I clashed Twin Soul with Jarek's two-handed claymore and felt him push with all his strength as I struggled to keep his weight from over whelming me. Shifting my blade his strike went to my side as I took a few steps to the side and slashed at his side; he quickly shifted and leaned back to dodge my blade before swinging at me and making me stagger for a moment before I thrust forward at his chest. He grabbed my blade with his hand and tossed it to the side making me move with it and tumble to the ground as he raised his claymore. He swung down as I rolled to the side and struck the ground giving me an opening to slash down along his chest making him reel back before he did a full swing using the momentum of the blade and striking me as I blocked making me go flying back and thumping against the ground. I quickly got back on my feet as he moved in quickly and swung again making me reel. Grounding myself I switched Twin Soul to Blade staff mode and moved in slashing at him before thrusting with the other end; he blocked the thrust and I spun the staff moving for a vertical slash across his arms and hitting them as he gave a small cry of pain before back fisting my face and making me stagger to the side and spit up a little blood; he was being completely brutal. Wiping my chin I switched back to longsword mode and moved in taking a few quick strikes as he used all his focus to dodge my incoming strikes. As he ducked to dodge my slash I dropped to the ground and swung my leg along his feet making him fall to the ground and drop his weapon. I pointed my blade at his throat and took a moment to catch my breath as he shot me a nasty scowl.

"…Jarek-"

"Shut it!" He opened his palm and a fire ball appeared surprising me before he threw it at my face making me quickly move to swipe it away before he got up and grabbed me by my hair and shoving me down before his knee collided with my face making me fall to my face as I clutched my bloody nose, "I told you I don't want to talk! I want you dead!" I quickly got up and quickly blocked as he went in to strike my side; (Strength x2) I pushed his claymore away and back stepped before thrusting forward and hitting his chest making him cry in pain as he gripped his chest. He looked back at me with a crazy look before opening up his palm and conjuring a dark orb; he was holding his claymore one handed but it didn't seem to affect him at all. He rushed forward and took a swing at me as I blocked but them put his orb to my chest causing a small explosion of darkness that sent me soaring into the air with its force before crashing to the ground. I quickly got back up and switched to dual blade form before rushing forward; (Silence, Paralysis) I swung at Jarek catching his shoulder and making the orb disappear from his hand before slashing up with my other blade and catching his chest and making him fall onto his back. He struggled to move but seemed challenge to do so with the paralysis keeping him stiff and unmoving.

"…Jarek-"

"I said shut it Soren!" He yelled back suddenly getting up and punching me in the gut making me fall to my knees; before I could get up he suddenly sent his sword hit against my cheek making me collapse to the ground, "I told you, I don't want to talk! I don't want your useless pity! There's nothing you can say that I don't already know you'll say and there's nothing stopping me from wanting you off the face of this reality!" (Speed x2) I felt my body blip from a lying position to behind Jarek before slashing across his back and sending him flying until he hit the ground and tumbled before getting up.

"Don't be presumptuous!" I yelled back, "You and I both know we're not like that."

"Like I care." He replied before throwing his blade at me. I blocked it and slightly staggered before he dashed forward and put his hand against my chest gripping my shirt, "You're nothing but a painful reminder of everything I hate about myself…how selfish can you be!?" Selfish?

"Wha- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Painful surges of electricity ran through my body making me spasm uncontrollably in his grip; I could feel my mouth foam up before it all stopped and he dropped me to the ground. I could only shiver uncontrollably as the intense electrical currents continued to run through my body.

"Good luck moving, your nerves are shot to the point you could collapse and never get up." Nerves…got it! I opened my palm and gripped it tightly; (Paralysis) socking myself in the face I fell back down and felt my body suddenly stop shivering; my body was my own again. I gave exhausted breaths as I got back up and grabbed Twin Soul before turning to Jarek who just looked at me with disgust, "…Figures…" He rushed at me again and I quickly blocked and sent a dual strike knocking his blades out of the way before kicking him in the chest making him stagger back; I took the opportunity and slashed along his arms making him drop his weapon. He turned his gaze to me and formed a block of ice in his hand before throwing it at me and hitting me in the arm as an ice covering began to consume and stiffen it. Moving that arm I clocked him in the face shattering the ice and making him reel before another orb was in his hand, this one made of fire. I moved to the side to dodge and took a strike at his side making him groan before he grabbed my shirt with his other arm and shoving the orb against my chest making my body heat up as an intense burning sensation covered my entire body, "Funny isn't it? The only magic you could use was physical body effecters while I got magical body effecters…I think it's safe to say who got the better deal." I gripped my weapons tightly and took a deep breath before reforming them and gripping my hand into a fist again; (Silence) I hit myself in the stomach and felt the burning sensation dissipate until it disappeared completely.

"I don't care about who's more powerful Jarek. You know that!"

"…Yeah…I know you don't." He rushed in and picked up his blade before thrusting and hitting me in the chest and making me slam against the far wall, "But that just makes you weak."

"No…" I said getting on my feet as they shook and tried to buckle to the ground, "I can still beat you!" His eyes grew wide before he growled and moved closer. I switched back to dual blade and waited as he reeled back to hit me. (Defense x2) His blow his my right blade and stopped before I pushed it back and countered with a horizontal slash followed by a vertical slash. He quickly regained his composer and gripped the claymore with both hands before swinging with speed and power that nocked both blades out of my hands before he moved in and delivered a flurry of blows all over my body. When it was over I was face first against the floor and I could feel my aura had completely depleted leaving me defenseless.

"You can't win…you never could without me." Wrong!

"Wrong!" I yelled mustering up the last of my energy and rushing towards my blades and grabbing them before turning back to Jarek who just glared at me before rushing and making a quick swing at my chest. (Speed x3, Power x3, Defense x3) I blipped forward in strike range and made a full spin sending his blade flying before rushing in and delivering a flurry of dual strikes against Jarek's entire body until I finished with a powerful longsword slash that made him crash against the ground.

When the combo was over I collapsed to the ground feeling my body trying to recover from the overuse of power I just employed suddenly; guess three times the power was still too much for me to handle. I looked to see Jarek slowly sit up and lean on his left hand as he tried to recover from the battle as well.

"…Jarek-"

"Shut it Soren-"

"No you shut it!" He stopped and just looked at me blankly, "Why? What reason do you have for wanting me dead? Even if you want me dead what do you gain from reality being completely reset? Seems like you're trying to do something more than just to spite me!" He went quiet as his eyes narrowed in on me and his blank stare became a cold and angry look of pure hat and distain.

"You forgot about her."

"What?"

"You heard me you bastard! You completely forgot about Jennifer and Dad!" Dad and sister?

"This is what this is about?"

"You're god damn right it is! You learned the secret that was locked off in your brain for so long…and what do you do? You completely ignore it! After everything that we did you still have the gall to act like you did before all of this! You act like they were nobody important and just let it pass you by like it's nothing. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" He panted heavily after that outburst and I took a moment to absorb everything he said…he's stuck.

"You really think I just forgot them like they were nothing?" I said quietly, "You think I don't care!? Of course I care!" He just scowled at me, "…After we had saved the world of Final Fantasy I visited their graves…I faced the one thing I had blocked out as soon as I could and I sat there for hours…crying my eyes out and just letting everything that happened in those moment wash over me. I felt everything in that moment; guilt, regret, loathing at myself, you name it. I will always regret what happened that day, for everything I took from both of them in my own blind rage…it hurts every time I think about it."

"…Don't lie."

"Excuse me?"

"I said DON'T LIE! If that were true then you wouldn't be fighting me right now…you'd be helping me." Helping him…oh god…

"You…you're trying to reset to get them back?"

"That's right…I know that if I do that then I won't exist…but I don't care…I owe them that much."

"Jarek…no…I won't let you do that."

"Yeah…you would save yourself wouldn't you?"

"No…I'm saving you."

"What?"

"We've made mistakes that we can never take back, that's true. But this is just running from the guilt; we've made our mistakes and we have to live with that…I'm not about to run away…that's one of the reasons I came this far."

"Really?"

"Yes." Feeling my energy return I stood up and moved over to Jarek, "There's something I want to protect, I'm willing to fight for that. There are mistakes I've made and I have to live with it for the rest of my life…I'm here because I don't want to run from what I want or what I have done…and I know you don't want that either." Jarek stared at my hand before sighing and grabbing it before I helped him up. We stood there holding hands for a few minutes; I got the feeling like he was waiting to just fade away into nothing…but he was too strong to just fade into nothing.

"…What now?" He asked and I smiled letting go of his hand.

"I guess…that's up to you…I've got something to take care of." I looked down the long hallway finding it eerier than any of the others.

"…Soren."

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

"…Thanks." Grabbing Twin Soul and sheathing it I rushed down the hallway towards Owen; I wasn't going to run from this, I was going to make sure there was a future we could all look forward to, Jarek included.