE!" Roman cried. "GODS! You all said you'd PLAYED this before!"

"You see what I have to put up with playing with Peter," Garfield grunted.

"You should take a tip from a pro like me," Rémington suggested. "I'm not letting anyone know what cards are in my hand."

This, as Grany craned to look over his shoulder and memorized his brother's hand. He casually tossed a handful of chips onto the table.

"Bold, for someone who doesn't know what cards I have," Rémington threatened. "Call."

"Raise," Garfield decided, putting in his own chips.

"I am going to CALL Garfield's new and higher ante!" Hämsterviel decided.

"I…nrgh.." Peter thought it over. "I should…ah, well, it is only a friendly game. I may as well call."

"Just fold already!" Roman groaned.

"Far be it from me, now that I've gotten this far," Peter stated.

The river was turned. "Okay," Roman declared, "let's see 'em."

Grany set down his hand. "Two pair."

"Straight," Garfield said with a grin.

Rémington scowled at them. "You were supposed to fold when I called," he grunted as he put down a pair and nothing more.

"THIS IS AN IMBECILE'S GAME!" Hämsterviel ranted as he threw down his comically worthless hand. "IMBECILE, IMBECILE, IMBECILE!"

"All right, Mister Twister," Roman sighed. "How bad?"

"Oh, dear." Peter's mouth twitched into a smirk. "Perhaps the worst hand of them all."

He lay down a royal flush.

"For you, that is," he continued.

"WHAT?" Roman cried.

"Yeah, this is what I REALLY have to deal with playing with Peter," Garfield clarified. "Poker face? No. FAKE poker face? All day, every day."

"Okay," Roman realized, "so now I know I just have to watch for you freaking out about your cards and know you have – "

"Not that easy," Garfield broke in. "He shuffles it up. Sometimes his reaction to a hand is EXACTLY what it should be. He's the worst. I love it."

"Say 'toodles' to all your wagers!" Peter cried before raking the chips toward himself, cackling loudly.

"We're playing again," Rémington demanded.

"We are most certainly NOT playing this game again!" Hämsterviel argued as he hopped up and down angrily on the table.

"New game, then?" Garfield suggested.

Before anyone could suggest anything, a fluffy white cat, mostly white with gray-brown accents and dark patches on its eyes, ears, and tail, hopped up onto the table, walking through all of the cards and flipping them about.

"Hey!" Rémington cried.

As an ace of spades got knocked off the deck by the cat's paw, Roman gave Rémington a shocked look. "You HAD an ace of spades in your HAND."

"Yeah," Rémington confirmed. "What of it?"

"You cheated."

"And?"
"And you still LOST," Roman said in awe. "I mean, yeah, when I cheat, I try not to make it obvious, but I don't pull in second to dead fucking last!"

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" Hämsterviel panicked, backpedaling and almost toppling off the table. "GET IT AWAAAAY! BACK, FOUL CREATURE!"

"You're scared of this?" Grany asked in confusion.

"It's his natural predator," Roman sighed.

"You are thinking of rats and mice!" Hämsterviel asserted. "I am a – "

"HAMSTER," the other five finished in unison.

"It's a cute cat," Grany remarked.

"I would've thought you of all people wouldn't like cats," Garfield stated.

"On the contrary," Peter stated. "I knew his past would predispose him to prefer them."

"It seems like a fifty-fifty split," Grany observed. "Yzma hates actual Bow Meows for that exact reason. She keeps trying to get me to help her start a support group for people who were turned into Bow Meows, but I actually don't mind it, looking back."

Hämsterviel was now in the act of pantomiming several exaggerated martial arts moves; obviously, he'd never been trained in any such discipline, but the cat didn't know that.

"It's ruining our game," Garfield stated as he moved to pick the cat up. "I'm gonna get it off the ta – "

"Not just yet." Peter held up one hand toward Garfield and used the other to hold his scroll toward the cat. Several clicks from the scroll indicated a rash of pictures taken. Peter leaned back in his chair, teetering its hind legs, as he tapped at the scroll's screen. "Now to caption this with a charmingly misspelled meme."

"NOW can I get rid of the cat?" Garfield asked.

"And spoil its fun?" Peter asked. "Look at it, Garfield. I do believe it is a – "

"Don't say it," Garfield groaned.

"It's a ragdoll, isn't it?" Roman sighed.

"The only kind of cat Selina Kyle could never hope to besmirch," Peter stated.

"Selina Kyle?" Garfield repeated. "Like the socialite? What does she have to do with cats?"
"You didn't know?" Peter replied playfully. "Selina Kyle is Catwoman."

"She's WHAT?"

"I'd thought I recognized her voice when I ran into her at Wayne Manor," Peter went on. "A quick glance confirmed it. After all, her figure is quite recognizable."

"You're ace," Roman reminded him. "And gay! …Gay, right?"

"Just because I'm asexual doesn't mean I don't NOTICE when someone has a particularly visually pleasant figure," Peter stated. "Or a memorable one. Which every Gotham rogue can agree Catwoman has."

"You didn't answer my question about if you were g – "

"A scuffle with her shortly afterward cinched it," Peter concluded. "She'd tracked me from that location. And the voice and figure were unmistakable. Selina Kyle is Catwoman."

"I'll do you one better," Garfield countered. "I actually know who the Batman is."

"Do you, now?" Peter asked with playful skepticism.

"You make fun," Garfield told him, "but I…actually can't believe I never told you this. Okay, so you know how the bat came after me when I was Phosphorus? I tore half his mask off in the fight. Didn't even register until later that I knew that face. The Batman…is Bruce Wayne."

"That does make too much sense, doesn't it?" Peter replied. "…Hang on. Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle…"

"Holy crud," Garfield realized, his jaw dropping. "Do THEY know they're dating?"

"I'm not certain 'dating' is the proper label, and yet…there's obviously been flirtation between them by day. By night, however, the bat and the cat are each in it for themselves." Peter grinned widely. "Oh, this IS delicious."

"Yeah, I have no idea what they're talking about," Roman sighed. "Time to get kitty off the table." He picked up the ragdoll cat, placing it gently on the floor. "Now taking suggestions for the next game."

"Could play Hearts," Garfield suggested.

"How do you play Hearts?" Grany asked.

"Okay," Roman began. "So first, I deal out the cards evenly between all of you. And I actually get to play this time."

Once the cards were passed out, the six made to pick up their hands –

And the impatient ragdoll, seeking attention, mewed as it jumped back up onto the table, pawing right through Hämsterviel and Roman's hands and turning up all of their cards.

"What the – " Roman sputtered. "Okay, officially done with the cat!"

With the sound of a sonorous thunderclap, Mozenrath materialized in the room, face set into a fiery expression of rage.

"Is that so?" he growled. "Because I was done with them two hours ago. All according to plan, wasn't it?"

"What the – " Roman did a double take. "I thought you weren't talking to me."

"You forced my hand!" Mozenrath barked.

"What did I do NOW?" Roman groaned.

"You KNOW what you did," Mozenrath snarled, "and it's sitting on that table right now!"

"Wha – " Roman looked incredulously from Mozenrath to the ragdoll and back. "The CAT? You think I got a cat to SPITE you?"

"I KNOW you went in on a Pact Enchantment with Mim to protect no fewer than FIFTY cats from being destroyed or evicted!" Mozenrath explained. "She and her new best gal-pal Ashley escorted them all onto the premises, and since then, they've been breaking lab equipment, sending Snipe into a mindless fury, confusing Discord into annoying everyone, distracting trainees, shocking people who try to throw them out, and generally haranguing me personally! Thanks to that Pact Enchantment, we can't get rid of them, and that's EXACTLY how you thought you'd get me back, wasn't it?"

"Ashley?" Rémington repeated. "Isn't that…"

"She's incredible," Grany said dreamily. "She's made our lair into a paradise of cats!"

"I'd say fifty is more like an infestation," Rémington corrected. "It's utter chaos." His smile grew just as dreamy. "And my sweet sorcière made it all happen."

"Smisses have a type," Garfield observed, "and apparently it's crazy cat ladies."

"So you're saying," Roman stated as he rose from the table and advanced on Mozenrath, "that I would sabotage my own lair with a fuckton of cats even I don't want around to SPITE you?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying," Mozenrath growled, and Roman hadn't been aware that a man so much shorter than him could glare at him with an intensity that could make him feel so small.

"Why would I LIE about it?" Roman then argued.

"Oh, I don't know," Mozenrath retorted, hands balling into fists. "Because you're a liar?"

"Well, yeah, we're ALL liars and cheats, but I don't go that low!" Roman snapped. "The only reason you think I'd do shit like this is because it's the kind of immature shit YOU'D pull!"

"Immature?" Mozenrath repeated, his face tensing. "IMMATURE?"

"Yeah, immature!" Roman barked. "You're a fucking man-child who doesn't own up to his mistakes and throws a hissy fit when he doesn't get his way! Oh, your best friends almost got taken into custody by the bad guys? Fuck that! You didn't get your damn shiny cube, and THAT'S what really matters here!"

"AT LEAST I'M GOOD AT WHAT I DO!" Mozenrath roared. "ALL YOU'RE GOOD FOR IS LOSING PEOPLE AND THROWING YOURSELF IN OVER YOUR HEAD! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME WE'D SAVE IF WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SAVE YOU FROM EVERY SINGLE DANGEROUS SITUATION YOU WALK RIGHT INTO? You may not have told us why you were alone when we found you, but given your track record, I THINK I CAN FIGURE IT OUT. And you'd be of more use to this team IF YOU WENT INTO COMPLETE APATHY!"

He'd expected Roman to spit more hypothetical venom. He'd expected Roman to match him. What happened instead was Roman blanching, looking like he'd just taken a dagger to the heart.

Mozenrath didn't back down in the intensity of his gaze or posture as he awaited the response.

Roman then steeled himself to deliver one. He opened his mouth, then deliberately shut it, clamping his teeth down so hard over his lower lip so hard it nearly bled. He turned tail and stalked back toward the card table.

"DON'T IGNORE ME WHEN I'M YELLING AT YOU!" Mozenrath roared.

Roman didn't ignore him. He put up his middle finger. And he still refused to say a word as he took his seat, gathering his cards.

"What's he doing?" Rémington whispered to Garfield.

"I think he knows if he says anything," Garfield replied, "they're both going somewhere they can't come back from."

"WITHDRAW THE PACT RIGHT NOW!" Mozenrath yelled. "I WANT THESE CATS OUT!"

This time, Roman did ignore him, refusing to even look at him.

"HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME!" Mozenrath went on. "I see it's time to show you WHAT HAPPENS TO FRIENDS WHO CROSS ME!"

So many things he could do to Roman. Amputate him with the Sectumsempra curse. Set him ablaze. Strike him with lightning.

None of which Mozenrath truly wanted to do to Roman, and he was well aware of that fact.

In the end, he snapped his fingers, and the only thing affected was the pack of cards, all of which exploded up out of their holders' hands with a loud and obnoxious "pop" before fluttering down to the floor. Mozenrath then dismissed himself with another thunderclap.

As he vanished, Hämsterviel, Garfield, Peter, Rémington, and Grany all looked among themselves, wondering how to pick up after that incredibly awkward scene. Roman glared silently at the table.

Then, cautiously, Peter ventured, "…Fifty-two pickup?"

...

Aerith transplanting her flowers out of the courtyard turned out to be a victory on more than one front. Now that there was nothing that valuable to crush, the space became a perfect training arena.

Lianna sat on a stone bench, watching Ruby slowly arc Crescent Rose through the air. "And because of the curve," she explained to Kairi, "it's better to kind of hook the blade around the target and pull them forward. If I were going for a kill, like on a Grimm or a Heartless, I'd just saw through them at that point. The Keyblade isn't as big as Crescent Rose, but I think if you practice, you could pull off a similar move. The best part is, with the Keyblade, it would look completely like you missed, but then you pull the teeth back against the bad guy and then they know they're in trouble."

"Ready to try it?" Ren suggested.

"Let's take it slow," Kairi replied.

Ren came at her with both blades of Stormflower, yet slowing his movements enough that it seemed he was moving through thick, transparent jelly. Kairi responded in kind, evading his gentle attack and lightly scooping Destiny's Embrace around behind him to plant the teeth against his back – not enough to dig in, but enough to claim a victory.

"Nice," Ren complimented. "It actually really did look like you just missed. A few more runs, and we can perfect it."

They repeated the action, Ren moving a bit faster and shaking up his attack pattern. Again and again they went until Kairi had stymied Ren five times in a row.

"I think we're onto something," he stated proudly. "It looks like you've got this one. Let's move on to something else."

As Ren moved out of the way, Jaune squared up against Kairi, holding up both sword and shield. "Okay," he began. "Remember what I told you about stance?"

"Yep!" Kairi shifted a foot back, bracing herself. "Got it!"

"Okay," Jaune told her. "I'm gonna come at you slow, and we're gonna parry."

"I'm setting down my guns over here," Ren announced as he gently placed Stormflower on the ground. "Be careful."

"GET HIM, KAIRI!" Nora whooped.

Jaune and Kairi clashed, Kairi touching up her form little by little. At one point, she backed away, quickly saying, "Stop. Hang on. I have to fix my hair."

She reached for her pocket –

Instantly Lianna was behind her, tying her long red hair up into a ribbon.

"Thank you, Lianna," Kairi said, rather taken aback, "but you don't have to do that."

"It is all I know," Lianna reminded her. "I was created by Maleficent not originally as Riku's sister, but as his handmaiden. My purpose is to serve the royalty of this castle."

"But you're not a servant anymore," Kairi recalled. "You don't have to just do things for other people. I can put up my own hair. It can't be fun for you to just…sit around waiting on me to need you."

"It does not have to be fun if I am doing my duty," Lianna said with a nod.

"You can't tell me there isn't something you'd rather be doing right now," Nora chimed in from across the courtyard.

"There isn't," Lianna said starkly.

"What do you like to do for fun, anyway?" Ruby asked.

"I do not know, actually," Lianna admitted. "Mal may have had a simple time of breaking away from our purpose and finding her own signature, but I have admittedly not tried to do much beyond serving."

"We should find out what you do like to do for fun!" Kairi suggested. "Then you could actually serve yourself instead of other people!"

"HOBBY QUEEEEST!" Ruby cried. "QUESTING FOR LIANNA'S HOBBIES!"

"Not now," Lianna stated firmly. "I do not want you to interrupt your training session for such matters."

"We could try out some things after the session," Jaune suggested.

"I will see how I feel at that point," Lianna stated.

Kairi reached back to bat at her own ponytail. "I really do have to get this cut," she reiterated. "Maybe this evening I'll go out into town and – "

The sudden sound of thundering hooves followed by the scamper of three feet. Rarity skidded out into the midst of the courtyard, Pleakley in hot pursuit. "WHO IS IT?" Rarity cried, wild-eyed.

"Um…who's what?" Ruby replied; all six addressed were somewhat stunned.

"SOMEPONY is having a fashion emergency!" Rarity diagnosed. "I can feel it in my very bones!"

"We're first responders!" Pleakley said cheerily.

Kairi laughed. "I don't know if I'd call it an 'emergency.' I was just saying I need to go into town and get my hair cut soon."

"Into TOWN?" Rarity gasped. "You would deplete your wallet to have some AMATEUR style your mane when us professionals could do it for free, and better to boot?"

"Kairi, Kairi, Kairi," Pleakley said in mock disappointment. "Leave this to the experts."

Kairi shrugged. "Okay. If you're offering."

"We should be off at ONCE!" Rarity cried.

"Now?" Kairi replied. "But – "

"It's an emergency situation!" Pleakley asserted. "We have to take care of your haircut as soon as galactically possible!"

"Um…okay." Kairi turned to look at Ren, Jaune, Ruby, and Nora. "Guess the session's over for now."

"WHAT?" Nora cried in indignation. "I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO HELP YOU PRACTICE THE THUNDERSTORM SHOTLOCK!"

"We'll have plenty of time to practice that one," Kairi promised.

"Go have fun," Jaune encouraged. "I'm excited to see the results."

"I'll see you later!" Kairi said with a wave as she turned to join Rarity and Pleakley.

Lianna picked up the pace alongside her. "I shall accompany you."

"You really don't have to – " Kairi paused, making a realization. "Of course, if hairstyling turns out to be something you're interested in…"

"Guns," Ren said sharply, and Kairi and Lianna both looked down to realize that Lianna had almost stepped on the sharp end of Stormflower. Lianna lifted her skirts up above her ankles, frowning at her hooves.

"Dear me!" Rarity cried. "It's worse than I thought!"

Lianna let go of her skirts, blanching. Of course the people here would be predisposed to hate goblins. After all, they were Maleficent's folk –

"Prancing around like that without SHOES?" Rarity gasped. "It's a wonder you haven't been stabbed in the hoof already!"

Or perhaps Rarity wasn't even batting her elongated designer eyelashes at all regarding Lianna's physical makeup.

"There aren't exactly shoes that fit me," she said gruffly. "The hooves, you know."

"Oh, DARLING," Rarity responded exuberantly. "That's never stopped me before, and it's not going to stop me now!"

That was right. Rarity herself had hooves. True, she wasn't wearing shoes at the moment, but it was reasonable to think that someone so versed in fashion would know how to cobble them. "All right," Lianna resolved. "If you have the time to spare."

"It's not about sparing time!" Pleakley reminded her. "It's fun!"

"Perhaps your interest in fashion is where I will find my…'fun,'" Lianna wondered out loud.

Rarity, Pleakley, Kairi, and Lianna left together, and Team RNJR was all that remained in the courtyard for the time being.

"So, uh…what do we do now?" Ruby asked.

"We could always practice sparring each other," Ren suggested.

"We already know all each other's moves!" Nora argued, hands on hips. "It won't be any fun unless we can fight with somebody new!"

"I don't think anyone's just gonna walk into the courtyard and wanna fight," Jaune stated.

That was when Yuffie and Rainbow Dash trotted into the yard. "Hey, guys!" Yuffie waved. Looking around and seeing the drawn weapons, she gasped; "Were you fighting? CAN I JOIN?"

"I want in too!" Rainbow Dash crowed. "Finally, something AWESOME!"

"I should've put money on that!" Nora crowed.

"I'm glad you didn't," Jaune teased.

"Come on in and join the fray!" Ruby invited.

Soon, the courtyard was alive with flying shuriken that bounced off the metal sides of combo weapons and sailed through fleeting rainbows.

...

Mozenrath was rather embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it before, really.

There were countless one-person skimmers in the hangar of the warship. He already knew how to enchant a vehicle to protect it against interspace's hazards. If he went through and did that to each of the skimmers, one by one, then the WHAM ARMY wouldn't even need that many larger ships to take them on group missions. Anyone could go wherever they liked at any time, as the whim struck.

You couldn't say Mozenrath had never done anything for the good of his team. Unlike some people he could think of right at that moment. (Whether or not that assessment was accurate.)

He moved down the line, pouring blue energy over skimmer after skimmer in turn. It was actually a somewhat good outlet for his anger. At first, he'd simply blasted each of them with the enchantment; no, it hadn't done damage, but it was good to let out a spell, any spell, so forcefully.

Halfway through the fleet, he stood near the edge of where the Vicious was parked ("Moored"? How did you refer to a light ship's standing in a dry-dock hangar?). That was when he heard it, ever so faintly:

"Yes…yes, you ARE adorable; we all know it. Stop making that face at me. Stop it right now – get down from there! You'll hurt yourself."

Mozenrath froze, eyes widening in shock.

"No," he whispered.

He turned and marched directly for the gangplank, now certain of exactly what was happening, exactly what had taken place. He ascended quietly, but when his foot hit the deck, it came down hard to signal his arrival.

That still wasn't enough yet to get the attention of the person onboard, who was at that moment sitting on the planks, three cats crawling around for attention and receiving ample pets and baby-talk cooing.

"YOU," Mozenrath growled. "YOU'RE THE ONE! YOU BETRAYED ME THIS WHOLE TIME!"

Archibald Snatcher looked up at him with plate-wide eyes, seeming for all the world as though he'd been caught in the midst of a jewel heist.

"This isn't what it looks like," he said hurriedly.

"It looks like you're fawning over the cats," Mozenrath grunted.

Snatcher scrambled to his feet somewhat awkwardly. "Nothing of the sort, milord. This was a routine inspection, and these blasted felines accosted me in the midst of it. Knocked me right down, they did, and that's when you happened upon us!"

"YOU'RE the one who went in on the Pact Enchantment with Mim!" Mozenrath cried, triumphantly if angrily.

"How DARE you hurl such accusations!" Snatcher snapped back. "I want these utter annoyances gone as badly as you do!"

Mozenrath opened his mouth to speak –

Then thought better of it, reaching down to pick up a fluffy orange cat by the scruff.

"Here," he said, offering the cat over to Snatcher.

"I don't want it!" Snatcher protested.

"TAKE THE CAT," Mozenrath growled.

Snatcher did so with a rough facial expression but suspiciously gentle hand movements.

"Now," Mozenrath commanded, "throw it over the side."

"…You want me to do what?"

"Throw the cat."

"It'll only land on its feet, you know. Pointless exercise."

"THROW THE CAT, SNATCHER!" Mozenrath demanded.

"I'M NOT ABOUT TO HURT DELILAH!" Snatcher cried, realizing there was hardly a point in keeping up the façade anymore.

"DELILAH?" Mozenrath repeated, his face screwing up in disgust.

"Suits her, doesn't it?" Snatcher said with a smile that looked almost unnatural on him for how unfettered it was in its joy. His fingernails lightly raked the back of the neck of the cat called "Delilah," and she purred in response.

"…I don't believe you," Mozenrath said in utter awe.

"Oh, don't you, now?" Snatcher retorted. "For one, you should've suspected me from the start. Others may claim to be the biggest liars among us, but I'm the thespian, and don't forget it! Really, you BOUGHT what I said to you earlier. I am disappointed, Lord Mozenrath."

"I…you…" Mozenrath was at a loss for words.

"Furthermore," Snatcher said as he continued to caress Delilah, "I'm the only one around here who even gives a whit about our designated pets, seems like. Who do you think's been feeding and taking care of Xerxes this whole time he's been out of the spotlight? Not you, that's who."

A light tap on Mozenrath's shoulder alerted him to the presence of his floating familiar. Mozenrath looked back up at Xerxes, who shook his head.

"Mozenrath not Xerxes favorite anymore," Xerxes stated definitively. "Snatcher Xerxes favorite."

"So you filled my base with cats," Mozenrath reiterated as he faced Snatcher once more, "then you STOLE MY FAMILIAR?"

"You make it sound as though I were acting out of intent to sabotage rather than giving God's little creatures their due," Snatcher replied.

"I don't even know you anymore," Mozenrath said, gobsmacked. Steeling himself, he prepared to deliver the ultimatum: "Well, you're going to withdraw your end of the Pact Enchantment – "

"Or you'll what?" Snatcher asked. "Destroy me? Get on with it, then."

Mozenrath couldn't, and Snatcher knew it. "Either the cats go," he threatened, "or I do."

"Really," Snatcher replied, nonplussed. "You're going to abandon all of your allies, resources, and plans to start from rock bottom on your own."

After a generous silence, Snatcher spoke again: "Didn't think that one through, now, did you?"

"No," Mozenrath admitted.

"You're going to live with the cats," Snatcher informed him, "and you're going to learn to like it."

"Wait a minute," Mozenrath realized. "Did you set all of this up because you knew I'd suspect Roman in the end, and you wanted to put us in the same room to make amends?"

Snatcher flinched. "…Don't know why I didn't think of that."

"It didn't work," Mozenrath informed him.

"That's why I didn't think of it," Snatcher resolved.

"Actually," Mozenrath went on rather smugly, "you set your boyfriend up to take the fall because I was sure he was lying to me."

Snatcher bit his lip.

"YOU didn't think THAT one through, did you?" Mozenrath said coyly.

"Well, now you know he'd nothing to do with it," Snatcher stated. "He doesn't even know of my involvement at the present moment, actually. I was waiting to gauge his reaction before owning up or pinning the blame on Mim."

"Has he ever told you what his life was like before the WHAM ARMY?"

It took Snatcher a moment to realize the direction of the conversation had changed dramatically. "I don't see how that should matter to you at all, whatsoever, at the present moment."

"Just curious as to why I was able to set him off so much more easily than usual," Mozenrath said casually. "Now, I suppose this is the part where you attempt to say something in his defense that you think I'll take back to my room and have a good long think about, eventually sparking me admitting I was wrong, which I wasn't."

"No need," Snatcher said slyly. "I already said it. It's just going to take a little more time to sink in, is all."

"You're acting like you're on equal footing with me."

"Forgive me if I have a draw to defying authority, Lord Mozenrath. It's a rather refreshing and much-needed direction after all…well, you know THAT mess."

Surprisingly, Mozenrath found himself saying, "I should be reprimanding you for insubordination, but I actually think I remembered why we're friends in the first place."

"As well you should."

"Keep your cats," Mozenrath spat as he turned on a heel to leave. "I'll find a way around your little enchantment. No killing, no maiming, no evicting…but plenty of gray area beyond that."

"I look forward to seeing your loopholes in action," Snatcher challenged.

Mozenrath paused a moment on the edge of the gangplank. "Snatcher."

"What now?"

Mozenrath slowly turned to face him again. "Who was it you faced down in Asgard? The ones who stopped you from taking the Tesseract."

"So now you're taking an interest in what actually happened, then."

"I need to know," Mozenrath asserted. "What are we up against now?" It was almost a routine sort of frustration.

"Well, there was a rather pretentious man clad in armor," Snatcher recalled. "Never saw his face; he kept it masked. Called himself 'Dr. Doom,' he did. Accompanied by a demon of some sort. Never got a name. Miss Neopolitan reported he was DEFINITELY not human. Wore all black, had the strength of ten men at least…but the ringleader of the trio fancied himself a crafty sort. Called himself a 'Liesmith,' even. Claimed to be one Mr. Son-of-None. Now, that one, he pulled out all sorts of magic tricks, but nothing you haven't seen before. Glamour, levitation, all that. What was his given name…ah, yes. Don't know how I forgot. 'Loki.'"

A chill washed over Mozenrath. "You…faced off against Loki Liesmith, god of mischief."

"You knew the man?" Snatcher asked, curiosity piqued.

Mozenrath seemed to deflate. "Three villains, I idolized on my quest to become the man I am today," he sighed. "First Jafar turns on me. Then Pitch Black launches a vendetta. And now I'm beginning to think I just shouldn't have idols."

Snatcher wasn't certain what the proper thing to say was, but fortunately, he didn't have to think of it, as Mozenrath was already taking his leave.

Delilah squirmed and meowed. "Yes," Snatcher told her. "You're hungry. We'll go remedy that at once. Come along, Xerxes. It's past your feeding time as well."

"Sushi?" Xerxes asked.

"If you INSIST upon being a cannibal," Snatcher sighed.

He exeunted with Xerxes and quite a few cats in tow while Mozenrath turned his attention to finishing up the skimmers.

...

Lea sighed as he looked out over the town from above. He'd chosen the location for his and Roxas' rendez-vous to be one of the outer balconies of the castle, between the steaming pipes and the crystal-powered lifts. It was the closest he could get to replicating the Twilight Town tower.

Even sitting on the edge of this building brought back memories of the old days. He felt a hollow nostalgia; the weight of his mistakes was building on him, and as fondly as he remembered those times, they brought him worry, as well. Part of him was even convinced Roxas wasn't even going to show. After all, they may have initiated making amends, but Lea knew he had pushed Roxas away in the beginning, then chased Roxas when he didn't want to be chased. Did he even deserve –

"Hey."

Lea flinched, turning to look over his shoulder. Roxas approached, a soft smile on his face. "Hey to you," Lea replied.

As Roxas settled in next to him on the balcony, legs dangling over the edge, Lea announced, "I got your old favorite."

Roxas turned to see Lea passing him a sea-salt ice cream pop. "Just like old times." Roxas took the ice cream happily before noticing that Lea held not one pop in his hand after that but two. "Who's the third one for?"

"Dunno," Lea realized. "I kinda just…got three without thinking. Maybe we each eat ours, and whoever's still hungry after gets the third?"

"That sounds fair."

Each took a bite of his ice cream, feeling the cold, salty-yet-sweet flavor of wistfulness.

After a heavy silence, Roxas stated, "I'm still a little disappointed that you lied to me for so long."

"I don't blame you," Lea sighed. "I could come up with so many excuses at this point, y'know? Something about learning to look out for me, or my reasons for joining Xemnas in the first place and why I wanted us both to stay. But in the end, that's all they are: excuses. I shouldn't have lied to you, or made you try to stay somewhere as icky as the Organization. I'm really sorry, Roxas. If you'll give me a chance…I'll never tell you anything but the truth. Like friends are supposed to."

"I appreciate that," Roxas replied. "And…thanks again for apologizing. It…probably wasn't the best of me to just run."

"Why not?" Lea replied. "It's not like being there was doing you any good. They were using you and your Keyblade as a weapon."

"I could've given you a chance to talk," Roxas suggested.

"Would I have listened?" Lea countered. "Don't answer. We both know."

Another pensive bite of ice cream from each.

"Still," Roxas said, "if we fall out again…I don't just wanna run."

"If something happens that does make you wanna run," Lea countered, "this time, I wanna go with you, 'cause anywhere you don't wanna be isn't somewhere I wanna be either. So…are we cool?"

"Yeah," Roxas replied. "I think we're cool, Axel. Oh. It's 'Lea' now, isn't it?"

"Eh, I'm basically both," Lea replied. "Call me whatever's natural."

Now came the task of figuring out what to talk about now that the elephant was out of the room. So Lea, remembering the gossip he'd heard over the day, brought up, "Heard you've been spending a lot of time with Mal since you got back."

"It's not like that!" Roxas sputtered, embarrassed. "She's just a friend!"

"I never said she wasn't!" Lea laughed. "Actually, I was just gonna talk about you making friends with her, but now that you said THAT, I'm starting to think there's something else going on here!"

"I have no idea if she thinks anything like that about me," Roxas replied. "And we only did just meet."

"Lots of people fall for each other at first sight. Aladdin and Jasmine, remember?"

Roxas thought it over. "Axel…do you remember the day I asked you what love was?"

"Like it was yesterday," Lea replied. "You've got a heart now, right?"

Roxas nodded.

"So do I," Lea asserted. "Guess we can both finally know what the hype's about."

"You seemed to know so much about love for someone who never experienced it," Roxas told him. "Did you just learn by watching other people?"

"Kinda, yeah," Lea replied. "And, well…maybe there was someone I did think I could've been in love with, once. But it never happened."

"Huh?"

"It was a long time ago," Lea said hurriedly. "It hardly even matters anymore. It – "

Then he shook his head. "Actually, no. I said I'd only tell you the truth now. So I'm gonna tell you the truth. Before I ever met you, back when I was your age…I had a best friend. Somebody as close to me as…well, actually, if I'm being real honest, thinking back, I can see a lot of Sora in who I was then, and Riku in who he was. We would go everywhere and do everything together. We got into all sorts of trouble. Made other friends around town, got mixed up with Ansem's whole apprentice gig…I thought we were gonna be together forever. And thinking about that, I realized I wanted that. Maybe more than the usual friendship. But then Xehanort got involved, and everything went wrong. We ended up without hearts, and we went different ways." He looked out to the sun, which was now beginning to set. Just like old times, indeed: bright red. "I think I could've loved Isa. But he probably never even wanted to love me. Even before things got all messed up."

"Isa?" Roxas repeated. "I don't think you ever told me about him. I wish he'd joined the Organization with us. If he was a friend of yours, we probably would've gotten along."

"No," Lea said hurriedly. "No, you wouldn't. Because he DID join the Organization. Xemnas mixed all our names up with the 'X,' remember? You knew Isa."

"…I did?"

"Yeah. You just called him 'Saïx.'"

Roxas very nearly fell over the edge. "You were friends with SAIX? But HOW? Saïx is TERRIBLE! He was always rude to us, and he tried to destroy me, and he made sure everything went right like Xemnas wanted it!"

"He wasn't always that way, okay?" Lea barked. "Before the Organization got involved, he wasn't like that! Isa was…he was the kind of guy who'd call you a loser to your face, but then you'd both laugh 'cause you knew he didn't really mean it. He was the kind of guy who'd see you get knocked down by some rando in the street and then square up to punch 'em in the jaw 'cause they hurt his pal. He was the kind of guy who'd spot you a couple munny for ice cream 'cause you forgot your wallet, then say you owed him, but then never make you pay up. It was just…once he lost his heart, and he thought the right way to go was to get power through Xemnas, well, he started being the Saïx you knew. Pushing me to commit murder. Grooming me into the worst I could be, and when I didn't fit his plan, accusing me of leaving him behind. Eventually I found out it was all stuff and nonsense. He didn't care about me anymore. He just wanted to use me for his own plans. And after Castle Oblivion, when everything changed…around the time I really became friends with you…I think we both realized we couldn't be what we were anymore." Another bite of ice cream. "The worst part is this isn't even what X would've wanted."

"Who's X?" Roxas asked. "Was that someone else in the Organization?"

"No," Lea replied. "X is…complicated. This castle has a pretty nasty history, Roxas. You knew that."

"Yeah," Roxas affirmed. "It's sad. Some of it might make for good scary stories to tell Mal later, but a lot of it's just…a bit much to handle."

"You know about the experiments they used to do here, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Isa and I took up a job here to see if we could help some of the people out," Lea explained. "Xehanort was doing a number on 'em. And I don't think I have to explain that Even wasn't making things much better."

"No kidding."

"The one they studied the most, though, they didn't even know her name," Lea went on. "They just called her 'Subject X.' She didn't know her name, either. She didn't know anything. Just kinda turned up one day without any of her memories. Isa and I got to know her pretty well when we worked here. We made this whole big scheme to bust her out and everything. Too bad Xehanort beat us to the punch. X went missing, and Isa and I…well, next thing we knew, Xemnas was giving us our new names. The whole reason we even went along with him was to try and give her a fighting chance. Then, after it seemed like she was just gone forever…Isa gave up. And so did I, I guess."

"You think she's still out there?" Roxas asked. "There are endless worlds. She could be on any one!"

"I don't even know," Lea sighed. "I like to think so. I like to think maybe there's a way I can still save her, bring her back. Some days, I wake up thinking that's exactly what I'm gonna do with my life, once this whole Xehanort-WHAM ARMY-Maleficent shuffle gets over with. Or at least after the Xehanort part. Who knows when the others are gonna go down. But on the other hand…best friends' paths always cross again, right? It's been ten years, and nothing. If I haven't even gotten a clue about her by now, then maybe that means…she's just…"

Roxas hung his head. "Oh."

"Don't worry about it," Lea said in an attempt to be casual. "Maybe it's just time to move on. I mean, I have you now." He stared off into the sunset. "Or…maybe you coming back is a sign that she can, too."

"Wait," Roxas realized. "So…first you lost X, and then Isa turned on you. So by the time I walked out…"

"…I was finally starting to get that I might be the problem," Lea finished for him. "Seriously, that's not on you. I figured I had to change my tune. So I started changing. I'd like to think I got better."

"You did," Roxas affirmed. "I mean…it's not like you were BAD when I knew you."

"Oblivion, Roxas."

"I mean after that! But everything you're doing now…I think you really found your way." A pause. "Are you SURE you still wanna be called 'Axel'? Doesn't that remind you too much of the old you?"

"It reminds me of how we used to hang out like this," Lea replied. "Though what I should really do is stop wearing the coat. I dunno, it's kinda hard to just ditch old habits. And the coat makes me stand out, y'know?"

"Sure," Roxas laughed. "Dressing exactly like twelve other people makes you look sooooo original."

"Ha, ha," Lea retorted. "Very funny. Okay. I get the picture. It's time for a makeover."

Someone else said, "I agree."

The sudden sound of the soft voice from behind them startled the pair, and they turned, surprised, to see Naminé standing behind them.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked.

"Not really," Roxas replied. "I don't think so, anyway. What about you, Axel?"

"I…uh…" Axel was lost for words.

"That's why I came up here," Naminé admitted. "I noticed the way you left the room when I was freed, Lea."

"You did," Lea replied. "Huh. Probably have a few things to say to me now that we're on even ground, then. Go ahead, I guess. I know what I did, and I can take it."

"No," Naminé replied. "I think I know what you're talking about, and I wanted to make sure you knew…I'm not mad."

"How could you not be mad?" Lea cried, baffled. "I could've ripped you APART! And I would've!"

"Your encounter with Sora changed you," Naminé told him. "Roxas changed you. You aren't the Axel who helped keep me prisoner anymore. I just hope you don't still feel guilty about that."

"The one big downside to having a heart," Lea sighed. "Actually feeling the guilt. But don't make it about me, okay? This is about how you deserved better. WAY better. I mean, your life was…I don't even know who had it worse, you or X!"

"Who's X?" Naminé asked.

"Long story," Lea replied.

"I've got time," Naminé stated, "if you want to tell me. Maybe we could even become better friends if we talked for a while."

Lea couldn't deny that did sound good. If he could just wipe the slate clean, start over…

He patted the balcony to the other side of him. "Have a seat."

As Naminé sat down, Lea passed her the third ice cream. "Guess it's a good thing I got three of these after all," he laughed.

Roxas, Lea, and Naminé stayed on that balcony until the sun went down, and then, because no one dictated they had to RTC, they remained well until the stars had come out.