Author's Note: Okay! Finally done! I've been through the opposite of what you may think. A writer's flood! Too many ideas, so little time! Still, I finished this since TerraKH really wanted it, so yeah. Unending and Normalcy got second place to it. Without further ado… let's finish this partay!

A Draconian Light: A Clash Never Meant To Be

Part Two

Chapter 2 of 2

Divided They Fall

"I talked big but… where do I even start attacking?!" Jack asked himself, staring at giant snake, which stared back at him blankly. That did not last however, as the snake seemed to snap out of his trance once Marek shouted:

"You dumb reptile, he encases the full power of an entire dimension's light! What better meal for you than that?!" the man's voice seemed to have stirred something deep into the serpent's mind, a bellowing roar escaping its mouth soon afterwards. The shockwave so great Jack's Keyblade rider started losing bits and pieces of itself, and this was something that could withstand meteors. This was pretty much the signal for Jack to realize "shit was about to get real".

*Cue: "The Dark Colossus Destroys All" Nier OST*

Faster than anyone could imagine, the colossal serpent lunged at Jack, the Keyblade Master barely jumping to the side in time, the Rider getting swallowed by the monster. Of course, this was inconsequential as Jack simply reverted it to a Keyblade and summoned it back into his hand, using it to diminish his falling speed by trying to carve it into Ouroboros. That's right. Trying. He was honestly scared once the Wanderer's Judgment FAILED to pierce the surface of the thing, instead lighting up in sparks as it grinded on the scales, leaving no marks of its presence behind. Eventually, Jack managed to kick the side of the snake to propel himself into midair, landing on its back.

"There is no way I can't pierce this… LIGHT!" he called for, his sword, and only his sword, now blazing up in a flame of light. With a cry, he stabbed the back of the beast and, as his blade pierced the scales and the skin, the light stated to seep into the snake, from it coming a cry of agony.

A? No. Many… Even Jack had no idea what that meant. That is of course, until the skin and scales started bubbling and twitching violently and forming bulging, amorphous bumps of flesh, arms suddenly erupting from them, all of them shooting towards our hero. Jack gasped as some of the arms grabbed onto his right arm and legs, but he didn't let them pull him down to where the beast wanted. He chanted: "Blaze!" Ridding himself of all assaulters and jumping to escape any other that would come after him. However, mid-jump he suddenly saw it. The giant open maw of Ouroboros heading right towards him. Trusting only his instincts, he cast a light blast to the side, barely dodging the mouth while still preparing a counter. "Aurora's flames!" he blared, swinging his blade, setting the side of the snake's head on bright, multicolored fire. The thing crashed and burn on the ground, sliding for a good hundred meters due to the impulse it had given itself earlier, allowing Jack to land on the grassy field safely… for now.

"Way too close…" Jack told himself as he watched the snake shake and contort in pain meters away. Again, it was like thousands were crying, not the snake. Jack still wondered what that meant… until the snake stood back up that is. "What the… what's…" As it turned to him, Jack belt bile reach out to his throat the moment he saw the monster's right side of the snout. The one he had burned. On the right side of its snout, where the flames had burned up the scales, what was below them wasn't the normal tegument of a living being, or better yet, it was, but it was a tegument made of wailing heads. All those people, and it was such a small section of its body. Yet, for a part of one side of the snake's head, there were dozens of wailing human ones. If the rest of its body was like this… "What monster is this?!" It only got worse. Among those faces he could see them… "M-Master Yen Sid?! Tidus? Leon? How can this be?!"

"Ouroboros is something that assimilates everything it devours," Jack heard Shinryu explain at his side. The spirit had seemed to have just appeared that precise moment. The ghost turned to him and continued: "Ouroboros ate this world's Kingdom Hearts, along with almost all of that dimension's people. Only the Wielders survived. It can even use their heart as it pleases," Disgust filled Jack, who turned back to see how Ouroboros' skin was slowly regenerating, Shinryu adding: "Yes, and that also means that since it borrows powers from billions of hearts, the loss of some is easily remedied, as he has the unique trait to be able to reabsorb hearts before they leave unto the otherworld," Now Jack was closer to fear than to disgust…

"But then, how can we defeat him? How did you survive?!" he exclaimed as Ouroboros recovered completely. Shinryu smiled.

"My boy, you are missing the point entirely. You do not have to defeat Ouroboros. At least not for now," It took some moments for Jack to realize what he meant, but then it clicked. Ouroboros seemed nothing more than a mindless animal. A dangerous one, yes, but it had not attacked until… He knew what to do.

*Cue: "Stand Up Be Strong" Bleach OST*

"LIGHT!" he called for, his body being covered in the blaze of Light that came with channeling the entire element from his world. "

"I'll be your support," Shinryu said, but by this point Jack had already sprinted towards the creature at a… "blinding speed". I'm so witty. Ouroboros took this as a challenge and lunged back at him. He was just expecting that, suddenly changing trajectory midair, the creature not expecting his newfound ability to soar.

"The one I'm fighting is…" As he was directly over his head for just a few moments, he locked eyes with his brother, who understood too late the shift of focus. "YOU TWO! Morning Star!" He exclaimed, throwing a small flicker of light onto the head of the serpent.

"I'll leave this to you…" Lezard said, grinning as he vanished, leaving Illusion behind without even trying to help his partner.

"Damn you!" He exclaimed as the flicker of light suddenly burst in a gleam that covered the entirety of the small dimension, like a small sun. Only Jack could see through it, and he was satisfied to see Ouroboros melt under the intensity of the blaze, however, that wasn't he was looking for, no, what he was looking for was behind him.

"Perceptive!" the now darkness cloaked brother of Jack complimented sarcastically when he blocked his Keyblade backhanded. "Still, you think you can defeat all of us?!" he asked, his free hand becoming a claw made of darkness that flew at his face, removing some of the cloak of light he was incased with. "You could not even defeat me! You are too weak for that!"

"Shut up!" Jack shouted back, returning the favor with a punch to his face. "I'm different now."

"Yet you are still naïve." Marek replied with a smile. It took Jack a moment to realize what he meant, just as a shadow started to loom over him.

"How could it be so fast?!" Jack cursed, powerless to do anything as he looked into Ouroboros' maw, which was already ready to enclose him. But then… It stopped. Jack saw a small line form itself, right dab in the center of the beast, appearing in a way whereas it ran along the middle section of it perfectly, as if it split it in two. Ouroboros closed its maw and looked back into his backside to find a shining white figure standing by its tail's side. Obviously enraged, the thing roared once again with the intention to attack it, but found it being cut short as its vision started to divide into two… along with its entire body. And then, there was a voice.

"I, who stand in the full light of the heavens command thee…" A circular glyph formed bellow Ouroboros' bisected body as all of the spectators watched confused. This was unlike any magic they had ever seen. "… who opens the gates of hell. Come forth divine lightning!" Four smaller glyphs formed above the circle, four strings of lightning rising from the larger glyph, passing through the smaller ones to converge on top of Ouroboros, shooting upwards into the sky, leaving two larger glyphs behind, rotating as the ray pierced the clouds, lightning brewing within the hole in the sky. The area seemed to have become the eye of a storm as tempestuous winds stirred up.

"Why that bitch!" Illusion roared, flaring in darkness and pulling his Keyblade back, ready to throw it at the person.

"Don't even think about it!" he heard someone yell, a sphere of holy energy blasting the weapon out of his hand, Jack taking that time to severely cut him from shoulder to hip, making him plummet onwards. "Go Terra!" Rayne shouted as Jack grabbed her.

Terra cringed at the energy this was demanding of her but she pointed downwards and finished the incantation. "This ends now! Indignation!" As soon as she finished, the very planet trembled as a thunder unheard of crashed into the Heartless, the silhouette of this instantly vanishing as the explosion blinded and threw back everyone, including the caster.

By the time it had all ended, Jack slowly put himself back up, commenting only on:

"We were supposed to save… that?" he said, still marveling at what she had just done. He was not the best magician in the world, far from it, he fought at his best in close quarters, but that magic packed enough punch to make him understand she was every bit as capable as he was. He looked around and saw nothing. Nothing. No sign of the snake outside of… that ooze.

"It's… not over yet…" Terra gasped, falling to one knee.

"Terra! You okay?!" Rayne exclaimed after rushing over to the older woman. As she nodded, she was relieved.

"Just… a bit tired." She explained, turning her head towards Jack, who asked:

"What about you Rayne?" He asked, dismissing it quickly with a:

"Fine…" More out of shame for her previous insults than anything else, but he thought it was out of spite, so he did something he hardly had the time to do. He kneeled and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry…" he apologized, tears coming to his daughter's eyes.

"No… I am!" she explained as she hugged back "I-"

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"How touching. Father, daughter and… uncle unite." Both Terra and the Rikkisons turned to the side, seeing Lezard walk around them, heading towards a nearby destination, with a flick of his hand removing the rubble from Illusion's body.

"What the hell was that about, you traitor?" Illusion spat back at Lezard, slapping his hand away and standing back on his feet. Lezard simply chuckled darkly, adjusting his glasses and saying:

"Far from me to interrupt a family discussion. I just expect you to do the same when I'm with my specimen." he told his partner, both sarcastically and with a sick joy once his eyes wandered near Terra.

"Suit yourself…" Marek replied, giving up completely on trying to understand what went through his head. He saw Jack take a defensive posture towards him, but that would only made him chuckle. "What? Didn't you hear the girl Jack? It ain't dead yet!" Jack barely registered it in time to spin around, swiping his Keyblade around and slicing off the head out of a blackened Tidus, black blood splashing on his face.

*Cue: "Invasion" Bleach OST*

"It's just like Jenova…" Terra gasped, standing back up as she saw what was rising from the pools of goo that had been Ouroboros. She summoned the Solais Claíomh in anticipation, knowing as the pool BECAME a gigantic army of black human-like bodies, their amber eyes as hungering as the beast in itself.

"They are way too many!" Rayne exclaimed, summoning her Equilibrium as her father approached her.

"Shin has to hurry up…" Jack commented as the trio now stood back to back, facing the slowly encroaching army while Lezard and Marek looked, nothing less than content.

"The kid still needs time. But I have an idea for him…" Shinryu said, vanishing, basically leaving them to fend for themselves.

"Everyone, stand back!" Terra exclaimed, determined to gain as much time as she could in one blow, lest the transformation fail her. She cried, concentrating all her energy on her right hand, the sword she held drinking it like it was water. Suddenly the handle of it stopped emitting light, instead pulsing repeatedly. "I'm going to protect… everyone!" Terra took a deep breath and rose the sword skyward. Last time she used this she had Shinryu's power but that had been before Cosmos gave her power. "Final…" she gasped, from the hilt suddenly erupting a nigh endless stream of energy, rising into the empty skies at an incredible speed. "Riot…" as soon as the energy reached its climax, Terra held the sword sideways, the pillar of energy already claiming the lives of many a copy, reverting them to simple hearts. "BLADE!" And as everyone knew by now, she swung it with all her might, the energy becoming little more than a tidal wave of death washing over the giant army in a circular way. Nothing seemed to slow it down, no matter how many it cut, until it suddenly stopped completely.

"What…" she gasped, watching along the blade to see just how one man had halted her assault. Lezard stood his ground, a grotesque serpent-like blade buried on the ground along with his Gungnir, completely blocking her attack.

"It seems high time that I, Lezard Valeth, would join into the fray, do you not think so?" He questioned smugly, grinning maniacally while the reflection on his glasses hid his eyes.

"I… I can't…" she fell to her knees, the last two moves being too much for even her new body to take. "I can't stop now… I just can't…"

"Well now, that was dissap- Well now!" the mage was interrupted by a flaming blade that barely missed his head, trapped instead in a cascade of golden sand. "Do you desire my attention that badly? Well, I'm afraid you barely qualify for it!" he exclaimed, jumping backwards as three particularly recognizable faces met Jack's eyes.

"Master Eraqus… Master Yen Sid… Xehanort? This may get ugly," Jack told himself, tensing his blade and preparing himself for the moment they lunged. Eraqus went first, Jack being the most used to him predicted both the first lunge and the three subsequent ones, dodging them while not moving from the spot. That is because he knew what was coming next. In anticipation and pure instinct, he threw himself to the side once Eraqus stopped his assault, dodging a Thundaja spell from above, courtesy of Yen Sid. Taking the dust created by it as an advantage, he lunged towards the frailest of the trio, swinging his sword in a spinning motion for added power... Unfortunately for him, there was a third Master, and that third Master had just protected his former mentor with his bare, darkness-clad hand. Just like he planned. "This is gonna be way too satisfactory!" Jack exclaimed, his Keyblade shinning even brighter than usual as he heard Eraqus come in for a back attack:

"Salvation!" He chanted, spinning himself around one more time to call upon tens if not hundreds of pillars of light to circle around him, engulfing the three masters and a large area around him. Once the light had stopped, he landed back on the ground, looking at the giant hole it had created on the fallen ones' quickly diminishing army and smiled. "Well, any more takers?"

"I'll entertain you brother." Marek said from behind, Jack shaking his head and parrying his blade without looking.

"Now you're the naïve one Marek… did you think I'd let my guard down?" He questioned, taking a stance.

"Just checking… don't disappoint me!"

"Don't worry Terra, I can take them. Get some rest, I got your back!" Rayne exclaimed as she nimbly jumped from a now-decapitated Ouroboros Spawn's shoulders into the crowd, chanting: "Holy," as she did, deleting them for existence except their hearts. She then started darting around the crowd, dodging and slicing in what could be described as a dance of death, something that would be unbefitting for her age… except Porom and Palom were five when they did it so that theory kinda goes down the drain.

In any case, she high and above the cannon fodder, but she also was not strong enough to clear everything in moments like her father or Terra, which would have led to her demise. This because the high amount of Spawns simply made it hard to distinguish which ones were worthy fighters, even harder to see where they were coming from. For this reason, Rayne cut down three of the Spawns just to turn and see the Cloud-spawn swinging wildly at her neck.

"Don't you dare…" Terra stated, appear behind Cloud and putting both her hands into the midst of his back. "Tarnish the image of my friends! Meltdown!" and with that, the former-human felt the full force of a point-blank max-level spell, being catapulted into midair with a giant sphere of flames, exploding into even less than ashes. However, Terra didn't see a Leon go for the same as she did, only a golden flash, Leon splitting in half once Rayne landed.

"I said I had your back!" she said the two sharing a moment of apparent safety.

"But who, may I ask, has yours?" Rayne turned at the voice to see nothing, and again, nothing this time also, looked up, nothing.

"Bellow you!" Terra exclaimed, noting golden sand beneath the girl. Unfortunately for Rayne, she looked down, Lezard taking that opportunity to rise behind her, locking her in a cage of light with a single touch.

"Finally… I was getting tired of interruptions." Lezard complained, seemingly throwing away dust from his cape before walking on Terra's direction. She tried to fake defiance, but she knew she was spent. She had, at best, strength for one more spell and the opponent in front of her was not someone she could dispose of in a wave of a hand. Likewise, due to her body being literally made of magic, she was also physically too tired to engage in a swordfight. Still, she wouldn't go down without a fight. She poised herself for battle, claw in one hand and blade in the other. "Oh, you are going to give me a battle? Well, it has been two months since last we fought so this may be… interesting. Now, let me just make sure none of the spawns interfere, I hate nuisances."

"Then you are going to HATE me!" Do I even have to say who said that?

*Cue: "Number One" and this is the last one from Bleach's OST, I promise you*

There are few things in this world for Terra or anyone in the vicinity that could quite match the sight of a boot that was flying faster than the eye could see crashing into Lezard's then smug now contorted face, quite literally sending him flying as his glasses flew through the air, broken. And where he had once stood, Shin stood, armored and fully recovered. Terra was overjoyed at seeing her recently-official boyfriend arrive with nothing but a few scratches and gashes on him, any and all fears she had once she arrived at the battlefield to see him completely out of it melting away. And yet, there was no joyous celebration, not even a hug or an affectionate call. Once Shin turned to her, a knowing grin on his face, it was as if their minds were one for a moment. She had never felt like this… was this another of the new "perks"? She could only imagine being so as they moved in perfect synchrony, Shin jumping and turning back into Lezard's direction in midair as she jumped also, lower than him but flipping to the side midair, reaching the perfect angle as they swung their swords like mirrors, the tips touching but not clashing exactly midway through.

In that precise moment it was much more than their thoughts joining. It was as if their essences were apart of each other. Terra could feel the massive flood of Shinryu's full extent enter her as Shin gawked at feeling the calm but fierce flame of Cosmos power, both flowing in both bodies. Their mouths, their powers, their arms, they all moved in perfect fluency, like two streams of a river that had just joined. And with that, they both called upon a tsunami.

"Riot Deluge!" They chanted, their perfectly fused power bursting forth from their swords in a single, large amalgamation of violet energy, almost immediately darting towards the still staggered Lezard, gaining a more recognizable form as it flew. Before Lezard knew, he was on the maw of a feline Raijū-shaped energy ray that almost seemed to move on its own legs as it flew. His skin was bubbling due to the extreme temperatures of being near the thing, but what scared him was hardly that, but how much energy as there and what would happen when it detonated. So worried was he, he did not realize where it was headed.

"Jack!" the now pseudo-mind melded duo shouted, Jack putting two and two together while fighting Marek, dodging his sideward slash and smirking all the way as he threw him in the blast's direction, Marek colliding with Lezard and flying together towards the horizon, where the explosion came about, the screeching sound characteristic from Terra's Riot based abilities cracking opening cracks in the Rift when mixed with Shinryu's powers.

"Whoa… you two can break us out!" Rayne exclaimed once she got near the duo, Jack following soon after, a mysterious barrier of light erupting in the groups vicinity, letting no Spawn get through.

"Not exactly… not just us," they both explained to them, creeping Rayne out with their in-synch voice if ever so slightly.

"You need something else?" Jack questioned, Terra and Shin nodding at the exact same time. Even Jack was somewhat… estranged by this. Even more so when he looked closer into their eyes. Their left eyes were both… different. As in, Shin's left eye was violet while Terra's was golden, and they were both silt differently from their right… almost like they switched.

"Jack… you use Light in a way we never saw. It's almost like it you draw it from its very essence. We need it for what we are about to attempt." This continued to be too distracting for Jack, who grabbed both of their shoulders and shook them.

"Snap out of it! Terra, Shin!" he exclaimed, their eyes suddenly returning to normal.

"What… what just…" Terra questioned, but decided against asking for too much as she had an idea of it. "Well, it doesn't matter, we have to do this fast. What we need is-"

"Let me explain Terra. I'm more suited for it… "Shin said, not adding the obvious: Plus we're halfway through this chapter and he's barely been in it. "Okay, what Old Lizard Shinryu proposed is quite simple. We need my connection with Shinryu, Terra's knowledge and skill with magic and your Light as a power source. Normally, me and Terra could scrape it but it works best if we have an external power source. And since the Cauldron of Dragda isn't here, we can combine our efforts!" he exclaimed, even if he hadn't explained just what they were going to try. Still, Jack knew Lezard and Marek weren't going to stay down for long… so when he was asked to join a glyph on the ground with the duo, he instantly did so.

"Rayne, be on the lookout for us, we need complete concentration," Terra asked of the girl, who nodded, grabbing the Equilibrium, just in case anything got through the barrier they had created.

*Cue: "Dalamud Answers" Final Fantasy XIV OST*

"So… old man, you ready for this?" Shin questioned inwardly as he felt Terra's magical hold enter deeper and deeper into this.

"Don't worry Shin. We already did this once. As long as we have a body, we can do it." He assured his other self, who smiled back as Terra metaphorically grabbed onto to his essence, as using it as a blueprint.

"What are they doing?" Questioned Jack to himself just before he felt something otherworldly enter him. Recognizing the signature aura to it, he realized it was Terra trying to come into contact with Light itself that resided inside of him. At first, he was afraid it was going to strike back against someone other than itself or him, but it seemed to accept Terra pretty quickly, as if it had a mind of its own… still, it wasn't until Terra started to weave both powers that the way it worked tipped Jack off. He had never used this kind of magic, but he had seen someone use it. In Baron. And it felt exactly the same. "Is this… summoning magic?"

"Being that even the gods fear, created for a purpose greater than any mortal…" Terra began, the glyph she had created now extending a hundred fold, from its marks shinning rays of silver and gold. Jack and Shin cringed as they felt their essence being used for a spell, but they knew Terra would never kill them by exertion. It wasn't as if they were being stripped of their power, much the opposite, it seemed to be simply flowing outwards. "Oh Divine Dragon, tasked with the protection and judgment of mankind, answer my call!" It was by then that the light intensified to the point of deleting any and all of the spawns that surrounded them by its sheer presence. However, this backfired pretty quickly.

"To think they'd try something like this…" Lezard commented, summoning another pair of glasses and fixing his clothing with his magic. He looked upon the pillar of light on the horizon. Of course though, there was someone who didn't truly care about the pillar of light, caring more about the man in front of him.

"YOU!" Marek blared, grabbing him by the collar. "Don't you dare interfere again!" His intimidation only earned him a smile.

"What? First you ask for my interference but then you make me swear not to? I truly do not understand your feeble mind's logic…" If there was something Lezard exceled in, was in antagonizing people. Which would not be the best thing to do for his partner, but oh well.

"Why you-"

"Silence!" It was not Lezard's order that stopped Marek, it was the same thing that Lezard had felt. "Oh, so you understand… we must act now if you are to stand a chance. Now, follow me, your darkness will come in handy."

Rayne was just watching her surroundings, the disappearance of the spawns only raising her spirits, not lowering her guard. And she was right to do so… for suddenly, all the hearts that had been released started to converge back in one single spot, a black sphere that pulsed much like a heart.

"No, it can't be!" she gasped, turning to Terra. "It's regenerating! And fast!" the blob was already changing quite fast into what it once was, the screaming and wailing of millions intensifying.

Terra's facial expression suddenly twisted in pain, the girl falling to her knees while her Esper Form flickered. She cried out in pain before cringing, trying to stand back up.

"What's the matter?" Rayne asked, Shin and Jack unable to move.

"Light and Shinryu… they weren't made to coexist. Light is resisting the spell. We would need something to bridge the gap between Light and Shinryu. Something to balance the energy connection as I weave it…" The proverbial light bulb lit up on Rayne's head, the girl quickly grabbing onto Terra's hand.

"Use me." Before Terra would question or say no to it, Rayne just said: "I'm the balance of light and dark… equilibrium is with me. Also, my dad's Light will be trust me. Just do it. I'll balance the energy flow!" Her eyes were gleaming with determination, Terra could never say no to them. With that, in an instant, Rayne felt not one but two energies as old as the world itself course through her for what seemed to be forever, but were no more than mere moments.

"Cue: "Answers" Final Fantasy XIV OST*

Every piece fell into place and all four parties knew what to say.

"May the Earth Cry, the Heavens Weep and The Gods Tremble. Judge the Impure… Godsbane Shinryu!"

All the light from the crest erupted and vanished in a moment, above them now flying a creature. The dragon was shaped exactly like Shinryu with its long, serpentine body, flowing mane, jagged gem-like scales and large wings… all of which were made of light.

"Have we… failed?" Jack asked, seeing something that was akin to a giant flashlight. Nothing could be alive like that… could it?

"Nope." Shin said with a grin. As if on cue, the dragoon chuckled.

"He is right, I am here. I do not look like my normal self, but I feel like one. I can't say I expected to be equal to my last form but I must admit." He opened up his wings and flew around in a circle, the wind coming from the simple action being too real for Jack to question if it was still just a mass of light. "Solid Light is a new one. At least as it would go for a living being. Quite neat. I shall call myself… Shinryu Lux!" Only Shin and Terra knew just why a Godlike being would speak like it. Shin's personality seemed to be almost taking over it… shame, for it would mean the dragon's end, complete assimilation. They weren't going to worry about it though. "But I see someone also brought a neat toy…" Shinryu sarcastically commented as a gigantic shadow loomed over. Truth be told, Shinryu wasn't that large. Two times as big as Bahamut would be a fair comparison. This meant that he was positively dwarfed by Ouroboros. And this one seemed especially big. It had changed from its past, most simple incarnation and into the one Shin and Terra had only gotten a glance off. Eight dragon-like wings now jagged out from Ouroboros, a mane much similar to Kaiser Dragon's crimson mane slithering down its head. Nothing more had changed outside of it… but the feeling of being near it did. You could feel how much worse this one was.

"As I expected… they summoned you Shinryu! I am glade my foresight was as effective as ever, lest we have to fight you." Lezard said as he and Marek appeared on top of the head.

"Overconfident on your pet, aren't we? Well, so be it. This has gone on long enough. Kid, Kitty, Grumpy, Girly, come to me!" He called, using his powers to simple make the four mortals appear on its back. "Are you ready?" he asked. Shin grabbed Terra's hand for a moment while Jack did the same to Rayne. Both of them looked at each other, nodded and let Shinryu's armor and Light take over. Shinryu took this as a sign. "Good. Now, like a wise man once said… Come at me bro!" Last time I checked, Zack wasn't a wise man… but oh well.

*Cue: "Ornstein & Smough" Dark Souls OST wait… that?! They're screwed.*

Shinryu simply vanished from sight, having become as fast as light itself. Mere moments later Lezard and Marek's brain registering their disappearance, they were already to the side of them.

"SLOW!" Shinryu admonished, blasting the side of Ouroboros' head apart with a Deluge. This covered our heroes enough to jump into the head of the serpent unseen. From the blinding light, Marek and Lezard could not see Shin and Terra emerge in time to escape, them synchronizing again, even out of instinct, as they both cried:

"Savage Wave!" fusing both Savage Roar and Chaos Wave into one. The point-blank blast was partially blocked by Lezard's golden sands, but as reality around the top of the snake cracked, Marek was thrown away by the dimension bending powers, hitting one of Ouroboros' wings as it took flight to fight Shinryu. Jack and Rayne followed their sibling onto the wings while Shin and Terra stayed on the head. Lezard's golden sand began to slowly fall back down, even then, signs of injury all over his body just from the sheer impact. Still, he was smiling.

"Those eyes… you just keep getting more and more interesting!" he exclaimed, summoning a tome whose pages dethatched from it, rotating around him as he floated. "Come! It's time for your final examination! Dark Savior!" with a flick of his hand came tens of blades of darkness from the ground, all of which thirsting for blood. Terra and Shin skillfully dodged them as they made their way closer to the mage, who laughed manically, teleporting away, reappearing on top one of the eight wings. "Slow! Sylvan Array!" he exclaimed, raining down the sacred arrows of the sylvan bow upon them. Without an exchange of words, they took flight, they had no need for them. They effortlessly dodged them all, Terra closing her hands as she said:

"Thunder and Earth… Spellfusion: Atlas!" by her command, Lezard was encompassed by a globe of earth, thunder erupting from the inside out as Shin went in for the easy blow. Or was it?

"You disappoint me! So quick to drop your guard?!" The man shouted from the inside Shin was about to cut through the rock. Terra implored him to stop, but both he and she knew it was too late to try. "Do you really think you can withstand my magic? The magic of a God?" Lezard boomed creating a giant glyph in the air, destroying Terra's cage and encompassing her and Shin. "Harken the angel summons." He chanted as thunder came crashing down from the glyph. Shin and Terra dodged the first few but they were too many for them to dodge and they were struck down into the ground. "The true path shall guide you to find peace in annihilation!" Multiple orbs of light started spinning in circles around her and slowly closed in. "Phantom Destruction!" The man shouted as he closed his book, creating a massive explosion that engulfed Shin, Terra and destroyed a great deal of the wing. "Too weak…"

"TRUE!" Terra and Shin exclaimed as they appeared right behind him.

"Chaos… Scythe." The wind screeched and the time-space itself was sliced as the energy from Terra materialized in a slash, Lezard suddenly finding his right arm forever lost into the rift. As if that was not enough, Shin blared:

"Spellblade: Almagest!" Catapulting him from one side of the serpent to the other as his black covered black exploded in pure white light.

They hurried to give chase of course, but now we must ask ourselves how Jack's battle was going.

"You coward!" Jack exclaimed as Marek attacked him and Rayne with an army of spawns.

"Darkness becomes me Jack! I can control these Heartless easily!" he explained, wailing away on Jack freely, albeit too carelessly as Jack managed to parry a blow at the last possible second, sending him staggering backwards and following it with a piercing stab. "Not so fast!" He cried, grabbing a nearby body, body-blocking Jack's strike with Zack's now lifeless body. The sight of something so similar to his friend paralyzed Jack for just enough time for Marek swing his sword THROUGH Zack and into Jack. He would be dead if it weren't for his daughter blocking the blow at the last possible moment, all the while charging a spell in her free hand.

"Holy Burst!" she exclaimed, a sphere of white exploding into Marek's head, carving through the dark shroud to reveal his silver hair and face.

"Why you damn…" Marek began to insult, finding a fist filling up his face, courtesy of his brother.

"Don't you dare say anything about my daughter!" Jack exclaimed, Marek laughing in return.

"How can you be so sure she's yo-" And again, he got interrupted, this time by Shinryu's Chaotic Deluge, one that he had aimed at the snake's head, missing and ending up cutting off one of its wings, at the exact spot Marek was. He flew, dazed and in pain from the right wings into the spine of the snake. As that happened, Jack noticed Lezard hitting a lower wing and falling off into its back. Seeing that, he simply jumped after him with Rayne, knowing that Shin and Terra would get the memo.

"Damn it brother! Where are you going?!" Marek roared before feeling the air a bit too hot. "Don't even think about it!" he quickly turned around, grabbing the Meltdown orb thrown in his direction, but that was exactly what he should have never done, having locked himself in place, Shin cloaked himself in fire and rammed into him from the side, slamming him against the back of the beast, the incarnation of darkness starting to quickly slide downwards as they said:

"Your fight is with us now!" moving and talking like they mirrored each other, running down the spine of Ouroboros as it swung around widely, the snake trying to get a good bite on Shinryu Lux, failing to do so as faster than 300000000 meters per second is quite fast. Marek eventually stabilized by laying down his feet on the scales, summoning spawns of Ouroboros from its skin while he descended. There was no exchange of words between the two while Terra went for the puppets and Shin to the puppet master, the girl freezing two of them and breaking them right afterwards as Shin jumped, heaving his blazing sword into Marek's dark-stained Keyblade. They clashed thrice more, down, up, middle, the third time their swords grinding as both came to a halt, Ouroboros had taken flight, and that meant that for now they were horizontal again. This proved to be a pivotal time in the fight as Marek pulled out a trump card. While he pushed his sword against Shin, a spawn began to materialize behind him.

"You fell right into it…" he said, trying to use his voice to hide all traces of the attack. And it would've worked on a normal human… yet Shin dodged the attack simply by moving his head to the side, the sword of a shadowy Auron piercing Marek's right eye in sheer karma. "H-how. You couldn't have seen i-"he realized it too late. His eye caught Terra's golden one, which was staring at their exact location as she fought two other spawns off. Only then did he realize the full extent of their connection. And only then did the rage from his humiliation hit him, at the exact moment both seemed to smirk at him. "You… you have no idea who you are dealing with, do you?!" he growled, his sheer power causing a section of Ouroboros to detach from its skin, along with any spawns, all of it covering him.

"I am the Lord of Darkness!" he grew at least four times his size, arms, legs and head turning grotesque Gargoyle-like in appearance as wings sprouted from his back, it roaring: "Now, tremble!" Shin's hair was flying back just with his voice, or its voice, he did not know, but he had only one thing to say, him and Terra sharing the:

"Well, that can't be good."

Meanwhile, Jack tried to catch the still quite slippery Lezard, who just laughed and teleported every time he managed to even get near him, showered by arrows and spells every single time.

"Please, entertain me! This is becoming rather stale!" Lezard exclaimed, pointing his hand at Jack and chanting: "Prismatic Missiles!" The six beams of pure light then hounded Jack, who took to the skies to escape them. "Not so fast!" as Lezard moved his hand, so did the beams move. They were extremely fast, faster than even Jack. He had no idea what he could do to get rid of them, but he saw a light of hope when his daughter managed to sneak in on Lezard's back, seemingly unnoticed. "Sneaky, aren't we?" And his hopes were dashed and replaced by despair. Golden sand wrapped around her, levitating her.

"Prepare yourself, wish your father goodbye, because I don't believe you can survive this as you are right now." He flaunted as he landed on the ground, sending his book away and revealing his Gungnir. "Awaken lord of the Four Treasures, sealed away since the origin of time!" The blade split in three dark copies and shredded Rayne with multiple cuts and thrusts, sending her flying above and beyond. After that, two giant lances impaled her, making her lose consciousness. The three shadow lances returned to the man's hand converging into a single one. "Taste Gungnir's might! Divine Assault: Spiritual Lancer!" He boomed as he threw Gungnir at the unconscious Rayne. His pupils dilated when a ray of light suddenly appeared in front of her, Jack exploding from it and grabbing the spear with his bare hands, even if blood exploded from both in his attempt.

"Don't worry Rayne… father's here," he whispered, grabbing the spear's handle with his right hand, eyes flaring with fury. "And you're going to pay for this! Here's a taste of your own medicine!" And he simply threw him his precious Gungnir back with all his power. Such was his fury that the speed behind the spear was above and beyond anything Lezard could even dodge, the self-proclaimed God being impaled pathetically by his own weapon.

Landing slowly with his daughter, Jack smiled after feeling her pulse was still going strong after the rudimentary healing he administrated her. What he didn't expect was the turbulence that came with Ouroboros trying to catch Shinryu, along with something much more immediate. The Gargoyle-like Marek had just slammed Shin down against the spiny spine of the creature. Acting fast, Jack jumped in front of the finishing fist, blocking it with his Keyblade just in time.

"This energy… Marek?" The beast laughed at his brother's completely startled eyes. "You fell this low…"

"On the contrary dear brother, I simply embra-"

"Firaza!" Marek's eyes almost bulged out, not for being interrupted, but by what had interrupted him.

"Za?!" He cried, turning to see Terra chuck a cinder-like substance at him. Jack swore he heard something close "shit" once it touched his face, but he could not hear it over the cataclysmic explosion of fire that took place right afterwards. The eruption was so massive, the scales around them started to melt, the fire so hot Rayne's hair singed, even if it was not even close to the blast. Jack knew this was the prime time to attack and he hurled his Keyblade onto his brother's chest, who staggered back, falling to the ground.

"I… think we're done with him," Shin coughed, slowly lifting himself back up with Jack's help.

"What about Lezard though?" Terra asked Jack, her eye back to normal.

"Don't worry about him. He isn't going anywhere."

Mad laughter from above.

"Why yes, you are absolutely right, heathen!" Lezard cried out, right glass broken, body a mess, right arm gone, but now more insane and dangerous than ever. "I shall never vanish! In time, you will all serve me, so listen and do as I say! Bow to me! Worship me! Honour my name! LEZARD VALETH!" He cried maniacally as he lifted his one remaining arm onto the heavens, three giant beams of light appearing from breaches in the Rift and grabbing nearby asteroids, bringing them into the heroes 'direction.

"You fool! You'll kill me aswell!" Marek shouted, the group despairing to see that they had not even seen the end of the dark lord. This didn't seem to phase Lezard whatsoever, as he continued as planned.

"No mercy for the damned…" He began as the smaller meteorites assaulted the heroes and Marek, who could hardly dodge them. "No escape from catastrophe! Meteor Swarm!" He shouted as he brought down a meteor even more massive than Ouroboros itself.

"Damn you Lezard!" Marek yelled in frustration.

"Kids, listen to me! Grumpy, I need you to get dark lord over there on a straight line to Lezard. You two, do your thing!" Shinryu told the trio before biting Ouroboros' neck, stopping it in midair, just below the meteor.

"Marek!" Jack yelled, doing as Shinryu said and attacking his brother.

"Very well! Let us finish this before it all ends brother!" Marek replied, bringing down both his fists on Jack. He did not expect however, Jack being teleported into his back, courtesy of Terra and Shin. "Light's Blaze!" he blared, a geyser of light erupting from his Keyblade's slash, throwing Marek across the air. Just as he did so, Terra and Shin's eyes interchanged again, their hands coming together, a bright, golden light forming, waiting. As soon as Marek passed between them, the meteor and Lezard, they had already chanted:

"Grace this world, spear to which Gods fall! BRIONAC!"

In one instant, it was as if time stopped and skipped forward, for in the very next one, there was a single, golden light piercing the meteor and, while they could not see it yet, Lezard and Marek laid impaled on the other side, the impact of the blow being so strong it cracked the dimensional walls, quite literally making them crash into nothingness. Soon after, the dimensional material behind them cracked, but they did not fall, for they were still impaled by Brionac.

"And now for the coup de grâce!" Shinryu exclaimed, roaring, it's roar so fierce the earth beneath them opened up and the meteor was destroyed, pieces of it completely decimating Ouroboros as the dragon grabbed the heroes and left the vicinity of it.

As they reappeared at a safe distance, they smiled as they saw Ouroboros turn into ooze due to the attack of its own master. With Brionac now gone, the heroes saw Lezard and Marek beginning to fall, unconscious.

"We're going to need you to do the honors… Jack…" they said in their final synchronized tone, Terra's newfound form finally vanishing after having her completely heal Rayne, who groaned as she woke up.

"With pleasure…" Jack said, pulling his Keyblade back and preparing for the final blow. Infusing it with light one final time, he hurled it with all his might, crying: "Wanderer's Punishment!" at the blade turning into what could be confused as a halo of light as it sped to the villains.

Marek managed to regain consciousness before Lezard, as he had taken less of a proverbial beating. His body was back to normal, but his cognitive capabilities weren't as wrecked as it was. He saw Jack's final blow and he did both what was most logic and what he wanted the most. He used Lezard as a meat shield. Needless to say, he woke up to a much rougher wakeup call then Marek, as a Keyblade had just trespassed half of his chest, vomiting blood unto Marek's chest.

"Be-betraying me, are you?" Lezard blurted, his vision slowly decaying.

"Don't speak like you wouldn't do the same." Marek replied coldly, no regret for what he had done. Lezard laughed, laughed to his heart's content.

"Oh I would… and I did." Marek's cringed, not sure if it was a bluff. He wished. "Here is a secret. This? This is not my real body. It is merely a Homunculus… my very last one other than the one I spent on Tina. Most of my power was here, yes, but my living body? It won't suffer a thing!" Marek gasped in surprise, betrayal and most of all, frustration, for he knew he had been played the whole time. "Even more so. Ouroboros? It already seeped outside this dimension from what I can detect. You? You could… but I doubt they will give you the time. You see, I am a very, very vengeful person." As he said this, Marek threw him away, but it was too late, Lezard laughed as he fell into oblivion, his fake body scattering into particles of light while Marek was blinded by magical chains. As Shin and Jack appeared in front of him, swords held high and striking with one slash filled with their hearts and their souls, his cry was nothing but: "LEZAAAAAAAAAAAARD!"

"One Strike…" Shin and Jack said as they cut Marek open in a cross shaped form. "With Both Sword and Soul." He then exploded in crystal, his wound immediately closing with the crystalline substance as he began to fall.

"This is not over yet brother! I will not fall so easily! We shall meet again!" With his last shred of strength, Marek opened a portal into darkness, falling into whereabouts unknown, even for him.

"Damnit! We got no one!" Jack exclaimed in frustration, the rumbling and sounds of shattering glass making him realize what was soon to happen.

"The Rift is unstable, climb on!" Shinryu ordered, the duo doing what he said, dismissing their cloth and armor respectively.

"Can you get us out?" Rayne asked filled with hope. It was not often that a dragon smoked.

"You just had to ask." With a loud, proud roar, the dragon zigzagged, becoming a ray of light and breaking through the fabric of dimensions, following the trail Lezard and Marek had left on their ways here.

Destiny Islands Plaza:

The entirety of the Wielders under Jack's commands now surrounded the place where the portal had closed. Mist hadn't moved from the spot, as much as Aqua pried her.

"It's been only half an hour Mist. Don't cry! You trust Jack, don't you?" Of course, time had only began to flow again once the Rift was damaged, so they had not the same problems as to wait the full eight hours. Still, Jack's wife was of course, deathly worried.

"I know but… I just have the feeling they won't ever come back from that portal…" And she was kinda right really.

Gush.

Everyone but Sora started to get a bad hair day that exact moment, the cyclonic winds throwing them butt-first on the ground. Sora was the exception since every day was bad hair day.

Anyway, you can imagine their surprise to see a giant dragon seemingly made of light now floating over the plaza. Especially one from which two people jumped. At first, they took out their blades, but then they saw their true identities.

"Jack… Rayne?!" Mist exclaimed, bum rushing her daughter with the tightest hug she had ever given anything. Crude? Yes. Uncharacteristic of her? Also. But this was her pride and joy. She couldn't help but cry as she embraced her. "What happened in there?!"

"It's a long story…" Jack said, his daughter wasting no time in saying:

"We'll tell ya all about it!" but then, she asked her mother to let her go, for four other feet touched the ground.

*Cue: "Song of the Ancients: Popola" Nier OST*

"So… this is the last time we'll see each other, isn't it?" Jack questioned. Shin and Terra took a good look at each other and nodded sorrowfully.

"Most likely." Terra told him.

"It was a blast though." Shin continued with a small smirk. Jack couldn't help but do the same.

"Terra…" Rayne said, pulling down her hand. Terra responded by kneeling, knowing that Rayne would jump to hug her. "Thank you… I will never blame my father again. I learned so much from you…"

"Don't mention it. You also made me realize… just how much I miss them. That is not a bad thing. I will carry on their memory. One way, or the other." Terra replied, breaking apart the hug as she said: "Who knows… maybe the first will be a girl." Rayne smiled back, getting exactly what she was saying.

"Shin…" Jack began, coughing and scratching the back of his head. "Thank you. You made me realize today that I take things so seriously I don't think outside of the box. The way you hesitated to follow their commands, even after I attacked you proves it. I will do my best to strive for my ideals, not for what seems to be the only way." Shin smiled and shook his head.

"Sometimes, you must use your head, not your heart. You showed me that. If you hadn't attacked… wouldn't have either, and we would've lot them both. I'll do my best to differentiate the situations." They both laughed, realize how, even without knowing or trying, they had taught life lessons to one another. Jack stopped first, placing a hand on Shin's shoulder and extending his hand.

"May we meet again… in the next life," He told Shin, who took in his hand.

"Or in another story." I don't know if he was being metaphorical or if he just broke the fourth wall… but I'll leave you to decide.

"It's been an honour, Shin…" He told him, giving him a small, quick hug, bro hug.

"And a blast…" Shin replied, pulling away after returning it. He took a look at Rayne jumping into her mother's arms and he said: "Lucky dog…" Jack could only laugh as Terra grabbed on to Shin's hand.

"Look who's talking." He replied, Shin and Terra smiling before being ported back to Shinryu's head.

"Well Grumpy… you weren't half bad. Neither were you girlie… not half bad at all." Shinryu told the two, the duo chuckling at the dragons relaxed antics.

"Goodbye!" They said, Shin, Terra and even Shinryu returning it before vanishing in a ray of light.

"Who were they honey?" Rayne questioned. Jack put his hand around her shoulders and said:

"People we will forever hold in our hearts as dear to us…"

Caelum Oasis:

"Hey Terra… you didn't mean what I thought you mean when you were talking to Rayne, did you?" Shin asked as they jumped out of Shinryu Lux, whose connection with Light vanished once they left Jack behind, returning to Shin's body.

"I don't know…" She teased, skipping away and flying in the city's direction!

"We've been at this for two days!" Shin cried as he flew after her.

"Are you seriously trying to…"

"It's too soon!"

"Dude! Shin! Level with me here. It may seem too soon for her endgame… but the way there is way too juicy for you to say no!"

And so they continued their flight, Shin and Shinryu fighting, always, but always reflecting on the friends they made today.

"Maaaaan! I lost a lot, didn't I?!" Zack whined after they told their friends what happened at Caelum's most prized hotel.

"Stop whining." Aqua commanded, smacking her boyfriend on top of the head. That got a laugh out of Cloud and the other Warriors of Cosmos. Except for one… and that was strange.

"Where's… Bartz?" Squall asked, the mime appearing right behind Terra and Shin.

"Holy Dimensional Mumbo Jumbo Batman! I just hope that this dimensional disturbance doesn't cause any other strange happenings!" Bartz exclaimed, conveniently dressed as Robin. Everyone just sighed at his antics, except Shin and Terra, who simply looked out the window, seeing the silhouettes of Jack and Rayne on the clouds, smiling as they held hands. Maybe not now, not on this life… but they would meet again.

Meanwhile, at Elysium:

A phone rang. One would question why the ruler of the entire multiverse would need a phone, but well, if it was once human, old habits die hard. "God", as in, the person given that tittle answered it.

"Hello? Your holiness?" Someone said from one side of the line.

"Yes, Neku?" It asked, knowing why his confidant from the mortal world had called.

"Well… Bartz…"

"I know… he jinxed it…" It replied, facedesking.

An Unending Struggle Movie 2 confirmed! Timeframe "Soon TM"… maybe this summer soon!

Post-Chapter Note: First! The next "movie" for AUS isn't with TerraKH! Wanted to get that across. It's… a surprise. Now that that's out of the way… I can truly say I'm proud of how this turned out and extend my thanks to TerraKH for the idea for this story. It was truly revitalizing in terms of getting new ideas and stopping my burnout! From now on, I'll be working on my main projects more… come and check them out TerraKH readers! Also, don't forget to leave me a review telling me if I do or do not have reasons to be proud of this and what you liked/disliked about it!

This was the Unknowing Herald… finishing a fic for the first time!