This chapter's shorter than my others, honestly, but it's been so long since posting, I wanted to post this. It ends at a good cliffhanger, so that'll tide you over, I hope!

Hey, I'm really sorry this took so long. Life's been pretty crazy during the last couple of months and I'm positively horrible at time management. It's true. I admit it! Anyway, I've been in a good writing mood lately, so be happy. I'm gonna try to spit out the chapters again. However, it may take a while. School's a serious hindrance to my writing… as are video games, namely Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. However, I'm going to try. Of course, I still have my Sonic the Hedgehog story to write too. That has the next chapter written, so it may take a couple of weeks—or longer—for the next chapter of Kingdom Hearts comes. But don't worry—it's going to come! I'm not giving up on either story!

I definitely don't own Kingdom Hearts! Don't ask! Don't sue! Don't pay attention to this disclaimer! …However, pay attention to the next thing I'm about to say, please.

My girlfriend is currently writing a Monster Rancher story in the MR section (duh!). Anyway, she's really not getting many reviewers, unfortunately. People don't seem to appreciate how awesome a writer she truly is (and she is). Her story is an amazing story with an amazing plan ahead of it. So, if anyone reading this is in any way a fan of Monster Rancher, whether the game or TV show (it combines the two realms in a way), please go read it and review too! She would greatly appreciate that kind of encouragement and trust me when I say I would love for her to get the reviews as well. She deserves them. So, please, if you like Monster Rancher, please go read her story, okay? Here's the URL:

It's a really good read. Even if you don't even like Monster Rancher that much, I bet you'll find quite a bit of enjoyment in this. And to those Genki-haters out there reading this… no, he is not in this story. To those Genki-lovers… it's worth it. Trust me. He doesn't need to be in this story. Thanks a bunch for reading this. Now… read the chapter!

Chapter 11: Three Heads Are Better Than One

Squall Leonhart paced back and force in Cid's shop in the First District of Traverse Town. His boots tapped the wooden floor, then turned into soft thuds as he reached carpet, and then went back to taps as he turned around and paced back onto the uncarpeted floor. His gunblade was strapped securely to its place on his back, but his twitched in desire just to hold the weapon. However, he restrained himself and ended up reaching up and brushing his hair back in habit.

"Quit pacing, would you?" Cid demanded from behind the shop's counter. Leon stopped, looked at him with his icy blue eyes, and then went back to his pacing. This time he cupped his chin in his hand and let out a soft grunt.

Yuffie sighed from her spot on the plush green couch and looked at the man known to most as Leon. "We can't just sit around! The Heartless have taken over the Second and Third District again! Their numbers are growing by the second! Squall, if we don't hurry—" Leon gave her a sharp glare for using his real name, but Yuffie ignored him. "—the Heartless will overrun the First District! The only thing holding them back is Aerith's shield spell and you know that's weakening! And what about the—"

"Quiet!" Leon vehemently said. Yuffie quieted immediately. Cid gave him a smirk and a slight headshake. "I know our situation, Yuffie." He said, a little bit of the venom leaving his voice.

"I'm just trying to help…"

Leon sighed deeply and brushed his hand through his long, brown locks. "I know. Sorry," was all he could manage. Yuffie seemed to accept that though and smiled slightly.

"Maybe…" Aerith said slowly, moving forward from the wall she had been leaning against. Leon stopped pacing and looked at her. Her eyes met Leon's and he saw a terrible fear within them. "Maybe it's time we evacuate Traverse To—"

Leon's reaction was immediate. "No! We are not giving this world to the Heartless too!" His pale blue eyes burned with a rage and his gloved hand was balled into a fist so tightly that his entire arm shook. "I won't lose this home like I lost Hollow Bastion!"

There was utter silence in the room. Cid pretended to clean up behind the counter and refused to meet Leon's eyes. Yuffie suddenly found something interesting to stare at on the floor. However, Leon and Aerith's eyes never left each others'. There was no mistaking it—Leon's outburst had hurt Aerith and it was proven by the single tear that ran down her cheek. The gunblade specialist couldn't bear to look into those eyes and walked towards the door. He reached for the doorknob, but hesitated.

"Sorry." And with that, he opened the door, exited the shop, and slammed the door shut behind him. After a few more moments of silence, Aerith ran out of the shop as well—not trying to follow him, but just in need of some private time of her own.

Yuffie looked up and met Cid's eyes. "Still no luck in reaching Sora?" She asked quietly—just above a whisper. Cid shook his head softly and looked out the shop window. Yuffie stood from the couch and moved to the door. "I'm going to go see what the Heartless are doing." Cid nodded, but didn't turn to face her. Moments later, Yuffie too had left.

***

To say things were tense would be an understatement. Meg stood by the entrance to the inner ring, flinching with every growl, grunt, or roar heard from outside. Phil paced around the room with his hands behind his back, muttering every few seconds. Donald stood in a corner, tapping his webbed foot impatiently. Sora leaned against a wall with his eyes closed, trying to come up with new maneuvers to use with the Keyblade. Goofy was sitting on the floor, looking about the same as usual, but his eyes betrayed an intense worry for what was happening outside.

And what was happening outside, anyway? Nobody in the room could be sure seeing as when Phil had once ventured outside to check, Cerberus the Three-Headed Dog from Hell spewed a large fireball of sorts at him, showing that it wasn't safe at all to be outside the room they were in now. But from the muffled sounds they could hear from the tunnel, it was obvious that the battle between Cerberus and Hercules was dragging on. Not for the first time, Sora wondered if the great half-god would become the dead half-god after this. By the looks on the others' faces, he figured they were all thinking the same.

What would Riku do in a situation like this? Sora found himself wondering while leaning against the wall. An image of Riku appeared in his mind and the silver-haired boy flashed him a mischievous grin. Sora felt a twang of pain looking at Riku. He missed his best friend. Sora was finally getting the adventure he had always wanted, yet…

His eyes opened and he looked at Donald and Goofy. They were good people, he realized. Good friends. Yet they weren't Riku and Kairi. Oh, how he missed his and Riku's mock sword fights. How he missed their races! He wanted so much to compete again for Kairi's attention. He closed his eyes again tightly.

Riku, Kairi… where are you? This… this wasn't supposed to happen like this! We were supposed to be together! We were going to see brand new worlds together! He felt a passion rising up within him and the Keyblade within his heart begin to press him to retrieve the blade. He stretched out his arm, opened his palm, and the Keyblade materialized with a flash of light. It glowed brightly as if his inner turmoil and passion fed it power.

All eyes in the room focused on him. His lips twitched upwards in a small but mischievous smile. It was a Riku smile. And there was no mistaking what he planned to do next.

"Kid, if you're planning on going out there…" Phil said warningly. Behind him, Goofy stood to his feet, brushed himself off, and moved to Sora's side, nodding approvingly at the young Keyblade Master. Seconds later, there was a soft quack and Donald stepped to the side opposite Goofy and held up his staff. Sora looked at his two friends with a grateful look and then looked back to Phil.

"You aren't stopping us, you know. We're gonna go help!"

"You're crazy!" Phil took a step forward and peered up at Sora. "You'll get yourself killed!"

Sora practically beamed. "Don't underestimate the power of the Keyblade!" He swung it above Phil's head showily and then drew it back and rested it on his shoulder. Phil put his hands on his hips and didn't budge. Sora sighed and looked to Goofy. "Could you…"

Goofy smiled a quite goofy grin and picked Phil up off the ground completely. Phil yelled and swung, but Goofy merely held him away at arm's length and finally set him on the ground behind the trio. Before Phil could rush to the entrance to outside, the three all ran outside.

The trio ran outside and they were immediately bombarded not with fireballs, but blinding sunlight. Sora shaded his eyes with his hand and tried to get his eyes to focus. At the moment, all he was seeing was white light reflected off the sands. In a few moments' time, though, things began taking shape…

…But they were taking shape too slowly.

"Watch out, kid!" Sora heard someone cry. He felt the heat and heard the sound before he saw it. His eyes widened, however, when the huge ball of fire came within his line of sight. It was far too close to dodge! It moved in what seemed like slow motion. Sora would have swore that he could see a trail of heat from behind the ball! Slowly, so painfully slowly, he felt a strong hand grab his arm. Suddenly time sped up again and he was ripped to the side, causing him and Goofy to tumble across the ground together, coming to rest about ten feet away from the impact point. The fireball hit the ground right where Sora had been standing and exploded in a flash of white fire. The heat was so intense that Sora was immediately drenched with sweat. There was a large black scorch mark where the fireball had hit and a few fires were alight on the concrete and sand. They would die out quickly though.

The next thing Sora noticed was a loud quacking. His eyes moved to Donald… whose tail feathers were now burning brightly. He was running around in circles, waving his arms madly, and quacking a continuous quack of pain and anger. Finally, Donald dropped down to his butt and dragged his rear end across the ground, effectively putting out the fire, but also ripping out most of the remaining tail feathers. He slowly got to his feet, wincing with every movement. He was grumbling the entire way up. Sora snickered and Goofy covered his mouth with his hands.

"If you say anything," Donald began.

"Roast Duck, it's what's for dinner!" Sora interjected. Donald quacked furiously and was about to point his staff at Sora to give the teenager a taste of fire when suddenly a loud roar brought them all back to the reality of the moment. Cerberus wasn't happy he had missed his targets. He wasn't happy at all.

"MOVE IT!" Cried the man that had warned Sora earlier. Now that he could see, Sora could now recognize the man as Hercules. He was on the other side of Cerberus, carrying Cloud on one of his shoulders. He was yelling and screaming at Cerberus, trying to get the three-headed dog's attention to allow the trio to escape.

Too bad Sora nor his friends wanted what Hercules wanted.

FLASH! Two sets of lightning bolts rained down from the heavens onto Cerberus' three heads. The heads each let out a sharp whine and looked around frantically for the one who had done that. Donald and Sora grinned at each other and they both pointed their weapons at Cerberus.

FWOOSH! Fireballs exploded from the ends of the weapons and each hit Cerberus' flank. A few small flames appeared where the balls hit, but they died quickly. This time, however, Cerberus knew exactly where the flames had come from.

All three heads turned to face the trio. All three heads growled loudly and all three showed razor-sharp teeth within their mouths. The beast turned his entire body to face them and suddenly took off in a charge for them. Sora found very quickly how very fast Cerberus really was.

"Scatter!" Sora cried. It was a bit unnecessary, of course. Donald and Goofy had already taken off running to the side. Sora took the more direct approach. Using the speed of the Keyblade, he took off straight forward. Cerberus slowed a bit at this action and a look of confusion was seen on all three faces. Nevertheless, Sora kept charging forward.

"Is that kid crazy!?" Hercules wondered aloud as he watched. Sure, Sora was fast, but he was charging head on for Cerberus! Not even the half-god himself would risk something like that! Yet, he watched as the headstrong teenager kept charging. Cerberus had given up contemplating this turn of events and charged right at Sora as well, all three of his heads near to the ground to snatch up the Keyblade Master when he came into range. Sora drew closer and closer. Cerberus' mouths opened to huge proportions. Twenty feet were between them. Fifteen. Five. Three. The mouths snapped shut.

"NO!" Hercules yelled. He nearly dropped the man on his shoulders. Why did he…? What did that accomplish!? The boy's two companions were in the fight now. They fought furiously. They just watched their friend get eaten. They had reason to. I have to get him to safety and then I'll come back. Hercules sprinted towards the exit. The man groaned.

***

Hades' blue flames illuminated the dark area that he and Cloud had been hiding in earlier. He was keeping an eye on the battle between Cerberus and the Keyblade trio. Or duo. He chuckled and swirled his hand around, smoke rising from his fingers. The smoke formed a shape of Sora, standing calmly with his Keyblade angled down. So young. Hades reached up with his other hand and closed his fist over the ethereal shape. The smoke lost its shaped and puffed out, quickly disappearing in the gloom. So dead. His lips parted to reveal sharp, yellow teeth.

"You seem confident." Said a male voice from the shadows.

Hades turned to face him and turned up the heat in his hair so it brightened a bit more. The man was shrouded in a black cloak. The hood was pulled over his head. A spike of dirty blonde hair was visible. Hades could see his blue flames reflected in the man's dark eyes. The eyes were focused right on Hades' own eyes. They looked completely black from where the death god stood. With the exception of his hair, everything about this man was black. Black clothes. Black eyes. Black heart. He was a man after Hades' own heart.

"I have reason to be confident." Hades said, his grin never fading. "The Keyblade Master is all that stood in the way. Now that he's dead, not even that fool Hercules can defeat me now!"

"A boy with a blunt object verses a half-god. I'm not seeing your logic." His voice didn't sound curious at all. If anything, it was patronizing. Hades' flames got hotter and brighter.

"That blunt object is possibly the greatest weapon ever created." He spoke slowly and articulated every syllable. "If he who wields it learns how to truly use it—as that squirt is—was—just beginning to just barely touch on—then that person could prove a dangerous threat!" The man snorted. "But now that he's gone, the Darkness can overpower anything! Not even the gods of Olympus can stop it!" He cackled but then stopped himself as he heard the man started chuckling. The man's entire body seemed to shake with the chuckles. His eyes were closed.

"What are you—?" Hades started, but he found his voice caught in his throat. The reflections of his flames were back. Slowly, white teeth began to appear from within the shroud. The man was smiling. Suddenly, the chuckling stopped, but the smile stayed.

"Just one problem with your plan, Hades." He said. His smile seemed to twist into a cruel smirk.

"What's that?" Hades spat, suddenly quite angry. His blue flames had turned to bright orange. The reflections had turned to orange as well. Suddenly, for the first time with the exception of when they were closed, the eyes left their lock on Hades' and slid to the side slowly. They were looking back in the direction of the battle. Hades knew all he needed to know from that simple gesture. A cold chill ran down his spine. He quickly spun around, his black cloak flapping in the air. His eyes focused on Cerberus. He could only manage out one word from there.

 "Crap."

The man's body shook as he began chuckling once more.

***

Goofy took the rope Donald had found on the ground and ran around Cerberus' body as fast as his lanky legs would take him. Donald held the other end of the long rope. He stood just out of range of Cerberus' teeth and Cerberus seemed quite content with going to him and snatching him up… like he did Sora. That was why Goofy hurried. He couldn't lose another friend. He doubled back and maneuvered between Cerberus' legs. From there, he twisted the ropes around a few legs, pulled the rope taut, and then ran back out, still holding the end of the rope. He ran back to Donald. Their eyes locked. Both of them tugged on their ends of the ropes as hard as they could.

Cerberus roared loudly. He had noticed the ropes by now and found that his legs were restrained. He could hardly walk! His body began to tip forward. The three heads were all frantic now. They snapped at air, snapped at their legs, and even snapped at each other, trying their hardest to stop the dog's descent. And then there was that stupid… something on his back that had been bugging him for a while now. It was still up there!

It pulled at its restraints further, which caused Cerberus' balance to falter even more. There! A loose rope! He gave that one leg his hardest pull. There was a loud SNAP! He saw the two creatures in front of him suddenly fall back. The rope was loosened and he shook his four legs free.

Donald looked up at Cerberus and quacked in frustration. Now what? Behind him, he could hear the footsteps of Hercules as he ran back outside. He didn't turn to face the half-god. Instead, he looked wide-eyed at Cerberus. No, it wasn't Cerberus that he looked at… it was a certain spiky-haired teenager who grinned from atop of Cerberus' back. Goofy followed his gaze. Behind them, Hercules' steps slowed and he gasped. Yes, he had spotted the boy as well.

Sora grinned and the Keyblade materialized in his hands. It was something Riku had taught him. It wasn't that hard, actually. With the Keyblade, he was actually as fast, if not faster than Cerberus' snapping jaws! But Cerberus too had thought he had shredded the Keyblade Master! All it took was a pile of old sweaty towels he found on the ground. They smelled like human. They had the taste of human on them. And he figured Cerberus was stupid enough to believe they were human! Therefore, when Sora tossed the towels in Cerberus' open mouth, the dog believed the enemy to be dead. The element of surprise. Make the enemy believe you are down and spring in when he lets his guard down. Thank you, Riku.

Sora began raining down fireballs upon Cerberus' head. The smell of burning fur and skin filled his nostrils, but he resisted the urge to retch. Cerberus reacted immediately. The heads swiveled around to face him. Sora didn't know those necks were that flexible. They snapped, but he jumped back, out of their range. He gave them a smirk and pointed the Keyblade at one. With a red burst of light, a fireball exploded from the end of the blade and hit one of the heads' eye. All three heads let out a bark of pain and the entire beast fell. Sora was knocked off its back and rolled as he hit the ground. He caused the Keyblade to disappear.

Cerberus's heads were on the ground with its backside in the air. Cerberus madly pawed at the eye that had been hit, whimpering pitifully. Sora was tempted to feel sorry for the triple-headed beast. After all, it must have hurt terribly to get hit in the eye by a fireball. In fact, that eye could go blind. Oh, man… why did I do that…? Why didn't I just—

"Watch it, kid!" Hercules' voice brought Sora back to the present. And the present had an oversized fireball heading straight for Sora. It was too close! Too late to dodge it! Sora screamed and the Keyblade appeared in his right hand. All Sora could see was white as the blazing fireball neared him. It was so huge… nothing could survive that. He threw out the Keyblade and grabbed the blade end with his left hand. He held it out in a protective manner, holding each side of the Keyblade and thrusting his arms out. It was a defensive position. He did it on impulse. It would not satisfy the flames released from Cerberus' mouth that only the bowels of Hell could produce.

The ball of fire was only a split second away. That's all Sora's mind needed to replay virtually every important event in his life. He remembered meeting Riku that first time on the island. He remembered when Kairi found her way onto the island. It was a strange event, that occurrence. They found her facedown on the sand with no memories of anything besides her own name. She never did remember anything else except that she wasn't from the island, but from somewhere else. Yes, that was strange indeed. Sora remembered quite a few of the trio's antics. They had so much fun on that island. He remembered the day Riku had brought up sailing off the island. He remembered how Kairi had so enthusiastically agreed. Sora had no choice but to go along as well. It was an adventure, anyway. He'd always go along with adventures. He remembered building the raft. Being unable to resist the urge to play instead of work, the trio had gotten into a sand fight that day. Sora's mother disapproved. His mind played up all the way to that one time. In the secret place. The cloaked figure. He could practically hear his dark laugh now, as Sora was about to perish. And, finally, the last scene before the teen's death was as he watched Riku, being covered with tendrils of a dark energy of sorts, reached out to Sora. Why, Riku? What was so important about that dark stuff? It just… didn't feel right to me. Why did it feel right to you? Why did you—The fireball hit.

A bright flash filled the Coliseum. Donald and Goofy both shielded their eyes. The shockwave from the explosion blew them both down and a great wind picked up, pushing them back even further. Hercules stood still. His wavy hair blew backwards in the wind, as did any of the cloth clothing on him. He never covered his eyes, but, instead, looked wistfully at the place where the fireball and boy had met. He suspected that the light from the explosion had since died down, but all he could see was still white. It would take a few seconds until he could see again. And when he could? Cerberus would pay.

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FINALLY! About time, huh? Well, I pray that satisfied some of your crazy wanting for the next installment. Expect the next soon… reviews may just make me write faster, so please review! Flames will be used to keep me warm at night… I don't hope for flames though. My queen-sized waterbed is already warm enough, ya know.

And, once again, please read Britt's story. It would mean more than you know to the both of us. She's worked so hard on it and she really deserves some recognition for it. So, please, read it, okay? Here's the URL again:

Thank you again! God bless you all and may He show Himself anew everyday of your lives!

--Harvestboy2001 (Ben)