AN: Howdy!

Sorry it's been so long. My college has a late move in day and I just got back. So I was enjoying my last days with my family up till now.

Anyways, responses!

To G3r1k: More than one person, probably.

To gamelover41592: Hey, there's no such thing as late! I'm just glad you're here. Thanks, I hope it lives up to the potential you see in it.

Well, enjoy. Please leave a review – praise, questions, or criticism. As long as you don't curse, I'm game.

Chapter 9: The Beam of Thine Own Eye

"What the hell's going on?!" Yang shouted as she and Jaune sprinted out of the inn, flames consuming every building around them. Villagers ran from their homes, screaming and terrified of what was going on. Yang and Jaune froze momentarily when they saw that most of the people weren't getting away: Heartless were erupting from the shadows cast by the smoke and fire, their claws glinting in the dim light before they jumped into the screaming crowds, cutting civilians down and tearing the Hearts out of anyone they reached. Jaune and Yang didn't even think about jumping in, they just did it.

Yang sprinted towards a man and a young woman, maybe his daughter. There was a Wrath and a pair of Ronin advancing on the family. Yang jumped between them to protect the man and woman and took to work. She landed a punch on one of the Ronin before it could respond and her fist crashed into its faceplate, shattering it before her hand plunged into its head and caused it to explode in a violent burst of black smoke. She turned her attention to the next Ronin, but her fist sailed through empty air. The monster had already back flipped away. She grumbled angrily to herself at letting him get away, but decided to remain with the family anyways. "Stay behind me," she commanded the father and the woman – a girl about Cloud's age with brown-black hair that trailed below her waist.

She didn't get a response, but she supposed that was as good as an affirmative reply, so she launched an aero blast at the Wrath, magical wind spinning dangerously towards the Heartless. The attack worked as intended, sending the creature flying away as it grew to half its full size. It spun like a cannonball towards a gaggle of Heartless attacking another trio of people, and it knocked the monsters down like bowling pins.

Jaune was currently dealing with a pair of Angel Star Heartless, caught between them as they launched their spells at his back just as he turned to deal with the attack that had come at him from the other side. He turned and blocked the beam of Light energy that one fluttering Angel Star launched his way, a serious look on his usually goofy face. His blue eyes were burning purple with two fires, the first reflected off of the town around him and the second with anger at the Heartless that would attack these people. He was a Huntsman and a Keyblade Wielder, so it was his job to save them. No matter the cost.

He turned around and palled. Rushing at him was a trio of magical tornadoes the other Heartless fired at him, the wind grabbing flames that they passed through and creating deadly, burning twisters that spread destructive heat wherever they went. He groaned and tried to run around them, only for the flames to turn to intercept him.

Jaune grimaced and tried to come up with a plan, but was distracted by the loud noise of an energy ball flying through the air. He turned towards the first Angel Star and raised his Keyblade as quickly as he could, the blade and ball crashing into one another. Jaune was forced backwards a few feet, but the energy ball flew upward and exploded a dozen feet above. Jaune tried to turn back to catch sight of the... burnicanes? He wondered to himself. Unfortunately, he had little time to ponder the naming conventions for tornadoes crossed with fire; all three were already on top of him. Jaune shouted out in pain when all three crashed into him at full speed, their flames enveloping him and searing his aura.

He came out fine, if a little worse for wear. Oh, and much angrier. He dashed forward when he heard the telltale sign of an energy attack soaring towards him from behind. The ball shrieked and turned after him, homed in on the Keyblade-worthy Heart that rested within him. He gritted his teeth and ignored the attack for the time being as he couldn't deal with it without getting destroyed by the Angel Star he was currently rushing. At least the one who had fired the energy blast at him couldn't send anything his way that wouldn't intersect and alter the course of its own attack. He raised his Keyblade and slashed once, twice, three times across his body with the magical weapon when the Heartless in front of him surged with Thunder magic and cast a trio of electrical spheres towards him. The attacks flew off, two soaring past the Heartless and the other dissipating uselessly against the monster's body. He jumped after that final projectile, Keyblade raised above him for a powerful two handed blow that would have destroyed the Heartless had its crystalline wings slammed shut. Instead, the Kingdom Key slammed into the shield-like wings and rebounded, sending the Keyblade wielder soaring backwards completely off balance.

"Crap crap crap!" he hissed, trying to spin around and guard against the attack he knew was going to come his way from behind. But as soon as his back was turned, another trio of thunder balls came from the Angel Star that had used its wings as a shield. He shouted out in pain as the electricity ran through him and paralyzed him momentarily, just long enough for the ball of energy that had been homed in on him all this time to slam into his chest and send him flying over the top of the Angel Star behind him. He landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, still stunned by the thunder balls that had hit him. Slowly but surely, though, he forced himself to stand up. He, enraged, narrowed his eyes at the monsters and threw the Keyblade out to his side, hoping what he meant to happen would happen. He was pleasantly surprised when green energy exploded into being around him. He was slightly worried when he felt an exhausted pit in his core erupt into being as his magical reserves were drained, but he was more relieved that he could feel his Aura shoot back up to nearly full. He raised his weapon beside his head. "Come on!"

The Heartless exploded when a yellow blur slammed into them, the fire trailing behind it making it seem like a yellow comet roaring through the town. The comet hit the ground in front of Jaune. Dust exploded out around the point of impact, and Jaune let his weapon fall to his side in annoyance. "What, now you don't trust me to keep myself safe?" he growled at the figure who had begun to appear.

Yang stood up straight and glared at him. "I'm supposed to watch your back, Jaune. Calm down!" she hissed before turning to look for the two people she'd been protecting earlier. They'd managed to run off a short distance, but Heartless were already starting to congeal from the shadows around them. She turned to Jaune and pointed at him. "Dammit, we'll talk about this later."

Jaune narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but Yang was already gone. He growled and kicked the dirt before looking around for more Heartless to fight.

Yang slammed her right fist into the face of a Ronin that had been sneaking up on the girl. "Not. Today!" Yang said with a smirk, steadying herself and preparing to defend the duo again. She glanced back at them and gave them her cockiest grin. "You guys okay?" They stared at her blankly, terrified of what was happening in front of them.

Yang shrugged then jumped back into battle, her right fist raised above her head and her left hand out straight in front of her as she charged an Angel Star that was rushing towards her. Her body twisted and her fist rocketed forward to crack the glass-like body of the Heartless before shattering it completely . The force of the blow exploded within the Heartless' chest cavity and it died from within, disappearing into a cluster of Darkness. Yang was already moving onto another Heartless, flattening it with a single blow. She shouted out in pain when a Ronin's blade slashed across her back, at which point she turned and punched its head off of its body. Another tiny blade slammed into her side. She hissed in pain and leaned over, a sidekick caving in the Ronin's chest.

She jumped back when a large Wrath's claw rushed through the air towards her. She threw her hands up in front of her, crossed in a block, when she saw that the impact had created a gust of wind that sent her hair swirling and nearly knocked her off balance. Nearly. She instead landed on her feet and slid backwards until she was next to the man and his daughter again. She growled and launched a fireball at a nearby Heartless, turning the Ronin to ash and igniting the flesh of the large Wrath behind it. The monster shrieked, its maw glowing an evil yellow, and stomped towards Yang. Unfortunately, a dozen more Heartless were doing the same.

Yang looked around. This was starting to get... bad, and she knew it. She was cocky, not crazy after all. Still, she had to help these people and she wasn't going to let something as small as an overwhelming number of Heartless stop her from doing that. She pulled in closer to the man and his daughter. She'd figure something out... right?

The brawler didn't have to, though. A bright, horizontal line of Light appeared across the monster's chest. The creature exploded a moment later and a blonde man streaked through where it had been. He twirled midair and landed facing the same direction as Yang. "See, you can trust me to cover my back and yours."

Yang focused on the Heartless instead of Jaune. She clasped her hands together above her head and cloaked them in a Thunder spell before she brought them down on the head of a nearby Wrath. The electricity channeled through its body even as it was forced to the ground and began to grow. Yang turned and performed a back kick on its head, sending it sliding back and hoping that would give her some breathing room. Unfortunately, the swarm of Heartless had turned its full attention on the two blondes and those they were protecting – both Keyblade Wielder and Brawler hoped that was because everyone had escaped rather than the other possibility. The swarm closed in tighter.

Jaune slashed at the incoming wave of Darkness, cutting through a trio of Ronin advancing on him. The only benefit of so many Heartless closing in was that they couldn't avoid his attacks. The bad news was that each one killed was replaced by three. Still, that didn't stop Jaune or Yang. The both of them attacked the wave of Heartless full force, slashing and bashing the creatures into oblivion as they came in. The monsters got a few hits in at the same time, a sword strike here, a Thunder ball there, or blades of Dark Fira flying from the claws of a Wrath. The two fought through the pain, destroying Heartless after Heartless until they could no longer hold out. A Wrath slammed its claws down on top of Yang and the Brawler was barely able to bring her arms up over her to take the attack. The ground beneath her feet cracked and she felt herself slowly begin to sink into the dirt. Jaune was swarmed by Ronin after getting struck by Thunder balls and Tornadoes from a pair of Angel Stars. They tackled him, forcing him to wildly swing his blade to get them off of him. "Jaune!" Yang shouted, glancing over her shoulder for a fraction of a moment before the weight on her arms began to increase and she was forced to focus on the monster attacking her. "Dammit..."

Jaune growled and struggled against the Heartless piling up on top of him. He had to get out of this, he had to show Yang he could –

"DADDY!"

Jaune froze. He could no longer feel the monsters writhing about above him or perceive the Darkness that hid behind their masks and within their eyes. He turned his head and stared between the Heartless. He caught a glimpse of the source of the scream. The young woman, running towards her father. Her father who had the fiery blade of a Ronin run straight through his chest. His body was already disappearing, turning into glowing specks of Light and a floating, crystalline Heart. The Heart was swallowed up by Darkness even as the woman got close and uselessly punched and kicked at the Heartless.

Yang roared in rage and pushed against the Wrath as hard as she could, her own experiences driving her rage. Jaune felt cold terror wash over him instead. Like ice had filled his veins and flash frozen his blood. "DADDY, NO!" Then it all melted under the fire of a burning rage.

With a roar, Jaune launched himself upward, a blade of Light burning on his Keyblade's edge. The Heartless that had been holding him down were gone, replaced by shards of inky black that turned to ash under the fire of the Light. He charged the Heartless approaching the woman, who was now sobbing into her hands with her knees on the ground. The man gritted his teeth and swiped at a Ronin jumping towards him from behind, then cut down an Angel Star nearby. At the same time, Yang shoved upward with all of her might, sending the Wrath's claws up and the monster itself wheeling back on its heels. She snarled and jumped towards the monster with her hands raised above her, the resulting blow containing the force of the attack it had leveled against her. The blow caused the creature's chest to cave in and an explosive wind to fly out of the monster. Angel Stars, Ronin, and Wraths were thrown away, clearing a path through the monsters towards the edge of the town – and two figures waving their arms to get Yang's attention. One had a sword the size of a person. Yang landed beside the girl and grabbed her wrist. "Tuck, roll, and run," she shouted. The girl continued crying. "Hey! Get out of here and stay alive. Take it from someone who's lost her mom, it's what he'd want!" The sobbing slowed and the brunette stared up at Yang. The blonde inwardly shrugged. Good enough. Then she spun as quickly as she could and threw the girl through the pathway.

"You sure that's going to work?" Jaune asked as he blocked a Ronin's blade and countered.

"If Zack's half as good as he says he is, she'll survive," Yang muttered with a grimace while staring at the woman soaring through the air.

And Zack was at least half as good as he said he was. The warrior leaped into the young woman's path and caught her with an almost effortless grace, then landed softly on his feet a moment later. "Get her away from here. I'll help Jaune and Yang," Zack commanded Cloud. The man in the helmet saluted, at which point Zack gingerly placed the young woman on the ground and sprinted into the horde of Heartless with Jaune and Yang. He jumped and spun, Buster Sword slicing through the air and carving through a pair of Angel Stars. He landed heavy beside Jaune and Yang. "You guys seen Sephiroth anywhere?"

"He isn't with you?" Yang asked. She turned away from Zack and blocked a heavy blow with her bracers and punched the Ronin in the face.

"He disappeared after we killed that giant monster last night. I haven't seen him since!" The Buster Sword bisected a half-grown Wrath, the blow strong enough to kill it before it could grow to full size. "He left to find you guys. What happened?"

"We found something about him and Cloud," Jaune explained. The blade of Light carved through a Soldier – different Heartless were showing up here, now. Drawn by the massive Darkness flocking to the world. "Yang showed it to him and he left."

The SOLDIER blocked a Soldier's blow. "What was it?" he shouted over the noise of battle.

Jaune and Yang shared a look. Telling Zack would be like telling him about different worlds, maybe even that his world was only a few months old at best. So they decided on a half-truth. "Somebody made him and Cloud as two parts of one person. A Dark-Light, Yin-Yang kind of thing..?" Yang supplied. The battle seemed to freeze as she waited for anyone to laugh at her pun – even the Heartless would have been nice. The battle resumed a few moments later, Yang frowning sadly the entire time. "That one was great..."

Zack was forced back by a Wrath's claw, slamming into Yang and Jaune so they created a triangle of defense. "No, it was worse than this situation!" Zack hissed angrily. "I didn't even laugh!"

"It was great and you both know it!" Yang snapped. She threw her arms up and struggled against a writhing wall of Darkness trying to crush them. She felt the mass push against her, forcing her backward a half step before she shoved back against it and reached a stand still. Though it was one that she knew wouldn't last long. She growled and pushed as hard as she could, though it didn't help.

Gun fire erupted over the eerie silence of the now empty town, followed by a shriek of rage from a Heartless. Jaune turned and caught sight, past an ocean of Heartless, of Cloud and the woman he was protecting. A small group of Heartless had split off from the main force to advance on the two – or Cloud specifically, rather. Jaune's breath caught in his throat as he realized that Cloud... Cloud wasn't going to make it. Jaune tried to run towards the gunman, slashing through a Ronin before his blade slammed into a Wrath's tiny body. The creature shot up into a giant wall of pink and red that blocked his path and obscured his sight of Cloud and the girl. Jaune grimaced and tried to run around the large Heartless, but tripped over his feet and the Shadows that popped into existence beneath his feet. He fell face first into the waiting grasp of the red Heartless. The Wrath picked him up in its claw and grabbed Jaune tight, lifting him above its head. Jaune shouted out in pain as the grip on him doubled and his ribs began to creak. He opened his eyes when the pressure slacked and saw the Heartless were nearly on top of Cloud, despite the young man's best efforts. Jaune gurgled and struggled against the monster holding on to him, suddenly hoping Yang wouldn't trust him with this fight like she hadn't earlier! He needed some help.

"Jaune!" Yang shouted. Her eyes locked on the blonde being swung around like a toy in the hands of a toddler. She struggled to escape the reverse tug of war she was having with the Heartless. It didn't work. She was stuck, watching her friend die and waiting for herself to die. Ugh, she missed punching Grimm in the face. Those she could take out by the hundred. Heartless that kept popping in from other worlds were another matter entirely. The Heartless she struggled against shoved again and she flew backwards. She slammed into Zack, putting him off balance and leaving the both of them open for a massive blow from a Wrath. Yang was soon buried under the Darkness, drowning under the ocean of Heartless. She lashed out, destroying a Heartless, but it was replaced almost immediately by another claw grasping for her Heart.

Then, there was a pulse of energy that ran over the town. The noise of battle and destruction was quickly cut off by a single noise, the pealing ring that was born when a very thin, very sharp sword being drawn menacingly from its sheath. Then the noise came again, followed by the pulse of energy each time it was launched across the field of battle. The weight atop Yang Xiao-Long disappeared and the Darkness and glowing yellow eyes that had filled her vision were replaced by a sky of stars and the embers of flames smothered into mere embers. The Heartless gripping tight around Jaune's body was suddenly missing an arm when a streak of white slammed into it, followed quickly by its head. Jaune hit the ground with an 'Oof!' The Heartless that covered the battlefield disappeared when blades of black energy washed over them, and suddenly Cloud was safe. Well, he would be, thought Jaune, if Sephiroth wasn't standing beside him looking like an obvious bad guy.

"Seph!" Zack rushed past Jaune, who was beginning to push himself up to his feet. The blonde's eyes never left those of Sephiroth, which now seemed dull despite the otherworldly glow that both SOLDIER's eyes carried. Zack slid to a stop and hugged his friend. "We were so worried about you, man!"

Sephiroth nodded, then backed out of Zack's gasp and turned to look at Cloud. He gave the younger man a once over before turning to the woman cowering beside him. "Leave." He turned back to Cloud.

"H-he means you should get out of here," Cloud cut in, though he had made his voice much deeper and gruffer than it would normally come out. "It's safer while we... look for more monsters, Ti – Miss." He coughed and looked away from the woman. She didn't seem to notice his slip up, however, and nodded.

"You two are SOLDIERs, right?" the young woman asked. She waited until Zack nodded. She smiled sadly. "I'm Tifa. If you know another one of you guys named Cloud, tell him what happened and... tell him to come find me." Then she turned and ran off into the night, leaving Zack, Sephiroth, Yang, Jaune, and Cloud himself behind.

"You really did tell everyone you were already first class, didn't you?" Zack asked when young woman was out of earshot. Cloud's only response was deepening red on his cheeks, something no one could see in the pitch of night.

"I've found the source," Sephiroth cut in. He turned and began to walk towards the old manor. "Follow me."

Zack raised an eyebrow and bounded after his partner. "Hey, Seph, you okay?"

"Trust him now? He saved our lives," Yang pointed out while she walked past Jaune. Jaune stayed behind for a moment. He still didn't trust Sephiroth, and the weird way Sephiroth was acting made Jaune sure of that. Instead, he stood beside the quiet Cloud.

"You're probably wondering why I lied to my friend, huh?" Cloud asked when he noticed Jaune was standing beside him.

The blonde laughed nervously. "Uh, well, not really," he admitted. Jaune scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "After all, I, uh, kinda did the same thing?"

Cloud straightened up and took off his helmet. Jaune took a surprised step back upon seeing the young man, who looked a few years younger than him. More surprising was the blonde hair that looked spiky enough to be used as a stabbing weapon. Seriously, it put Sora's blades of hair to shame. And of course, as Jaune had suspected, Cloud's features were eerily similar to those of Sephiroth. The androgynous softness of youth and safety from pain that would be hardened by age and loss. "Huh?" Jaune asked when he realized that Cloud had asked him something.

"I was wondering what you meant by 'you kinda did the same thing?'" Cloud asked.

Jaune glanced around and saw that the two of them were falling far behind. He motioned for Cloud to follow and began to walk after the others. "I lied to get into a school for Huntsmen. Where we're from, they're a lot like you SOLDIERS. They protect people and fight monsters."

"Is that where you and Yang met?" Cloud asked.

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. She and her sister were two of the best fighters in the entire school. They'd been training to fight their entire lives," the Keyblade wielder explained. His grip on the magical weapon in his fist tightened. "Me? I'd never held a sword before, much less fought anyone. But I wanted to be a hero, so I lied."

"And now you are!"

Jaune stopped moving and looked over at Cloud, who was smiling at him. Was he a hero? "I'm trying to be. I don't think it's really a goal you achieve. Being a hero is about always trying to be one, always getting better." Jaune shook his head. "I made mistakes, and I know what it's like to be the weakest person around a bunch of heroes." He smiled, resolution returning. "But I'm going to make up for those and be a hero for everyone that believes in me and everyone I've lost."

Cloud grinned sadly and looked around his hometown, tears welling up in his eyes as he realized that he had just lost people too. "I... get it," he said. He raised one arm and wiped his eyes, sniffling, before revealing them with a grim face of bravery. "Thanks, Jaune."

Jaune nodded, then looked back at Zack, Sephiroth, and Yang ahead. "Anytime..." Then he began to follow once more, with their group eventually entering the dilapidated mansion once again, though the Darkness and shadows within seemed to press much more than

Sephiroth led them through the mansion, moving wordlessly and ignoring any attempts by the others to initiate conversation. After about the fifteenth attempt by Zack to ask what was going on, where they were going, and what this mansion was, Sephiroth finally relented by saying two words: "You'll see."

Jaune did not like where this was going, and sidled up beside his partner. "Yang," he whispered, trying to make sure only she could hear him. "Yang!"

The woman's lilac eye flicked towards him.

"Yang, I have a really bad feeling about this," he muttered.

The lilac eye rolled.

"Yang I –" He shook his head and drifted away from her. Fine, then. It was up to him to keep an eye out for whatever was coming, for whatever trap Sephiroth had planted for them. He knew the man couldn't be trusted, he had a gut feeling. Which was ironic, given that's how Yang said she felt she couldn't trust OJ, but he knew that was just because OJ was a him that she couldn't babysit for Sora and Ruby and – Jaune shook his head. No, he was sure Sora and Ruby and the others trusted him. Right?

"Here we are." Jaune was brought out of his thoughts by Sephiroth's statement, and he looked around, studying his surroundings and looking for a trap.

It was a laboratory, large and with a sparse floor save for the pair of tubes about as tall and wide as a human being, a visualization strengthened by the presence of what looked like a pad at the back of the tube. More, smaller tubes ran along the walls of the room and into the large ones at the back of the room. A single screen with a menu, the top selection of which was 'Journal.' That selection was far less dusty than the rest of the screen. Sephiroth walked up to the large tubes and placed his left hand against them. Zack frowned and took a step forward. He reached out as he moved to grab hold of his friend's shoulder. "Seph, what's going on?"

"Shut up." Zack froze in place, hand still outstretched. Sephiroth slowly turned around and glared at the group, his eyes wild. He continued speaking, "Just be quiet. A man should not address a god."

Zack shook his head and laughed dryly. "Real funny, Seph." He stopped grinning. "But what's going on?"

Sephiroth's cold gaze just stayed locked on Zack. "Seph?" the black haired SOLDIER asked. He took another step forward, but froze again when Sephiroth's massive katana was suddenly unsheathed, tip pointed at his partner's throat.

"Cloud," Sephiroth said without turning from Zack. The blonde gunman stared, terrified, up at his hero. "Have you wondered why the Heartless seek us out more than these... insects?"

Cloud glanced at Jaune, who was sliding into a battle stance. The very least Cloud could do was distract the swordsman. "Y-yes?" Cloud muttered quietly.

"Because we are gods," the white haired warrior reiterated. A terrifying smile began to spread across his face. "We were born before this world. It was created to fit our memories and dreams because we are gods. We are real." His smile disappeared. "Unlike anyone else, we are real."

"Seph, you're acting crazy." Zack's hand drifted up to the handle of the Buster Sword and he gripped it tight. He slid his feet apart slightly and then raised his other arm slightly in front of him so he stood in a ready stance. Zack narrowed his eyes and said, "Seph, we still need to find the source of these Heartless."

"You don't understand, you worthless insect!" Sephiroth snapped. His blade fell to his side and he advanced on the dark haired warrior a step before regaining his composure. "Cloud, the Heartless are here for us, to follow us. They and the Darkness, the Darkness like this -" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a solid sphere of pitch black, about the size of a baseball. " – the Black Materia are our servants. We are gods, and this world has become too small for us! I – we will find an ancient world, the world we belong, the two halves of a single Heart! We will destroy this world and reclaim who we truly are from this prison!" Cloud stared at the other man in horror, not knowing whether to believe the warrior's insane words or not.

Yang spoke up before anyone else. "Sephiroth, think about this. Wherever you're from, whatever happened to you before this... you're you now. You can't kill someone – especially not everyone – to bring back someone you aren't anymore. That you might have never been!" she shouted, begging him to snap out of what was happening to him. "Think this through, you have friends here and now. You need to move forward, not focus on the past!"

Jaune glared at her, a look that she caught. "What?"

"Yang, you aren't the best person to tell him this," Jaune muttered. He glared at Sephiroth. "Not that he'd listen anyways. It's just like I've been saying – he was always evil."

"A mere insect like you could never understand me," Sephiroth retorted. He swept his free hand across his chest and laughed at Jaune. "Why a weapon like the Keyblade would choose one so weak, stupid, and insignificant as yourself... it must be a test for me to claim it!" Jaune winced. That actually hurt his pride a little bit.

"And what do you mean," Yang hissed at her partner and causing his hurt pride to be replaced with annoyed, indignant anger, "that I'm not the right person to tell him this?" She jabbed her finger at herself. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Jaune's eyes snapped over to her for a brief moment, a moment that Sephiroth the Great and Powerful did not feel the need to capitalize on. "Yeah, you are. But you're also willing to murder Morrigan to bring your mom back to life, Yang! Sora's said Nobodies can get Hearts over time, and she's been around for almost a year! What if she's a person now and killing her to bring your mom back is just killing her!?" Jaune snapped. His eyes returned to Sephiroth and looked for any sign of movement. There wasn't any. "He's not going to take advice from a hypocrite who tells everyone around her – OJ and Sephiroth included – to ignore their problems and a way out of it – insane as Sephiroth's way may be – when she's going to go murder a Nobody to save the Mom who left her when she was four!"

"I – " Yang shut her mouth and turned to Sephiroth. They'd wasted enough concentration on this argument, and right now wasn't the time for this. She'd let out the anger at being betrayed and then at Jaune's words by punching Sephiroth in the face. Hard. A lot. Then she'd be as levelheaded as a Xiao-Long could manage when she had to talk about this with Jaune.

Jaune sighed as he realized what he'd said. The Keyblade drifted down and he turned his shoulders to Yang, visibly contrite. "Yang, I'm -"

"We'll talk about this later. We've got bigger crazies to beat up," Yang said with a hollow voice. She glared over at Sephiroth and raised her fists. "Put the Dark Materia and your sword down, Sephiroth. Now."

The white haired swordsman blinked. "No." He placed the Then he vanished, replaced by thin black lines.

"Watch your backs!" Zack shouted, already turning and drawing his Buster Sword. The large blade swung around and saved the swordsman's life. Sephiroth's blade and the man himself had appeared behind him, blade swinging around to decapitate Zack, though the blade was stopped by the Buster Sword's massive flat. Dark electricity channeled down the length of the blade and into Zack's weapon, causing every muscle in his body to tense up before Sephiroth pushed again. Zack was thrown across the room and into the wall, denting a pipe before falling to his knees. Sephiroth turned away from Zack instead of finishing him and looked towards Yang and Jaune instead.

"Yang, Flamethrower!" Jaune charged towards his partner, who nodded solemnly in understanding.

Her hair turned aflame and her eyes a bloody red as she let her anger surge through her. Jaune dashed towards her, letting his Keyblade streak straight out and into Yang's hand. She spun around with the momentum his blow carried. Both of them summoned flames to the tips of their weapons, Jaune's Fire and her Firaga fusing together on the top of the Keyblade before Yang let go and Jaune flew at Sephiroth fast enough that even he couldn't move out of the way. Jaune lanced his Keyblade out in front of him, the fused Fire spells glowing white hot over the teeth of the weapon, and collided with Sephiroth's blade, moved into a defense position. The attack exploded against the katana's flat, sending flames outward in a radius that consumed both of the warriors involved in the clash.

Jaune flew backwards out of the smoke that remained from the ball of flames a half second later, tumbling across the ground and rolling to a stop at Yang's feet. "You don't understand, do you?" Sephiroth stepped out of the smoke, no worse for wear from the assault. He lowered his blade back into its sheathe and glared at Yang. "Only a god could hope to kill a god." He vanished again, and Yang turned around. She expected he would attack from behind, just as he had with Zack moments earlier.

Instead, he attacked from the same direction he had been earlier. His blade slammed into Yang's side just as she turned and she was sent flying, only for him to reappear in her path once more. He had a wild grin and his eyes were glowing a dim yellow before his weapon crashed into her again. He left behind an after image an a cloud of black feathers before appearing in her path once more and slashing up, then again from above with a blow that sent her careening towards a wall. A final blow sent her right onto Jaune, shattering the stone beneath them and leaving the Auras of both trained Huntsmen low enough that another of his blows would drain it completely, if not outright kill them.

Sephiroth landed silently beside them, almost as if he had glided to the ground rather than fallen. He turned as he landed and was immediately in a blade lock with his former SOLDIER partner. "Watch, Cloud. They struggle uselessly against our Darkness." He shoved against Zack and took a step, causing the black haired warrior to slide backwards.

"Cloud, run! I'll hold him off, just run!" Zack shouted. He tried to take a step forward and force Sephiroth to a standstill, but it was a wasted effort. He continued to slide backwards and the handle in his hands began to dig against his palms. He spared a glance towards Cloud, who was staring, completely stunned, at the two tubes at the back of the room. "Cloud! Snap out of it!"

"Do not talk to him!" Sephiroth demanded, eyes flaring yellow again. He flicked his wrists and the Buster Sword flew from its wielder's hands, soaring across the room and becoming buried in the ground a foot and a half from Cloud. The blonde SOLDIER jumped in surprise and shied away from the weapon, slowly moving towards the door.

"Oh, don't leave now, Cloud. We have so much more to do!" Sephiroth turned around, ignoring the fact that Zack behind him – while unarmed – was completely uninjured as well. Cloud froze, terror running through his eyes. "If you accept my Darkness – our Darkness!"

"Leave Cloud alone, you nutjob!" Zack shouted. He dove forward and grabbed Sephiroth by the midsection. Sephiroth laughed as Zack's shoulder slammed into the small of his back, doing nothing to harm the white haired swordsman or move him in the slightest. The white haired man turned and grabbed hold of the man struggling to gain leverage. Sephiroth laughed once, then tore Zack off of him and threw him across the room. The SOLDIER hit the wall with a sickening thud and fell, now unconscious, to the ground.

Sephiroth smiled grimly at the noise before he turned to Jaune and Yang, who had just made it up to their feet. The ex-SOLDIER raised his hands at his sides until they were above his shoulders, gesturing around the room. "Now you see the power of a god!" He laughed and advanced on the two a black flame erupted into being along the edge of the blade. Yang tried to take a step forward, then fell to her knees instead with a cry of pain and exhaustion tearing from her throat. Jaune forced himself in front of her and raised the Keyblade defensively in his hands. Sephiroth stopped moving and smiled at Jaune. He studied the Keyblade wielder's face, steely with anger and resolve in the face of imminent death. Jaune tried to attack, but found he wasn't strong enough right now. "Fool. Only a god could kill a god." He raised his katana and aimed its flaming tip at Jaune's throat.

The Keyblade wielder stood still, knowing nothing more or less than a lot of pain was coming his way. The flaming blade arced around, moving slowly as if the white haired man was toying with him. Jaune grimaced as the blow sent his Keyblade wide and Sephiroth didn't take advantage of this obvious opening. Jaune lowered the Keyblade again, and then there was a lightning fast blow that forced the Keyblade down, resulting in a resounding peal of noise as it crashed into the metal floor. Jaune panted from exhaustion and tried to bring the Keyblade up again. Sephiroth laughed coldly at the blonde warrior's attempts and raised his left foot. All it took was a single hard kick and Jaune was on his back right next to Yang. The Brawler forced herself to her feet. "Look's like it's... my... turn..." she growled when she shakily stood up. It only lasted a moment before she tumbled forward and landed on top of Jaune, her Aura almost completely exhausted.

"Underwhelming. I had expected more from you somehow," Sephiroth muttered, voice laden with disappointment. Sephiroth lowered his sword to his side and shook his head. "Though, I should have suspected this. After your underwhelming performance against my Heartless, I should have seen this coming. You're weak. Just like all the others."

"Your Heartless?" Cloud echoed, an edge coming into his voice as he began to understand everything that was happening to him.

"Of course, Cloud," the swordsman said. He turned back to his counterpart, whose fists were clenched in rage beside him, and shrugged. "The Darkness is ours. If you give in to it, if you use it as I do, as our Heart does, you will see that the people of this place had to die. They were lies made to keep us compliant and weak, surrounded by and reliant on Light instead of our own power. The Heartless were almost eager to help in that regard."

"You killed everyone I've ever known."

"You never actually knew them, Cloud." Sephiroth turned back to Jaune and Yang. "Just as you never actually knew these two." He charged forward, intent on skewering the two warriors helpless on the ground.

At which point the Buster Sword exploded from his chest. The black cloth of his SOLDIER uniform frayed and became slick and dark with blood. Sephiroth's blade fell from his hand and he grabbed hold of the weapon in his chest, someone remaining alive despite the massive piece of metal protruding from his body. He stumbled to the side, revealing Cloud moving backwards and letting go of the sword. "That... was a mistake," Sephiroth growled, the insanity in his eyes magnifying. He coughed and blood flew from his mouth even as he reached into his pocket to pull out the Dark Materia once more. The sphere pulsed with energy and black flames appeared in his hand. His other hand reached up and shoved the Buster Sword from his chest with a disgusting slurp and a spurt of blood. "If you won't accept the Darkness, I will force you to use it!"

Cloud snarled. "You controlled the Heartless! You almost killed my best friend!" He roared before leaping forward to tackle the ex-SOLDIER. Weakened as he was, Sephiroth hit the ground on his back and blood began to pool around him as he struggled against Cloud. "I won't let you do this again!" He brought his fist up and slammed it into Sephiroth's face; a tooth clattered across the floor. The black energy pulsing out of the Dark Materia deepened. "Monster!" White Light glowed all around Cloud, shining from within him as he landed another punch before moving to tear the orb from Sephiroth's grasp.

The moment that his hand met the Materia, the Light and Darkness mixed, swirling around and around faster and faster. Purple and yellow clashed together, white and black mixed to a smokey color filled with flames and destruction. All froze and locked their eyes on the vortex of doom clutched between Cloud and Sephiroth's hands. The vortex slowly grew still and froze. Everyone stared at it... until it exploded.

Jaune had spent the entire fight crawling closer to Yang. He had to help her. She had taken one of Sephiroth's massive sword combos and was now in worse shape than Jaune himself was. The Keyblade wielder shut his eyes and prepared for what he had to do. After all, if he couldn't do this, he would die. Yang would die. Neither of those sounded good. "Reflect!" he shouted desperately at the Keyblade and at the wall of pure, writhing energy that was streaking towards the two of them. He hoped one last time that this would work. Then everything went black.

S M H S

Darkness swirled around Jaune as he laid with his back on the pillar of his Heart. Far away he could see flames of Light and Darkness rushing towards him and, he felt, someone else. He pushed himself up. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked the emptiness. There was no answer. He turned towards the storm on the horizon, the small figure thrashing about angrily atop it. The pillar and storm remained far away, though both were obscured. This time the man wasn't angry. And he wasn't far away. Jaune was staring at himself, though... not. He had yellow eyes where Jaune's were blue and a confident smile where Jaune was afraid.

"Save Yang."

Jaune took a nervous step back, only to jump forward when a blinding golden light erupted from where his foot had hit. He turned around and stared at the ground, the golden outline of long, flowing hair with a single arm flexing beside it, colored similarly. "How do I save her?"

The Dark Jaune shook its head. "We need to save her."

Jaune narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at the Darkness."You're evil," Jaune snapped, turning on the Darkness. It didn't respond. It just stared. "You only want to help yourself! To get what you want!"

The Darkness narrowed his eyes. He growled out, "And what I want – No, what we want, what Jaune Arc wants... is to save Yang." The Darkness snarled and jabbed a finger towards the blonde man. "So you're going to help me save her. Now."

"I can save her without you," Jaune retorted.

The Darkness laughed. "Then show me."

Jaune turned back to the light above. He tried to come up with an answer and a way to do this without using the Darkness. The fire grew ever closer until even Jaune could feel the heat on his skin and the smell of the burning flesh. Yang... He couldn't let her die. But this Darkness was the Darkness that had convinced him to betray his friends and nearly murder his own father! He couldn't let that in any more than it already was! "If we don't work together, she'll die," the Darkness hissed, his voice full of worry. More worry than Jaune thought anyone's Darkness could muster. "Come on!"

Jaune struggled for a moment then nodded and stepped atop the silhouette of Yang completely. "Fine, but only to help Yang." The Darkness walked up and stood beside Jaune atop Yang's glowing silhouette. "Reflect!"

S M H S

Jaune woke up with a start, bright light blinding him and warmth surrounding him. He lashed out, Keyblade appearing in his hand in a bright flash of Light and rushing towards the nearest life. "Hey!" The Keyblade stopped in its tracks and was torn from his hand, even if only momentarily. "Jaune, we're safe. Don't freak out!"Jaune blinked a few times and his eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

Yang was staring down at him, standing in front of the pilot's seat of the Gummi Ship. The weapon in her hand disappeared and reappeared in its owner's hand. Jaune looked around slowly, seeing he was laying on the floor of the ship's cockpit. He frowned, questions running through his mind. "W-what happened?"

Yang sighed and ran one hand through her hair. "Sephiroth attacked us, took us out." She fell into her chair and shook her head. "Cloud stopped him somehow but there was an explosion. When I woke up you were still out cold and injured. I couldn't find Cloud or Zack, and people were coming so I got us out of there." She looked over at Jaune and things became awkwardly quiet.

Jaune grimaced as his own recollection of the day's events returned to him. He remembered what he had said to her. Even if he was right, it hadn't been the time. She had trusted Sephiroth, she had given him his past. And because of that, Sephiroth had killed an entire town. "Yang, are you okay?" Jaune asked. She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "... I'm sorry Sephiroth couldn't be trusted."

Yang shook her head. "Don't, Jaune. Just don't." She turned and leaned back in her chair before sighing. Jaune dismissed the Keyblade, then pushed himself up and into his own chair. Yang looked over at him and continued saying, "You were a jerk on Gaia at the end, calling me out like that. In front of someone that wanted to kill us. It was stupid and could have gotten us killed. It should have!" Yang shook her head and covered her eyes with one hand. She let her fingers slide apart to peek at him. She would be the bigger person her. One more time. After this, Jaune could forgive her first because it wasn't fun. "But you were right. About me and about Sephiroth. I should have trusted you more."

Jaune leaned forward and stared down at his hands, clasped in his lap with his thumbs nervously moving over one another until the skin became a dull pink. He remained silent in the face of Yang's withering glare for a while like this, just trying to occupy his body while his mind and Heart struggled for the words he needed. "I get it. Not trusting me, you know." He shut his eyes and brought his hands up to bury his face in them. "I don't even trust me, you know? I betrayed you guys for something I even knew was too good to be true and then I didn't even have the guts to actually try to fix it." He shook his head in his hands. "Instead I got brainwashed and nearly killed you. You. One of my only friends in the entire world – in the Universe! There's no way I could trust me after that. And there's no way you can trust me after that, if I don't."

He looked back up when Yang's hand rested on his shoulder. "Jaune, I do trust you. All of us trust you – me, Ruby, Sora, everybody! I've trusted you ever since you fought off Salem just to keep yourself from killing your dad. I trust you... even if you are stupid enough to argue with me in front of the bad guys," she said with a soft smile. She sighed and crossed her arms. "Look, you were right. I was being a hypocrite back there. OJ did helped Aizen, but he did say he'd try to fix it. That means something. And I obviously haven't been the best judge of character recently, have I? But I know I can trust you, and if you trust OJ..." The brawler shrugged. "Well, that's good enough for me."

Jaune smiled up at her before surging to his feet and hugging her tight. "Thanks, Yang," he said.

She sighed and shook her head before patting his back softly. "Okay, Vomit Boy, there you go. Best buddies." She pushed him to arms length and grew serious. "But, Jaune, we can't keep doing this. You getting angry at me, me getting angry at you."

Jaune nodded solemnly. "Yeah, you're right. We are partners after all. Friends..." He smiled and jumped towards her, looping one arm around her shoulders in a side hug, suddenly deciding to humor the brawler beside him. He shouted out, grin ever widening, "I won't be dragon you down here on out!"

Yang looked over at him, eyes widened by surprise. She then shut her eyes tight and laughed boisterously, bringing her own arm up to grab Jaune and hug him tight to her side. He yelped as he the side of his face was suddenly buried in her neck. Ever so slowly, the laughter stopped and she brought her other arm around to hug him for real, this time much softer but still the firm, thankful hug of a friend. "That was a pretty good one, Jaune." She turned away from him ad let him move towards his seat. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"No, it's fine. Now I get why you make them all the time. Kinda," he said, tenderly rubbing the bruise her hug had left on the bones of his arm. He leaned forward and looked out to all of the sparkling worlds that floated within the empty expanse of Darkness, cutting through the black sea. "So, buddy, how about we vacation this time?"

"A vacation? But we have one in... a month," Yang said. She frowned and looked down at her Scroll. "Now... Doctor Polendina said he'd added in something to make the Scrolls tell Gummi time..." She fiddled with the options on her device for a few minutes, then laughed and pressed a button. "There. If the next world's time is really weird we'll know to leave!"

"Great," Jaune said. He raised an eyebrow. "But why do we need to leave again?"

Yang slapped her forehead. "Oh, right! Whoops!" She shook her head and laughed. "I knew I'd forgotten to tell you about that. You were asking when we were flying away, and then I didn't tell you... Yeah, I can see why you wouldn't know."

"Yang..." Jaune muttered, annoyed.

"Right! Right..." Yang chuckled and shrugged. "Okay, so everyone's got a job now. Sora's got that school with Uncle Qrow and Professor Ozpin. Ruby's teaching at Beacon. Everyone else is... somewhere. No one's adventuring together, killing monsters anymore." Yang shrugged, though she looked kind of sad as she did. The look disappeared and was replaced with an excited, bright smile. "So we decided to meet up at this beach in Vacuo for some fun, sun, and guns."

Jaune smiled sadly. "If... if they want to see me," Jaune said hollowly.

Yang rolled her eyes and responded with, "Who do you think broke you out, Vomit Boy?" She looked around. She pointed towards a distant world. "Now, how about we go there?"

"Arendelle? Looks like an icicle." Jaune shook his head. "Too cold."

Yang shrugged. "'Kay... that one?"

"Desert of Arrakis? Yang, it's literally got the word 'desert' in the name!"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Fine. Drama Queen." She shook her head in disappointment. "Then... Okay, this looks pretty good." She zoomed in on one of the worlds.

"... Zootopia?" Jaune read aloud. He studied the world, with one end a massive city separated into many artificial biomes, such as a lush jungle, a dried out desert, and a frozen tundra. The other end was a small town covered in large swaths of gardening fields and dominated by a large carrot. The Keyblade wielder leaned back. "Okay."

Yang smiled. "Hey, forgot to tell you when we were arguing, but congratulations!"

Jaune blinked in confusion. "For what?"

"Not puking last time we were in this ship! I bet I can even have fun flying without you freaking out now!"

Jaune palled. "Y-Yang? No. No! NOOOOOOO!" He screamed as she gunned the engines and began to perform loops and barrel rolls through the Lanes Between leading up to Zootopia. "Yang, I'm gonna hurl!"

She didn't listen.