Chapter Text
"At least your portal felt better than Nerraw's," Oliver breathed as they stepped through the exit of the rift Mark had opened. Despite getting shoved through by Thomas, the transition was mercifully smooth—nothing like the nightmare of the violent blue vortex he had endured with Venti.
They emerged into the gritty shadows of a city back alley. Venti, still pressed tightly to Oliver's side, quietly looked around at their new surroundings.
Mark stepped through behind them and spun around. "What was the other portal like?" he asked.
Oliver shuddered at the memory. "Like this... blue vortex or something. Every couple of minutes, it would just tear open in the ground and suck both Venti and me into it."
Mark nodded thoughtfully. "Ah. Those aren't made from Nerraw. Those are the actual rifts between the worlds that link them together. Though I'm still wondering if he was even the one opening them. My tracker showed it was tearing you two through different worlds, but that's usually not his method... he prefers to use his own portals." Mark looked down, lost in thought.
Oliver made sure his hands never left Venti. Even safely out of the portal, he kept his arm wrapped securely around his boyfriend's waist, stealing a quick glance to make sure the bard was holding up. Then, he looked back at the newcomer. "So you're Mark, right? August mentioned you, but we barely had any time to talk before... you know, Nerraw and all of that."
"Yes! Sorry, I didn't get to properly introduce myself in the chaos," Mark said, turning to face them. "My name is Markus Baker. I'm just like you—a human from the 'real world'."
Oliver blinked in surprise. "You are?" He looked down at the massive, intricate weapon in Mark's hand. "But you have that?"
Mark chuckled. "I can only guess you got that in the same way you got this," he smiled, pointing to the pixelated diamond sword that Oliver still held materialized in his free hand.
Oliver glanced down at his left hand, momentarily confused. "Huh?"
"Heh," Mark smiled. "The Fictional Universe wasn't opened by me, but it opened in my house for the first time since 1939. That was back in 2018, when I was just turning seventeen."
Oliver looked up at him, amazed. "Really? Wait... how did you get that weapon then?"
"It's a keyblade," Mark explained. "I met Sora from—"
Oliver cut him off with a sharp gasp. "SORA?!" His arm accidentally tightened around Venti, squeezing a little squeak out of the bard.
"Oh! Sorry!" Oliver quickly relaxed his grip.
Despite still feeling drained, Venti couldn't help but giggle at his boyfriend's sudden fanboying, even if he had no idea what the two humans were talking about.
Mark smiled and continued. "Yes, Sora. He bestowed the power to wield the keyblade onto me, and almost instantly, I was able to use one."
Oliver gasped again, his mind racing. "Wait, really? But... it's not supposed to be that easy to use the Key—" He paused. He remembered seamlessly channeling Cryo energy, and materializing the Minecraft sword out of nowhere. Venti had mentioned that mastering a Vision took years of intense training—He definitely knew about that anyway, he's a Genshin Impact fan after all—yet Oliver had managed it effortlessly.
"Residents of the 'real world' are gifted by the Fictional Universe to use the worlds' resources. It was something that was embedded into these universes since they were created," Mark explained.
Oliver's eyes narrowed. Nerraw had said something similar. But following that train of thought brought up a much more pressing question. "Then... will we be able to kill Nerraw then?"
"Not easily," Mark admitted. "Nerraw can only truly be killed by a few specific things, and he's smart enough to avoid worlds where he can actually die. For one thing, he's made of darkness. Literally. The negative energy from Kingdom Hearts. Naturally, only the power of the Keyblade can truly destroy him. We've been beating him with our keyblades for years; he's slowly getting weaker, now he's fighting with everything he has left like a cornered animal."
"But who is he?" Oliver asked. "I played Kingdom Hearts constantly as a kid. I don't remember any villain named Nerraw. Even if he was a secret boss in one of the older games, the fandom would have talked about it..."
"Who is then? I've played Kingdom Hearts so many times when I was a kid, I don't remember there being a Nerraw in the story. And even if he was in a previous game, I am sure the fandom would be talking about it..."
"Yeah, well, he's from our world too... in a sense," Mark said. "He's not exactly from Kingdom Hearts,"
Oliver tilted his head. "What?"
"The fictional leak," Mark said. He paused as Oliver's expression twisted into utter confusion. "Huh? Didn't I tell—? Ah, right. I told the other guys, not you two." Mark sighed. "The short version: aspects of fictional realities have leaked over to our world. It's the reason we can use fictional items if we bring them over. It also affects neighboring worlds. It's why Venti here can still use his magic, even though he is not in Teyvat."
"Oh!" Oliver looked down at Venti in realization.
Venti blinked, looking at his hands. "Well, that explains why my Anemo powers still work."
"Exactly," Mark said. "Anyway, Nerraw was created in a weird way. There was this boy... I don't know if I mentioned him to you guys, but his name was Dark-Blade. He was in a really dark place mentally, and he used Kingdom Hearts magic to extract the darkness from his friend's body. That extracted darkness manifested into Nerraw."
Something clicked in Oliver's head. "Let me guess... was that friend named Warren?"
Mark looked surprised. "Yeah. How did you know?"
"I just put two and two together. When Nerraw was fighting me earlier, he talked about being created from someone else's body."
Mark nodded. "Yeah. He likes to monologue. The fictional villain tropes have definitely gotten to him."
"Where is he, anyway?" Oliver asked, finally taking a good look at their surroundings. "And where are we for one?"
"Uhh..." Mark checked his scanner. "Not entirely sure. I wasn't paying attention to the destination coordinates on the scanner; I just needed to get us away from Nerraw so you two could catch your breath. He will follow us."
They could hear the bustling sounds of heavy traffic out on the street beyond the alley.
"I mean, it looks like a city-," Oliver blinked. "Just... hard to see it from this back alley-,"
"I think we're in Zenless Zone Zero," Mark noted, tapping his device. "That's what it says,"
Oliver's eyes flew open. "One of Hoyo's other games?"
"I know you probably want to explore," Mark said quickly, catching the look on Oliver's face, "but like I said, Nerraw will track us down. Let's stay hidden in this alley. The second he appears, we warp to another world. I cannot let Nerraw attack us here. We're in the middle of a densely populated city; hundreds of innocent people will die if we fight here."
Oliver nodded. "Right,"
Mark looked at Venti with genuine concern. "Is he seriously okay? He's been looking a little lost. I have a healing potion if he needs it."
"He's—" Oliver looked down at Venti, his heart aching slightly. "We got separated when we entered Silent Hill. He had to go through it... like, literally go through his own personalized Silent Hill nightmare."
Mark winced. "That's... really not good." He turned to Venti with sympathy. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Mark opened his palm, and a bottle of glowing green liquid materialized in a flash of light. "Here, take this."
Venti slowly stepped away from Oliver's side and accepted the bottle. "What is this?"
"A potion from the Kingdom Hearts universe," Mark explained. "Don't worry, it's completely safe. Thanks to the leak, it'll heal anyone."
Venti closed his hands over the glass, and the green bottle vanished into thin air.
Oliver blinked. "What did you do with it?"
Venti looked up at him with a soft, reassuring smile. "I stored it in my realm."
Suddenly, Mark's scanner erupted into a frantic series of beeps.
Mark's head snapped up. "Get ready. He's coming. When he appears, I'll open a portal, and Thomas will smack him into it. You two, stay back and do nothing."
Oliver nodded tightly. He looked down at Venti, who was standing quietly. "Babe, you okay?"
Venti didn't answer with words. He simply closed the distance between them and leaned heavily against Oliver. "Not sure yet," he whispered.
Oliver wrapped his arms securely around him. "We can hug for as long as you need to."
Venti smiled softly. He looked up, pressed a sweet kiss to Oliver's lips, and then buried his face into Oliver's chest.
"Stay on your toes, you two," Mark warned, his grip tightening on his keyblade. "He could appear any second."
The words had barely left his mouth when a swirling, pitch-black vortex tore open the air above the alleyway.
"Remember the plan, Thomas," Mark ordered the crystalline creature standing ready beside him. "We can't fight him here. Hit him straight into the rift I will make."
Nerraw slowly descended from the dark vortex, his glowing, hollow eyes locking onto them. "You all will never quit, will you?" the entity hissed, its voice echoing unnaturally. "You may have found new friends to hide behind, but I will make sure you do not succeed..."
"Now," Mark whispered. He swung his Keyblade upward, channeling his magic to rip open a glowing portal directly behind Nerraw.
Thomas moved like lightning. He launched himself into the air and swung his golden Keyblade like a baseball bat. He slammed the weapon into Nerraw before the creature could even react, sending the entity flying backward straight through the glowing rift.
"Come on! Follow him!" Mark shouted, diving into the portal.
Oliver summoned his diamond sword and grabbed Venti's hand. "Ready?"
Venti nodded with determination. Together, they leaped into the light portal
~~~~~~~
They ejected from the portal into empty space—literally miles up in the sky of an unknown world, surrounded by nothing but clouds.
Oliver let out a terrified gasp as gravity immediately seized him. The ground was miles down from his feet.
Before panic could even set in, Venti's magic flared. Swirling currents of Anemo wind wrapped around Oliver, suspending him effortlessly in the air. Oliver panted, staring at Venti with overwhelming gratitude. Leave it to Venti to feel completely drained and traumatized, yet still instantly catch the person he loved.
Floating securely in his boyfriend's winds, Oliver looked ahead. Mark and Thomas were suspended in the air in front of them, weapons drawn. Mark held his Keyblade down at his left side, while Thomas mirrored him on the right, his blue cape whipping wildly in the high-altitude winds.
Above them all loomed Nerraw, floating ominously against the clouds.
"This isn't right," Mark turned to Thomas. "We're back in your world—... I didn't choose these coordinates on my scanner... What is with this thing..."
"This is where he decided to pick fights with me," Thomas said, his voice cold and hard. "So this is where the fuckin' knob dies." He tightened his grip on his Keyblade and rocketed upward toward Nerraw.
Mark nodded once and took off right behind him.
Nerraw hovered motionless as the two key warriors charged. At the last second, the dark creature swiped his arm, unleashing a jagged spark of dark energy. Mark barrel-rolled out of the way and slashed his Keyblade through the air. A shockwave of pure light slammed into Nerraw, causing the entity to stumble.
"You—" Nerraw snarled, vanishing instantly before Thomas had caught up to him, so once he did Thomas had swiped his Keyblade into nothing.
Nerraw materialized directly behind Mark and delivered a brutal kick to his spine. Mark tumbled forward, rapidly losing altitude.
Thomas blinked to Nerraw's side, swinging his Keyblade at the creature's shoulder, but Nerraw threw his hand up. A wave of dark gravity seized Thomas, freezing the crystalline fighter completely in place.
Mark recovered his balance and charged back upward, but Nerraw merely extended his other hand, locking Mark in the air alongside Thomas.
Watching from below, Venti's expression hardened. "I'm going to help them," he whispered to Oliver.
Oliver looked at him, his voice laced with worry. "A-Are you sure? Are you up for this right now?"
"Babe," Venti said softly but firmly. "What I saw in that town... it was just my past. I've already lived through it. Everyone needs help right now, including you. I'm not going to let this monster add another tragedy to my list."
Oliver stared at him for a second, then nodded.
"Can you fight?" Venti whispered.
"I think so," Oliver whispered back. "I couldn't fly just now because I panicked, but I was flying earlier when I fought him. I don't know how I did it, but I can."
"Okay." Venti slowly let his Anemo currents die down around Oliver.
Oliver gasped, quickly channeling his Cryo energy. The cold power surged through him, and to his relief, he remained hovering steadily in the air on his own.
"Just be careful," Venti said, his glowing eyes locked on Nerraw. "Let's end this."
Oliver pulled the repaired glass pendant from his pocket and summoned his pixelated sword. "Ready."
Venti shot upward like a comet, Oliver flying right beside him.
Nerraw caught their movement out of the corner of his eye. He dropped his telekinetic hold on Mark and whipped around, attempting to freeze the Archon in place. But he hadn't accounted for the necklace.
Oliver thrust the glowing orb forward. The pure light slashed through Nerraw's dark aura, making the creature shriek and recoil.
"How do you have that?!" Nerraw roared. "I destroyed it!"
Venti summoned his bow, pulling back the glowing string and firing a rapid volley of Anemo arrows. Nerraw desperately dodged the projectiles, teleporting through the air until he appeared directly in front of Venti. He grabbed the bow and violently yanked it out of the Archon's hands, trying to snap it over his knee. but it wouldn't break.
"What?!" Nerraw yelled in frustration. "Why is this indestructible?!"
While trapped in Silent Hill, Venti hadn't been able to use his powers, but his elemental energy had been quietly pooling the entire time. His burst was fully charged.
Venti extended his arm and snapped his fingers.
A massive singularity of swirling Anemo erupted directly behind Nerraw. The black hole of wind generated an immense gravitational pull, sucking the distracted creature backward. Nerraw clawed at the air, trying to resist the vortex, but the suction was too powerful.
Venti snatched his bow back from the struggling creature's hands. He drew the string back and fired a concentrated Anemo arrow directly into Nerraw's chest, the impact blasting the dark being deeper into the wind.
As the vortex violently dispersed, Oliver flew in. He slashed his diamond sword across Nerraw's back, then followed up by smashing the glowing necklace directly against the entity. The burst of light did massive damage, searing away chunks of darkness.
Mark recovered and flew in, driving his Keyblade into Nerraw's side. Thomas flanked from the opposite direction, his golden blade striking.
But Thomas wasn't finished. He spun in midair, charging at Nerraw with unrelenting fury. He aimed the tip of his Keyblade directly at the creature. "FIRE!" he roared. A massive fireball erupted, though Nerraw barely managed to contort out of the way.
Thomas fluidly spun his weapon again, tracking the dodge. "THUNDER!" A jagged bolt of lightning shot from the blade. It was a direct hit onto Nerraw.
"ARURRRGGG!" Nerraw screamed as the high-voltage magic violently coursed through his form.
Oliver dove down, driving his Cryo-infused sword into Nerraw's shoulder, but the creature barely flinched. As the stun from the electricity wore off, Nerraw swiped viciously at Oliver. The human teleported just in time, reappearing behind Nerraw to slash him again.
"Why is it taking damage from that, but not from me?!" Oliver yelled.
"It's the Keyblade!" Mark shouted back. "Only it's magic can truly hurt him! Even if it's electricity, or fire, but it has to be summoned from the keyblade to truly hurt it!"
Thomas zoomed circles around their suspended battlefield, catching Nerraw off guard again. "WIND!" A gale-force blast slammed into Nerraw, tossing him through the clouds.
Venti blinked, thoroughly impressed. "Huh. Your weapons can channel the elements? Interesting..."
"Thomas, be careful!" Mark warned. "Don't use too much magic! I don't have much ethers left!"
Suddenly, Thomas's crystalline body began to violently spark. The blue shards across his skin flared with blinding, unstable light.
Mark went pale. "Oh no."
"W-What is happening?!" Venti asked.
"He's tapping into the Holder's power again!"
Oliver dodged a stray blast of energy. "The what?!"
"Nerraw hurt him on a deeply emotional level, so he's fighting with pure rage!" Mark yelled over the wind. "It gives him raw power, but Nerraw is only weak to the Keyblade's light! He'll never die if Thomas just beats him with brute force!" Mark turned toward the glowing crystal fighter. "Thomas! Refocus!!"
Thomas either didn't hear him or didn't care. He rocketed forward, his hand snapping around Nerraw's throat. He hoisted the dark being up into the sky. "You're going to pay for everything you did to my world."
Thomas hurled Nerraw upward, then flew after him at breakneck speed. He slammed a glowing fist into Nerraw's face, sending him flying further. He caught up instantly, delivering another bone-crushing punch, then swooped below the creature and delivered a devastating uppercut.
Mark seized the opening. He flew above Nerraw's trajectory and brought his Keyblade crashing down on the creature's head, sending Nerraw plummeting.
Venti thrust both hands out. A localized wind, the strength of a hurricane, wrapped tightly around Nerraw, and only Nerraw, suspending him helplessly in midair. With the creature trapped, Mark unleashed a relentless flurry of Keyblade strikes, the light tearing away Nerraw's darkness.
Oliver flew down and pressed the glowing necklace against Nerraw's chest, burning away more of the darkness. Thomas snapped out of his rage-induced haze just in time to join the assault, his golden Keyblade striking in perfect rhythm with Mark's.
Under the combined assault of two Keyblades, the necklace of pure light, and Venti's holding magic, Nerraw's form began to aggressively unravel. He tried to lift a trembling arm to defend himself, but he was entirely depleted.
"Venti," Mark ordered. "Lock him down completely. Let's finish this. He's done."
Venti nodded, raising his hands to tighten the Anemo cage. But before he could channel the energy, a deafening, mechanical roar ripped through the sky.
Venti froze, looking around in utter confusion. He spotted something colossal tearing through the clouds straight toward them. "WHAT THE HECK?!"
Not knowing what the metal behemoth was, Venti instantly cast a massive wall of wind, violently shoving Oliver, Mark, and Thomas out of its flight path.
"Woah!" Mark yelled as he tumbled backward through the air.
"Ahh! What's happening?!" Oliver screamed.
The turbulence of the massive object hit them like a physical blow, violently disrupting their balance. It smashed directly into the immobilized Nerraw.
As it sped past, Oliver finally got a clear look at it.
It was a jet airliner. They were miles up in the sky, after all.
Venti struggled against the deafening roar of the jet engines, hastily throwing a protective barrier of wind around their group to keep them from being shredded by the wind being kicked up to whisk them away from the plane.
Oliver stared in disbelief as the plane disappeared into the clouds. "Well, that was something I'll never forget."
"Is everyone okay?!" Mark yelled.
"We're fine, thanks to Venti," Oliver said, giving the bard a grateful smile. "Thanks, babe."
Venti offered a soft smile and dropped the wind barrier. "Where is Nerraw?" he asked urgently.
Oliver looked down and spotted a wispy, disintegrating figure tumbling toward the earth. "There! He's falling!"
Thomas was already diving after him like a hawk on it's prey.
"Come on!" Mark commanded.
Oliver and Venti dove after them, Oliver angling his diamond sword downward as they plummeted.
Venti surged ahead of the group. He thrust his arms out, wrapping a fresh cocoon of Anemo energy around the falling creature and halting his descent entirely.
Suspended in the sky once more, Nerraw was completely at their mercy. Normally, beating down an immobilized opponent wouldn't be a fair fight, but a monster like Nerraw was the exception to every rule.
"Get ready!" Mark yelled, raising his Keyblade for the final blow.
But as they closed in, Nerraw's glowing eyes snapped open. The dark being was severely weakened, his form flickering like a dying flame.
"Lose, I must," Nerraw rasped, his voice echoing in their minds. "But if I must lose..." The creature locked eyes with Thomas. "You're going down with me."
Before any of them could strike, Nerraw unleashed a final, desperate pulse of magic.
"Errgg!" Oliver groaned as an unseen force locked his limbs in place. Beside him, Venti and Mark were similarly frozen in midair.
Everyone was immobilized except Thomas. He raised his golden Keyblade to strike, but Nerraw suddenly shot a beam of concentrated dark energy directly into Thomas's chest.
This wasn't an attack. The dark energy wasn't destroying Thomas—it was funneling into him. Mark's eyes widened in sheer horror as he realized what was happening, but he couldn't move a muscle to stop it.
"THOMAS MOVE!" Mark screamed.
Nerraw gave Mark a brief, hollow glance, then turned his focus back to Thomas. The last remnants of darkness flowed rapidly down Nerraw's arms and seeped into Thomas's crystalline body.
As the darkness vacated its host, Nerraw's monstrous exterior dissolved completely.
Revealed beneath the fading shadows was the face of a human boy. He had dark skin, brown hair, and an expression of profound exhaustion.
"It's been a good run..." the boy whispered. His eyes rolled back into his head, his body went entirely limp, and he plummeted silently toward the earth far below.
With Nerraw gone, the paralyzing hold on the others shattered. But there was no time for relief. They had a much bigger problem.
Nerraw had transferred his remaining essence into the crystalline creature. Thomas was floating erratically, clutching his head in agony as his blue shards violently glitched between light and dark.
"Thomas!" Mark yelled, flying toward him.
"C-Can you hit him with the Keyblade?!" Oliver shouted in panic.
"I can't hurt him!" Mark cried out.
Before anyone could make a move, a loud, electrical ZAP cracked through the air.
A concussive blast of energy slammed into Oliver and Venti, launching them backward through space. The sky vanished in a blur of colors, and suddenly, they slammed hard onto a solid floor. They tumbled violently across the linoleum until they crashed into the legs of a heavy chair.
"AHGRG!" Oliver yelled, clutching his arm. He frantically scrambled to his feet. "Venti?! Mark!?"
He spotted Venti groaning on the floor beside him and quickly hauled the bard to his feet. "Venti! Are you okay?"
Venti didn't answer. He was staring dead ahead, his eyes wide.
Oliver followed his gaze.
They were back inside the lab. Specifically, the transfer chair room.
"What?" Oliver muttered, his head spinning as he looked around the sterile environment. Mark was gone. Thomas was gone. "Why are we back here? Did Mark send us back?"
"Who's that...?" Venti whispered.
Then, Oliver turned his head.
Standing at the door frame was someone else. Oliver's eyes widened in sheer panic, and he instantly grabbed Venti's hand, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs.
It was definitely not someone Oliver wanted to see right now.