Recap:
"Seven hours until we reach Olympus Coliseum," Riku said after you took off again. At Sora's insistence, the four of you had stayed a little longer to talk to Mulan and Shang about their wedding, and then had returned to the Gummi Ship.
"I still wish we could've stayed longer," Sora said, playing with a blue bouncy ball.
"This isn't a social mission Sora," Riku said as he took a seat next to you.
"Riku's right," you agreed. "We can't stay and chat to people when we have a job to complete."
"Finally," Riku said, "a fighter with common sense."
"Hey," Kairi pouted, "what about me?"
"You're not a fighter!" he and Sora at the same time.
"Yeah yeah," she grinned.
STORY STARTS:
"What's the time, Riku?" Sora asked.
Riku sighed. "For the eighteenth time, it's fifteen minutes past noon, Sora," he replied without looked up from him iPod.
"I've never heard of anyone who could ask the time eighteen times in three minutes," you commented over your book.
"Yup!" Sora grinned, "I'm one of a kind!"
"One kind we could live without," said Riku joke.
"Whatever," you said. You shut your book and stood up. "I'm going to read where I can actually hear myself think." You left as Sora was saying, "Riku, there's still one hour and forty-five minutes, right?"
In your room, you made sure the door was shut, and then you put your book down and rummaged through your duffel bag for something buried underneath your clothes. Finally, you produced what looked like a folded piece of paper. You unfolded it and leaned back against your pillows against the wall to examine it.
The picture was a little old, dating four years back. It showed you in a forest at thirteen years old, wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a loose navy T-shirt, and strappy purple sandals. You were sitting with your back against a towering tree, holding a book.
Also sitting next to you against the tree was a eleven year old girl with long, dark brown hair tied back in really low pigtails, wearing black skinny jeans and a baggy off-the-shoulder dark purple top with three-quarter length sleeves. She was looking up from a sketchbook at you and holding a pencil in one hand. Standing to the side was an even younger boy, about eight years old with the same dark brown hair, wearing a red T-shirt and jeans standing confidently on a rock in a super-hero pose. You and the boy were grinning, and the girl with the sketchbook was smiling shyly. You and the girl had the same expressive brown eyes, but the boy had one purple eye and one blue eye.
'That was just a few days before it happened,' you thought. You had been staring at the picture for some time recalling memories when someone knocked on the door. "Maryx, are you in there?"
You hastily folded the picture again and stuffed it underneath a pillow. "It's open Kairi," you said. Kairi came in and sat down at the foot of the bed. "Sora wanted to know if you had any bouncy balls. I told him you wouldn't but he…hey," she held up your book, which was still on the bed next to you, and looked at you curiously. "It looked like you haven't read a thing since you left…what have you been doing for the last half an hour?"
"Half an hour?" you glanced at your watch. 'Had I been looking at that picture for that long?' you wondered. "Um…I had shut the book when I left and I started in the wrong spot, then when I found the right page I decided to fool around with one of my bouncy balls."
"You have bouncy balls?" Kairi asked incredulously. "You actually own bouncy balls?
'Hah, that's what she said!' "Uh…yes, yes I do," you said, pulling two out of the pocket of your duffel bag, one was orange and yellow, the other was red. "I was actually going to come back anyway; I'll go with you now," you added, getting up and heading out the door.
In the main room you threw the red ball to Sora, who was asking Riku what the time was. Again. "You have bouncy balls? You actually own bouncy balls?" Riku said laughing, not stopping when you glared at him.
"I said the same thing," Kairi said as she sat down next to Sora.
"Word for word," you confirmed as you sat next to Riku and started throwing the orange and yellow ball in the air and catching it. "And Sora, if you ask what the time is again within the next twenty minutes, then I will draw a picture of you licking your Keyblade clean and send it to the King with a caption saying: 'This is how Sora gets his Keyblade so shiny…really.'" You ended by throwing the ball at him.
Sora yelped a little. "Ah…o-okay."
"Thank you," Riku said to you. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?"
"'Cuz you can't draw to save your life," Sora said. Before he could respond he changed the subject. "Hey Maryx? You know how you said you might 'tell us about your past some other time' when we first met you?"
"Yeah..." you said slowly.
"You should tell us now!" Sora said. "It'll pass the time."
"When I said some other time," you responded, "I meant longer than a few weeks."
"Yeah but..."
"Drop it, Sora," Riku interrupted. Sora pouted but left the topic and started tossing the ball back and forth with Kairi. "I didn't tell him," he whispered when you gave him a look.
You relaxed and smiled. "Thanks.
"Five minutes until we land," Riku said, checking to time on his iPod. Sora hadn't asked what the time was again. Hah. Riku looked up to see Sora throwing all three balls at your head over and over to see when you'd look up from your book, which he'd been doing for the past twenty minutes. "Sora, would you just put away those bouncy balls?"
"Shhhhh!" Sora hissed. "I think she's gonna react any moment now!"
"I'd have shoved those balls down your throat fifteen minutes ago, but two of them are mine and yours is a neat colour," you said, without looking up. "And for the millionth time, I'm not deaf."
Riku snatched the bouncy balls of Sora. "There, that was a reaction."
"Maryx, you're not gonna send a picture of me licking my Keyblade to the King, are you?" Sora asked, looking worried.
You rolled your eyes. "No, Sora."
"I'll be back," Kairi said, walking slowly out of the room.
"What's up with her?" you asked.
"What was that about, Kai?" Sora asked when she came back a minute later.
"Oh, nothing," she said. "I just took some aspirin."
"You okay?" Sora asked, looking concerned.
"It's fine you guys," she said, "it's just a headache. I'm already feeling better."
Riku shook his head. "Kairi, Maryx's hiding-my-woes-and-sorrows act better not be rubbing off on you."
"Don't worry, it takes a lot to become like me," you said without thinking.
"What does that mean?" Sora asked instantly.
"Nothing," you replied smoothly. "It would just take some time for a person to go from Kairi to me."
"Good point," Riku said. Sora opened his mouth to add something, but Riku shot him a look, making him shut it again.
"Ready for landing in Olympus Coliseum," a robotic voice said, saving you from saying more. 'How many times has Riku totally saved me from saying too much?' you thought. You glanced over at him and saw him looking at you. You smiled at each other a little then looked away again before Kairi caught you and started saying something.'And why don't I feel uncomfortable that I told him?' you wondered for the millionth time.
Soon Riku had landed the Gummi Ship and you, Sora and Riku were walking up the stairs of the underworld. Kairi had stayed back at the ship since she was still feeling a little sick. It was actually a good thing se didn't come; she probably wouldn't have lasted the climb up all these stairs. "How many stairs are there anyway?" you groaned. Not that you were tired, but it was an awful lot of stairs.
"Two-hundred and seventy-six more to go," Sora said automatically.
"You've counted?" Riku asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Whatever," you said. "I mean, I really want to climb up two hundred plus stairs and all, but..." You held out your hands to the boys. "Grab on."
They caught hold of your hands cautiously, not sure of what you were doing. In less than a second you had moved yourself and the boys to the top of the stairs. "Why didn't you just do that from the start?" Riku asked, looking agitated.
You smiled innocently back at him. "I wanted to stretch my legs."
"Hey, Sora!" A super-short half-goat man with a pudgy face, pig nose, and yelled to Sora once the three of you had walked into a sunny training area. Next to him stood a young, strong-looking man that looked like he had been working out.
Sora ran up to them, with you and Riku following. "Hi Phil! Hi Herc!" he said cheerfully, bumping fists with the strong-looking guy.
When you and Riku joined him, you looked the half-goat man up and down. "What are you?" you questioned flatly.
"What am I...WHAT am I?" Phil yelled. "I'm Phil, the trainer. that's WHO I am. Who are you?"
"Guys, this is Riku," Sora started.
"Oh, so he's the one you were talking about all the time?" the strong-looking man asked.
"Yeah," Sora confirmed, looking sheepish.
"What did you say about me?" said Riku threateningly.
"All good things, don't worry man," the man said grinning. "Mostly stuff about how good a fighter you are and how Sora was looking for you."
"And," Sora continued, "this is Maryx. The King sent her to help us in our mission. Riku, Maryx, this is Hercules" he pointed to the strong-looking man, "and Phil," he pointed to the half-goat man.
"Hey there," Hercules said, smiling.
"Hi," you and Riku said.
"Nice to meet you," Phil said, looking like that was the last thing he meant. "And for your information, Maryx, I'm way stronger than you," he added.
"Stronger than me?" you repeated, smirking.
"Don't get her angry Phil," Sora warned him.
"Maryx is really strong," Riku put in. "Really strong. She could probably blow up this place without even trying."
"I wouldn't do that," you said indignantly. "I could, but I wouldn't!"
"Listen, have you seen any Organization XIII members around here?" Sora asked, changing the subject.
"Maybe stirring up trouble?" Riku said.
"Or threatening people?" you added.
"Yes, yes, and yes," Hercules said. "In the past few days this person keeps showing up and making trouble. We were wondering if you'd show up to help out."
"Just yesterday he disrupted a match in the arena!" Phil growled, looking annoyed again . "It was the perfect match, Hercules versus one of our other champs. Had the crowd going wild! And then some black-cloaked fellow shows up, raises his hands, and these mini-lighting bolts started raining down! Everyone left! All that money, gone," he snapped his fingers, "just like that!"
"And later on there was another match," Hercules continued, "between two other champions. It had just finished, when the person showed up again, and froze the winner!"
"Froze him?" the three on you repeated.
He nodded. "Then he said to everyone, 'Do what we say or you'll end up like him', and then he vanished. Worst part is that the ice won't melt."
"That's terrible," Sora said.
"Well, one thing's for sure," you said, "the person who pulled the lightning stunt isn't the same as the one who froze that man."
"It isn't?" Phil asked.
"She's right," Riku agreed. "The lightning one is probably Larxene, and the one who froze that guy was most likely Vexen."
"No need for introductions then," said a voice.
"YOU!" yelled Phil, looking behind you. You turned around to see Larxene and a creepy looking man with long platinum blond hair standing at a distance behind you. Before you could get out your Keyblade they disappeared. "Try and find us!" Larxene laughed as they vanished in a swirl of dark mist.
"Come on!" Sora said. "they probably went back to the Underworld!"
"Right." The three of you started running back to the stairs.
"Herc, you better stay behind," Sora called, running backwards. "These people are really dangerous; if you've got a match coming up, you don't wanna get hurt."
"Darn straight," Phil said. "You're not going anywhere, champ."
"Whoa, wait," Riku said. You groaned in protest as you ran into Sora when he stopped. "Sora, didn't you say something about the Underworld draining a person's energy?"
"That's true," Hercules confirmed, "but remember - we defeated Hades, Sora. You shouldn't have any affect from being in the Underworld; Phil and I have been down there a few times and nothing's happened!"
"Where could they've gone?" asked Riku. You were now in the Underworld. To your left was a green door, and on your right was a blue door.
"I'll go this way," you said, pointing towards the green door, "and you guys go the other way. It's not likely that they'll both be in the same place."
"Oh no," Riku shook his head. "You're not going on your own!"
You rolled your eyes slightly. "I'll be fine. I can take on either of them alone."
"You probably can," Sora said, looking serious for a change, "but it's really easy to get lost in here. And besides, you could get hurt."
"He's right, for once," Riku said.
"For once?"
"I'll go alone, and you go with Sora," he finished, ignoring the brunette.
"No," you said firmly. "I can take care of myself!"
"We know that," said Riku, "but you're not going on your own." Without waiting for you to argue back, he ran to the blue doors and went through.
"Asshole," you muttered.
"Let's go, Maryx!" Sora cheered. He went through the green doors, with you reluctantly following him.
"We're never going to find them, Sora," you declared after wandering around the Underworld for an hour.
"Sure we will!" Sora said, perkier than ever. "We'll find them any minute now!"
"Oh yeah," you replied drily as you climbed up a staircase leading out of the Atrium, "one of them is hiding behind this corner at the top of the stairs right now, just waiting for us to pop up..." You were cut off by a stream of ice zooming past your ear. Standing in front of you was Vexen himself, wielding his Frozen Pride shield.
"Oh my gosh, I predicted the future," you commented emotionlessly.
Vexen smirked as he created some sort of barrier around the exits. "You must be Maryx," he said smoothly.
"How do you know my name?" you demanded.
"Kaori told me," he informed you, smiling when you visibly stiffened.
"Kairi? When did you see Kairi?" Sora asked.
You ignored him. "Don't talk crap," you snarled at Vexen.
"Ah, but Maryx, A scientist always speaks the truth," Vexen said.
"Yeah right!" you scoffed. 'Even his voice is creepy!' you thought.
"And I said Kaori, not Kairi," Vexen added for Sora's benefit.
Sora looked at you. "Who's Kaori?"
"None of your business!" you snapped at him.
"Aha!" Vexen's smirk became more evil. "I've hit a nerve, have I?" He waved his shield in the air. "You don't have to worry, dear. Kaori is alive, but Ryu is definitely dead."
"Just...shut up!" you yelled, frustrated at how you were losing control.
"I'll give you both two choices," Vexen said. "Join us, or perish."
"Could it be a little simpler please?" said Sora sarcastically. "In your dreams, Vexen!"
"Yeah," you said determinedly.
Vexen sighed, as if you had given him a huge job to do. "Very well..." Suddenly large chunks of ice rose up from the ground, freezing Sora solid.
"Hey!" you yelled.
"Better make this quick," Vexen grinned sinisterly. "Take too long and the poor boy will die."
'That bastard,' you thought, and rushed at him, catching him by surprise. You soon realized that it was impossible to hit him from the front because of his shield, so you attacked him from behind. He shrieked like a little girl and ran further away, then started shooting ice at you swiftly. You dodged all the ice easily and came up behind him again, whacking him with your Keyblade. Back and forth you went, exchanging blows, losing track of time.
At first you had thought the fight would be easy, but now you'd changed your mind. Vexen kept making the ground slippery with ice, making it hard to walk or run. When you slipped, he hit you hard with his shield, sending you flying through the air. A few times he caught you by surprise by turning his shield into a sword, landing many attacks on you with it. 'This is taking too long,' you realized, glancing at Sora, who was still frozen. As you were distracted, Vexen created a blizzard that you couldn't avoid.
He turned his shield into a sword again and started attacking you while you were still stunned by the blizzard attack, and he managed to get two deep cuts on your upper arm. "Screw this," you muttered. Ignoring the pain in your arm, you managed to fend off his attacks and moved away from him. You summoned as much strength as you could, raised your arms, put your hands together, and took a deep breath. A small glowing ball with sparks of electrified energy snapping around it formed in your hands. "Masenko!" you yelled.
A huge bolt of energy erupted out of the ball, blasting into Vexen and slamming him into a wall. "No!"he screamed as he began to fade.
"Oh, crap!" you said. You had forgotten that you needed Sora to shoot him. Thinking quickly, you formed a small ball of energy in your hand and flung it at Sora, ignoring the fact that it could severely injure him. Luckily, the ice started to crack, and you risked another shot. This time the ice shattered completely and Sora stood there, shivering but otherwise unharmed. "Sora, shoot him!" you said.
"What?" Sora asked looking dazed.
"Vexen! He's fading! Shoot him, now!"
"Oh yeah, right!" He summoned his Keyblade and shot Vexen just in time. Vexen screamed, then he was gone. Around you, the barriers that had blocked the exits went down.
You and Sora stood there in silence for a moment. "He was creepier than that guy with loads of skin on his face," Sora said finally.
"You mean Leatherface?" you laughed. You glanced at Sora and saw that he was still shivering. "Hey, are you okay, Sora?" you asked.
"Eh, I'll be fine. Good thing you broke the ice when you did, 'cuz I was getting really...whoa!" He grabbed your right arm and you winced a little, since that was the one that had the deep cuts. "Did he do that?"
"No, it was the Angel of Death." You started walking back swiftly in what you thought was the direction you had come from without waiting for him. "It'll be fine."
"It'll be fine?" Sora yelped, jogging after you. "Maryx, those cut s are deep!"
"It's not that deep. And besides, it doesn't even hurt," you lied, since it was actually throbbing like crazy.
"Well, I'll try and cure them for you!" he said. He tried to heal the cuts, but nothing happened.
"Maybe you used up too much magic when you shot the Creepy/Perverted Scientist back there," you suggested.
Sora laughed. "I don't have any potions on me," he said, "but Riku might have some! We better go back. He's probably waiting for us. Why are you just standing there anyway?"
"What...you're the one who stopped me while I was...oh, whatever." You began walking again. "Let's get out of here."
As the two of you walked back to the Underworld entrance, with Sora insisting that he knew the way, he looked as if he were about to burst. After he had actually gotten red in the face, you sighed. "What is it, Sora?" you asked tiredly, knowing you were going to regret asking.
He shook his head violently. "You're gonna kill me if I ask!"
"No, I won't." You rolled your eyes. "What's up?"
Sora hesitated then said in a rush, "WhoareKaoriandRyu?"
You stopped in your tracks and turned to looked at him slowly. Then you summoned you Keyblade and pointed it at his head. "Don't kill me!" Sora yelped.
"Never," you said slowly through your teeth as you stepped forward, making him back up against a wall, "and I mean never, ever ask me that question again. Got it?"
Sora gulped loudly. "O-okay, Maryx."
"Swear it!" you snapped.
"I swear!" he said hurridly. "I swear I will never ask who Kaori and Ryu are again!"
Gradually you let your arm fall had made you Keyblade disappear. "Come on," you said coldly. "Riku's probably waiting for us." Two seconds later you stopped again as a sudden thought struck you. "What is it?" Sora asked cautiously.
"If Riku ran into Larxene," you said, "how's he going to shoot her?"
RIKU'S POV
*Flashback*
You walked into Hades Chamber, slightly bored from searching through a whole section of the Underworld by yourself. Suddenly something kicked you in the back, flinging you into the wall. You pushed yourself up with some difficulty to see Larxene smirking at you from where you had been standing. "Oops," she said sarcastically. "Didn't see you there, Riku."
"I was beginning to think you ran away," you smirked, summoning Way To Dawn.
"Less talk, more kicking your ass," said Larxene. She formed electricity-infused knives in her fingers and started flinging them at you. You managed to dodge or block them with your Keyblade, then you started attacking her. Mostly she would summon lightning to fall on you, stinging your skin where they made contact. Then she'd either throw her knives at you or use them as claws. After a long time, you finally got the upperhand, and ruthlessly attacked her. Just you thought the fight was over, she kicked you hard in the chest, and you flew back across the room again. You pretended to lie there, and when she came up to you, you lashed out at her, making her loose her balance.
While she was still surprised you attacked her rapidly with your Keyblade. After a little while she made lightning rain down again, but you summoned a Dark Shield all around you, instead of just in the front, making the sparks bounce back onto Larxene. Soon she was on the ground fading away. "Crap!" you said. You had forgotten that you needed Sora to shoot her.
Instinctively, you swung your Keyblade and pointed it at Larxene, hoping for the best. To your surprise, a beam of light shot out of the tip of the Way To Dawn and headed straight at her. "No!" she shrieked. "You're a loser! This can't be happening!" The light hit her and she screamed as she faded away completely.
For a second you just stared at your Keyblade. 'Huh...so it doesn't have to be the Kingdom Key.'
*End of flashback*
You had been sitting around the Underworld Entrance sometime, waiting for Maryx and Sora to get back, thinking about how you had managed to shoot Larxene with your Way to Dawn. Finally, you looked up as you heard the green doors opening and saw Sora and Maryx running towards you.
Your POV
Riku stood up as the two of you ran towards him. "Where's Larxene?" Sora asked before Riku could say anything. "Is she dead? You didn't kill her, did you? Oh man, she's dead and she wasn't shot!"
"Calm down," Riku said, struggling not to laugh at Sora's ranting. "It turns out that I can shoot them as they fade as well. She's dead, and she's not coming back."
"You shot her?" Sora grinned. "Finally, I don't have to do all the work!"
"All the work?" you repeated. "I had to fight Vexen myself because you were a frozen block! All you did was shoot him after I broke the ice around you!"
"Sora's always slacking off," Riku laughed. Then he noticed the blood that was seeping through your fingers where you were clutching your arm. "Vexen did that?"
"Yeah, he managed to cut me. Before you say that it's serious," you added since he was opening his mouth to say something, "I just need a potion and it'll be fine. I already got the whole lecture from Sora."
"Well, I have one." He pulled a green bottle out of his pocket and handed it to you. You drank it, and immediately the cut closed up.
"See?" You shoved Sora lightly. "I didn't need an operation! Thank you, Riku."
"Why would anoyone need an operation for cuts?" Riku asked, more to himself than to Sora.
You smirked a little. "That's what I said."
"Yeah yeah," Sora said, trying to end the conversation. "We better tell Herc and Phil that we got rid of Vexen and Larxene. Can you get us up to the top of the stairs, Maryx? Pleeeeeeeeeease?"
"You're so lazy," you muttered as you grabbed their arms to transport them.
Back in the arena, the three of you told Phil and Hercules about Vexen and Larxene. "I knew it!" Phil exclaimed, pounding his chest with his fist. "I knew Sora could do it!"
"Sora didn't do anything!" Riku protested.
"Yeah! He just stood there frozen!" you said. "Literally, Vexen froze him! Riku and I did all the work!"
"Sure, girly," Phil scoffed, then pointed at Riku. "I know this kid could, but you killed one of them? You don't have to brag."
'If looks could kill that pig-man would be writhing on the ground begging for mercy,' you thought grimly.
"Hey, it's true Phil! They did everything!" Sora said.
"It doesn't matter who did what," Hercules interrupted. "The point is that the problem's solved, thank to you guys!"
"We really can't repay you enough," Meg said, coming up to Hercules and leaning on his arm.
"Meg! Hi!" Sora exclaimed.
"Nice to see you again, Sora," Meg smiled. "Is this the one?" she added, handed Phil a trophy.
"That's the one," he said. He held the trophy up so you could all see. It was a bronze statue of a man holding up a winner's wreath. "This trophy," he explained, "is given to the ones who save the arena..."
"And Phil's money," Hercules added, grinning.
"And my money," Phil agreed. You, Sora, and Riku tried not to laugh. "So seems fair that it should be given to you three," he stressed, glaring at you.
Sora reached out to take the trophy before you could strangle Phil. As he made contact with it, it shone brightly. When the light faded there was a gold-coloured key that looked exactly like the other two keys.
"The light key!" Sora said.
"Wow, really? We never would've guessed," you said drily, rolling your eyes.
"This is actually what we came for," Riku informed Hercules, Phil, and Meg.
"Then you should clear outta here!" Phil yelled, making you all jump. "People are coming here for a match, they don't wanna see you!" You glanced around and noticed that a number of people were taking seats in the arena.
"Always the welcoming type, aren't you Phil?" Meg said, then turned to look at Sora. "The people are all coming to see Wonder-boy here win another fight."
"Can we watch?" Sora asked, looking excited.
"No Sora," Riku said.
"We'd love to," you told Hercules, "but we really have to get going."
"You two are spoilsports," Sora pouted. Then he suddenly looked concerned. "Kairi!"
"What? Where?" Riku asked, looking around.
"I forgot! She's waiting for us to come back!" Sora said. He high-fived Hercules. "Sorry, Herc, but we gotta go." Randomly he glomped a surprised Meg. "Bye Meg!"
"Is he high or something?" you muttered to yourself.
"Hey, no glomping my wife!" Hercules said, grinning and pulling Meg away from Sora.
Sora's jaw dropped. "Now you two are married?"
"Good Lord, not this again," you groaned.
