Land of the Dead
"Hey where's Star?" Sora asked he looked around the stadium.
"Maybe she's running late," Goofy suggested.
Jiminy seemed unsure, "I don't know, something doesn't feel quite right, just have this bad feeling."
Sora, Donald and Goofy had arrived back here just as they all agreed upon for another day of training in the Coliseum. The place was still empty and the games were not for a while, so they had great empty field all for themselves. Hopefully this time it wouldn't turn out to be quite as bad as last time. Last night Sora had been mentally preparing himself for every possible tactic or assault that Star could lash against him. It was important that he'd continue though to actually learn some finer points of combat for once.
All the time he had been learning on the fly, making it up as he went along, the more he trained the more unskilled he realized he truly was. Each time he practiced a move, or tried a new way of flinging his Keyblade around from what he had picked up from a few guides he bought in the world, he kept screwing up.
Thus they waited, and waited, yet no sign of the Mewman girl or her human friend. Sora was starting to worry that something wrong had happened, that perhaps she was in trouble or worse. Perhaps the Heartless had gotten to her. So far apart from that one incident he hadn't seen any Heartless in the city at all. It was definitely a relief but still, things had been calm, something had to give eventually.
That moment, was now here.
"SORA!" He turned around to see Star running towards them she looked frazzled and exhausted her headband was eskew and she was breathing quite heavily.
Sora quickly turned behind him and Mewni Princess rushing towards him in a complete panic. She looked exhausted and mangled. Like
Sora jumped up instantly "Star, what's wrong?"
"Sorry…Bad thing…..Marco…..Bad...Keyblade...Need...Now!" She panted every word she spoke. Sweat was drenching from her forehead as she got to her knees to rest.
"Woah...Woah, Star, calm down! What happened?" Sora asked holding her stead as he got to his knees.
Star took a deep breath. "Okay, so me and Marco were walking around town last night. You know, enjoying the sights, seeing things, making fun of weird shaped buildings. Until he got kidnapped by Hades and I need to save him but I'm gonna help and I want that special Key thing of yours to help save him!"
Donald and Goofy ran up to Star and Sora now both with a concerned expression.
"What happened?" Goofy asked.
"Marco got kidnapped by Hades in the Underworld." Sora explained, realizing what had happened.
Here he thought everything could go straightforward for once.
Star nodded. "Yeah, I need the Keyblade to get him out."
"The Underworld!" Donald jumped back looking shocked. "We can't go there...Can we?."
"Yeah, but he got captured we should help!" Sora argued.
Star sighed, "No, no he's right, we don't know anything about it…." Then she paused, "Unless."
"Unless what?"
"Hang on, hang on?"
Star took out a pair of scissors and activated a small portal. Sora looked shocked as Star stepped through it, ushering in her hand and signaling them to join.
Sora hesitated for a moment before turning to Donald and Goofy who agreed. Slowly all three stepped through the portal and found themselves now standing in the middle of a large room. The walls were painted green and there was a large bed in the middle of it along with desk and couch. Books and a few others things.
Also inside was another girl wearing a green beanie with black hair and brown eyes. She had on a light cyan jacket with green undershirt and yellow skirt. She had a sly smile as she saw Star, Sora and the others enter via the portal.
"Jaana!" Star yelled, "What are you doing here?"
"I broke in to look at your cool spellbook, see if I couldn't curse Bobby next door. I did by the way uh...you should probably fix it later "
Star rolled her eyes, "We don't have time for that, I need to find my magic mirror."
"Who's the new kid?" Janna asked pointing to Sora."
"That's Sora, he's a Keyblade Master."
Sora waved, "Hey."
"Sup. Nice Duck and Dog."
"Garsh thank ya," Goofy said tipping his hat in politeness.
It was so strange to be in a normal room again, Sora just politely sat down on the cushioned couch as he gazed around the place. A calm came over him actually going to a place that was normal. Only then to have a tiny little creature zoom around him, a blue looking creature with diamond on his large forehead and two sided beard, wearing a yellow bathrobe.
"Sorry, did you say Keyblade Master." The little imp said, Sora flinched back as it zoomed close to his nose.
"Not now Glossaryck!" Star muttered as she headed to the mirror and started fiddling with it. "Come on, cone on, pick up!"
Glossaryck eyed Sora carefully and zoomed around him, "Never thought I'd see one of these again, the Queen will be quite pleased, oh I don't think the rest of the Magic High Commission will like it."
"The what?" Sora asked,
"Oh there the people who regulate magic in the universe," Star muttered hitting the mirror now, "Come on stupid thing!"
Sora looked confused, "Should this be something I need to know?"
"Eh probably not now, we have more important things to worry about."
Glossaryck then vanished leaving Sora confused, waiting to see just who Star was trying to contact. Donald and Goofy just sat down next to him as Janna looked at all three as if they were some sort of strange attraction.
"So where's Marco?" Janna finally asked ending the silence.
Star kept hitting the mirror, "That's...Why ...I'm...Here," Finally the static in the mirror vanished as a new figure emerged.
On the outset this person looked like an everyday teenage boy, except it wasn't. For one thing he had three eyes, two on the side and one on the top of his head. Second he had two horns patroding atop his ears, his hair was red and like fire patroding from his head. His clothes were ripped and red and he had a black spike collar around his neck.
Sora thought he looked like a few of the more darker kids he knew back on the Island. Except by the looks of things and his own fiery surroundings, it would appear that this kid wasn't a mere human compared to the others.
"Tom!" Star beamed, "Hi."
"Star!" Tom blushed, "U-U-Uh...W-What are you calling me? You wanna go out on a date."
"No I need your help, Marco been kidnapped and sent to the Underworld."
Tom frowned, "Hey I didn't kidnap him...This time!"
"No, not YOUR Underworld, Hades Underworld!" Star shouted
"Realm of death ...Niiiiiice." Janna said looking jealous. "Bones, decay, dead souls, it's all sounds so rad!"
"Uncle Hades?" Tom asked, "Oh boy ...That's not good, and I don't even like Marco but if he's with him...Oooh, yeah that dude is in trouble. Yep, yep big trouble...Not good, not good at all."
"I know," Star frowned, "But look if you wanna get on my good side, you need to help me rescue him."
"Oh yeah how? Not like Uncle Hades likes me or anything ... or anyone for that matter."
"Well if you lead me and Sora to the Underworld…
"Who's Sora?" Tom asked.
"He is." Star pointed to Sora. who waved awkwardly
Tom looked at Sora and frowned, "Another guy, let me guess he likes you too."
"I don't like anyone," Sora said hesitatingly, "Wait -no, I do...I mean….We've only known each other for like a few days!"
Star stopped him, "Look, just lead us to where you think Hades would keep Marco, and I'll hang out with you AS FRIENDS ...More often. Okay."
"Well," Tom thought about it for a moment, "Fine it's a start."
"I wanna come too," Janna said sounding excited, "I mean come on, it's the land of the dead, how wicked can it be."
Donald and Goofy turned to Sora with concerned looks.
"Are you sure this is a good idea Sora?" Donald asked sounding nervous.
Sora bit his lip, "Well, they need the Keyblade and ...Will have backup."
"Sure, a bunch of kids," Donald muttered folding his feathers.
Goofy seemed unsure too, "Gosh, the Underworld does sound kinda scary, all the dead people and what not. Sure it's safe."
"I mean will have a guide, how bad could it be."
"Alright!" Janna cheers, "Gonna get a little weird and gonna get a little wild."
Famous last words.
Not only was the Underworld, horrifying, depressing, drab, and smell, it was a horrific place of nothing but stone and black. Even with Tom Lucitor, who was a demon from his own Underworld and his own dimension, having trouble leading them down the dark depths of this place, but Sora Keyblade was on heightened alert as it could practically feel the darkness surrounding this place.
"So uh, Star, how long have you and Tom known each other?" Star asked.
"He's my ex-boyfriend." Star muttered.
Janna chuckled hitting Tom in the shoulder, "Dang!"
"Yeah, yeah," Tom groaned, "But I'll win you back."
"No you won't." Star muttered.
This sort of back and forth was going on constantly throughout the trip down into the Underworld. Sora just tried to keep his own wits about him as he Donald and Goofy stood a few feet behind the rest of the crowd, feeling that they would just get in the way. Jiminy was in Sora's pocket most of the time, taking detailed pictures and notes as they descended deeper and deeper through it's vast halls.
"Wow, the actual land of the dead itself," Jiminy muttered, "I've always heard stories of it, but never thought I'd actually be here."
"D-Do all dead people come here?" Sora asked Tom.
The demon boy shrugged, "Eh ...Who knows, I think so, I mean, I know all the people here in this world do."
"So is Hades your actual Uncle?" Sora asked.
"Less blood related and more he and mom are close, or were back in the day, he helped her out, she helped in, a lot of business between demons and gods kidna deals."
"Oh, I'd love to see some dead souls, maybe bring some back if you know what i mean," Janna said with a mischievous grin, "All of them swimming around the well of souls, bet it's wicked."
Sora shivered, "D-Dead people? B-bring back."
"Pfft you can't," Tom paused to think about it, "I mean I guess Uncle Hades could and has technically brought people back from the dead, but most of the time, it's with strings attached and the occasional mishap."
"What kind of Mishap?" Janna asked, sounding intrigued.
"Extra head, sometimes a zombie, take your pick."
"Wicked,"
"Can you see the souls of the dead here," Sora asked.
Tom shrugged, "Sure I guess."
His mind instantly went to the only dead person who he could possibly wish of seeing while he was in this horrible place. Quickly though he pushed it aside, he was here to save a friend not dwell in issues of the past. Dead was dead and he and fellow Islanders had there own ideas of where the dead of those long since past went. Just because this world had a Underworld didn't mean it had to technically apply to all worlds. Right?
"Okay, we should be heading toward the dungeon, I remember liking to explore there a few times." Tom said, pointing left as they entered another large looming hallway
"Wicked, "Janna said, "If I ever lived in a cool sick place like this, I'd come here all the time, tortured some folks, cast spells, this be my type of town."
Tom looked at Janna intrigued, "You know, we got some cool dungeons were I come from if you ever wanna Visit."
"Ah really?" Janna said looking excited, "Sweet!"
"These people are strange?" Donald whispered into Sora's ear who nodded in agreement.
"Tell me about," Sora looked over to them now, "How long till we find Marco?"
Tom shrugged, "I don't know the dungeon is big, oh and I'd avoid being too close to the bars"
Sora turned to see a large tentacle hovering over him and quickly jumped back to avoid getting touched with it. Suddenly other monsters coming from the cells began to roar, a few showing off there claws and other appendages.
"This is all so cool!" Janna squeed, "I want them all as pets!"
"Why you are into all this stuff!" Sora groaned,
Janna sighed, "Well looks we have a Marco here...I don't know, it's cool, it's dark, it's witchy...and I like it."
"She's got good taste," Tom snickered.
"Can we look for Marco please," Star said starting to get annoyed, "Sorry, sorry...I'm just a little stressed is all."
"Don't know why you are so gung ho about that human," Tom said snidely, "He's a no one, he's not even royal."
"He's my friend," Star snapped back at him, "Can't you get that through your head, it doesn't matter if he isn't royal, royalty doesn't mean anything. I like him, he's nice to me and he's great and that should be enough."
"I know how you feel, I've been looking for my friends for a long time now," Sora said, "Though I did find Riku...Until he turned on me...Now I'm looking for Kairi"
Star looked at Sora and frowned, "You really care about this Kairi dont yuh I can telll"
"Well, yeah, she's the best person there is"
"Aww...how cute!" Star gushed, "You have a crush!
"What! I uh-"
Tom just snickered, "Get a room kid."
Sora just kept silent, he didn't want to have to recap his entire adventure to them, especially all the stuff that happened between he and Riku at the moment. He needed to keep his mind focused on the task at hand instead of dwelling on the past.
"So we have to look at every single cell until we find Marco?" Janna asked.
"That's the plan?" Star sighed.
So look they did, cell after cell, most of them filled with horror monsters and a few random dead bodies, and also some other people they had no idea who they were. Though no Marco as far as they could tell. These dungeons were huge, and the cells mixed for monstrous to extremely large.
"Marco!" Star yelled her voice starting to become desperate.
"Star?"
Finally, a familiar sounding voice echoed from one of the cells at the very end of the hall. Without hesitation Star ran towards it, Sora me the others following suite. There inside the cell they saw Marco, a bit worn down and trembling but alive holding onto the bars as Star and the other approach him.
"Marco!" Star hugged him through the cell bars, "I thought you'd be well...not here."
"It's okay...I'm fine...Horrified actually….so yeah not fine, very not fine." Marco said, his voice shivering.
"Look, I brought help." Star said pointing to Sora and the others.
Marco said noticing everyone, "Janna? Tom! What are you guys doing here?"
"I'm sightseeing," Janna smirked.
Tom just glared, "I'm trying to get in good with my Ex."
"Hi." Sora waved.
"I also brought, Sora, Donald and Goofy too." Star added,
"Don't forget me," Jiminy said popping his head out.
"We've come to get you outta here." Star said standing back to make sure Sora had enough room.
"Thanks ...How?"
"With my Keyblade!" Sora boasted, holding out his empty hand.
"Okay, where is it."
"Uh…."
"Well, just summon it!" Star suggested.
"Right." Sora said through gritted teeth.
He took a deep breath and outstretched his hand, he would have to do this no matter what! Closing his eyes, Sora concentrated with all his might as he tried to summon the Keyblade. All he needed to do was just sense it power and concentrate under its power through him, or at least that's what he thought. At first he thought he could feel a tingle in his hand, was it the Keyblade or maybe his hand itching? He couldn't tell with his eyes still shut. But Sora had to try, someone was in trouble, he didn't want to have to fight both Star and Cloud in the games and die otherwise he'd never find his friends. Sora cracked open an eye, still he saw nothing but his own hand shaking.
"Uh...Sora." Marco muttered, "Where's the Keyblade?"
"Come on ...Come on." Sora grew more and more frustrated with each passing second. Finally he gave in and sighed. "Stupid thing!"
"Well that's just great." Marco muttered leaning against the wall, "A rescue with no rescue."
"Hey it's not my fault!." Sora yelled, "I'm still new to all this!"
"But aren't the Keyblade Masters supposed to be, you know, Masters?" Tom asked snarkly. "I mean if you have a weapon, I'd kinda hope you'd be a master of it."
Sora sighed. "Uh ...I-I'm still training with it."
"Still training," Tom laughed, "Look at this guys, we got a noob! Oh that's rich!"
Star frowned, "Don't antagonize him, he's probably the only one who can open the lock. It' okay Sora, just try, no pressure...Except for the fact Marco is trapped in a jail cell of the Underworld and you have the only weapon that can get him out. But still...No pressure."
Then all of a sudden the Keyblade appeared him his hand.
"Hey, it worked!" Sora exclaimed.
"Okay forget what I said...PRESSURE LOTS PRESSURE!"
"Sora, look out!" Goofy yelled.
Sora turned around and a Heartless appeared above him, a armored one with sharp claws, gliding towards him as it began to strike. Sora flung the Keyblade forward swinging it right at him and sending it back to darkness.
"Yes!" Sora cheered.
But it was not the end, more Heartless in shapes and sizes surrounded them. The horrid beasts appeared in all corners, there yellow bug eyes glaring down at them ready to strike.
The group closed rank. As for the Keyblade, its own instincts kicked in and unlocked the door allowing Marco to be set free.
"Oh, now you work!" Sora muttered.
"Hey!" Tom summoned a magical bar of fire and blasted it at the Heartless sending it back, "No one attacks me…..Oh and and Star and Marco, and the other girl I guess."
"Janna!" Janna shouted,
"Careful!" Star blasted a Heartless with her wand, "Got it!"
"More of them!" Marco yelled.
The Heartless began to make charge now, attacking the group with full front. Each of them using their own abilities to keep up the pace, the hordes coming wave after wave. Sora used what few moves he learned from Phil and a few of his own instincts from sparing back at the island to keep up with the Heartless while Donald and Goofy covered his back. Star and Marco were by far the more professional fighters, Marco used karate in order to take down the Heartless while Star blasted every Heartless she could with her wand. Even Tom had his own powers to use against the dreaded dark feins
The battle was becoming intense. Heartless began to spread in the Underworld and come at them from all sides. Then to their horror, one Heartless with wings swooped in and with its claws swooped in and took Star's wand, flying off into the depths of the Underworld with it.
"My wand!" Star yelled.
"Get it!" Marco started to run after it.
"Wait, Marco!"
Star chased him off now leaving Sora and the others to fend for themselves. With a swing of his Keyblade, Sora opened up a pathway.
"Come on, let's follow them."
"Wait, Sora!" Donald said, "Are you sure…?"
"Donald, they have our only ticket outta here."
Donald paused to think . "Good point."
-000-
Sora, Donald, and Goofy chased Star and the others down as they searched for the Heartless with the missing wand. They went up, down and all around the Underworld, Heartless following them at every turn. Battles went on and they all started to lose their stamina, but they could not allow that to stop them from pressing on. It was a harsh chase but they needed to get that wand if they had any chance of getting out of the Underworld alive.
Higher and higher it seemed they were heading into the Underworld passing a great chasm surrounded by a green river of dead souls, until they entered the mouth of a mighty skull. Inside was a mighty chamber, a throne room with a map in the center and two eyes for windows.
"Blast, lost it!" Sora shouted as they entered the room. "Star!, Tom! Janna! Are you there!"
"We're here," Janna waved, Tom by her side.
"We can't find Star? She's probably in the throne room," Tom said.
In the quiet, they looked for the missing Heartless, wand and friends. As they headed up the small road up Sora looked down into a green pool of water, inside he could hear voices and whispers. None of the voices though where even remotely familiar to him.
"What are those?" Donald asked, voice shaking as he looked down at the pools.
Tom looked out the window as well. "By the looks of it, probably the souls of the dead."
"S-S-Souls of the d-d-dead?" Goofy asked, gulping taking a few steps away. "Creepy,"=
Sora eyes widened. "Souls of the dead… Do you guys think there is a way to talk to some of them?"
"I wouldn't try it." Tom muttered. "Sora?"
"Oh, seance, I'd like this?" Janna smirked
Sora just looked down at the pool, counting the various souls. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, all swimming around in a circle, moaning, whispering in his head. He looked deep down, getting his knees, trying to reach out to them before he felt something touch his shoulder.
"Sora!" Goofy said causing Sora to jump and almost slip, catching himself mid way, "What are you doing?"
He didn't respond,
"Hey is he okay?" Tom asked,
Janna just nudged the demon boy aside, "We better give them some space, come on lets go find Star.
The two left as Goofy and Sora just sat there now, Donald standing behind watching, looking nervous.
"Sora…."
"Goofy!" Sora jumped back and almost tipped, Goofy quickly grabbing him and getting him back on his feat. "Uh, hi?"
"What are you doing?" Goofy asked again sounding a bit more serious.
Sora face turned red, eyes darting up and down as he thought up a good lie. "I was just um…"
"You wanted to see if you could see your dad in there, didn't ya?" Goofy said pointing to the large green pool below them.
Sora let out a deep sigh. "Yeah."
"Oh boy." Goofy looked down at the big pool and frowned. "I don't think that's how it works Sora."
"I mean, look where we are though, this is where the dead go. This is where we could end up if we aren't careful."
"Maybe, I mean, who knows what really happens."
"This is the Underworld, Goofy! I think we finally have the answer to what happens after death."
Goofy shrugged. "I mean here maybe, but who knows, maybe all the world's work differently, each of them has their own rules, right? Maybe death works differently."
"That...just makes me more confused." Sora said, rubbing his head as it started hurting. "I just wanted to know if I could see him, it has been a long time since he died, I was very little. I told you he used to be a bit of a sailor back in the day, normally didn't go far though."
Goofy just sat there and listened. "I bet you do miss him, Sora. But I don't think it's as easy as going down there and looking for him."
"But what if I could?! I really could use some advice, something! Anything! I just feel very lost right now."
"Hmm…." Goofy scratched his chin and thought for a moment. "Well, why did you wanna help Star to talk to your dad or help?"
"Both, really."
"Okay, well you still wanted to help, so it still shows you are a good person deep down. But it's understandable, talking to dead people isn't something you do every day now, you know. Sounds spooky but interesting."
"Yeah but-"
"I bet if you saw your dad right now, he'd be proud of all the stuff you've been doing, like helping Star and Aladdin, and the Traverse Town Gang. Getting that Keyblade, I mean if all this was happening to my boy Max, I'd be the proudest dad I've ever been and I've been pretty proud of him for a long time."
Sora took a moment to let Goofy's words sink in, even if they weren't his own father's, they were still comforting to hear nonetheless. He missed his dad though, but felt that going down into the pool or trying to look for him wouldn't solve really anything. For all he knew he might not be here as Goofy said.
Sora just paused to think about what Goofy had said.
The islanders back home believed that when someone died their hearts would become one with the sea. That the ocean was a collection of the various hearts, all connected as one. Here, it seemed to be more a darker sense on that legend. But Sora now wanted to believe that his father's heart and the hearts of those back home were part of the oceans he used to play and swim in and not this green gooey ick of the Underworld.
Slowly, Goofy removed his hand from Sora's mouth as a faint smile appears on it.
"Thanks Goofy." Sora smiled lightly. "Come on, let's go help Star before-"
The moment of friendship ended as a loud scream came from the Underworld Throne Room.
"Oh no!"
-000-
Sora, Donald and Goofy went up the road and towards the throne of the Underworld. Here in this dark place they saw a massive room with grand map of what had to by the World. The walls were decorated with bones and black gravel, the windows were in the shape of cruel eyes gazing out upon a dark domania .A giant throne built into the end of the hall.
Inside Sora saw Star, Janna and Tom all surrounded by Heartless but worse still Hades was there. A slick and sinister smile on his lips as he stood there victorious. He tightened his Keyblade tightly readying himself to do battle. Though the thought of battling a self proclaimed god was definitely something that frightened him. Battling Heartless and monsters was one thing but god's, that was definitely a whole new level of dangerous that he was quite ready to deal with, but had to none the less.
"What kept yuh," Hades snickered, "See you tried the old rescue the hostage and hope to avoid more conflict trick. Good call, good call, hero's one o one, a classic."
"Let them go," Sora barked,
"I got this," Star yelled, grabbing Tom's arm and unleashing one of his fire balls at the Heartless, she used him like a firearm.
"Hey, hey, Star, watch the hand!" Tom yelled.
"Shut up Tom and just keep firing," Star yelled as she fired more fireballs at the Heartless. Hades just watched very casually, like none of this was a bother to him.
Sora could feel that something was definitely wrong here.
"Are we done?" Hades snapped his fingers and restrained both Star and Tom, "Sorry kids but Uncle Hades need to do some business with the big powerful Keyblade Master, so if everyone can please…..QUIET DOWN AND SHUT UP!" His flames erupted causing everyone to huddle together in fear as the great god of the Underworld loomed over them, before quickly returning to normal, "Okay thank you thank you...Actually...I need to talk to the Princess too"
"What?" Star was taken by Hades to the corner of the room, Sora just a few feet away so he can hear.
"So here's the deal," Hades snapped his fingers tying Marco and the others, all but Sora remained free, "Everyone is kinda trapped here and well you are in my town and the only way is well...Through me, heh, heh"
"Will fight our way through," Star declared, "I still got my wand"
She pointed it at Hades but it started fizzing a bit.
"Oh that's not good"
Hades snickered, "Yah think, however I am willing to let you go, because I'm just that nice of a god, but there's gotta be a little payment a little...scratch my back kinda deal".
"What kind of deal?" Star asked stepping back.
Sora stepped in, "No way, you don't have to make a deal with anyone, we can fight, we can" suddenly his keyblade vanished.
"Oh come on!"
"Keyblade wielder who can't even wield a key," Hades laughed, "Boy, and Jafar had trouble battling you kid"
"Jafar?" Sora eye widened.
Hades nodded, "Yeah, he's one of my co-workers, Maleficent whole darkness everything plan, I mean it may not be one hundred percent my thing but hey, what kid me control of the cosmo's is a win-win for me".
"Y-You are working with the Heartless, and Maleficent" Sora started sweating, remembering his confrontation in Agrabah
"Correctomundo kid, oh and by the way your ex-little buddy Riku told us you had a thing for being heroic all the tie" Hades smirked, "Guess he was right, you do have that holier than thou thing going...
Sora sneered, it was bad enough Riku turned on him, now he was giving away personal info"
"But let's get back to business" Hades continued "See you are kinda trapped here and there is really no way out, unless". Hades points to Star, "You, give me that wand as your ticket to freedom"
"What! NO!"
Sora glared, "W-We'll think of something else"
"Sure about that?"
Around them Heartless began to come in swarms, blocking off any entrance or exit they had out of this place. Sora tried summoning his Keyblade but to no avail.
The last thing he saw as there yellow eyes, before everything went dark.