AN: Hey! Sorry it took so long. I tried to get it out the week after the last chapter, but a lot was going on. My family had tickets to Comic-Con and the week before was really busy as we made the mistake of leaving a few things to the last minute. It was a ton of fun, though, so I think it's understandable that I wasn't writing. The week after was a lot, too. Coming home, spending time with family who couldn't go.

Anyways, thanks for your patience and on to responses:

To ssjzohan: I'm glad you thought that this was good! I don't explicitly have Kirito say he hates Jaune and Yang less, but there are some reference/hints using BallsDeep69's dialogue. It'll definitely be more obvious when we return to Aincrad the second/third time.

To cturner971/Chretner: I agree, SAO abridged is amazing. It's the most like an actual tv show and, for as fun as SAO can be, it fixes problems that were present in the original series. The characters somehow end up being complete opposites of their original versions while also being exactly the same. Great writing. Also, thanks. I tried hard to make sure the references were fun and am especially glad you liked the Kayaba bits. That was a lot of fun to write. Finally, I'm touched. I'm glad you are so enthusiastic about this story, so don't worry about the review being long. I love long reviews!

To G3r1k: I love that you think it was done well! I hope that every chapter brings more laughs and more excitement for you.

To CraZramblinGhost: Thanks! I'm happy to spread the great SAO:A further. I got my friends hooked on it at college and getting more people hooked is great. Everyone should watch objectively good TV. Agreed, though. TFS will always hold a special place. I hope that this chapter and how the story plays out will be believable, and I love that the characterization is done well. As for Jaune's power level... He's not necessarily weaker than Yang, he's just not confident and is holding himself back. A Keyblade's power is based on strength of Heart, will, and confidence. Worrying that you'll fall into the Darkness just by looking at it doesn't inspire confidence and strength.

Anyways, to everybody, enjoy and please drop a review!

Chapter 6: Two Faced

"An hour long break. Well, what's that after a month of twiddling our thumbs?" Kirito grumbled as he sat around with Jaune, Yang, and Asuna. The raid party had successfully complained to Diavel, the blue haired leader of what Kirito had described as 'a group of lemmings looking for a cliff,' for an hour long break after the slow, six hour walk of a mile had tired most of them out. Many people had spent all their in game currency on Cheetos and Mountain Dew programmed into the game as food rather than on upgrading weapons and armor for a life and death battle.

Fortunately for Kirito, and indeed everyone in the raid party who was serious about making it through the game, the hour long break was nearly finished. Some people had spent the time strategizing or learning the skills of those in their parties. Well, really, only two groups had even bothered trying: Thunder Lion's group and... that of our protagonists. The other groups had spent their time in ways that can only politely be deemed as less wise. The aforementioned Mountain Dew and Cheetos was a popular choice, as was trading ever more 'creative' daydreams about trying to talk to Yang. She didn't quite pity them enough to keep herself from shutting them up, but it didn't take long for them to pick up again. They weren't even the worst of it, however. One group had been stuck on the tutorial of Bejewled for the entire break.

"Your complaining isn't doing us any favors, Kirito. Maybe if you were quiet for half a minute we could actually come up with some strategy?" Jaune hissed back at the black haired swordsman. "Or is this whining better?"

"Jaune, at least I can see everyone for what they are. We'd die if we were stupid enough to trust our lives to them. They're lemmings!" Kirito retorted, the venom between the two growing thicker with every trading of words. "Not that fighting beside you is any better."

Yang shut her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had hoped her conversation about planning and punching would have given Jaune all the hints he needed about calming down. She hated having to be the one with the level head. She hated it! "We all did well against the Defender. Each of us. So there's no point in this whole arguing like the annoying five year olds you are thing you've both got going on. Jaune, what would Sora and Ruby say? Your dad?"

The other blonde's head fell in embarrassment. "I... You're right, Yang."

"Ha! You're such a cheerleader," Kirito stated mean spiritedly.

Jaune felt a flash of anger in his gut before he stamped it down. "Whatever," he snapped. He looked towards Asuna. "What do you think of all this?"

"I haven't played many video games, and even I know that door is a death trap with a party like this one. On the other hand, maybe I'll be able to catch the final hit bonus on the boss." Asuna looked up slightly and revealed a small smile peeking out from beneath her hood. "It's going to be all mine..."

"And how can we keep as many people as possible alive?" Yang asked simply. This world was no fun – she hadn't made a punderful joke since she'd gotten here and it was starting to hurt. "They're on the edge of a cliff here." Edge. Swords. She breathed out as the pressure of puns in her head lessened somewhat. Jeez, even she thought that one was bad.

Kirito scoffed. "Good on you, Dumber. I knew my lemmings metaphor would stick."

"No, I – "

Yang was cut off by the exasperated and rage filled voice of Diavel shouting impatiently at the entire group. "Jesus guys, I didn't really mean an hour!" he snapped. His right eye was twitching slightly as he noticed that the people stuck on Bejeweled's tutorial had not responded and had elected to start the tutorial over. He opened his mouth to scream at them, but only a tired sigh came out. "Screw it, let's just get this over with."

"Well, can't wait for this to go poorly," Kirito mumbled while the group stood up.

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "And if you're wrong?"

"I'm never wrong," Kirito said with a scoff. He put his hand on a chin. "Truly, I should start a foundation to ridicule those less blessed than I with mental capacity."

The doors of the boss room began to slowly drift open behind Diavel, revealing a space of pitch black. He was the first to step through the doors, causing lights to erupt in the small space and bring a smorgasboard of pastel colors and stain glass surfaces. Jaune was almost tempted to say it looked calming, but he knew it wouldn't stay that way for very long. He wasn't wrong, as the enemies of the room appeared mere moments after the lights came on.

They were small, two legged monsters with red flesh peeking out of their steely armor. Plate helmets covered their heads and let two long, red ears dangle out though nothing else. Each carried with them a single mace, the ball of the weapon as large as the creature's heads. The word Kobold appeared above each of their heads, though one instead turned into static and began glitching out until the system put an 'Error: 404' message over it and promptly deleted the creature. Jaune wondered briefly if that was an actual error, or if the Heartless had begun invading the room.

He didn't have long to ponder that question. The monsters were on top of everyone as soon as they crossed the threshold into the boss room, something that quickly sent the raid party scattering into disarray. "This is our highly trained front lines, everybody," Kirito muttered while he spun past a Kobold's attack and ran it through with his sword. He looked around before another creature could lock onto him, searching for the boss. Jaune himself had been worrying, too. Diavel had said after their first meeting that the boss was a large Kobold with an ax and small shield.

It appeared, however, that his worries were pointless. As soon as all of the players were occupied by one or more of the mob Kobolds, the boss fight truly began. Ilfang fell from the ceiling, a large monster though not the largest he had ever seen. The Dragon Grimm still took that cake. Ilfang held a huge ax in its right hand, orange claws gripped tight around the handle. On the other arm was a small shield adorned with numerous tiny knicks and scratches to simulate a battle worn look. The monster's eyes flared a bright red for a moment as it readied for battle, at which point it shrieked out a huge roar of rage.

Surprisingly enough, this moment was exactly what was needed. The players of the raid party froze in fear of the giant creature, giving Diavel enough time to command their attention. "Squads, reassemble and begin with Plan Victory!"

"What?!"

Diavel growled angrily. "Group up and listen to me you idiots!"

"Good luck with that one," Kirito scoffed as he bisected another Kobold.

Still, they... sort of did as they were told. Halfway at least. "Group up and hit it till it dies!" one of the many players screamed. This was met with a roar of approval as the groups reformed like they were under the control of a Magnega.

Kirito was flabbergasted, much to Jaune's delight. The arrogant jerk stumbled over his own words before finally managing to squeak out, "I – wha?" He watched for a moment and then nodded. The players were working together, but it still wasn't going well. No one was flanking the boss, one group was fighting one mob monster together, and that one group was still struggling through the Bejewled tutorial. "Hopeless."

Jaune fought off the urge to agree with Kirito's pessimistic outlook.

S M H S

Jaune's mood had somehow managed to sour even further from the constant onslaught of Kirito's snide remarks, his own mistakes in battle, the glaring mistakes of the other members of the raid party, and – most infuriatingly – the loud noise of Bejeweled from the back. They had spent another hour of fighting playing Bejeweled. Even as a joke it was getting old.

What Yang noticed and he didn't was that he was getting better at fighting. Not a lot, of course. Jaune was still liable to nearly trip into a Kobold's mace every so often, but it was happening less and less the longer he was around Kirito. Which meant that he was getting better the angrier he got. Yang caught a Kobold's mace in one hand and tore it free of the creature's grip before turning it around and bashing the creature's helmet in. She tossed the weapon away and both it and its former wielder glitched for a moment before shattering into a thousand blue shards. Unfortunately, even as Jaune got better and better, a layer of Darkness began to grow around him. Nothing too bad, yet, but shadows were getting darker and light a little dimmer. She wanted to go over there and talk to him now, but things were dangerous... and Sora had asked her not to. He firmly believed Jaune already had all the help he needed in the form of his friends' support. She wasn't sure she agreed: Vomit Boy had always needed step by step instruction after all, but she'd let it slide for now.

"Why did we get stuck with taking out the mobs?" Jaune asked Yang as he dodged an attack and they landed near one another. He swiped forward with the Kingdom Key, slapping the incoming mace out of the way, then lashed out with a stab that sent the Kobold into oblivion. "I think we could do more."

"Not going to lie, I'm a huge fan of the confidence," Yang said before pausing and shoving her foot through a Kobold's chest, "but you're wrong. I could do more. You're about to be hit in the face by a mace. Heh. Rhyming."

Jaune turned slightly to glare over his shoulder. "What do you -" he was cut off as Yang's prophecy came true and the metal orb slammed into his cheek. He was sent spinning.

"Hahahaha!" came Kirito's laugh from nearby. He jumped forward and bisected the monster that had attacked Jaune, then shouldered his weapon for a moment. "You, Dumb, are really dedicated to reliving the slapstick comedy of your movie. When you finally get killed, it'll be a blow to comedy everywhere."

Jaune thought about how happy he'd be if Kirito would just drop dead, though part of him immediately regretted wishing that on anyone. Kirito and him just... didn't mesh. That was no reason to wish he'd die. How he treated everyone like the Faunus were treated back home? That might have been toeing the line. "With how you watch our backs I won't be surprised if you get everyone around you killed one day," Jaune hissed, marching up to Kirito and shoving him. Part of Jaune's mind screamed at him that they were in the middle of a life and death battle, but he didn't feel like listening to it. He absently lashed out to his right with the Keyblade and another Kobold disappeared when the blade elongated with black energy.

Kirito's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards in surprise. "I WANT THAT!" he screamed, his voice cracking so hard it basically snapped in two. He blinked once and saw that Asuna and Yang were looking at the two of them with a confused and simultaneously annoyed glare. He cleared his throat and continued, "Okay, let's play a game of fuck off. You go first."

Jaune scoffed and shot back in the way that would hurt Kirito the most. "Lady voices first."

"I'm going to kill you!" Kirito growled, leaping forward to slash his sword at Jaune's head.

Jaune easily blocked the attack and shoved his shoulder into Kirito's chest, Darkness trailing at his heels.

"Goddammit, Vomit Boy!" Yang snapped. She smashed her hands together and crushed a Kobold's head before turning to deal with what was happening. "Asuna, come on!"

"Fight, fight fight!" Asuna was too busy laughing at the sight of their fight. Her voice took on a fake, castigating tone when she noticed Yang glaring at her dryly. "Ahem... Er, I mean... Guys, you can't fight in the middle of a boss fight! That's... no... come on!"

"Real nice, Asuna. Real nice."

Thankfully, the little spat the two boys were going through was interrupted before it could get too big. Ilfang's attention had been momentarily brought their way by sheer bad luck. The boss' attention had been lured around when a squad of tanks had attracted his attention in the wrong direction. Upon seeing the flare of Darkness that Jaune had launched from his weapon, it had decided his threat level was far greater than anything else present and had begun to lumber towards their small group. It growled, a low and dangerous rumble, and slapped its arm out to the side to move Asuna out of its path.

"Asuna, look out!" Yang snapped. The other girl turned, but they both knew she didn't have enough time or space to dodge, so Yang did what she had to do. She ran towards the other girl and tackled her to the ground, rolling over Asuna and letting her back slam into Ilfang's incoming arm. The rather powerful attack sent the two women flying, accompanied by a yelp of pain from Yang and a shriek of surprise from Asuna. The two sailed through the air in a ball and landed heavily on the other side of the room. When they landed, Yang forced herself to her feet and raised her fists. "Every. Time." She held her hands above her and cast a quick cure so the two of them could get back in the fight.

These noises were able to capture the attention of the dueling boys, and both felt their attitudes immediately freeze. "Yang!" Jaune shouted. He sprinted towards the two women, accompanied by Kirito, and hissed angrily at himself. He'd been acting stupid again! He had to calm down or –

He and Kirito were interrupted by a giant Kobold slamming into their path. "Oh, great," Kirito muttered. "He looks neither big nor friendly... Well, good luck!" He turned and began to walk away from Jaune, leaving him to fight the monster on his own. The Kobold's red eyes flashed towards Kirito and its ax slammed into his path. "Or... good luck to us! Yeah!" Kirito turned back tot he Kobold and readied his sword again.

"Where is everyone else?" Jaune asked when Kirito stood beside him again. He spared a half moment to glimpse towards his unwilling partner. "Shouldn't they be helping?"

"Getting in the way, more like," Kirito muttered. He surveyed the room and saw that while they were the main focus of Ilfang, the rest of the Raid group were taking what he deemed to be a break, focusing entirely on the mobs rather than engaging Ilfang in the slightest. Diavel was screaming at most of them to move up and try to fight the boss, but they continued ignoring him. "We, uh, we're on our own, Dumb."

The giant Kobold took this moment to begin its assault. The ax went up again and swung around in a horizontal slash that aimed to kill both warriors. Kirioto rolled his eyes and easily flipped over the attack, a move that left Jaune easily in the attack's path. He didn't miss a beat, however, and brought the Keyblade around in a block. He angled the blade so that the huge ax flew upward and the monster over extended. Nobody took advantage of this, however, as Kirito was landing, Yang and Asuna were too far away, and everyone else was not paying any attention. On the other hand, this did give them a moment to breathe.

Jaune grunted in exertion as the ax blade flew away from him. "Then we have to put this aside and work together." He saw Yang and Asuna sprinting at the creature from behind, and his mind quickly moved towards formulating a plan. He tried to catch Yang's eye – he thought he did – and motioned upward with his head. "And maybe we're not that alone. Trust me?"

"Ha! No."

Jaune forced the rage down. "Asuna and Yang?"

"Meh..."

"Then we're going low, the ladies are going high," the Keyblade wielder stated simply. Then he took off towards Ilfang. Kirito groaned and shook his head before sprinting after Jaune. The two of them kept an eye on the monster and ducked low as the buckler's edge swept low and aimed to take out their heads. The metal skimmed Jaune's hair as he passed and fear he was about to die rose in his gut. Again, he forced the emotion down. He couldn't be scared, or angry, or anything right now. He needed to fight. So he kept running, shooting to the left and jumping towards Ilfang's right leg; simultaneously, Kirito put his sword in front of him, the blade taking on a blue-green glow, and rushed Ilfang's left flank.

Yang had not originally understood what Jaune had asked her to do: they were still a new team, after all. Despite that, Yang wasn't stupid – she picked up what Jaune was suggesting the moment he and Kirito started running for the monster's legs. "Okay, hope you're okay moving really fast through the air," Yang said simply.

"What?" Asuna inquired, dully confused by the statement. Her confusion disappeared when Yang grabbed onto her shoulder with one hand and arm with the other and threw Asuna towards the skull of the floor boss. Asuna screamed in the air for a moment as her cloak whipped about in the air and was torn from her shoulders, the red cloth floating away before disintegrating from accrued damage. She tumbled for a few seconds before regaining control and forcing the tip of her weapon in front of her. It glowed a bright green, a light that trailed through the air over her shoulder and through her flowing, honey blonde hair. Under her breath: "I'm going to kill that bimbo."

As Jaune's Keyblade cut through Ilfang's right leg and Kirito's through the boss' left leg, leaving bright red gashes halfway through the main body of the leg like digital blood, so too did Asuna's rapier. It pierced the back of the toppling Ilfang's skull easily, like piercing styrofoam. The red bar beside the floor boss' head sped towards zero as the attacks damage was finally felt, and suddenly Asuna, Jaune, and Kirito were attacking red shards floating across the room. As soon as the boss died,, the Kobolds within the room entered a panic animation and beat a retreat through holes in the walls.

Asuna landed in a roll and came up to her feet with nary an oversized hair out of place. Jaune looked over and caught Kirito staring. "Wow, she's almost as good as I am," Kirito muttered in disbelief. He caught Jaune staring and a red tinge spread across his face. "What are you looking at Dumb? Go be a cheerleader."

"And here I thought you didn't like anyone," Jaune muttered as the Keyblade vanished from his hand.

"We did it!" Everyone screamed, excited by their victory.

"What!? We!?" Kirito snapped just in time for Yang to run up and hear.

He was ignored as cheers continued to erupt. "We did do it..." Diavel muttered in disbelief. He turned around to glare at the players behind him. "No thanks to you idiots!" The cheering died down and every pair of eyes focused on the blue haired warrior's enraged features. "God, I used to have a modicum of faith in the human race, but I can clearly see that was almost as stupid as all of you! Bejeweled, in a boss fight! None of you know the difference between flanking an enemy and standing in front of them with your weapons on the ground and your pants around your goddamn ankles! And, worst, you all make the Kardashians look like geniuses! The KARDASHIANS!"

The raid party was quiet for a moment after his explosion of rage, until... "What a dick!"

"You know what, fine, I'll just leave you all to die in the next boss floor. I'm going to get a bunch of money and buy a beach house. You can all go die for all I care you ungrateful pieces of shit!" Diavel panted for a moment or two, then turned on his heel and marched towards the stairs leading up to the second floor. He marched up three at a time towards the large double doors and raised his hands. "Peace out, A-holes!" Then he slammed his open palms into an invisible wall. A red hexagon appeared above him, stretching from wall to wall. Boss Not Defeated.

"Oh... Oh, son of a bitch," Diavel muttered. Then a large, black shadow erupted from the wall in front of him and he hit the wall on the entrance side of the room. The shadow bounced from wall to wall to ceiling before landing with a heavy, terrifying thud in the center of the room. Jaune was beside Diavel before the creature could reveal its shape, raising his Keyblade and trying to cast a Cure. It wouldn't come.

He looked over a moment later to see Kirito leaning over Diavel... and trying to give him a potion. Jaune was dumbstruck at the appearance of the black haired warrior doing something good. He was here without thinking, just like Jaune was. He had run to help Diavel before he could even consider doing something else, just like Jaune had. That didn't sound like Kirito, at least not the one Jaune had known thus far. The Keyblade wielder felt a sudden sense of camradarie with the swordsman, like he was a good person. You know, underneath the seventy layers of asshole. "I... It's better this way. How can you stand working with... them."

"I've been playing MMOs a long time, Diavel. And if there's one thing I've learned it's this – Lions need not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep." The feeling of friendship lessened, but Jaune tried to look past what Kirito had said. It was difficult, but he somehow managed.

"So wise." More difficult.

"You know, in another life... maybe we could have been friends," Kirito said, his voice filled with pleading. Jaune felt bad for the dark haired swordsman. He wasn't the cruel, powerful man he claimed to be. He was a sad, lonely boy lashing out at a world he was scared of. Jaune Arc knew all about lashing out.

Diavel, his voice growing ever weaker, laughed dryly. "Doubt... it." And then he disappeared in a flash of blue.

"... Well, screw you too!" Kirito snapped while he glared at the empty space where a man had just been. He turned towards Jaune, who was smiling dumbly at Kirito. "Oh, what, now are you going to be my cheerleader, too? I know I deserve one, but I don't need you as my groupie, Dumb."

Jaune's features soured. "Just shut up and -" his eyes widened as a crystalline Heart appeared between Kirito's arms, all that remained of Diavel. Jaune's head snapped towards the gargantuan, Dark blob in the middle of the room that every player was regarding with worried looks. "No!" Jaune took off as fast as he could, ignoring Kirito's mocking. "No, no, no..."

A wave of Darkness threw him and everyone else off of their feet a moment later.

Jaune came to his feet sooner than anyone else, his experience with Darkness giving him something of a resistance to its power. He pushed himself to his feet, followed soon by only Yang, Kirito, and Asuna. Everyone else was out of the fight, chained to the wall or ground by tendrils of Darkness that looped around their wrists, legs, or midsections. "What the hell just happened? What kind of boss fight ends just so another one can immediately begin!?" Kirito snapped. He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. "Kayaba, you psycho douchebag."

Jaune didn't respond. He and Yang were focused entirely on the huge Heartless that now filled the room, its features having coalesced from the blob of Darkness. It had retained something of the original shape of Ilfang, though there were a few key differences. For one, the ax and buckler were gone, replaced by a massive, straight sword in its right hand with a large notch at the head. Tendrils of Darkness extended past its left hand as gnarled and jagged claws. The eyes, once a deep red, had turned a sickly yellow and its flesh to a blue-black color. The mouth had become nothing but a jagged, orange-yellow line. The feet of the creature melted into the ground, and Jaune was reminded of the Shadow Heartless he had fought; this creature could likely melt into the ground and walls to avoid damage. Its chest was hollow, the shape of a Heart carved cleanly from its flesh.

"A nodachi?" Kirito asked aloud, staring at the huge weapon in the Heartless' hand.

Asuna turned to Kirito. "A what?"

"An old sword mainly used for dick measuring."

"... Why?" Jaune asked. Kirito just shrugged.

"Doesn't matter. Let's just kill it!" Yang shouted. She slammed her fists together in front of her, and Yang's hair suddenly exploded into fire as her eyes turned a bloody red. She made a noise that sounded equal parts defiant roar and excited laughter and sprinted towards the Heartless, flame trailing from her hair.

"No, Yang! We need a plan!" Jaune shouted, but he was ignored. Asuna had already followed her, in fact, a shriek of bloodlust escaping her lips.

"What is it with the women I meet in this game being crazier than I am?"

Jaune looked over at Kirito. "We should probably help them."

"Will they need it?" Kirito asked, and they both chuckled lightly before realizing who they were laughing with and immediately stopping.

Seriously, though, Jaune was completely unsure himself. "Maybe?"

Meanwhile, Yang and Asuna were charging the Heartless-Ilfang side by side, flames appearing in her fists that emulated that rising from her head. "Dibs on the first punch!" Yang shouted, eliciting a groan from Asuna. Yang laughed and leaped into the air, spinning and punching out with her right and then left hand. The two Firas went rocketing towards the Heartless, burning bright and deadly as they approached the monster. It hissed and batted one away with the sword, the magic disappearing as it touched the edge of the blade. The other fireball it caught in its free hand, letting it explode in its palm uselessly. Yang wasn't dismayed by this, as she was still soaring towards the creature. "TAKE THIS!" She brought both of her fists forward together, a single Firaga balled up between her fingers, and collided fists first into the creature's head. Or she would have, had the creature not melted into the ground at the first opportunity. Yang flew over it and gulped nervously before it sprouted from the ground and wrapped its claw around her leg. It whipped her forward and she flew towards Asuna, who deftly spun around her and raised her rapier. She dodged another attack from the nodachi and sprang forward past the creature's claws, one tracing barely through her hair. What she wasn't expecting was magic, a Dark Earth spell appearing in the Heartless' open claw. Asuna screamed out in pain as a block of earth slammed into her back and she tumbled across the ground, then was struck by the monster's foot and she skidded across the ground, coming to a stop beside Yang, who was being tended to by Kirito and Jaune.

"Yang, are you ready to come up with a plan now?" Jaune asked with an annoyed sigh.

"Hey, I said that's your job, Vomit Boy."

"Vomit Boy? Oh, I'll have to hear that story," Kirito cut in, a cruel grin crossing his features.

"Then let me plan!" Jaune snapped. He took a breath. "Sorry, just -"

Yang put her hand on his shoulder and pulled himself up. "Nah, don't be. We should be quiet. Now, go fast so it doesn't kill us." She gestured towards the Heartless that was moving threateningly towards them, dragging its sword along the ground behind it in an effort to inspire fear. Given the crying of the surrounding players, it was working on some. One guy had a screen above his face, a purple set of words that said 'Drop: Soiled Pants' across its face.

Jaune grimaced and racked his brain. "Dumb, hurry up!"

Jaune ignored Kirito.

"Jaune, he's getting close!"

He ignored Asuna.

"Vomit Boy!"

Jaune's mind flashed back to Sora and his stories, about being able to use powerful attacks with people from different worlds. Limits. "Okay, I've got a plan. Let's hope it works!" He raised the Kingdom Key above his head. What had Sora told them he'd always said before these? Oh, right. "Come on!"

It was like everyone in the group was acting without thinking, moving and doing things that, usually, they couldn't. Jaune and Kirito ran ahead first, both of their swords glowing bright white with Light magic that elongated their weapons. They ran in a criss-cross pattern, forming a chain composed of Light. It dragged along behind them as they ran. The Heartless' sword came down to attack and the two split apart, running in opposite directions. The nodachi slammed into the center of the links and immediately the light separated from Jaune and Kirito, wrapping around the sword and shooting out to pin the weapon to the ground. Next, Asuna leaped upwards, a Thunder spell she didn't know how to use trailing from the tip of her rapier. It shot forward once, twice, three times and more, turning into a flash of lightning in her fist. The sparking weapon slammed into the Earth coated claw of the Heartless, the repeated blows acting like a jackhammer that demolished the stone while sending yellow magical energy through the monster to paralyze it for what came next. Yang leaped over Asuna as she fell, right fist raised and her left hand open in front of her. The Heartless hissed at her and tried to melt into the floor, its legs slowly becoming flat. Before it could, however, Yang's blow hit and a giant clock appeared around the Heartless as her Stop spell took effect.

Jaune and Kirito returned to attack the creature from both sides. Jaune ran forward first, slashing from its left side and across to the right with blades of Light. Then Kirito ran across the back from right to left. They both angled, Jaune slashing upward from in front of the Heartless and appearing behind, Kirito jumping through the Heartless symbol on the creature's chest while spinning, dealing a dozen blows within its chest. He landed and turned around, leaping into the air again. Jaune turned and tore the blade of Light from his Keyblade, tossing it up to Jaune in a single smooth movement. The swordsman caught it in his left hand and spun again before bringing both of his weapons up over his shoulder and down at the same time to cleave the monster in two from shoulder to hip. The Heartless shrieked in pain as Kirito landed behind him, kneeling on the ground with both swords in front of him. Slowly, inky Darkness began to run from the creature's shoulders, floating upward as it slowly died off. A crystalline Heart appeared where it had stood a moment earlier and floated away.

Then a loud explosion of confetti echoed through the room and a crudely drawn banner with the misspelled 'Congratulation!' appeared on the ceiling. One of the many players screamed out, "WOOT!"

Tiffany walked up to Kirito and the group as the swordsman stood up, the sword of Light in his hand disappearing with the magic that had activated their group attack. A screen appeared in front of Kirito and he quickly hit accept. Echoing the banner above, Tiff stated, "Congratulation! That was even more impressive than that cat that learned to play."

"You guys can see it too! So I'm not crazy!" someone in the crowd shouted. The cat beside him meowed innocently. "Isn't that right, Jesus...? As you command m'Lord..."

Everyone elected to, temporarily at least, ignore that. Tiffany especially, as he continued to speak uninterrupted: "You four led us to victory. These men and I will follow your guild to hell itself. Now... address your people."

Jaune grimaced as Kirito grinned and pushed past them. "Oh, this can't be good," he heard Asuna mumble under her breath.

"I always knew this day would come. Fellow gamers! We have travelled far, and up – ahem – 'many' flights of stairs to get to this point, NOOBs -" he gestured at Jaune " – and LEETs alike." His hand moved towards himself. "I'd like to take a moment to say I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you."

"Aw, that's -" Tiffany was cut off.

"'Course I'm not a liar, so I'm not gonna say any of that."

"Oh, shit," Tiff finished, his hopes dashed by Kirito simply being himself.

"Knew this was coming," Jaune muttered.

"I mean, really, I could've done this entire fight myself! Hell, I basically did! The boss focused on who? Me. Who dealt the most damage to it, both stages? Me. Who killed it? Me." Kirito turned and looked at the entire group, a smug grin on his face. "Hell, you morons didn't even manage to take any damage for me before it caught you all in a paralysis field. I'd have been better off if it were just me and a dozen amputee chimpanzees!"

Yang sighed and shook her head. "Why isn't he mentioning us?"

Jaune looked over at her. He was mildly amused. "That's what you've decided to take away from this?"

"So, for those of you who came in late and... goddammit, still with the Bejeweled? Well, for you idiots among morons, perennial Bejeweled tutorial players, shoot for the stars. It'll be fun to kick back and watch people who don't know a sword handle from the blade shoot themselves in the feet over and over again."

"Hey, you're not better than us!" the guy who had been speaking to 'Jesus' shouted angrily.

Kirito scoffed and opened his menu, scrolling for a moment. A flash of Light appeared around him and a long, black coat appeared over his shoulders. "My sweet ass coat disagrees." He smirked again at the surrounding players, thinking about flipping them the bird then deciding they weren't worth the effort. He turned away and walked towards the stairs leading to Floor 2.

The crowd conceded that he was correct. "It is a nice coat," Asuna muttered jealously. Her eyes narrowed. "We are going to have words." She sprinted after the swordsman, leaving Jaune and Yang to glance at one another and run after them too.

"Hey, Kirito, wait!" The black haired warrior in his new black coat turned back halfway up the stairs. Asuna glared at him from a few steps below, Jaune and Yang beside her. "I – Er, we want our share!"

"Excuse me?" Kirito asked, bewildered.

"I want my share of the coat. I did a quarter of the work, so -"

Kirito's voice got higher pitched as he snapped back. "It's a bunch of ones and zeroes! I cant just cut it up, it isn't real!"

"Then I want... half the ones."

"Screw you, I want those ones."

"We don't want any of it." Both Asuna and Kirito turned towards Jaune, the source of the voice. He crossed his arms and glared up at Kirito. "Look... you may be a tremendous jerk, Kirito... but you aren't a bad – well, you aren't an evil guy. Take care of yourse – and he's gone." Kirito was already running through the doors leading to Floor 2, crying about being called a jerk.

A screen popped up in front of Jaune, Asuna, and Yang each – 'Party Di-Solved.' "More mistakes in this dumpster fire," she muttered. She glared after Kirito for another moment and then turned back to Jaune and Yang. "You guys break the rules of this game, you know."

"You'd be dead if we didn't," Yang pointed out, more blunt sounding than a hammer attack from Nora. "Besides, you had fun, right?"

"I didn't say I didn't like it!" Asuna shouted defensively. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes angrily. "Just tell me how to do it..."

"That was a silent 'or else,' wasn't it?" Jaune asked of the sentence's fade out.

The honey blonde hissed, "You know what you heard!"

Jaune and Yang looked at each other again and laughed. "How'd we do it? It was Magic," they finally said together.

Asuna's face turned into an angry glare. "Fine, don't tell me. I'll get the information out of you two eventually..." A shadow crossed her face and red stars replaced her eyes for a moment, sending shivers down the spines of both Jaune and Yang. "Catch you later." Then she turned around and walked through the doors.

Jaune and Yang watched her go with terror in their Hearts. "She's, uh, she's going to kill someone in cold blood one day," Yang muttered quietly.

"Someone?" Jaune asked incredulously.

The two walked back down the stairs together. "Well, was this place everything you'd hoped?" Yang asked after a few moments. Tiffany waved at them, an exasperated frown on his face as he muttered about 'that damn girl voiced boy.' Everyone was starting to follow Kirito and Asuna to Floor 2, moving on with their struggles in this world.

Jaune shrugged as he thought over everything that had happened on this world. "Well..? More or less, I guess."

"Hm..." Yang muttered. She led him over to one of the pillars and crossed her arms. She let a few more people filter out of the room before locking eyes with Jaune, her violet orbs more serious than she liked them to be. "Are we going to talk about how you've been acting?"

Jaune felt his chin hit his chest. "I-I er... Nnnnooo?" He asked, his eyes squinting further with every letter in his no.

"Yes. We are." Yang smiled a bit. "Nice try, though."

Jaune sighed and leaned against the pillar next to her. "I know, I know. I was angry. It's better now."

"Jaune..."

"Okay!" he growled. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Yang, you think I didn't notice, don't you? I was stronger when I was angry. A lot stronger." He knew that wasn't all of it, though. "I mean, maybe I lost a little control -"

"Jaune, you got in a fight with a team mate in the middle of a fight with a giant monster. I need to know if everything is okay with you," Yang interjected simply. She crouched and let herself sit beside him. "Sora told me that you might have some trouble after everything that's happened. Salem nearly took your body over, after all. I got my arm cut off and I wasn't the same for months. You lost your body for a while. That's... well, the body of evidence is that you probably had it worse." She let a sideways grin grace her features and she raised her eyebrows a few times in the least subtle manner she could manage.

"Really? I thought you were trying to be serious," Jaune muttered. He cast an annoyed glare towards the woman beside him.

"I was making a point while bringing much needed happiness to the conversation," the brawler rebutted. She grew more serious. "Look, Jaune, it's slow going, but you're a Keyblade wielder. If anyone's strong enough to get through all of this, I think it's you. Especially with a role model like me taking you through the steps of recovery."

"With a role model like you, I'll probably end up getting into fights as part of my 'therapy.'"

Yang nodded. "It's the best therapy."

Jaune was going to say something, but was cut off by a new voice. "I agree." He looked up and saw the red eyes and hair of a familiar face.

"Morrigan," Yang muttered with narrowed eyes. She surged to her feet and raised her fists, ready for a fight. "I've been looking for you."

Morrigan remained unflustered by Yang's threatening stance. "As have I, Weakness."

"Still on that, Mom? It hurts your daughter to hear that, you know."

"Not as much as this will." Morrigan spun around, a flash of Nothingness extending from her hand to create a telescoping katana. It whipped around at Yang's neck, but Yang raised her hands just as fast to block the attack with her bracers.

Jaune stumbled to his feet. "We-we're really doing this now?" he stammered.

"Yes!" Yang and Morrigan snapped.

Jaune flinched backwards in surprise before gesturing at the room. "We have... an... audience..." He turned around to find that the room was empty. Everyone had long since moved on to the second floor. Jaune shrugged and summoned the Kingdom Key back to his hand. "I guess we are, then." Then he rushed Morrigan. He would help his friend in this fight. He'd make sure that they got out of this alive and he wouldn't use the Darkness again – he wouldn't lose control.

Jaune lunged forward using the Keyblade, both hands gripped tight on the handle of the weapon. Morrigan saw him coming and disengaged from Yang, jumping back and extending the blade into one of the pillars far away. The blade easily cut into the object, then the sword shrank back down and pulled her towards the pillar. Yang didn't take long to follow her mother's Nobody, leaping into the air and using Firas to send her body flying towards the woman. Jaune simply sprinted after the two women, grumbling angrily about the speed with which those two could move while he was stuck with sprinting around.

Yang caught up quickly with Morrigan, swinging her fist around only for it to be blocked by Morrigan's sword, dismissed and resummoned back to her off hand. The blade and bracer clanged against one another, the contact being used by Yang as a way to cycle into her next attack. She spun mid air and brought her left heel around in a hammer kick. Morrigon dismissed the sword again, and the disappearance of her source of leverage sent Yang's attack off course slightly, but not so much as to make her miss. Morrigan was forced to raise both her arms above her head to take the brunt of the blow, which sent her careening back towards the ground. Morrigan grunted in pain, but steadied herself and threw her hand out towards the ground, creating a Corridor of Darkness through which she disappeared. Yang landed atop the place where the Nobody would have landed.

"Yang, where did she –?" Jaune was cut off when a woman sized object slammed feet first into his side and sent him rolling to a stop behind one of the pillars. He came up to his feet and summoned his Keyblade back to his hands from the ground, raising it above his head to block the two handed blow of Morrigan's that threatened to bisect him. He shoved it away and slashed sideways with the Kingdom Key, a blow that the woman simply spun around. She turned the move into another attack, the tip of the blade glinting as it danced towards Jaune's throat, forcing him on the defense again. He barely brought the Keyblade up in time to defend. While their blades were locked: "Heh, I've never had someone's mom try to steal me away from them before..."

"Was that supposed to sound clever?" Morrigan inquired. She disengaged the lock and spun around, extending her leg directly into Jaune's chest in a back kick that sent him flying into the pillar. "Because it is not." She turned at the sound of Yang's roar to find the blonde rushing her. Morrigan jumped to the side, dodging the blonde's blows. Yang was fast, though, and she got one or two glancing blows in. With Yang, a glancing blow was still like a freight train, so Morrigan knew she had to finish this fast. She analyzed her weakness' pattern, paying attention to every punch, every kick that the brawler threw her way. Left, kick, right, left, right, kick, right, feint...

Eventually, Morrigan found what she was waiting for. Yang threw a right hook right on time, and Morrigan jumped to the left, landing easily outside of the blonde's guard. The sword in Morrigan's hand flashed towards Yang's throat, slamming into her and halving the woman's aura. Yang went soaring, eventually the small of her back slamming into the corner of the pillar near which Jaune was struggling to his feet. Yang crumpled to the ground a moment later and forced herself up to her hands and knees.

"Yang!" The Keyblade wielder turned, wild eyed, towards Morrigan and roared angrily. He sprinted towards her, forcing himself to remember his promise to remain in control of himself. Sparks of Darkness that he stamped down flared out of the Keyblade and he slashed at Morrigan's head, though the woman easily deflected the blow, causing the frustration to grow in Jaune's gut. He turned and slashed out at her throat again, but the woman stumbled backwards when sparks of Darkness formed at the tip of the Keyblade and coalesced into a weak Dark Fire that exploded along the blade she brought up defensively. Morrigan recovered quickly and jumped to the side, avoiding the upward slash that the Keyblade Wielder threw her way.

"You're slow like this." She moved underneath Jaune's guard and grabbed hold of his wrist with one hand, shoving hard and forcing him off balance so she could take a step back and release a powerful flurry of blows to his chest, slashing up and down and left and right. Jaune was thrown off balance even more with each blow. Eventually, the woman lowered her blade to her hip and held the tsuba with her off hand while keeping hold of the hilt with her main hand, then she jumped forward, the blade flashing out of her off hand for a moment before quickly returning to her hip when she reappeared behind Jaune. It took a moment, but the blow hit him all at once, the force of the attack sending him flying into the pillar once more. "Your weakness is your fear of power."

Yang's Aura had finally managed to heal her enough for her to force herself up somewhat, though her mind remained somewhat groggy for a few moments. "Ugh..." She looked up and caught sight of Jaune, himself a crumpled up heap on the ground. She crawled over to him, knees dragging across the ground with every foot she moved. When she finally reached him, Yang took a deep breath and set both fists on the ground. Pushing with all her might, the brawler slowly forced herself to stand in front of him with fists raised in defiance towards the Nobody advancing on them. "Nobody, and I mean Nobody hurts my friends."

"Puns? If I remember, you learned those from Taiyang." The woman's voice didn't catch at all as she spoke. She raised her blade to her daughter's throat. "I will be glad to never hear them again." The blade rose until it was pointed at the ceiling, then it came down. In spite of herself, Yang found her eyes could not stay open. She was afraid. Afraid she had let down Ruby by dying. She'd lost too much family. Afraid that she had let down Jaune by dying. He couldn't handle losing another friend. Most of all, she was afraid she had let down her mother. She didn't want to watch as someone with her mother's face kill her.

But the pain never came. Only the loud, metallic noise of metal on metal.

Yang's eyes slowly opened and she saw that she had been saved by a somewhat tall warrior in a black cloak, his Keyblade held backhand above his head and keeping the Nobody's katana from arcing towards Yang and the unconscious Jaune. She tried to catch sight of this newcomer's features, but the cloak hid his face completely. However, the Keyblade was striking. It was gnarled black metal with white, vein like lines up and down its body. A demonic wing formed the teeth, coming out of a large blue eye set into the blade. A ram's head formed the basket along with a pair of demonic wings, leading down to a Keychain formed from wild, crossing lines adorned with the same, blue cat's eye that graced the blade. The Keyblade of Xehanort, the Keyblade of Jaune. Sora's Keyblade, now.

The figure said nothing as the surprised Nobody jumped away, putting distance between them and coldly considering this newcomer with narrowed eyes. "Sora?" Yang asked the figure. She looked around. "Ruby!"

"Not me," the figure said simply. The Keyblade in his hand spun around to a foregrip that he held out to his side. Otherwise, he stood stock still and waited for Morrigan to make the first move.

And she did. Morrigan moved forward at lightning speed, her blade pointed at this new figure and held near her shoulder. When about five feet from the man in the cloak, the sword arced around in a diagonal slash while the blade itself telescoped out to give her as much leverage as possible. The figure in the cloak didn't move from where he stood. He simply tossed his Keyblade to his left hand and raised it, blocking the attack with one hand. He flicked his wrist and Morrigan's sword was forced backwards. Then he began to attack.

He raised the black Keyblade above his head and slashed downward, the move nearly invisible to the naked eye. Morrigan was fast as well, however, and the blade in her hands shrunk down to a size more manageable for blocking. The Keyblade collided with the katana, creating a loud ringing noise. The Keyblade wielder moved into his next attack before the noise died, summoning the Keyblade back to his other hand and performing an upward slash at her now exposed body. The Nobody threw herself to the side, trying to avoid the attack that threatened to kill her. She managed, but just barely. The cloth at her waist trailed and took the blow, being cleaved cleanly where the Keyblade struck it.

Morrigan turned on her heel, grateful that she was incapable of feeling emotions like panic that would unbalance her in this fight. Her katana sliced through the air and a blade of Darkness flew towards the mysterious Keyblade wielder, purple and black swirling within the magical attack. The Keyblade wielder raised the weapon in front of him, slashing the attack in two. But he didn't advance on the Nobody. Seeing this as a good sign, Morrigan began to repeat this attack. A horizontal blade of Darkness streaked towards him, quickly followed by two attacks flying so close to one another they looked like a '+' in the air. Morrigan advanced on the Keyblade wielder with each attack, some semblance of cocky reassurance in her mind as each attack prevented the warrior from moving. She launched another barrage, ending it with a more powerful jump and overhand slam right on top of the Keyblade wielder. He looked up, cloak fluttering as the wave of Darkness hit him and exploded.

Morrigan watched the energy balloon out around the interloper. She frowned. "That was -"

"Too easy?" the Keyblader asked. He reappeared behind her, cloak showing no signs of having just taken the brunt of an explosion, and placed the tip of his Keyblade at the small of her back. The woman turned around as quickly a she could, slapping the Keyblade away with the flat of her katana then delivering a side kick to the Keyblade Wielder's chest. He moved backwards with the kick for a step, then used the momentum to spin and attack once more.

The two warriors continued to trade blows as Jaune finally came to. The blonde boy looked up, groggy and surrounding by a blurring world. It immediately snapped to focus when he saw the Keyblade wielder dueling with Morrigan. "Yang, who is that?" he asked, the man in the cloak little more than a blur of black as he moved. Jaune tried to catch sight of the Keyblade, but it moved even faster than its master.

The blonde thought back to the figure's voice and found that she couldn't quite place it, though it was familiar. On top of that, he had denied being Sora. "Jaune, he's wearing a magic cloak that hides his face. Do you think I know?"

"Fair," Jaune muttered, pushing himself up to a sitting position beside her.

The fight continued unabated, the two sword wielders moving faster than either in the audience could. Keyblade and Katana clashed in brief explosions of sparks and magic. Eventually, however, the Keyblade came around and entered into a pure struggle of power, both figures standing still as they pushed against one another. The Nobody's face was contorted, pushing as hard as she could against the Keyblade. Her arms shook, her legs slid. The Keyblade wielder, however, was stock still. His arms didn't quiver and he stood with a calm, almost lazy stance.

This was Jaune's chance to catch a look at the Keyblade, and catch a look he did. Anger flared up in his gut. "Sora!? You've been following us!?"

The figure turned his head and grew distracted when he locked eyes with Jaune. "Er, I'm n-" This was all Morrigan needed. She ducked and dismissed her weapon, sweeping the legs of the newcomer out from under him. "OH, JEEZ!" He flipped, flying into the air while Morrigan ran away and into a portal of Darkness she had summoned to run away. The man in the cloak slammed head first into the ground, legs falling past his head and toes tapping the ground. He groaned in pain and annoyance at his position. "Ugh... Better than motion sickness, at least."

Jaune looked over at Yang. "I told you lots of people had that problem."

The hood of the cloak cocked towards them, the Keyblade vanishing from his hand in an explosion of black and white. "Oh. Hello." The figure brought his feet back down and pushed himself up, brushing off his thighs as he did. He waved. "And, uh... Not that many." The figure walked over. "In fact, it might be difficult to say we have that problem. Really, it's I." The figure grasped the sides of his hood and pulled it down.

Jaune's heart stopped. "That's..."

Jaune looked back at him and grinned. "You? Me? Us!?" the other Jaune Arc suggested, blue eyes twinkling underneath his blonde hair. He ran one hand through his golden locks. "Have I got a story for you."