The Path to the Body
Chapter 5: Olympus Coliseum
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters involved except Kira.
Kira appeared in a flash of light with her eyes closed. As she opened them she smiled as she beheld a large coliseum with two golden statues of gladiators that had their swords drawn and crossed over the large doorway into the coliseum.
"Olympus… I wonder how Hercules is doing." Kira began walking toward the doors when they opened and two figures stepped out.
The first was a pale-skinned man who looked sickly and weak. He was wearing a leather gladiator suit of armor. And the other was a fair-skinned woman who was wearing a pink toga.
"Hercules!" she shouted holding up a hand.
He looked up at her and rubbed his eyes.
"Kira?" He asked in disbelief.
"The one and only." She said, putting her hands behind her back and smiling, "How have you been?"
"I've been great… working hard in the coliseum." Hercules told her.
"You do seem paler than normal…"
The girl looked at Hercules with a worrying look, then looked back at Kira. Hercules looked at the girl before walking toward the Coliseum's door, passing Kira along the way.
"If you'll excuse me Kira I have something I need to take care of."
Kira watched him leave the coliseum, and a black portal opened, he passed through and the girl ran after him. Kira watched him leave before walking into the lobby where she met Phil who was checking a tournament roster.
"Phil?" Kira asked, making the small satyr jump.
"Who in the-" he turned around and saw Kira standing there, stopping mid-sentence. "Kid! You're ok!"
She nodded, smiling widely.
"Have you been keeping up with your training?" he asked.
"Yeah, I've improved a lot."
"Let's put that to the test." Phil said.
Phil led Kira into the Coliseum and put up a set of pots everywhere. Kira summoned her Path to Dragons and Road to Scares. She rushed forward and swung her keyblades over her head and smashed a pot, she spun on the spot shattering another pot with a backhand slash. A third X slash destroyed one of the largest ceramic spheres. Kira lifted her keyblades above her head "Thunder" A rain of lightning bolts dropped from the sky and destroyed a large cluster of pots leaving Kira in the middle of a large clearing. She ran forward again and thought she'd test something. She closed her eyes and focused, willing her newest form to activate. A sudden blast of light destroyed three nearby pots. When it faded Kira felt different, her magical power had been enhanced greatly. Her outfit had also changed, she now wore a dark blue gothic dress with an extended skirt, a set of ruffled white lines ran down the skirt and the top. Her hair was loose down her back and she wore a pair of light blue tights under the skirt with a pair of dark blue heels. A magic aura kept her floating off the ground as she glided along, and on the back of her dress was a black rendition of a magical staff. She aimed her keyblades at a pot and blasts of magic shot out of them. Kira started to float toward a pot when everything blurred, she was suddenly standing in the middle of the crowd of pots. Lifting her keyblades above her head "Thunder" The rain of lightning came down again and destroyed all of the remaining pots.
Phil called time as Kira reverted to her original form and approached him.
"How did I do?" She asked.
"Not bad kid, not bad. A little slow but otherwise you did good."
"So, am I hero material yet?" She asked.
"I wouldn't push your luck Kira, though if want to start making your way towards being a hero you might want to help out Hercules. He's been down in the dumps lately and he's been getting sloppier in his fights."
Kira nodded and lifted a hand to her chest, clenching it into a fist. "Don't worry Phil, I'll make sure Herc is ok."
She ran out of the coliseum and toward the dark portal Herc had gone through. She arrived in a dark, cavernous place. A single staircase led down to a large rock-platform with two branching paths. One of them was covered in a spiritual looking blue fire. All around the platform were purple lakes that contained what looked like ghosts that floated around inside the water.
"Where am I?" She asked as she walked down the stairs.
"Ah, the other keyblade brat." A familiar voice echoed.
"Hades!" She shouted.
"Bingo! Give the lady a prize." Hades said after he appeared on the stairs behind Kira.
As the smoke faded Kira saw her old enemy. His blue skin and blue flaming hair looked unnatural, and his black toga made him look even more evil. His yellow eyes added the whole picture together.
"Where's Hercules?" She asked.
"Ah, wonder-breath. He's somewhere in the sea of lost souls by now." Hades said casually as he checked under his fingernail.
"I don't believe you." Kira said.
"Fine, if you don't believe me you, don't believe me. Though I suggest you check it out for yourself."
Kira turned away from Hades and walked down the path that wasn't on fire. She pushed open a cavern wall that acted like a kind of door and entered a large chamber with a small, shallow river of water in the center. Souls floated in the air forming small white lights. She entered the small cave-mouth and traveled through a twisting set of caves and tunnels. During her travels she was attacked by small, drill-like heartless that burrowed underground and attacked her when they re-surfaced. She defeated them and found a small crack in the wall, making her way through she found herself in a huge cavern that had green water hundreds of feet below and souls floated around inside. She looked up and saw trio of circular platforms connected by a small path that led up to another, large crack in the wall.
She began to advance forward, but felt herself growing weaker as she continued. When Kira arrived in a circular room she looked around, using the wall to support herself.
"Ah, you feel that? The curse of the underworld," Hades said with a smile as he appeared next to Kira.
She looked up at him and he smiled down at her before pushing on her back and knocking her to the ground.
"As you goody goodies continue into the Underworld you become weaker and weaker until there's nothing left," Hades explained.
"What have you done with Hercules?" Kira asked as she struggled to her feet.
"Wonder breath? Oh, he's around here somewhere, oh yes! There he is!" Hades pointed to a nearby wall where a thinner, paler Hercules was chained to the wall.
"Hercules!" Kira called weakly.
"Save your breath, he can't hear you," Hades said as he walked over to a throne and dropped into it, resting his chin on his fist.
Kira put a hand on his table to support herself, she was breathing heavily from the exertion.
"You're really determined to get up aren't you?" Hades asked.
Kira growled as she attempted to summon one of her keyblades, but to no avail.
"Are you done? If so I've got somewhere to be," Hades drolled before snapping his fingers.
The floor beneath Kira opened and she dropped through with a scream of surprise. Her vision blackened and an unknown amount of time passed before she woke up again, She was looking up at a figure wearing a black cloak with short black hair. His right eye was covered behind an eye patch and the other was a bright, ocean blue. Kira couldn't see much else, but felt a weight on her chest.
She tried to sit up but the figure put a hand on her chest.
"I wouldn't suggest that yet, you're not recovered," The man said.
"Who are you?" Kira asked weakly,
"My name is _" He said.
"What?"
"_" He repeated.
"I don't-"
"You wouldn't, when you give your heart to darkness you lose a lot of things, my name in my case," The man said.
Kira's eyes widened when she heard him say this, she tried to scoot away but she couldn't move her body very well.
"Don't worry Keyblade wielder, I know who you are and what your mission is, my goal doesn't interfere, in fact our objectives align in this case,"
"What?" Kira asked,
"My purpose in coming to this world is to earn back my name from the darkness by doing good, Hercules has been taken captive by Hades and I plan to free him, and unlike you whose affected by the curse I'm not because I serve darkness,"
He stood up and went to leave when Kira called for him to wait.
He turned on his heel, casting a glance at her with his good eye.
"Why did you save me?"
He chuckled, "I put the amulet of the hero around your neck, it's an artifact that repels the curse and so long as you wear it your powers will return and remain while in the Underworld," The stranger explained.
Kira looked down and saw a circular yellow stone with a thunderbolt clenched in a fist emblazoned on the face. She suddenly felt enough strength return to her that she stood up.
"See what happens when you listen," The stranger said.
Kira nodded as she felt more power surge into her body and when it stopped she summoned her two keyblades.
"Ah, those are your weapons," The stranger said examining the two blades.
She had summoned The Road to Ultimatum and The Path to Dragons. She held them tightly in her grip, not taking her eyes off of the stranger. He eventually noticed this and sighed.
"What can I do to make you believe I'm not trying to hurt you?" He asked.
"Nothing, you gave your heart to the Darkness for power, so I can't trust you," Kira said.
"Whatever, I'm going to rescue Hercules, you're welcome to come along," He said as he turned with a flutter of his cloak.
Kira waited until he was gone before following him. She traveled in what she assumed was the path to Hades' Chamber, and eventually she did find the circular room, and when she arrived she found Hades throwing fireballs at the stranger from before. He dodged with practiced grace and even had a few of them melt the chains from Herc's wrists.
"Ah, Keyblade wielder. Good to see you on your feet, I wouldn't mind some assistance," The Stranger said when he noticed Kira standing in the doorway.
Kira didn't nod, but instead charged at Hades who disappeared in a puff of smoke. His voice echoed down to them.
"Fine, you brats can have wonder-boy, but the coliseum is pretty defenseless without its hero,"
"The coliseum!" Kira shouted before rushing out of the room.
The stranger sighed before grabbing Hercules and opening a dark door. Kira burst from the dark portal as Hercules appeared from the door to darkness, the stranger stepping through and dusting off his glove-clad hands. He looked at Kira and nodded.
"The hero is safe Key-wielder,"
"Stop calling me that!" Kira huffed at him.
"What should I call you then?" he asked in a cool voice,
"My name is Kira,"
"Fine then, Kira. You already know my name," He said with a small laugh.
"Not really, and until you 'earn' it back from the Darkness I'll just know you as a Stranger,"
"Hm, the Stranger, I like the ring of that," he said with a smile.
A sudden crashing sound and screams brought them back to the situation at hand, a large darkfire ball launched into the air from the Coliseum.
The Stranger was already through the doors when Kira looked down again, she followed him and found a large, three headed, black dog glaring down at her and The Stranger.
She gripped her keyblades tighter before yelling a battle cry and charging Cerberus. The Stranger sighed before lifting his right hand up and a launching a ball of black energy at it. His other hand summoned a large black sword comprised of liquid darkness. Charging with Kira he lifted the blade above his head and brought it down with her two Keyblades. Cerberus howled in pain before leaping back and launching three fireballs at them. Kira blocked two with her keyblades and the Stranger deflected the third with his own sword, but as it flew away it took the darkness with it, revealing the weapon to be a keyblade.
Kira's eyes widened and her grip loosened on her own weapons, the Stranger was a keyblade wielder. He looked to Kira before his eye widened.
"Kira!" He shouted.
She looked to right to see Cerberus' three heads lunging for her. She lifted her keyblades up and blocked the jaws of two of them, but the third was about to grab her when a glowing figure appeared, Hercules was standing in front of her, holding Cerberus' mouth open with his bare hands.
"You two alright?" Hercules asked them.
"Yeah," Kira replied with a grunt.
The Stranger rushed at Cerberus and leapt into the air before spinning and slicing the large dog across its back.
"Force!" he shouted, a large black ball descended over Cerberus crushing it into the floor temporarily. It returned to normal size, Kira and Herc had been freed from its jaws' grip. The Stranger looked at Kira and she nodded.
He and Kira rushed Cerberus and he lifted his own Keyblade above his head while Kira made an X with hers. The blades hit Cerberus head on, but they both felt a magical power build up inside them. The Stranger grabbed Kira's wrist and tossed her over his shoulder as he spun through the air. Kira dove down with her blades and drilled into Cerberus' back, The Stranger slashed across his back, leaving a trail of black flames. They both bounced off their blade points landing on their feet, they tapped the back of their hands together and an explosion of light and darkness emerged from Cerberus, it fell to the ground unconscious. Hercules walked over and picked up the large dog before throwing it back into the portal to the Underworld.
"Nice work kids," Phil said approaching them.
Kira dropped her keyblades and they disappeared in bursts of light, The Stranger let go of his and it disappeared in a cloak of darkness.
"You're definitely on your way to being a hero now Kira," Phil told her with a grin.
"Thank you Phil," She said with a bow.
"As for you, you look like you might need some heroic advice," Phil said to the Stranger, "What's your name?" He asked.
"My name is Aubren," He said as if he'd repeated it a hundred times, "Wait, did I just-"
"You did," Kira said with a smile,
"My name, after so long," Aubren said to himself.
"Aubren, I suggest you keep Kira company in her travels and help her in her quest," Hercules said.
Aubren looked to Kira who nodded. He bowed to her, thanking her for her help in recovering his name. Phil gave Kira a keychain; it was a blue chain with a gold coin token that had a cloud with a bolt of thunder coming down.
She attached it to her left bracelet and thanked Phil before departing with Aubren to her Gummi ship. He looked around the device before sitting on the floor, Kira looked back at him as she sunk into the pilot's chair. She made a mental note to have Cid install a second chair when they visited Hollow Bastion again, but for now her next world presented itself to her. She threw the yolk forward and the ship blasted out of the docks and flew off into the Gummiverse.