Uhhh, so apparently I had the previous chapter on dock to post for like almost a month but just forgot to do it. Even though I had already mirrored it over at Ao3. Whoops.

In the past, there was never a waking moment when the streets of MidiCity were silent. In the past, a friendly face would've been there to greet you at every corner even deep in the A.M. hours. But as time went on, as the Heartless continued their slow, dragged out hunt, the crowds dwindled little by little until it turned into the heavy and haunting state it was tonight where there was nothing else but the slow clicking of three pairs of feet.

Chuchu shifted her eyes between the two girls in front of her. The silence was killing her. The gothic rabbit-eared girl pursed her lips and twirled around the loose strands of her long, bubbly, purple hair in anticipation. She heightened the clicks of her stiletto heels in an attempt to vent off her frustration. Soon, her patience was gone. She opened her mouth and—

"Are we seriously not there yet?" Heather suddenly mouthed off to Ashley. The two girls were in outfits much different than what they usually wore. They looked more cordial, more business-like. Scammers in disguise.

"No, we aren't," the shorter girl grinded her teeth in annoyance. What was Heather thinking?

"Er, is everything alright?" Chuchu's adamance simmered off into an awkward droll.

"Oh no, everything's fine," Ashley turned back to her with a crooked smile, a poor attempt at feigning a friendly attitude from someone whose default look was that of a cursed doll. "Don't you worry your head. We'll get you all set up on stage in no time and your performance alone will get rid of all these Heartless for good."

Heather held her breath. She might as well have been watching a robot fail the Turing Test. That Chuchu girl would have to have the dumbest brain this world had to offer if she was seriously falling for this. She wanted to tear Ashley a new one right then and there, but this stupid mission she was stuck on forced her to play along.

"Right." That was all Chuchu could say. Just like Heather thought, she knew she'd gotten conned. But what exactly were these two strange girls doing? Something had to be amiss. And even if it was a stupid move, maybe she'd find something out if she just shut up and followed. With her eyes held forward, the three girls continued to walk.

oOo

"Al, right behind you!"

"What?"

"I said, right behind you!"

"Don't worry, I've got it!"

"BAM! POW! WHOOSH!"

With a single Pound, Loudred wiped off the last remaining Heartless in the colorful yet empty streets, and Mokona began to trounce around excitedly like a cheerleader. Alongside Cody and Al, the four talked amongst themselves; another nice break from a quick job well done.

"Uh, um…" The mood died down as the four were reminded once more that they weren't the only ones here. Cyan tiptoed nervously to the group with her eyes struggling off to the side, too embarrassed from her lack of action to look them in the eyes. "Sorry I'm not really helping much."

The four awkwardly exchanged side glances with one another. It was true. Each time they ran into another Heartless encounter, the meek catgirl would immediately default herself behind a nearby building. Not once did she ever pop out mid battle. It was a wonder why she was even there.

Oh, yeah. It was Cody's fault. That's why she was there.

"You don't have to sugarcoat it," she bent over in a groan. "I'm useless, I know."

"N-n-no, you're not!" Cody flew his hand around and attempted to ward off all the negativity that floated around. "R-right?"

He eyed Al and Loudred who could only give him judgemental looks in return. Your idea, dude.

"You could, uh," Cody clicked his tongue and tapped his foot. It seemed he was more desperate to save his ass and justify his own decision than sincerely find a role for her. "Your guitar!" He snapped his finger in a high pitched shout. "What Syuzo and those two did back at the concert hall, you can help buff us up!"

"Yeah!" Loudred added on enthusiastically. "I can emit noises from my ears, so we could probably amplify you too."

"Uh, um," Cyan's cat ears flopped down. "I need to be on a stage to do that. I can't just do it on the go. That's not how it works."

"...Oh…" Cody was deflated once more.

With no one left to willingly chip in, it was Mokona's turn to throw suggestions. "Why don't you fight?"

Cyan blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah!" He hopped around while pantomiming attack moves. "WHOOSH! POW! BAM! Beating things up is tons of fun!"

"Alright," Al groaned as he patted the top of Mokona's head to a halting stance. "That's enough out of you."

It was certainly an idea alright, but one that was on the top of their list of no-gos for this little mission. They continued to toss around half hearted suggestions, and each attempt only rotted the mood further. At some point, Cyan wisely chose to wander off while the four continued on with their doomed little planning session. It wasn't that they didn't want Cyan to help. In fact, they would've felt awful if she didn't. She was brave enough to butt her head into this after all.

"I mean," Cody scratched his chin. "She did take down that one Heartless back at the venue."

"One," Al mumbled. "A single one."

"Hey, don't be like that," Loudred scolded his friend. "It's still something."

"I mean, let's face it," Cody nodded. "We let Mokona here fight. Might as well give her a chance."

"Yeah!" Mokona perked up at the sound of his name. "We let Cody fight. Might as well give her a chance."

"The heck is that supposed to mean?"

"He's got a point," Loudred laughed in response. "You're more of a dodger than a fighter."

"What?!" Cody's outrage broke out into defensive squeaks. "Hey, I take down most of the big guys."

"I mean," Al sighed. "If you're mostly just handling the finishing blow, does it really count?"

"Er, um," Cyan tiptoed back into the scene, unsure if what she'd interrupted was a fight or friendly banter. She would've looked like a confused young child if it weren't for the small actual child who quivered beside her. "Sorry to interrupt, but I found this little boy and…" She knelt down to help wipe off the kid's tears. "He said something stole his toy."

"I…I," the kid blurted out in between sobs. "I ran away from one of those monsters, and I tripped and dropped it, and, and…" He pointed his shaky hands into one of the many twisting street paths. That was the most they'd probably be able to get out of him.

"I know it's got nothing to do with what we're doing right now," Cyan bowed apologetically. "But I'd feel terrible if I just left him like this."

"Hey, no problem," Al waved her worries off. "Don't even know where to start with a city this big. If we help him out, we could probably cover more ground."

"Really?" Cyan's eyes sparkled enthusiastically. She had a real knack for reassuring people they'd made the right choice for a split second. It was everything another split second and beyond that was on the questionable side. With a quick reassurance to the child, and a quick warning to run off to safety, Cyan dashed off past the others without a moment of hesitation. The four scrambled to catch up, lest they'd fail to save her butt in the event of another random Heartless encounter.

Looking past every nook and cranny of the street, not a single enemy could be seen. They wondered if the creature the boy saw was already long gone, off to the complete opposite side of MidiCity if they were unlucky enough. Still, there was something off. Loudred could pick up the faint petering of an unknown figure nearby, but he couldn't quite make out what or where.

"I think it's north of here?" He scratched his head.

"Stealthy one, huh?" Al mumbled in annoyance.

"Hey, Mokona," Cody poked their smallest companion. "You're kinda rabbit-ish right? Those ears of yours picking up any—"

"THERE, THERE, THERE!"

It was like waking up to an ill timed alarm clock. The small friend bounced and zoomed through the street faster than anyone could think. Of course all anyone could do in this situation was run after him before he was gone for good. Or at least that's what our usual group did. Cyan, on the other hand, stood off to the side and stared curiously into a lone alleyway. Her cat ears perked in confusion. She had picked something up, and whatever it was, it wasn't what Mokona found.

It was a good thing Cody was the typical straggler of the group because everyone was already long gone by the time Cyan decided to wordlessly venture off on her own. Just as there was no stopping Mokona from running off, there was also nothing he could say to get her back on track. He spun his head in both directions, unsure of where his attention was most needed. His trusted companion's hunch, or hers? In all honesty, he almost cursed himself for being the reason she was there causing a double dose of side tracking to begin with (or triple dose if her request itself were to be counted). But what kind of attitude was that?

"Cyan, wait up!" He entered the alleyway which proved to be an obstacle in itself. Heaps of trash and empty boxes piled up at every step. The energy he would've had to run was nearly spent by the time he finally made his way to the ominous back alley. And by the time he did, she'd already found it.

Cyan's scream mixed with the piercing screech of the large creature before her. Her crouched and cowering form was like an ant flopping about in its last moments on the grimy chameleon's dinner plate. Black streaks cracked into its scales and turned what would've looked like a simple oversized reptile into an uncanny beast. No doubt, Stealth Sneak was the target they were after.

A quick throw of the key to the head was enough to knock it off for even just a slight moment. Cody ran right over and shooed Cyan off to hide among the trash bags. That left just him against the creature, one-on-one. If only even one of the other three had been just as slow as he was earlier, this would've been a cakewalk. But there was no use bemoaning the situation now.

The reptile slung out its disgusting rope of tongue, tainted with disturbing veins of black just like the rest of its body, and lunged it out like a crackling whip. It hit right at the precipice of the back alley entrance and the cluttered pathway. Cody was forced to the ground amidst a small pile-on of cardboard boxes and assorted junk, and he just narrowly rolled away right as the tongue slammed down to the pavement once more.

Back on his feet, the spry geek was ready to strike back…only to realize the Stealth Sneak was nowhere in sight. Did it run away? No, of course not. The moment he even considered retreating, he could feel the side of the tongue crash right into his back. He wearily looked around. No Stealth Sneak in sight. He could feel the slobbering whip suckerpunch him right in his left cheek. And once more, there was nothing.

It's a chameleon, you idiot, he internally berated himself. Why didn't I see this coming?

"I don't know. Why didn't you?" She replied back.

Hey, now's not the time. I'm getting pummeled here!

"Well, what are you doing? Track it down!"

In his sprint, he was almost about to cry out a desperate "But how?!" right out loud, but was halted as he circled back to the entranceway. The mess of fallen garbage was still spread out on the floor and the last thing he needed was getting thrown off by something as innocuous as a banana peel.

He haphazardly scooped up a crushed soda can, the first piece of junk he could grab ahold of, and tossed it into the air where it unceremoniously clanked back down to the ground. He repeated again and again and again until, out of sheer dumb luck, an old shampoo bottle bounced off an unknown object in the corner of the square. In his head, he might've let out a confident "Bingo," but the moment he made it over there for a strike, Stealth Sneak had already slithered away, out of sight, and knocked him out with a lash.

Cyan desperately pulled down her ears as she crouched behind a dumpster. Even without looking, she could tell things were not going well. And with looking, it was maybe even worse than she expected. She took a quick glance at Cody who was stuck hopelessly flinging garbage around left and right, rarely ever connecting to the target creature. Occasionally, he'd make it to its spot in time to graze a bit of its back, but the speed of the reptile's disappearing act was much too quick to beat.

Cyan's cat ears twitched ever so slightly. Maybe his hearing wasn't as good, but she at least could make out the monster's movements crystal clear. If only she could tell him. Her mouth froze at the very thought of it, letting out a tilted exhaust of wasted air instead. Would he be doing better if she wasn't there? But she wasn't doing anything, it wouldn't have made a difference. But he's in this situation in the first place because of her. This whole city-wide expedition had been done for her sake. The least she could do was help when he needed it.

Why was it so hard? She was in a band, wasn't she? Why could she play and sing in front of hundreds of thousands of strangers, but not manage to fight a single Heartless? Heck, she couldn't even bear to stand up against them with her music. She tried to run, and look at where that decision brought her. That was what she was born to do, wasn't it? To play her guitar and save people with music?

…

…She had to do it.

She narrowed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks; her own way of looking threatening. Whether it worked or not, she had no clue. But she knew her plan was set. She clutched onto the bridge of her guitar and raised her hand high to the heavens…

And she flung it down to a chord.

It might as well have been one of the loudest things Cody had ever heard at that moment. Amidst the closed off arena, the thick melodies of Cyan's electric guitar bounced and reverberated between the walls. The enemy chameleon wailed in shock and shifted back into its vulnerable visible form.

"NOW!" Cyan cried out with all her might.

Thanks to its confusion, Cody was able to knock it right off the wall it clung on to and laid it flat to the ground. He continued to scratch and graze its form up as it lay in a daze until it gathered enough strength to form a mock sword fight with its tongue. The twists and turns of the tongue threw Cody into dizzying steps as he carefully maneuvered past them. Just one clumsy turn and he was down to the ground and Stealth Sneak back into its camouflage.

"It's over to your right!" Cyan called out, keeping track of the faint sound of webbed footsteps. "He's heading towards the wall. Get him before he climbs on!"

He followed her instructions diligently and successfully landed another hit. From there, the creature's almost one-sided fight against Cody turned into a surprise one-sided tag team battle. Every time Stealth Sneak tried to slip under the Keybearer's nose, Cyan would carefully track it down and send him on over. By the time they'd gone through maybe half a dozen cycles, the monster's desperation had finally kicked in. There was no use in sneaking off anymore. Now was the time for survival. It quickened its movements and initiated what was likely its final onslaught; flinging its tongue around wildly like a serial killer with a knife.

On his lonesome, Cody was slowly getting overwhelmed both by the tongue's spiraling movements and its sheer intensity. Cyan attempted to stun it once more with another sharp guitar chord, but the creature had long since tossed aside such basic senses like sound. She was almost at a loss. They were so close. What else could she do?

Earlier in the fight, Cody noticed that the tongue would strategically fly over the chameleon's head every time the Keyblade came close to its face. No doubt that's where its weakness was. No doubt it was the massive horn that grew off the bridge of its nose. Both him and the monster were stuck in a bizarre standstill with Cody's feet going back and forth alongside the creature's tongue as he tried to edge out even the faintest line of an opening. It was a staredown that felt like it could go on forever, but suddenly, right as Stealth Sneak was ready to launch another all out assault, its eyes dilated. It roared a pained shriek and keeled downwards, practically presenting the horn directly to its opponent itself.

Cody looked curiously to the side. Against all nerves, Cyan had rushed right into the battlefield where she proceeded to beat the lizard's unguarded back silly over and over again with the base of her guitar. She was like a lumberjack confidently smacking around an axe. The ultimate sneak attack from the least likely combatant. The monster was stuck wailing between them in a back-to-back bash fest. When it looked to be on its final legs, Cody enthusiastically called out to Cyan. The girl who, not too long ago, hid at even a single hint of danger jumped on to the lizard's back and triumphantly sped up to the head. The duo banded together for one last strike; a quick swing of a key and guitar to the fragile horn. Soon enough, Stealth Sneak's entire being was lost to the wind with nothing but a small toy car left behind from where it once stood.

oOo

The first thing the duo did was rush straight back where they came from to make their small delivery. The young boy's eyes shined like stars. The liquid from all his tears had turned them into an almost glistening glow. It was a heartwarming sight being able to see their efforts come to fruit like this. He quickly left for home under the orders of an adamant Cyan, but not before loudly proclaiming her as a "hero"; a word that echoed densely in the cold and empty streets.

…

Cyan collapsed into a crouch, her face beet red and her hands over her ears. "H-h-hero?"

"Yeah, of course!" Cody responded enthusiastically. "Dude, you seriously saved my butt back there."

"I," she nervously rose back up. "I did?"

"Pretty much turned the tables." He held out his palm. "Come on. High five!"

She stared blankly as if she had no clue what the gesture even represented. Or more honestly, no clue why the gesture was directed at her. But the more she stared, the more it really sank in her. She took the initiative to launch this search party in the first place, took the initiative to help that boy, and took the initiative to take on that Heartless with her own hands. For as cowardly as she, and everyone else, thought she was, she was more willing to face things head on than not. Perhaps pressure pushed her this far. Or maybe, better yet, she was always like this and just never believed it.

Cyan excitedly slapped his hand and let out a series of celebratory squeals, the ones she bottled in after the battle and now bursted through the seams. Her joy was infectious, and Cody couldn't help but pile on more praise her way. Things were uncertain at first, but at that moment, it felt like they could do anything.

"Alright," Cody clasped his hands together with fire in his eyes. "Now we just gotta find the others and—"

Right on cue, Mokona torpedoed through, seemingly out of nowhere and right at Cody's face. The strike had enough strength to send him slamming right to the hard asphalt. Cyan's joyful celebration was replaced with shocked fear for a cracked skull.

"We found someone, we found someone, we found someone!" Mokona slapped his buddy's head over and over again, seemingly just for the sake of comically injuring him further.

"Found who?" Cyan graciously lifted the little guy off of the poor suffering teenager. "Wait," she gasped in realization. "Did you find them?"

"I dunno. Maybe."

Cyan sprinted off without a second thought, not even caring that the one who knew their upcoming destination was being left in the dust. She wasn't going to run or hide away. If she could help take down Stealth Sneak, she was going to fix this mess of hers if it was the last thing she'd do. The catgirl led the charge while the rabbit mascot fluttered behind her in awe, and the Keybearer stumbled around in vertigo in the far far back.