A/N: I apologise for my late update bows. Here's my next chapter. I thank you for being patient that I do.

Chapter 11

Return to Battle

The world of Hollow Bastion looked so strange, Sephiroth looked around and saw that they were in a waterfall type of area. Platforms of stone and ice floated and it would seem the only way to get to the castle was by these floating platforms. He looked and saw Sora and the others were already ahead and Sephiroth then leaped after them. They all were on guard; this world would be crawling with Heartless. Sephiroth could feel the air of battle about to occur and he kept Masamune close to him. Sephiroth suddenly saw Sora, Goofy and Donald stop so he stopped right behind them. Sephiroth looked ahead and could see nothing but the castle surrounded by an ocean. There were no more platforms.

'Do we fly across?' Sephiroth thought to himself 'or is there something else?'. Sephiroths' question became answered as a blue and purple line about the same thickness as a rope appear above his head and he could see it was stretched all the way to the castle. He could then see what looked like a huge birdcage coming towards then along that coloured line. 'I see…' Sephiroth thought to himself as she suddenly realised they had vanished and reappeared inside the giant birdcage.

They got out of their transport and Sora lead the way, followed by goofy, then Donald with Sephiroth on the end. They neared the doors to the huge castle in front of them.

"From here on there will be countless heartless, are you all ready?" Sora asked without looking behind him.

Donald and Goofy remained silent while Sephiroth simply kept quiet, but Sora knew Sephiroth to be always ready for battle.

"Here we go then" said Sora as he pushed the gates open. The group then walked inside. As Sephiroth looked a vague image flashed in his mind.

"This place looked similar to that mansion long ago…" Sephiroth mumbled to himself. They were at the foot of the stairway to the second floor when Heartless spawned everywhere.

"Go!" Sora yelled as Ultima Weapon appeared in his hand and ran forward to attack one heartless that had a form of a ball with a face on it, it also had three pink tentacles protruding out of it but it did not do anything, Sora quickly swiped at it with Ultima weapon and it vanished into black mist.

Goofy and Donald were back-to-back, taking on any Heartless that approached them. Donald's staff continued to produce both Firaga and Blizzaga spells. They had multiple Heartless attacking them. Donald then saw a slightly bigger Heartless approach him; this one carried a strange shield with a dogs face on it. Donald kept on casting Firaga but this Heartless was able to deflect the blasts away with his shield. Before the Heartless could do anything else it suddenly split into two and vanished. In its place was Sephiroth with Masamune. Sephiroth then continued to run around slaying Heartless after Heartless. Sephiroth felt the heat of battle return to his blood, he had not felt like this since the war in Wutai many years ago. He could feel instinct take over as he blocked, dodged and attacked as many Heartless as he could. His sword pierced many as he rushed around, continuously moving around the huge room. Sephiroth then suddenly leaped up on the second floor then leapt off that to get close to the roof and started to fall down, his sword held above his head and he suddenly brought it crashing down onto another Heartless, shattering it's shield in the process of slaying it. Silence then filled the room as the battle stopped.

"Lets go before any more turn up and slow us down" Sora said and the three then ran up the stairs and went to their left, they found a door and opened it to reveal bookshelves, it was a library. They stiffened themselves waiting for Heartless to turn up, but none did. Sephiroth heard a slight growling noise and raised Masamune.

"Something is here…" Sephiroth said then sudden a huge animal like being leaped up and stood in front of them. It had horns, sharp teeth and deadly looking claws. Sephiroth noted it wore a purple cape and dark blue clothing seemed worn and tearing slowly. Sora then raised his hands to stop Sephiroth from attacking.

"Wait! He's a friend" Sora said to Sephiroth "Don't scare us like that again ok? You could have got hurt."

"Sora…" said the being "I still can't find belle. Also who is that?" he said as he pointed a clawed finger towards Sephiroth.

"He is Sephiroth, he's here to help us find Ansem, Riku and the princesses," Sora explained "Oh… sorry. This is Beast. He found his way here and helped me when I was alone at one time."

Donald and Goofy slightly lowered their heads in guilt for what had happened. Sephiroth then looked at Sora.

"We must hurry, your friend Beast can help us if he wishes" Sephiroth said as he turned to open the door behind him. Donald and Goofy followed. Sora then looked at Beast.

"Can you help us?" Sora asked. Beast only nodded and then start to walk on his hands and feet with Sora following. Sephiroth then reached the two doors that were in the same room they had fought in. He decided that since this was the only entrance with two doors other than the way they came in then it might lead them closer to their objective. Sephiroth then opened the door and were followed by the rest.

As they made their way through the surprisingly complex maze beyond those doors, they encountered few Heartless. It seemed to Sephiroth that so few would be in their way. It seemed almost too easy. They walked into what seemed to be a room like a chapel. They looked and saw six women gathered together. Sephiroth took note at how most of them looked like princesses.

'Could these be the princesses of Heart?' Sephiroth thought to himself. His question was soon answered as Sora stepped forward and spoke with each of them. When Sora came back his face did not show much emotion.

"The princesses have been fighting the Darkness back," Sora explained "The darkness that Ansem unleashed is starting to overwhelm them greatly, we gotta do something or else they won't make it."

'I see…' Sephiroth thought to himself 'So that is why there was so few Heartless, now it's going to get more difficult' the group then nodded at Sora as he turned and continued to lead them.

A short corridor that leads to a huge room was all that remained between the group of five and their objective, the huge heart shape on the wall that was a mixture of darkened colours. The door to darkness. As the group reached the end of the corridor Heartless appeared. Sephiroth quickly ran past Sora and lead the charge against the sudden attackers. This battle was more difficult then what Sephiroth had expected, he knew many Heartless could have turned up but not this many. The air was filled with the sounds of Battle and a huge bellow from Beast as he took on the challenge by the Heartless. Sephiroth then reached Sora and the two went back-to-back covering the other from attacks from behind.

"We have to press on Sora, the other three can handle them!" Sephiroth yelled above the noise of the battle.

"Are you sure they will be alright?" Sora asked.

"I'm sure Beast can look after them for a while, lets reach that gate on the count of three." Sephiroth said sternly. The two then stood still as they focused on reaching the gate on the right mark.

"Ready"

"Set"

"Go!" Sora yelled and the two then suddenly ran towards the gate, both Masamune and Ultima Weapon being the gleams of light that sliced through the darkness that is their enemies. Sephiroth remembered a mission with a similar situation, with his old friend… Zack. He then mentally shook his head, now was not the time to remember the past. Sora was the first to reach the gate and leaped through, he simply vanished. Sephiroth followed and he found himself in a strange area. All he saw was darkened colours of Red, Blue, Green and Yellow with shades of black and purple. He stood beside Sora and looked down to him.

"Where's the keyhole?" Sephiroth asked. He noted that Sora's eyes were fixed on what's in front of him.

'what is he looking at? Could he have found the keyhole?' Sephiroth then looked in front of him and his eyes widened at what he saw. A Huge purple beast with long white fangs and a Heartless symbol on its Chest area.

"That is a big problem" Sephiroth said as he readied himself for battle. Sora then got himself moving and the two then quickly surrounded the beast and then leaped towards it. They both slashed at it but they could not pierce it's strangely tough hide. The best then turned around, it's feet causing shockwaves in the process. Sephiroth and Sora then leaped away from it.

"Where is it's weak point?" Sephiroth thought to himself. He looked and saw the Heartless also had a black horn on its head; it didn't look like it would be of much use though. Sora then leaped on it's back and continued to bring his keyblade onto it but it still did not hurt it. Sephiroth then saw that the Heartless then raised it's head and a purple aura surrounded the little black horn, a sphere then started to take shape and was growing.

'Wait a moment! Of course, the weak point…' Sephiroth thought and quickly looked at Sora.

"Sora! The weak point is the horn, get it before it can attack!" Sephiroth suddenly yelled out and Sora nodded to confirm he understood. Sora then leaped towards the Horn and raised the Keyblade above his head. Sora then quickly brought it down onto the horn, shattering it into pieces, the purple and black sphere then quickly vanished and the Heartless lowered its head and did not move. Sephiroth then leaped in front of it and saw that it remained unconscious. Sephiroth then steadied himself and aimed for where the horn was before. He lunged forward and the sword pierced the Heartless' head. To Sephiroths surprise black blood squirted out of the Heartless' head as it just stayed where it was. Sephiroth was covered in the black goo as he pulled the sword out and looked to Sora. a Big blue Heart then appeared out of the Heartless and disappeared. The heartless then suddenly vanished into a mass of purple cloud and then became nothing. Sora then landed on his feet and turned to look at the keyhole that was revealed. He stood forward and pointed Ultima Weapon towards the keyhole.

"It's time to seal the keyhole" Sephiroth said.

"You did it" Said a voice, it sounded familiar. Sora turned and quickly ran out the door to find the source of that voice. Sephiroth then followed and as he walked through the door and saw Leon standing in front of Sora, Yuffie sitting on one of the rails nearby and Sephiroth held his breath in as he saw who was behind Leon. The one he loved. It was Aerith.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked with surprise in his voice.

"We came in Cid's ship" Leon said with little or no emotion. Aerith then stood forward.

"We wanted to see if we could help" Aerith said. She wouldn't look at Sephiroth while his eyes were focused on her.

"We also came to tell you something, it's about what would happen after you defeat Ansem and sealed the worlds." Leon said.

"Huh?" Said Sora.

"If Ansem is defeated, the worlds will be restored. But…" Leon said

"But what?" Asked Sora.

"But once the worlds are restored, we will not be able to see each other again." Aerith continued from Leon's words.

"I'll visit you with the Gummi Ship then…" said Sora

"It won't be that simple"

"Before all this, you didn't know about the other worlds, right?" Yuffie said as she turned her head to look at Sora.

"Because every world was isolated. Impassable walls divided them." Aerith then said.

"The Heartless destroyed those walls. But if the world return, so

will the walls." Aerith then continued to explain.

"Which means gummi ships will be useless." Leon said with a slightly cold-hearted tone.

"So you're saying we'll never...?" Sora could not finish that sentence, for he already knew the answer.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other." Leon said with a slightly more comforting voice.

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again." Aerith said. Sephiroths heart pounded faster as he saw Aerith gave him a glance. As he saw the last time they met there was something there, but he could still not find what it was.

"Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to." Yuffie said with a teasing voice aimed right to Sora. Sora took the bait and took a step towards Yuffie.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora said with an annoyed voice. Sephiroth quickly looked behind and saw the aura of Darkness starting to thicken around the Heartless symbol shaped door.

"Sora!" Donald cried out. Sephiroth figured they saw what he just saw.

"Go and seal the Keyhole" said Sephiroth as his eyes turned and went to Sora. Sora then nodded and ran into the door.

"Sora, good luck" Said Leon.

Sephiroth decided to walk out of the room, he could not take it. This pressure of being in the same room as her is getting to him, he reached the library, he did not talk to anyone, he simply sat at the table that was at the library on the second floor. He had so much on his mind now. If Sora defeats Ansem the worlds would be restored, but what would he do then? Jenova would return to the planet and cause more trouble, and Strife was also after him. It would only make things worse if he tried anything to her, he didn't deserve her. He can never be free from his guilt. The live he had taken are taking its toll on him again. He could feel the hatred the spirits had for him. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to take these feelings out of him and scrunch them up and slice them using Masamune, but he knew he couldn't. He could not kill himself for he had to stop Jenova. Something else also told him to not kill himself. An image of Aerith came into his head.

'Why do I feel this way? I tried to kill her and now I want to… No! I can't think that way, I don't deserve her at all. I won't do that to her, I don't want to hurt her and make things worse with Strife… her loves her and so do I… but for the sake of her happiness I will leave her to Strife, he would treat her better than what a monster like I could.'

Sephiroth was so focused on his thoughts he did not hear the sound of gentle footsteps coming towards him.

"Sephiroth?" said a soft voice and Sephiroth immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked to see Emerald eyes staring into his own.

"What's wrong Sephiroth? Let me help you.." Aerith said as she stepped towards Sephiroth. Sephiroth started to step backwards, he felt afraid for the first time. He did not know why, but he continued to step back away from her. "Why do you back away?" Aerith asked as she continued to step to him.

"Please don't come closer, I don't want to hurt you…" Sephiroth said, why was he being like this? This isn't him at all. He was trained to be able to handle any situation so why… Why was he so out of place here?

"You can't hurt me" Said Aerith "You never have and you never will" Sephiroth could feel the emotions for this woman swell up inside of him, he did not want to lose control of himself. He then felt something hard against his back and he looked and realised he was cornered against a bookshelf. Aerith then stood right up to Sephiroth. The two stared into each other's eyes. Sephiroth was immediately lost in her eyes, he searched for her in them. She was so simple yet so mysterious. He then felt his hands being warm and he looked down and saw her hands in his. He then looked back up into her eyes. It felt so wrong yet…so right.

He didn't know what he was doing, everything was a blur except for her. Could it be his emotions are getting the best of him? He wasn't sure. He focused on her eyes then he saw something, it finally dawned on him. The looks in her eyes, the way she approached him, when she forgave him so easily, the way she is holding his hands, the way her face is. It all came down on him in the most obvious factor he did not realise.

"you… you…" Sephiroth was trying to speak but could not find the right words.

"you know now…" Aerith said with nervousness "It took so long for me to figure it out too, I did not know what it was until you left. When I found out I just wanted to see you again." Sephiroth could not believe what he was hearing. He stared into her eyes, he now knew the truth.

"But what about Strife…?" Sephiroth asked and Aeriths eyes dimmed slightly, guilt was in her eyes.

"I do care for him," Aerith said "I even thought I felt it for him… but I felt it wasn't meant to be… it is for the sake of his happiness and my own. I have to say this, I cannot keep this in anymore, I don't want to hide now. I want to face and accept it."

Sephiroth was about to say something but he suddenly felt himself being pulled in and a pair of warm lips touching his own. Sephiroth could not believe what is happening, Aerith was kissing him. He felt himself respond, it felt right. He was meant to do this in the end, he held her in his embrace. When they broke off the kiss they both stared at each other's eyes.

"I love you" He heard her say. His eyes nearly started to produce tears but he held them in.

"Aerith… I-I… I love you too" Sephiroth replied and the two then became brought into another passionate kiss, this was right. A man who sought redemption and a woman who sought out for her heart have united at last. They felt… complete. Sephiroth thanked fate for allowing this. He had finally found peace in his soul for the first time ever. Sephiroth felt another presence arriving and quickly let Aerith go, and she did the same. The door opened and Sora walked in.

"We have decided to stay here for the night, then we will go after Ansem in the morning." Sora said, unaware of what had just happened.

"Ok" Sephiroth said and nodded. Leon then walked in.

"I'll take you to you room. You will sleep for the night only." Leon said strictly and waited for Sephiroth to follow.

Sephiroth was left alone in the room as Leon walked away. Sephiroth looked out the window and noted that it was evening. He may as well get as much sleep as he can. He thought over what had happened, she loved him, and he loved her. He felt terrible yet relieved. He hoped that Strife would understand and accept it when they return to their world. He then took off the leather clothing he had, it wasn't the best outfit to sleep in. He was left wearing only one garment and he went into the covers, he wasn't hungry, He wasn't tired. He just wanted to be alone. Thoughts surrounded his mind as he just lay there, being aware not to turn the wrong way or else his wing would be in pain.

He felt his eyes stat to become heavy overtime and was about to doze off to sleep and a slight creek made him open his eyes. He saw a shadow in the doorway as it. He quickly sat up and stared carefully trying to see who it was…

A/N: Once again I apologise for being late in updating, I hope you like this chapter. If you be good readers and review, I can guarantee a special scene to come up I hope for you all to R&R. Also please do not scorn at me for Sephiroth being a bit OOC for it was meant to be like that.