They found themselves teleported into a dark and misty cave.
"Are you sure this is the coliseum?" Goofy questioned Sora.
"Er…" Sora looked around the cave questioningly.
"It's that way." Donald pointed out a stairway that led upward into the light and out of the darkness.
"Oh…guess we were a little off."
The trio headed off before realizing they were missing a member, looking back.
Toshiro was looking at his hand, tiny wisps of icy-white light flowing off it. In fact, small wisps flowed off his entire body.
'This place…it's boosting my Spiritual Pressure.' He mused, further suppressing it so the wisps vanished.
'This world must have some kind of connection to the dead.' Hyorinmaru rumbled.
'Perhaps…I best be careful. This could mean something bad; I wonder how it's affecting the others.'
He looked up to see Sora glancing at him curiously, head tilted and hands at his hips.
"Do you feel anything strange?" He asked the Keybearer. Sora blinked in surprise.
"Well…now that you mention it…" Sora scratched his head. "I kinda feel tired. Probably because we haven't really taken a break yet. Come on, let's go see Hercules."
Though he narrowed his eyes at Sora's brush off of something that could possibly be quite serious, Toshiro went ahead and followed them. Once out of here the strange effect should go away.
A woman screamed and their attention shifted quickly to where the path branched off further into the caves. A woman with long, dark red hair in a pink dress ran from several blue, dog-like Heartless with spike collars. She fell over and attempted to get back up but the creatures jumped her.
Toshiro was first to act, fighting instinct kicking in. With Flash Step he reached the woman and knocked one of the creatures off while he unsheathed his blade, cutting down the rest. The one he'd knocked back whined and ran. He let it be and turned to the woman attempting to get her breath back, Sora, Donald and Goofy racing over quickly. Sora offered her a hand.
"Thanks, but…I'm fine." She sat up and turned to them. An expression crossed her face that made Toshiro tense, as if she'd realized they weren't who she was looking for to save her. Something was off about that. She stood and dusted off her dress before crossing her arms. "And who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm Sora, he's Donald, and that's Goofy. We came to see how Hercules is doing." Sora explained. "And that's Captain Hitsugaya, he's traveling with us."
Said Soul Reaper nodded to her before sheathing his blade, turning back to where the Heartless had run off to.
"You know Wonderboy?" The woman asked Sora.
"Yes!" Donald replied. "'Cause we're heroes, too."
Toshiro let a small laugh escape at that and the duck growled.
"Junior heroes, Donald." Goofy corrected with a chuckle and Donald growled more. The woman laughed as well, that suspicious glance from earlier gone.
"Looks like we have a friend in common. Name's Megara. Friends call me Meg."
"So how's Herc?" Sora asked.
"Wonderboy? He's duking it out at the coliseum every day. You know, 'a hero's work is never done', and all that. He's ready to drop but he keeps on fighting."
"A hero is not someone who continues to fight for a crowd." Toshiro shook his head in disappointment. "He's a fool for thinking that. There are no heroes."
"And what would a kid like you know?" Meg snapped.
"For one, I'm not a kid." Toshiro scowled and the temperature dropped again, Sora panicking a bit and wondering how to step between them. "I fight almost every day as well but I don't do it to be called a hero, I do it to protect those that need to be protected."
"You could say he's doing that, then." Megara sighed and Toshiro raised his brow in question. "These aren't just any monsters – special delivery from Hades himself."
"Hades!?" Toshiro's eyes widened. He'd heard of Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld. No wonder he felt powered up here, it was basically a darker version of the Soul Society. "He doesn't know when to quit, does he?"
"You know Hades?" Sora looked confused, as did Megara.
"Old ally of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, apparently, until his methods were deemed too sadistic and he was cast out. He vanished a little while after…guess he came here."
"Does that mean you're a Soul Reaper?" Meg looked at him in a new light.
"I am."
"Then maybe you could help me!" She looked very hopeful now and he tilted his head questioningly. "I was on my way to see Hades, see if he could give Wonderboy a breather. If anything happened to that kid…"
"I understand."
"So you'll do it?"
"Yes, I do need to speak to him. I never met him personally but I'd read about him in the archives, he's terrified of Soul Reapers."
"Really?" Donald's eyes widened. When Toshiro nodded he grinned evilly. "Alright, let's go!"
"Let's keep this whole chat-with-Hades thing a secret, okay?" Meg asked, catching their attention.
"Our lips are sealed." Goofy promised and followed Toshiro with the others to a large stone door covered in blue markings.
Despite their size they were rather easy to push open, especially for Toshiro, and they made their way through a large cavern into a winding pathway leading further downward. Heartless of course blocked their path, but they weren't any trouble. Toshiro actually stayed out of the fights, letting Sora and his companions do most of the fighting. They thought about asking, but he seemed to be concentrating on something else and didn't want to interrupt him.
They paused as a figure in black rushed past them, running away. Toshiro was quick to recognize the Spiritual Pressure of the Nobody and darted off after him just as Donald exclaimed 'The Organization!'
"Way of Binding Number Nine, Disintegrating Circle!" An orange thread shot forth from his fingertips, yellow energy swirling around it, and it quickly latched onto the fleeing Nobody.
"Whoa, not fair!" He whined.
Pulling on the end still in his hand he pulled the Nobody back towards him. The man attempted to scramble back to his feet when Hyorinmaru was put to his throat. They were pretty far along in the tunnel, so Sora and the others would be a few minutes.
"Just who are you?" Toshiro demanded.
"Seriously, Captain, your memory was always better than mine." The Nobody slouched, realizing he couldn't escape.
"Perhaps if I see your face, then." Toshiro used his blade to flip back the black hood. He could sense the man's Spiritual Pressure now, a water-based power that seemed…familiar.
The man looked up at him with cyan colored eyes, hair dirty-blonde and styled into a mullet.
"Ah, my hair used to be brown." He smirked. "It got lighter when I became a Nobody. I tried to style it like yours once but I can't beat those natural spikes."
"You…" Toshiro's eyes had widened in shock. "You've been gone for decades…I thought you were gone for good."
"Sweet, you do remember me!"
"Yes…" Toshiro hardly took notice as Sora and the others arrived. "Myed Mizushima, Thirteenth seat of the Tenth Squad."
"And classmates." The Nobody nodded. "By the way, I'm Demyx now. Not a Soul Reaper anymore."
"Why?" Toshiro's tone grew harsh. "You spent your life getting into the Shinou Academy and getting into a squad."
"Yeah, but all that work was for nothing." Demyx shrugged. "I was only following you, genius. I wanted to be in the fifth squad, Aizen looked like he would have been a cool Captain. How is he by the way?"
"Imprisoned." Sora noticed a hateful tone in Toshiro's voice as he said this.
"Eh?" Demyx looked startled. "That guy wouldn't hurt a fly!"
He yelped as the long blade came closer to his throat.
"Aizen was a monster. He tore the Soul Society apart. I would have killed him myself if it was even possible after what he did to Hinamori."
"Your sister from the Rukongai?" Demyx's voice quivered. "Last I saw she was infatuated with him."
He yelped again as Hyorinmaru nicked his skin.
"He destroyed her!" Toshiro snarled and Demyx cowered beneath his gaze. "He used her, and when he was done he came up to her with a smile on his face and stabbed her! When I found her he said he should have turned the body to ash so that I wouldn't find it, and he said it with that damn grin still there!"
"How was I supposed to know that!?"
Ice had spread across the black stone as Toshiro's anger rose and Demyx scooted away.
"Captain, calm down." Sora approached the ice Captain.
There was a moment of tense silence and the temperature started to return to normal, though it was cold there to begin with, and the ice broke away.
"Why did you join the Organization, Myed?" Toshiro's tone was emotionless now but there was no denying he was ready to snap. Demyx thought very carefully about what to say next.
"I dunno…The boss went on about this amazing world he was going to create and I was on the verge of becoming a Heartless anyway. You remember, right?"
"You never were much for combat. You were always asking me and Kusaka for help."
"Yeah, you two were the geniuses and I had a power kind of like yours…excluding the ice, of course. Anyway, he gave me a way out by becoming a Nobody, and I kept most of my abilities. I still have my zanpaktou, even, though she's permanently in Shikai now."
"So you just went into the Organization to be saved?" Donald crossed his arms, looking disappointed.
"What else was I supposed to do?" The Nobody snapped back. "I mean, I was gonna die anyway and I had no way back to the Soul Society."
"Captain Hitsugaya has a way." Sora cut in. "Well, we're looking for one."
"Seriously?" Demyx raised an eyebrow. "Of course, leave it to the prodigy."
"Are you willing to play spy?" Toshiro questioned.
"Spy?" Demyx smirked. "Ha! No way!" The sword came closer. "Okay, wait! I was on my way to talk to Hades."
"So were we, you can come with us." Toshiro grabbed onto the Kido binding the Nobody and lifted him to his feet. "You know I can catch you so don't even try to run."
"Aw, man." Demyx lowered his head sadly and marched along as they continued towards Hades' chamber. "Hey, is Hinamori okay? She was always really nice to me."
"Fortunately she survived." Toshiro replied. Demyx could sense a 'but' in his tone but remained silent. He didn't envy becoming the Squad Ten Captain's next ice sculpture.
Did anybody guess it? Eh? Eh? Haha, Demyx is the former Soul Reaper! Bet ya NO ONE got it! Of the members still alive only he and Luxord didn't have back stories yet, and since Demyx's power is water I figured he'd follow around someone stronger than him in that area if he'd been a Soul Reaper, even if Toshiro turned water to ice. So there! And I gave him a name! Yay! Enjoy!