Carter pulled Thomas close, stepping in front of his boyfriend as a protective barrier. At that moment, Nerraw finished his summoning and positioned himself before Tae. The darkness engulfed around Tae as that had happened. "If you even think about touching Thomas again, I'll kill you," Carter warned.

Nerraw let out a frustrated sigh. "What? When did you get here? Ugh—it's that stupid tank engine and his boyfriend again. Why can't I ever get my plans to ever work?"

Carter glared at Nerraw, who still blocked Thomas's way. Meanwhile, Tae began to drift toward the wall, leaving them even more exposed to Nerraw.

"See that?" Nerraw remarked as he eyed Tae, specifically the heart. "Ever since the Fictional Dimension was opened using Kingdom Hearts, everything that came after followed it's footsteps—Hearts, Heartless, Nobodies. They all exist in these worlds. But it's no big deal; I can twist those logistics to further aid my plans."

He paused to fix his gaze on Carter, who stood resolute before Thomas. "You really think you two can beat me on your own? The only reason I didn't take you down before was because of Mark. Without him, this whole dimension would have been mine!" Nerraw's voice grew angrier at the mention of Mark, and he raised his arm to slash at Carter. But before his attack could land, a mysterious force struck his arm, sending him stumbling back with a cry of "AHHHH!"

Carter's eyes widened as he scanned the chaos, eventually landing on Thomas. That's when he noticed the white orb on Thomas's necklace glowing intensely. "W-Woah..." Carter murmured. Thomas's eyes darted from the necklace to Carter, then to the fallen Nerraw.

Without hesitating, Thomas removed the necklace—he'd had enough of Nerraw.

"Thomas? What are you doing?" Carter protested as he saw Thomas moving forward. But Thomas paid no mind; he wasn't even sure if his plan would work, but he had to do this. He strode up to the downed Nerraw, knelt, and was about to pin him down when Nerraw suddenly sprang up and grabbed Thomas by the neck.

"Thomas!" Carter shouted.

Nerraw sneered, "I should've done this a long time ago."

The area around them started to vibrate, and distort, leaving Nerraw to lessen his grip on Thomas. "What... again?"

Then, before Nerraw could tighten his grip, Thomas drove the necklace into him. The orb burst into light, electrocuting Nerraw and forcing them to drop Thomas. Both tumbled to the ground, though Carter quickly caught Thomas.

Gently, Thomas nudged Carter aside. Clutching the necklace, he maneuvered behind the shadowy figure and looped it around Nerraw's neck so that the glowing orb pressed directly against it's throat.

Thomas yanked hard, and Nerraw howled in pain. The intense light searing close was clearly taking its toll. "AHHH! GET OFF ME!" Nerraw bellowed. Despite the crippling effect of the magic, Nerraw's strength nearly sent Thomas sprawling as he struggled against the assault.

Thomas held his ground and pulled on the necklace even harder. Though Nerraw managed to hurl Thomas aside in a burst of brute force, Carter felt helpless—He wanted to help, but one wrong move and he'd be gone.

Gasping and clutching his neck, Nerraw's strength faltered. "Y-You fucking idiot..." he muttered weakly, trying to stagger toward Thomas. Seizing the opportunity, Thomas rose, swinging the necklace with fierce determination. The orb hit Nerraw's face and body. "Get out of my dimension!" Thomas roared, his blows landing relentlessly. Nerraw tried to block the strikes with his arms, but the searing light burned that also, rendering his defense useless. "Leave my home alone!" Thomas yelled.

Summoning every ounce of strength, Thomas grabbed Nerraw and rammed the necklace deep into their chest. "AHHHHH!" Nerraw screamed as the orb pressed into his flesh. The shadow figure shuddered and vibrated in agony, and Thomas quickly stepped back when he saw Nerraw start to glitch.

In a daze, Thomas ran over to Carter as Nerraw clutched his chest; a patch of white mist was forming there. The shadow being tried to rise but soon collapsed again. Thomas exchanged a glance with Carter before turning back to Nerraw, who was now barely holding on.

"WHAT... DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Nerraw roared.

The misty patch on his chest began to spread. "W-What?! What's HAPPENING TO ME?!" he screamed as the white mist crept over their body. Then—an explosion of light—and Nerraw was gone.

For a moment, the fluorescent bulbs in the room flickered.

"What the hell?" Carter muttered.

Then, the heart that had was hovered above Tae drifted down toward him, slowly settling into his chest. Tae gasped and then collapsed onto the floor with a cry of "OOWW!"

"TAE!" Thomas cried, rushing to help as Carter joined him.

"Huh? Oh... Wait... Thomas?" Tae mumbled, looking between them.

"And... who are you again?" he asked Carter, confusion in his eyes. But before Carter could answer, Tae's gaze darted around. "Hold on—why are you all in my room? And... why was I on the floor?"

Surveying the space, Tae noticed the lingering dark, misty remnants—the fallout of Nerraw's explosive defeat. "Oh... oh no..." he whispered, recalling the past encounters with this thing.

"Don't worry, we took care of it," Thomas reassured him.

"You took care of it." Carter nudged Thomas's shoulder. "My boyfriend's a badass,"

"Man, I feel weird," Tae admitted as he struggled to stand. "Did it knock me out?"

Tae and Thomas exchanged a look. They barely understood Mark's explanations about these dimensions or Nerraw's cryptic talk of Hearts. Clearly, it had to do with that shimmering Heart that was above Tae, but they didn't know how to exactly explain that to him.

"Yeah, it did. Once Thomas got rid of him, whatever trance it had on you lifted," Carter explained.

Suddenly, Tae dashed to the door. "I need to check on everyone else! Come on!"

Carter gently tapped Thomas's back. "Let's follow him," he urged, and Thomas walked, but slowly. Concern crept into Carter's voice as he glanced back. "You alright?"

"Am I alright? Bloody hell, how can I be? Did I just kill that thing with a bleedin' necklace?!" Thomas exclaimed, incredulity lacing his words.

Carter moved closer. "I... I don't know. But it's magic, after all."

Thomas shook his head in disbelief. "There's no way. Mark and that guy have been on this thing's trail for ages with those bizarre, powerful weapons—and they still couldn't kill it! Mark only gave me this necklace, which holds just a fraction of his magic. It just doesn't add up at all Carter!"

After a thoughtful pause, Carter offered, "Remember how Mark fought? He ran out of magic a few times, didn't he?"

Thomas nodded slowly. "Yeah, he did. He even had to drink something from that bottle."

"Right..." Carter reached over to Thomas's chest and picked up the necklace. "You've used this so much, and it's still shining bright."

Thomas glanced down at the orb—the bright white cloud inside it still swirling, unmoved. "Are you saying... I can use this endlessly? That it's somehow better than his key thing?"

"Good things do come in small packages," Carter said with a small smile.

"But... is it really gone?"

"I don't still, this is really powerful, Don't lose it. If it ever comes back, you'll still have this," Carter advised.

"If it really comes back, it must love pain inflected on itself," Thomas said.

Carter chuckled. "Exactly,"

They walked out of the dressing room together. "I wonder why Mark never kept this for himself," Thomas mused.

"Maybe he didn't realize its full potential. He just wanted to give you an easy way to protect yourself." Carter said.

Just then, Tae reappeared, panting. "Everyone's fine! But they all looked like they were knocked out." That likely explained why Robaire hadn't answered when Thomas knocked earlier. Leaning close, Thomas whispered to Carter, "What did that thing want with those... 'Hearts?'" Carter shrugged. "I don't know—I wish we could figure it out."