Sephiroth watched from the shadows as his three challengers approached the arena. He rolled his eyes as he heard a POOF. It was that fool, Hades. "What exactly is your concern now, Hades?"

"Now, you should know better than to talk to me like that. It's LORD Hades!"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes again and sighed. "Fine. LORD Hades. What's your concern?"

"You're not thinking of going back on our deal, are you?"

"I'm here, aren't I? Now what are you REALLY thinking?"

"Well, with how easily those three destroyed the Titans, I was worried you might be backing down."

Sephiroth scoffed. "The Titans are fools. They have too many weaknesses, and they do nothing to protect them. Their fate was handed to them because they were failures."

"Oh, so you're telling me you don't have a weakness? That's…kinda arrogant, don't you think, Pretty Boy?"

"Hmph. I prefer the term 'accurate'."

"You insolent little…"

"Oh, be silent, LORD Hades. We both know that you wanted me to take on these children because you NEED me. Because I'm stronger than you. So please, for your own sake, stop this charade. Stop thinking that you're better than me, because you're not. You just use others as pawns to defeat your enemies. You have no honor, and you have no strength. Your cunning can only get you so far."

Hades rested himself lazily balanced on Sephiroth's shoulder, shrugging off the insult. "Hey, you're right, I can't take those kids. But YOU can! Remember: I'm the one that's gonna help you find Cloud! So I'd suggest you get in there, stop complaining and just do your job. That way, we all go home happy at the end of the day, huh? How's that sound to you?"

Sephiroth scoffed again.

"Otherwise, you may have a little ACCIDENT with Cerberus."

Sephiroth laughed. "That worthless little mutt? If you value his life you won't so much as let him BREATHE on me. Otherwise, your Underworld will be needing a new Guardian."

"You know what? Fine, I'll leave. But just remember who's trying to help you out—who's trying to be the nice guy here. Just win the match."

The trumpet sounded to start the match. "I couldn't lose if I tried."

---

Brandon, Star, and Asher stood waiting for their opponent. Asher was getting impatient. "Come on, can we hurry this up? I'm sure we all have things to do, and the trumpets sounded five minutes ago."

Suddenly, a shadow of a man appeared in the gateway. He walked slowly toward them. "So anxious to die?"

The man with long, flowing silver hair walked in an almost feminine way as a single black-feathered wing unfolded from the right side of his back. His black coat hung down almost over his pants, and he had a metal shoulder plate on his left side. The metal armbands on his wrists weren't enough to draw attention away from his clawlike fingers, and certainly didn't come close to overshadowing his obscenely long sword. It looked like it was at least twice as long as the man was tall. Asher felt awkward seeing this well-dressed man walking into the arena, with Brandon and Star, who were dressed in shorts and t-shirts with some sort of spherical logo on the shoulders, and himself, in his own grayish-black cloak—courtesy of a fallen member of Organization XIII.

Brandon looked confused. "What, you're gonna try to kill us? Isn't this match supposed to be for fun?"

Sephiroth said nothing.

Asher smirked. "Brandon, look at the scowl on that guy's face. I'll be this is the first time he's even HEARD the word 'fun'."

Brandon turned to Star. "Well, what do you think? Think we can take him?"

Star simply stood, jaw agape, staring at the man.

Asher turned around. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Uh…Star? Hello? Are you in there?"

Star pushed Asher aside and walked up to the man. She held out her hand, grabbed his, and shook it profusely. Without even breathing, she quickly and giddily said, "Hi I'm Star what's you're name it's nice to meet you you know you're kinda cute hey do you wanna go out sometime I know you're probably older than me but that's okay because I like older guys and…" she kept babbling to the man, who looked extremely discomforted.

A look of defeat flushed across Brandon's face. "Star…what are you doing?"

Star didn't pay any attention and simply continued babbling.

Asher rolled his eyes. "Does she always do this?"

Brandon wasn't listening. He simply stared at Star and whispered, "What does that guy got that I don't have?"

Asher slapped himself in the face in frustration. "I'm surrounded by people with ADD. How do I get myself into this kinda stuff?"

Brandon didn't move a muscle. He simply stood there, jealously staring at Star and the man, who was now trying very hard to pry her hand from his. He didn't really get to say much between Star's few small breaths. "But…Okay…That's…no…okay…uh…you can stop now…okay…"

Asher, head in his hand, still frustrated, walked over to the two of them. "Okay, that's enough, we're done here. Time to start the match."

He grabbed Star's wrist and she let go of Sephiroth's hand. "Hey, what are you doing?"

He began to drag her back to where Brandon was standing. "Wave bye-bye to the pretty man, Star. It's time to kill him anyway."

Sephiroth was unequivocally confused. Who were these children?

Asher stopped next to Brandon, and Star seemed to calm down. "Okay, now are we ready to start this match?"

"Very well," said Sephiroth. "If you're prepared to leave this world, so be it."

Asher turned back to Star and Brandon. "Okay, guys, he looks to be pretty good, so we're going to take him—"

Brandon brought out his sword angrily and charged Sephiroth.

"—together."

Sephiroth sidestepped Brandon's charging slash, and slapped him in the face. Brandon flew across the arena.

"Okay, Star, then WE'LL take him together."

It was too late. Star was already charging Sephiroth as well, apparently over her five-second crush. "How dare you hurt Brandon?!"

Sephiroth simply jumped behind her and hit her in the back of the head with his blade's hilt. She went down like a rock with instantaneous temporary paralysis.

Asher rolled his eyes. "Okay, I guess I'll take him myself, then."

"Fool. What makes you think you can?" Sephiroth disappeared.

Not surprised in the least, Asher drew his Keyblade and swung it behind his back. It made contact with Sephiroth's sword and he jumped back. "Damn! But how?"

Asher smirked. "I saw your semifinal match. Nice moves, by the way."

He turned around to see Sephiroth slashing again. He blocked, and slid back in the dirt of the arena. Sephiroth smiled and advanced. Each swing that Asher blocked threw him back further. "I'm stronger than you, child."

As Sephiroth swung again, Asher simply said, "That's great…" and this time, caught Sephiroth's sword with his Keyblade and threw it to the side, causing Sephiroth to lose his balance. He then jumped up and kicked Sephiroth square in the back of the head. "…but I'm smarter."

Sephiroth flew a small way across the arena, but disappeared before he hit the ground. Asher then instinctively rolled to the side, and a sword ripped through the air where he'd just been standing. He then plunged his Keyblade into Sephiroth's shoulder.

Sephiroth choked in slight pain, but then began to laugh. The laugh echoed as he disappeared again, and reappeared in front of Asher. Asher saw small feathers floating in the air where Sephiroth had appeared. "Fool. The fight's just beginning."

The wound on Sephiroth's shoulder closed tightly, and even the fabric of his coat reassembled itself over the newly healed shoulder. Asher took a few steps back. "Star? Brandon? Uh…guys? Now would be a REALLY great time to wake up!"

Sephiroth smiled evilly and advanced on Asher.