I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
True Nightmare
The dragon thrashed and roared, fighting frantically to be free, but the Heartless was far beyond it in terms of strength and was vastly larger than the already gargantuan dragon. It moved its free hand to the dragon's torso, and darkness began to swarm from its hand over the dragon's body. Instantly it released a high, shrill roar, almost a scream, of pure terror. Tyler felt a sharp, icy spike of fear in his heart. For an instant, he could feel the dragon's fear. And then, he was moving. There was no conscious thought. He didn't care for the dragon, even though he knew it had been attacking the Heartless and Nobodies but not Tyler and the others. He simply moved to face it because it was a uniquely terrible threat. A force which felt as though it represented Death in that moment. He charged into battle against it because there was no other choice.
"Holy!" Tyler roared as he raced through the path the dragon's flames had cleared.
A beam of pure Light erupted from the tip of his keyblade, slamming into the Heartless's face, a second beam slamming into the hand corrupting the dragon. It roared, releasing the dragon, and the spell cleared the Darkness from the dragon's body, leaving it weakened but safe from being transformed into a Heartless, at least for now. And then, in a blinding series of flashes, the others were there, including Oswald. In another series of blinding lights, everyone's summons, except for Serah's, were wading into the lesser Heartless, slaughtering them. The others, all of Tyler's friends, followed Tyler into a hopeless battle against the monster that had destroyed their world.
It roared, then twisted sharply, moreso than a being of it's horrifying size had any right to, and its fist shot through the air at Tyler. He swore harshly in his head as the world seemed to slow. He couldn't block it. He knew full well that he lacked the power to match this strike, or the speed to avoid it. But then, he didn't have to. A hand grabbed him by the back of the coat, yanking him up and over the fist. The tailwind of the punch roared as it tore at him and his savior, sending both hurtling through the air all the same, but Tyler flipped, landing on his feet as Caius landed beside him, driving his sword into the ground to stop himself from skidding backward as Tyler used his keyblade for the same.
"Your keyblade evolved," Caius noted.
And then, they had charged back into battle. As they raced forward to help the others, Lightning struck with Thundaga, then with her keyblade. Serah sent a storm of arrows into the Heartless's face, crushing an Ether even as she fired the same strike as against the Nobodies. Noel and Sazh both sent a barrage of truly massive fireballs exploding into the Heartless. Fang sent a massive barrage of enormous, black and grey magic blasts at the Heartless. Vanille sent huge icy spears into its chest. Oswald hurled both keyblades at it in a pair of blurred disks before sending a barrage of spheres of Light at it with a Holy offshoot spell called Pearl, the same as Lightning had used before, from one hand and a storm of pale blue fireballs charged with Darkness from the other.
A storm of explosions enveloped the Heartless as their terrifying assault, one which probably would have immediately defeated any of the Organization Thirteen members, struck the Heartless. However, a moment later, the Heartless rose, standing through the gaping hole it had formed in the ceiling to tower over them at the height of the skyscraper towers of Tyler's homeworld. It was completely unmarked by their attacks, and as it stood, dozens of pieces of debris began to rise around it. Tyler narrowed his eyes, sensing a thin layer of Darkness around the debris, but that wasn't what worried him. He was more concerned by the Heartless's seeming invulnerability.
"Did anything hurt this before?" Tyler asked as he and Caius reached the others.
"Your Holy hurt it, and Snow was just strong enough that he was able to at least make it focus on him, but none of us are on Snow's level," Noel answered.
"We should abandon this world while we're still breathing," Caius advised.
"I'm not running away," Tyler said. "You saved me, so now you have to fight with us."
"I saved you because I owed you for destroying both my Heartless and Nobody," Caius said dryly, then sighed. "King Oswald, it feeds on Darkness. You'll have to fight with the Light."
"I know," Oswald nodded. "What about you?"
"I'm no use here," Caius said. "I'll get help. Dark Corridors are faster than your ship."
And with that, he was gone. Tyler grit his teeth, then hurled his keyblade into the air. It shone, transforming into its glider form, swinging back down for him, and he and Lightning both leapt on before Tyler took off into the air. He fired a barrage of shots from the railgun in the front, but the Heartless blocked the shots with its left arm before throwing a punch with its right. Both leapt from the glider, Tyler summoning it back to himself in his keyblade form, and they landed on the back of its arm, running along it for a moment before leaping at its head. It roared, moving to eat them, only for Oswald to slam both keyblades down atop its head. Its moth slammed closed, and Tyler and Lightning both lashed out. It roared recoiling as their keyblades tore an "X" across its face, but the wounds sealed instantly.
Its left hand swept up to punch them, and Tyler and Lightning grabbed each other's hands, roaring in effort as they formed a barrier together. The barrier that formed was a massive half-dome of crystalline hexagons with the center of the barrier decorated by the same pendant that Tyler had turned into a charm for his keyblade. The fist slammed into the barrier hard, and it began to crack. However, before it could break, Lightning spun herself in the air, hurling Tyler at the fist. He grabbed his keyblade with both hands and swung hard, his keyblade shining, and when the blade met the fist just as the barrier shattered, an explosion of Light tore through the arm, destroying it up to the elbow. Then, the soles of Noel's feet slammed into the soles of Tyler's, and both jumped, the Heartless's right fist passing between them before Noel's larger sword tore down its front as Tyler slashed up through it's fair before setting a foot on its forehead before leaping downward, slashing back down its face.
The Heartless roared in pain, staggering back a step, then roared, its left arm reforming as the debris hovering around it began to rain down at them. Projectiles ranging from the size of a head to the size of a minivan began to explode into the ground, but all of them threw a hand up, forming a single, massive barrier together, blocking the storm of debris. Then, the Heartless smashed both of its fists into the ground and an explosion of Darkness erupted from the impact. Their barrier failed instantly, and the blast slammed into them all. It ripped apart the crumbling castle around them, sending most of it exploding into the interior of the volcano around them or spilling into the lava below. Scattered chunks were left scattered around the exterior of the massive pillar the castle had once sat atop, but that didn't matter to Tyler. What mattered was that as he began to struggle to scrape himself up, he was the only person conscious besides the dragon, who was now struggling to keep a massive chunk of debris tangled in the chandelier's chain from dragging it into the lava. He hurled his keyblade, sending it spinning past the dragon, and it slashed the chain off just behind the dragon, freeing it, and the dragon took a few moments to gasp for breath before snarling at the Heartless that towered over them all.
"We...can't win," Oswald frunted, scraping himself up. "Only you, me, and Lightning specialize in giant Heartless. The others could only help with magic, but they're not strong enough to hurt it."
"Where the fuck is Caius with that supposed help?" Tyler growled.
"Right here," Caius said as he reappeared with Mickey and Yen Sid.
"What is that?" Mickey breathed, eyes wide.
"A monster that destroyed our entire world nearly single-handedly," Lightning answered, pushing herself up just as Yen Sid healed everyone completely.
"Oswald, send the others to the ship," Tyler said. "They need to be out of the way of this fight."
Oswald nodded and raised his Kingdom Key style keyblade, a light enveloping all of the others and sending them back to the ship. Then, Yen Sid began the fight by raising his hands then swiping them downward. With that simple motion, a storm of blinding, golden Light exploded down on the Heartless, which roared in agony in response. Tyler glanced at the dragon, then turned, sprinting to it, Lightning only a step behind him. As they leapt onto it, Mickey and Oswald began to sprint directly up the Heartless's legs, only to have to repeatedly leap from one body part to another in order to avoid it crushing them. Then, the dragon was airborne and roared, bathing the Heartless in flames. It didn't react for a moment, until Tyler raised his keyblade, augmenting the flames with Light. As the flames bleached gold, the Heartless roared in pain, swiping at them.
The dragon flapped its wings hard, barely getting over the strike, and Tyler swung his keyblade around, firing a beam of Holy into the Heartless's face, and it roared in agony. Lightning copied Tyler, the dragon adding its flames to the effort, but Tyler could see theor efforts faili g. And so, when the Heartless's arm swung up at them to swat them like an insect, he launched himself at the hand.
"Please work!" he silently prayed. "Please, God, see us through this!"
And then, just as his keyblade met the hand, a blinding, golden light began to shine from the impact point. For several seconds, the two fought against each other. Then, Tyler shifted the angle of his keyblade and flipped over the tips of the Heartless's claws. He flipped instantly, forming a barrier to kick off of, streaking to the Heartless's head and slashing hard. The Heartless roared in pain as his keyblade tore across both of its eyes. It staggered backward as the dragon caught Tyler with its front foot, and he nodded to the dragon. It returned the nod and hurled Tyler at the Heartless and he focused on his magic. His first strike was a stab with a massive drill of Light around the blade of his keyblade. Then, he warped his gravity to hover before its face, tearing into it over and over, following it as it backed away.
Its hand swung up at him and he dropped, stabbing his keyblade into its chest and beginning to tear down its body as ita hand slapped into its own face. As its other hand swung up at him, Oswald and Mickey shot past its arm together, severing the arm halfway down the forearm. Then, as Tyler kicked off its body just above the heart-shaped hole to launch himself back upward, Lightning reached its face. She tore into it over in over, spinning, flipping, and twirlling, her keyblade whipping around and around to tear into the Heartless. Then, Tyler focused as he sprinted up the Heartless's chest, praying desperately that his desperate gamble payed off.
His keyblade shone, its weight multiplying rapidly and shifting as it transformed into a truly massive hammer. He instantly focused magic ibto his body, shining white before leaping into the air and swinging hard. The head of his hammer exploded upward into the underside of the Heartless's chin just as Lightning leapt off of its forehead. The Heartless staggered backward, a low growl, like a groan, echoing from it as Tyler flipped, his keyblade returning to normal. Then, the edge of the pillar below the Heartless's foot crumbled, and the Heartless roared as it fell, exploding down in the lava, its head smashing the outer wall of the volcano. Tyler flipped, labding lightly, panting and sweating, and Lightning landed beside him, handing him a huge Ether, which he crushed instantly.
"Did we do it?" Mickey asked, he and Oswald standing with Yen Sid again.
"Not yet," both Tyler and Yen Sid said.
Sure enough, a moment later, it erupted from the lava, roaring deafeningly as it still towered over them.
"Is this thing immortal?" Mickey asked.
"Let's find out," Tyler said, readying himself again.
Yen Sid snapped his fingers and all of their keyblades shone with golden Light before he raised his hand, forming a massive lance out of Light. Then, he hurled it, sending it exploding into the Heartless. It shrieked in pain this time, despite the lance bursting apart, but as it rocked backward, Tyler and the others charged.
"Here it comes!" Tyler warned.
The Heartless roared furiously, smashing both hands into the ground. A massive blast of Darkness, the same as had overpowered all of them together before Mickey and Yen Sid had arrived, raged toward them, only for Yen Sid to shout in effort, sweeping his hands upward and forming a barrier of Light, which nullified the blast. It did not, however, stop the rain of debris the Heartless sent at them with its apparent telekinesis a moment later, however. Instead, Tyler leapt into the air, spinning and flipping as he carved through the massive chunks of castle and volcano, deflecting the pieces away from the others, as he had the buildings Xemnas had hurled at them what felt like a lifetime ago.
He leapt off of the last chunk just as the others leapt at the Heartless. It roared, throwing a punch at them, but Oswald met the punch with a powerful strike from both of his keyblades. The magic Yen Sid had added to the keyblades pulsed blindingly and the arm exploded apart up to the Heartless's shoulder. It roared in pain, and a moment later, Mickey repeated the amazing feat by destroying the other arm when it punched at them as well. However, both of them had expended the power in the act. Tyler ignored that, however. Thanks to Yen Sid, their attacks worked. That meant that he and Lightning could end it, and she knew it. So, a moment later, she leapt at the Heartless from its right as he shot toward it from above and to its left. In a flash, both of them had slashed it across the chest, their strikes forming an "X" of shining, golden light. The light intensified instantly as both landed on the volcano behind the Heartless and it roared in pain, thrashing, and beginning to dissolve at last. However, it wasn't dead yet. It turned, opening it's mouth, revealing a swirling mass of pure Darkness. Before it could fire, however, Tyler and Lightning extended their keyblades, the tips both shining silver as they clasped their hands.
"Ultima!" both shouted.
A massive, silver sphere of magic formed around them, spell circles racing around its surface for a moment as the tips of their keyblades shone silver. Then, the sphere burst apart just as twin blasts of shining, silver magic erupted from their keyblades. A moment later, the blasts struck the massive blast of Darkness the Heartless unleashed. For a moment, the attacks struggled against each other. Then, the Ultima blasts won out, punching through the Darkness and striking the Heartless in the center of the face where they erupted into a truly massive explosion of blinding silver light, swallowing the upper half of the Heartless's body. Flashes of white light, probably as large as Tyler's body but pinpricks compared to the explosion, flickered through the explosion like the explosion was glittering. Then, finally, the explosion shrunk out of existance, having completely erased the Heartless's body from the waist up.
As the rest rapidly disintegrated, Mickey stared at Tyler and Lightning in shock. "They can cast Ultima?"
"Together, yes," Yen Sid nodded, smiling slightly.
"That kid's a frightening one," Caius admitted. "He'd be stronger than me and Lightning both, if he really needed to be. Together, I don't think there's anyone who could match them, not including that monster you all just fought."
"Together, they may be more powerful than any other keyblade wielder in history," Yen Sid agreed. "You did well finding him, Oswald."
"It was random chance that led us to him," Oswald said. "I happened to notice the Heartless heading for his world."
"Even so," Yen Sid said calmly. "They will be vital in the coming war."
"So, you think we can win?" Mickey asked.
Yen Sid didn't answer. Instead, he smiled and dipped his head as the dragon landed before him, Tyler and Lightning astride its back, though both dropped to the ground.
"Thank you for your help," Tyler smiled up at it. "We couldn't have won without you."
The dragon smiled, then took off, flying away from them.
"You, too," Tyler said, turning to Mickey and Yen Sid.
"Yes, thank you so much," Lightning smiled. "Finally, the rest of my world can rest."
"Can they not be recompleted?" Yen Sid asked.
"When that one wiped their world out, it didn't turn any of them into Heartless," Oswald said. "Some were, but nearly all of them were simply killed outright."
"Speaking of, Xigbar tried to kill me and Lightning outright," Tyler said, frowning.
"I'm not surprised," Yen Sid said. "Xehanort likely fears you could tip the balance."
"He had a keyblade," Lightning added.
Yen Sid's face curled into a frown as Mickey looked confused.
"Gosh, wouldn't he be able to as a host of Xehanort's heart?" Mickey asked.
"Does Xehanort's keyblade look like one of Xigbar's arrowguns?" Tyler asked.
"No," Oswald said. "It's black, the blade is two shafts, the teeth are a jagged curve on the back of the blade's tip, and there's a blue cat's eye on it."
"It had the eye," Lightning said. "The rest was different."
"And he was muttering about someone not noticing him use it," Tyler added. "Also, he was insanely powerful. Stronger than Xemnas was."
Oswald, Mickey, and Yen Sid all frowned, then shook their heads.
"I don't know what keyblade he could use," Yen Sid said. "But this bodes ill. I will see what I can learn at my tower, plus I must see to Aqua's recovery and the training of the others. Tyler, Lightning, you two require training as well. You are both powerful and skilled, and together you are nearly unmatched, but I sense an untapped potential in you both. Tyler, you have a unique mastery of, or rather, a symbiosis with your keyblade. You learned Formchange, the ability to alter the shape of your keyblade, on instinct, a skill that usually takes years to master."
"Really?" Tyler asked.
"I can't do it," Oswald shrugged.
"Neither can I," Mickey agreed.
"As I said, your connection with your keyblade is uniquely strong," Yen Sid said. "In mere months, your keyblade evolved itself to aid you."
"And then when fighting Xigbar, he evolved it again on command," Oswald added. "Lightning's evolved to fight him, too."
"As I said, you both possess an untapped potential," Yen Sid nodded. "You must both find a way to tap into that potential."
"What will it be?" Tyler asked.
"I don't know," Yen Sid admitted. "It may simply make you more powerful, or enhance your magic. Or it may be a unique ability."
Tyler nodded, looking around. "For now, we should find the princess we originally came here to rescue, and Shrek. We're pretty sure Xigbar came here to turn her into a Heartless."
"Then you must protect her," Yen Sid nodded. "Mickey, we take our leave. Caius, if you would."
Caius nodded, opening a Dark Corridor for them.
"Wait," Lightning said, Caius turning to look at her. "Thank you, Caius. Thank you for helping us."
Caius merely nodded, then walked into the Dark Corridor, Yen Sid and Mickey following after him.
"I'm heading back to the ship," Oswald decided. "I'll tell them the good news and send Serah back."
Tyler nodded, and Oswald vanished in a flash of light. As soon as he had, Lightning hugged Tyler, trembling and crying.
"It's alright," Tyler said soothingly. "It's over. We won."
"I can't believe we beat it," Lightning said, voice hoarse from conflicting emotions. "It's gone. The thing that destroyed my home, that killed Hope and Snow...it's really gone."
"Yes," Tyler smiled, squeezing her lightly. "We killed it."
Lightning nodded, pulling back and wiping her eyes. "You have such a nasty habit of finding the biggest, most powerful Heartless around, don't you? First that thing on the way to Twilight Town, now this."
Tyler laughed. "I told you, I'm bad luck."
Lightning laughed, kissing him, and a few moments later, Serah arrived, instantly running to hug both of them, even more of a mess from her runaway emotions than Lightning. Finally, after several minutes of calming her, they set out to return to where they had met Shrek, hoping to catxh up with him and Donkey on the way.
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