Titano Man: Hello again lost lambs. I am back to bring to you the last chapter of the Forests of Serenity Arc! I had just read the only other fic on this category and I am pumped up!

Nu-13: So, like, does that mean that we'll all, like, appear after this?

Titano Man: Yes. But you'll have to wait for a little while before I can get to introduce the rest of you.

Hazama: Well you better hurry up buddy. I possibly can't keep my adoring public waiting for too long.

Titano Man: Don't worry Hazama. You'll get your screen time soon enough.

Hazama: Oh, I just can't wait to start trolling everyone! I wonder if I should set up my troll booth somewhere just to make some quick cash?

Ragna walks in with a can of soda. He takes one look at Hazama and immediately does a spit take.

Ragna: Terumi?! What the hell are you doing here?!

Hazama: Well if it isn't my old friend Rags! How're the wife and kids? Oh, wait! You don't have any! You were always too busy thinking about revenge to think about settling down.

Ragna: *draws his sword* I'll worry about that after I kill you.

Hazama: You're always so quick to jump to violence. Noel was SO much more accommodating than you.

Ragna: Noel? What the hell did you do to her you sick bastard?!

Hazama: Ah, don't get your panties all in a twist. She's fine... mostly. Hey, did you know that your girlfriend has a very low pain threshold?

Ragna: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!

Hazama: *Wistfully* The way she screamed as my knives slice through her soft and delicate skin was so... pleasurable. *Shivers in pleasure* That girl certainly has a set of pipes on her that for sure. *Smiles sadistically*

Ragna: THAT'S IT! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A MAJOR VILLAIN IN THIS STORY! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL YOU (BEEP)ING BASTARD!

Hazama: HEHEHE Well bring it on my old chum! I could use a good warm up!

Titano Man: Guys please not in here! At least wait until this chapter is over before you kill each other!

Sora: This looks really bad!

Kairi: * Hides behind Sora* That guy is really scary!

Titano Man: Just be glad that he's not after you and the other princess' right now! *Sees fight starting* Oh, shit! Quick someone say the disclaimer!

Hazama: Oh, mind if I say it?

Titano Man: No, not at all!

Hazama: Alright then. *Ahem* *In a mocking announcer's voice* Titano Man XIII does not own Kingdom Hearts (Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios), Disney, the Final Fantasy series (Also Square Enix), *kicks Ragna in the face* or any of the following anime and/or video games: Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto), Bleach (Tite Kubo), Rosario+Vampire (Akihisa Ikeda), Soul Eater (Atsushi Okubo), Avatar the Last Airbender (Micheal Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko), Pokémon (Nintendo), 8-bit Theater Chaos (Comics- Brian Clevinger Videos- Psyniac), BlazBlue (Arc Systems Works), The Legend of Spyro Series (Activision), Sonic Colors (Sega), SoulCalibur V (Bandai Namco Games), Devil May Cry 1, 2, 3, or 4 (Capcom), Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (Sony Computer Entertainment), Panzer Dragoon: Orta (Sega), and the Legend of Zelda series (Also Nintendo) as well as snything else that he decides to add to this story. But all the original characters in this story are his property. *Gets knocked through a wall by Ragna.*

Titano Man: QUICK! START THE CHAPTER ALREADY! I'm just thankful that Kokonoe isn't here too.

Kokonoe: Terumi! Where is that bastard?! I know he's here!

Titano Man: Just my luck.


Dark Destiny: Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 3: Encroaching Darkness

"Darkness approaches from outside. I feel no light within me strong enough to resist it."- Christopher Pike, The Last Vampire.

The scene faded in to show Aeros, Angela, Ignis, Celia, Terra, Luneth, Arc, Refia, Toph, Delma, Darc, Kharg, Paulette, and Lilia were in Aeros' living room resting after an exciting and relatively exhausting day.

The reason why everyone waited until tomorrow to leave was because there was a mid-summer mask festival happening that night and none of the children wanted to miss it.

Everyone had gone and had a lot of fun. Even Delma admitted as much. There was even a tournament for the kids. In the final match Aeros and Ignis fought each other. It was a close match, but in the end Aeros was the one to come out the victor.

Ignis now lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling in thought as he twirled the Gemstone necklace that Celia made for him with his fingers. He remembered when the bluenette gave him and the rest of their friends the necklaces she had made for them earlier that day. She had the jeweler put them on silver chains with their names carved on each of them. She had said that these gemstones were a symbol of their connection and the friendship they all shared. He remembered the look on Angela's face when Celia personally gave her, a golden necklace. Ignis didn't remember seeing the girl looked so happy before. Thinking about Celia and the kindness she had always gave him a warm feeling in his chest.

'I just can't wait. Once we set off, it'll be great.' Celia's voice said, echoing through his head.

'The outside world... I wonder what it'll be like?' he thought before drifting off to sleep.


Sometime later the redhead was roused from his slumber by a familiar voice.

"...nis! Ignis! Ignis, wake up!" Celia said, her voice cutting through the darkness.

"Huh, what... Celia?" the boy asked as his eyes fluttered open.

"Ignis, please wake up!" Terra said with absolute urgency in her voice. She was wearing the pink gemstone necklace that Celia had made for her.

"Ugh, Celia, Terra? What's going on?" he asked in confusion as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

He glanced at a nearby window and saw that it was still dark out.

"Ignis, hurry! There's a really bad storm outside! And everyone else is gone!" Celia said with worry, her lapis lazuli gemstone necklace glinting in relation to the flashes of lightning that were coming from outside.

Because of all of the high mountains that surrounded the valley, storms weren't very common, especially terrible ones.

The boy looked around the room and saw that everyone else was gone. He then looked out of the window and saw a terrible storm raging outside.

"A storm?" the boy said in confusion. It took him a few seconds for realization to kick in. "Oh, no, the wagon!" he said as his eyes widened in fear. He immediately shot up off of the floor and raced out of the door.

Celia and Terra glanced at each other before racing after their friend.

Moments later Samantha Zoromaki, Aeros, Angela, and Celia's mother, came down the stairs, a look of worry worn on her beautiful face.

"Aeros…? Angela…? Celia…? Is everything alright?" she asked worriedly as she came down the stairs.

She saw that the living room was completely empty and that the front door was open. She felt a sense of dread come over her as she watched the storm rage outside.

'Aeros, Celia, Angela. Please be okay!' the woman thought fearfully as she ran out to find her children.


Play Kingdom Hearts OST- Night of Fate

Ignis, Celia, and Terra made it to the forest in record time. Right at the forest's entrance, staring up at the dark sky, was Aeros, his azure gemstone catching the light of each flash of lightning.

"Aeros!" Ignis shouted, catching his best friend's attention. "What's that?" he asked as he stared at what the brunet was staring at.

Hanging ominously in the air was a giant sphere of swirling dark energy.

"I don't know but I have a terrible feeling about this." Aeros said as he looked back up at the ball of dark energy.

"Aeros!" Celia shouted through the wind and freezing rain. "Where's Angela?" she said feeling fearful for her little sister's safety.

"She and the others are inside the forest! C'mon!" the boy shouted and ran inside.

Ignis, Celia, and Terra ran in after their friend, the well being of the others being the first thing on their minds.

Shortly after the children ran in, a panting, Samantha stopped at the entrance. She was soaking wet with her nightgown clinging to her skin, completely showing off her amazing body (and the fact that she wasn't even wearing a bra was a plus too). Her long dark brown hair was sticking to her face and obscuring her vision. Her bare feet were caked with mud from running down the soaked road.

"These tracks... the kids are here!" she said as she looked at the entrance to the forest. She had the sudden urge to look up and when she did, she saw the sphere of dark energy and it filled her with nothing but dread. 'I have to hurry!' she thought with renewed vigor.

Just before she ran into the forest a pair of shadows that were blacker than black appeared on the ground in front of her.

The shadows rose from the ground and turned into strange creatures that were roughly humanoid in appearance but no bigger than that of a small child and more greatly resembled an ant. The creatures had ink-black skin, small zigzagging antennae, clawed hands with three fingers on each, round feat with no toes, and empty yellow eyes. Tiny creatures known as Shadows

The creatures chirped to each other as they came out of the ground.

The woman looked at the creatures in fear. 'Oh no!' she thought as she was completely petrified by the site of them.

She backed away as the creatures crept towards her.

But then a scream, a child's scream, resounded from within the forest. Samantha immediately recognized who it came from.

"Celia!" she shouted as ice cold fear gripped her heart. almost immediately her protective maternal instincts kicked in and it filled her with the strength she needed to save her children.

"Get outta my way, you monsters! Thunder!" she shouted as a bolt of lightning struck the ground where the creatures stood, causing the creatures to explode into black mist as they died. 'Hang on kids! Mama's coming!' she thought as she ran into the forest.


Several minutes before Aeros, Celia, Ignis, and Terra were running down the trail at top speed looking for there missing friends until they were suddenly surrounded by the mysterious shadow creatures.

"What were these things?!" Celia asked frantically while hiding behind her brother. She screamed when one of the shadows grabbed her ankle before kicking it away.

"I have no idea!" Aeros said feeling a little panicked. He moved to strike at the creatures with his wooden sword, but all of his attacks were phasing right through the creatures. "I think it's best that we avoid them completely!" he said as he grabbed Celia's hand and running from the creatures with Ignis and Terra following them. Though he wouldn't admit this out loud, he was absolutely terrified, not for his own life, but for Celia's and Angela's lives. 'I have to find her!' he thought desperately as the group ran through the forest.

They stopped running when they had reached a familiar fork in the road. The fork split the road up three ways. The central road led to the giant tree at the heart of the forest. The road to the left led to the lake at the western edge of the forest where they always watched the sunset. And the final road to the right lead to the clearing, where the wagon was. But there was an obstacle that was preventing them from taking the path to the right as well as the central path. A pair of mysterious, wooden doors were barring the paths a magic barrier prevented them from simply going around the doors as well.

'Where did these doors come from?' Aeros thought as he examined one of the doors. 'Better go find Angela first and make sure she's okay.' he thought before turning to go down the only available path.

But before he could start down the path, he heard Celia release a blood curdling scream of pure terror.

He turned to see that his sister, Ignis, and Terra were all surrounded by the mysterious shadow creatures and that the redhead was kneeling on the ground while clutching his arm, which was bleeding heavily. But before he could attempt to help his friends, several rock spikes shot out of the ground and impaled all of the creatures, causing them to explode into clouds of black mist.

"Geez, you guys can't go five minutes without me having to save your butts." said a familiar female voice.

Everyone turned their heads to the source of the voice and saw Toph emerge from the brush, her jade gemstone swaying with every step. She was covered in dirt and a small amount of blood most likely her own.

"Toph!" Celia shouted excitedly, relieved to see that one of her friends was relatively unharmed.

"You're alright!" Terra said happy to see that her friend was okay.

"You know it would take a lot more than a bunch of freaky monsters to take me down." the Geomancer said with a smirk.

"Thanks for saving us Toph." Ignis said as he winced in pain.

"Ignis!" Terra called out in worry as she crouched down next to the boy.

"Ignis, do you have the Hi-Potion I gave you earlier?" Celia asked as she crouched down next to the boy.

The redhead nodded in confirmation and took out the bottle. Celia then took the bottle and uncorked it. She poured the curative liquid onto the wound causing the boy to hiss in pain as it healed.

"Thanks I feel better now." Ignis said gratefully as he stood up.

"C'mon guys, the more time we waist standing around, the more Angela could be in danger!" Aeros said urgently as he looked at his friends.

Everyone nodded and the party proceeded to go down the only available path.

Moments later Samantha reached the fork in the road. She looked at the tracks and saw that they led down the path to the left.

'The lake!' she thought and ran down the path.


When the children reached the lake they did not find a very good sight. The area near the entrance looked to have seen a fierce battle and a little ways away was the dead body of a large male Orc. The Orc seemed to be of the same type as Delma, sharing many physical characteristics with her such as, small bony plates on various parts of the body, a long tail originating from in between the shoulder blades, bony spikes growing from the arms and legs, which act as shoulder, knee, and elbow guards, sharp teeth, and horns that were the same color as his black hair growing from the head. But the only differing traits with Delma were that he was bigger, chubbier, had bull-like horns, and had green skin.

Nearby the corpse were Kharg and Paulette. Both of the looked as though they had been in a boxing match with Mike Tyson, and lost. Luckily both of them were still alive, just unconscious and wounded.

Further ahead Darc was standing with an unconscious and heavily beaten Delma in his arms. And if one looked closely, they would notice two things. One, it looked as if a piece of Delma's left horn had been broken off. And two, Darc was missing his wings.

The Half-Deimos was walking towards the lake's shore where, lo and behold, Marie Angela Zoromaki stood, staring at the large sphere of dark energy that seemed to float directly over it.

"Angela!" Aeros shouted as he ran to where his younger sister stood.

"Celia, Terra! Go see if you can help Kharg and Paulette! Toph, you stand guard!" Ignis said as he ran off after his best friend.

The two girls ran off to the two downed children to see how they could help. Toph followed and stood guard over the two girls as they went to work.

The two girls ran off to the two downed teens to see how they could help them. Toph followed and stood guard over the two girls as they went to work.

Within moments Aeros and Ignis had reached the shore they were able to catch the tail end of the conversation Darc was having with Angela.

"Where the hell did you get that kind of power?" Darc asked as Delma groaned weakly in his arms.

The human/dragon hybrid readjusted his hold on the female Orc to make her more comfortable.

The girl didn't answer as Aeros and Ignis ran up to them.

"Angela! Where are the others? We thought they were with you!" Ignis said as he shielded his face from the fierce winds.

"The door has opened..." Angela said as if she were in a trance.

"What?" Aeros asked in confusion.

"The door has opened, big brother!" Angela replied as she turned to face the two boys, half-Deimos and unconscious Orcon Deimos. "Now we can go to the outside world!" she said excitedly, her topaz gemstone glinted as she moved. There was a slightly crazed look on her face as she smiled at them.

"What are you talking about Angela?! We've got to find the others!" Ignis said urgently.

"Forget about them!" Angela immediately replied, a look of rage on her face. "It can be just you and me Aeros! Nobody else!" she said as a crazed smile reappeared on her face.

Both Aeros and Ignis seemed taken aback by this.

Aeros noted that there was something off about his younger sister. It was as if she wasn't being herself.

"Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our families again. There's no turning back." she said with the utmost conviction. "But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" she said with utmost sincerity.

Angela extended her hand out as if inviting the boy to join in. Her eyes were pleading with her brother to come along, to not abandon her.

"Angela..." Aeros said softly.

But before either Aeros or Ignis could do anything a sinister looking horned shadow rose up from the ground behind Angela. The shadow opened its eyes, which glowed a demonic red. The shadow then threw its arms up into the air, and upon closer inspection seemed to resemble large, clawed wings, and a large pool of darkness opened up beneath Angela's feet. Tendrils of darkness crawled up her body, attempting to swallow her and anyone near them, but she showed no resistance.

"W-what the hell?!" Darc shouted as the tendrils of darkness crawled up his body. He struggled to escape its grasp but the darkness held fast.

"Angela!" Ignis and Aeros shouted in alarm as they reached out to grab the girl's outstretched hand and pull her out of the swarming mass of dark energy.

"No!" Aeros said as the darkness was beginning to crawl up his body. He continued to reach for his sister in hopes of saving her from the darkness.

"Don't... let... the darkness... take you... Angela!" Ignis said as he struggled against the darkness. Just as the redhead was about to grab the younger girl's hand, he felt the dark tendrils grab onto him and crawl up his body, attempting to devour him as well. All he and Aeros could do was reach for Angela's hand, even as the darkness fully engulfed them.

For a moment all Aeros and Ignis saw was nothing but darkness. Pitch blackness that stretched on into eternity. How long had they been in there? A minute…? A day…? A year…? Neither were sure. But then there was a bright light. And it chased away the darkness.

The next thing both boys knew, they were standing on the shore of the lake again. Angela, Darc, nor Delma were anywhere in sight.

"Ignis, you're all right!" Aeros said a little disoriented as he held his head with his left hand. He looked to his friend and noticed that he was holding something. "What's that?" he asked, referring to the odd object in the redhead's hand.

Ignis looked at the object in his right hand and saw that it was an odd sword that resembled a skeleton key in its overall shape. It had a green handle and a rectangular, black guard with long spikes on each of its corners. The long shaft was silver and had concave edges, and ended in a spike resembling those on the Nobody symbol. The silver teeth were shaped like a large arrowhead. The blade had a key chain hooked onto the end of it. And the Keychain token was a diamond resembling the weapon's teeth. The weapon's name was True Lights Flight.

"What...?" the boy asked in a mixture of confusion and awe. He had never seen a weapon like this before. He then noticed that his friend was holding something as well. "You're holding something too!" he said as he pointed at the object clasped in Aeros' right hand.

The brunet looked down at the object and took in its features.

In his hand was a sword that resembled a skeleton key. The blade's shaft had a deep-grey edge which curves in at intervals, the inside fading from dark red to black from its base, which had several angled lines pointing toward the guard as the center bared a bright red line, stretching to the tip as it led to an equally red rune marking. The teeth were axe-like, with the same coloration as the top of the shaft, an angled piece and several lines cut out, giving the illusion of teeth. The guard is a dark steel blue and had a hexagonal shape with numerous semicircles imprinted around it. The hilt was plain black. The Keychain bared a strong resemblance to the one on a certain dark Keyblade master's blade. It was known as the Darkgnaw.

Before either boy could ask about the strange weapons a series of strange voices whispered around them.

Keyblade...

Keyblade...

"A Keyblade?" the boy said in confusion.

"Well, whatever it's called, it just saved our lives!" Aeros said as he stared at the odd weapon in his hand.

"Let's go find the others." Ignis said with a fire and a determination shining in his bright emerald green eyes that Aeros had never seen before.

Aeros gazed sadly at the spot where his sister once stood before looking back to his friend and nodding in agreement.

The two boys made their way back to the spot where Celia and Terra were treating Kharg and Paulette, only to see that Samantha was among them. She had arrived shortly after them and had helped Celia and Terra heal Kharg and Paulette. And both teens were now conscious and fully healed.

"Mom?! What are you doing here?!" Aeros asked in shock. He did not expect his mother to be here.

"When I came downstairs, I saw that the living room completely empty and that the front door was open. I was worried that you would all get hurt, and seeing all these monsters about, my fears were all but confirmed. But enough about that, Where's Angela?" she asked looking about. She had seen her youngest daughter standing at the edge of the lake, but had to focus on healing Kharg and Paulette, so she didn't see what happened.

Aeros and Ignis looked down in shame.

"Boys, where's Angela?" she asked a bit more firmly.

Neither boy answered.

Samantha then noticed the weapons in both of their hands and a cold feeling welled up in her gut. "Boys, tell me what happened. Where's Angela?!" she asked more fearful for her daughter's safety.

"She's gone..." Ignis said in a somber tone.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?!" the woman asked near hysterically.

"The darkness... It took her away mama." Aeros said sadly. "And there wasn't anything we could've done to save her!" he said his voice filled with self-loathing.

"No... Angela... My little angel..." she said as she began to cry for the loss of her youngest child.

"Mom... Let's go. We'll have time to mourn later. We have to find the others before they get hurt." Celia said as soothingly as she could.

The woman managed to pull herself together enough to stand up.

"Y-you're right. Now's not the time for this." she said as she stared at her other daughter. 'When did she become so mature? Is it because of what's happening right now? or has she always been like this?' she thought in wonder as she followed the children out of the lake-side area.


Soon enough the party reached the fork in the road and saw that the door leading to the clearing was open.

"C'mon! The others might need our help!" Ignis said as he started towards the available path, only to stop when more of the strange shadow creatures appeared before him. "I do not have time for this!" the redhead shouted impatiently as he got into a new battle stance. (Think Sora's battle stance.)

The creatures hissed fearfully at the site of the Keyblades.

"You guys are afraid of these?" Aeros asked and glanced at his new weapon. "Well, if you don't back off, then I'll use this thing on you!" the boy said as threateningly as he could as he assumed his battle stance. (It's and altered version of Riku's battle stance. His left hand is wrapped loosely around the handle so he could quickly use powerful two-handed strikes or set up a split second defensive spell or dodge.)

It didn't look like the creatures understood them for they pounced at the two with their claws extended, aiming to rip them apart.

Ignis reacted quickly and batted one of them out of the air while dodging the rest Aeros followed suit as well.

The creatures quickly went in for another attack but the boys were too quick and easily dispatched the monsters.

"Aeros, Ignis, that was amazing! When did you two learn how to fight like that?" Celia asked in amazement as she ran up and hugged the boy.

"Just now, I guess." Ignis replied sheepishly.

Aeros looked to the path that led to where the wagon and began moving towards it.


The party of eight soon made their way down the path with Aeros and Ignis batting away any of the creatures that barred their path.

When they reached the clearing they came upon a troublesome sight.

Luneth, Arc, and Refia were standing in front of the wagon and they were surrounded by a swarm of shadow creatures different than the ones they had encountered so far.

The creatures had a more humanoid body structure than the other creatures, but shared the same pitch black skin and spherical, glowing yellow eyes. Their crooked antennae were quite long and fell back behind their bodies. They seemed to be rather muscular, and their hands were very large, each one sporting five clawed fingers. Their feet, like those of the other creatures, were long and lacked digits, but a their feet more resembled boots. Their bodies were also lined by several faint, blue veins of color. These creatures were known as the high-tiered Heartless called Neoshadows.

The three children were struggling against the monsters that were slowly drawing closer to them.

"We have to help them!" Terra said urgently.

"Right!" Ignis said as he and Aeros charged at the swarm of creatures.

With the aid of Samantha, and Terra's black magic, and Toph's geomancer abilities, many of the creatures were easily dispatched.

But more kept appearing.

"This is taking forever!" Ignis shouted as he lopped off the head of a Neoshadow that got too close.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Aeros said as he killed another Heartless.

"We can't fight them off forever!" Arc said as he knocked one back with a staff that he had pulled from the wagon.

While everyone was fighting for their lives, Terra was struggling to continue fighting.

'There are just too many of them!' she thought as she slashed another Neoshadow with a saber that she had pulled out from the wagon.

Although she didn't always wield one the green-haired girl was very proficient in the use of light swords and daggers.

Another Heartless charged at her and she blasted it with a quick fire spell.

She panted tiredly as she kept fighting the monsters off. But she was growing more and more exhausted as the battle went on.

Before she knew it she was struck in the back as a Neoshadow snuck up behind her and slashed her with its claws.

The girl cried out in pain as she fell to the ground.

She looked back and saw the creature charge at her.

Her eyes widened in shock and she hit the monster with a thunder spell, destroying it.

She panted tiredly as she got on her hands and knees. She looked around and saw that she was completely surrounded by the monsters.

'What do I do? I'm not strong enough to fight these things on my own!' she thought as she looked around in panic.

She then remembered the words Vergil had spoken to her earlier that day.

"Might controls everything - and without strength, you cannot protect anything; let alone yourself."

'He's right... I'm not strong. I'm not strong enough to protect them... To protect myself...' she thought as she looked at Ignis who was slashing away at the Heartless and then to Celia who was using the wagon for cover. 'I... I want to protect them! I need to be strong enough to protect Ignis and Celia from anything!' she thought as she curled her small hands into fists leaving grooves in the mud with he nails.

Then, the voice that sounded a lot like hers spoke to her in a gentle tone.

Terra want power?

The girl thought for a moment. 'Yes...' she thought with a nod.

Terra sure...?

If Terra didn't know better she could have sworn that the voice was pleased by her response and was grinning.

'Yes! I want the power!' she thought as she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She would do anything to protect those she loved.

Terra can get true power... All Terra have to do is open heart.

The voice's whispers were sweet like honey, but also held something else to them. What it was Terra did not know.

'Open my heart... Is it that simple?' Terra thought unsure. 'Are you sure it will make me strong enough to protect them?'

Yes... Terra will be strongest in world. Terra can protect friends from monsters. Terra can do anything!

Terra was silent for a moment. Time seemed to stand still as she looked at the muddy ground in thought.

'Anything...?'

Yes... Terra can kill monsters like Terra killed blue man. Remember? How good power felt when Terra used it?

The green-haired girl did indeed remembered that moment. When she had released all that power. It... felt marvelous. She had never felt so powerful before in her life. And for a moment... she really felt like she could do anything.

Stop being afraid and just open heart... Let power flow through Terra and Terra CAN do anything!

'Just... open my heart.' she thought as she closed her eyes and opened her heart letting go of all her anxieties and fear. Within moments, a massive flood of power surged through her body and completely overwhelmed her. She faintly heard someone calling out to her and screaming in background. She didn't even realize that she was the one who was screaming. The last thing she heard before her mind went blank was the voice that sounded like hers laughing with complete and utter glee.

Free!

This voice... The voice that had whispered sweet nothings into Terra's ear was in fact the voice of the bestial half of her heart. A side of her she had unknowingly repressed since her early childhood. These were her basest instincts given sentience. And by accepting it, Terra had released a beast she could not possibly hope to control at her current level.


Ignis was hacking away at the continuous swarm of Heartless.

'How do we stop these things?!' the boy thought in irritation as he kept fighting the endless swarm.

As the boy kept fighting he noticed that Terra was on the ground not even moving a finger as the Neoshadows surrounded her.

"Terra!" the redhead shouted in fear as he began to slash his way to his friend.

By the time he reached her he noticed that electricity was violently arcing off her body and she was holding her head as if in pain.

"Terra, are you alright?" he said as he tried to touch her only for the electricity to shock him.

For some odd reason, the Neoshadows were staying away from Terra. It was as if they were afraid of her.

Ignis watched helplessly as the electric currents continued to flow off of his friend as her pained whimpers soon became moans of pain. He wanted to help her. But the amount of electricity coming off her mixed with being drenched by the heavy rain fall made it too dangerous to even get near the girl.

"Terra..." the boy said before Terra began screaming in pure agony. "Terra!" he shouted and ran to the girl, not caring if he gets electrocuted in the process.

But before he could reach the girl, a sudden burst of power and light fully engulfed her and threw him back.

The sudden burst sudden burst of power garnered the attention of everyone else. Including the rest of the Heartless.

The bright light receded to show the being that now stood in Terra Branford's place.

The girl had gone through a transformation. The first thing they had noticed was that she was now completely naked, save fore her pink diamond necklace, showing just how well developed she is for a twelve year old girl. Her hair was no longer tied into a ponytail or its trademark mint-green color, it now was long and wild and reached her rear, and her body and hair were vivid lavender color while her face was a paler shade, almost white, she had yellow claws on her hands and feet, and she had bright red lips and red lining around her eyes, giving her a more savage yet elegant appearance. Her lips were pulled back into a snarl, exposing a pair of sharpened canines. All in all, the girl looked very intimidating, despite her young age.

Whatever Terra had become now glared at the Heartless around her.

Her friends noticed that her eyes were no longer kind, innocent, and shy... now they were wild, filled with anger and the need to kill.

She reared her head up into the air and gave a loud, mighty, bestial roar. It echoed throughout the entire forest, sending a shiver of fear down everyone's backs.

"Terra...?" Celia asked in a mixture of shock, disbelief, and awe. What had her best friend become?

"What the hell...?" Aeros muttered in shock.

'I always knew there was something different about her. But I never anticipated this.' Samantha thought as she eyed Terra's new form.

Ignis, who was closest to the girl, watched as she stopped roaring and glared at the Neoshadows, who seemed to shrink back from her intense gaze.

Before anything else could be said or done, Terra dashed at the Heartless and began ripping, and tearing them asunder before they could even retaliate.

Everyone watched in a mixture of horror and awe as the transformed girl brutally and mercilessly tore the creatures apart with her razor sharp claws and incinerated, froze, or crushed the creatures with her overpowered magic.

Before long Terra Branford had killed every last Heartless.

The girl now stood in the middle of the clearing, slightly hunched over, head bowed, panting heavily. Her claws twitched, itching to tear into something else.

Ignis tentatively walked towards the girl.

"Terra...?" he said as he stopped behind her.

She showed no signs that she even heard him.

"Terra, are you alright?" he asked as he gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

Instead of the girl calming down like he expected, she instead whirled around and raked her claws across his chest.

Ignis stumbled back in shock. "Terra, what the..." he couldn't finish as a torrent of blood erupted from his chest. He coughed up some blood and he fell to his knees.

"Ignis!" Celia shouted in horror as she rushed out to help the redhead.

That sparked everyone else into action as well.

Aeros then dashed towards Terra and slashed at her.

The girl was able to dodge the attack by jumping back.

She growled at the boy threateningly.

"I don't know what the hell you are Terra Branford...! But if you even think about hurting my friends for even a moment, I won't hesitate in ending your life!" the Keyblade wielder said angrily as he entered his battle stance.

Terra growled as she glared at the people before her.

Aeros stood before her poised to strike should she do anything. Next to him Luneth stood with a steel broadsword in each hand as well as Kharg with his sword. And slightly behind them Arc, Paulette, and Samantha stood ready to cover the boys with magic if need be.

The girl's eyes wandered over to the wounded redhead. She saw Celia crouched down next to him trying to keep the boy conscious.

'Ignis... Celia...?' she thought as recognition flashed through her eyes.

Her snarl disappeared and her face soon adopted a look of confusion.

"Ignis...? Celia...?" she asked as she tried to clear the cobwebs from her mind.

"T-Terra... Why...?" the bluenette asked with confusion and fear.

"Why, what?" the lavender-skinned girl asked in confusion. "What are you...?" she reached a hand out to her two closest friends only to gasp in shock when she noticed that her arm was different than it was before. Not only that... It was stained red... with blood. She looked at her hands, the rest of her body, and saw that she no longer even looked human. On top of that, she was covered in blood.

She looked at Ignis and saw him clutching his still bleeding chest in pain.

It slowly dawned on her that she was the one who hurt Ignis.

'I... I hurt Ignis. I could have killed him.' she thought as she looked back to her bloodied hands. 'I... I'm a monster! I... I can't stay here! I'll only hurt them again!' she thought as she shook her head and slowly backed away from the people she once called her friends. Tears began to run down her face as she whirled around and ran out of the clearing. 'I don't belong with them... I don't belong anywhere!' she thought as she ran as fast as she could.

"Terra!" Celia cried out when her friend started running. "We have to go after her!" she said as she stood up and tried to chase after her friend but her path was blocked by Luneth.

"Are you crazy?! Didn't you see what she did to those things, to Ignis?!" the silver-haired boy said trying to talk sense into the livid-haired girl.

"Yes. She saved all our lives from those things. If she didn't change into that form then I doubt any of us would even be here right now!" she said as she glared at the boy. She had questions of course, but those can wait until after she consoled her best friend. "And she wasn't even aware of what she was doing when she hurt Ignis. Didn't you see how scared and confused she was?!"

"I..." Luneth tried to say something but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Celia's right..." Ignis said as he stood up while clutching his wounded chest.

"Ignis, don't move! You've been hurt very badly. Sit down and let us heal you." Refia said as she tried to get her fellow redhead to sit down but the boy didn't budge.

"We... We made a promise to Terra..." he said as he pushed Refia away and started walking towards Celia. "Whenever she's feeling upset... Whenever she's sad... or just feeling lonely... She would come to me and Celia..." the girl reached out and draped his arm over her shoulder.

"And we'd help her smile again." she finished as she stared resolutely at the rest of the group.

Everyone was awed that they were willing to help someone who wasn't even human.

"Terra needs us... Now more than ever." she said before she and Ignis turned to leave.

"Alright..." Aeros said causing the two to look back at him. "We'll look for Terra. I have a lot of questions too... And only she has the answers." the boy said as he gazed at the two.

Ignis and Celia smiled gratefully.

"Thank you Aeros." said the bluenette.

"But you have to get yourself healed up first Ignis. You'll only be a burden as you are now. We'll look for Terra when Refia and mom finish healing you." he said in a tone full of authority.

The boy nodded and Celia helped him sit down.

Refia and Samantha immediately went to work and removed the boy's shirt to work on the wound directly.

After a few minutes the girl and older woman finished healing the redhead.

"There. That should do until I can look at it later." Aeros' mother said as the green glow on her hands dissipated.

The only evidence of the wound were five thin scars going diagonally across his chest.

Celia couldn't help but blush when she saw the developing muscles on Ignis' torso.

Ignis pulled his shirt back on and looked around for his Keyblade.

"Where did..." he was cut off when the True Lights Flight appeared in his hand. "Never mind." he said with a shrug before standing up with a small wince. The scars stung since there was some magical damage as well.

"Let's get going. We still have friends to find." he said as he began walking out of the clearing with everyone following him.


Within minutes everyone had reached the forest's intersection and saw that the door barring the path to the tree was now open and that the path to the lake was barred by several fallen trees.

Without wasting any time, the party of ten ran down the only available path.


Soon enough they reached the great tree, but Terra was nowhere in sight.

"She might be hiding in the Crystal Cave hidden under the tree." Ignis said as he pointed at the great tree that sat atop the hill.

Everyone raced up the hill and reached the cave's hidden entrance.

"Ladies first." Ignis said courteously.

Aeros gave Ignis a look.

"What?" the boy asked indignantly.

The girls crawled into the hole one by one, the boys following soon after.

End Theme


The party entered the crystal cave, which, luckily, was big enough to hold all of them.

They saw Terra curled up into a little ball softly sobbing as she buried her face in her knees. Seated next to her, rubbing the transformed girl's back in a soothing manner was Lilia.

"Terra!" Celia and Ignis cried out when they saw their friend.

"Lilia!" both Kharg and Paulette shouted as they entered the room causing the girl to turn around.

"Thank goodness! You're all okay!" she said with relief in her voice. "I was afraid that the monsters that man had told me about might have hurt you." she said thankfully.

"Wait, what man?" Aeros asked in suspicion.

"I believe she is referring to Me." a mysterious man said as he stepped out of the shadow of one of the giant root pillars located at the back of the cave next to the door.

The man had short swept back white hair and blue eyes. He wore a blue long coat with three tails and a snake like pattern on the right side of the jacket. Under that he wore a dark blue vest, dark pants, and long brown boots. Held in his left hand was a katana with an ornate bronze oval shaped guard, a tsuka-ito that seemed to be braided from white and black material, and a black scabbard, made of traditional lacquered wood, and features several metallic ornaments on its far end. It also features a yellow sageo, the cord used to tie the katana to the waist. It was Vergil!

Play Devil May Cry 3 OST- Vergil Battle 1

"Who are you?" Aeros asked warily.

"That is of no importance." the man said with a scoff. "I am to retrieve these girls before this world is plunged into darkness." the man said as he pointed at Lilia and Terra.

"What do you want Terra and Lilia for?" Ignis asked as he, Aeros and Kharg stepped in between him and the two girls.

Aeros and Ignis got into their battle stances and Kharg pulled out his sword and got into his stance.

Vergil scoffed. "You wish to fight? You are nothing more than children with fancy toys. Allow me to show you your place." he said as he drew his blade Yamato.

Kharg immediately dashed towards the blue clad swordsman and aimed to cut the man in half with an overhead slash.

The white haired man blocked the attack with very little effort.

"Amateur." the man muttered before batting the boy away.

Aeros and Ignis decided to double team the swordsman by slashing him with mirroring diagonal slashes.

Vergil blocked both of their attacks; he had blocked Aeros' attack with his scabbard while he had blocked Ignis' attack with his sword.

"It's obvious that you were both self-taught." he said before twirling and knocking both boys away with his scabbard and the back of his sword respectively.

Both boys flew through the air before hit the walls opposite of each other.

Vergil heard something twirling through the air before he saw Paulette throw her sling knife at him.

He easily sidestepped the projectile and grabbed the thin wire that was attached to it. With a sharp yank he caused the red and brown clad brunette to stumble towards him. Faster than the girl could recover he had closed the distance between them and had clothes lined her. And while she was airborne he struck her stomach with the back of his sword causing her to hit the ground hard enough to bounce once off of it.

Luneth went in next and went for a heavy diagonal slash.

The blue clad swordsman dodged the attack by stepping back before kneeing the silver haired boy in the stomach. He then kicked the boy away, sending him flying through the cave.

"Fire!" Arc shouted sending a small fire ball at the swordsman.

"Aero!" Refia shouted sending a ball of compressed wind at the swordsman.

The two magic spells merged together and created a bigger, stronger ball of fire.

The fireball hit Vergil at exploded into a large inferno.

When the fire died down Vergil was nowhere in sight.

"We did it!" Refia said feeling victorious.

But before either Arc or Refia could celebrate their apparent victory, they heard a voice coming from right behind them.

"Impressive." Vergil said shocking the two children. "Combining your spells to create an even more powerful one. You have much to learn in the ways of the mystic arts, but your skills are quite impressive." the man complimented, which threw the two for a loop. Bad guys normally didn't compliment people... Did they?

The white haired man then sucker punched Arc before sheathing his blade and back handing Refia.

Both children were sent crashing into nearby walls.

The half demon then turned to Samantha, who was standing protectively in front of Celia, Lilia, and Terra.

"Don't you dare come near them!" she growled as electricity arced up and down her arms.

"What can you do to me?" the man said coldly as he drew his blade.

"Just watch." she said in a dangerous tone.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your view of the situation, Kharg recovered and charged at him intending run his blade through the man. But the son of Sparda sidestepped him and struck him in the back with his sword.

The boy collapsed onto the floor unconscious with a large gash going down the length of his back.

"Kharg!" Paulette shouted in shock as she stood up.

"Why you!" Ignis growled as he charged at the man.

"Ignis wait!" Aeros called out in warning.

"You should have listened to your friend." Vergil said as he blocked a series of slashes from Ignis.

The expert swordsman locked blades with Ignis and the two of them stood in a stalemate.

"Do you even know how to use this sword of yours?" he asked in an almost bored tone which caused Ignis to growl irritably at him.

"I don't need to!" the boy growled out as he tried to push the man back. "All I have to do... is keep you busy!" he said with a smirk, causing the swordsman to arch a brow in confusion.

Ignis jumped back just as a small pillar of crystal suddenly shot up from the ground at an angle and hit the half demon right in the gut.

Vergil grunted in pain as he was sent flying to the back of the cave.

"Nice one Toph!" the redhead said as he came to stand next to the blind girl.

"Yeah I know. I'm awesome." she said cockily as she polished her fingernails on her shirt.

"A Geomancer. Very impressive. But it's time that I end this little play date of ours." Vergil said as he stood up.

The swordsman suddenly disappeared from sight.

"What? Where did he go?" Aeros asked as he looked about the cave but saw no sign of the man.

Suddenly a large spray of blood erupted from Paulette's torso and she collapsed onto the ground without making a sound.

"Paulette" Refia shouted in alarm only moments before a large spray of blood spurted out of her torso. She gasped before losing consciousness due to shock.

The same thing happened to Luneth and Arc within moments of each other.

On instinct, Ignis moved in front of Toph and successfully block Vergil's attack.

The swordsman's eyes had widened slightly in surprise. He had not expected a mere human to block his attack. He inwardly admitted that the boy had some skill, and with the proper training, might even be a worthy opponent, assuming that he would somehow survive this world's fall into darkness.

"Toph, are you okay?" Ignis asked as he held off Vergil's sword.

"Y-yeah." she said in awe. She was able to see Ignis move in front of her due to her special ability to 'see' her surrounding through the vibrations in the ground. A technique she called the Seismic Sense. It was so acute that it could pick up an ant's movements up to five meters away. But Vergil was somehow moving faster than she could perceive, thus why she was only able to hit him when Ignis was holding him still. The fact that the redhead had jumped in front of the attack to save her with so little regard towards his own safety had touched the blind girl in a way she wasn't familiar with. "Thanks Ignis." she said gratefully.

"Impressive. I certainly did not expect you to block my attack. But I'm afraid that your luck has run out." he said before punching Ignis, causing him to crash into Toph and send the both of them crashing into the wall that was behind them. They hit the wall with enough force to not only disorient Ignis, but also make Toph lose consciousness, since she took up the brunt of the impact.

"Blizzard!" Samantha said as she released a large block of ice from her hands.

The spell came towards the blue clad man, but he shocked the woman by slashing at the block of ice and the spell literally disintegrated into fine ice crystals. The shocking thing was that she had only seen him swing his sword once.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked as he turned to the woman and the girl.

"Thu-" Samantha tried to cast her next spell, but Vergil moved too quickly and disappeared from her sights. He then impaled the woman through her stomach with his sword from behind.

The mother of three looked down at the blade that was sticking out of her stomach.

Vergil quickly pulled out his sword making Samantha cough up some blood and collapse onto the ground, barely conscious.

"Mom!" both Aeros and Celia cried out in fear.

The half demon swordsman then looked at the last few obstacles in his way.

Aeros stood in front of him in his battle stance while glaring daggers at the man.

Behind the boy Celia, and Lilia were standing protectively in front of a confused looking Terra despite their fear.

Vergil noted that Terra seemed to be different. It was as though she was completely unaware of what was happening as she clung to the back of the glue-gray-haired girl's dress.

'It appears that using that much power for too long had made her mind regress into a feral state.' he thought as he eyed the lavender-skinned girl. 'She's nothing more than an animal now.' he thought before looking back to Aeros.

End Theme

"I'll ask you only once, give me those girls and I'll spare all of your lives." he said as he pointed his sword at Aeros.

"No way! I'd rather die than let you take one of my friends away!" Aeros growled out with pure conviction.

"As you wish." the man said coldly.

Vergil quickly sped forward and punched Aeros very hard into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and making him drop his Keyblade.

The blue clad swordsman looked at the violently coughing Aeros and raised his blade into the air.

"Farewell... human." the white haired man muttered just before he brought down his hair.

"Aeros!" Ignis shouted in horror after finally regaining his senses.

"No!" Samantha shouted in fear as she tried to reach for her son.

Time seemed to slow down as Vergil's blade arched downwards towards its target, but something happened that shocked everyone that was still conscious, including the son of Sparda.

Faster than any one could perceive, Celia had jumped in front of the attack and acted as a human shield, taking all of the damage.

Aeros looked on in a mixture of shock and horror as his adopted sister stood in front of him with her arms outstretched to the sides.

"I won't... let you... hurt my... big brother..." she said weakly just before a torrent of blood erupted from her chest. She then lost consciousness and began to fall.

Aeros was able recover just in time to catch his sister before she had hit the ground.

"Celia!" he shouted in fear.

"She had sacrificed herself to prolong your life, even if it was only for a moment. There truly aren't that many humans like her out there." the swordsman said as he once again lifted his blade.

'Why?' Aeros thought as he stared at his sister. Time seemed to slow down once again as his mind raced a mile a minute. 'Why can't I protect anyone? Ignis... Terra... Luneth... Refia... Arc... Toph... mom... Angela... Celia... I couldn't protect any of them!' he thought as he closed his eyes in shame and self-loathing. 'I've been nothing but useless throughout this whole ordeal! Why did they make me the leader? A leader is supposed to protect those he lead, right? But I can't! I'm useless. Maybe I should just die and save everyone the trouble.' he thought in despair. he looked at his sister and tightened his grip on her. 'No! I'm not a burden! Everyone trusts me because they know that I will always come through for them!' as if a dam had broken, a great power began surging through him. 'I can protect everyone! I won't let anyone get hurt again! Not while I have the power to do something about it! No matter what! I won't have people like Celia get hurt or be put in harm's way as long as I'm still alive!' he thought with firm resolution as time began to move at a normal pace again.

But before anything could happen Vergil was sent flying back courtesy of an enraged and growling Terra. Despite her now feral mind state, she was still very protective over Ignis and Celia. And seeing Celia nearly get killed pissed her off like no other.

'I didn't even see her move.' the swordsman thought as he stood up and looked at the growling girl. 'She is far more powerful than I ever anticipated.' he thought as the two stared each other down.

Aeros stared at Terra in shock. She was able knock back a guy who had, until this moment, been tossing them around like rag dolls. He had a lot of questions for the girl but right now he knew that she was no monster. "Thank you..." he said sincerely with a nod.

Terra didn't acknowledge him as she simply kept growling at Vergil.

The boy then stood up with his sister cradled in his arms. He walked over to a nearby wall and sat her against it.

"I'm sorry sis. I promise you, no one is ever going to hurt you, ever again." the boy whispered as he brushed some of the girl's blue-gray hair away from her face.

Aeros stood back up and looked at Vergil. There was strength in his eyes, strength that none of his friends, nor his mother, had ever seen before.

"Alright, I'm only going to tell you this once. Leave now, or face the consequences!" he said as he threw his right arm out to his side. The Darkgnaw appeared in his hand.

Ignis got up and stood to the other side of Terra.

"So what's it going to be?" the redhead said as he and Aeros took their battle stances.

But before anyone could do anything, they heard a man's voice call out to Vergil from the cave's entrance.

"Well, this sure is a fine load of shit that you've gotten yourself into Vergil. I ask you to do one thing and you manage to screw that up! Oh well, we learned quite a bit from watching you fight these brats, so it's not all that bad." the mystery man said from within the shadows of the tunnel that led into the cave. Thrown over his shoulder was an unconscious Lilia.

"Hazama." Vergil said as the man stepped into the light. (I was SO tempted to end the chapter right here. Total cliffhanger! But nah, I'm not that evil. I wouldn't do that to you... yet. * smiles evilly*.)

Hazama's appearance was taken after the shady, creepy archetype. He had bright green hair and an ever-present smile with his eyes closed, belying a demonic nature. He wore a simple black suit with a white shirt underneath, short brown gloves, and brown steel-toed shoes. He donned a pair of black trousers held up by two brown belts. He completed the outfit with a black fedora hat to close the shady visage.

Play BlazBlue OST- Gluttony Fang

"Who are you?" Aeros said hostilely as he pointed his Keyblade at the shady individual.

"Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself!" the man replied in embarrassment. "I am Hazama from the Novus Orbis Librarium's Intelligence Department." he said as he took off his hat with his free hand and bowed the best he could without letting Lilia fall off from his shoulder. "I think my rank is uh, Captain?" he said with an unsure look on his face. "Oh well, that's not going to matter in the next few seconds." the man said with a snake-like smile.

"What do you mean?" Samantha said after healing her injury.

"Weren't you paying attention at all?" the man asked in a way that suggested that he was talking to an idiot. "This whole world is about to go bye-bye." he said, his grin never fading.

"What?!" Ignis said in shock.

"What? Did I mumble?" he asked rhetorically as he eyed the boy. "This whole world is being devoured by the Heartless and everyone and everything on it will either get lost in darkness, or die. Simple as that." the green haired man said with a casual shrug.

"Are... Are you the cause of all of this madness?!" Samantha asked angry at the man's calm dismissal of her home's destruction.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." the man said with sick smile. "It's not really going to matter in a couple of seconds, but hey I'm feeling generous." he said with a grin.

Just then Terra jumped at him and attempted to slash him with her claws but he avoided it by jumping back.

"Whoa, there! No need to be so antsy." he said in a placating manner. "You should really keep your dog on a shorter leash." he said as he dodged another slash.

Faster than anyone could react, he kicked Terra hard enough in the gut to knock the wind out of her. He then followed up by summoning his Nox Nyctores Geminus Anguium: Oroboros. It was a dark-gray and green ethereal chain with a hook at the end that resembled a snakes head.

He sent the serpent at the feral girl and it bit into her body causing her to cry out. With a flick of the wrist Hazama made the snake slam the girl against the walls and ceiling several times before making it rear its head up and throw the girl onto the ground.

Terra yelped in pain as she hit the floor.

"As fun as this was, my friend here and I have to take our leave." the green-haired man said as Vergil suddenly appeared next to him. He then opened a portal made of dark energy behind him and he cracked open his eyes, revealing them to be a bright golden color with snake-like slits for pupils, which glowed demonically from under the shadow that was cast by his hat. "But I left a little friend outside for you kids to play with, you'll like him, he's a real killer!" he said before bursting into maniacal laughter. "I would like to say that it was nice meeting all of you, but it's most likely that none of you will survive after today. Bye-bye." Hazama said before he and Vergil entered the dark portal.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ignis shouted as he dashed after them he attempted to jump through the portal after them, but said portal disappeared before he could even touch it.

End Theme

"Damn it! Where did those two go?!" Aeros shouted as he looked around for any sign of the portal's origin.

But the attention of all those still conscious was caught by a loud banging sound originating from the door in the back of the cave. It sounded as though something was trying to force its way in... or out.

Before anything could be done, the door swung open and a surge of dark wind surged forth blowing everyone, whether conscious or not, out of the cave.


The next thing Aeros and Ignis knew, they had crashed onto a small island of earth that was floating in the middle of a dark maelstrom. And floating directly above them was the sphere of dark energy, only this time much, much bigger.

Luckily everyone landed on the same island and those who had lost consciousness during the battle with Vergil were waking up.

"Oh, my head." Toph groaned as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Can someone tell me... how we're not dead?" Luneth said with a wince.

"I think he went easy on us." Arc said as he sat up.

"Let's wonder why we're still alive later. We have to heal our injuries." Refia said as she and Samantha began healing the party's wounds.

Ignis looked around and spotted Celia lying unconscious on the ground on the other side of the small island.

"Celia!" he shouted as he began to run to the girl but he quickly stopped when a giant fist nearly crushed him. "Whoa!" he said in alarm as he jumped back just as the attack hit the ground.

Ignis followed the fist until his eyes landed on the creature that was connected to it.

He saw a massive, muscular, humanoid Heartless with black skin. Its legs were rather short and its feet were very thin and curled upward. Its arms were quite long, and it had two relatively small, twisted wings on its back. There was a large, heart-shaped hole in the Heartless' abdominal area, which penetrates straight through from the front to the back. Its head was covered in dozens of twisted, black tentacles. Only its small, glowing yellow eyes were visible. This creature was a Darkside. A powerful Heartless from the Realm of Darkness.

Play Kingdom Hearts OST- Destiny's Force

'What the heck is that thing?!' Ignis thought in fear as he stared at the giant. Though he did subconsciously remember seeing the creature in a dream once.

"What is that thing?!" Paulette shouted in fear. She had seen plenty of giants before, but never one that looked like this.

"It must be the "friend" that the creep back there was talking about." Aeros said as he got into a battle stance. "Alright here's our strategy. This thing is standing between us and my sister. So Ignis and I are going to distract it while Kharg and Luneth sneak past it and grab my sister. Once she's safe, you two will help us in with a frontal assault. Mom, Arc, Refia, you three will support us with your magic. If any of us get hurt during the fight then heal us, okay?" he asked as he looked at his mother specifically.

Samantha wanted to argue. But then she saw that strength in his eyes. The strength that reminded her of her son's father, the man she loved with all of her heart. She knew that, just by looking into his eyes that everything was going to be alright. "Got it!" the woman said in confirmation.

"Good." he said in a serious tone but gave his mother a small reassuring smile. "Paulette, I can tell by that knife of yours that you're more useful at a distance. So you'll support us better by attacking from the back row." he said to which the brunette nodded. "And Toph you'll be on support too. Your job is to keep that thing off balance. So I want you to shake things up the best you can without throwing the rest of us of balance as well." he said while looking at the blind girl.

"Geez, can you make my job any harder Zoromaki? That thing's practically invisible to me!" she said while flailing her arms about.

"Then do the best you can." Aeros said in a no nonsense tone making the girl shut up.

"Right, you go it!" the Geomancer said nervously. She wasn't sure about what had happened while she was knocked out, but she knew that Aeros was now a lot more bad ass.

Aeros then turned his attention to the feral Terra.

"Terra, can you understand me?" he asked gently as he looked at the girl.

Terra didn't respond but simply stared at the boy.

"I'll take that as a yes. Listen, I want you to help us kill that thing." he said while pointing at the giant.

The transformed girl looked at the Darkside for a moment before Aeros made her look at him by turning her head back in his direction. "But I don't want you to do it until Celia is safe, got it?" he asked as he looked at the girl's deep violet eyes, which now had an otherworldly glow to them.

Terra nodded her head though she didn't really understand but Aeros seemed to accept the gesture.

"Alright! Let's teach this thing not to mess with us!" Aeros shouted encouragingly.

"Yeah!" everyone else shouted feeling pumped up.

Aeros and Ignis assumed their battle stances and charged at the giant Heartless.

The giant made the first move by coating its right arm in dark energy and punching the ground.

The attack opened a dark portal in which summoned a small battalion of Shadow Heartless.

Aeros and Ignis focused on eliminating the Shadows while their comrades focused on attacking the Darkside's outstretched arm.

The monster pulled back it arm and sank to its knees, launching a volley of dark energy from the hole in its chest shortly after.

Suddenly Luneth, and Kharg came and stood next to the two Keyblade wielders.

"Is Celia safe?" Aeros asked as he dodged the monster's attack, not taking his eyes off of the Heartless for a second.

"Yeah… We put her over by your mom." said Luneth.

Aeros looked back and saw that his mother had started treating her wound.

"Good. Now let's finish this thing off once and for all!" the leader said as he swung his blade once through the air before assuming his stance once again. "Terra!" he called out to the feral girl.

She looked at him with a curious look.

"Fight!" he shouted as he pointed at the Heartless.

The girl looked at the monster and her eyes became wild and angry.

She dashed at the giant and began releasing a large array of spells against it.

For the next few minutes everyone attacked the Darkside with all they had. Every time the Heartless had summoned Shadows to aid it in battle, the smaller creatures were quickly destroyed. Everything was looking up, until...

The Darkside launched a powerful punch aimed at Ignis. The boy was able to block the attack, but it sent him tumbling backwards. He stopped with a grimace. He looked back up to see the Heartless aim another punch at him.

He made to block but the attack came in too fast. Just as he thought that his life would end Terra jump in front of him and caught the fist.

She growled as she tried to match the Darkside's strength but she was able to redirect it to the side.

The girl then jumped into the air and charged up a massive and powerful fireball commonly known as Meltdown.

She released the attack and the Meltdown spell crashed into the giant Heartless' face.

The creature bellowed in pain as it rocked back.


Meanwhile standing on a chunk of earth some distance away from the battle, Hazama, sans Lilia, and Vergil were watching the battle with interest.

"Well there's something that you don't see every day." the captain said with interest.

"So my suspicions were correct." Vergil said as he looked at Terra.

"Come again?" the shifty looking man said as he looked at the swordsman.

"Earlier, I had sensed a great power coming from her, a power somewhat similar to my own. But now that I know what she truly is, I just might consider bringing her to our side. Power like hers should be used wisely." the white haired man said calmly. She was powerful. His chest still stung from the conversation she had with her earlier that day.

"You mean against humans." Hazama said with a knowing grin.

"Perhaps." the man said without revealing any other intentions.

"And if you can't convince her to join the winning team?" the green haired man asked, though truthfully, he didn't really give a damn.

"If she proves to no longer be useful then..." Vergil pushed his sword from its scabbard a little with his thumb. "She will be eliminated." he said as he stared at the that was in progress.

Hazama couldn't help but release a dark chuckle.


Back at the battle, the party capitalized on the opening Terra had given them. They attacked continuously, causing a great deal of damage to the giant Heartless with each hit they land.

"It looks like that thing's weakening." Aeros said analytically as he looked at the creature before him.

"This fight's taking too long!" Ignis said impatiently as he glanced about the area. Was it his imagination, or was the island getting smaller? "At this rate there will be nothing left to stand on!" he said as he stood next to his fellow Keyblade wielder.

Aeros thought about their situation. He suddenly remembered when Terra, after saving Ignis, had attacked the creature's head and it seemed to have taken a large amount of damage from it. His eyes widened in realization. "That's it!" he said with a snap of his fingers and a confident look on his face.

"What is it?" Aeros' mother said after hearing her son's exclamation.

"I know how to beat this thing!" was all he said before he turned his gaze from his mother to Toph. "Toph, when that thing hits the ground with its fist, I want you to trap it." he said in a commanding tone.

"Got it! At least I can see those coming, and I'm blind." she said more to herself than to anyone else.

"Ignis, when Toph traps it we run up its arm and stab it through the eyes." he said into his friend's ear earning him a nod.

As predicted, the Heartless reared its fist back for a punch.

"Get ready!" he shouted as the creature launched its attack.

Cinematic Action

Toph went into action the moment the vibrations from the attack had reached her. With a strong shift in stance, and a sharp raise of her hands, long spikes of rock had pierced its hand and wrist. Working quickly she created a series of restraints to keep the monster further in place.

As soon as the blind girl was done, Aeros immediately ran up the Darkside's arm.

The Heartless noticed him and tried to swat the boy away like a fly.

Time seemed to slow down quickly as the appendage moved towards the brunet. With lightning fast reflexes, Aeros jumped onto the incoming arm and ran up the limb to stab the beast in its left eye.

The giant released a pained roar as Aeros' Keyblade pierced its eye. But the boy's blade was too short to cause any fatal damage to the beast. Aeros cursed that his weapon was too short to slay the beast as he pulled it out. The giant groaned as it covered its now empty socket with its free hand.

But luckily Ignis acted quickly, and ran up its bound arm while it was distracted.

"Hey ugly!" he shouted at the Heartless. "Take this!" the boy slashed at the creature's face just as it removed its hand from view. The slash caused a critical amount of damage, but it wasn't done yet.

The Darkside broke free from its restraints and made to attack again.

But then Terra jumped into the air and charged up massive amounts of power. Within moments she spun in the air and released a barrage of energy blades known as the Riot Blades at the giant Heartless.

The attack hit home finally finishing the beast.

Cinematic Action: Perfect!

End Theme

The Riot Blades easily tore through the Heartless. Two blades completely lopped of both of its arms while the rest completely eviscerated it.

The monster faded out of existence as its pieces fell to the ground.

Play Final Fantasy VIII OST- The Winner

Everyone took their own sort of victory pose after the creature fell.

Ignis pumped his left arm into the air before resting his Keyblade's blunt side on his right shoulder, a huge grin on his face.

Aeros swing his Keyblade through the air twice before resting it, the blunt side, on his right shoulder. (Squall's victory pose.)

Terra placed a hand on her chest with as she looked to the sky. (Her victory pose in Dissidia.)

Toph was waving to an imaginary crowd that was cheering for her before she put her hands on her hips and let a victorious grin stretch across her face.

Luneth stood with his right hand on his hip smiling proudly.

Arc had his left hand on his chest and was looking to and fro, but seemed ultimately relieved that he had survived.

Refia stood with her hands clasped together in front of her chest.

Kharg tossed his sword into the air and caught it before stabbing it into the ground and crossing his arms proudly.

Paulette twirled her knife through the air before catching it and flashing the victory sign with a wink.

And Samantha simply pushed some of her hair from her face before crossing her arms below her breasts, which just so happens to have pushed them up a bit, and look off to the side.

End Theme


"Well that was an interesting fight." Hazama said in a laid back tone.

"Indeed." Vergil said in agreement.

"And we learned quite a bit from watching them. So I'm sure we'll know what to do should those brats ever pop up again." the snake-like man said as he tilted his hat to cast a shadow over his eyes.

"It would be interesting if they survive." stated the swordsman.

"You want to finish your fight later. Don't you?" the green haired man asked knowingly.

"That is none of your business Hazama." Vergil said coldly.

"Hey, no need to bite my head off. Anyways, let's get out while the gettin's good." Hazama said as he summoned a portal of darkness and the two men left without ever leaving any proof of them even being there.


The children didn't get much time to celebrate their victory as the vortex began to suck them up.

Ignis acted quickly and grabbed Celia and Terra to keep them from being pulled up into the vortex.

Toph grabbed the collar of Ignis' shirt and impaled her free arm into the ground to give her some leverage.

Aeros was able to grab onto an exposed root connected to the ground. His mother hung on for dear life as well.

Luneth, Arc, Refia, Kharg, and Paulette weren't so fortunate. None of them were able to grab onto anything before being pulled up into the darkness. Though Luneth, Refia, and Arc were able to hang onto each other as they were pulled in.

"Damn it!" Aeros cursed when he saw his friends get sucked in. 'I won't be able to hang on much longer. Especially when I'm trying to keep mom from being pulled in too!' he thought as he struggled to pull his mother closer to him.

Samantha looked at her son and saw how much he was struggling with her. 'He's just like his father. He always risked everything to protect the people he cared for. That was one of the reasons why I still love your father my son.' she thought with a melancholic smile on her face.

Right then and there she made a decision. She would not endanger her child for any reason. So she had to make a sacrifice.

"Aeros." she called out.

"Yeah?" the boy asked as he looked to his mother.

Samantha pulled herself up to give her sun a strong hug.

"Mom?" the boy asked in confusion.

"Aeros Zoromaki. You have always been my pride and joy. I have watched grow from an innocent, carefree child, to the strong, independent person you are now. You will grow into a fine young man and you will make your father proud. I love you so much." she said into his ear as she tightened her hug.

"I love you too mom, but what are you talking about?" the boy asked a little afraid of the way his mother was speaking to him.

"I want you to be strong for mommy and protect your friends and Celia, alright?" she said as she looked into Aeros' deep azure eyes and for a moment, felt as if she was staring into her late husbands eyes again. She felt several tears slip from her eyes. 'He really is like you... Michelangelo...' she thought with a small smile. She gave her son a gentle kiss on his forehead before giving him one last hug. "Goodbye." she whispered right before she let go of Aeros.

'What...?!' the boy thought in shock as his mother let go. "MOM!" he cried out as he watched her get pulled away.

Before she disappeared from view she was able to mouth out 'Be strong...' to him.

And just like that she was gone.

"Mom..." he whispered in anguish as a single tear slid from his eye.

The winds grew stronger and Aeros was starting to lose his grip.

'I can't hang on any more...' he thought as he began to slip from the root. He looked over to the last of his friends and locked eyes with Ignis.

A look of sadness came onto his face before he sighed.

"Take care of her." he mouthed to his childhood friend.

Ignis understood what he meant and nodded sadly.

Aeros gave him a grateful smile and mouthed his thanks just before he lost his grip on the root.

Aeros Zoromaki was sucked into the darkness above, his fate unknown.

Toph continued to struggle maintaining her grip on both the earth and Ignis as well.

"Toph." the boy said as he held fast onto Celia and Terra.

"What?!" she said as she 'looked' in the boy's general direction.

"Let go." he said as he looked back at her.

"What?!" she asked in shock.

"We can't fight it, no matter how hard we try." said the boy.

"But..."

"We'll be fine as long as we stick together." he said reassuringly.

Toph didn't respond.

"Just trust me."

"You better be right about this!" she said as she released her hold on the earth. The blind girl then screamed in a surprisingly fearful way as she suddenly wrapped her arms around Ignis from behind.

Ignis, Terra, and Toph closed their eyes as the darkness fully engulfed them. Just before he passed out, Ignis heard the mysterious voice from his dream speak to him.

Don't be afraid.

In a time both far off and near, you will once again face the very darkness that destroyed your home and face your greatest destiny.

So don't forget.

Protect what is precious to you and grow stronger.

For you are one of three who will open the door.

And with that, a grand adventure shall begin.


The scene faded back in to reveal a starry night sky.

"The stars look so pretty tonight." said a young female voice.

The scene then transitioned to an overhead shot of a grassy meadow with four children lying on the ground, watching the stars.

One of the four children was a girl around the age of twelve with long waist-length blonde hair that was held back by two blue ribbons, one of which tied back a small braid, and a pair of bangs that framed her face, as well as a pair of deep blue eyes. All she wore a long floor-length white dress. Her name was Aria Benett.

"You say that every time you see them Sara." Aria said with a giggle.

Sara was a nice looking girl around the age of thirteen with long blonde, waist-length hair and blue eyes, and it appeared that she was an early bloomer since it appeared that she had already grown her breasts. She wore a long blue tunic that was almost considered a short dress in terms of length, a pair of white pants, and blue flats. Her full name was Sara Altney.

"Well I can't help but point it out every time I see them." Sara replied as she looked to her fellow blonde. "Don't you agree Ingus? The stars look absolutely lovely this evening." she said as she look to her other friend and batted her eyelashes cutely.

Her other friend, Ingus, was the only boy in the group. He was around eleven years of age and he had short blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore heavy armor and chain mail on his arms and legs, over which he wears a white shirt with puffed sleeves and a wide collar, and a red gambeson over that, as well as a green pendant.

The boy blushed. "Um, yes, they do Sara." he said quickly looking back up at the sky so as not to stare into the eyes of his crush too long, lest he gets lost in them.

"You know that Ingus would agree to whatever you say Sara!" Aria said as she pouted in a sort of cute manner.

"Aria, please don't start this argument again." said the voice of another young girl.

The three blondes looked to the voice's owner with slightly apologetic looks on their faces.

"Sorry." said Aria.

"It's alright." replied the voice's owner.

The owner of the voice was a lovely girl around the age of thirteen and was surprisingly more well-endowed that Sara. She had short jaw-length silver hair and, bangs that reach her collar bones framing her face. She had the most amazing eyes one could ever see. They were a rich cyan color and had the most uniquely shaped pupils; they were slits, much like that of a cat's. She wore a simple knee-length white dress with a cyan ribbon tied around decoratively at the waist, a pair of black biker shorts, and a simple pair of light blue sandals. She was very beautiful despite her young age. The fact that some men stare lecherously at her when they see her, gives further evidence to this.

The four children had settled into a comfortable silence as they returned to their star gazing.

Suddenly, Sara noticed something odd was going on with one of the stars.

"Look at that star! I think it's about to go out!" she said as she pointed to the star in the sky.

One of the brightest stars in the sky began to flicker in and out sporadically before finally blinking out of existence.

"Oh! Why do I feel so much sadness all of a sudden?" Aria said sadly as she placed a hand on her heart.

"I can feel it too. It's like someone is mourning the loss of one of their friends in the sky." the silver haired girl said feeling the same kind of sadness as Aria.

"Why do you think we have this ability...? This odd sense of premonition?" Aria asked as she looked at the silvernette.

"I don't know Ari-chan..." the girl said as the scene cut to black. "I just don't know...?" she said and all was quiet.

End of Chapter Three


Authors Note

Play Historia Crux

Hazama: That was a good warm up. *Looks at the seven Princesses of Heart who were huddled together in fear in a corner of room.* I'll see you ladies later. *He tips his hat politely and walks out the door.*

Titano Man: I'm glad that's over. *Looks at the unconscious and horribly beaten forms of the entire playable cast of BlazBlue* This is going to be one hell of a mess to clean up. Oh, well. This had to have been my longest chapter yet. But I gotta say, I'm pleased by how it turned out. I nearly cried when I wrote the scene where everyone was getting sucked up into the darkness. I guess it was because I was listening to one of the saddest tracks in Kingdom Hearts history. Tears of the Light. It made it seem a lot more tragic when I listened to it while writing, at least... in my opinion. But on the plus side, I got to introduce some new characters in here. How many of you were actually expecting Vergil and Hazama to show up during the Heartless attack? To be honest, Hazama was a completely spur of the moment decision! I had originally only intended on having just Vergil appear in this chapter and be the world's end boss. But it all worked out in the end I suppose. So please give me tons of reviews on this chapter. It's not that hard. All you have to do is click that little button at the bottom of the screen and write about what you thought about my story. It's not that hard at all. I would really appreciate it if you do. And if I get ten our more reviews then I'll post the next chapter sooner! Doesn't that sound great?! Oh and one last thing. Did you guys like the inclusion of the cinematic action function from Final Fantasy XIII-2? If you did then I'll include it in future chapters. But only for end world bosses, special battles, and optional bosses. And if not then I will simply cut it out completely. I want your honest opinions. The button commands for the Cinematic Action were toggle right, X, X, mash left d-pad button and O at the same time.

Ragna: *Recovers from beating* What the hell man?! I thought you said that I'd appear in this chapter.

Titano Man: I recall saying no such thing.

Ragna: *Angrily* Cut the crap! *Threateningly* I better appear in the next chapter or else you're dead.

Titano Man: I see... Well, if that is how you feel Mr. the Bloodedge, then I suggest that you take it up with my attorney.

Ragna: Oh, yeah? And who would that be?

A giant shadow appears from behind Ragna.

He turns around and sees Godzilla wearing a suit (no pants of course), a pair of glasses, and carrying a briefcase.

Ragna: *Girly scream* That's your lawyer?!

Titano Man: *Smiles evilly* Yes. And if all of you would like to discuss the terms of our contract, then he will be more than happy to oblige.

Godzilla: Roooaaarrr!

Titano Man: *Still smiling evilly* Any objections?

Every non-original character that appears in this story shakes their heads in fear as they gazed upon the gargantuan super lizard.

Titano Man: *Happily* Good! *Looks at news regarding the next chapter.* Okay, some good news and some bad news. The good news is, I have the next chapter already done. The bad news is, I have yet to type it up so it'll probably be a while before I can post it. But the upside is that it's completely original! The down side is that it's mostly filler since it takes place before and during the Heartless attack. With only the end advancing the story somewhat. But hey! That shouldn't be a reason not to read it! Anyways, chapter four is the start of the World of Gaia arc and that's when the other major characters start appearing.

Everyone: Yay!

Titano Man: But not all of them are that important.

Everyone: Boo!

Titano Man: The only characters that I'm really itching to unveil are one of my star OCs!

A spotlight shines down onto a figure and it reveals them to be the silver haired girl from the end of this chapter.

Mystery OC: Um, can I tell them my name now?

Titano Man: No, now hush child. *Ahem* Now that we have all of that out of the way, I'm open to suggestions on how to improve the story for your entertainment. I will acknowledge criticism but I will not tolerate Flames. If I receive one, then I will dismantle it in front of everyone. So with that the Forest of Serenity arc comes to a close. Please be on the lookout for the next installment of Dark Destiny: Kingdom Hearts! I bid you, my loyal readers, goodbye.

Nu-13: Like, see you later and stuff!


Update: To those who read the original version of this chapter, you may have noticed that many changes have been made including to the original ending of the chapter. I hope you do not mind these changes since I had to rewrite everything to make it better.