They came into a long winding path above a drop that led to a swirling green pool. Toshiro could sense souls within there and grimaced, moving away from the edge. In his grip, Demyx shivered. Donald quacked worriedly as he looked around.

"I'm scared too, Donald." Goofy shuddered. Sora looked upwards.

"Hades, come out!" He shouted, voice echoing throughout the cavern.

"Oh yeah, because the Lord of the Underworld will show up when you yell at him." Demyx sneered, attempting to hide his own fear. Toshiro just rolled his eyes and pushed him forward.

With Toshiro keeping an eye on their prisoner, Sora, Donald and Goofy were left to do most of the fighting. He would aid them with a Kido spell, which he'd learned were stronger here in the Underworld, and they made their way upwards towards Hades' chamber.

Toshiro sensed a sudden rise in a very dark Spiritual Pressure and tightened his grip on Hyorinmaru, Demyx shifting under his grip as he sensed it too.

"You know, I think I'll talk to him another time." He laughed nervously, trying to squirm out of the Kido.

"Forward." Toshiro demanded. "Sora, go on ahead."

"Right."

The Keybearer and his companions raced ahead. Toshiro turned on Demyx.

"I don't have time to babysit you, Myed, so I'm willing to offer you a deal."

"If I can get out of here, I'm sold. And it's Demyx."

"You can. I let you go and you don't bother us again. And don't say a word about our meeting to your boss or I'll be the first to have a go at you."

"No spy stuff?" Demyx ventured, cautious.

"Not yet, anyway." He undid the Kido. "Remember this the next time you're told to come after us. And remember that next time, I won't be so merciful."

"Sure, bye!" Demyx took his chance and high tailed it away from the chamber, summoning a dark portal to vanish into.

"Coward." Toshiro sighed. "Now to see to Hades."

Inside, Sora saw a black haired man in a large red robe swing his blade at the Lord of the Dead, a towering figure in black robes with blue fire for hair and a row of sharp teeth, eyes blazing red. Pete was in the corner with two small demons, keeping far away from the fight.

"You again!?" Hades looked somewhat surprised as he noticed the three of them there.

Using this lapse in strength, the man in red pushed the god back and dealt a blow across the chest with a large sword, though the wound healed straight back over without scarring.

"Fight!" He shouted back at Sora and swung again.

Snarling, Hades caught the blade and knocked the man aside with a blazing fist. Fire grew in his hands and he was about to launch it at the fallen man when Sora quickly stepped in.

"Get up!" He shouted back, hoping he was okay.

Donald cast a spell but it didn't land. Hades smirked. Scowling, Sora darted forward and swung Hidden Dragon at him, only for the strike to pass through harmlessly. He did this several times and the god simply stood there, laughing.

"Something's wrong." Donald quacked angrily as they backed away. Where was Toshiro?

"I feel kinda funny…" Sora stumbled a bit as he backed away.

"That's right!" Hades sneered. "See, that's the thing. In the underworld, Heroes are Zeroes – comes with the territory."

"And if the dead are to fight back?"

Hades turned to the voice and spotted black and white, quickly recognizing the garb on the white haired child. He scowled, not willing to believe someone smaller than Sora could be a Soul Reaper Captain.

"Beat it, kid." Hades growled. "I don't have time to play with Reaper wannabes."

"Hades, we need to talk." Toshiro walked closer, temperature dropping in the room rather quickly. Yup, definitely a Soul Reaper.

"What was that?" Hades put his fingers into his ears, pretending not to hear.

Hyorinmaru was drawn and Hades flinched back; definitely a zanpaktou. Not good.

"I hear you've been torturing the living again." Hitsugaya said dangerously.

"Oh come on, Hercules is hardly human!" Hades argued. "He's actually the son of a god, see, it's just I used a potion to make him mostly human. Now I'm trying to finish the damn job."

"He's still part of the living and it is not your job to kill him."

"I'm not killing him, I'm just letting loose a few monsters that may or may not want to chew his head off. No biggie."

Hades was starting to annoy Toshiro and this showed through as ice formed quickly under foot. It was doing so quicker than normal.

"I'm a Soul Reaper, Hades, I can kill you here." He lifted his zanpaktou.

"Ah, but by the looks of it, you're ice." The god smirked. "Come at me!"

A blaze erupted around Hades as he turned orange with rage and it quickly melted the ice formed.

'Damn, too long away from the Soul Society and he thinks he can beat a Captain.' Toshiro scowled, letting his power rise as well.

'Let's remind him why he fears Soul Reapers.' The ice dragon roared.

Off to the side, the man in red was smart enough to see what was going on and pulled Sora and the others out of the chamber as fire and ice clashed in the air.

"I have no quarrel with you, Hades." Toshiro spoke over the roaring of winds. "All I ask is you leave the demi-god Hercules alone for a while."

"I have a hunch you don't even know the kid."

"Perhaps not, but this isn't the first time you've done something like this."

"You weren't even born in the Living World yet when I got cut off from the Soul Society. Plus, you're from the Japanese branch; I worked with the European branch."

"You left a legacy behind."

"Well of course." The Death God lifted a hand and lit it ablaze. "How could anyone forget the Lord of the Dead?"

"Enough joking, Hades, and put a stop to this."

"Nah." Smoke engulfed the towering figure and the flames dispersed, leaving Toshiro's ice to spread across the chamber. "I've got a brat with a key to catch, Reaper boy. See ya in Hell!"

"Sora."

Reigning his power back in, Toshiro was quick to dart back outside. The others had managed to escape the cavern of souls but as long as they were still in the Underworld, Hades would be able to find them. A few Flash Steps and he was into the tunnel, catching back up to Sora and the others.

He hit a barrier and jumped back, surprised, until multiple Heartless rose from the darkness and surrounded him.

"Honestly Hades, this is pathetic." Toshiro sighed and held his blade forward. "Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

The added power of the world of the dead made the release effect of his zanpaktou that much more deadly, the normally weather changing cold instead latching onto the surrounding Heartless and freezing them solid. He spun the chain-blade above him and broke them all, the barrier falling and allowing him passage. He was quick to dart ahead.

Several times he was stopped by a barrier and forced to fight off Heartless, no doubt Pete's work actually, before he could move on. By the looks of things he was being separated from the others. It was a good idea, but it was starting to piss him off which would end up working against Hades once the Captain found him.

Though he never found him, he did manage to get out of the tunnels and back into the cavern with the large door. The others were at the doors, trying to open it. He quickly realized why that wasn't working; there was a lock on the door, a big one.

Toshiro Flash Stepped over to them quickly, sealing his zanpaktou.

"That won't work." He told them, watching as they jumped, startled, and turned on him before realizing who he was. "If I was an enemy you'd be dead."

"Yeah, thanks." Sora grumbled, his mood a little off put from all the running. He looked up, spotting the lock, and summoned Hidden Dragon to his hands.

"Will that open it?" The man in red questioned.

"Yeah." Sora replied.

He lifted the Keyblade up to open their door to escape when a loud snarl was heard, making them all tense and turn back to the cavern.

"I suggest you hurry." Toshiro ordered back, stepping away from the door with his blade up. The man in red wasn't far behind, his large blade resting on his shoulder.

A large hound with three heads bounded into the cavern, all three mouths full of sharp teeth and fur black as night. Crimson eyes, three sets of them, looked down upon its prey.

'Shouldn't have sealed my zanpaktou.' Toshiro growled to himself, lifting said blade as he got into stance.

He heard the lock click open and the light tone of the light as it dissolved the lock before the heavy sound of stone dragging on stone reached his ears.

"I can handle this." Toshiro said to the man in red. "Go."

"I'm not one to leave a fight, no matter how strong a Reaper you are." The man replied. "I'm Auron."

"Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya." Introductions aside, the two swordsmen tensed as the three headed hound gave a roaring bark.

Toshiro put his free hand over his right wrist, keeping his sword up to defend, and chanted a Kido spell under his breath. Sensing the power forming at the boy's hand, the guard dog Cerberus snarled and pounced.

"I got it!" Sora leaped in, surprising the two swordsmen, and his Keyblade struck the creature's middle head, stunning it.

"Way of Destruction Number Four, Pale Lightning!" Toshiro finished the Kido, aiming it at the head in front of him, the one to Sora's right.

Not about to be left behind, Auron jumped up and delivered a striking blow to the third head's jaw. The hound staggered back, all three heads suffering from the force of the trio's attack. It recovered quickly, leaping into the air before landing with a heavy impact. Toshiro had leapt up in time, zanpaktou aiming for one of the heads, but the shockwave caught the other two, knocking them back. The head he was aiming for snapped at him, but he kept the jaws from closing on him by using his sword, the blade end biting back and causing it to yelp in pain and pull back. A second head came at his side but he deflected that one with the chain-blade.

"Captain!" Sora called out.

Teal eyes glanced at the Keybearer as he ran under the distracted hound. With Flash Step he was out of bite range and the three heads looked around, confused. Sora twisted the blade in his hand and struck upwards with surprising strength, knocking the hound off balance and into the air.

"Auron." Toshiro turned to the man in red.

He nodded and ran towards the beast.

"Sora." He signaled and the Keybearer turned.

Auron held his blade out and Sora turned his upside down, holding it to Auron's. The two connected and began to spin with Auron and Sora's Spirit Energy powering it, creating a tornado which caught Cerberus as he fell. The air currents were razor sharp and created a myriad of wounds across the black skin. The two moved away back to Toshiro's side as the beast finally fell to the ground in a heap.

"Impressive." Toshiro said to Sora. "But it is a guardian of the Underworld, I doubt there's any way to kill it. Let's move out while it's down."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Sora nodded and together the three of them retreated.

"Come on!" Donald called.

It wasn't any problem for Toshiro to get through and he took one door with the animals on the other. Once Auron and Sora were through, Cerberus getting back up with a shake of his heads, the doors were forcefully closed. A Soul Reaper's strength made it easy to close.

Sora, Donald and Goofy made funny faces at the hound as the doors finally began to close, Cerberus rushing it with fury in its three pairs of crimson eyes. Stone crashed as the doors closed and another crash sounded as a large hound barreled into it.

The first thing Toshiro did after that was hit Sora upside the head.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Sora pouted.

"Any respect you earned from the fight you just lost making that face." Toshiro grumbled and started moving off.

"Aw, you should have made one too."

"When Hades becomes a good guy."

"You can't be so serious all the time." Sora jumped in front of Toshiro with a grin on his face. "Start with a smile. Come on."

"No."

"Just a small one?"

"Sora, we have more important things to worry about." Toshiro pushed past him. "For one thing, Auron is gone, and we still haven't managed to have a decent conversation with Hades."

"Oh…right." Sora's shoulders slumped. "Well, Auron can handle himself. Let's go talk to Meg before we try again."

The four of them headed for the stairs out of the Underworld.

So Hades has gotten cocky and Toshiro proves he can stand up to a god. Also kept in the Limit Sora does with Auron because I thought it was pretty damn cool. I personally like the end with the trio's faces and Shiro's reaction XD Enjoy!