DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts; it belongs to Disney and Square Enix. All characters, locations, and plot points shown here all belong to their original owners.

This chapter came out really quickly, like jeez. What is wrong with me.

Wrote this all in one sitting; hope you like it! :D

In the middle of a forest, there was only calm. Birds chirped, the waterfalls splashed eternally, and there were extremely few clouds in the sky. It may have been the most peaceful, undisturbed place in the entire multiverse.

But of course, it wouldn't be peaceful for very long.

With an earth-shattering quake that didn't actually shatter any earth, a hole in space-time erupted in the middle of this serene environment. The birds either flew away or chirped at the top of their lungs in rage, wondering who the monstrosity that had interrupted their nap was and how easy they would be to kill.

Emerging from the hole in space-time (that, by all means, should have destroyed the worlds as we know them) was a red-and-gold armored figure. The enraged birds' first thoughts were something along the lines of, "Heh, I can totally take on this low-level abomination."

When the figure suddenly started glowing, casting off the armor in an amazing showcase of magical sparkles, however, the birds suddenly thought something even closer to, "WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS, WHY DID I THINK I COULD CHALLENGE SUCH A MAJESTIC ANGEL. I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE AND BACK TO THE WORLD THAT MAKES SENSE."

Emerging from the incredible display of sparkles was none other than Terra, who was feeling so amazingly epic and fulfilled, he almost forgot why he even came here.

"HUZZAH!" he exclaimed, scaring off what little wildlife had been brave enough to hang around long enough to hear him. "I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY EMERGED FROM THE FIRST TEST OF MY UNBREAKABLE SPIRIT: FIVE HOURS OF WANDERING LOST IN A WORLD BETWEEN WORLDS, SEARCHING FOR THE LIGHT OF DAY WITHIN THE DARKNESS!" he paused for a few moments, allowing himself to breathe before carrying on. "Now that I have emerged triumphant, it is my DESTINY that I go forth and explore this new-found world!"

But before he could make any steps further, he heard a strange sound behind him. It sounded to him like a mixture of a popping sound and something more akin to a FWOOSH. He quickly turned around, summoning his Keyblade in a defensive stance, ready for anything to come at him. "WHO DOTH DARE TO APPROACH ONE SUCH AS I IN SUCH A COWARDLY MANNER?!" he roared.

Seeing that the source of the sound was the seemingly random spawning of an extremely tiny monster, Terra couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He knew better than to judge an opponent based off of appearance, but this thing just looked downright ridiculous. And that wasn't just because of the fact that it was puny and harmless-looking; it was dancing.

It shuffled back and forth, bobbed its small head up and down to non-existent music, and Terra could have sworn it pulled off a few breakdance moves.

Reminding himself that dancers, no matter how strange, required a lot of bodily strength and agility to be successful, he thought of how dangerous this thing could be if it put those skills to an offensive use.

'Tis a shame that there's only one, though, he thought to himself. If there were more, then I could put all my training to the test and—

As if the universe was reading his mind, several more of the breakdancing creatures were summoned around him. His face stretched into a wild grin. "Now, that's what I'm talking about! Now, little creatures that I'm assuming are Unversed, PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM!" he let out a hearty laugh as he swung his Keyblade in several arcs of pure, focused might. The little ones weren't much of a challenge, sadly, but more spawned soon enough.

After a glorious battle against creatures he had only assumed based on a rough guess were his enemies, he was prepared to walk away happily, whistling a victory tune as he made his way to… somewhere else. But then he heard an almost inaudible shuffle behind him, causing him to spin around again to see that one of his enemies was escaping. "Ooooh, no you don't. You shalt not escape from the mighty Terra so easily, muffincakes! I'M GONNA HUNT YOU DOWN!"

After about half an hour of chasing the little monster down, (Terra was never known for being a very fast runner) he slew the fiend with a mighty Jump Attack!

"Ha-HAH!" he exclaimed. "Another one down, courtesy of the one and only me-me!" he stopped praising himself when he saw that he was looking directly at a somewhat far-off castle, one much different than the one he was used to. For instance, this one was much more blue than the one back home, which favored gold and lavender above all else.

It was then that he noticed a tall, black-robed figure standing not far from where he was. Deciding that since this was the only other sentient being he had come across so far, it would be best to talk to this man—or woman, whichever they were.

"Approaching the person, he called out, "Pardon me, sir or madam! I wish to speak with you for a reason that has yet to be defined!"

Not exactly the best conversation-starter he could have come up with, but give the guy a break. He hadn't met anyone new in four years, and all things considered, he had vastly improved since then. For instance, this new person didn't pass out from a brain overload just by being in his general presence this time.

…It was a start.

The person turned around to look at him, revealing their face to very much be that of a woman. A suspicious, manipulative, haunting face that looked like it ought to be laughing over the crumpled remains of a once-prosperous kingdom, sure, but a woman's face nonetheless.

Hey, was it really Terra's place to judge her right now? He had known Xehanort for years, and in some ways, he had a more sinister-looking face than this fellow, and even laughed maniacally at random intervals, but he had still proven himself to be completely trustworthy.

So, he didn't judge.

"Now who in the world could you be, puny morsel?" she asked in a voice that sounded like it was trying to sound innocent and kind, but there was definitely a bit of disgust in her voice when she reached the "puny morsel" part of that sentence.

Having been called much worse by friend and foe alike, Terra quickly shrugged off the telltale signs of an insincere jerk and answered her question with cheer and a formal bow.

"My name is Terra, madam, the apprentice of the glorious Master Eraqus! Might I ask for your name?" he asked in return. He was trying to sound as polite as possible since this person looked like she was in a high position and being rude hadn't gone well the last time he met someone new.

That, plus the fact that he was just a natural gentleman.

The new person finally spoke up: "Your presence sickens the mighty I, the one known as Maleficent!" the stranger declared. "And if I weren't so intrigued by the fact you're not dead, I would banish you to the Shadow Realm where you stand!"

Okay, so maybe this Maleficent character wasn't quite as polite as he'd hoped. But he wasn't going to let that stop him. Stop him from doing what, he wasn't quite sure yet. But he was Terra! No measly obstacle of shady, impolite strangers was going to stop him from doing anything!

Deciding that the best approach now was to ask for information, (since Master Eraqus hadn't given him any details on his mission) he stopped bowing and replied,

"Quite the interesting statement there, Ms. Maleficent. But allow me to inquire most boldly: would you, by some miracle of a chance, know something about those monsters that attacked me?"

"You must take me for a fool, brunette," she snapped, "I was not in the vicinity when you were attacked, how can you expect me to know what you're talking about?!"

That had Terra stumped.

"I… just assumed," was all he could come up with. Maleficent glared at him.

"Yes, well, you can just take all of your emotionally primitive assumptions with you when you take a hike!" she yelled. Terra quickly became confused.

"A hike? To where?" he wondered aloud. Maleficent was quickly starting to think that maybe she should just kill this boy right then and there; she had spent a grand total of two minutes with him and he was already proving himself to be dumber than anyone she had ever known.

Except for maybe that bald fellow. That guy really took the cake as far as idiot foreigners went.

She somehow refrained from murdering the brunette on the spot and settled for a death glare instead.

"Is everyone who comes here going to be as dense and inhumanly clueless as that bald elf?!" she exclaimed.

That got Terra's attention.

"A bald elf? One with a white beard and gold eyes, perhaps?" he inquired.

"Yes, yes, what difference does it make?! The guy couldn't stop ranting on and on about some "light"—if he wasn't so annoyingly powerful I'd have killed him the first chance I had!" she ranted.

Terra was suddenly flooded with the overwhelming sense that, at some point in the future, a very similar sentiment was going to be aimed towards his Master's friend by someone with phenomenally bad anger management issues. Someone blonde, he concluded.

How he thought of any of that was beyond both him and the eternal wisdom of the Information Bar, and that scared him a little.

He suddenly snapped back to reality at the thought of Maleficent somehow knowing Xehanort.

"Wait, can you tell me where you last saw him? I have to find him if he's here! MY CONSCIENCE DEMANDS IT!" he shouted. Maleficent, already tired of this kid by now, was thankful for any excuse to get him out of her sight, so she said,

"Ugh, fine. The giant, looming castle behind me is where I saw him last. He's probably trying to find Princess Aurora or something. Now leave." she added with a cold glare. "You can get to the castle by crossing this bridge we're standing on right now." Terra smiled happily in return.

"Then I shall be off to the castle, then! AND I SHALL MAKE A POINT TO REMEMBER THE NAME AURORA!" he shouted as he dashed off to the castle.

Finally, Maleficent thought. Now I can be rid of that moron with the stupid pants once and for all. But then it occurred to her that maybe she could insert a plot point by using this fluffy-haired idiot.

Inserting sudden and only halfway necessary plot points just happened to be her forte, so she teleported away in a wisp of green smoke to wait for the kid to catch up to her.

As it turned out, crossing the bridge was a lot more difficult and time-consuming than Terra had initially thought.

For starters, Unversed kept spawning out of nowhere, forcing Terra to follow his battle-hungry instinct and eliminate every single one he could get his hands on, something that proved to be annoyingly tedious. Now, Terra was always up for a good fight, but there was just something about fighting waves of really, really weak enemies that made him feeling unfulfilled.

What he needed was a boss; a real fighter who could match his level of strength!

But hey, if he had to defeat the small, weak Unversed to get to the big one, then that made the whole thing ten times more worthwhile to him.

When he finally entered the castle, he took a few moments to admire the plaid carpet and then proceeded to slay about fifty more Unversed before heading into a long, green, arguably creepy hallway.

And what did he do after that?

He killed even more Unversed. Where were these things even coming from?! (Terra didn't care that much, but really, you had to wonder.)

Struggling to remember which way was left after doing so many mid-air somersaults, he found himself stumbling into what he was pretty certain was a bedroom after unlocking a barrier on a door.

He blinked a few times.

Was it just him, or was there somebody else in there?

He looked to his left (reminding himself that left was left, and not a figment of his imagination) to see a girl resting peacefully in her bed. He took a double-take.

Where was he, again?

Oh, right. A bedroom. Duh. That's why someone was sleeping. In the afternoon. Yes. That made sense.

He approached the bed, noticing that the person sleeping was blonde and wore makeup. Those were pretty much the only features that stood out to him, honestly.

"For some inexplicable reason, this all seems incredibly familiar…" he muttered. Vaguely wondering what prompted such a random statement and why he kept getting strange impressions from or about blonde people, he heard someone say something behind him.

"Everything about you is inexplicable." Terra whipped his head around to find the source of the voice. It was Maleficent! "And I say that having known you for barely five minutes."

"Maleficent!" Terra exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" he paused. "…How did you get here?"

"I'm here to abduct the princess's soul, why else would I be here?" she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe. "And I got here through means that you are incapable of even trying to understand."

"Um… okay."

"She has a heart of pure light, you know," she continued. "Perfect for my unending dream of world domination!"

Terra blinked.

"You mean that new board game that just came out? Cause Aqua's been dying to play that ever since—"

"By the way, I totally know you have a Keyblade."

Terra gasped. It was a completely over-dramatic, elongated gasp that could be heard miles away if had more… volume.

Summoning the aforementioned Keyblade on instinct, he yelled,

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE KEYBLADE?! DID A GENIE TELL YOU?! A GENIE TOLD YOU, DIDN'T HE?!"

Maleficent resisted the urge to facepalm.

"If you want to know so badly, take princess Aurora's heart and give it to me." She replied, overcoming her exasperation and replacing it with and epic smirk. Terra just looked alarmed.

"Whoa, whoa! That's kind of morbid for a K+ fanfiction, don't you think?!" he blurted, panicking to the point of hysteria. One of Maleficent's eyebrows twitched in irritation.

"No, you moron! I was talking about her soul!" she yelled, frustrated at how long this was taking.

"Oh… why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" Terra demanded.

"Because this game doesn't make any sense! Deal with it!"

And with that, she surrounded Terra in a green, magic smoke that he could tell was threatening to take over his body. He didn't know how he knew that's what it was doing, but he never doubted any irrational thought patterns he might have.

Especially since this newfound magic was forcing him to remember the old times he had with Master Eraqus.

"Now, remember, Terra: darkness is the enemy. Why can't you get that?!" to which a young Terra would reply, "I dunno, Master, maybe it's because you haven't told me what darkness is yet!"

"Terra, pay attention in class! Do you want to set a bad example for Ventus?!" and then Terra had said, "Teach, he's brain-dead. Of course he's not paying attention in class!" That had earned him a whole week in Darkness Bin.

"Oh, Light, how I love you…If you were a person I would ask you to be my wife… or husband, either or." Terra had stared at him for a while after hearing that. Eraqus eventually noticed. "…Terra, haven't I told you that staring at people with an unblinking gaze is bad?! Look at what happened to Yen Sid! Go to your room, young man, and don't come out till I say so!"

"Terra, how many times to I have to tell you… YOU DO NOT. EAT. SILVERWARE! I don't care if it gives you the fiery willpower to stand up against all things that seem impossible, THAT SILVERWARE IS EXPENSIVE! SHEESH!"

"Next time you eat nachos, Terra… try not to use it as hair dye." To which he responded with, "But being an unnatural blonde is my CALLING! Why can't you understand that?!" And then Eraqus had said, "Terra, if you want to be blonde, fine. Just use ACTUAL hair dye as opposed to this liquid American Cheese you keep telling me about." Terra had then yelled, "YOU CANNOT DENY THE ONE TRUE GLORY THAT IS AMERICA!"

Come to think of it, maybe his relationship with Master Eraqus wasn't quite as loving as he'd thought…

When he suddenly stopped having flashbacks, he heard Maleficent laughing evilly.

"Yes, YES! Finally, I can finally start to achieve my goal that I won't be close to accomplishing at least ten years from now! HAHAHAHAA!"

Terra, on the other hand, was still trying to put his thoughts back together from… whatever had just happened.

"Wait… so, what just happened?" he asked. "Did you just possess me for a minute there? So… undignified… and without honor…" he mumbled, using the nearby bed as support.

"Also, I have Aurora's heart, now. Hurray for me!" Maleficent said happily, ignoring Terra completely. "Now, I wonder how I should celebrate? Maybe I'll hire some break dancers and confetti…"

Terra was a lot more occupied with the sight of Princess Aurora and how blonde she was. He was suddenly met with another, briefer flashback of seeing Ven the same way years before.

Oh. So that's what this entire scenario reminded him of.

…Why was it always blondes with him today? Even Terra didn't know!

But that was the least of his concerns at the moment. Right now, he found himself thinking about the Keyblade and how Maleficent had promised him answers. Maleficent, thinking similarly to Terra, (which would have disgusted her if she knew) decided that maybe she would hold up her end of the deal. She didn't want to seem untrustworthy, right? It wasn't like possessing someone and forcing them to kidnap the very life force of someone's being proved her sinister evilness. Totally.

"Now, listen up, foolio," she began, feeling a rush of modern-day lingo hit her like a tidal wave, "since I told you I would tell you something of importance, I know about the Keyblade because of that Xehanort bloke—who I hate, by the way. And before you ask where he went, I have no freaking clue. So don't ask."

Terra, now well enough to stand up properly without the help of inanimate objects, gave her a look that meant, "Why the heck are you telling me this if you can't give me a proper direction?" Maleficent ignored the strange look she was receiving from Terra and continued monologue-ing.

"You know, we should join forces, so we can rule the worlds together by abducting the life force of six more pure-hearted girls! AAAAHAHAHAHA!" she ranted. In response, Terra summoned the Keyblade and pointed it at her.

"SUCH A THING IS NOT HONORABLE AND I SHALT NOT PARTAKE IN SUCH NON-HONORABLE KITTEN JOKES AND WORLD-CONQUERING!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs. Maleficent looked alarmed.

"…I'll take that as a "no", then." She said. Before anyone could do anything else, though, the castle shook beneath them, causing Terra to panic and Maleficent to chuckle.

And with that, she teleported away, adding a few maniacal laughing fits along the way.

"NOW YOU GET BACK HERE, MISSY!" Terra yelled, pulling off a quick spin-slice at the area where Maleficent used to be before she vanished. He was about to shout more unconvincing threats when the castle shook again. So, instead, he just yelled, "RAID! RAID! MUST PROTECT THE WEST, EAST, AND SLIGHTLY DIAGONAL KEEPS!"

And so, he rushed off, preparing for a fight that he would remember long after he was finished.

It was an impressive fight, to say the least. He had to fight roughly a hundred Unversed just to get to the main room where their leader was, and that proved to be quite the challenging foe. But since nothing was ever a match for Terra except Aqua and Ven, he didn't have much of a problem defeating it.

So, he took the time to visit the now-almost-lifeless Princess Aurora to make sure she wasn't dead. She wasn't, but it was a little hard to tell when she had no soul. He shrugged. It's not like he had anything to do here, so he might as well leave.

But not before he made one last comment to her.

"You know… you really do remind me of Ven back when he was a broken little fudge-muffin. Kudos!" and then he left, not taking the time to think about what he was supposed to do next.

Author's Notes: An entire chapter dedicated to Terra... cause why not. XD Hope you all liked it!

Also, yes. It's noticeably shorter than the last one, but after that last scene is a new world... and I didn't want to try to squeeze a second world in, because that would make it WAY too long.

Please read & review!