Elsa could practically feel the shadows clinging to her, the sensation making her skin crawl and her stomach churn. The air was stifling here, making it harder to breathe, like being smothered under a pillow. Blackness flowed all around her, seeming to go on forever. It was like when she had been stolen away from Arendelle, except now that she wasn't in a confused, blind panic, her eyes seemed to adapt to the darkness somewhat. Now she noticed wisps of color and light mixed into the void, seeming to dance about in a way that was almost enchanting.

Looking to her feet, she did not find ground beneath them, only more of the same. It was almost as if she floated through the endless abyss, but she definitely felt the soles of her boots pounding against something, invisible though it may have been. Stranger still, that's not all that she found when she looked down.

There seemed to be some sort of faint aura coming off her.

Was she… glowing?

Eyes forward once more, they met with Axel's back. Her hand was still in his vice-like grip as he charged ahead and it was all she could do just to keep up. She didn't know how long they ran through the darkness. It felt like it could have been scant minutes or an eternity. Time seemed to lose all meaning in this place. All she knew was that one second the void stretched on as far as the eye could see, the next she was practically blinded as they were plunged into abrupt sunlight.

Releasing a soft hiss in surprise, she squeezed her eyes shut, staggered to a stop and wrenched her hand back, causing his hold around it to loosen before at last releasing altogether. Immediately, she covered her eyes, shielding them from the brightness.

The air felt normal again as she inhaled deep and gulped it down. Running through that horrid den of shadows? Terrible idea, simply the absolute worst. Few seconds more of that and she feared she would have passed out. She could hear heavy breathing from Axel as well, along with the distant melody of song birds and what sounded like babbling water nearby. A creek perhaps? Slowly she lowered her fingers and, vision still adjusting to the light, cautiously cracked one eye open, then the other.

First to snap into focus were her palms still inches from her face. She squinted down at them, flipping them over. There no longer seemed to be a luminescence about her. Huh… had she imagined it? Regardless, there was no time to puzzle over it. Letting her hands fall to her sides, she glanced around.

It seemed they were at the bottom of some sort of canyon. Sheer cliff walls rose high overhead and a gentle stream did indeed trickle past where they stood on its grassy banks. It flowed onward to a point where the gorge grew narrow and was blocked by what appeared to be the pieces of a shattered stone column, the water weaving its way underneath. To the left of it, a path lay open leading away from the brook. To the right on the opposite shore, a statue - or rather, what was left of it. She imagined the thing would have been massive were it still whole, but now all that remained was one stone foot that was bigger than her entire body.

"Where are we?" she murmured, looking upstream to spot the remnants of more statues dotting the banks and the soft glimmers of what could possibly be a slender waterfall far off in the distance.

His breathing now normalizing, Axel took one more deep inhale before puffing it back out and planting his hands on his hips. "Dunno!"

Her eyes darted to meet his. "You don't know?!"

"Nope!" he beamed and shrugged. "Should make it a bit harder for lil Miss Bug-Zapper to figure out where we escaped to. If I didn't even know where I was going, how the hell was she supposed to? Just ran through the Corridors until I found some rando world to pop outta." He grinned, tapping a finger to the side of his head, "That's using the ol' noggin!"

Her hands slowly balled into fists. "Of all the stupid… idiotic… moronic-"

"Hey there, woah now!" He raised his hands defensively with a frown. "I'm a big damn hero, okay? How about a thank you for saving your life, huh?"

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I didn't want it to be saved?!" she snarled up at him.

"So what was I supposed to do?" He asked, hunching forward to meet her gaze, jabbing a finger towards her face. "Just let you get nabbed by Larxene? Maybe you missed the memo, but she's one the the bad guys!"

Specks of ice and snow began to drift down and whirl around her. "She was going to take me to Anna! I could have saved her!" The corners of her eyes began to prickle. She had been so close, so damn close! "Take me back! Take me back right now! Maybe that woman's still there and I can-"

"Can what? Get taken prisoner? Sorry, but not on my watch. I know you're a little behind, so here's the cliff notes version to catch you up. Me," he jerked a thumb into his chest, "keyblade wielder. You," he pointed at her again, "Princess of Heart. I protect you and keep you from doing something dumb like serving yourself up to the enemy on a silver platter, got it memorized?"

Again with this Princess of Heart nonsense. She'd heard him use the term earlier as well when she had been listening through the door back at the tower. What exactly was a Princess of Heart and what did it have to do with her? Or with anything, for that matter?

...you know what? She didn't care. It was currently beside the point. "You will return me to that tower this instant," she repeated, grounding the words out between her teeth, this time in a dangerously low voice.

"You really want to be cellmates with your sister that bad? Oh yah, whole lotta good that'll do her."

The snowflakes began to pick up speed in their frenzied dance as she shouted back, "I would have been fine, I can take care of myself! You had no right-"

"I had every right, especially with you acting like a total bonehead!" He straightened up once more, his eyelids drooping as he folded his arms beneath his chest. "Listen, maybe back on your world, you were some big fish in a little pond, but you're in the ocean now, Snowflake, and there are tons of things out here that are bigger and badder and a whole lot nastier than you. The Organization would have gobbled you up for breakfast. You're no match for them, you would have just gotten yourself captured."

"You don't know that!"

He tossed his hands up in frustration, "But I do! Trust me, you have no idea what you're up against! I know these people way better than you do."

She paused, her eyes narrowing as she regarded him, the blades of grass at her feet beginning to glaze over with frost. "...because you're one of them?"

He blinked, head rocking back slightly. "What?"

"You weave portals from darkness like the ones they used to kidnap Anna and me." She gestured to his long black coat, "You dress like them. Are you working with them too?"

Axel curled his fingers in a strangling motion that appeared to be directed at her, only to abruptly relax his muscles and plaster a smile to his face. His gaze drifted skyward as he poked a finger to his chin and said sweetly, "Help me out here, cuz I just can't quite remember. There was this thing I did not five minutes ago, now what was it? Oh, that's right…" He threw his arms out wide towards her and snapped, "I rescued you!"

She stood her ground, not even so much as flinching at the outburst. "Then explain it to me! Why do you wear their uniform? Why do you share in their control over the shadows?"

He made a noise deep in his throat that was part growl, part huff. "Listen, I'm not with the Organization, okay? There's a whole lot more to the story that you don't know here and frankly I don't have the time to-"

His words were swallowed up by a thunderous, resounding boom that shook them both to their very cores. They looked in the direction it had come from, only for a fierce wall of wind to come rushing down the path branching off from the creek, striking them both hard. They staggered back but managed to brace themselves and remain standing, their clothes flapping wildly about them. The gust died down almost as quickly as it had materialized.

That's when they saw it off in the distance.

A foul looking miasma rising up from the horizon in a surging column, a chorus of spine-chilling wails accompanying it. Seeming to crash against the very sky, it gathered itself in a churning concoction of pitch blacks, dark violets, and deep crimsons. It swirled faster and faster, convulsing in on itself tighter and tighter before abruptly bursting apart, huge chunks of it flying off in all different directions.

"What the…?" Elsa muttered. Then Axel had suddenly hooked his hand through her elbow and yanked her along with him as he took off running straight for the source of whatever wickedness they had just witnessed. "Hey!" she snapped, feeling her toe snag on a rock but catching herself before she could trip. "What exactly do you think you're doing?!"

Not slowing down, he cast her a sidelong glance. "Weren't you listening? I'm a hero! And that right there had hero business written all over it! As much fun as this little shouting match between us is, I'm calling a timeout. There could be people that need help!"

She rolled her eyes. "Alright fine, but why are you dragging me along with you?"

"Because you have shown that you can't be left unsupervised. So until you prove to me that you won't go skipping off with the next baddie to bat their eyelashes your way, I hafta play babysitter and keep you close. Don't go getting any funny ideas now. Keep in mind, I'm your only ticket off this rock, so you'll wanna stay on my good side."

She scowled, but merely pressed her lips together into a thin line and said nothing. Once again, some of the vernacular had been lost on her, but she'd gathered enough of the idea from context. His dark portals had brought her here and they were currently her only option to leave as well. She wouldn't be able to help Anna if Axel decided to strand her on this unfamiliar world. So she'd have to play along… for now, at least.

Besides, with his fingers still firmly wrapped around her arm, it appeared she had little choice but to follow closely beside him as he charged down the pathway, quickly leaving the little stream behind them. Turning at a bend in the trail, they got their first glimpses of an expansive, sprawling city they were fast approaching. The rough dirt road beneath their feet quickly gave way to cobblestone streets, the high jagged crags around them to massive man-made structures comprised of marble columns. Urns of various shapes and sizes appeared to decorate every corner of the place and were embellished with angular artwork depicting heroic events, brave people, and fantastic beasts.

They were closing in on the heart of this thriving metropolis, which seemed to be where that horrific spectacle had taken place. The further they went, the thicker the throng of city dwellers became. Everyone's attention was drawn towards something up ahead and the people were shouldering each other to get closer for a better look. Probably a good sign that the two of them were indeed going in the right direction. Being just about the furthest thing from small in stature, Axel had no problem carving his way through the crowd, still tugging Elsa along behind him. As they drew near, she started to make out a voice from up ahead that was shouting to be heard over the din of everyone else.

"Alright people, show's over! Nothing to see here! Quit with the lallygagging and move it along! Give the guy some room to work, will ya? Jeeze, you'd think you all never-"

They at last pushed through the front row of the crowd, stumbling out the other side and straight into the owner of the gruff voice, which turned out to be a squat, hairy little man.

Elsa blinked, doing a double take.

Rather... half man, half…

...goat?

And he appeared to be naked no less, ugh!

From the waist up he was human for the most part, barring the pair of curled horns sprouting out the top of his mostly bald head. Thankfully, a thick mass of fur began just below his overhanging belly, going all the way down to his cloven hooves. The peculiar creature glared up at them and used the back of his hand to smack Axel's knee, which appeared to be the highest target he could reach. "Watch where you're walking, pal! Now get lost!"

Looking past the small irate individual, Elsa spotted what the rest of the people gathered round all seemed to be so intrigued by. She squinted, not quite sure what she was looking at. It appeared to be a young man… wrestling a box.

...other planets were strange, strange places.

He had short blonde curly hair held up by a headband, and was just simply a mountain of muscles beneath the brown tunic he wore. His chiseled features were set into a snarl as he crouched low, struggling to hold down a dark purple box with obsidian trimming and an ornamental skull on the side. The small chest shivered and quaked, bouncing about underneath the man's hands, the lid cracking open just a teeny bit with each hop before he would press down with all his might to slam it shut again.

"We're here to help!" Axel proclaimed, pulling Elsa's attention back to him as he puffed up his chest and planted his free hand on one hip. She took the opportunity to yank her arm free of his other hand. He looked at her with a frown, pointing two fingers at his eyes, then at her. She merely huffed out a sigh through her nose and crossed her arms.

The goatman scoffed. "Oh, you think so, do you? Beat it! We don't need no stinking help from no amateurs!"

"But-"

"Maybe your hearing's not so good, buddy," he sneered up at him, then pointed at his own mouth. "Then read my lips. Two words: take a hike!"

Apparently the people of this world didn't know how to count.

Turning his back to them, the goatman began to march away. Axel narrowed his eyes as he looked down for a second, then brightened and lifted his face once more. "Wait! We're friends with Sora!"

The man fighting to subdue the box looked up sharply. "You two know S-" He was interrupted by the chest slipping out of his grasp and springing up to ram him square in his jaw. Gritting his teeth, he body slammed the thing back down to the ground.

His hooves having stopped mid-step, the goatman turned to face them once more, one eyebrow cocked as he stroked his scruff of a beard. "Sora, eh? That kid could come in real handy right about now. Where is he, anyway?"

"Not here," Axel said before wagging an index finger back and forth between Elsa and himself. "But we are. So unclench there, Fuzzbucket, and tell us what's going on already."

He gave them both a dull stare. "What's youse twos' names, anyhow?"

Releasing an impatient sigh, he placed a hand on his chest. "Axel, got it memorized?" He then gestured to her, "And that's Sno-"

"Elsa," she cut in loudly, shooting him a look.

He grinned and shrugged before turning his gaze back down to the shaggy little creature. "And you would be?"

His mouth opened but before he could utter so much as a syllable, someone else was shouting, "Phil!" The voice was female and had come from somewhere overhead. They all looked up to see something circling high above, its big silhouette outlined by the sun. The thing rushed into its descent, landing next to them in a whoosh of alabaster feathers. Tucking its wings in at its sides, the pure white horse with a blue mane glanced around, greeting them all with a soft whinny.

That's right. A horse. With wings.

Elsa rubbed her eyes, then looked again.

Nope. Still there.

Hopping off the back of the steed was a slender woman in a flowy lavender dress, her wavy brown hair pulled back into a long ponytail. She looked to the strong man, concern wrinkling her face as she breathed, "Wonderboy."

The goatman - or rather, Phil, it would seem - stepped in front of her. "Stay back, Meg, don't go distracting the boy!"

She looked down at him. "What happened? What was that… that..."

"Dark, unholy tower of doom?" he supplied dryly. "I'll be only too happy to fill you in once Alex and Ella here scram!"

Elsa snorted softly, smothering it behind one hand. Guess he hadn't memorized it.

Axel cast her a sour look before scowling down at Phil, hands clenching at his side as he snapped, "Hey!"

"Last thing we need is a couple of no good, wanna-be heroes running around, mucking stuff up and making everything worse! Now hit the road or I'll-"

"Just tell them already!" the other guy yelled from behind him. He was now hugging the box firmly to his chest, stumbling every time the thing gave a lurch to break free. His muscles strained as the container jerked again and he grunted out, "We can use all the help we can get!"

"But we can't just-"

"Phil!"

He threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright already, jeeze! No need to bite my head off!" Grumbling, he turned back to the other three and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "That thing my boy Herc is snuggling all cozy like with back there is Pandora's Box. All kinds of evils are locked inside it. Hatred, pain, disease, starvation, death, despair, fear, yada yada yada, you get the picture. That lil jewelry box from Tartarus was so dangerous that it got buried long ago so it could never be opened again. But then some knucklehead decided to dig it up and leave it lying around for a couple of snot nosed brats to find and pop its lid off. What you lot just saw moments ago was all that nastiness being set loose to wreak havoc on all of Thebes."

"But if everything escaped, why are Hercules and the box still doing the cha-cha over there?" Meg asked, frowning as she looked past Phil to the muscular fellow once again. "Sounds like Wonderboy has bigger fish to fry at the moment."

"Not everything got out. We got here just in time to slam the thing shut again, trapping the last one in. And it's an angry sucker too, it's taking all o' Herc's strength just to keep that bad boy in there. But that means we're now a body down in the fight to save the city from becoming nothing more than a smoldering pile of rubble."

"By my count, you're two bodies up." Axel dragged a reluctant Elsa forward to stand beside him, leaving little doubt as to which two he meant. "So go on, tell us how we're supposed to put Jack back in the box."

Phil raised his hands, "Hold it, hotshot! What makes you think you're even remotely qualified to be dealing with this sort of stuff?"

"How about this?" Axel stretched his arm out in front of him and with a smug little flourish, flames sparked and flared up from the palm of his hand.

Arms crossed and eyelids drooping, Phil seemed far from impressed. "...and?"

Axel's left eye ticked almost imperceptibly before his grin stretched a little wider and he closed his hand, extinguishing the small blaze with a hiss. "And how about this?" he asked, snapping his fingers.

Meg gasped. "Phil, your tail!"

"Huh?" he twisted at the waist to take a look only to discover a second fire had popped up, this one merrily crackling away at the tip of said tail. With a yelp, he hopped up and down, hands frantically patting out the flames. Axel snorted. Elsa facepalmed.

Some hero.

Fur singed and smoking but otherwise intact, Phil now glared up at his smirk. "Yuck it up, wise guy! I meant 'and what about her?!'" he jabbed a finger in Elsa's direction.

"Oh." He glanced over at her, "How 'bout it, Snowflake? Up for giving this fine gent a little demonstration?" She met his gaze, narrowed her eyes and said nothing. "No? Figured. Sorry, Fuzzbucket. I tried, but you know how divas can be sometimes. You say jump, they tell you to screw off. But trust me, once she's in the trenches, those things won't stand a chance against her. She's the real powerhouse here. She makes me look like a joke."

"You already do a bang up job of that on your own," Phil deadpanned.

He shrugged. "Whatever, are you gonna let us help or not?"

"Well…" he stretched out the word, his fingers tugging at his scraggly goatee once more.

"Yes!" Hercules called out desperately. The chest, still wrapped tightly in his arms, went for a sucker punch to his gut, forcing a pained oof out of him as he fell flat on his back.

Phil flung his arms up in defeat. "Okay, okay, fine! I'll give you two rookies a shot, don't make me regret it! Listen good now, cuz I'm only gonna explain this once. Those evils are weak from being cooped up for so long, which has forced them to take physical forms. That means," he punched a fist into the palm of his other hand, "you can hurt 'em. But the longer they're free, the stronger they get. The stronger they get, the less damage they'll take. Soon they'll be impervious to your attacks, so you gotta move quick. Hunt those suckers down and take 'em out. After you KO them, the box'll do the rest and suck them back in. Once they're all inside, it should seal shut again."

"Alright," Axel nodded, "your classic Battle Royale. Last one standing wins. Seems straight forward enough. Just one question: how do we find these things?"

"Simple. Just follow the sound of screams and destruction."

"You can use Feathers here," Meg offered, gesturing with her chin towards the horse, who nickered in what sounded like agreement. "Get a bird's eye view of the city. Once you spot trouble, he can get you to it in no time."

"Perfect. Let's go, Snowflake," Axel placed his hand on the small of Elsa's back, trying to guide her forward, but she dug her heels in. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Problem?"

She pointed at the stallion. "That's a flying horse."

"...yes."

"You expect me… to get on a flying horse?"

"Uh…" His lips pursed to one side. "...yes?"

She took several steps back, shaking her head and waving her hands back and forth in front of her. "Oh no, no, no."

His hand closing around her wrist stopped her in her tracks and he dragged her forward. "Oh yes, yes, yes."

"You know," she grunted as she struggled to free herself from his grip, her boots scraping against the flagstones as he drew her ever closer to the steed, "I think I'd rather walk."

"Sorry, Snowflake, but we don't got time for that. Now upsy-daisy." Before she knew it, he'd grabbed her by the waist and hefted her up onto the horse's back, followed swiftly by vaulting himself on in front of her.

"Good luck, you two!" Meg called before slapping the stallion on the hindquarters and yelling, "Hyah!" The creature neighed and reared up on its haunches. Majestic wings spreading wide, it launched the three of them - willing participant or not - into the sky.

A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack! This wasn't too terribly long of a wait hopefully? And good news! I did in fact end up splitting what was originally chapter 11 into what is now chapter 11 and 12, so you know what that means? I should hopefully have chapter 12 for you in just a few short days as well, yaaaaaaaaaaay! Hmmmm, what was up with the glowing while Elsa was in the Corridors of Darkness? I suspect most of you have probably already figured it out, but if not, it'll be discussed in story in a few chapters, but right now? Things are a bit too hectic for our couple to talk about such minor details xD And what'd I tell you? Elsa is NOT happy xD Lol. Again, hope ya'll can put yourself in her shoes and understand where she's coming from! Don't worry, she'll come around, but she's not quite done being mad just yet xP But shelving that for now cuuuuuuz oh em gee! They're on Olympus world! It's kind of funny - even tho Greek era is waaaaaay older than what would technically be Elsa's time period (around the 1800s), the way Disney Hercules dialogue was written, characters from this world will generally have a much easier time conversing with Axel and understanding his lingo than characters from Arendelle. Poor Elsa just can't catch a break x'D Side note, maybe you're wondering how Axel knew to mention Sora? That too will be explained... in a few chapters xD This brain o' mine is always ten steps ahead, trust me! Anyways... *le gasp* they must deal with (dun, dun, dun) Pandora's Box! Ever since I saw that scene in KH3 with Maleficent and Pete finding Pandora's Box and tossing it to one side, I KNEW I wanted to do something with that for this fic xD Tho I dunno if you guys know this, but it can be a bit of challenge imagining what physical shape the evils would take on for our pair to face off against xD We're not gonna see ALL the evils as I envision quite a lot escaped, but I have a few fun ones in mind that we will get to see, so hope you like them xD

As always, MUCH praise and MUCH worship to the outstanding and stunning Daughter of Kyne and ScarletEmperor for being awesome betas for this chapter! Also, special thanks to Daughter of Kyne, ScarletEmperor, Spiderfan626, and SoraKairiRikuNamine for being so generous as to take some time to leave their reviews! Your feedback is always appreciated and your support really means everything to me! You all give me such joy and life, I'm not worthy!

Fun Facts: No where in Greek myth is it really spelled out what's inside Pandora's Box beyond just the generalization of "evils that mankind suffer from". Different translations of the myth all include examples of what those evils are, but no two translations seem to agree and the list keeps changing between them, so I kind of just gathered everything from several different sources into one spot and used it for inspiration xD I was curious however and looked it up - turns out the Disney Hercules TV show did have an episode on Pandora's Box. In that episode, what was contained inside was the 7 Deadly Sins. While I do admit to some overlap between those and the abstract idea of general evils that mankind suffer from, the 7 Deadly Sins are more of a Christian thing and the idea of crossing that with Greek mythos was a lil weird to me, so I didn't quite go that route xD Still, the overlap is vaguely present with at least one of the evils I wrote, as you will see, but otherwise... I just went with stuff I thought might be fun xD Also, I originally pictured their visit to Olympus being a lot shorter and only taking 2 chapters - but with the first chapter here already getting split into 2, we saw how well that worked out xD Let's see if I can get it all to fit into 3 chapters instead. Ideally, I plan for most world visits to be about 3 chapters, 4 tops. Maybe that sounds short, but I have a decent amount of worlds planned, and at 3-4 chapters per world, that adds up REAL quick. I don't want this story to just go on forever and ever and ever x'D (okay actually I kinda do, but only if it were someone else doing the hard work of writing it all xP) In any case, it'll be a interesting comparing how many chapters I planned for each world to how many chapters ACTUALLY end up getting written, as I'm sure Olympus won't be the only time this happens lawl.

Anyway, thanks again for reading, I super duper appreciate it! See you at the next update, lovelies, which will be coming at you real soon! Much love, peace out, and keep it real!