Author's Note: Guys, guys, guys. Don't kill me. Please. I had an writer's block a couple of weeks ago so I couldn't write anything. As I did though, a friend of mine, TerraKH started a conversation with me about our OCs and that ended up developing in an idea for this. This is a short project to accomplish some guilty pleasures we both had. It's not hurting AUS, that should be out next Saturday as I not finally know what I want with next chapter. So… yeah! Don't worry 'bout it!

PS: The first part to this is TerraKH's profile as he wrote the first part while I did the second one. There's a link on my own profile. Only read this after you read (and reviewed) his story!

A Draconian Light: A Clash Never Meant To Be

Part Two

Chapter 1 of 2

United We Stand

Where we last left our heroes they were… let's say, not in the best of conditions. Beaten and bruised, courtesy of each other, they lay unconscious on the Inter-Dimensional Rift's Fortress, the one so many fights had happened in during Dissidia. A considerable amount of time had passed before one of the two finally made their first movement. Jack woke up first, the half of the potion he had taken of course taking more effect than the quarter Shin had. Or so he had thought.

He slowly sat up, checking his head for injuries and finding none too serious. His forehead was stained in blood after that headbut though.

He still turned to Shin, wondering what to do for a moment. He wasn't someone to hit an unarmed and unconscious opponent… but he also wasn't one to let his daughter die. With a large sigh, he accepted what he had to do and reached for his Keyblade, a voice suddenly breaking the silence.

"Go ahead, become what you hate," Jack heard, turning swiftly to find a man sitting on a nearby boulder. He was much like Shin in many ways, the only differing factors being more gruff and mature features combined with a distinctly bigger red mane.

"And you are?" questioned the Keyblader.

"Come now, you aren't stupid," Shinryu told him, jumping from the rock and slowly approaching him.

"Here to finish me off?" It was the only logical reason for him to be there, wasn't it? Of course Jack knew that, and he didn't even try to fight back. He had no power left in him. However, before he could see his life pass by his eyes, Shinryu chuckled.

"Hardly. And even if I wanted to…" Jack closed his eyes as Shinryu's fist shot towards his forehead… only to have it completely go through his head. "I could not do so." he then walked towards Shin and stomped him in the head, this time actually connecting. "Wake up, you useless other!" he exclaimed, Shin moaning in response.

"Stop being so tsun-tsun… dad," Shin told Shinryu, only to have the dragon step on his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! I'm YOU! NOT YOUR OLD MAN!" he exclaimed, repeatedly stepping on his head while Jack just looked on, confused.

"Aren't you taking this a bit… too lightly?" he questioned, his thoughts on his daughter.

"You think you'd still be alive if I hadn't come up with a plan?" Shinryu asked, crossing his arms. "I temporarily halted your hearts in time for sixty minutes." Both of the contestant's eyes bulged at the mention, quickly checking their hearts, being happy they were still alive n' kicking.

"Why would you do that?! Now they…" Jack began, clearly disapproving of what that mean for Rayne. HOWEVER:

"Think we are dead!" Shin exclaimed with a smirk. Shinryu shared it for once.

"You're not such a buffoon when you want to." the dragon complimented, both halves of the same one turning to the person who was still confused. "It's safe to assume that if they did not come here to check, they were monitoring you. After an hour, they should have let their guards down and not be as thorough. Mostly because they must be discussing how to utilize and bring out Cosmos and the X-blade from the women," Shinryu explained, Jack nodding in understanding.

"So we just have to take that chance to either swipe them from under their noses or mount a surprise attack…" he said, Shinryu agreeing.

"If you do understand it, I have to spend no time explaining. Now, would you kindly move through that wormhole?" the dragon asked. As requested, Shin flew and Jack rode the Keyblade Rider through the Northernmost whole in the Rift, at least the one in their point of view.

As they landed on the plain on the other side, Shin sighed.

"Seriously, talk about Evil Castle 101." He said as he observed what was exactly that.

No, seriously, this seemed to be something taken out of friggin' Ganon's notebook for extremely obviously evil castle redecoration. Everything for the classic, and by that I mean cliché'd. The four-towered structure, looming, totally-not-evil clouds of doom and death, heck, there was lava around the castle, which was pretty redundant since you had to FLY to get close to the castle, so it wouldn't be stopping anyone.

"It's Lezard, you'd expect anything other?" questioned Shinryu. This was finally enough to send the one person without some-sort of pseudo-parasitic life form (or is he?), anyway, he was far too worried for his daughter to stand there while two buffoons made jokes, especially when one of them SHOULD be worrying about someone he loved.

"Will you two stop spewing garbage?! Do you have any idea what they could be doing to them right now?! Be more serious for once! How can you…" he cried in frustration, teeth cringing and hand finding its way into Shin's jacket. Shin's expression changed, darkened a lot to be exact, but not because he was "serious" about this.

"It's you that doesn't understand. Be too serious about something, think too much of it when you cannot solve it, and you'll just make it worse. As of now, we can't be sure of what's happening inside, so pointless worry will just cloud our judgment. And it's not like we weren't paying attention. Have you noticed how the castle is filled with Manikins?" he asked, taking Jack aback with how adamant he was about his approach.

"Different people handle things differently I guess… it's not like he's Sora levels of carelessness…" Jack concluded before turning his eyes to focus the windows towards the castle. Truth to his word, there were many crystalline soldiers passing through, ones that didn't seem human but had definite characteristics of one.

"What are they anyway?" he asked, Shinryu scuffing.

"They are crystals given human form by Cid of the Lufaine. That's as compact as I can explain it. Just know that they try to act like humans, and they are not irrational… but are not truly rational either. Mercy is nothing you should have towards them." He simply put, Jack wondering just how that was possible… but stopping as that hardly mattered as of now. What mattered was:

"How are we getting in without them seeing us? Not much of a surprise attack if we have to clear an army before it," He made a valid point, but again, nothing one of the other two hadn't thought about.

"We're gonna snake in." While Jack got what he was saying, he couldn't help but realize his poor choice of words… apparently.

"Don't you mean sneak?" Moments later, something founds its way into Jack's hands. It was… "A cardboard box?!" Seconds later, he "got it" as he and Shin smirked, Shinryu vanishing into Shin's body.

*Cue: "Snake Eater" MGS3 OST*

They soared to the proximity of one of the windows, taking care not to be spotted by others as they did. Once they arrived, they locked on to the patrollers. As soon as they passed near the windows, they grabbed them by their necks, throwing them down into the lava before entering the castle undetected. As soon as they arrived at the cold halls, Shinryu popped back out.

"I'll lead you to them. Don't worry, only you two can see me. Now follow me… and don't get spotted!" he exclaimed, starting to walk down the hallways. As he began to turn the corner, he was surprised by a Manikin doing the same, which, even if it didn't see HIM, it would see Shin and Jack… but he simply saw two cardboard boxes. However, just as t marched past the two strangely placed paper boxes, Jack bolted from one of them, grabbing its neck and breaking it, ripping out the head clean off. "Impressive… and refined. Contrary to SOME!" he snapped, Shin groaning.

The duo then followed the dragon through the hallways.

"This… was not expected," Xehanort said, massaging his eyes while pacing around the throne room.

"That's what we get by allying ourselves with an insane sorcerer!" Marek blared, turning to Lezard, who was laughing.

"No it is on me? You were so certain your brother would destroy Cosmos-infused Terra, yet he could not by the life of him beat a kid that cannot control Shinryu properly. This is all due to the fact you overestimated our opposition!" he accused, the silver haired warrior not taking it well.

"You've got some nerve!" he roared, summoning his Keyblade and rushing at the sorcerer.

"My my… aren't you touchy?!" Said mage summoned his spear, the Gungnir, blocking the attack easily, staring at the man's hateful eyes with his maddened gaze. "You are the one with "nerve". You don't strike a God and expect there to not be consequences!" he blared back, golden sands starting to leave his cloak and body. Darkness began to envelop Marek as both men seemed to near a clash, but…

"LEZZZY! Stop killing off allies!" oh, he knew that voice. And quite frankly, he was quite sick of it.

*Cue: "Kefka" FFVI OST*

The insane harlequin sat on a nearby hole in the wall he seemed to have made to invite himself in, legs and arms crossed and wearing a childish pout on his expression.

"You always do that! I mean, let's do a body count here… you betrayed Vayne, Illua, Ultimecia, Sephiroth, Jenova, even good ol' Xande!" he exclaimed, faking hurt as the two men stopped trying to murder each other and instead exasperatedly observed the figure ahead of them.

"I am quite certain YOU were the one that left Xande to his death… and I am also pretty confident that Sephiroth is still alive because I saved him in the end. Besides, if you don't further the plan, you are a loose end." He replied, adjusting his glasses, his smug being almost palpable.

"Details schmetails! Thing is, don't kill that meat-shield… I man, that ally. Yeah. Ally." He cackled. While Marek seemed to be getting in the mood for another fight, Xehanort acted faster.

"Who are you and what are you here for?" the elder man asked, his oppressing aura prompting Kefka to stop joking around for a minute or two.

"Why… I am here to do business. Ya see, I've heard from "sources" you got a stray kitten in your cage. Just give me the rights to her treatment and a lifetime pass to your little group and you may win a great prize!" He said, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, the hole behind him became completely yellow.

"Wh-what is…?" Marek and Xehanort exclaimed in unison as a dark and foreboding hissing filled their eardrums and souls. That… was an eye.

"You brought that here? Surprised you could just sneak it off." Lezard complimented, for once glad he had forged a somewhat safe alliance with the clown-god.

"Well, this was the thing that created the breach in space-time we are standing right now, so it was easy to enter it as soon as I felt you were going for the time-freeze thing." He explained, now turning to Xehanort, who looked at him completely shocked, but also enticed. If that was what he believed to be…

"Can I interest you in a Heartless… that devoured Kingdom Hearts?"

Inside a cell on the northeastern tower, a duo of girls awaited, one of them pacing around the room while the other, older one, simply sat on the bed with her hands joined in-between her legs.

"How can you be so calm?!" The twelve-year old exclaimed, turning to the young woman on the other side of the cell. "You haven't tried ANYTHING to escape. Are you that helpless that you need someone to come and save you?!" she screamed, the woman simply shaking her head and meeting her eyes.

"Would you please be quiet? I am trying to organize my interior magic. If it wasn't so foreign, I could have destroyed the cell's bars, Adamantium or not. But as it stands right now, I can only trust Shin to help us… and hope he doesn't get killed like last time he had to save me." She told the girl, who seemed to find it strange that they were waiting for someone who "got killed", but decided to go against asking for now.

"Well, the lock is magically protected and I guess that hitting the bars won't work either… I just hate the fact that my father always leaves me and mom alone! This wouldn't have happened if he wasn't in that stupid mission!" She screamed, turning towards the bars of the cage and hitting them with her Keyblade to hard it rebound, flying away from her hands. She yelled and angrily grabbed the bars, every drop of magic she tried to poor into them getting sucked in... Suddenly, she felt two comforting arms wrap around her and hold her in a way she'd never believe anyone but her mother and father to be able to do.

"It'll all be just fine. Just trust in the people you love. They won't let you down." Terra said with tenderness, caressing Rayne's hairs slowly to wash away both the girl's and her insecurities. Truth be told, she was afraid as well, but her motherly instinct just kicked in at full force.

"T-thank you. I shouldn't have snapped like that… I know my father loves me, but I just feel so alone sometimes." She confessed, whispers entering her ear right after it.

"I know how it is to be alone. I never had a father…" Terra told her, Rayne starting to feel guilty for even bringing that up. "But I know he tries his best to come back to you. I always did for my kids. And I won't let your dad go through the same I did," Terra assured her, even if her wording made Rayne wonder.

"What did you mean by that last bit?" she asked out of pure curiosity. Suddenly, she felt the grip on her compress and, unknown to her, Terra bit her lip.

"They… they are going to have to wait for me a bit longer." Even Rayne knew that to be the mother of all euphemisms. She hugged Terra back and apologized for bringing up her late family.

Immediately afterwards, Terra felt something magical nearing. Instinctively, Terra stood up and pushed Rayne behind her against the girl's will. Even if she didn't have powers, she'd her best to stop any harm coming to her. The force stopped at the door… until someone walked past it. Someone that made Terra smile from ear to ear.

"Alright, my job here is done. Kid, other kid, the girls are here!" And sure enough, she saw Shinryu walk past the door, being a spirit and all, but that wouldn't matter at all, she knew what was coming next.

The door opened and in came… two boxes. Oh, you know what happens next.

"Surprise!" Shin exclaimed, throwing the box to the side, Jack doing the same right afterwards.

"Dad!" Rayne exclaimed, running up the bars of the cell and extending her arms outside as his father rushed to her.

"Shin…" Terra said, simply showing relief and tenderness as her boyfriend approached the cage.

"Something feels off…" Shinryu began, his eyes shooting open and the hair on the back of his neck spiking as he realized what was going on. "Shin, don't take a step fur-"

Step.

"Well, well, well… I can't say I am surprised. You heroes do have the annoying habit of popping back up every few days… only this time, it's all to our convenience! Now, please, join us. We have been waiting for you for over an hour now." As soon as the known voice of the sorcerer finished, the grown began to glow, a sense of lightness taking out two male heroes.

"This floor was trapped into teleporting us!" Jack deduced, quickly fading away as Rayne called his name.

"Damnit Lezard…" Shin cursed, reaching for his belt as he started to vanish with Jack. "Here Terra!" He exclaimed, barely managing to throw her a small object just before vanishing.

"Please… take care of my daughter." Jack begged the woman he had just seen. One look into her eyes was enough for him to realize she had her heart in the right place.

And just as the hopes of rescue had come, they had gone, Shin and Jack were no longer there.

"Shin!" She cried, barely reacting in time to grab the object, gasping as she realized what it was…

"What now?! We're alone again!" Rayne exclaimed. Very poor choice of words.

*Cue: "Why So Serious" TDK OST*

"I… wouldn't say that," a voice told the duo of females from behind. Recognizing the voice instantly, Terra took the object and gripped it as it should be gripped, a pristine white sword-handle. Instantly blue flames erupted from it, forming a sheath that she grabbed with her other hand while spinning around, unsheathing a blade of pure light and decapitating the man that had had appeared behind them moments before. Kefka's head rolled on the ground, seemingly lifeless as its body fell also… but then, it started laughing.

"Bad, bad girl! I mean, I came to visit you and everything!" At that reaction, Terra knew it wasn't safe. She turned to the door and swung her blade against the lock, pleading her reasoning to be sound. She breathed in relief when the lock melted like butter.

"Let's go!" She exclaimed, grabbing Rayne's hand and beginning to run.

"What did you do?!" The girl, asked as they bolted out of the room.

"The only thing the Claíomh Solais can't cut is Orichalcum. Shin may have just saved us…" she replied, the "may" carrying weight. She knew it. That wouldn't stop him.

"Going somewhere?" Kefka asked as they turned a corner, laying with his arms crossed on the wall that had just come into view. They both gasped when the blaze on Kefka's hand manifested, a crazy laughter following his:" Why, yes you are!"

Our male pair was not safe though, as the trap had taken them directly onto the throne room.

"I'll be honest, I was expecting the dungeon," Shin commented as his feet touched the ground.

"They must be more desperate to destroy us than I thought," Jack agreed, being interrupted by a dark chuckle as darkness formed something above his shoulder.

*Cue: "Organization XIII" from… oh, I don't know. Super Mario Bros?*

"That's quite the entertaining joke brother. But desperation is the last thing to cross our minds," the shadow told him, taking the form of Jack himself for a second, staring at his eyes as it slowly reverted to its original form, Illusion. Jack groaned, swinging his Keyblade at his sibling, only to have him dissipate into darkness again, darkness that formed a poll that moved onto the side of the throne, where Xehanort sat.

"Oh boy, I never saw that coming," Shin sighing at the side of Xehanort.

"Xehanort, so you were behind this?!" Jack shouted, Xehanort smiling in return.

"Why yes, of course. You see, it is not every day that you find such a massive gap in the time-space continuum. But I understand that if you would break into the realm of the dead that was to be expected." Xehanort explained, slowly rubbing his hands into each other.

"So, this was all due to a random happening?" Shin questioned, this time Lezard talking.

"That was merely the kindling. The rest of the flame was fueled by our collective genius." He said, only be met with a:

"Soooo, in short, you're winging it?" Shin knew they weren't but still, the more they got lost in their thoughts the better.

"You'd love that, would you not, son of Shinryu? No. What happened was that I simply decided to explore this new crevice between worlds, meeting Lezard and forging an alliance with him and Illusion. You see, the prospect of having your shard of the crystal primo, the most powerful of existences, along with Light, Darkness, the X-Blade and even what can be the strongest of Espers would be more than enough to reign as gods!" he announced, arching his arms up and releasing a booming, maddened cackle.

"That's…" Shin and Jack started:

"Madness!"

"Unbelievably cliché'd!"

They had different thoughts on it obviously. Jack shot a fulminating glare at Shin, who just shrugged and replied:

"What? It is!" Xehanort seemed to care not for Shin mocking his plan of quite predictable objectives, maintain his proud smirk.

"Well, it is not as if any of it matters either way. We have no further need for you." He told him, smiling sharply as he stood up.

*Cue: "Facing Three Admirals" One Piece OST*

"What a coincidence! We have no need for you either!" Exclaimed Shin, drawing the final fantasy while Jack prepared for battle.

"And we are happy to take out the trash!" He exclaimed, summoning his own Keyblade.

"You did not let me finish. We do not need you… Alive that is. Only your shard." As he said that, his Keyblade flashed in his hand as he chuckled. "Marek, have your fun." He told Illusion, who took his orders with a dark sense of glee. Jack struck a defensive pose, but tentacles of darkness sprouted from the ground and dragged him through it, crashing through the floor, Marek diving after him to the lower levels. "Lezard, make sure he does not destroy the quarry," Lezard adjusted his glasses and he was off. "Shall w-"Xehanort began, his speech being shut down by a fist right in the face.

"You talk too much! You want Shinryu's Crystal Primo Shard…" he began, his mane becoming red like Shinryu's as he felt Shinryu give up his ghost form and enter him. His eyes become golden once again, and his body was covered in a flash of light, from it appearing a silver jagged and ornate armor made of Shinryu's crystal scales, golden markings adorning it, a silver tail and two wings, both of which's interiors were golden, appeared, the wings now truly materialized, not just transparent as before. It wasn't as much as he was changing attire as it was his body taking a different appearance altogether. "Come and get it!" He shouted, his voice now doubled. He pulled back his sword, now gleaming in golden energy and roared: "Chaotic Deluge!" he roared, the golden light engulfing Xehanort, destroying the wall and taking to the skies.

*Cue: "Black Powder" KH BBS OST*

"He's not that weak. Stay on your guard." Shinryu told Shin as the dust began to settle. The man tried to heed his advice, but, before he knew it, Xehanort emerged from the debris and grabbed him by the throat, pulling him overhead and slamming him into the ground.

"Pitiful." Xehanort taunted, black ice growing from his hand into Shin's neck. He was surprised when Shin smiled back, his hand grabbing his.

"That's… my game." He told him, his ice slowly crystalizing into golden crystal that began climbing his arm. Xehanort jumped back and attacked the crystal with his Keyblade, shattering it.

"That form… those powers… It would seem you were holding back against Jack…" Xehanort hissed, his plans for once not covering every single contingency.

"Well, to be fair, he was too. I could feel it. None of us truly wanted the other dead. But against you guys? We have no reason to hold back!" Shinryu exclaimed, making Xehanort taste his own medicine by spearing towards him sword blazing: "Elemental Blade: God Burst!" Xehanort had not the speed to dodge it, instead resorting to block it, the space itself around him cracking due to the sheer power of the blow. Unfortunately for him, he was still not off the hook. Shin's hand blazed with the same energy as it flew into his neck, the elder man grasping for air as Shin chanted: "And now... Heat End!" an explosion taking over Xehanort and over half of the room.

"Well, that was… disappointing." Shinryu commentated as the dust settled once again, the smoldering remains of the throne room being completely unrecognizable.

"ENOUGH!" they heard the voice of the man roar, Xehanort appearing from within their own shadow. "I've had enough of you dragon! Now KNEEL!" He boomed, extending his hand and showering Shin with tendrils of darkness that overpowered the young man, slowly driving him to his knees.

"Where did this power come from?" Shin groaned, gasping for air, but even his lungs were starting to slow down.

"His hand… that's Kaiser's shard…" Shinryu pointed out. Shin looked at it and it was all clear.

"Yes. We were brought a little present by an acquaintance of yours… truth be told, we only truly needed your shard of the Crystal Primo, Shinryu's shard, to become nigh unstoppable, but the clown gave us a beast with not one, but TWO of them! With that power, we do not NEED anything else! Light, X-blade and Espers be damned! With your shard, the triumvirate of unimaginable power will be complete! Nothing shall be able to stop us from going after the Crystal itself and taking it as our own!" Again, no matter how much Shin knew exactly what he was going for as he started to talk, this time it was serious. Truth be told, if in his world two-shards made their enemies nigh-unstoppable, having all three WOULD make Xehanort God in everything but tittle. And he doubted anyone could stop him from finding the rest of the Crystal and truly becoming one. And with Kaiser's shard nullifying his… he was at his mercy. "And now… to make all power mine!" He exclaimed, hand slowly approaching Shin's chest.

"Not on my watch!" Jack exclaimed as he appeared from beneath the floor, body completely covered in Light. Xehanort tried to turn, but was too late as the Wanderer's Judgement pierce his chest, breaking his tendrils over Shin.

"Why… how… how are you here?! Was Illusion this weak?!" Jack didn't answer Xehanort's question, for not even he knew. It had seemed too easy to get rid of his brother, but it had served him well. His eyes damn near bulged out of sockets once he felt another blade plunge through his body, the Final Fantasy's blood-stained blade now mere centimeters away from his eyes.

"Burn… in the Holy Flame of Lugh…" Shin managed to say before falling to his knees once again, the blow that would delete any true sinner from existence having been struck. At first, Xehanort felt nothing but the cold steel piercing him, but soon he felt his stomach burn. But it did not smell of burn flesh. No. Because it was the very existence of it that was burning, not the meat. He howled in agony at both the pain and the realization. It was excruciating, far worse than any blow he had suffered. Even Jack was surprised, stepping back and removing his Keyblade, seeing he man shamble aimlessly across the room, falling to his knees, clutching to his now half-gone torso.

"Lezaaaaaaaaard! Illusion!" He cried, his… allies as he called them heeding his call.

*Cue: "How Wicked Ruler" VP2 OST*

As Jack expected, they were barely hurt, smug, knowing grins ripping their expressions apart into dark, disgusting satisfaction. "W-what is the meaning of this?!"

"Well, I thought it to be obvious. Truth be told, you could not even stand against Shinryu without using the powers of the shards… We both can, easily, do so. See the problem?" Lezard questioned, Xehanort curling in pain but still asking:

"How… how dare you?" He asked, Lezard adjusting his glasses once again and replying:

"Why would we, beings superior to humans, gods even, obey an elderly man on his deathbed, so afraid of the end he wanted nothing more than to become something that would end?" Lezard asked, turning his back on him as Illusion made his way to Xehanort.

"Don't worry… you'll not only escape death, but also become a being far more than your pitiful existence. We'll still be working together, after all." He grabbed his neck and pulled him upwards, suspending the man in midair. "Now… take that shard back to where it belongs!" He shouted, throwing Xehanort through the hole Shin had created. The man barely had time to curse the betrayers before being engulfed in a shadow as black as night. Moments, later, a maw closed with such force the air trembled. Xehanort, was no more.

"W-what is that?!" Jack asked, backing away as fear cropped up on him and Shin. True fear, for the first time in a dozen years. As he stared into the giant yellow eyeball, he heard Shin say:

"Ouroboros… The Devourer."

Outside the castle, through a portal in the Rift, there was mountain zone of pure white snow, a small town poised at the base of a mountain. The town was the prelude to a mine-zone, one that was not nearly as serene as the rest of the area.

*Cue: "Battle to the Death" Dissidia version*

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Kefka called as he walked through the corridors, his prey having escaped his eyes after falling into the portal. Nevertheless, he could still feel them nearby, being a being of magic after his transformation. Suddenly, without warning, he shot a blast of violet energy against one of the walls, the Ultima spell detonating erratically. Rayne and Terra cried in agony as the wall they were passing through exploded in that same energy, knocking the near-magic-less Terra against the wall, back of the neck first, knocking her unconscious as Rayne was knocked off her feet. "Oh, hey kitten! Just wanna say, you were right! I've been waiting for alone time with ya ever since you left the Empire!" he whispered, licking his lips while slowly making his way up to her.

"You stay away from her, clown!" Rayne exclaimed, blocking his path with Equilibrium in hand. Kefka didn't seem amused.

"Seriously kitten! What is it with you and annoying twelve-year-olds? First the painting brat, then Onion Rings, and now THIS?! It's getting ridiculous… and that's ME saying it!" He crossed his arms and shook his head, eyes closed. This made Rayne try to take that chance to strike, but her strike to the neck was easily dodged when Kefka leaned backwards, a-la Matrix. "Close, but no cigar! You're ten years too early to even think of giving me tr-"as he ranted, Rayne had landed behind him and stabbed at him again, this time drawing blood. Kefka gagged repeatedly, his eyes finding the sword that had pierced him leaving his body through his chest and turning redder than his own blood.

"You…insolent whore!" He exclaimed, his four angel wings and two darker bat-like wings sprouting from his back all at the same time, piercing Rayne all over her small body. She fell backwards, but was grabbed by the hair by the former clown, whose make up had burned away, along with most of his clothing, leaving only his bare purple skin showing, a small cloth waist covering some of this legs and his entire waste. "I'm going to teach you some manners!" He took her by the hair and threw her against the wall, creating a spike of ice and commanding it to impale her. Rayne landed on the wall with her feet and kicked herself to the side, barely dodging it. Yet, in a blur, Kefka was right there in front of her, hand burning in crimson flames that he slammed into her side. The girl cried in pain as the side of her body was being burned, falling to the ground in spasms.

"Ya know… this would be much funnier if the girlie over there was watching… you should've seen her face when her children died!" Kefka exclaimed, grabbing Rayne by the hair and taking her face to his level. "I only wish I could've done it myself!" he shouted, laughing hysterically as a current of electricity descended from his hand, through Rayne's hairs and finally shocking her body. "Wait a sec… I can kill you and show you to your dad! Not nearly as good, but oh well!" He laughed, and laughed, only stopping when Rayne's body stopped convulsing. He then dropped her and turned his back on her, turning to Terra. "Now… for the main course."

"I'm… not a weakling!" Rayne screamed, concentrating all of her power in her right hand. "HOLY!" She cried, shooting an orb of Light energy in the direction of the crazed maniac, who just turned back and sighed as it made contact with him. The tunnels were suddenly illuminated by the flare of the explosion, but nothing more. At the end of the day, Kefka was unharmed. "No… way…" she said in disbelief, falling unconscious from overexertion.

"Alright! NOW it's the main course! Cheeky little brat that was…" He said, slowly making his way towards Terra.

Speaking of which… her sleep was anything but uneventful. As Kefka had his way with Rayne, Terra found herself on a very familiar place. Her feet were wet up to her ankles in the warm water of the Sanctuary… even though she knew it wasn't the real one. She looked around and found the seat Cosmos would sit on, surprised to actually SEE the Goddess of Harmony sitting there, her entire splendor restored, a far cry from the beaten, bruised form she had used to talk with them for the past three months. Of course… that could only mean one thing.

"Terra… so we meet again," She greeted, signaling her to come forward. Terra did what she asked for and walked over to the former goddess.

"Cosmos I…" Terra began, her heart skipping a beat at being so close to the woman who gave her life for her.

"Terra, there is no need to thank me. I know you are thankful to me… the last part of my being is in you. And even then, I did what I had to, you are far more important to your piers than I, a fake goddess, ever was." She replied, dismissing Terra's worries with her calm, motherly smile.

"Still… I'm eternally grateful." Terra told the goddess. She swore she saw a tear go down Cosmos' cheek as she did.

"I don't deserve it after what I did… still, let us not waste time. We both know that you are not here to thank me or patronize me…" Cosmos told Terra, the half-Esper swiftly remembering he situation she was in before passing out.

"No! I have to wake up! Kefka-"

"I know Terra. I know. But as you are right now, you will not be able to stand up to him." Cosmos told her, and even if she hated to admit it, she was correct. "Look, the reason I called you here is simple. I will not be able to communicate you as Shinryu does with Shin… I am far closer to vanishing. Neither can I make you understand how your body works. That is something you yourself must learn again. You must learn to control your magic again…"

"I don't have the time for that!" Terra replied, already getting desperate when she realized she had no idea how long had she been out. The things Kefka could be doing just haunted her.

"And that is why that, just this once, I am going to make you FEEL it." Cosmos explained and Terra stopped.

"What do you mean?" She questioned. How could she?

"Terra, this magic is both mine and yours. I'm able to control it also. I am weak now, but just this once, I may make you feel it. The rest is on you though…" Cosmos finished, suddenly feeling pressure on her chest. Terra had pulled her into a hug and was now gripping her tightly, a mix of gratefulness and sorry flooding her mind.

"I'm sorry for making you go through all this Cosmos…" the girl told the deity, who proceeded to hug her back.

"You and your companions went through a lot worse. This is the least I can do. Now Terra, go. Just this once, my powers will unlock your abilities. Understand how to use them, know the feeling you must look for. But most of all, save them!" she exclaimed as she, and everything around Terra broke like glass, prompting her awakening.

"Now where was I… oh yes! Get what I've been after for fifteen years!" Kefka exclaimed, jumping up and down before prancing towards Terra. "Uh, what's that?" he asked when he saw Terra's hand slowly open, even if it seemed she was not conscious yet. As it did though, a flash of light came from it, her magicite crystal now floating on it. "No…" he began as Terra's clothing began to glitter, her hair flowing and her features moving. "No, no, no!" She then suddenly grabbed her crystal, her hands becoming claws and her eyes opening up to reveal her feline orbs.

*Cue: "The Decisive Battle" The Black Mages Remix*

"NOOOOOO!" The light suddenly blasted him away, breaking the ceiling of the mine and being projected into the cold mountain air. Before his brain processed what had even happened, the clown-turned-god felt a very familiar claw-like hand grab his throat, spinning him around as he plummeted downwards before being slammed right into the unforgiving mountain-side rocks, any trance of snow blown away from his impact spot.

Groaning in pain, he coughed blood, the sight of it infuriating the psychopath even more. Hitting the ground with his hand, he looked up to find the culprit. Delicately landing near one of the houses, surrounded by a large, white, blaze-like energy that flowed serenely around her, was Terra's returned Esper-Form in all her glory. She lay down the now completely healed resting Rayne on one of the doors and turned back to him, her aura seemingly forming two ethereal wings around her, much like the ones in Cosmos' symbols. The phantom wings majestically moved as if they were alive, clamping on Terra's back when she turned to Kefka.

"How disgustingly… harmonic. Where is that whole flare you had before? Where are the uncontrollable lightning? Where are the…" Like a kid, he began to throw a tantrum.

"I don't have time for this! Riot Blade!" Terra exclaimed, knowing how precarious was to extend a battle on a form she knew not how to control. From her arms, came not her usual six blades, but a true storm of slices of energy that slashed through the air in search of their target. The assail of blade flew right towards Kefka, forcing him to fly in-between them upwards. As soon as he seemed to have escaped, he felt something touch his ankle, wrapping around it, burning it. "Whip!" Terra exclaimed, having weaved the same energy she used for her Riot Blade into a whip-like formation, using it to pull Kefka downwards, sending him plummeting towards her. Right afterwards, she jumped after him, calling back all the energy into her hands, creating the shaft of a weapon that eventually lead to a curved blade at the end. "Riot… Scythe!" With one swing, the scythe cleaved right through Kefka's body, his two halves slowly detaching from each other with a loud screeching similar to nails scratching a blackboard.

"Kefka… you wanted chaos?" She questioned, spinning around in midair, claws gleaming with pure violet energy. Kefka recognized that… she had summoned an Esper that had that exact same color on his claws. Maduin was it? Her father?! "Chaos… Wave!" With a swing of her arms, she deployed a large violet wave of energy at point-blank range, engulfing Kefka's entire body and moving erratically downwards, crashing onto the soil. At first there was silence, nothing happened. Then, the screeching sound returned thousand fold, an eruption of energy that blinded everyone in the vicinity blasting from the ground with a massive upwards current, all of Kefka's body slowly disintegrating in the explosion, the clown crying in agony until he could cry no more. Around this time, Rayne slowly started to awaken, witnessing the last moments of the fight with her own eyes.

What caught her eyes was other figure on the battlefield. She didn't see Terra anywhere, just some sort of cat-like humanoid being with a great amount of magical aura gravitating around her. Of course, Esper Terra's first reaction after finishing the battle was to turn and try to find Rayne. Rayne immediately tensed up as Terra started to approach, not afraid, but wary. She did have an aura even warmer than her father's, who was light at its purest, this was more like… harmony than light. It took Terra speaking for her to realize who was there.

"It's me Rayne…" She told her as she approached the child.

"Terra? How?!" She wondered out-loud.

"I'm not completely human. It's a long story best saved for last." Even the curious twelve-year-old knew this to be true. Her father was still in danger as far as she knew.

"Yeah, let's go help dad!" She urged, heading Terra's suggestion and grabbing her hand as they took flight. However, as they did, a fit of laughter overcame the air around them. "No way!" Rayne exclaimed, Terra standing ready and her Keyblade finding its way into her hand.

"Okay, okay! I'll give it to ya! That was pretty impressive! But still a bit short from actually finishing the job… if you WANTED to finish it anyway. Still, all in good fun. Just go and give me a show against Lezy-boy and I'll be happy enough to wait for you back in our world!" And with that and a crazed cackle, the last remaining presence of Kefka in the Rift seemed to just vanish.

"We'll worry later… for now, your father and Shin need us!" With a nod back from Rayne, Terra accelerating towards the gap in the Rift.

Back with Jack and the downed Shin… they were not fairing as well. The thing, whatever it was, roared. It's roared was something Jack never imagined to heard. It was gargantuan, shaking, terrifying, but yet, at the same time, it seemed to be carrying the wails of thousands if not millions of lives with it, creating an atmosphere of pure dread. And that was not all. So powerful was the creature that the ceiling and towers of the castle could not survive the roar, neither could the manikins, both crystal and stone cracking and breaking under the pressure of the roar. Only after the rubble cleared did Jack get a good look out of it.

The creature seemed to still be rising from a crack in the dimensional material, all of it oozing with darkness. His blood-red tongue appeared and disappeared from his mouth. Its snout as black as night and scales that appeared to glow in an eerie dark blue also appearing to be as sharp as blades. Its eerie amber eyes watched everyone as nothing but a meal. Slithering as it appeared, the body of the beast trudged from the dark abyss for what seemed to be hours. There was no end to the body, there was no doubt about it, the snake was bigger than the entire castle… by a large margin! When its tail finally left the hole, it was if hope had fallen into it. The beast looked down upon the wanderer and the fallen dragon descendant evaluating whose heart was the most succulent. The mere presence of the beast seemed to coat Jack and Shin in despair as they felt millions of agonizing cries fill their minds, ticking away at their hope and sanity. It wasn't long until it locked in on Jack's heart. With a demonic shriek it lunged towards the wanderer, intent on devouring him.

"Grab on!" Jack exclaimed, grabbing Shin's hand and jumping out of the way into his Rider. He watched in shock as Ouroboros destroyed the castle completely in one mighty strike. As it reared its head back, Lezard and Illusion appeared at his head, seemingly controlling the beast.

"Well brother, what now? A creature of darkness stands before you! Are you going to run, trying to save your pathetic hide or are you going to back up all that huge talk about Light and how it cleanses all?!" His brother taunted from the top of the beast. Easy to talk when you are atop of a nigh unstoppable Behemoth, isn't it?

"Jack, don't let him get to you…" Shin told him, breathing heavily.

"It's not a matter of getting to me or not Shin. We can try and escape, but we will only be chased and killed.." Jack told Shin as he landed on a nearby hill. With the castle out of the way this particular pocket dimension was a simple field of dark grass, the only really distinguishable thing being the monstrosity at the center, which seemed to be waiting for just the right time to strike.

"We can wait for Te-"

"I am NOT letting my daughter even CLOSE to that thing!" He exclaimed, summoning his weapon. "You go! Get Terra and my daughter and do your best to find a way out. I'll hold him off!" He ordered, his arm tensing, as if he was preparing for one last lunge. Shin laughed.

"You… want me to leave you here stranded? Don't even think about it! They are my enemies too you know? I'll fight too!" Big words, for a man that, trying to stand up fell back into the ground clutching to his stomach. Still, Jack couldn't help but let out a smirk. He was either stupid or honorable. Just like him. Maybe they had a shot at this.

"Alright. I'll do my best to take him on. Get some rest, observe him, think of something. Once you think you're read to come back, I'll be waiting."

"I don't usually take orders from anyone but Terra and Orlandeu, but alright. You got it." Shin replied, slowly sitting back up and starting to chant some healing incantations on his burned body. With it, Jack simply hopped back into his glider, pushing it to maximum speed, sliding past the maw of the beast , forcing it to turn in his direction.

"Ouroboros… I'm your opponent!"

Next Time:

Will Jack be able to hold Ouroboros until Shin gets back up?

What is the fate of the girls?

Will someone please slap that smile out of Lezard's face?!

Don't miss the next exciting episode of Dragon ball Zeeeeeeeeeee! Wait… wrong story.

Post-Chapter Note: Yeah, I divided this in two. 15K chapters are just… way too much. Next chapter you'll see more of Jack as well as what can or cannot be the most epic fight scene I created. But I won't say ANYTHING about that. To any of TerraKHs readers, and Terra himself… destroy me with all your might. I am ready for criticism.