*I don't own ANY of the Kingdom Hearts characters, Final Fantasy VII characters, or Final Fantasy VIII characters. I only own Katie.
"It was good to see Tron again!" Sora chirped as soon as the Keyblade Wielders returned to the real world. "Oh, Katie! We got rid of the Bug Boxes and Heartless in Space Para—" He turned around to see Ienzo at the computer. "—noids…?"
Riku looked around. "Where's Katie?" He asked the scientist.
"She went to the church in Sector 7." Ienzo answered. "To get the Cetra, Aerith, I believe she said. I didn't get exact details of why, however." He turned around to face the Keyblade Wielders. "I believe you got rid of all of the viruses like you said?"
Kairi nodded. "Yep. They shouldn't bug the system again."
"Well, that's—"Ienzo got interrupted by Leon bursting into the room.
"Leon? What's going on?" Sora asked.
"I just got a call from Tifa. It's Aerith…she's been murdered!" Leon started to head out again. "C'mon, we need to get to the church. Katie was seen going over there not that long ago."
Repliku crossed his arms. "Are you suggesting Katie did this?!"
"No!" Leon quickly answered. "It's just that—" The castle shook, interrupting Leon and startling the crew. After the shaking stopped, Leon commanded, "Outside! Now!" The Keyblade Wielders followed him out. Outside, they looked up as a shadow covered them and went away quickly. "What is that?" Leon asked Sora.
Sora squinted as he identified the creature flying in the sky high above. His eyes widened at the recognition, "That's Toothless!"
"Toothless?" Lea repeated. "That dragon from Berk? How'd he get here?"
"I dunno…but he's being followed—" Sora pointed at a much smaller figure in the sky, he recognized it also despite the sun's glare and the figure being figuratively microscopic. "Sephiroth." Worry edged his voice. He shook his head hard as he spoke, "What is he doing here? I thought Cloud took care of him on my last visit!"
"Well, apparently not…" Repliku huffed. "Who's Sephiroth?"
Leon didn't take his eyes off of the sky as he explained, "Sephiroth is the embodiment of Cloud's darkness. He and Cloud have some kind of history, I've never heard much about their pasts but whatever it was, it must have been bad. From the stories Tifa and the gang have told me, Cloud and Sephiroth have ties to each other that aren't explainable and they have been rivals for a long, long time…" His eyes widened at the sudden sight of another figure in the sky be thrown off of the dragon and plummet to the ground below. "Someone was just thrown off of that dragon!" Pulling out binoculars, Leon looked back up to the sky. He gasped. "It's Katie!"
"Katie?!" The Keyblade Wielders repeated.
"She's going against Sephiroth? Is she crazy?!" Sora exclaimed. "He's a hard one to beat! I literally almost got killed!"
"Wait…Katie knows everything about other worlds, right?" Kairi asked. "If that's true, she'd know the dangers going against Sephiroth. I know Katie can be reckless sometimes but not that reckless! I mean, why would she go against someone who she knew that is almost impossible to beat? That's crazy!"
They lost sight of Katie behind the rock face as she fell. "She'll land in the farthest point of the Great Maw, Dark Depths." Leon told the group.
"If gravity doesn't come first and turns her into a pancake." Lea said. The group looked away from the sky and glared at the spikey redhead. "What?"
Scoffing at Lea's childish behavior, Repliku turned to Leon. "How'd fast can we get there?" he asked.
"About fifteen minutes." Leon answered. He pulled out his cell phone. "You guys go on ahead. I need to tell Tifa and the others what's going on. If Katie is going against Sephiroth, she'll need all the help she can get." The group nodded and ran out of the castle, ready to aid Katie.
Katie now seriously doubted her plan for using Zack's persona to go against Sephiroth. She thought that it'll give her a big advantage but according to all the stab wounds that littered her body, she'd be better off with her Keyblades and Vanitas instead of a Buster Sword and her knowledge from all the hours she spent on Earth playing Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII. She blocked Sephiroth's sword from the side and pushed it off. Jumping and spinning in the air, Katie lashed the Buster Sword at Sephiroth's head only to get her fatal blow blocked. Katie growled in frustration and quickly moved the Buster Sword and slashed it at Sephiroth's side; the dark angel disappeared before the large broadsword hit his side, leaving a single black feather float in Katie's face. She let out a yell of pain when she felt the Masamune go straight into her shoulder and grinded her teeth as pain shot threw her body as it was lifted off of the ground. The next thing she knew, she hit a rock face hardly. Katie slowly got up to her feet, despite her knees shaking from exhaustion. She pointed the Buster Sword at Sephiroth. "Is that all you got?" she taunted between deep gasps. Not even waiting for an answer, Katie charged at Sephiroth again, raising the Buster Sword high. Quickly, Katie sliced at Sephiroth's side, only to be blocked again. Katie lifted the Buster Sword off of the Masamune and spun on her foot to slice at his other side, performing Octaslash. Sephiroth quickly realized what Katie was going and used Octaslash also to counter. They went into a lock, both pushing forcefully on each other's swords.
"You're more willing to the darkness than Cloud is…" Sephiroth told Katie.
"Shut up!" Katie growled. With an enraged yell, she pushed the dark angel off of the Buster Sword, making him stagger. Smirking, she quickly stabbed his arm. She jumped back and held the Buster Sword in a defensive stance. "Your mind games don't work on me, Sephiroth. I know you are just a crazy Mama's-Boy that likes to see others wither in pain! You've killed thousands of people and I will avenge every single one of them! From all those people in Nibelheim to poor Aerith! None of them deserved to die! The only one who deserves to die is you!"
"How do you know about Nibelheim?" Sephiroth questioned.
"Wouldn't you like to know?! How bout you ask your precious alien mother, Jenova?!" Katie snapped. "Mother this, Mother that! You two don't even come from the same bloody planet! Hell, the only thing you two have in common are your cells! As it even crossed your mind that maybe, just maybe, she isn't?!"
Sephiroth made a low growl in his throat. "Don't talk about her like that…"
"What'cha gonna do about it?! Cry to your mommy?" In a mocking tone she continued, "Mother! She's being mean to me! Make her stop by using the Black Materia on her!"
"Shut up!" Sephiroth yelled.
Katie made a fake pouty face. "Aw! I made Mr. Emotionless mad! Taunting him about his fake, alien 'Mother'!" She cackled, "Then why don't you just come and make me, Mama's-Boy?!" She blocked Sephiroth's sword and pushed him back. Sephiroth disappeared but Katie knew where he was going to appear. Stabbing the Buster Sword, she hoisted herself and swung on the handle. She kicked Sephiroth in the mouth as soon as he returned with the force of a pack mule, making him stagger backwards. Katie sat on the Buster Sword's wide hilt and taunted, "Would you look at that? I surprised the surprise attack! I know you're every move, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth spat blood and wiped his lip. "Is that so?" He charged at Katie.
Katie jumped off of the mounted Buster Sword and pulled it out of the ground. She charged at Sephiroth also. The two swords clashed, making a shockwave burst in the air and send the two swordsmen flying. The Buster Sword fell out of Katie's hand and skidded on the rock surface, Katie stared in horror as it slid almost over the cliff, balancing itself on the cliff's ledge. She scrambled up to her feet but howled in pain at the feeling of a sword going through her leg, pinning her on the ground. Katie looked up to see Sephiroth with a smug look on his face. He walked over to the Buster Sword and picked it up. He examined the broadsword before he returned his gaze to Katie. The dark angel smirked evilly and walked over to Katie, he stood over Katie. Sephiroth pointed the sword's tip at Katie's chest and slowly lifted the sword high. Katie stared at Sephiroth in horror; he was going to kill her! She tried to pull the Masamune out of her bleeding leg but hissed in pain, it hurt too much to pull out. Katie closed her eyes tightly and braced herself for her end. But nothing came; the clank of swords rang right above Katie's head. She hesitantly opened her eyes and gasped. Someone blocked Sephiroth's blow! She followed the sword and her eyes widened in horror. Her savior was the ex-SOLDIER, Cloud Strife.