Hello again everyone, hope you had a good week. Thanks for your reviews.
A small note on this chapter: assuming you've played through KHII, you know what happens in the Underworld. It may seem to some of you, however, that there's a small discrepancy in the timing. Auron tells Sora and company about the Underdrome, and the Hades Cup begins immediately afterwards. Now, in KHII, if you return to the Underworld after completing Disney Castle, you get the explanatory scene with Auron and can sign up for the Cerberus Cup, but there's no Hades Cup until after the thousand-Heartless fight in Hollow Bastion. However, if you hold off returning until after the aforementioned battle, then you get both in sequence; that's how I decided to spin it here. Just thought I'd make that clear for everyone.
That said, here's Chapter IV.The darkness was replaced by dim light, and Auron was back in the Underworld. He looked around, felt the ground under his feet, and knew it was real. There was a substantial difference from the last time he'd been here, however, and it was mostly concerned with the massive coliseum looming in the distance across the black river.
Auron stared at the edifice and remembered the massive dump of information that Hades had given him. He searched the memories that were not his own and found a name: the Underdrome. The whole history asserted itself and he knew why it had suddenly appeared. It had been under lock and key – to be precise, an unbreakable lock without a key.
Putting two and two together was not difficult, especially when the perpetrator was standing ten feet away, staring at the coliseum. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were at the bank of the Styx, looking at the structure like it would come alive at any moment.
Wondering how much time he'd passed unconscious in the realm of darkness, Auron approached them. He faintly heard Donald ask, "What's that?"
"The Underdrome," Auron replied. All three of them jumped and turned to look at him, eyes wide and faces bright with recognition. So they didn't think he'd abandoned them; that was good. "Fiends of the Underworld once clashed there – battle after battle," he continued, seeing the images inside his mind. "But Zeus didn't like the senseless violence, so he locked the place up."
Sora raised an eyebrow and looked at the coliseum again. "How'd it get unlocked?"
"Some fool must have broken the seal," Auron said, a light probe to see how much Sora knew about his own action – which, if his last statement was to be believed, was nothing.
"What an idiot," the young man said derisively. Auron restrained a chuckle and instead gave a noncommittal grunt. Abruptly changing the subject, Sora asked, "Where are you going, Auron? We should catch up!"
Auron left his gaze drift off of the trio and out into the distance. Where was he going? That was an excellent question, and one he was not sure he could answer. His eye tracked unconsciously along the shoreline of the Styx until it settled on two people approaching: Hercules and Megara.
There was something wrong with Hercules. Auron could sense no energy from him, and the hero's complexion was waxy and pale. Clearly he was still in top physical shape, but there was something eating at his spirit.
"If you need something to do," Auron said, "go help your friends."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looked over to Hercules and Megara. In that split second, Auron heard a familiar, insinuating voice.
Welcome back to the party.
There was a cloud of smoke, a sensation of burning with cold fire, and Auron was standing in front of Hades, Lord of the Dead.
"So nice to see you again, bud," Hades laughed. "I was getting worried that you'd never come back."
Auron tried to drop into a crouch and go for the Kotetsu, but Hades waggled a finger and Auron found himself paralyzed by swirling chains of black smoke. Clearly the god was taking no chances this time.
"What do you want?" Auron demanded. "I've already told you that I won't help you."
Hades grinned, a leer that showed every one of his particularly unpleasant teeth. "See, that's the thing. Before, I was just gonna let you out of the slammer – no strings, like I said. Now, I'm gonna sweeten the deal for you: not only do I let you out, you get to let out anyone else you want!"
That made Auron stop his futile struggling against the bonds of smoke and stare at the Lord of the Dead. "You're serious?"
"Dead serious," Hades replied. "Love that joke, eh?"
"I could have gone my entire life without having to hear it," Auron countered.
"You're no fun. Whaddaya say, then? You fight Hercules in my Underdrome as part of a little event I'm organizing – purely for charity, of course – and you, and anyone else you want to set free, go free. Simple as that, no strings attached, just like last time."
For a long minute Auron turned his thoughts inward. There was no way he could be justified in this. Even if he accepted with the intention of saving Braska and Jecht from the Underworld, there was no guarantee that either of them had ended up here like he had. Furthermore, Hercules's life was not Auron's to take. The man might offer his own life up to save another's, but Auron could never force him.
Still… perhaps there was a way to beat the Lord of the Dead at his own game.
"You have a deal," Auron said impassively. "I fight Hercules in the Underdrome, to the death, and in exchange I can take anyone I want out of the Underworld with me."
Hades's grin impossibly widened and he snapped his fingers. The black smoke constraining Auron dissipated, and in a burst of flame a roll of parchment appeared in the god's hand. "Sign on the dotted line," he said, producing a jagged black quill from thin air.
"On one condition," Auron said.
The grin slipped off of Hades's face. "Be careful, buddy. I'm being real magnanimous, here, letting you pull whoever you so please out of my Underworld. Don't push your luck."
"All I want is to be able to see whether or not the people I have in mind are actually here," Auron said soothingly. "Take me to the river of souls and let me see. I'm not going to accept this deal if there's nobody for me to save."
Hades fumed for a moment, then smoothed back his flame of hair and restored the grin to his face. "Cool, cool. We can deal with this." He scratched the quill across the paper, flames following the point and burning script into the parchment. "There. The condition's added."
With a nod, Auron took the quill from the god and signed the parchment, his distinctive scrawl standing out in comparison to the precise characters of Hades's hand. "I've signed. Take me to the river of souls."
"Just a sec," Hades said, cupping a hand to one of his ears. "Ho-ho, I hear the sound of failure! Jerkules is busy moaning about how his hero days are over – I gotta get in on that." Auron felt his lip begin to curl and stifled the expression. "Here, river of souls. Be with you in a bit."
Another cloud of smoke, another long and unpleasant moment of burning alive, and Auron found himself standing on a rocky precipice hanging in space over a swirling green vortex of screaming, vaguely humanoid figures.
He had no idea how to proceed from this point, but the adage did say that a journey always began with a single step.
"BRASKA! JECHT!" Auron bellowed. "ARE YOU THERE?"
There was no response except a heightening of the pitch of the moaning and screeching that emanated from the pit below. Auron shouted his friends' names again, and again it was to no avail; he tried a third time with the same result…
And this time, something answered.
"Auron!"
A single strand of whatever comprised a soul slithered out of the deluge below and suspended itself in the space between Auron's perch and its prison. "Auron, is that you?" The voice was preternatural, a humming and buzzing sound in Auron's mind that formed words and images.
"Jecht!" Auron called. "You're here!"
"Unfortunately," Jecht's answer came.
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"A whole lot of nothing. From the moment that Braska and I defeated Sin, there's this big hole in my recollection of everything. I never figured this is what the Farplane would be like."
"This isn't the Farplane," Auron said. "I don't know what exactly has happened, Jecht, but Spira as we know it no longer exists. We are in the Underworld, the land of the dead of this universe or something along those lines. Hades, the ruler here, returned me to life so I could kill a rival of his for him. I declined, but then he said I could save anyone I wanted from the Underworld in exchange, so I came to see if you and Braska were here."
"That's not worth it, Auron," Jecht replied fiercely. "Not by a damn sight. I never thought you would kill some random guy just because you were made what was probably a crooked promise that you could save me and Braska."
Auron swallowed. "I have no intention of killing anyone like that," he said. "I would not be able to bring myself to do it. I wish I could save you, but…"
"You're doin' the right thing," Jecht said. "That's what's important, isn't it? Besides, you'd be getting stiffed – ha, bad pun – if you went along with this deal. Braska's not even in here – I have no idea where he is, but if he was here I'd have found him by now."
Was he where I emerged from? Auron wondered. He hadn't been raised out of this river of souls; perhaps he was in a sub-section because he was a special case. Perhaps it was the same with Braska. However, Auron doubted he could get Hades to agree to let him search the place from whence he'd came; he had already stretched the god's patience and tolerance to the limit.
"He's probably better off than the two of us, wherever he is," Auron finally said. "I will find a way to get you out of here and find Braska, Jecht. I just need a little time."
"Not like I'm in danger of dying again anytime soon," Jecht laughed. "Take all the time you need. Kinda cozy in here, once you get past all the ectoplasm."
Auron nodded and turned about, then began to walk away in the direction of what he believed was the exit. Yes, he needed time… time that he'd probably already wasted. How long had he been gone?
"Things work kinda different in the realm of darkness, if you haven't noticed," a drawling voice came from behind him. Auron whirled, the Kotetsu free and cresting in an arc that would easily take the attacker's head off –
It never reached its target. The black-robed figure jerked a hand up, holding something that looked vaguely like a large, purple, crystalline handgun, and fired a scarlet energy burst that stopped Auron's swing dead in the water and sent him staggering back.
"Manners," the man drawled again. "You shouldn't go around choppin' people's heads off like that." Auron stared into the single venomous eye that regarded him from a scarred and angry face; the other eye was covered in a black eyepatch. Grey-streaked black hair was pulled back into a ponytail on the man's head and he wore a wide, predatory grin.
"Yo," he said.
"Who are you?" Auron demanded.
"Name's Xigbar," the man replied. "Number Two of Organization XIII, Xigbar the Freeshooter."
"Are you intent on coming after me as well?"
Xigbar shrugged, holding his weapons loosely in his hands. "That all depends. Right now you got business with that Hades guy, and I'm not about to mess with him on his own turf – that would be real unwise. Consider this an extension of your existence, why not."
"Don't make idle threats," Auron warned the man. "If you want a fight, I'll give one to you."
"I highly doubt you could beat me solo, man," Xigbar laughed. "No offense or anything, but you're not really up to my specs. I bet even that chicken Demyx could handle you… if he wasn't dead, of course."
Auron stared at Xigbar. "Dead? When?"
"A while ago. Like I said, the realm of darkness works kinda different than the world you 'n I are used to. The only way to keep things in order there is to stay awake, to keep your sense of time. Seein' as how you seem to have no idea as to exactly how long you been gone, I'd say you were knocked out or somethin' and time just flew for you."
As strange as the explanation was, it made sense to Auron. A subjective realm like the realm of darkness was probably as much victim to his own perception as he was to its vast, unbreachable nature. Axel might have only knocked him out for a few minutes to an hour, but in that lost time…
"I'd talk more," Xigbar interrupted Auron's thoughts, "but I think your new boss is incoming. Ciao." Before Auron could say anything, the man disappeared into another swirling black vortex that dissipated a moment later.
Just as Xigbar had predicted, a column of smoke blossomed in front of Auron and Hades emerged, looking triumphant. "Auron. Just got finished luring the kids into the Hades Cup. Gonna have to enter you, too."
"Forget it," Auron said.
One of Hades's eyes began to twitch. "Um. No. I don't think so. You signed a contract." He flared up, turning red, flames cascading towards the ceiling. "A CONTRACT!"
"I'm not going to fight Hercules for you," Auron told Hades. "I merely wanted to see if there was anyone I knew in your Underworld. Now that I know there isn't –" Jecht's identity, after all, had to remain unknown to Hades – "I can leave."
Abruptly, the firestorm ceased. Hades returned to his normal color and he grinned maliciously. "Auron, pal.
"You ever heard of a binding contract?"
There was a flash of red light, a hole opened in Auron's heart, and everything went blank –
– and suddenly Auron found himself in the Underdrome.
He looked down at Hercules, who was crouched on the very edge of the center platform, struggling to keep the Kotetsu from splitting his face in two. Looking around, Auron saw Hades staring down at them from a throne set above the ring, and on the other side of the ring stood Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
Images came rushing back to Auron: a statue of him, that crooked deal, not remembering who anyone was, being forced to call that obsequious bastard sitting up there "Lord…"
There was going to be hell to pay, and the locale would only make that easier.
"Sora," Auron said, returning the Kotetsu to his shoulder and turning to face the Keyblade wielder. "Donald. Goofy."
"Auron!" they shouted, their faces bright with relief.
Auron heard an exploding sound behind him and knew that Hades had turned scarlet. "Why, those little – ugh. Prisoner!" the god shouted. "What happened to our mutual agreement? I can give you a clean slate, but you gotta work with me."
Letting a snarl take over his features, Auron turned to look at the god and leveled the Kotetsu at him. "Maybe you didn't hear me. This is my story, and you're not part of it."
Hades gave an awful screech and burst into a column of flame, disappearing off of his throne and reappearing in the ring. "That's it!" he roared. "This is game over. I've played by the rules so far. Okay, I confess! I was hoping Wonderboy would lose, but it was still a fair fight. C'mon, is that really so wrong? Huh?"
"Really?" Sora scoffed. "A fair fight?" His companions both laughed at the idea.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh all you want!" Hades snarled, giving an extremely forced chuckle. "Because the laughing is about to stop. Wanna know why? Because now we're gonna play by my rules."
The Lord of the Dead snapped his fingers, and a stone gate in the wall of the Underdrome ground open behind him, revealing the river of souls screaming past it. Auron heard a scream, and a moment later a puff of smoke appeared in front of the open gate and Megara was no longer in the stands.
"Meg!" Hercules shouted.
"Hercules!" The woman struggled against the smoke suspending her off of the ground, but it was useless; slowly, inexorably, she drifted out over the river of souls.
Hades grinned. "Hey, I warned you right at the get-go. You don't compete, you lose the girl." He snapped his fingers again and Megara plummeted.
"NO!" Hercules shouted desperately. He jumped the gap to the outer wall of the Underdrome, ran past Hades, and then dove after Megara into the river of death.
The Lord of the Dead languidly peeked over the side and laughed. "Looks like Wonderboy has dropped out of the standings." The stone gate ground shut behind him and he turned to look at Auron.
"Well, you've still got us to deal with!" Sora said, brandishing his Keyblade.
Hades disappeared into his trademark cloud of smoke and reappeared behind them.
"Oh, yeah. This is gonna be good." The god flared up red and a massive fireball appeared in each of his hands. "THAT'S IT!"
Auron ducked beneath the initial fireball and battered the second one off of its course with him, then charged and cut Hades cleanly through the chest.
The strike didn't do anything. Hades looked down at the smoking gash in his chest, laughed, and hit Auron so hard that the guardian saw stars. He staggered backwards, braced himself up on the Kotetsu, and watched a volley of Sora's attacks reflect harmlessly off of Hades or do no damage if they connected. The god laughed and backhanded Sora across the face, sending the Keyblade wielder flying.
Sora definitely had grown in power, however. He performed a dazzling midair recovery and scythed back at Hades, Keyblade flashing, but his attacks were useless again. A moment later he took a fireball in the chest and went down.
"We can't win!" Sora finally gasped, getting to his feet.
"How come?" Donald demanded, standing at a wary distance from Hades, staff at the ready.
Auron didn't like to state the obvious, but with this group he couldn't expect anyone else to take up the burden of being the fool. "Because it's his Underworld."
"Gee," Goofy said, "then how do we beat him?"
Truthfully, Auron didn't know. He'd fought losing battles before, but this was beyond anything in his experience. An enemy completely invulnerable to all conventional attacks, with the powers of a god…
His battlefield thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a stone gate grinding open. Auron whirled, as did everyone else, to see a golden light emanating from the gate to the river of souls.
Standing there, framed in his own golden glow, was Hercules, with Megara in his arms.
"I think a true hero should be able to help," he said, grinning.
Hades stared, slackjawed. "But… you…"
Hercules laughed. "I owe you one, Hades. I didn't hesitate to give my life for Meg's. And then, I remembered…" Auron heard the sound of flapping wings a moment before Pegasus descended and landed next to his master. Hercules gently lowered Megara to the ground and continued, "A true hero is measured by the strength of his heart. I'll never forget that again."
"Just no more crazy stunts!" Sora said only half-seriously.
"People always do crazy things when they're in love," Hercules replied sagely. Pegasus took flight with Megara on his back, bearing her safely away.
The horse's timing, as it turned out, was perfect. Hades literally exploded. He flared up brighter than the sun and screamed, "What is so FUNNY, you imbeciles? How DARE you get a happy ending! HOW DARE YOU!"
Auron sincerely hoped that Hercules had some trick up his sleeve for dealing with the angry god, or this was going to end up the most disastrous and most certainly the last fight of his life.
Fortunately enough, Hercules was indeed prepared. He gave a shout, radiating energy, and large, shimmering golden orbs appeared in a slow orbit around him. Hades snarled and began to hurl fireballs again, but Sora sidestepped one, slid over to one of the golden orbs, and smacked it across the side straight at Hades.
The orb hit the god and exploded in a burst of white light. Hades gave an inarticulate yell and staggered backwards, his flames dying down to their normal simmering blue. He clawed at himself, trying to shed Hercules's light energy that still clung to him, and Auron sensed vulnerability like a dog sensed fear.
He struck, going in at full speed, the Kotetsu sweeping about in an all-or-nothing attack that would send Hades flying or leave Auron completely open if it missed. Sora was right behind him, Keyblade at the ready. The air around Hades had already begun to crackle with lightning – Donald's doing – and Goofy had hurled his shield, which had hit the god square in the stomach and doubled him over.
Auron's attack connected beautifully, slashing a smoking diagonal gash from Hades's shoulder to his thigh. Sora's thrust pierced through the Lord of the Dead's chest, the Keyblade exploding out his back wreathed in flame. Behind him, Auron felt a rush of energy that precipitated Hercules's attack by a bare instant, and then the hero's fist landed square in the center of Hades's face.
Hades recoiled, flame spurting from his mangled torso, and disappeared into another column of smoke, reappearing at the other end of the arena. He roared something and flame spurted from the ends of his hands, then a pillar of fire leapt up around him, dying down to reveal that he had turned red again and his wounds were gone.
It was just in time for him to take another golden orb square in the chest. He staggered again, teetering at the edge of the arena. Auron gathered himself into a crouch and then took a mighty leap, crossing the distance in a single bound and bringing the Kotetsu down across Hades's head.
More smoke, another teleportation; Sora was waiting and greeted Hades with a furious barrage of light strikes before visibly channeling his magic energy and releasing it in a concentric explosion of light around him. Hades retreated right into a blizzard storm from Donald's staff. Another teleportation led him into a one-two from Goofy and Hercules, a paired punch and shield bash that sent the god reeling.
Bent, clutching at his heart, Hades stared at all of them hatefully. "This… isn't… happening!"
By way of reply, Sora dashed forward, bringing the Keyblade around for another overhead strike, but his weapon hit nothing but smoke; Hades had retreated out of the arena to the outer wall of the Underdrome. Behind him was the open stone gate, beyond which loomed the river of souls.
"It's… not over… yet…" he gasped, backing blindly away from his foes. He stopped at the edge, almost fell, steadied himself.
In that crucial moment, Auron saw, with perfect clarity, Jecht's face: more than an illusion but less than real, it hovered just behind Hades, almost completely concealed by the god's black robe. Auron met Jecht's gaze and saw his old friend give a ghostly wink.
A moment later Hades screamed, teetered backwards, and fell. A wisp of what might have been one of Jecht's ethereal arms sloughed off of the rock of the Underdrome and back into the river of souls.
It was Hades's Underworld no longer.