Chapter 18

Titanfall

The scenery of Mount Olympus was beautiful, or so Homura supposed it must have been. Wilderness mixed with the ruins of old Greek structures was impressive to look at, though she was far to distracted with her own thoughts to take much notice of it.

Her thoughts returned to the prior fight. The hydra head. She hadn't even noticed it, and would have died if it hadn't been for Goofy. She snarled.

This couldn't be blamed on her current state. She had gotten sloppy, complacent. Lost her edge. Her duty was to protect Madoka, and she was becoming lax in that. She hadn't been vigilant enough and it had cost her everything.

But what to do about it? She thought back to what Hercules had said back in Thebes, about regaining lost strength. There was something there, but it was all so frustrating and made her long for something to fight to take her mind off of things.

Her musings were interrupted by the appearance of a cloud of smoke in front of the group. When it cleared, there stood a tall man with blue skin and hair seemingly made of blue fire. He wore black robes that faded away to dark mist near the ground.

"Ah, jeez Louise, what does it take to get rid of you? I though Cyclops had the job for ol' Wonder Breath here, but I suppose that's what you get for outsourcing. My bad. I'll promote internally next time. Much more reliable that way. By hey, die and learn, right?"

"Hades!" Hercules and Sora both shouted simultaneously. They, along with Donald and Goofy dropped into a fighting stance, weapons ready. This was Hades?

"And you teamed up with the brats. And now there's more of the brats. Today just has be the day for unwanted guests. First Maleficent, then the Three Stooges here, and now this girl. WONDERFUL!" Bright glowing red flames engulfed Hades, though as quickly as they were ignited, they extinguished, returning to the simple flames on his head. "No, nope. Nuh-uh. It's cool. Not gonna let this get me down. Today's a good day. Just gotta move up my time table a bit, shed some unnecessary side projects and..."

To everyone's surprise, Homura stepped in front of the group.

"Lord Hades. I-"

"Woah, woah, woah, kid. Why so formal? You can just call me Hades, the one and true, better than all those wannabes, The Hadester, The Hunk of Burnin' Love."

Wait did he just reference…? Never mind.

"I need to ask you something. I need to know if-"

"Gonna have to stop you right there. I'm kinda on a schedule tootz. Cosmic dominion and all that. If you could be so kind as to write that down on a black goat, sacrifice it to my secretary Daeira, and we'll get back to you on that in 6-8 business years. Real efficient. None of that floor banging stuff. Gives me a Zeus-danged headache. Oy vey. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important meeting with my little brother!" Hades disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Wait!" Homura shouted, but the god was already gone.

"That doesn't sound good. I hope I'm wrong, but my family might need me." Hercules said. He whistled, and there was a neighing sound as Pegasus came flying down.

"Your family?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, dad's king of the gods. HYAH!" Pegasus took off towards the top of the mountain carrying Hercules with him.

"WHAAAAT?!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy called out at the same time.

"His father is a god. But doesn't that mean… Herc is a god too?"

"You… didn't know that?" Homura asked. They'd clearly spent time with Hercules before… But they were also from other worlds, so maybe the myths didn't exist wherever they were from, so they had never thought to question it.

"Well… you learn something new every day." Goofy said.

"Yeah, no wonder he's so strong." Donald added.

"Yeah, he's definitely got this… Oh! What were you trying to ask Hades about?" Sora turned to Homura.

"Hades is the god of the dead. If someone were dead, regardless of world he could know. I needed to know if Madoka-"

"You can't give up hope!" Sora interrupted.

"No. I have to know." Homura said. She looked up at the peak of the mountain. The storm was spreading rapidly, bringing rain close to them at such speed that she could see the sheets drawing nearer. "I can't afford not to."

"Alright, then we'll go with you!"

She storm was nearly upon them.

"You want to come with me into that?" She asked.

"Heroes never quit!" Donald said.

"Yeah, we fight with all our heart!" Sora said.

And then the storm engulfed them, bringing with it driving rain and howling winds, cutting off Homura's reply. It didn't matter, she had a mission.

Thus, they climbed their way up the mountain. The going was rough and frustrating. Scaling narrow mountain ledges was treacherous enough, throw in driving rain slicking the rocks, and Heartless attacking at random, and it was like the worst of Labyrinths. Eventually however, they managed to make some significant progress.

As they reached a clearing in the rocks there was a sudden shaking of the earth and a roar. Rocks began to slide around them, and a massive shadow fell over Homura. She looked up… and saw the massive building coming towards her. She heard the cruel, maddened, laughter preceding the impact that would signal failure. That she had again lost to Walpurgisnacht. That all her efforts over the previous month and a half had been for naught, that Madoka was doomed once more. She had failed her, again. She-

Sora dashed forwards, grabbing onto Homura and narrowly pushing her out of the way of a falling boulder. Though he was now lying on top of her, Homura didn't seem to react in the slightest. Her eyes were wide in a thousand-yard stare. Even as he sat up, she did nothing.

"Homura! Are you okay?!"

"I-I've failed. Again. Again. Again." She repeated.

"No! It's not over. You can do this!" Sora said.

"I can't..." Homura said.

"You can. Madoka's really lucky to have someone like you looking after her! Someone like that wouldn't give up so easily! You're stronger than you think you are! Never forget that!" He shouted.

"Madoka..." Homura's eyes refocused, seeming to become aware of where she was. As Sora moved off her she stood up, and looked up at the mountain. Sora followed her gaze to where he could see a massive silhouette with a two pairs of glowing red eyes moving about.

Homura took off, leaping up the side of the cliff face on rock outcroppings.

"That's the spirit!" Sora shouted as he followed her, running up the side of the cliff.

There was a roar in the distance, as what was clearly the Rock Titan shouted. "I'll crush you! Quake!"

The mountain shook again, and boulders began raining from the sky. Sora looked worried at Homura, but she was resolute, aiming her bow.

He followed her lead, and a volley of fireballs and arrows blasted apart rocks that drew to close as the group scaled the cliff. Eventually, they began leaping on the rocks, using them to reach further positions as they ascended until they reached the top of the cliff.

There they could see that the two-headed titan was still so far away.

"Crush you! Quakera!" The entire mountain shook, and a massive landslide of boulders came crashing down towards them.

"What do we do!" Donald shouted.

Goofy looked about, and pointed towards a cave. "In here, hurry!"

He expanded his shield, with everyone rushing under it, managing to deflect the falling rocks until they safely made it into the cave.

Everyone stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Except Homura.

"That was too close." Donald said.

"How do we get up now?" Goofy asked as he saw that the cave entrance had been blocked off.

"This cave must lead higher up the mountain." Homura said, noting the path before her.

"Right let's go!"

Sure enough, the exit came soon, leading back out into the rain and another mountain path. As they rushed forwards, they were interrupted by a sudden rock crashing down to the ground near them.

Sora was about to ignore it when she saw the rock shift, revealing it to actually be a giant rocky Heartless armed with an axe. The Rock Troll leaped towards Sora, who barely got out of the way of it's swing.

Homura had faced one of these creatures before, back on her island. There, she had been a goddess, but now, she wasn't. But that didn't matter. It stood no chance anyways. She laughed as she rushed forwards, sliding beneath an axe swing and shooting at the Heartless' leg. It stumbled back, where Sora shot a burst of water into it's face. The impact toppled the creature to the ground, Homura leaped into the air, prepared to rain down arrow shots on the Heartless, only to be interrupted by the appearance of reinforcements.

Round heartless with rocky spikes emerged, and immediately began charging at Homura, spinning wildly. She didn't even break a sweat as she twisted out of the way, of the attack, allowing Donald and Goofy to intercept them, but unfortunately, also allowing the giant Heartless to rise.

She attempted to shoot it again, only for it to block the attack with it's axe, which also left it open for Sora to slash it in the face with a Keyblade engulfed in flames. As he kicked off of it, it attempted to retaliate, allowing Homura free reign to open fire while she circled around the Heartless. As it turned to swing at her, Sora leaped back on it's head and fired a jet of water directly into the Heartless' eyes, blinding it. Sora leaped off as Homura jumped into the air next to him. Sora's keyblade glowed with light, releasing a storm of glowing projectiles at the same time that Homura loosed three arrows simultaneously. Both of them shouted. "Flame of Dawn!"

The light projectiles converged on the arrows as they were fired causing them to transform into swirling vortexes of glowing light and blazing shadow. The attacks struck the Heartless head on, blasting it straight off the mountain and taking the other Heartless with it, sending them falling to their demise.

Sora grinned as the two of them landed. He gave her a thumbs up. "See! I knew you could do it!"

Despite herself, Homura felt a warm smile creep across her face. This… isn't so bad…

The mountain suddenly shook again, and they looked up to see the Rock Titan standing on a cliff just above them.

"Oh right!" Sora said. He turned to Homura and the others. They all nodded, and rushed towards the cliff.

The Titan roared and hurled down conjured rocks at them as they attempted to ascend the cliff. There were several close calls, made worse by the driving rain making it hard to see. Upon reaching the top of the cliff, they both leaped onto the Titan's body, attempting to make their way to the heads. The Titan shook itself, hurling them off and releasing a barrage of falling rocks.

The hit the ground and took shelter beneath the Titan's body.

"Where'd you go!" The Rock Titan demanded. "Show yourselves so I can crush you!"

"How are we gonna get up there?!" Goofy asked.

Homura looked around the area, and noted several small cracks in the titan's legs.

"His feet! Bring him down!"

She opened fire on the titans right foot, widening the cracks, which started to glow. Sora and Goofy followed suit, charging forwards and striking the foot with their weapons, inflicting even more damage, which was exacerbated by Donald aiming a bolt of lightning directly into the cracks, blasting off pieces of stone.

The Titan roared in pain as it staggered. "There you are!"

The Rock Titan stomped it's foot and spikes of stone emerged from the ground, forcing everyone to retreat from the foot, barely avoiding impalement. A flurry of stomps and flying rocks forced everyone to rapidly dodge the onslaught.

"Haste!" Homura cried as she cast the spell, increasing her own movement speed. The carnage around her slowed down, allowing her to duck beneath a flying boulder and then leap off a rising stalagmite, to get a clear shot at the other leg.

As the titan roared in pain, Sora leaped into the air followed by Goofy who he then hurled toward the Titan's leg. With his shield, Goofy smashed through several rocks to score a direct impact, widening the cracks.

Homura took advantage, firing multiple arrows into the crack. The Titan roared in pain as the cracks glowed. The massive creature staggered back, leaning on the mountain.

"Alright!" Sora said.

"Good goin' Homura!" Goofy said.

"Now, to the heads!" Donald exclaimed.

The disoriented Titan was helpless to stop them as the group leaped up it's massive body, straight towards the top of the living mountain.

When there, the heads tried to bite at them, though they were too slow to be effective. Sora leaped about between the two heads, striking them about. There wasn't anything the titan could do as Donald and Goofy joined in on the attack. This fight was over. All that was left was the finishing blow.

"Give me a boost!" She shouted. Sora leaped out of the way as Donald cast Aero. Homura leaped atop the sudden updraft. From the air, Homura activated her shield, the gears within spinning wildly and randomly, clashing in impossible rotations. She felt energy flow from it into her, and the world around her warped. She saw images of clocks spinning frantically. As she aimed her bow, spectral clock-gears tipped in violet flames formed in front of it, rapidly turning until they were a blur of purple color. As she released her shot, augmented by the pure power of Time she couldn't help but shout "Horology!"

As the arrow passed through the gears, it got larger and faster, until it exploded directly against the Rock Titan, slamming it against the mountain with immense force, triggering an avalanche. Homura was about to give a cheer of victory as the titan was swept down the mountain, however her blood ran cold when she saw Sora get knocked off his perch and caught in the rockslide, crushing him beneath tons of stone.

I think someone called it earlier.

As always, thanks to The Name Of Love for beta-reading and idea sounding!

~Dragonexx