Chapter 36
One-Winged Angel

Sora was dumbstruck. "You don't mean...?" Alexander nodded solemnly. "If I'm going to overcome this darkness in my heart, I have to fight Sephiroth."

Aerith gasped at the name. "Sephiroth!?" she repeated quietly to herself. She stared at Alexander for a moment, then stated, "Sephiroth is incredibly powerful, Alexander. Only Cloud can really defeat him."

Alex glanced at her sharply. "I know that. I don't plan on defeating him... just fighting him. If I can at least even match Sephiroth, then that'll be enough."

Donald and Goofy walked over to him, having heard part of that conversation. "Do you know where Sephiroth is?" Goofy inquired. Alexander nodded again. "Yep. He's an optional boss in the game, and I beat him before. That is, in the game..."

Joumae cleared his throat in Alexander's mind. Right. What level was Sora in the game when you had beaten Sephiroth? he asked pointedly. Alex's shoulders drooped, realizing Joumae's point. "When I had beaten Sephiroth in the game, Sora had been level... 84. With the Ultima Weapon."

And what level do you think we are? Alex hung his head. "I'd say we're about level 40." Donald pretty much exploded with rage. "So you're going to fight the most difficult enemy in the universe at half the strength you should have!?" he screamed.

Alexander smirked. "Well, if you put it that way... Yes." Aerith became even more distressed. "Wait! If you know where Sephiroth is, why don't you just go tell Cloud? Sephiroth is Cloud's enemy anyway, and he's the only one who can..."

Alex cut her short. "I know. That thought crossed my mind as well. In fact, I had planned for that to be my next interference in this world. But after the whole Anti Form thing..." He paused, letting the words sink in. "...I realized that what Sephiroth had said had an effect on me. I had become so focused on the darkness that my light was reduced to that little speck he was talking about."

"I know it's suicidal, but... it's what my heart's telling me to do." Alex chuckled. "I've never followed my heart before, and this seems like a good time to start."

Sora nodded. "Well, you can't win just with your strength alone." Sora, Donald, and Goofy brought out their weapons. "We'll help you."

Alex shook his head. "Thanks, but I can't accept that offer. I have to do this by myself." Donald was about to complain, but Sora cut him off. "Well... you'll need a little help..."

Alex started to run down the hill to the restoration site, and the trio and Aerith watched from the rampart. Aerith looked at Sora. "Do you think that will really work, Sora?"

Sora smiled. "I'm trusting him. If his heart is commanding him to do this, then he's got to follow it." Donald grumbled, "Some Interference he turned out to be..."

Goofy shrugged. "Well, he's got quite a bit of help now. Maybe he can do this after all."

Alexander walked past the Great Maw, and ended up at the Dark Depths. He saw a figure at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the structures below. Judging from the long, silver hair and the dark wing protruding from its right shoulder, it was definitely Sephiroth. Alex took a deep breath, willed himself to calm down, and approached the so-called One-Winged Angel.

Sephiroth didn't turn to face him. "What is Cloud doing?" he asked. Alexander shrugged. "Beats me."

Sephiroth grunted. "Hmph. By the way..." He quickly turned around, drawing his sword and making Alex jump back. "Why did you come here, Alexander?"

Alex summoned his Lockshield in his left hand. In his right hand... Sora's Keyblade appeared! "I think I don't have to tell you that," he replied coldly. Sephiroth stared at the two weapons for a moment. "Well... that's an interesting sword you're carrying," he remarked.

"It's the Keyblade!" Alex retorted. "I see," Sephiroth replied. "So that's a Keyblade. And you must be its chosen wielder." Alexander shook his head. "Wrong. The Keyblade Master lent it to me for this."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Alexander... what will fighting me accomplish? You of all people should know you cannot defeat me." Alex glared at him. "I'm doing this to clear my conscience."

"Your conscience?" Sephiroth repeated to himself in an intrigued tone. "Did your darkness get the better of you?" When Alexander didn't reply, Sephiroth smirked. "I'm not surprised. You used up all of your light to create these worlds. You sacrificed your light to find an escape from your own world. And when the darkness offered itself to you... you embraced it willingly."

Alexander cut him off. "Shut up! Yes, I did want to escape my own world. I wanted to be a part of this one. That's why my heart connected with it. But that was a foolish and selfish desire of mine, and it led to my corruption." He reinforced his fighting stance. "That's why I want to clear my conscience. I may not be able to get rid of my darkness, but fighting you will help balance it."

Sephiroth paused. "Still, it is interesting that the Keyblade would allow you to wield it, even with the darkness in your heart." Alex's body tensed. "So what if it did?" he asked hesitantly.

"I wonder if it won't change its mind..." Sephiroth proposed, getting into his own fighting stance, "once I defeat you. Show me your strength."

Alexander had beaten the Sephiroth of the game in the real world rather recently, so he had a pretty good idea of how this would work. Sephiroth always started with something Alex called a flash step flurry. Always. Alex just hoped he could block it in reality...

"That's enough," Sephiroth muttered. The space around them became dark for a second, and Sephiroth seemed to disappear. Alex suddenly detected many attacks headed for him. Using both the Keyblade and the Lockshield, he started a mad flurry of counters to make sure none of the attacks reached him. It had all taken half a second, but Sephiroth must have made at least ten slashes. Fortunately, Alex blocked them all.

Alex turned around quickly, seeing that Sephiroth's guard was lowered right after the attack. He charged forward and started attacking Sephiroth savagely, trying to make as long a combo as both weapons would allow. Once the finisher was executed, Sephiroth teleported.

Alexander turned around, seeing Sephiroth reappear at the edge of the cliff. The One-Winged Angel held his sword in a defensive stance, and slowly approached Alex, who ran toward him. Once Alex was within range, Sephiroth started to attack. Alexander was expecting this, so he jumped back and dodged the slashes, making sure to stay out of range. Once Sephiroth stopped attacking, Alex jumped forward and attacked Sephiroth with an aerial combo.

Alex turned once more and ran, expecting Sephiroth to teleport. Well, he did, but he appeared right in front of Alexander. Moving to fast for Alex to defend against, Sephiroth slashed him with an uppercut, sending him high into the air. Alex quickly made an aerial recovery just as Sephiroth appeared beside him to uppercut again. Alex blocked the sword, then made another aerial combo against Sephiroth.

Alex grinned as they landed on the ground again. The Keyblade and the Lockshield worked great together. His pride was short-lived, however, because Sephiroth quickly took advantage of Alexander's lowered guard to attack him. Alex was thrown back by the slashes, which had done phenomenal damage to him. "Curaga," Alex muttered when he recovered, using up all his magic to heal himself. He had to make sure to not get cocky for the rest of the fight.

Sephiroth appeared behind Alexander and slashed him into the air. Alex once again recovered just in time to counter against Sephiroth's aerial combo. When Alex's combo was done, Sephiroth muttered, "Know your place." He disappeared and reappeared again a distance away from Alexander. "Give in to the dark." Orbs of darkness surrounded Alex when he landed.

Alex tried to run away from the dark orbs, but Sephiroth appeared behind him and threw him up into the air. The dark orbs followed as Alexander defended himself against Sephiroth's air combo yet again. But this time, he had to keep his eye on the darkness, which was slowly approaching him. He was able to knock them away with his weapons.

Alex landed on the ground and knocked away the last dark orb. Sephiroth saw an opening and made sure to exploit it, slashing Alexander over and over again, doing massive damage. Alex quickly drank an Elixir, but the time wasted cost him when Sephiroth sent him up into the air another time, where Alex had to counter again.

They landed again, and Sephiroth disappeared. He reappeared on the other end of the arena and slowly rose up into the air. Alex's breath caught in his throat. Sephiroth was about to use Sin Harvest. Or, more specifically for this game, Sin Heartless Angel. The technique Alexander feared, but had vowed never to succumb to it when playing the game. This would be no exception. Half-panicked, Alex yelled, "Duo Raid!" and hurled both the Keyblade and the Lockshield at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was in the middle of the incantation, so he couldn't dodge the attack. The weapons hit him, stopping the Sin Heartless Angel in its tracks. Sephiroth landed back on the ground, and Alex's weapons reappeared in his hands.

Sephiroth appeared a few feet away from Alexander, thrust his hand into the air, and muttered, "Perish now." Before Alex could do anything, huge pillars of fire shot out of the ground and burned him, throwing him far away from Sephiroth. Alex quickly got up, but was thrown up into the air by Sephiroth yet again. After that exchange of blows, they landed on the ground again, and the air around them darkened once more. "That's enough." Alex had to block another flash step flurry.

Alex finished blocking the flurry, turned around, and got another combo on Sephiroth. Sephiroth promptly disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the arena. Alex couldn't hear what he was muttering this time, but a red aura had collected around his body. This certainly wasn't good.

"Give in to the dark." Alex faced another set of dark orbs. But there seemed to be a lot more this time than usual. Before Alex knew it, Sephiroth was behind him again. Fortunately, Alex managed to dodge Sephiroth's attacks, which had become significantly quicker than before. Unfortunately, in the act of dodging he had neglected half of the dark orbs, which closed in on him and exploded.

Alex looked around, and saw Sephiroth rising into the air. He was too far gone; Alex couldn't counter the Sin Heartless Angel this time. He suddenly felt all his strength sucked out of him. He knew that if he were seen from outside the game, it would look like he had one point of health left. He reached for another Elixir, but Sephiroth was already preparing for another flash step flurry. Alex had no choice but to block it, and continue to attack Sephiroth with one hit point.

Sephiroth disappeared after his finishing move, and Alex quickly downed the much-needed Elixir. Just in time too, as Sephiroth closed in and started to attack, bringing his health back down. When Sephiroth disappeared this time, Alex was able to use Curaga and heal himself back up.

Sephiroth was up in the air on the other side of the arena. Alex thought he was about to use Sin Heartless Angel, but he was quickly proved wrong. Out of nowhere, small meteors began to shoot down at him, exploding on contact with the ground. Alex paled; he hadn't remembered this part. All he could do was run from the incoming projectiles.

After quite a while, the rain of meteors stopped, and Alex was unharmed for the most part. Sephiroth appeared next to him and summoned more dark orbs. "Accept the darkness." Within the same second, Sephiroth raised his hand and muttered, "Perish now," summoning the pillars of flame that tried to suck him in. It was all happening too fast for Alexander; he got hit quite a few times, and had to drink another Elixir.

Sephiroth teleported again, and used the flame pillars technique once more. This time, however, Alex was well out of range of the technique, so he wasn't hit by them too much. Sephiroth appeared once more on the other side of the arena, and was about to use Sin Heartless Angel. Alex had enough time now, and he used the Duo Raid again to stop the technique.

Sephiroth teleported once more, and the rain of meteors started again. Alex was ready for them this time, so he was able to dodge them completely. Sephiroth appeared next to Alexander and slashed him a great deal more times. Alex used Curaga, and jumped forward, trying to predict Sephiroth's next move. Sephiroth appeared next to Alex in the air, but Alex was able to block his initial attack and get one more combo on Sephiroth.

Sephiroth appeared next to the rock wall, and started the incantation for Sin Heartless Angel again. Alexander decided not to use the Duo Raid this time. He quickly ran over to Sephiroth, jumped onto the rock wall, jumped off toward Sephiroth, and brought both weapons down on him as hard as he could.

Sephiroth and Alexander landed back on the ground, but Sephiroth didn't make another move. "What intriguing power..." he muttered. He stepped back to the edge of the cliff again.

Alex stood up straight, and glared at Sephiroth. "How'd you like that!?" he yelled. Sephiroth made a mock effort of brushing something off his shoulder. "I'll admit you're very skilled... But apparently, Cloud is the only one who can eliminate me."

Alex shrugged, wincing at the pain. "Fine by me. I told you I already knew that." He grinned, though it was a little forced. "My darkness is a bit more balanced now, at least."

Sephiroth grunted, and turned away from him. "Tell Cloud to come here. Tell him Sephiroth is looking to settle things."

Alexander walked into to the Crystal Fissure. He was breathing heavily, and he walked at a considerable limp. "Well, I think this is far enough," he muttered to himself. Alex slowly sat down against one of the crystals.

Then he screamed. He screamed as loud as he could for a good five or six seconds. He just needed to get it out of his system. All that excitement, all that tension, all the pain and healing he had gone through to get past that fight was expressed in that.

Alex quieted down and sat there for a while. He chuckled to himself. "It's really amazing..." he muttered. "I'm actually a match for Sephiroth. In reality." He sighed. "But it was hard. It took all of my strength just to stand after that fight, much less walk here. Curaga spell or not, I'm still fatigued from that battle."

So... now what do we do? Joumae asked, free to speak once more. Alex stood up slowly, thinking to himself. "Well, our main priority is to go find Cloud and give him the news. But first..." He trailed off, summoning the Keyblade in his hand. ...we should find Sora and return his Keyblade, Joumae finished for him.

"You don't need to find me," a voice remarked from the other end of the fissure. Alex looked up and saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy standing there, looking at him. Alex smirked and walked over to them. As he handed the Keyblade back to Sora, he said, "What brought you guys here? I thought you were waiting at Merlin's."

Sora took the Keyblade, and promptly made it disappear in a flash of light. "Well, you were gone for a while," Donald explained. Goofy nodded. "And after talking to everyone else about Sephiroth, we got worried about you."

Sora nodded also, and stared at Alex for a moment. "So what happened?" Alexander paused, then grinned. "I beat him. Well, technically at least. Anyway, we gotta go find Cloud. It's time they finished their business."

Alex knew where Cloud was: in the middle of the Marketplace. The quartet approached Cloud. Sora waved and said, "Hi."

Cloud looked at them, and nodded in acknowledgment. He glanced at Alexander for a second, and asked, "Have you seen Sephiroth?"

Alex chuckled a bit. If only Cloud knew... "Yeah, I've seen him. He's in the Dark Depths. He's looking to settle things." Cloud nodded. "I see... So I guess it's time we settled this." He started to walk out of the Marketplace, and all of them knew where he was headed. "Cloud..." Sora mumbled, a bit worried.

Alexander nudged Sora, and gestured toward Cloud. Sora stared at him, but finally got the hint. He nodded, and they all started walking to the Dark Depths as well.

The quartet seemed to had made it to the Dark Depths first; Cloud was nowhere to be seen, but Sephiroth was still there. Alex approached him, and Sephiroth turned to face him. "Did you give him my message?" Alex folded his arms and glared at him. "Maybe," he muttered.

"Sorry to keep you, Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted, walking into the Dark Depths. Sephiroth also walked toward him. "Cloud... You'll never let go of the darkness..."

Cloud brandished his sword. "Shut up." Sephiroth also got into a fighting stance. "You'll never let go of your past..." Sephiroth continued. Alex rolled his eyes; Sephiroth just never gave up the darkness rant, no matter who was listening.

"Shut up!" Cloud repeated, charging at Sephiroth. Sephiroth jumped high into the air to dodge Cloud's attack. Cloud jumped up after him, and they began to exchange blows in the air. With each clash of their blades, some blue energy sparked between them. "Cloud!" Sora yelled up after them. "Get him!"

Sephiroth knocked Cloud toward the rock wall. Cloud landed, and jumped higher into the air, barely dodging Sephiroth's following charge. Sephiroth continued to follow. Cloud brought his sword down on his approaching enemy, and they exchanged a few more blows. Sephiroth managed to dodge one swing, and knock Cloud around until they were back on the ground again.

Sephiroth dropped down and tried to slash Cloud, who jumped back onto the rock wall. Cloud ran on the wall for a second, then leaped off toward Sephiroth. Their swords met once more, and they landed back on the ground. They turned around to face each other, then charged. They stopped in the middle, pushing on each other's blade. "Absurd," Sephiroth remarked. "Defeating me is meaningless. You know that more than anyone, Cloud."

Cloud's glare wavered for a moment. "No matter how many times I fall," Sephiroth continued, "your darkness keeps calling me back!"

"Wrong!" a girl's voice resonated from the entrance to the Dark Depths. Cloud didn't have to look to know who it was. "Tifa! Stay back!" he warned her.

"How can I?" Tifa asked him. "I wanna help you." Sephiroth and Cloud separated again, and stood in their stances. "You can't," Sephiroth scolded her. "He'll never let go of the darkness."

"He doesn't have to," Tifa retorted. "He just needs someone to surround him with light." Sephiroth pointed his sword at Tifa, who jumped back. "The darkness will be there, Sephiroth," Tifa continued, "but in a place you can't reach."

Sephiroth seemed a little amused. "Is that right? Let's see what this light of yours can do." With that, he stepped forward and brought his sword down on Tifa. Tifa dodged the attack and charged forward, trying to punch Sephiroth. The One-Winged Angel stepped out of the way of the punch.

Cloud shielded his eyes with his arm, as if he was being blinded by some kind of light. "No!" he yelled. Tifa tried to land a combo on Sephiroth, but Sephiroth managed to dodge all of the attacks and throw her back. Tifa dodged a few more swipes of Sephiroth's sword.

Cloud slowly tried to adjust to this phantom light. The quartet did a take. "Look out!" Sora yelled as Sephiroth made a sudden charge toward Cloud. Cloud jumped out of the way and stood in front of Tifa, brandishing his sword with newfound confidence.

"Cloud, you can have my light," Tifa assured him. Sephiroth was rather skeptical. "The light doesn't suit you." Cloud paused, thinking this over. "I just... don't know." A white light appeared around his body for a moment.

Sephiroth now seemed outraged. "Stop!" As Sephiroth closed in, Cloud drew his sword back, and a golden light surrounded his body. Sephiroth stopped his charge, and flew up into the air. Cloud jumped up after him. Right before they clashed, a bright light filled up the whole area, blinding them all.

When the light faded, the only one left around besides the quartet was Tifa. "Huh?" Sora mumbled. "Where'd they go?" Goofy asked. Everyone glanced at him. "Do ya think they made it back to their own world?" Goofy proposed. Sora shrugged. "They went somewhere else..."

Alex nodded. "Cloud went to fight a great battle – to defeat the darkness inside him." He chuckled. "Just like I did." Tifa approached him. "Gone again," she admitted with a sigh. Alex turned to face her. "What will you do now?"

Tifa thought about it. "Guess I'll keep looking," she supposed. Alex sighed. "Got any leads?" he asked rhetorically. Tifa smiled at him. "Don't worry... Light is easy to find." He walked over to Sora and placed a keychain in his hand. The Fenrir keychain. "I gotta go. Here. This is for helping me out."

Sora looked confused. "But wait... When did we help?" They mulled over that question for a few seconds. Donald made a surprised quack when he looked up again. Tifa was walking away.

Everyone turned to face Alexander. "Well, is that all of our business here?" Sora asked him. Alex nodded. "Yeah... At last, we've reached the beginning of the end."

Disclaimer: I only own Alexander, Joumae, and the Lockshield. Every other element of this story belongs to their respective owners. Namely Square-Enix and Disney.