Chapter 8

Dark Discovery

After talking with her grandmother, Velcia headed back to the shop to begin making the potions she'd promised her father, but her heart was heavy with worry. It was a long and lonely afternoon without any customers, and the first visitor was her cousin Denerre, who showed up mid-afternoon. He came into the shop bright and chipper.

"Hey, Vel, you about ready to practice?" he asked enthusiastically.

Velcia set down the potion she was working with and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Denerre, I'm too busy today. I told my papa I'd make a new stock of potions for him tomorrow, and… something else came up too," she said solemnly.

Denerre picked up an empty potion bottle from the counter and rolled it around in between his palms. "Ah, that's alright. I'm pretty sure we've got this down already. Do you want any help around here?"

Velcia sat down on a stool and glanced at the trays of empty bottles beside her on the counter. "I don't think so, but thank you."

Denerre looked at her for a moment, trying to read her expression. "Hey, is something wrong? You seem kind of off."

Velcia nodded. "Yes, I guess I am. I ran into a strange monster on the way home last night. It didn't attack me but it was really unsettling."

Denerre shook his head. "Monsters here in the city? I guess with everyone over at the coliseum, the beast thought this place was deserted, the stupid thing."

Velcia's face scrunched up a little bit as she tried to think of how to explain it. "No, it wasn't any kind of monster I've seen before. It was… it felt like darkness. Angry, violent darkness. I don't think it's from around here."

Denerre sat up straight. "Okay, so it's something new then. Any ideas what it is?"

Velcia looked out the front window at the street, looking for passersby. Seeing nobody, she turned back to Denerre and spoke softly. "Do you remember the stories about my great-great-great-great-grandma I told you? The ones my Gran used to tell me?"

"Yeah, of course I do. Those were awesome," Denerre said, his face brightening a bit. "Wait a second, do you think this monster was one of those no-heart things?"

Velcia nodded. "Yes, I think it might be. I visited my Gran this morning and asked her about it, and she thinks so, too. She says these monsters only come around when someone from outside this world is interfering."

"That's not good," Denerre mused. "I wonder who we can talk to to get that taken care of?"

Velcia's face fell. "My Gran says that I have to," she whispered softly.

"What?" Denerre exclaimed. "That's ridiculous! How are you supposed to do that? And why does it have to be you?"

"Gran says that I need look around and try and find someone who doesn't belong here, and see what they are up to. And once I find out who is causing trouble, I should go talk to Philoctetes and he would be able to help out," Velcia explained solemnly.

"Yeah, but why you?" Denerre said, agitated. "We live in an entire country of warriors and champions, good strong people-" Dennere caught himself, calming his tone of voice. "Sorry Vel, I don't mean anything against you… You know I think you're very capable, it's just..." he sighed, "we're just kids, and if these are the horrible monsters from your old stories, I don't know if we'll be able to beat them if things get bad."

"We?" Velcia asked, looking up at her cousin.

"Of course!" Denerre said with a smile. "We're a team right? If you have to do this, for whatever reason, I'll help you out. It doesn't seem right to me to make you have to do something like this all on your own."

"Oh, thank you so much, Denerre," Velcia beamed.

"So where do we start then?" Denerre asked, rolling a potion bottle between his hands again.

"Well, everyone is at the coliseum, so maybe we can start there and look for anyone that looks out of place?" Velcia suggested.

Denerre nodded. "Makes sense to me. How are we going to know, though? There are people from all over the world there, and I've seen plenty of weirdos who don't seem like they belong."

"That's okay; it's a start. My Gran says that I will know if someone is from another world — my heart will tell me."

"Uh, okay then," Denerre said. "What will our hearts tell us, then? I can't imagine it."

"Well, uh..." Velcia pondered. "I don't think it's quite the same for you. I think only I can do it."

Denerre huffed playfully. "What? Am I not sensitive enough or what?" he teased.

Velcia mulled over her words for a few seconds. "It's hard to explain. My mom's side of the family isn't from this world, either… So from a cosmic perspective, I don't belong here. My Gran says that because of that and my magic, my heart can recognize other hearts like mine. I think that's why she thinks I'm the only one who can figure out what's going on."

"I forgot about that. Well, I mean, I didn't forget but it's easy to… not remember?" Denerre said, a bit confused. "I guess all those times you tried to explain it before I never really understood what you meant, and whenever I think about it I always just figured you mean you were from somewhere far away. But you really actually mean a whole different world altogether, don't you?"

Velcia nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry I confused you. My Gran always told me I shouldn't tell anybody about all that, except Papa of course. Gran says that it's the sort of knowledge that can destroy a world's order. You're my best friend though, so I just had to tell you.

Denerre smiled. "Thanks, Vel. Wow, though… a whole different world. What was it like?"

"I don't know, I was born here," Velcia said, chuckling at his enthusiasm.

Denerre put his hand on his chin ponderously. "But… what? Okay, you're going to have to explain this a little more some time."

Velcia laughed. "Okay, I promise. I've got to finish up these potions for Papa though, and you know I'm no good at multitasking."

"That's okay, I'll head down to the coliseum and start looking around for people who stand out. Don't worry, I won't get near any of them — I'll just make a list of people for, uh, your heart to investigate," Denerre said.

"That would be really helpful, thank you! I should be done right around dinner with any luck. Do you want to meet out front after the evening recession is over?"

"Sure, that'll give me plenty of time to look around and fill up my belly," Denerre said.

"Thanks, Denerre. Oh, and if you have time, would you check with the coliseum staff and see if Philoctetes is there? She said he used to be a top training coach and she heard he's got a new apprentice who might be entered this year."

"Oh yeah, no problem," Denerre said.

Denerre left after a quick goodbye, and Velcia worked quickly to finish making the new potions for her father. After hours of careful work and organization of the completed potions, she ran upstairs into the house to gather her things to go meet her cousin.

She picked up her backpack and made sure her travel potions were in it, as well as some money so she could pick up some food along the way. She glanced up at the wall where the Divine Rose sat, mulling over whether to bring it along or not. She closed her eyes, thinking again about the creature, and grabbed the weapon off the wall and fastened it to a travel sling. She put the sling over her shoulder, positioning the old weapon carefully on her back before putting her backpack on over it.

Satisfied that she was now ready to go, she locked up the shop and made her way over to the coliseum rather uneventfully, aside from a quick stop for a morsel she could eat on the way. When she finally reached the coliseum she could see Denerre sitting on the base of one of the pillars, and made her way over to him.

"I'm sorry if I'm late," she said as she walked up.

"I wouldn't have minded if you were a little later," Denerre chuckled. "My feet are killing me from all this walking around."

Velcia clambered up onto the pillar beside him and pulled her unfinished morsel out of her backpack. "Well, if you would like to rest some more I will finish my dinner."

Denerre leaned his back against the pillar and closed his eyes. "I've seen a few weird people around today we can talk to, but there's actually not a whole lot of them."

"Thanks, Denerre," Velcia said between bites. "Did you find out if Philoctetes is here?"

"Yup, he is," Denerre confirmed. "He's got one pupil this year. The lady I talked to said it's going to be tough to get to talk to him, apparently he's been a bit of a recluse the last several years. Nobody's seen him for a long time, and then he shows up recently with a brand new student. I guess the kid was a bit of a troublemaker for a while, but Philoctetes is turning him around."

Velcia wiped her hands off on a napkin. "I wonder how Gran thinks Philoctetes can help against Heartless."

Denerre shrugged. "Who knows? But hey, I also got the names of the people I think we should check out from that same lady. They're both competing in the coliseum, so it might be hard to get to talk to them. One of the guys is named Zack, and the other one is called Terra."

"Okay," Velcia said, hopping down off the pillar carefully. "I guess we will see who we find first."

The two walked around for a while, browsing through the walkways above each of the arenas, checking to see if anyone they were looking for was inside competing. Eventually, Denerre stopped at one and pointed down.

"There, that guy. That's Terra." he said.

Velcia looked down into the arena, watching as Terra skillfully battled the monsters within with an impressive display of both swordsmanship and magic.

"You're right," she told Denerre. "He doesn't seem like he's from around here. His magic style is interesting; he's very powerful but it seems unrefined to me."

They watched in silence for a few seconds before Denerre spoke up. "Man, I hope I can be that good of a swordsman someday, though. What do you think? Is he the one we are looking for?"

"He might be," Velcia admitted. "I can't really tell from this far away. Maybe we can catch him after his rounds are finished?"

"Sounds good to me. We can try and find that Zack guy in the meantime," Denerre said. "Actually, I just remembered that there is a schedule of who is competing and when their rounds start out front, we should check that out."

Velcia agreed, and the two made their way back out to the main entrance, and found the schedule. As Denerre read it, Velcia looked back out and scanned her eyes across the front of the building and watched the people who were milling around.

"It doesn't look like Zack has any matches for a while," Denerre said. "It looks like he's just signed up, actually. I'll see if I can find out where Terra's next match will be if he wins his current bracket."

Velcia nodded but kept looking around, wondering if she could find her father's potion cart. A running figure caught her attention, a young boy around her age with dirty blonde hair running off towards the city.

"Denerre!" Velcia said, grabbing his arm and pointing at the boy. "Who's that? Is that Zack?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him before," Denerre said, starting to walk the same direction the boy was going. "But if I had, he'd have been on my list!"

Velcia and Denerre both began trying to follow the boy, quickly walking after him. In the distance they could hear monsters screeching and the sounds of battle. They began to run, and as they rounded the corner, they saw the young boy accompanied by another lad, this one with orange hair and wearing a white toga.

Both the young men ahead of them were just finishing off the monsters by the time Velcia and her cousin came upon them, and the last creature was finished off by yet another young man jumping into the fray.

"That guy is Zack," Denerre told Velcia, pointing at the mostly recently-arrived lad. "I wonder who the other two are?"

Velcia looked at them as they began to talk to each other, suddenly accompanied by a tiny but gruff Satyr.

"I don't know who they are, but the blonde one… I feel like we need to talk to him," Velcia said. "Those monsters they were fighting had the same aura as the creature I saw last night, and that boy knew they were here."

Denerre looked over at him. "Do you think he brought them here?"

Velcia shook her head. "No, I don't think so. But he seems like he knows what they are, and that seems like a good start."

"Well, it looks like they're all heading their separate ways now," Denerre noted.

Velcia nodded. "Let's see if he will talk to us!"

The two quickly ran after him, eventually catching up to the boy as he wandered the street checking out the food.

"Um, excuse me," Velcia said as they caught up to him.

The boy turned around and looked at them. "Who, me?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," Velcia panted, catching her breath. "Um, I wanted to ask you about those monsters back there."

The boy looked at both of them. "Okay, sure. What do you want to know?" he asked sincerely.

Velcia stood up. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Velcia," she said, then motioned towards her cousin, "and this is my cousin Denerre."

Denerre held out his hand. "Hi, good to meet you."

The boy shook Denerre's hand. "I'm Ventus. It's good to meet you, too."

Velcia smiled. "I'm sorry to bother you, but… I ran into one of those monsters last night, and have been trying to figure out why they are here. You seemed like you were familiar with them, and so I thought maybe I would see what you knew?" Velcia said, quickly and nervously.

Ventus frowned. "Unversed. I don't know what they're doing here, but I've been seeing them everywhere I go."

Velcia and Denerre looked at each other, then back at Ventus. Velcia spoke up, "Unversed? So they aren't Heartless, then... You've seen them in other places, too? What do they want?"

Ventus rubbed the back of his head. "You know, I'm not sure what they want. I've been to quite a few worlds the last few days trying to find my friends, and these monsters have been everywhere. All I know is that they're creatures of darkness."

Velcia frowned. "A dead end…" she sighed.

Ventus crossed his arms. "Why are you so interested in them, anyways?"

"Well, I've never seen monsters like that here before, but it seemed a lot like a monster my Gran told me about from a long time ago. They were creatures of darkness that would appear in worlds and cause all sorts of problems. I'm trying to find out why they are here," Velcia explained.

"Well, I don't know about any of that," Ventus said, rubbing the back of his head again. "But, tell you what: If I do find out anything else about them, I'll come back here and let you know, okay?"

Velcia smiled. "That would be great, thank you!"

Ventus nodded. "Sure thing!"

Velcia turned and looked at Denerre. "We should probably head back now, huh?"

Denerre looked up at the sky. "Yeah, I think that other guy's match should be over soon. We should go see if we can catch him."

The two turned to Ventus, and Velcia spoke up again. "Well, we need to get back to the coliseum now. Thank you for talking to us."

"Of course!" Ventus said with a big smile. "It's always good to make new friends!"

Velcia smiled. "Yes, it is! Be safe on your journey!"

Ventus laughed. "Thanks! You, too!"

Velcia and Denerre turned and made their way back to the coliseum, and after a couple minutes Velcia spoke up. "You didn't say anything the whole time we were talking to Ventus. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know," Denerre said. "It just seems weird to me that he would be so familiar with those monsters but not know anything about them. He acted so casually about them, you know? It just struck me the wrong way I guess. You don't think he has anything to do with them?"

Velcia shook her head slowly. "I don't know for sure, but I don't think he's behind it. My Gran was right about me being able to feel somebody else's heart… He definitely wasn't from around here, but I didn't sense any darkness in him at all."

Denerre shrugged. "I guess it's not him, then. If those monsters are creatures of darkness, I guess it doesn't make any sense for them to be in cahoots with someone who has no darkness at all."

Velcia nodded. "I agree. Let's see what we think of Terra."

Once the two made it back, they returned to the arena where they had seen Terra earlier to find that he had already left, and the next competitor's rounds were underway.

"Drat," Denerre muttered. "I guess we missed him. You want to look around a bit and see if we can find him?"

Velcia considered it for a moment. "No, let's see if we can find him tomorrow. From what we saw earlier, it's probably a safe bet that he will be back tomorrow. I think I should try to find Philoctetes."

"Okay, that sounds good," Denerre said. "The lady with the white hair at the admissions counter should know where Philoctetes is. While you look for him, I'll go ask around and see if I can find out for sure if Terra or Zack will be back tomorrow and what time. Hopefully we'll have better luck then."

"In that case, after I talk to Philoctetes, I will probably see if I can find my papa so we can travel home together… if he doesn't have to stay late again tonight. Do you want to meet up here again after lunch tomorrow?"

"Sure, that sounds good. I'll see you later then, Vel!"

Velcia gave her cousin a quick hug. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks so much for helping out."

Denerre grinned from ear to ear. "Are you kidding? This is fun!"

Velcia smiled graciously. "Well, I'm glad you think so. It kind of stresses me out."

Denerre sobered up a bit. "Sorry..."

"No, it's okay," Velcia reassured him. "I should probably be having fun with it, too. It's just put a lot on my mind is all."

Denerre nodded. "Yeah, I understand. Maybe talking with your dad will help out."

Velcia's expression warmed up considerably. "I'm sure it will. Papa always knows just what to do."

"Okay," Denerre laughed. "For reals this time, I'll see you later!"

"Oh yes, I will see you tomorrow!" Velcia laughed back.

Velcia turned away and went to the admissions counter. There she found the lady with the white hair, who very helpfully told her that Philoctetes was training his student in one of the western arenas. Velcia thanked her, and made her way over.

When Velcia entered the empty arena, she immediately recognized the orange haired boy and the Satyr she'd seen earlier that day. They were the only two in the arena, and the Satyr seemed to be having the boy crushing barrels.

She walked up to the two, unnoticed until she spoke up. "Excuse me, are you Philoctetes?" she asked.

The Satyr jumped in surprise and quickly turned around. "Who wants to know?"

"Um, my name is Velcia. I was told I would find Philoctetes here."

"Ah, great, another wanna-be-hero. Yeah, that's me, but call me Phil. Look, kid, I got my hands full already with this guy. I don't have time to train anyone else."

Velcia shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm not here to be trained. My Gran told me I should find you."

"What? Your Gran?" Phil eyed her up and down curiously. "Heeeey, you don't mean Acantha do you?"

"Yes!" Velcia said excitedly. "That's my Gran!"

"Huh, imagine that," Phil said. "Acantha's granddaughter."

Velcia looked at Phil for a second. "How do you know my Gran?" she asked.

"Ah, that's a long story," Phil said with a grunt. "Let's just say she helped me out a long time ago and I owe her a favor. I'm guessing that's what you're here about, huh?"

"I wouldn't know about that," Velcia said softly. "I've been seeing some strange monsters around since yesterday, and my Gran and I are both concerned about it. Gran thinks someone with bad intentions must have brought them here and asked me to find out who it is. She said if I could find whoever is responsible for the monsters, you'd be able to find someone to deal with them."

Phil nodded, stroking his beard. "I see, I see. So, did you find them yet?"

"No, I haven't," Velcia admitted. "But my cousin and I have a few people we'd like to talk to tomorrow, and I thought that it might be better to talk to you sooner rather than later."

Phil nodded. "Yeah, that's not a bad plan. Alright, you tell me when you find the bad guy and me and Herc will go after them and see what's up."

Velcia looked over at the orange-haired kid, who was still dutifully crushing barrels. "That's Hercules?" she asked.

Phil looked back at him. "Yeah, kid ain't much to look at yet, I'll give you that much, but he can go the distance. Don't worry about him."

"Thank you very much, Phil," Velcia said. "I should get going now, it's getting late."

"Alright, well thanks for stoppin' by," Phil said. "And tell your Gran this makes us even, huh?"

"Okay," Velcia chuckled. "I will."

"Thanks," Phil said, before turning around and shouting gruffly, "Hey, what is this? You slackin' off?! These barrels aren't going to crush themselves, kid!"

Velcia walked slowly back out of the coliseum, taking the longer path along the awnings above the arenas and looking at all the competitors. Most of them she recognized from previous tournaments, but there were plenty of new faces as well. Each and every arena was packed and crowded with an excited audience, and Velcia found her spirits feeling lifted by the festivities. Before long, she found herself back outside the coliseum, and she took a moment to stretch and yawn before scanning the large courtyard looking for her father's potion cart.

The potion cart was parked over near a cart that made gyros, and as Velcia walked over the smell of the tasty food caught her stomach's attention. Hephestus, who had been talking to the gyro cart owner, saw her coming and waved. "Hi, Velcia! How was your day?"

Velcia smiled, running up to give him a hug. "It was busy, Papa, but I'm doing good. I visited Gran this morning, and then made plenty of extra potions for you to sell tomorrow. Then, me and Denerre spent the evening around the coliseum." She glanced over at the gyro salesman, who was idly reorganizing the products in his cart. "I'll tell you about that later, though," she said.

"I'm looking forward to hearing about it. What are you going to do now?" he asked.

"Well, I'm all done with my plans for the day, so I thought I would come see if you needed any help." She glanced over at the gyros again, and her stomach growled.

"This guy makes really good gyros," Hephestus said with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. "Would you like one?"

"Oh, yes!" Velcia chimed, "I would love one!"

Hephestus bought Velcia a gyro, and talked to her a bit more as she ate. "There should be one more recession between now and the end of the coliseum rounds tonight; I'll probably head back home after that. Once the rounds are all done for the day, people are too eager to get home to want to buy anything. I didn't make many sales at all last night at the end there."

Velcia nodded, and after she finished her bite she spoke up. "The final recession is in twenty minutes, right? I will stay and help you out here, and we can go back home together," she offered.

Hephestus's face beamed a big grin. "Thanks a bunch, Vel. It'll be nice to get to spend some time with you. We've both been so busy the last couple days."

The two of them talked for a while until the recession, which was nicely busy. Afterward, Hephestus and Velcia packed up the cart and started the journey back home, Velcia filling in her father on the events of the day and her conversation with Gran. Hephestus listened eagerly, especially curious about her encounter with Ventus.

"Papa," Velcia spoke softly, her eyes downcast, "to be honest, I'm kind of overwhelmed by all of this. Gran said I was the only one who could do it, and that I have a responsibility to find out why these creatures are here. I've been trying my best but the only lead I had all day was Ventus, who has apparently seen these creatures all over and fights them all the time… and even he doesn't know what they are or why they're here. If he can't figure it out, how am I supposed to?"

Hephestus shook his head. "I'm not sure myself, dear. I think Gran is putting too much weight on you with all of this."

Velcia looked at him quizzically. "You think so? I'm just so worried that I won't be able to figure it out. What if something bad happens? It will be all my fault."

Hephestus stopped rolling the cart for a second and turned to his daughter. "No, it won't. Listen Velcia, the world is filled with all sorts of men and beasts, and each one of them is accountable for their own actions. Whoever or whatever is behind these creatures is the one who is responsible for whatever evil comes of their actions — not you or anybody else. You are working very hard to do what you can, and that's all that you can do. Whatever comes of this, bad or good, you mustn't blame yourself."

Velcia sighed and hugged her father. "It's just such a heavy burden, Papa."

Hephestus put his hand on her head reassuringly. "It's not your burden to carry, my dear. Your ancestor may have had the responsibility to fight off the darkness, but that doesn't make it yours. She was chosen specifically to wield a powerful weapon in a time of great need — but once that darkness passed, so, too, did her responsibility. There will always be darkness and evil in the world, and some of these you might be called to battle, but not all of them. I'm proud of you for taking on this challenge and doing what you can to help the fight. Just realize that this is not your fight alone."

Velcia hugged him a bit tighter. "Okay, I will try," she said, sniffling a bit as she stepped back.

Hephestus looked at her for a moment contemplatively, and they resumed walking. "I know you will, but please do be careful dear. If you do find something sinister behind these creatures, it may be powerful. I just hope that it turns out to be nothing."

Velcia nodded. "I wasn't planning on trying to fight… whoever is behind it, especially not after I saw that big group of them earlier that Ventus battled. I know I'm not strong enough to do that on my own. Gran had me find her old friend Philoctetes." Her face lit up a bit. "He's training Hercules! He's Zeus's son, remember? Gran told me that everything our Ancestor saw of the future revolved around Hercules. It's amazing to me to have been able to talk to the guy who trained him!"

Hephestus chuckled. "This seeing the future stuff is always a bit weird to think about, huh? Anyway, why did Gran want you to find Philoteries?"

"Philoctetes," Velcia laughed. "But he says to just call him Phil. Gran said that if I can find out who is behind the creatures, Phil will know who to send to take care of them. I bet it's Hercules!"

Hephestus nodded. "Probably a safe bet! I'm just glad your Gran didn't try convincing you that you had to jump in and take on hordes of evil monsters all on your own. Sometimes I think she forgets that your Keyblade used to be much more powerful than it is now."

"She's very proud of our heritage," Velcia said knowingly. "I guess she does get carried away sometimes."

Now they had arrived back at their house, and the two quickly worked to get the cart put back into storage and reloaded with potions for the next day. After that, they once again cast a barrier spell over the house and headed to bed.

As Velcia lay in bed in the dark, her mind was racing as she processed the events of the long day she had, and each time she tried to clear her mind new thoughts would jump in, trying to plan for the next day. After a while she sat up, looking around the dark room for a few moments before grabbing an empty cup off the bedside table and rolling in between her palms like she'd seen Denerre do earlier that day. "This is actually kind of relaxing," she mused.

She sat there in the dark for a while, listening to the silence as she rolled the cup. As she sat there, a soft noise slowly caught her attention. It was sort of a soft shuffling noise, like an animal crawling along the wall. Velcia stopped rolling and listened to the sound, trying to figure out what it was, when suddenly the shuffling sound was replaced with a sort of eerie scratching. The hairs on Velcia's neck stood on end, and her fingers felt cold as she began to worry.

"It's just a cat, probably," she said, trying to calm herself back down. She listened again, and sure enough the scratching continued. A few moments later, the sound doubled, as if another creature had begun to scratch as well. Velcia stood up, her stomach queasy, and grabbed her Keyblade off the ground. Carefully, she tiptoed out of her room and made her way to her dad's room near the front of the house.

"Papa," she whispered. "Papa, are you awake? Do you hear that?"

There was a bit of shuffling in the room, and a couple seconds later her father opened the door. He whispered to her. "You mean that scratching noise? Yes, I do. I thought it was a cat at first."

"Me, too, but then it sounded like there was another one."

"Yes, that's what I heard, too. I'm going to go downstairs and take a look, perhaps a couple cats fell asleep in our garbage again and are trapped in the barrier."

Velcia breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh yes, that's probably it. I remember when Sergio's cat, Lil' Hades, got trapped in the dumpster that one night."

Hephestus shook his head in disbelief. "I still can't believe he named it that."

Hephestus slowly walked down the stairs, Velcia following close behind him, telling herself that once she saw the cats with her own eyes she would be able to sleep much more easily. As Hephestus neared the bottom of the stairs he stopped abruptly, staring at the storefront.

Velcia, standing behind him, could not see what he was looking at, but she could feel her heart sinking. "What is it, Papa?"

Hephestus did not answer, instead trying to motion her back upstairs. Velcia leaned down to take a peek past him. Through the window she could see, not one, but three sets of glowing, red eyes, the protective barrier softly flashing as the dark creatures clawed at it. She gasped and fell down, staring in disbelief. "There's more of them," she whispered.

"There are," Hephestus noted. "But I don't think they can make it through the barrier."

Velcia said nothing, her eyes glued to the creatures. "Papa, do you feel it? This dark, evil feeling. It's even stronger than when I saw the one last night."

"I do, but probably not as strongly as you. You were right, they are… very disturbing, aren't they?" They sat there a few minutes as Hephestus tried to think of what to do. "They really don't seem like they're strong enough to break through that barrier. Still, it won't do to have them hanging around all night, will it?"

Velcia shook her head. "No Papa."

"Go get your Divine Rose. How about you and me cast a powerful light spell and see if we can't scare them off? Perhaps they're just drawn to the magic in the potions-they don't seem very smart at all."

"I have it with me already," Velcia said, lifting the Keyblade up to show her father.

"Ah, prepared as always," Hephestus said, his pride shining through the worried tone in his voice. "Come on, let's go stand by the window."

The two slowly and carefully crept towards the window, keeping an eye on the creatures to make sure they weren't up to anything. The creatures kept half-heartedly clawing at the barrier, but paid Velcia and Hephestus no mind.

Velcia gripped her Keyblade tightly, holding it straight out in front of her, her father reaching his arm over and putting his hand over hers, and counting softly. "1… 2… 3!"

A huge burst of bright, blinding light shone intensely from the blade, and the creatures outside screeched and howled. The light became a soft glow, and by the time it had disappeared the creatures were nowhere to be seen.

Velcia breathed a big sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness, Papa, those terrible things are gone now."

Hephestus smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. "Yep, you scared them away. Head on up to bed now, won't you? I'll stay down here a little longer to keep watch and make sure they don't return."

Velcia nodded and gave him a huge hug. "Okay, thank you, Papa. Don't stay up too long."

Hephestus laughed. "I won't. Don't worry about me."

Velcia headed back upstairs and Hephestus sat for a few moments watching the window, though nothing came. He walked quietly to the back of the shop, and grabbed a potion out from a drawer behind the counter. Very deliberately, he walked back up to the front of the store, gave one final look out the window, and headed upstairs. He peeked into Velcia's room and saw she was fast asleep, and smiled.

He then turned back around, and drank the potion he'd grabbed. After he'd finished it, he held his arm out and stared until he could no longer see it, smiling to himself at the still-exciting novelty of his invisibility potion.

Once he was sure it had taken effect completely, he went back downstairs and stood near the window to continue his vigilante watch, wondering if the creatures would return if they thought he was gone. As he stood there he suddenly began to feel cold, and slowly recognized it as the dark feeling he and Velcia had sensed when the creatures were near. Watching ever more intently now he scanned the street looking for the tell-tale dark eyes.

Suddenly, the barrier began to glow as if it were being touched, and Hephestus jumped back in surprise before staring intently at the spot. On the barrier he could see the dark outline of a hand, and as his eyes adjusted he realized that there was a person standing there, dressed completely in strange black armor like he had never seen. He stepped back, staring intently at the barrier and praying that it would hold.

The dark figure did not seem to be fighting against the barrier, though, and after a few long seconds removed their hand from it, stepping back and looking up and down the entire house before disappearing back into the night.

Hephestus sat down, heart racing as he tried to make sense of what it was; his confusion and worry grew as he realized he no longer felt the dark presence. Determined now to keep a careful watch, he sat up straight and stayed up the rest of the night.

When Velcia woke up the next morning and went downstairs, she was surprised to find that her father had fallen asleep in a chair by the window. She smiled to herself, then looked outside. The sun was much higher in the sky than she'd been expecting, and it was already late morning. Turning around, she gently touched Hephestus's shoulder.

"Papa, wake up," she said.

Hephestus startled a bit and opened his eyes, waking up slowly. "Oh dear, I didn't mean to fall asleep," he said, yawning a couple times. "What time is it?"

"It's only a couple hours until noon," Velcia told him. "I'm sorry, Papa, I slept in by accident."

Hephestus shook his head a bit and put his hand on his forehead. "No, that's okay. I think I'm going to go upstairs and sleep a bit more, actually. I'll bring the cart to the coliseum this afternoon."

"Okay. Is there anything I can do to help you out?" Velcia asked.

"No, don't worry about it. You go ahead and do what you'd like to today," Hephestus said as he stood up, stretching his back a bit to loosen the knots from sleeping in the chair.

"Thanks, Papa. I hope you rest well."

"I'll surely try. Be careful out there today, okay? Keep an eye out for those creatures and… please don't try to talk to anyone not from around here unless there are a lot of other people around, okay?" he asked, not sure whether or not he wanted to mention the strange dark figure the night before.

"Oh, okay, Papa. The coliseum is very crowded, so that shouldn't be too hard," Velcia said enthusiastically.

Hephestus yawned again and went upstairs and Velcia followed along to grab her stuff. She gathered it up quickly and left the house, heading towards the coliseum. On the way, she saw Denerre heading towards her.

"Hey Vel!" he greeted.

"Oh, hello, Denerre! What are you doing coming this way?" she inquired.

He turned and started walking along with her. "Well, you hadn't shown up yet, and I wasn't sure if something came up and you weren't going to be able to make it."

Velcia blushed. "I'm sorry, I overslept. Some of those Unversed creatures were scratching at the barrier around my house last night and I had a hard time sleeping."

Denerre's eyes widened. "What, even more of them? I can't figure these things out. The only ones I've seen were the ones Ventus and Hercules destroyed yesterday, and I haven't heard talk like anyone else has seen them. I wonder why they've been bothering you?"

Velcia frowned. "I don't know either. Maybe they know we've been looking into them?" She paused for a moment. "If that were the case, they might try bothering Gran as well. I hope she's okay… I should go check on her."

Denerre nodded. "Of course. I'll go with you."

"Thanks. What time is Terra's match over? I want to make sure we don't miss the chance to talk to him," Velcia asked as they changed course, heading towards Gran's house.

"Actually, that was the other reason I wanted to come find you. You missed it already," Denerre told her.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry!" Velcia said forlornly.

"No, it's okay. I don't think he's behind it, either. I was there and watched his match, and it was really strange."

"What was so weird about it?" Velcia inquired.

"Well, get this. It was actually Terra versus Zack, but Zack was fighting really strangely for a while. Terra beat him, but then Zack got back up and started attacking him again. But this is where it got really strange: Zack was apologizing to Terra the whole time, and while that was happening, some guy covered in blue fire showed up. It was hard to hear what they were saying, but I think the fiery dude was Hades… and I think he was controlling Zack!"

Velcia stopped in her tracks. "Hades was controlling one of the coliseum competitors? I've never heard of him doing that!"

"I don't think I have either," Denerre said. "It doesn't exactly seem fair to me."

"Well, I want you to tell Gran what you saw Hades do today. She'll know whether or not it has anything to do with the Unversed," Velcia said.

Once the two arrived at Gran's, Velcia gave it a quick once over as they walked up to the door. "Well, nothing looks out of place to me," she said brightly. "I bet those horrible creatures haven't been here at all."

She knocked on the door, and Gran answered in short order, forcing a smile when she saw them both together. "Oh, welcome. What brings you by today?" she asked, motioning for them to come inside.

"I wanted to check and make sure you were okay," Velcia explained. "Last night a couple of those dark creatures were clawing at the magic barrier Papa and I put around the house, and yesterday we saw some of them in the city attacking a boy from another world. I wondered if maybe they were going after people from other worlds, so I thought I should come make sure you were okay."

Gran waved her hand dismissively. "Oh no, no, there's been nothing of the sort here. I've been perfectly safe," she assured, before leaning forward with a bit of an excited gleam in her eye. "But what's this about a boy from another world? You must tell me all about it."

"Oh, his name was Ventus. I don't know much about him to be honest, except that he has been traveling to all sorts of different worlds. He says he's seen these creatures everywhere he's gone, and he fights them too… but Ventus also said that he doesn't really know what they are or what they are after," Velcia explained.

"Except that they are called Unversed," Denerre added.

"Right, so I don't think these are the same thing as the Heartless were," Velcia said.

Gran looked over at Denerre, a bit expressionless. "Oh, have you been helping Velcia? What all has she told you?"

Denerre looked at Velcia, who shrugged. "Uh, yeah, I've been trying to. She's told me everything I guess, but I don't really understand it all."

Gran frowned a bit. "Well, you aren't supposed to know about any of it anyways, so it only makes sense that you wouldn't understand it."

Velcia bit her lip, hurt and upset by her grandmother's tone. "The coliseum is way too crowded and busy for me to be able to do it all by myself, Gran. Denerre has been a big help identifying people who aren't from around here," she explained, trying to pacify her grandmother.

Gran shook her head. "Well, I appreciate that. But I've warned you before of the dangers of telling anyone the true nature of the world. It has to be kept a secret, you never know who might use that information the wrong way and destabilize the proper order."

Velcia looked at Gran, a bit shocked. "Gran, Denerre is my cousin. I can trust him!"

Denerre crossed his arms. "Yeah, it's not like I'm going to go evil all of a sudden and try to take the place over."

Gran sighed. "Once this kind of information gets out, who knows where it will end up. It's bad enough your mother told Hephestus about it. Why, I never even told your grandfather!" she sat there for a second, looking into space before noticing the agitation on the kid's faces. "I'm sorry, kids. I shouldn't have said anything."

Velcia looked down at the ground, without saying anything. An awkward silence fell over the room.

"Uh, hey, Vel, didn't you want to ask your Gran about Hades?" Denerre said, trying to change the subject.

Gran's eyebrows raised, her curiosity piqued once again. "What about him? Is he behind the monsters?"

Velcia sighed, still upset over what her grandmother had said, but did her best to cheer back up before explaining. "Denerre was watching a fight between two people from another world who had entered into the coliseum, but it turns out one of them was being controlled by Hades."

Gran leaned forward a bit. "Are you sure?" she pried. "How do you know it was him?"

"Well, I saw a man covered in blue fire appear in the arena. Zack, the guy being controlled, made it pretty clear that's what was happening. He was fighting Terra against his will," Denerre told her.

Gran got up, and walked over to a chest in the corner of the room. Taking a key out from her pocket, she unlocked the chest and picked up a couple dusty books. She brushed the dust off a few of them before she found the one she was looking for, then returned to her seat.

"Okay, let me check this," she said, flipping through the pages. "I don't think our Ancestor's journal mentions anything about Hades controlling any of the contestants. It's a serious breach of the World Order, in any case. It very well could be his fault—" she tutted. "Would never have happened if there were any Keyblade Wielders around.

Denerre spoke up. "Yeah, but we've also seen a lot of other people who don't belong here. Ventus, Terra, Zack, and who knows how many else are here that we haven't seen. Any one of them could have broken this World Order and brought Unversed here, right?"

Gran shook her head again, this time sighing as well. "I know you can't understand what's going on here, Denerre, and I don't blame you. If there are Heartless here, no matter what they're calling them now, and Hades is intentionally breaking the World Order at the same time, there is no way it's just a coincidence. Hades has to be the one behind it."

"What about the monsters Ventus saw on all the other worlds?" Denerre bit back, frustrated. "Is Hades behind those too?"

Gran frowned a bit. "Who's to say there really were Heartless anywhere else? Perhaps this Ventus is working with Hades and just made that up to throw you off the trail."

Denerre started to say something, but stopped himself and sat back. Velcia looked at him dejectedly, then spoke up. "I agree with Denerre, Gran. Ventus was a good person, I didn't sense any darkness in him at all, and he was fighting the Unversed without a second thought."

"Now, Velcia," Gran said, somewhat tersely, "you can't just believe everything you hear. This is one of the reasons it's so important for you to do this on your own. People from this world are blinded to matters outside of this world's natural order, and if you aren't mindful of that you can be easily misled away from the true nature of those around you."

Velcia leaned back a bit, stunned as she tried to figure out just what her grandmother was saying. Denerre stood up, and quickly but quietly left the house.

"Gran, I'm not telling you this just because that's what Denerre thinks. My heart told me Ventus was good!" Velcia told her. "I don't know why you're being so dismissive of him. Denerre has been so helpful to me and I couldn't have done any of this without him."

Gran took a deep breath, and put her hand on Velcia's shoulder before speaking quietly. "Calm down, dear. I know you think he's helping you, but he's not. It is not possible for someone like him to understand the true nature of the universe, no matter how much they think they do."

Velcia's eyes teared up a bit, she felt belittled and betrayed. "He understands more than you think, Gran. He's not holding me back."

"Isn't he, though?" Gran asked softly. "Have you found who's behind this? Do you have any leads at all? Everything is pointing to Hades being responsible, but Denerre is so stuck trying to wrap his head around understanding that there are other worlds that he can't see what is right in front of him, and he's blinding you to it, too."

Velcia stepped back, crying softly. "No, Gran, I think Denerre is right. I don't know why you are being so mean to him — he isn't stupid! I need to go find him." She stood up, and started walking to the door despite her grandmother's objections.

"No, Velcia! It's too dangerous. This darkness corrupts the people of these worlds, and they must be kept away from it!" Gran said, trying to follow Velcia but falling behind. "If you bring him along he will fall into darkness, or get you killed."

Velcia turned around, angry. "Denerre is stronger than you think, and he is the only one who can help me. I can't do this on my own. Papa is busy keeping the shop going so that we can have a place to live, and you won't leave your house!"

"Your Papa!" Gran said. "You would have dragged him into this, too?"

Velcia looked at her grandma, completely bewildered and confused. Her Grandmother had often made passive-aggressive comments about others, but she couldn't remember her being this forceful or cruel about it. She backed up a few steps, staring, before turning around wordlessly and running out of the house.

Not far down the path from Gran's house, Velcia saw Denerre leaning up against a tree. She ran over to him, happy that he hadn't gone too far.

"Denerre! Are you okay? I'm so sorry for the way Gran was acting. I've never seen her act like that before," Velcia said sadly.

Denerre chuckled a bit. "Vel, my dad's one of the head scholars at the university and I've been trying to learn weaponsmithing and combat. My dad loves studying and science so much he thinks the only reason a person wouldn't love it is if they aren't smart enough to get it, and then I go and show interest in 'simple' professions… I'm used to being treated like I can't understand; it'll take a lot more than what your Gran said to upset me," he said reassuringly. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm trying to be," Velcia said with a heavy heart. "I've been really proud of us and thought she would be, too. But when we were talking to her she almost seemed like she didn't care at all about us — like it was just another one of her stories, except… we made it disappointing. And then she would talk so badly about you like you weren't even there!"

"I know," Denerre sighed. "That was why I left. It seemed like every time I said something, she got more upset… I thought it would probably be good to leave before I got mad and gave her a reason to get angry. I hope she doesn't chew you out more over it later."

"I hope not. I kind of yelled at her before I left. She's probably not too happy about that… And I told her she was wrong about you, by the way," Velcia said.

Denerre laughed, causing Velcia to startle back a bit. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"You yelled at her?" Denerre said. "It's hard, but kinda funny, trying to imagine that. Raise your voice, sure—!"

Velcia crossed her arms. "I can yell at people if I need to!" she reprimanded. "Although… I guess it was more just raising my voice." Her eyes slowly widened as she thought about it again. "Oh, no… I think you're right! I don't think I could yell at anybody!"

Denerre laughed again. "That's not a bad thing, Vel. You're just not that sort of person. You ready to head off?"

Velcia breathed a couple good, deep breaths. "I think I am. Gran's probably just stressed out about everything going on. I bet once we figure all this out she'll apologize and everything will be okay."

Denerre raised an eyebrow. "If you say so, sure. You know her better than I do. Uh… for the record, even if she doesn't, I'll be fine, alright?"

Velcia nodded. "Okay."

The two started walking back down the path towards town. From where they were they could see most of the city, and could barely make out the huge, golden statues across the front of the coliseum, reflecting the brilliant light coming down around Mount Olympus.

"So, back to the Coliseum then?" Velcia suggested. "I've been thinking that we should try and talk to Zack to see if he knows anything about what's going on. And if Gran is right, and Hades does have something to do with it, maybe Zack will know."

Denerre smiled. "Yeah, I think that's a good plan. We might find other people while we're there, too."

"Oh, also, let's get some food on the way," Velcia said. "I'm starving."

"By Zeus's beard, is that ever a good plan," Denerre said, putting his hand on his stomach. "All this walking sure makes a lad hungry!"

By the time the two had finished eating and had made it to the coliseum, it was late in the afternoon. They began walking around the coliseum looking for Zack, checking everywhere they were allowed to go. Eventually, they wandered into one of the smaller arenas on the outskirts, which was currently unused. On the other end of the room, they saw Zack sitting on a bench and looking up at the sky.

Velcia and Denerre walked over to him, and when he saw them he waved slowly. "Uh, hey, guys," he said.

Velcia sat down on a nearby bench. "Hi, my name is Velcia and this is my cousin Denerre. You're Zack, right?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm not really sure what that means anymore though."

"What do you mean?" Velcia asked.

"Ah, I've just been trying too hard to be a real hero and prove myself, but I just don't think I have what it takes. I came here ready to make something of myself, but I ended up getting played like a fool. Hercules, Ventus, Terra… they're the real heroes. I got tricked by Hades and made a mistake, and now that's all people know about me. Even that new girl Aqua, who just showed up, already seems like she's a better hero than me."

Velcia and Denerre looked at each other with excitement when Zack mentioned Aqua, both happy to have another lead. Velcia turned back to Zack. "Well, it's not too late to change that. You made it pretty far through the coliseum by yourself before you got tricked, right?"

"Yeah," Denerre said. "I saw some of your matches — you were pretty good. I bet if you come back for the next tournament and do your best, nobody will even remember all that business with Hades."

Zack looked up with a smile. "You think so?"

Velcia nodded. "Yeah, I do!"

Zack stood up quickly, swinging his arms back and forth. "Oh man, I bet you're right! Maybe if I do well enough, Aqua will date me!"

Velcia and Denerre exchanged glances.

"One step at a time, Zack," Denerre said.

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking," Velcia said, "when you were around Hades, you didn't notice any weird little dark creatures, did you? Like the ones you helped Ventus and Hercules fight yesterday?"

Zack put his hand on his chin and stared ponderously into the sky. "Hm… Nope! I don't think I did. Actually, I haven't seen those guys in a while."

"Well, thanks anyways," Velcia said.

"Ah man, I'm just so pumped about the next tournament!" Zack said abruptly. "Sorry guys, I'm going to go train!"

Without waiting for a reply, Zack ran out of the arena and out of sight.

"Well he was an interesting character," Denerre noted. "Very, uh… excitable?"

Velcia laughed. "Yes, that's one way to put it!"

"So… if he didn't see any Unversed around Hades, what do you think the chances are that they are working with him?"

"I don't know. I wish we could have asked him more questions," Velcia said.

"Yeah, like, why would Hades want to control him anyway? And, if Hades does have some sort of alliance with the Unversed, why would he be trying to control random coliseum entrants?" Denerre pondered aloud.

"I'm not sure either," Velcia said. "Do you want to go see when Aqua's matches are so we can try to talk to her?"

"Good idea, let's go back out front."

Velcia followed Denerre back out to the listing.

"Okay, it looks like she's going right now actually," Denerre said. "Assuming she hasn't been knocked out already."

"Oh, do you want to go watch?" Velcia asked. "When her rounds are over, maybe we can sneak down to the back rooms and talk to her before she leaves."

"Sneak into the back rooms?" Denerre asked, amused. "I don't know how we'll do that. Those are pretty tight corridors with a lot of security."

"Oh, that's right." Velcia said, thinking for a moment. A big smile crept onto her face. "I bet my Papa could get us back there, though."

"Oh, ho-ho" Denerre chuckled, returning her smile. "That would be so awesome. Is he here today?"

"He should be, yes" Velcia said. "Let's go over to the other side of the courtyard and see if he's with the other carts."

The two practically ran over, and almost immediately spotted Hephestus's potion cart. Hephestus smiled when he saw them approaching.

"Hey there, you two! How are you today?"

"We're okay, Papa! We've been walking all over today. We went and talked with Gran, then came back here to investigate a bit, and then found you!" Velcia said.

"Oh, you visited Gran, huh?" Hephestus said, trying to hide his surprise. "How'd that go?"

Denerre looked away silently, and Velcia answered. "It was weird, Papa. Gran wasn't very nice to Denerre at all, and told me I shouldn't let him help me."

Hephestus nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like Gran. I'm sorry if she was rude to you two."

"Oh, no, really? Has Gran said things like that to you?" Velcia asked, surprised.

Hephestus bit his lip. "Well, your Gran and I never really saw eye-to-eye, and she was never happy that your mother told me about the whole World Order thing," Hephestus said calmly. "Just one of her quirks, I suppose. I'm sorry Denerre had to deal with it, though."

Denerre shook his head. "No worries, Uncle. I've got a tougher hide than that."

"So, what brings you two over here?" Hephestus asked, intentionally changing the subject.

"Oh, yes!" Velcia exclaimed. "We found someone who is from a different world that we would like to talk to, but she's going through some rounds in the league right now. I was hoping we could sneak back behind into the competitor's rooms when she's done to try to talk to her before we leave, but we don't think we can get back there because of all of the guards."

Hephestus's eye twinkled. "When is she going to be done?"

"We're not sure, it depends on how many rounds she goes. If she's anything like the other visitors lately, though, she'll probably be a while," Denerre said. "We were just going to go watch and wait for her to finish."

Hephestus looked over his cart, then out at the crowd. "You know, I think I'll go with you two. Business has been pretty good the last couple days and I haven't watched any of the actual tournament matches yet. How about we all go watch together, and then I'll get us back to talk to this lady."

"Oh, how exciting! Thank you, Papa!" Velcia said, delighted.

Hephestus and Velcia closed down and locked the sides of the potion cart, and the three made their way into the coliseum. It did not take them long to find Aqua's arena, which was so packed that they had to stand near the back to watch. Velcia and her father watched Aqua's battles in amazement, particularly mesmerized and impressed by her talent with powerful magic spells.

"Wow, she might be even better than Terra!" Denerre said as they watched.

"She's definitely more refined with her magic, that's for sure," Velcia said. "Actually, their fighting styles seem pretty similar. I wonder if they know each other?"

"I don't know, but it would be awesome to see them fight each other," Denerre said.

They watched the rest of Aqua's tournament rounds intently, thoroughly enjoying watching her masterful use of both magic and her sword. The time flew by, and before they knew it, Aqua had completed the final round of the tier.

The announcer began talking, informing everyone of Aqua's rankings and scores, and Hephestus put his hand on Velcia and Denerre's shoulders. "Alright, let's go down now."

The three quickly left, going down an empty staircase into one of the side arenas.

"Okay, through that door is another small arena," Hephestus said, handing them each a potion bottle. "On the other end of that arena is an entrance to the competitor's hall… We'll wait until we're actually there to drink these, okay?"

Velcia and Denerre nodded, and the trio walked into the next arena. As they entered through, Velcia slowed down, bothered by something. Hephestus noticed her, and he, too, slowed as well. "That's… weird," he said.

Denerre turned around. "What? What's wrong?"

Velcia looked at her dad. "Papa, you feel it too?"

Hephestus hunched down a bit, grabbing a small pair of metal-lined gloves from his pockets. "I do. Look over there."

Velcia looked where he was pointing, and saw several sets of glowing red eyes appear.

"Uh, oh," Denerre said. "Do you think we can make it to the door if we run?"

Hephestus looked around. "No, they're all around us. If we run, they might chase us. Get your weapons ready, you two. We're going to try to walk over to the door slowly — we might have just stumbled into their hiding place and woke them up. If we move slowly, they might not attack us."

"Papa, I don't think they're going to let us go," Velcia said, pointing towards the doorway, which was now concealed behind a thick black shadow.

Suddenly, a blast of cold fell over the arena, accompanied by a roar that chilled them all to the bone. They looked towards the sound, and all three of them gasped.

"What in the world is that?" Denerre asked, pointing at the large, icy monster that towered out of the large arena next to them.

"Oh, no," Velcia said. "I think that's the Ice Titan. A terrible monster from a long time ago."

"I don't think we can fight that thing," Denerre said.

"We have problems here to focus on at the moment, Denerre," Hephestus said, bringing their attention back to the Unversed.

The Unversed crackled out a strange, almost irritated noise, and slowly started moving towards them, the creature's numbers at least a solid dozen.

"Okay Vel," Denerre said. "Let's just do what we did with those Dire Wolves. If you can keep them away, I'll do my best to get the ones that get close."

Hephestus nodded. "Good plan. I'll try to keep them distracted and cover you if you need help."

The ring of Unversed crept in closer around them, one of them coming out a little ahead of the pack. It made a terrible sound that was both a hiss and a screech, but, as it started to lunge forward, Hephestus shot his hand out, lightning cracking out from his gloved fingertips and disintegrating the creature.

The rest of the Unversed wasted no time in their attack, the majority of them leaping towards Hephestus as Velcia began shooting out fire spells from her Divine Rose. She and Denerre worked together smoothly, trading places and keeping the Unversed at bay. Hephestus kept shooting lightning, but was now also casting an illusionary spell that made it seem as though there were three of him.

Once Velcia and Denerre had taken out the Unversed that had been focused on them, they turned towards the rest.

Velcia held out her Keyblade, a red glow building around it. "Papa, Denerre, stand back!"

Denerre jumped back behind Velcia as the real Hephestus appeared on her other side. The Unversed all turned to look at Velcia, and as they did, she unleashed a huge wall of fire that slowly burned its way to the other end of the arena, incinerating most of the Unversed in its path.

Velcia fell down to the ground, exhausted, and Denerre and Hephestus quickly finished off the remaining, weakened Unversed.

The Ice Titan roared, and Hephestus turned to look at it. It appeared to be fighting someone in the arena below it, out of sight. Concluding that, at least for the moment, they were safe, Hephestus walked over to Velcia and helped her back up to her feet. "Goodness, Vel! I didn't know you could cast that yet."

Velcia nodded with a tired smile. "I've been practicing hard, Papa, but I wasn't sure I could either."

Denerre's eyes were wide as platters. "That was amazing, Vel."

Suddenly, a deep, unfamiliar voice came from one of the darkened doorways. "Indeed, it was."

The three turned to look, and an old man came walking out. He was entirely bald except for a small white beard, and his outfit was a sleek black material with white stripes sparsely decorating it.

"Your weapon is interesting, young lady. A Keyblade, is it not?" he said.

Velcia looked at him feeling a little unsettled. "Uh, yes, it is."

"Let me see it," the man demanded, walking towards her.

Hephestus pointed over towards the Ice Titan, still not far away. "This isn't exactly the time for this. She can show it to you later when things are safer."

"No, I think this is precisely the right time," the man laughed derisively, and continued forward. "Come now, show it to me."

Velcia stepped back, holding her blade behind her. "No, Papa is right. This is not the time."

Hephestus stepped forward. "You need to leave us now."

The four of them stood there for a few seconds, Velcia's eyes moving quickly between the dark stranger and the huge monster still rampaging around the adjacent arena. "Come on, Papa, we should go."

"I agree," Hephestus replied. He turned around to leave, but the dark man quickly reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck. "You aren't going anywhere," he said, a burst of frost suddenly filling the air and freezing Hephestus solid.

"Papa!" Velcia cried out, her and Denerre both quickly holding their weapons up defensively. "What did you do to him?" she screamed.

"Ah, yes," the man said, staring at her weapon. "A Keyblade indeed."

Denerre grit his teeth. "What are you going on about, you wicked old man? Leave us alone."

The man stepped forward, holding his hand out to the side and summoning a long ornate weapon in a flash of light. "Well then, little hero. Let's see what you've got."

Velcia stepped back tenderly, heart racing. Denerre raised his sword, pointing it at their would-be assailant. "Stop ignoring our questions!" he demanded.

The man looked over at Denerre with a dark grin on his face, wordlessly shooting out a burst of cold that quickly froze Denerre, as well.

"Denerre!" Velcia shouted, stepping forward and launching a fire blast at the dark man, who held up his own weapon which seemed to absorb it. The old man quickly lunged towards Velcia, swinging his blade in a wide but slow arc. Velcia tried to hold up her Keyblade to block the blow, but the force of the strike sent it flying out of her hands and clanging across the marble floor of the arena as she fell to ground.

The man stepped forward again, swinging at Velcia but just missing as she scuttled back, trying to reach the lost blade.

The man stopped his approach. "Interesting. It seems your blade may still be asleep. Shall we see if we can awaken it?"

Velcia quickly scrambled to her feet, and began casting smaller fire blasts towards him. He easily blocked them, but before he had a chance to make any move to retaliate the two were interrupted by the loud roar of the enraged Ice Titan. Both of them turned to look at it, and a young woman could be seen leaping deftly all around the large beast as she attacked it.

The man looked at the woman for a few seconds, and dissipated his blade before standing upright once again. "Vanitas, come to me," he commanded grimly.

Out of the shadows appeared a dark figure wearing a black suit that completely hid his features. As he approached, Velcia was overwhelmed by the darkness of his aura, recognizing it instantly as the same darkness she'd felt in the Unversed. Stepping back slowly, she snuck over towards her father while the dark man seemed to be distracted.

The man, ignoring Velcia, turned to Vanitas. "I must not yet be discovered by Aqua, it is too soon. I need you to finish my work here," he said, motioning towards Velcia.

Vanitas laughed. "Alright, seems easy enough. What do you want?"

"She does indeed wield a Keyblade as you reported, but I do not sense any power in it. I believe it is a dead blade, but we need to make sure that it is not simply sleeping. You know how to awaken a blade of light, do you not?"

"Yes," Vanitas said sinisterly, "yes I do."

"Good," said the man, a black portal of darkness appearing behind him. "If she is one of the warriors of light, leave her alive. She may be instrumental to me later if our current plans fail. If she is not…" The man did not finish his sentence, instead stepping backwards into the portal and disappearing.

Vanitas walked slowly over towards Velcia, who was on her knees leaning over her father, casting a warming spell to try and thaw him out as she cried softly.

"Come on now, hero," Vanitas laughed mockingly. "Show me what you're made of."

Velcia looked up at him, eyes angry beneath her tears. "I don't know what either of you are talking about. Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Vanitas laughed coldly. "That's the wrong question. The real question is, what are you going to do about it?"

Before Velcia could reply, Vanitas summoned a large ball of darkness that he fired at the still-frozen Denerre, shattering the boy into pieces.

"No!" Velcia screamed. "Why would you do that?"

Vanitas kicked the ancient keyblade towards her. "You and that popsicle are next if you don't stop me. Come on, be the hero you've been pretending to be."

Velcia reached out slowly and grabbed the Divine Rose off the ground, hands trembling from both adrenaline and the cold. She shakily pointed it towards Vanitas, a magical glow around the blade. "Stay away from us," she said, her eyes pleading.

Vanitas stepped forward deliberately, trying to goad her. Velcia closed her eyes and fired off a lightning spell, but when she opened her eyes Vanitas was gone.

"Too slow," he said from behind her before kicking her to the ground.

She quickly turned herself around, firing off a rapid salvo of fire and lightning bolts trying to catch the fleet-footed Vanitas in vain as he laughed mockingly.

"You've got to do better than that!" he taunted.

Velcia gritted her teeth and redoubled her effort, putting her all into every shot. Despite this, Vanitas evaded or blocked everything she sent his way. Finally, out of breath, she fell to the ground in exhaustion.

Vanitas warped himself over to the still-frozen Hephestus, standing him upright and freezing him once again in an even thicker layer of ice. Holding up the frozen Hephestus in one hand, he summoned a keyblade of his own and raised high in the air with his other. "This is your last chance, runt. A single blow from my sword will shatter him to pieces."

Velcia stood back up, holding her blade in her still-shaking hands. Vanitas began drawing his arm back for a swing, and she ran forward as fast as she could to try and stop him. Jumping at the last second, she swung the Divine Rose and blocked Vanitas's blow, though the force of the impact sent her once again to the ground as her weapon flew away.

Vanitas laughed, then looked at her for a second before laughing again even harder. "That's it? That's really all you've got? It looks like my master's suspicions were correct. You're no hero," he said, smashing his blade into Hephestus, shattering him to pieces. "You're just a fake."

Velcia rolled onto her back, crying, too exhausted and out of breath to say anything even if she wanted to. But she didn't want to; there was nothing to say.

Vanitas circled around her, prowling like a wild animal until he reached her battered, old Keyblade, where he once again kicked it over to her. Velcia turned and looked at it, and closed her eyes.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Vanitas yelled, shooting a burst of dark lightning at her. Velcia recoiled from the shock, trying to yell with a voice she no longer had, and slowly sat up on her legs, slumping over and loosely grasping her Keyblade.

Vanitas growled, and started to walk towards her when suddenly a shout from behind him caught his attention. "Hey, get away from her!"

Vanitas turned to face the voice. Aqua stood on the other end of the arena, holding her weapon ready to fight.

"What are you doing here, you monster?" she asked, "Must you really follow me everywhere I go?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm not here because of you," he snarled, hunching forward into a fighting stance.

Aqua scowled at him. "Come on, then."

Suddenly, Vanitas was hit from behind by a blast of red magic. He stumbled forward, disoriented, and turned to see Velcia trying to stand up. "You?!" he muttered. "What did you do? I feel…" Vanitas stumbled a bit more, trying to steady himself. He let out an angry roar, and quickly disappeared into a dark portal.

Aqua quickly ran over to Velcia. "Are you alright?"

Velcia shook her head, eyes wide open. "No..." she croaked out.

"I am Master Aqua. I'm going to help you, alright?"

Velcia nodded, and looked back over towards her father and cousin. "They're… Vanitas… he..." she whispered.

Aqua looked over at them, and grimaced. "I'm so sorry this happened," she said, "I had no idea he was here…" she began casting a healing spell on Velcia.

A small crowd started to gather around the outskirts of the arena, not daring to venture in but curious all the same. Soon, Phil and Hercules barged their way through the crowd and ran over. Phil surveyed the scene. "Oh... oh, kid. The Ice Titan got your friend?"

Velcia shook her head. "N-no," she stammered.

Aqua hushed her softly, then turned to Phil. "It was a masked boy named Vanitas. He's been going from world to world causing trouble. I don't know why he would do this, though."

"He was… trying to see if I was a hero," Velcia slowly said. "His master told him that he thought I might be a Keyblade Wielder."

Aqua looked a bit surprised. "His master?"

Velcia turned to look at her father and Denerre, and began sobbing. "Why did they have to die? What did I do wrong?"

"Hey, hey, kid," Phil said in a surprisingly gentle tone of voice. "This isn't your fault, alright? You did the best you could."

Aqua nodded. "Vanitas has been a blight on many worlds I've visited, and his evil seems without aim. What he did here today was not your fault."

"You managed to hit him with something at least," Hercules spoke up, trying to be positive. "What was that?"

Velcia sniffed. "I… I inverted a healing spell. I was so worried that he would..." she cut off, eyes welling up again.

"Wait, you what?" Hercules said, Phil shooting him a glare that clearly said 'not now' without words.

"Okay, that's enough of that! We gotta get this poor kid outta here before those lookie-loos make a spectacle out of her," Phil said, motioning towards the growing crowd.

Hercules gently picked her up. "I'll take you back home, okay? You just have to tell me the way."

Velcia shook her head. "What about Papa, and Denerre? I… I can't just leave them."

Phil looked over the scene, crossing his arms. "I'll get someone here to… help take care of them. I'll come by later so we can work things out, alright? You gotta get out of here quick though."

Velcia said nothing, closing her eyes.

"Uh, so where are we going?" Hercules asked.

"The potion shop by Herme's Fountain." Velcia whispered.

Hercules said nothing more, and quickly made his way out of the coliseum, most of the halls empty after people had run away from the Ice Titan's wrath. It was not long before they made it to the potion shop. Hercules forced the locked door open, and went upstairs to put Velcia down on the couch. Velcia hadn't said a word the entire time, but as he lay her down she spoke up a bit.

"Thank you."

Hercules gave a small, warm smile. "Of course. Let me know if I can do anything to help."

Velcia shook her head. "I don't know what to do. Papa and Denerre are both gone… I'm all alone now."

"Me and Phil will help you out," Hercules said. "Don't worry, we'll make sure you're okay."

The corner of Velcia's mouth turned into a small hint of a smile. "Thank you."

***Authors's Note: Well, that's the end of Velcia's story from 10 years ago. I guess this makes two guest spots from me in a row that end on a solemn note - I definitely didn't plan that. I don't know if or when I'll do another guest spot, but with any luck it'll be a bit of a brighter tale.

I hope that this story gave some good insight for you into Velcia's history and perhaps give you some glimpses of the mage she's become since then. I hadn't originally expected she would end up joining Hinata on her adventure, but after writing this story Curry and I both wound up really liking her. I hope you all like her, too, and have fun seeing how Hinata, Sam, and Velcia team up to stop the terrible Thaanix.

Thanks for reading my little guest story! Next time, Curry is back to writing in full force as Hinata's adventures continue in Eos! Wait, is that a spoiler? :o (YES IT IS! :O -Curry) ***