Author's Note: Big combat and complete compromising of FFX-2? Has he lost his mind? Yes, I have. On the plus side, this insanity has given birth to a new story concept. One I am already outlining and preparing to begin uploading once this tale has come to its end. What does that mean to you?

Well it means that when this story ends... it will continue. In a sequel. Thanks for the inspiration and the continued motivation to keep writing. More information to come in future chapters including the next story's title. So stay with us for more information as it becomes available.

~Nox

Vergil and Adam found themselves up on top of a cold mountain waiting for a group to arrive to observe their desired target. The two of them regarded each other warily neither letting themselves chance being jumped by the other. After a moment, the airship Celsius approached and the two watched as a large team of people dropped down onto a ledge further down on the mountain. The Gullwings as Adachi had called them that morning, were accompanied by the current Guardians of Light.

"They sure took their time," Adam commented bitterly.

Vergil hummed in affirmation. Staring down at the group, Vergil watched the two groups work. However, he kept his focus on the blue haired female named Aqua. Somehow, she seemed entirely to appropriate for Dante's type. In his little bit of time in the future of his own world, Dante had never had an intimate partner. Though there was a more docile redhead who had been a close contender. A caring and compassionate woman, who was similar to their mother in that fashion. However, as Vergil watched his attention was captured by his partner's thoughtful muttering.

"She may be tougher than we gave her credit for. She may not be the strongest person in the group, but I think she might be the most skillful fighter of the group and she has those magical abilities that will make her difficult to harm," Adam commented out loud.

"Are you intimidated?" Vergil asked dryly.

"Hardly," Adam replied. "But it is foolish to pretend that your direct approach is going to work in the face of any strategy you come across. That barrier of hers will bounce your blade right off of it, and then some." Vergil sniffed condescendingly. "So what's eating you?" Adam asked. "Upset that I got acknowledged for being able to hurt your brother?"

"Why are you even here?" Vergil asked.

Adam looked toward Vergil and said, "You tell me. You took me from my home for this Organization XIII business. So tell me. Why?"

Vergil looked away from Adam and back to the people they were watching. "You are here because you're worthy. I am surprised that you aren't more grateful."

A Dark Corridor appeared and Roman stepped out of it saying, "Well, glad to see you love birds are getting along. You two kids almost done with your homework yet?"

"What do you want, human?" Adam asked with an edge to his voice.

Roman just sighed and answered, "Well while you two are playing around up here, Adachi and I have been working together rather well. The Leblanc Syndicate informed me of a powerful dragon they came across and Adachi was able to track it down to the Island of Besaid. He sent Xehanort to start pumping that thing full of Darkness and to sick it on the Highroad. So while the Leblanc group distracts the Gullwings, we pull the Guardians away."

Adachi appeared over on the other side of the two katana wielders adding, "It also looks like we got here two years too late. The Sin Armor and the Aeons are both already gone. Since they are gone, the pyreflies are basically useless to us. So now the only part of our job that's left is to off the blue haired brat. Otherwise, the boss has already put hit contingency plan in motion should you two find a way to screw this up."

"She's older than you," Roman commented offhandedly. "She was stuck in a place where time did not affect her for over 10 years. She's older than you."

"Eh, still a brat to me. If it looks like a brat and sounds like a brat," Adachi replied. "Look just don't mess this up for the both of us, you two. I would really rather not have to deal with the consequences of our failure here, yeah? Seems like a headache to me." He sat down and let his legs dangle over the edge. "So what's the plan?"

"We need you two to run interference on Dante," Adam replied. "You don't have to beat him, you just have to keep him away from her. We can deal with the rest of them. Ruby is fast but is otherwise harmless, Yang is nowhere near fast enough to deal with us, Sora is powerful but reckless, and Rise is practically useless in the long run of battle."

"Don't underestimate her," Adachi warned. "She was a member of the group of kids who stopped me. Her skills may not be in the area of combat, but she'll probably find us up here pretty soon if we don't leave. So let's get outta here before we ruin our cover. So now we need to head down to the Highroad so the trap will go off without a hitch and the Gullwings don't fall for the bait."

Rise watched as four Dark Corridors disappeared off of the top of ledge overhead. "We need to head to the Highroad," Rise said out loud. "All of us. Now."

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked.

"Our enemies are trying to bait us, they want us to be on this mountain for some reason. We need to head down to the Highroads, they are heading down there now," Rise explained. "I sensed Adachi there just a moment ago and picked up the last thing he was saying before they left."

"What did he say exactly?" Dante asked, placing a hand on his now slightly hairy chin.

"So let's get outta here before we ruin our cover. So now we need to head down to the Highroad so the trap will go off without a hitch and the Gullwings don't fall for the bait," Rise recounted. "That was said by Adachi. I would recognize his energy anywhere which is why I sensed them in the first place."

"Hmm," Sora hummed in thought.

Rikku immediately called for Brother to pick them up. The Sphere here would have to wait at this point. Paine's attention was caught by something else. "We have company," she said in monotone. The rest of the group turned to see the members of the Leblanc Syndicate approaching. "If they are here, they can only be up to no good."

"We can take them, send the others down to the Highroad?" Yuna suggested.

"This could be the bait that Adachi was talking about…" Aqua mentioned out loud. "But if it is just them, could they just be trying to separate us?"

"Partial split up," Paine said. "Take Yuna with you, Rikku and I can handle these three again."

"Are you sure?" Yuna asked concerned.

Rikku gave her a big thumbs up. The ship Celsius appeared near the group and Yuna climbed aboard with the Guardians of Light. The ship took off and Yuna looked back at Mt. Gagazet with a worried look. Yang placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "They'll be fine. There will be some 'Paine' for Leblanc."

"Thank you," Yuna said kindly. It seemed that Yang's pun went completely over her head. Yang looked like she was going to try again before the silencing look of Ruby caught her eye. Yang inaudibly sighed and left Yuna alone for the moment.

The ship ride was a little tense. They had to acknowledge the fact that they were basically following the villains' plans to do the right thing. They also could not just ignore the fact that the villains were threatening a part of the world. Even if the villains wanted it this way, they would have to accept that risk to save the world.

"Yuna! This is Buddy. We have a bit of a situation ahead. There seems to be some form of large fiend on its way towards the Highroad. It is walking itself right over to it now from the south. Witnesses say that it seems to be letting off a lot of black mist from its mouth," Buddy said to her over the intercom on the ship.

"Is this the trap then?" Ruby wondered out loud. "Yang, let's help Yuna hunt down that Fiend. Dante, Aqua, Rise, and Sora can deal with the Organization XIII members."

"You got it sis, we'll give them a little taste of the Strawberry Sunrise attack," Yang added on triumphantly. She then sighed and added, "I could really go for a Strawberry Sunrise right about now actually."

"Is that like a dessert?" Dante asked. Yang shook her head and he just scoffed, saying, "Tch, not interested then. I'll just stick to my Strawberry Sundaes, in that case."

"Can we not talk about food or drinks anymore?" Sora asked with his hand on his stomach and tongue sticking out. He had not eaten thanks to sleeping late. Yuna watched this back and forth with great interest. Despite the fact that they were going into battle with a large Fiend and some of their mortal enemies, they could still speak like this situation were the most normal thing in the world. In a weird way, it comforted her that they were not stressed out over the situation. Their calm was contagious. The Celsius swooped low and the team leapt off the deck and found themselves opposite of four distinct looking members of the Organization. They could all feel the rumbling of heavy footsteps in the distance. Signalling the upcoming arrival of the large Fiend that was on its way.

Dante's eyes immediately locked onto Vergil who stood with a cold arrogance. Dante heard the sound of shaking metal as he snuck a look over at Ruby. Her eyes were glued to the katana that removed her leg. His scowl grew.

"Calm yourself, Dante. You let yourself get too angry, you might get a little reckless," Vergil taunted. Dante's grip on his blade tightened.

Adachi then laughed and added, "Look at how mad he's getting. So predictable. Aren't you an adult? Shouldn't you be the controlled one in a group of worthless brats?" Dante's attention jumped to Adachi for a moment and he saw the displacement of air as if something existed behind the man. In the moment, it took form as it dashed forward.

"A Persona?" Dante asked as the armored figure grabbed him and threw him backwards across the field. Roman Torchwick aimed his cane at Sora and the sudden blast caught him off guard as he too was launched backwards. Yuna aimed her guns at the people in front of her, until behind them she finally saw the large fiend. She looked over at Yang and Ruby who seemed to be recomposing themselves in the face of the two people who almost killed them. The three of them scatter around their enemies to charge the fiend. Yang was surprised to find that none of them attempted to stop them as they took off across the field. They did not want to stop her.

Rise summoned her Persona as Adachi leapt forward with his gun, Himiko took a shot for her and attempted to launch a laser back at him. The two of them engaged in a deadly dance as Adachi's Persona pursued Dante every attempt he made to get back into the fight.

Aqua soon found herself alone with Vergil and Adam who both had yet to leave their spots. She had her master's keyblade in hand as both of her enemies focused on her. Their deadly intent was made clear to her each one prepared themselves to engage. Aqua closed her eyes for a brief moment. She would not be made to look weak anymore, this time she was going to protect her friends, protect her future.

She opened her eyes when she heard Adam dash forward. When his red blade lashed forward, all it found was the side of a keyblade. Aqua cast a blizzard spell at the ground and it froze Adam to the ground as she then leapt towards Vergil. Vergil's katana was suddenly free of its sheath as the two of them exchanged swings and parries. A sudden burst of speed almost caught Aqua off guard as she performed a handspring back away from the swing. This was followed by a duck as Adam had gotten himself unstuck and attempted to attack her from behind. Aqua cast another ice spell and began to slide down the path it left behind. She held the spell on the end of her keyblade as she slid across the Highlands. Getting herself into a better position, she let the spell fly at her enemies.

Vergil seemed to be rather impressed by her instinct and ingenuity. He then disappeared, the spell missing entirely, and reappeared next to her. Aqua summoned a protective layer around herself as his blade was repelled by the barrier. Aqua ducked low and swung her leg out as it tripped up Vergil. He disappeared before hitting the ground. Adam dropped from the sky as a red and black blur and Aqua found herself launched backwards from the force despite getting the keyblade in front of his attack. Vergil appeared in her path his blade in hand. Aqua reached her hand down to the grassland flying by beneath her and grabbed the ground. Her momentum suddenly rotated and she slammed into the ground. She rolled back onto her feet as she struck a defensive stance.

Adam ran forward at her as Vergil took a wide stance. Adam swung his blade and as he did, he left behind a shadow. Aqua blocked his attack, when she moved to counter though, the shadow dashed forward and slashed her across the arm. Aqua was caught off guard, another moment passed when Vergil drew his blade. A slash of energy lashed across the grassland. She crossed the blade in front of her and felt her feet slide across the ground. Aqua looked over at Adam as his blade and hair began to glow a shade of white. She recognized this description from Dante, this was the attack that broke Dante's blade back on Remnant. Aqua put up her barrier and braced herself within it.

Dante was getting irritated by Adachi and his Persona. The Persona was not actually fighting him, it was just throwing him around. Running interference on him attempting to go and help Aqua. The realization made him sick to his stomach, as he dodged around the Persona he launched himself across the grasslands towards Aqua who was engaged in a deadly dance with both Dante and Adam. He felt the hand suddenly wrap around him as the form of Adachi's Persona suddenly reappeared before him. Dante swung his blade out and smacked the Persona in the face, a solid hit he could tell by Adachi's cry of pain. However, the Persona maintained its grip on him and he found himself launched upwards towards the sky.

From high above, he could see Ruby, Yang, and Yuna fighting the terrifying creature, a stream of darkness flying from its mouth. It looked like some kind of wingless dragon as it dragged its dark fire across the grassland following the paths of his allies. Down below he saw Rise dodging around Adachi as she then kicked her microphone stand into his knee. She was getting more confident with her fighting, he noted. Looking further behind him, he saw Sora engaged in a rather intense back and forth with Roman Torchwick. Despite his appearance, the man in the bowler hat was an intensely skilled fighter. Sora's less refined fighting style was having difficulty keeping up with it, let alone trying to overcome him. Even the magic he wove into his moves was being deflected or dodged. Roman was not to be underestimated.

Finally, his gaze fell on the battle between his brother, Adam, and his lady. Aqua had few opportunities to show fully what she was capable of and so Dante could not help but to be curious. However, his time to observe her was short as the ground was fast approaching. She could take care of herself for now, he needed to get Adachi out of the picture. Whipping out his twin pistols, he fired down at the ground and used the recoil to slow his decent some before transforming for a brief moment before impact, then changing back immediately after.

Lashing out from the dust cloud of his impact, Dante felt the approach of the Persona and he suddenly dashed to the right. His momentum completely changed, Dante saw Adachi look over at him surprised. Dante leapt through the air his blade in hand lashed out at the man in the suit. Adachi put his handgun in the way and was knocked over.

"Rise, fight the Persona, when I get him out of here, help Sora," Dante told her. Rise nodded and Himiko unleashed a torrent of lasers at the approaching Persona. Meanwhile, Dante continued his assault on Adachi whose wild movement with Rise became more focused. Dante slid around attempted gunshots to his face. Meanwhile, Adachi's minor training in self-defence began kicking in as he avoided Dante's blade well enough to avoid being completely gutted. Dante could see that his attention was split though as his Persona still needed some kind of commanding to fight in a decent way. Rise and Persona were very handedly dealing with it, since it could not hide from her.

Yang and Ruby were having a fair bit of difficulty with the beast alongside Yuna. It was certainly an enemy with a thicker hide than they were used to dealing with. However, Yang kept feeling her attention being pulled back towards the fight she knew was going on back behind her. The man named Adam who had injured Dante would be fighting with Aqua. Aqua was a skilled fighter, and from the sounds of it she had tricks she did not show off on Remnant, but Yang could not help but look back towards that battlefield. Something about the way they were just allowed to pass felt wrong the girl.

"Yang, go!" Ruby called out. Yang looked at her sister, firing shots at the beast from the Crescent Rose. "Help Aqua!" Yang nodded as she turned from the battle and launched herself through the air. Yang realized that it was not a moment too soon as she saw what happened next.

Aqua watched the blade dig into her barrier and the cracks that radiated around the outside of it. Her barrier almost immediately failed as she launched herself backwards watching the blade pass through the space she had been previously, barely missing her form. Aqua slid across the ground and flipped back onto her feet. She then watched as Yang fist collided with Adam's jaw and he was also launched back.

"Yang Xiao Long…" Adam remarked as he looked over at the interloper. "Think you are any faster than you were at Beacon?" Yang shook her head as her expression stayed neutral. She could not fall for his taunt. "Let's find out," he challenged. Yang however was not having it. A talk with her father had been an eye-opening experience. She would not get caught off guard by this man again.

Adam charged forward and his horizontal swing found no target as Yang dropped down to a crouch. A massive leaping uppercut, found Adam airborne as Yang unloaded a massive barrage of attacks on him. He was a glassjaw, and found himself grounded before Yang even began to descend. As she came down, she found herself caught by Vergil. A single hand on her throat.

"You're not the target this time," Vergil said to her coldly as he dropped her and launched her away with a solid kick.

Aqua, happy to have a moment to breathe, turned back towards Vergil and she watched as he launched Yang away. He reappeared behind Aqua and radiated energy. Aqua turned and cast Slowaga on him. As he drew his blade in slow motion, Aqua became aware of three swings in a split moment. She could not believe that he was still able to swing so fast. She ran from him as she tried to block the attacks she could not avoid, her barrier still recovering from being shattered. It was when she felt the first slash across her back that she knew she was in trouble. A second slash on her left thigh caused her to fall near the edge of his aura. The last hit she took dragged across her left cheek and she fell to the ground just outside of the area. Air displaced by his attack filled back in the lines of the attack as it concluded. It would have killed her had she not slowed him down.

Aqua was still on the ground as the pain threatened to overtake her mind. She was aware of Vergil walking over to her and she heard him drag his blade across the ground behind him.

"Consider this, point three in my favor," he said as he raised his blade. Clothes wet with blood, Aqua felt her barrier recover from being shattered by Adam's fully charged attack. The katana came down as the barrier suddenly formed. Vergil continued to slam his weapon down on her and she found herself being pushed down into the ground, displacing a large sphere in the dirt beneath her. The further she fell, the darker the world around her became.

"Fine," Vergil commented. "Enjoy your grave." Vergil's katana moved in a blur as the ground around Aqua was torn up. She fell further into the ground and the top of her barrier was now covered in dirt that blotted out the sun for her. She was right back in the Realm of Darkness. Tears streamed down her face quietly. Vergil would not have the satisfaction of hearing her cry. She kept the barrier up and curled up into a ball.

"Is there any point in continuing this fight?"

No. Stop it.

"Just let go of everything and fade into the darkness."

I have people who need me. Someone who wants me. A job to do. I am back in the Realm of Light.

"No one can save you. And no one who wants to."

They can. They have.

"Your bonds of friendship only tie you down."

Those bonds are the reason I am still here. They didn't tie me down, they brought me home!

"Only your heart is hollow enough to be a demon's."

It… isn't… hollow… Is it?

The thoughts consumed her mind as she tried to fight back against their influence. A cycle of painful thoughts constantly disrupting her as images of her time there haunt her. The illusions of her friends, the broken worlds she had visited, and the phantom of her doubt. Her breath hitched as she tried to calm herself and continued to fail.

"Compassion, empathy, the ability to love, these are the things that demon's lack. I have already seen all three of these things in you," she heard Dante's voice in her head. "Even if you were a demon, the fact that you have these emotions makes you more human than most. Don't you forget that, Aqua. Don't ever forget that."

Aqua felt her breath calm as she thought about Dante and thing he said to her that night on Remnant.

"Aqua was stranded in the darkness for over a decade before it was finally forced into her by someone else. She is not a timebomb, she is the single safest person in this room."

He always believed in her. So much in fact to come to her defence when she was being threatened by the teachers at the school.

"Aqua, I hope I can take you with me."

Sora had expressed a genuine interest in her going with them to help them out. He believed in her almost immediately.

"You wanted to be people's wayfinder in the darkness. Let me be your wayfinder now!"

Rise had risked her life to prove a point. Everybody needed a wayfinder. Aqua would knew that she could not let herself become lost again. Aqua struggled back to her feet inside of her barriered off portion of the ground. She had come too far to let this man stop her. She pointed her keyblade straight up and dropped the barrier.

"Waterza!" She called out and a massive torrent of water sprayed out from the end of her Keyblade. The light filter through to her and she smiled brilliantly. She was where she belonged. Aqua leapt out from the ground and found Vergil knocked over, soaked in water. "Round 2, Vergil."

"I think you have other things to worry about, like the destruction of this world," Vergil replied as he stood back up. The Dark Corridor appeared behind him and he disappeared into it. Aqua looked around as she remembered the large fiend. Dante was now alone in a position closest to the charging beast drenched in darkness. Ruby and Yuna appeared to be riding upon its back as it charged spewing a consuming dark fire. Yang began running from the beast as Dante threw his blade at it just to watch it bounce off harmlessly to the side. Aqua cast a blizzard spell and rode across the grassland as she landed in front of him and put up her barrier around them.

As the dark fire placed a dark filter over the sunlight, Dante saw the wounds on her body and he held onto her tightly. Relief and guilt racked his mind as he kept a strong but careful grip upon her careful to avoid the wounds across the various parts of her body.

Meanwhile, Yang made a mad dash across the grassland towards Sora and Rise who both had their hands outstretched to her. Yang fired Ember Celica back behind her as she was caught by them and Sora began to cast his reflection spell. As the beast passed over them, the outward explosion of energy caused the beast's legs to be swept out from under it.

As the Fiend struggled to its feet, Yuna transformed and was suddenly clad in a dark purple dress with a wide brimmed hat. She began casting about massive torrents of water in every direction, the dark fire calmed but was far from quenched. Rise summoned Himiko again and began to barrage the fiend with laser blasts.

"It is having almost no effect!" Rise called out as she watched the Fiend begin to clamber back to its feet. Ruby continued slashing away at the beast, often times simply bouncing off of it.

Ruby gave a grunt of effort before she called out, "It's almost impossible to pierce!"

Sora watched as his allies continued to attempt breaking the beast as attacks seemed to be completely ineffective. It reminded him of the night many years ago when he first lost his home. His wooden sword did nothing to the heartless. It wasn't until he gained the keyblade that he had been able to hurt them. The heartless had been too strong for him to hurt without a weapon specifically made for it. He gripped his keyblade tightly as he realized what he needed to do.

"Guys stay back!" Sora declared. The people fighting the beast retreated backwards as Sora pointed his keyblade at the beast. A beam of light launched through the air and pierced the beast. The dark aura around it receded and the beast seemed to revert back to a slightly smaller but still imposing form. "Get 'im!"

The group charged the beast, Yuna saw the fire growing in its mouth and directed her water magic directly at its mouth. The stream of fire collided with the water spell with neither relenting until, Yuna could feel the fire begin to press back against her spell. Aqua ran up next to her and a stream of water was let loose from her Keyblade. The combined effort pushed the fire back into the beasts mouth. Dante, who had recovered his blade, seemed to fly through the air and buried the blade into the beasts neck. Ruby disappeared into a storm of rose petals which took off into the air. She dived and much like Dante had before, she embedded her weapon deep into the top of the Fiend's neck. Rise let loose a veritable storm of laser blasts into the beast which made it pull back it head where Sora ran forward and planted his keyblade into the underside of its neck. Yang finally leapt forward and smashed the beasts face in and its form began to fade into the form a small sparkling lights.

"Whoa," Sora commented idly out loud as they flew away.

Yuna reverted back to her normal outfit, and explained, "They are called Pyreflies. They are manifestation of the souls of people. When they get lost and gather together they turn into fiends. When I was still a summoner, my job was to perform a sending to let those Pyreflies go to the Farplanes to rest."

"Oh, wow!" Ruby exclaimed.

Yang smirked at the shared childlike wonder of Ruby and Sora.

"That was such a long time ago," Yuna commented, her expression forlorn. "Or at least that is what it feels like. Spending it away from Auron and… him."

"Old flame?" Yang asked.

Yuna stood for a moment. "A dream that has faded," Yuna finally commented. The group fell quiet at the slight remark. The small change in her demeanor spoke volumes louder than her words. But Rise finally asked the question on their minds.

"Who was he?"

The four members of the new Organization XIII found themselves back in the grasslands of the Highroad. The dark of night had settled in and the air was still. It was a quiet meeting so far and even more so after the collective failure of eliminating Aqua. Each person seemed consumed by thought until Roman finally broke the silence.

"So clearly, it isn't going to be me or Adachi. We actually got our jobs done," Roman explained flatly. "And only one of you doesn't actually want to be here…"

"True, he has been complaining about going home since he got here. The rest of us actually want to be here don't we?" Adachi added. A small move of his hand revealed his gun securely within his grasp. "I'm not going to waste this second chance on dying for a guy who doesn't want to be here."

"Your group abducted me!" Adam replied aggressively. "I never wanted to be here. Why should it be me?"

Vergil looked over at him and replied, "You know too much. The Organization cannot chance that your apathy towards us turns to empathy towards our enemies. Simply put, you are a loose end now."

Adam gripped his blade tight and threatened, "Do you think I am just going to let you kill me? I'll take as many of you with me as I can!"

Vergil's thumb popped forward revealing a small portion of his blade, Roman released the cap on his cane, and Adachi pulled back the hammer on his gun. Vergil gave a short chuckle and finally said, menacingly, "I had hoped you would say that."