Shades of Grey

by Dark Phoenix Reborn

White and Black. Light and Darkness. Good and Evil. The lines between always looked so clear. Until Sora, a champion of Light, is pushed into Darkness. Now, everything's changed. A new battle looms, unlike any other. The question is, which side is right?

10. Those Who Fight Further

--- Shades of Grey ---

Chapter 09 - Those Who Fight Further

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the Disney or Square Enix characters or stories featured within. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to say that I did, but that would be a blatant lie. Any song, movie, and/or book reference used throughout the course of this story is also not owned by me. In fact, the only thing that is owned by me is this story.

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I though staying in perfect shape was part of the hero job description

Like I said: details, who needs 'em?

I'm not a selfish guy. I'm not like those high and mighty snobs up on Olympus. I stand for the masses!

This game is over. I've played by the rules so far. Now we're gonna play by my rules.

How dare you get a happy ending! How DARE you!

Staring down the Heartless dragon before him, Sora felt it was poetic that, of all of the big bads he'd faced since first leaving Destiny Islands, it was Hades' voice that he remembered now. After all, if not for Hades, he'd not be in this situation at all, but then, despite the war raging all around them, it was nice to see his friends again, and to meet their friends. His thoughts scattered as the Heartless dragon roared, bringing with it the foul stench of darkness; a darkness he now knew he recognised.

Before he could do anything with this knowledge, though, there was a little matter of a dragon bearing down on him. 'Hope Ender,' Sora thought to himself, gritting his teeth; he wasn't sure exactly how he knew the Heartless' name, but he did know he wouldn't like the answer. Likewise, he knew the beast was Twilight Inferno, the woman was Black Heart of Winter, the bird was Fade Wing, and the unicorn Nightmare Charger. He chanced a quick glance back at Kairi, still deep in prayer with Aerith; she hadn't reacted too badly when he had admitted that yes, he could control the Heartless, but would she think less of him if he told her they talked to him?

Banishing the thought from his mind as Hope Ender drew closer, Sora used his Strike Raid ability to hurl both keyblades at the Heartless, Oblivion grazing it's head, and Twilight Thorn punching through the dragon's right wing. With Hope Ender's flight imbalanced, the Keyblade Master used his Quick Run to close the distance between them, before using High Jump and Aerial Dodge to leap up to, and through, the massive hole in the dragon's chest. Spinning through the air, Sora leapt off the returning Oblivion, snatching Twilight Thorn out of the air as he flew towards the dragon's back, and driving the keyblade into the base of Hope Ender's neck.

With it's wing damaged, Hope Ender was forced to land, digging up the ground with it's clawed feet as it stumbled; this awkward gait was further compounded by the keyblade in it's spine. As it staggered forward, Cloud grinned slightly, holding his massive sword in front of him and utilizing the Sonic Blade ability he taught Sora long ago to drive his sword into, and through, one of the Heartless dragon's legs.

Roaring in pain, and still off balance from it's emergency landing, Cloud's attack caused Hope Ender to trip over, impacting the ground with titanic force as it face-planted comically. Turning to give Cloud a thumbs-up, Sora noticed the hole in Hope Ender's wing fill in, moments before the dragons head turned towards him, unleashing a gout of flame, and the Keyblade Master was forced to dive off or be roasted alive. Groaning disappointedly as the dragon took to the sky again, he summoned both keyblades back to his hands.

Grinning slightly, Cloud asked, "You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?"

Sora could help but grin back and shrug slightly, replying, "For a minute there, yeah, I kinda did."

o-o-o

Tifa brought both arms up to block the kick Twilight Infernus sent her way, absorbing most of the hit, and reducing the powerful attack to a simple half-foot slide back. Before the Heartless could recover, Tifa grabbed hold of it's extended leg with both hands, letting out a grunt of effort as she twisted on the spot, yanking the Heartless off the ground, and spinning around on the spot. A grin on his face, Squall stood just outside of the swing radius, slashing his gunblade at the beast every time it came within range, before, on the fifth rotation, Tifa released her hold on it, sending it flying across the canyon.

"Why did we have to get the fire one?" Squall asked rhetorically, his tone annoyance and humour in equal parts. "I mean, the only magic spell I know, and it's useless. Worse than useless, since it'll probably heal the damn thing."

Tifa just grinned at him, her hands glowing with icy blue energy as she quipped, "And whose fault is it that you don't have any materia to counter that fact?"

Squall just rolled his eyes. "You know how I feel about that stuff. It's a crutch, and I refuse to use it."

"And this is why Cloud beats you. Blizzaga!" Tifa shot back, unleashing a massive ice spell at the recovered fire demon Heartless bearing down on them. "He's not afraid to do what needs to be done." Twilight Infernus leapt over the Blizzaga spell, which sent up a field of ice shards as it hit the ground, and roared in defiance as it continued through the air over the two fighters; or tried to, at least.

Just as it passed over her head, Tifa leapt into the air, spinning slightly for extra lift and punching upwards, utilising her Dolphin Blow to halt Twilight Infernus' momentum. Before the Heartless could recover, Squall leapt into the air after it, using his Renzokuken technique to slash it eight times in quick succession. As gravity started to take hole again, Squall leapt off the falling beast, taking to the air above, and held his gunblade above himself, a mass of white energy extending from it again as he used Blasting Zone for the second time, and with a massive swing, sent the Heartless plummeting to the ground, rather than merely falling.

Dropping into her fighting stance as Squall landed on the ground once more, Tifa grinned over at the fallen Heartless, shouting, "Come on beast, on your feet. The fun is just starting."

o-o-o

Nanaki raced alongside the galloping Nightmare Charger, the Heartless' powerful hooves ripping up the stony ground as it tried to put some distance between itself and it's would-be attackers. Every now and then, Nightmare Charger would veer to one side, moments before the ground there exploded, the ensuing dust cloud fading to reveal Cid's scowling face, before he leapt into the air again. Nanaki snarled slightly as, after several minutes of this cat and mouse game, Nightmare Charger showed no signs of slowing down, or fighting back; it was as if it's method of fighting was to allow them to wear themselves down, before finishing them off.

The tribal headdress in his mane glowing slightly as he activated his materia, Nanaki sent a Quake spell ahead of the sprinting unicorn, causing the ground to splinter and fault, and, more importantly, causing Nightmare Charger to stumble and fall when the Heartless encountered the trap. Before the red lion-wolf could gloat, however, Nightmare Charger reacted immediately, living up to the second part of it's name when electricity began dancing along it's horn moments before firing a massive bolt of lightning that struck the still-sprinting Nanaki in the side, sending him sprawling.

Before the charge could continue into fatal levels, however, the Heartless' concentration was broken by the spear driven into his back, courtesy of Cid. Scrambling back onto all four legs, the lightning horse attempted to throw the coarse Dragoon off it's back, but Cid managed to hold on, wrapping a leg around the spear he had firmly wedged in the creature's back; he did lose his cigarette though. When raw muscle failed to dislodge him, however, Nightmare Charger leaned it's head back, lightning gathering on it's horn again, and Cid was quickly forced to yank his spear out and leap off the Heartless' back.

Rolling back to his feet, Cid pulled another cigarette out of the pack in his pocket, lighting it with a frown as he watched Nightmare Charger starting to run away again. "I'm getting mighty tired of this chase bullshit," the blonde man drawled, a quick glance at the recovering Nanaki showing the lion-dog felt much the same. Reaching into a pocket on the other side, he produced a red cylinder about a foot in length, capped at one end by a length of cord; a standard stick of TNT. Holding the dynamite up to his face, and lighting the fuse with his cigarette, the pilot added, "Let's see how he handles a few of these."

o-o-o

With an avian screech, Fade Wing took to the sky, flying high over the battlefield, higher than the Shera had flown for it's bombing run, and began charging up energy in it's mouth. It's concentration was shattered, however, as Vincent suddenly flew into view, his Cerberus tri-barrelled rifle at the ready, and unloaded a trio of rounds into the Heartless' face. Screeching in pain, Fade Wing clapped it's wings together, sending out a powerful shockwave that sent Vincent flying back a good thirty feet.

With a powerful flap of her white-feathered wings, Rinoa glided up behind the Heartless, hurling her chakram with a flick of her wrist, the whirling razor-sharp blade slicing deep into the avian Heartless' back. Holding her hands above her, Rinoa began gathering electric energy, unleashing the magical attack before Fade Wing could recover from her sneak attack. "Thundaja!" Massive arcs of lightning traced the sky between Rinoa and Fade Wing, seeking the metal chakram still embedded in the Heartless' back.

Shrieking in pain again, Fade Wing drew it's wings in, spinning rapidly as it dived towards the ground, and dislodging the chakram in the process. Snapping it's wings open again, the Heartless banked sharply, rearing it's head back to face it's two opponents high above, and firing a powerful laser from it's beak. Disappearing into his cloak, Vincent managed to quickly dodge out of the way, but Rinoa was forced to fold her wings in front of her as a shield.

Gritting her teeth as Fade Wing focused all its attention on trying to blast through her wing barrier, it gave Vincent more than enough time to sneak up on it, reforming behind it. Landing on the Heartless' shoulder, Vincent pressed Cerberus against the side of it's head, emptying an entire clip into it, and pumping eighteen shots directly into it's blue scaly mane. Crying out in pain, Fade Wing spun through the air, trying to dislodge the dark man, but Vincent merely held on with his gauntleted hand, reloading his rifle one-handed with practiced ease.

Emptying a few more rounds into it's back, he heard Rinoa shout out, "Vincent, move!" Not wasting a moment, he leapt off the Heartless, continuing to fire even as he spun away, and with Fade Wing's attention to solidly on Vincent, it never noticed the massive Firaja meteor Rinoa sent it's way. Not until it slammed into, and washed over, the dark bird. Rinoa just grinned, with a look that seemed to say she'd spent far too much time hanging out with Yuffie, as she declared, "One roast chicken coming up!"

o-o-o

"Kya!" Yuffie shrieked, ducking under the blue leg that would have taken her head off, spinning around and swinging her leg up to strike Black Heart in the back. Planting her leg back on the ground again, she lashed out with her other foot, kicking the already off balance heartless in the lower back, and followed through by hurling a handful of shuriken at the Heartless woman. Spinning to face Namine, the ninja girl exclaimed frantically, "Feel free to jump in any time!"

Standing nearby, Namine's greatest fear had come true, as she found herself too frozen with fear to act. Yuffie was fighting the powerful Heartless in hand-to-hand combat, and losing, and Namine found herself too scared to help her. 'I... I need to do something.' Her mind drifted back to Sora, and to the legion of Heartless she remembered him fighting. 'I need to be strong. I need to prove to myself that I can.' Gritting her teeth, Namine hurled one of her keyblades at the Heartless, shouting, "Move!"

Pausing briefly in her fight to glance at the girl in shock, Yuffie let out a squawk of surprise before disappearing in a cloud of smoke as Floral Fallal spun through the air, slamming into Black Heart at high speed. As the keyblade spun back towards her, Namine held the Kingdom Key before her, closing the gap with the Heartless using Sonic Blade, snatching Floral Fallal out of the air as she did, and stabbing both keyblades into Black Heart's stomach.

Before the blonde keybearer could celebrate, Black Heart retaliated, two of her dreadlocks wrapping around the girl's wrists. The Heartless grinned at her callously, placing both hands against her chest, and unleashing a punishing Blizzard spell at point blank range, hitting her for a good five seconds before the hair tendrils released her, and sent her flying across the wasteland. "Namine!" Yuffie exclaimed, trying to run to the girl's side, but the Heartless intercepted her, and Yuffie again found herself hard pressed to beat it.

Namine felt the ice rapidly encasing her body, her teeth chattering as she tried to remember the Fire spell Sora had taught her, tried to defrost herself, and failed each time. 'I c-couldn't d-do it...' she thought to herself sadly. 'I'm j-just no-not st-strong enough. I w-wish...' Abruptly, the sky lit up with fire, as she saw Rinoa strike Fade Wing with a massive Fire spell. 'I wish I was s-stronger. I wish I w-was like Rinoa.'

Just before the ice covered her completely, Namine felt a rush of heat through her body, before her form was drowned out by a blinding flash of light, the ice shattering. When the ice died down, Namine was gone, and Yuffie couldn't help but gape at who had replaced her. "Rinoa? But-" glancing up, the ninja girl saw that, yes, Rinoa was still flying high above, throwing around magic like it was going out of style. "How-"

"Yuffie! Duck!" The second Rinoa shouted, raising her right arm and instinctively launching a Firaga spell that nearly singed the ninja's hair, and did more than singe the ice Heartless behind her. Gaping herself in shock as she realised what she'd done, she examined her body quickly, finding it wasn't one she recognised. "How did I-"

"Namine? Is that you?"

Glancing over at the stunned Yuffie, Namine, looking exactly like Rinoa, shrugged helplessly. "I guess so." Holding her hands out to either side, Namine tried to summon her keyblades, but the weapons that came to her were not what she'd called. In her right hand, she held a replica of Squall's gunblade, and around her left wrist, rested the band Rinoa herself had, her chakram unfolding as she watched. Smiling slightly as she felt her new wings unfold, the girl-in-a-woman's-form remarked, "I'll work out the 'how' later. For now, we've got a Heartless to kill."

o-o-o

Taking a bit of a breather as Cloud clashed with Hope Ender, Sora took a moment to take quick stock of the battlefield. Cid and Nanaki were taking pot-shots at the galloping Nightmare Charger with explosives and Firaga spells respectively; Rinoa and Vincent were unleashing powerful attacks against the swift Fade Wing, while trying to dodge laser blasts and razor sharp wind; Tifa seemed to be wrestling with Twilight Infernus, Squall taking opportunities to slash it whenever they came about; Yuffie was almost sparring with Black Heart, while... another Rinoa? Blinking dumbly, Sora saw that, yes, there was a second Rinoa, who seemed to be taking great pleasure in using her wings for hit and run strikes with the bladed weapons in either hand, as well as powerful Fire magic.

Shaking his head slightly, Sora glanced towards the middle of the battlefield, spotting Barret, with Cait Sith sitting backwards on his left shoulder, had waded deep into the sea of beady yellow eyes, the powerful machine gun, and cat puppet's lightning magic, making quick work of the horde of Neoshadows, with occasional blasts of green plasma or Firaga, respectively, for the more powerful Darkballs or Invisibles. Unfortunately, Sora noticed that Aerith and Kairi were now undefended, and, it seemed, the Heartless noticed it too.

"Shit!" The Keyblade Master exclaimed. "I've got to go help Kairi and Aerith!"

"Relax," Cloud remarked, landing beside him, but not taking his eye away from the Heartless Dragon circling back their way. "He's got the situation well under control."

"Who does?"

Cloud just grinned. "You'll see."

o-o-o

"Ugh, incompetent Heartless," Xurik muttered with what passed for disgust. "Useless creatures. Imbued with all that power, and still they can't manage to destroy a mere handful of people. Feh." At the edge of his hearing, he noticed some sort of motor rumbling, a noise that was quickly approaching. Spinning around, Xurik's eyes widened in as close to shock as he could feel as he saw a black-haired man on a motorbike tearing ass towards him.

Opening a Dark Portal behind him, Xurik quickly stepped through, teleporting to the other side of the canyon, and watching as the dark-haired man actually accelerated as he approached the cliff, launching off it at high speed. Then, with casual ease, he swung his feet up on to the seat, unsheathed a pair of swords that had been strapped on either side of the bike's front wheel, and leapt off. As the bike crashed into the centre of a mass of Heartless, exploding in a mighty petrol-fuelled fireball, the black-haired man landed, swords first, on a pair of Invisibles that had snuck up on the two praying girls, impaling the Heartless' heads to the rough stone, before rolling back to his feet.

"Not bad," Squall called out. "You stuck the landing, so I'm going to have to give you about an eight."

"What about the fact he trashed is bike doing it?" Tifa remarked in a disapproving tone.

Squall just grinned. "Ah, of course. Make that a nine."

Cloud just rolled his eyes, giving Sora a wry look as he remarked, "You'll have to forgive Zack. He has a knack for being late."

The dark-haired man, his wild spiky hair trailing past his shoulder, just grinned, yanking his two swords out of the rapidly decaying Heartless corpses. "What can I say? I love flashy entrances."

Sora opened his mouth, before changing his mind, shaking his head slowly as he remarked, "Introductions can wait until after the battle." Turning back to the approaching dragon Heartless, Sora declared, "Let's finish this."

o-o-o

Vincent growled to himself in annoyance as he was forced one again to dodge the subsonic Heartless known as Fade Wing. 'I can't kill it if I can't target it.' "Rinoa, can you slow it down?"

"I'll go you one better," the perky girl replied, swinging both arms up above her head as she hovered in place, magical energy building up in her hands. As Fade Wing swung around for another pass, Rinoa threw out her left arm, her chakram carrying the collected magical energy, which exploded into a massive Tornado, the base of which actually dragged more than a few lesser Heartless from the rocky ground, and proved more than enough to snare the oncoming dark bird.

Screeching as the wild winds spun it around, Fade Wing unleashed it's laser again, the super hot orange beam lancing wildly through the sky. With a yelp, Rinoa folded her wings in front of her again, seconds before the laser buzzed her wing barrier. When this attack failed, Fade Wing used it's trump, it's ultimate attack. Raising it's head high despite the rapid vertical spin, the Heartless bird fired off a massive barrage of lasers, which weaved and arced through the air wildly, and kept firing.

Vincent cursed to himself as he was forced to dodge the barrage, shooting Rinoa a wry look and commenting, "Looks like all you've accomplished is making it angry."

"It's not the only one!" Rinoa growled back, icy energy gathering around her hands, before she threw open her winds and fired. "Blizzaja!" The sub-zero magical energy wove itself through the Tornado, encasing all of the lesser Heartless inside in a thick layer of ice, as well as the head and wings of Fade Wing.

Satisfied that their opponent was, for now at least, contained, Vincent concentrated on the Darkness within himself. "Fight fire, with fire," he intoned, "Fight darkness, with darkness." Purple-black energy began swirling around his body, simultaneously bleeding out of and seeping into him. The golden metal on his boots and left arm faded to a yellowish grey, his boots now topped at the knee by pointed, upside-down crosses, as his skin faded to a cold, ashen blue. His billowing cape reformed into a pair of black-boned, red leathery wings, the edges ragged as his cape had been. His black bodysuit remoulded into a second skin, with muscle and rib designs. Finally, his mass of black hair, and the headband holding it back, were replaced by a spiky red-and-black headdress, which covered around his left eye.

In his right hand, the demonic Vincent no longer held the tri-barrelled rifle he named Cerberus. The hand cannon he now carried started with a bladed, stylised pistol grip, the pistol 'barrel' extending into a massive five-chambered revolver-type cylinder, and capped at the end by a cross-shaped barrel. The Death Penalty, wielded by Chaos-form Vincent.

With a single powerful thrust of his new wings, Vincent soared over to the incapacitated Fade Wing, intoning, "You shall trouble this world no more." Taking aim at the Heartless' frozen head, Vincent fired the Death Penalty repeatedly in quick succession, the enchanted (or some would say cursed) weapon never needing to be reloaded. The first few shots seemed to rebound off the ice casing, cracking it more and more, before the following dozen or so sunk deep into dark flesh. Without so much as a noise from the frozen Heartless, it's head was reduced to fragments of shadow, and it's body began dissolving soon after, releasing a crystal heart into the sky.

Vincent holstered the Death Penalty at his side, turning to regard Rinoa as she gave him a big grin and a thumbs up. This battle was over.

o-o-o

Twilight Infernus roared as it struck the ground again, Tifa having thrown the monster over her shoulder for possibly the third time. For all it's strength, the Heartless knew it couldn't out-muscle the dark-haired woman, but, remembering back to when it was still a lowly Darkball, it knew she didn't fare too well against multiple opponents at once. Climbing back to it's feet, Twilight Infernus let out another ground shaking roar, moments before a sea of darkness and beady yellow eyes spread across the earth, heralding the arrival of at least a third of the remaining lesser Heartless.

Backup, it seemed, had arrived.

"Damn it," Tifa cursed, glaring hate rays at the small army between her and her intended target; this was going to slow her down, and anything that slowed her down gave the beast time to not only recover, but retaliate. So far, she had managed to keep the Heartless from using many, if any, of it's fire magic, and she knew it was just waiting for a moment to strike her with her major weakness; she had very little resistance against magical energies, much to her chagrin.

"I'll cut a path for you," Squall remarked, holding his gunblade slightly behind him as he surged forward, dicing any Heartless that got in his way as he waded into the centre of them. "Go!"

Tifa wasted no time in arguing, racing past the man and leaping over a trio of Neoshadows as she rapidly closed the distance with Twilight Infernus. As the girl drew closer to strike range, the Heartless belched out a fireball, and, eyes wide, Tifa hit the dirt, sliding just under it, and taking the opportunity to sweep the beast's legs out from under it before warning Squall. "Watch out!"

Squall wasted no time, not even to investigate why she was warning him, simply leaping onto one of the Neoshadows' heads, before leaping again, this time purely skyward bound. The fireball sailed beneath him to parts unknown, Squall taking the opportunity to finish this skirmish now, charging energy in his gunblade. As the swarm of Heartless started to leap up after him, he spun around through the air, swinging his gunblade around him as he did so, and releasing an energy shockwave that obliterated the disturbingly weak Neoshadows.

Climbing back to her feet, Tifa nimbly leapt backwards, putting her out of range of Twilight Infernus' aggravated claw swipe. Her eyes opened in shock as the Heartless began preparing another fireball quickly, but before it could form, the beast was struck in the side of the head by a stray white energy bolt. Not wasting the golden opportunity, Tifa charged forward and used Beat Rush, her speed increasing drastically as she lay into the Heartless with both fists, before Somersaulting it into the air.

Landing back on her feet, Tifa took to the air after it, using a combination of momentum and raw strength to spin the beast around in increasingly fast circles, before throwing it towards the ground with all her might. Tifa was sure the force of impact would kill the beast, and the Heartless itself was certain it would survive, but what neither counted on was the interference of Squall. Having landed slightly awkwardly, he had sprinted towards the two combatants, charging energy into his gunblade again, and as Twilight Infernus came down, Squall went up, jumping into the air with an upward slash of his weapon, and cutting the Heartless clean in half through the waist.

Gravity taking hold as the freed heart defied it, Tifa glanced quickly at the rapidly decaying body before glancing back at Squall and remarking, "I could've killed it myself you know."

He just shrugged, replying, "My way's faster." Tifa just sighed and shook her head, though she couldn't help the smile that came to her face. 'Boys will be boys.'

o-o-o

"How're we meant to kill this damn thing if we can't even bloody hit it?" Cid drawled irritably, hurling another lit stick of dynamite at Nightmare Charger. The Heartless was living up to it's name, getting plenty of distance from them, before charging towards them, and had it ever got close enough, it would've attempted to run them through with it's horn. However, whenever it looked like it was gathering any kind of speed, one of the two would distract it, either Cid by throwing dynamite, or Nanaki hurling fireballs.

After a few minutes of this, though, they were both running low on their respective ammunition.

"I'm open to suggestions if you have anything," Nanaki replied, leaping to one side as Nightmare Charger sent a bolt of lightning their way; it was the standard reaction to one of their explosive distractions. "I've almost drained my magical reserves beyond the safe level, and we haven't done much more than wing it or hit it with splash damage." They'd managed to eradicate a lot of the lesser Heartless that thought to help their stronger kin, but that was neither here nor there.

"Well, you're fast. Shit, that's why Cloud gave us this goddamn job. Can't you out-speed it?" Cid drawled.

"To what purpose?" Nanaki replied. "I can't do much when I'm beside it. I would need to be..." An idea coming to him, Nanaki smirked, a gesture that looked alien on his mostly feline face. "Cid, I need you to make sure that thing keeps it's charge to a straight line."

"What're you gonna do?" The pilot asked.

Nanaki just grinned, as he started running in the opposite direction to what Nightmare Charger went. "Play chicken."

Cid just rolled his eyes; it was moments like these that just proved to him that despite technically being older than Cid himself, Nanaki was still a child. Still, an idea was an idea, so, spear in hand, Cid leapt high into the air, using his Dragon Dive technique to strike down at rapid speed, before leaping back into the air again. He wasn't aiming to actually hit the Heartless unicorn though; he was aiming to steer it. And he had 5 more tries to get his aim right.

Skidding on the rocky soil, Nanaki spun to face the Heartless, his mind racing. 'This is so stupid,' he berated himself, 'If I don't time this exactly right, I'm going to end up skewered on that horn...' Gritting his teeth, he sunk his claws into the ground. 'Oh well, no time for regrets now!' With a roar, he shot away like a bullet.

'Finally,' Cid grumbled to himself; he could finally see Nanaki approaching, and he only had two 'hops' left to make sure the Heartless stayed on track. Two hops later, it looked like everything was going to plan, before Nightmare Charger seemed to realise that was walking into a trap, and started to veer off to the right. At least, right up until a fireball came out of nowhere and struck the Heartless in the right side, and, moments later, a stray white energy blast struck it on the left side of the head; thus, dazed, it continued on it's previous path.

Gritting his teeth, Nanaki waited until the last possible second, where he could almost feel the Heartless' horn pressing against him, before activating one of his special abilities, one he called Sled Fang. The air began to swirl around him, as his speed tripled in the space of under a heartbeat, and the now supersonic feline tackled a hole straight through Nightmare Charger's body, head to tail. With a pained whinny, Nightmare Charger gave up the ghost, collapsing to the ground and disintegrating, even as momentum kept the body sliding, and the freed heart drifted into the sky.

Stumbling as he landed outside the Heartless, his momentum causing him to slide uncontrolled along the dirt, Nanaki couldn't help but laugh. He hurt everywhere, and he was tired beyond belief, but he couldn't deny just how fun it had been to take that thing down. Even when Cid wandered up with a face full of scowl and jabbed him in the ribs with the blunt end of his spear, Nanaki couldn't keep the grin from his face. Eventually, even Cid's stony face broke out in a grin as the mentally older man remarked, "You did good kid."

"I did, didn't I?" The lion-dog laughed again, before groaning in pain. "Now let's hope Aerith finishes soon, I could really use some of her healing."

o-o-o

Flying through the air on her borrowed wings, Namine, in the guide of Rinoa, was having a grand time; if Rinoa felt even half this powerful all the time, it was a wonder she wasn't drunk on her power. She and Yuffie were currently 'taking turns', as it was; Namine would swoop in and duel Black Heart for a while, mixing spells and attacks, and when her magical reserves were starting to drop, Yuffie would take over, and she would take to the sky again and observe Rinoa, trying to learn more how to be her.

This new ability of hers, she had quickly discovered, was based around memory; she could become Rinoa because she remembered her, but the older girl's memories didn't come with the package, and neither did her abilities. Once she'd realised that, she tried a little experimenting in her 'downtime', changing her voice to sound like other people, but didn't let herself focus on any single person for too long, just in case she changed into them fifty feet in the air; she didn't like her chances of changing into someone who could survive a fall that high without injury.

Back down on the ground, Yuffie was getting fed up of Black Heart being able to match all of her moves; one of these days, she really needed to do some more hand-to-hand training with Tifa. Leaping back slightly, she drew her left fist up, focusing her energy for a moment, before slamming her fist into the ground. The earth rumbled and shook, and the rock beneath Black Heart exploded beneath the Heartless, sending her soaring into the air. Yelping slightly, Yuffie held her hand against her chest.

Swooping down from the sky, Namine hurled her chakram at the airborne Heartless, the spinning blade driving it higher into the air. Landing next to the ninja girl, she asked worriedly, "Are you okay Yuffie?"

Nodding rapidly, Yuffie tried to shake off how weird it felt to hear Namine's voice come out of Rinoa's mouth, before replying weakly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't realise how much that would hurt without that huge glove I wore when I was younger." With a smile, she added a little stronger, "Go, kick her ass. I'll be okay."

With a nod and a flap of her wings, Namine took to the sky again, her chakram spinning back to her as she closed the gap between her and the now-falling Heartless. Slashing a few times with the gunblade in her right hand, she dove out of the way quickly when Black Heart retaliated, wincing slightly as the blast of ice clipped her wing, and throwing a fireball her way as a token of appreciation.

As Black Heart returned to the ground, Yuffie was waiting. Her massive shuriken held before her chest almost like a slanted, misshapen cross, Yuffie had been gathering all the energy she could spare, the silver weapon pulsing a rich purple. With an irate roar of "All Creation!" she unleashed a massive beam of purple-and-blue energy, at least twice as tall as she was, that washed over Black Heart, and continued on to chew through the remnants of the Heartless Army. When the massive beam of light faded, Yuffie was annoyed to see that Black Heart had survived, though much of it's hair was burnt away; that brought something of a smile to her face.

Diving out of the sky at high speed, Namine held her left hand out towards the burnt Heartless, firing wave after wave of Firaga spells, and sending down a veritable hail of fireballs. The spells weren't designed to finish the Heartless off though, merely to keep her distracted. With a tonne of momentum behind her, Namine swooped low towards Black Heart, using the last of her magical energy to erect a barrier around herself to protect her from fall damage, before willing herself back to being herself.

Her Rinoa guise shattering mid-fall back to her previous attire, keyblades in hand, Namine screamed out a battle cry, putting all her strength behind the Kingdom Key as she shouted, "Zantetsuken!" (1) There was a shower of dirt as the girl struck the ground behind the dazed Heartless, and for a moment it looked like she'd missed, before, with painful slowness, the Heartless' head separated from her body, before shattering into motes of darkness, freeing the captured heart.

Rushing over to the fallen girl, Yuffie pulled her up into a hug, grinning widely. "That was crazy girl! What if you missed? Why did you decide to try that ever?"

Namine just blushed shyly, before replying, "I just thought to myself, 'What would Sora do'."

The kunoichi paused for a moment, before grinning again. "Ah. That makes perfect sense then." Changing subjects rapidly, she asked excitedly, "So how did you-" Namine tried to tune her out, answering her questions when she could, but making sure to remain as cryptic and mysterious as possible, at least until everyone was together; she didn't want to have to explain more than once. A content smile on her face, Namine glanced over at her sister.

It was time for the final show.

o-o-o

Sora grunted in pain as he hit the dirt, sliding for a moment before pouncing back to his feet, skidding the rest of the way. Dusting himself off, he grumbled, "Geez, what's that tail made of? Steel?" He'd attempted to flank Hope Ender while Cloud kept it busy, but he hadn't counted on the Heartless dragon's tail swatting him out of the air. With a roar Hope Ender stood to it's full height, seemingly ignoring Cloud's continued assault, and began charging dark energy in it's chest-hole like Sora remembered the Darksides doing. "Cloud, watch out!"

The blonde soldier took the hint, leaping back moments before his previous position, as well as everything within ten feet of it, was consumed by dark energy. With another roar, Hope Ender took to the sky. Glancing over at the recovering Sora, Cloud remarked dryly, "I thought you said you'd fought a dragon before."

Sora just shrugged. "More serpent, less lizard. And we had little tornadoes to get us into the air courtesy of the planet's guardians." Grunting sourly, he added, "I'm getting mighty sick of having to wait for that stupid lizard to land."

"Then why don't we go up there and get him?"

Turning to Cloud with a raised eyebrow, Sora started to ask, "And how are we going to..." He trailed off as he felt darkness pooling up in Cloud's body, moments before a massive midnight black demon wing erupted from Cloud's back, starting just beyond the pauldron on his left shoulder. He could also hear a second, smaller ripping sound as the fingers of Cloud's left glove tore open, freeing the metallic golden claws his fingers had become.

"You are the one who taught me, Sora, that I could use the darkness, while still living in the light." Exhaling softly, and giving Sora an amused smirk at the stunned look on the teen's face, Cloud remarked, "What, your darkness form can't do this?"

The Keyblade Master shook his head, replying amusedly, "No. I can phase through the ground, but I'm basically ground-bound. However, this form can fly. Light!" With a brilliant flash of light, Sora changed into Final Form, his two Ultima Weapon keyblades spinning behind him, as he floated a good half-foot from the ground. Taking to the sky, he glanced back down at Cloud and asked, "You coming?"

Snarling as it noticed it's air advantage was now gone, Hope Ender soared higher into the sky, putting more distance between itself and those who would destroy it, and roared once more as it began gathering blue energy in it's open mouth, the Heartless' eyes glowing a similar colour. It took until Sora and Cloud were halfway to it before the attack was ready, when Hope Ender leaned it's head down, and fired a massive blue pillar of energy straight down at them.

"Oh shit!" Sora exclaimed, directing both keyblades in front of him as he added, "Reflectaga!" The hexagonal barrier shimmered into existence in front of the spinning keyblades mere seconds before the tower of energy slammed into it, and while, for now, it was a stalemate, Sora knew that before the dragon ran out of power, Sora would lose the fight to maintain both his flight, and his barrier; both of those spelled trouble with what was bearing down on them. "Any more plans?"

Floating slightly below him, and under the protection of his Reflect barrier, Cloud quipped, "I had the last one. Isn't it your turn now?"

A grin on his face as an idea came to him like the veritable lightning strike, Sora asked, "Reckon you could muscle your way through that beam with enough speed behind you?" When he saw Cloud nod, he explained, "When I drop back, I want you to get above my keyblades, and prepare for launch."

When Sora seemed to slip downwards, his eyes screwed shut as he willed his Reflect barrier to stay where it was, Cloud wasted no time, gliding above the keyblade master and resting both feet on the suddenly-stationary keyblades, holding his sword before him as though he were going to Sonic Blade upwards; which he might very well have been preparing to do. Cloud didn't flinch as the keyblades edged higher, until the tip of his sword passed through the barrier. His eyes snapping open, Sora forced his keyblades higher, shouting, "Fire!" as he simultaneously dropped the barrier.

The keyblade lift was enough to get Cloud past the Reflect barrier half a second before the concussive force was released, launching Cloud upwards at near supersonic speed. Gritting his teeth as he forced his sword not to waver, Cloud carved a path clear through the massive beam, only to find Hope Ender now bearing down on him, mouth opened as if to eat him whole. Leaping off the keyblades and using his wing to steer, he dodged just above the dragon's head, spinning his sword and sinking it into the Heartless' neck, before soaring further skyward and carving the Heartless in half, nose to tail.

As the two halves of the decaying dragon fell on either side of him, Sora willed his keyblades back, the two weapons once again spinning behind his back; without them as foci, it was actually remarkably hard to even remain hovering, he'd quickly found. As he floated up to Cloud's level, he saw the blonde soldier had been joined by Rinoa, and a dark demon-like being that could only be Vincent, if Sora's senses weren't lying to him.

Chaos-Vincent merely glanced at Cloud's wing and left arm before raising an eyebrow in query. Cloud just shrugged slightly, remarking, "I figured you'd be flattered."

Laughing slightly, Sora peered down at Kairi and Aerith, feeling the massive Light spell nearing completion. Looking between Cloud and Vincent, the teen voiced something all three men were thinking: "Maybe we should stay up here until they're done."

o-o-o

When Aerith had pulled her aside and told her that she needed her help to cast a level of White Magic that was well beyond even her own capabilities, Kairi had been more than flattered; after all, what she wanted to do most in this world other than be with Sora and Namine was to protect them. When told that this help would mean she would have to miss the fight around her, Kairi had been initially disappointed that not only would she miss fighting herself, she wouldn't even get to see Sora and Namine in action, but she took heart in the fact that, if she asked nicely enough, Namine might show her exactly what happened.

The two girls had knelt down on the rough ground, facing each other, with their hands interlocked with each other, Kairi's right in Aerith's left, and vice versa. Eyes closed, Kairi had tried to focus on following Aerith's instructions, on feeling the magical energy flow in through one arm, pass through her heart, and back out the other arm into Aerith, but focus was hard to come by with the mass of distractions around her.

The sounds of battle weren't the only distracting sounds though. She could feel the oppressive darkness; feel it pulsing every time the sounds around her informed her of one of the greater Heartless using one of their special abilities; feel it surge whenever one of the lesser Heartless were slain, before ebbing again as a new Heartless appeared. Kairi knew now why there seemed no end to the Heartless army - with this darkness everywhere, for every so many they killed, more were 'born'.

Though she couldn't see it, she could feel the glowing ball of Light energy form between her and Aerith, feel it gain strength with each circuit through both their hearts, but it wasn't enough; the darkness from the five greater Heartless was too strong, and even together, there was not enough light to push back that darkness. However, one by one, the greater Heartless were being slain, and with each one felled, the darkness' grip on the world was lessened. Finally, as Hope Ender fell, hope rose.

Their eyelids sliding open, the two girls could see the eyes of the other glowing a bright white. As one, the two declared "Holyja!" and the bright light between them was released, a massive dome of energy expanding at rapid speeds. The light washed over the battlefield, sweeping away the few straggler Heartless left, and purging the lingering darkness. For all it's build-up, the spell was over in mere seconds, but with it's conclusion, so too was the battle over.

The exhausted Kairi pushed herself to her feet just in time to catch the excited Namine, Sora swooping down to hug the redhead from behind. As the congratulations and war stories began between the group of friends, the three keybearers tuned them out, simply enjoying this moment of closeness. Radiant Garden was safe now, if only for a while longer. And with the fading adrenaline, came a realisation about the army they had defeated, one that chilled them to the core.

The darkness in the Heartless felt like that in Sora. The darkness of Hades. 'The battle is ours,' Kairi mused, hugging Namine tighter, and feeling Sora do the same to her, 'but this war is far from over.'

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Author's Notes

(1) For those who follow the Final Fantasy series and might be surprised by Namine using this technique, yes, Sora does at one point learn Zantestuken in Kingdom Hearts; well, in Final Mix anyway. True, he actually learns this move after becoming a Heartless, but Namine took his memories apart while he was in Castle Oblivion, so she could've easily filled in the missing gaps between then and now while she was doing so. Besides, all those techniques he learned had to go somewhere.

I went with 'Those Who Fight Further' for the chapter title because it's boss battle music, and fits the theme of the chapter. I would've preferred to get boss battle music from Kingdom Hearts rather than the Final Fantasy VIII one I used, but none of them sounded right, so here we are.

In other news, I probably should've had this chapter out days ago, but I got distracted. I almost forgot to upload it today as well, but, here we are.