Cloud watched the boy Sora jump for joy as he and his friends, a duck and a…dog, triumphed over the Phil Cup he had been watching him for a while now, and he knew how strong that boy was. Sora was definitely stronger than Cloud had expected a 14-year-old to be, but he would still be no match for him.

Cloud looked down at his clawed hand. He had the power of darkness within him, he had become the very thing he hated so, but still, it would be enough to crush that insignificant boy. It was the only way to find the one thing he cared for most. Cloud clenched his hand into a tight fist, imagining Sora and his friends to be in his palm, being crushed like insects. The shadows in his eyes grew darker and thickened as Cloud's ruthless determination increased. He watched Sora walk out of the Coliseum.

"I'm going to destroy you," he muttered. "I won't let anything stand in my way."

"Is that so, Cloudie boy?" said a seductive voice behind him. Cloud turned his head to its direction.

A beautiful Grecian woman in a purple dress was watching him, her hands on her hips. She smiled smugly at him.

"Wow," she said, walking up next to him. "Pretty dark talking that way about a 14-year-old kid, don't you think?" Cloud rolled his eyes and resumed his gaze.

"What do you want, Meg?" he said robotically. He leaned back against the wall, his gaze on the ground. Meg just smiled.

"Hades called for you," she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "He says you should start training for tomorrow." Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay," he muttered, getting off the wall. He headed out the Coliseum. Meg smiled to herself as he passed her.

"Hey Cloud!" she called out, turning around to him. He stopped. "Don't pull a muscle or anything, okay?"

Cloud stood still for a moment, but then walked off without a word or a single glance back. Meg watched him leave, her smile slowly fading. She hugged herself tightly and the cold wind started to blow.

"Be careful," she muttered softly, shaking her head. "I still don't know why you're going along with him. Can't you see he's just using you, Cloud?" Meg let out a sigh and looked over at the arena.

"But still," she murmured, smiling gently. "To sacrifice your own fate and destiny for the woman you love, that's just downright honorable." She sighed again.

"I wish I could find a man like that."

Cloud trained hard that night in the Underworld, he worked and worked until he sweated blood, any signs of compassion or sympathy were banished from his darkened eyes. He was ready to kill.

Slowly that day, the sun began to rise. Cloud made his way back into the Coliseum, past a gleeful Hades and a worried Meg.

"What will happen if he doesn't win?" Meg asked, watching his figure disappear from the room. Hades sat down, a chair forming immediately in a puff of smoke. He leaned back and smiled.

"Relax," he said to Meg. "If he doesn't win this time, I'll release the dogs on him. But what are the chances of that, huh? He's a killing machine." Hades laughed.

"What did you do to him, anyway?" Meg said angrily. "You took more than his soul, didn't you?"

Hades just closed his eyes and smiled. "What makes you think that?"

"Because you took my soul!" she replied hotly, a little irritated that he even asked. "I can still feel and know when to stop, he can't. What did you do to Cloud?"

Well, that is all I did to him," Hades said carelessly. "I took his soul, and that was it. It's not my fault he was so dark to begin with." He held out a small vile on a necklace chain, examining it carefully. It was glowing brightly, but flickered a little. Hades raised an eyebrow at it.

"That's weird," he muttered to himself. Meg looked over at him.

"What's weird?"

Hades turned to her, a slightly confused look on his face. "This thing is supposed to be glowing a little brighter than this." He looked back at the vile. "Hmm, it's like I'm missing a part of his soul." Meg sighed and put her hands on her hips. She glared at him.

"I though you said you drained him completely."

"I did!" he yelled, his eyebrows blazing red, but returned to blue as he sat back, thinking.

"But…" Hades stroked his chin. "That must mean that a part of his soul must be out there somewhere." He grinned and shrugged. "Ah well." He tossed the vile over his shoulder, to which Meg frantically jumped, landing flat on her stomach, and caught it just in time before it smashed onto the ground. "That doesn't matter. He's a goner either way."

Meg glared up at him, still holding the fragile soul in her hands. She sighed; smashing it in the Underworld would free Cloud's soul from the vile, but it would immediately be sucked into hell where she knew Cloud would never be able to get it back.

"Whatever happens now, Cloud," she muttered silently as she watched the vile. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

The Pegasus Cup was finally beginning. Cloud's strength and agility was instantly put to the test as he entered the arena. Heartless monsters spared no time and immediately attacked, but Cloud was more than ready.

He began fighting without even putting in the effort. The Heartless were just so weak compared to him, but then again it might have been because of the new power he possessed. It was dark, and he knew it was wrong, but he didn't care. It was the only way.

Cloud sliced and slashed his way through the Pegasus Cup tournament, his darkened eyes never showing the slightest spark of mercy.

Finally, it was the moment when Sora and his friends were up against him. Cloud watched his opponent for a moment. The look of sheer determination was sparkling in his eyes; he wanted to win this too. He was the wielder of the Keyblade, but the sword looked nothing more than a toy to Cloud.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, but Cloud took it to his advantage and attacked first. He charged into the group of three, his sword pointed at them. He wanted to hurt them, he wanted to kill them. All the rage and darkness he had faced over the years, he wanted to show the strength he had gained from the hell he had gone through.

Blow after blow, he finally brought Sora down. The boy fell backwards onto the hard ground, but still tried to sit up, only to meet the point of Cloud's Buster Sword at his neck. Sora tried to back away slightly as he looked up at the dark monster Cloud had become.

He stood there, staring down at the boy, suddenly not knowing what to do. Voices were ringing in his head, one was Hades'.

Come on, you idiot, his voice said, a little threatening. Kill him. Kill him and you'll be able to go up against Hercules. Then you'll be able to see your girlfriend again. Just do it. Kill the little punk. Kill him now!

But there was another voice, a gentle, sweet female voice, full of kindness and light.

Please, Cloud, the voice begged. Don't do this. He's only a child. Don't turn into the monster you once hated so.

The shadows in Cloud's eyes cleared a bit, and he was able to see more clearly.

He could see the look in Sora's eyes; he was scared and he didn't want to die, at least not yet. He was searching for something too.

Suddenly, a huge monster crashed through the Coliseum wall, into the arena. Cloud turned to see the huge three-headed dog Cerberus, at once knowing Hades was behind it all. The monster immediately charged towards Cloud as Sora and his friends quickly jumped out of the way.

Cloud tried to hit one of the heads with his sword, but one of the other heads quickly grabbed the sword from his hand and threw it onto the ground behind him. Cloud's eyes widened and he slowly backed away. He then saw Hades appear at one of the Coliseum entrances. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Oh, right," Hades yelled out at Cloud. "There was one other rule I forgot: Accidents happen!" At that, he disappeared again. Cerberus' three heads then started snapping their ferocious fangs into Cloud's body, ripping his flesh and breaking his bones. The pain was more than Cloud could bear. He tried to push them off him, but it didn't stop until it knew Cloud was injured enough.

With one last snap of its jaw, Cloud collapsed onto the ground. Sora looked over at his him, knowing fully well that Cerberus would be after him, Donald and Goofy next. The monster's head turned to them, snarling at the smell of fresh meat. It charged towards them, its jaws wide open. Sora backed away, but before anything could happen, Hercules jumped in front of them, grabbing Cerberus' jaws before they dove into him. Phil came running out, clearly shocked.

"Herc!"

Hercules held onto the monster's jaws tightly. "Phil, get them out of here!"

Cloud opened his eyes slightly, just enough to see what was happening. He saw Sora and his friends run out of the Coliseum with the goat man, while Hercules stayed back to fight Cerberus.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to breathe. He tried to move, but every muscle and bone was hurting so much, and the horrific pain finally forcing him to black out.

"Hey, buddy. You okay?"

Cloud slowly opened his eyes. Two blurred figures were standing over him. He blinked a couple of time again, his vision clearing. Hercules was kneeling next to him, looking concerned, in his hands an elixir bottle. Phil was next to him, his arms crossed. Cloud sat up slowly, rubbing his head. It still hurt.

"Uh…" he groaned in pain. "What happened?" He looked down at his arms and legs. They were all healed. He glanced over at Hercules, who smiled at him.

"You were beaten up by Cerberus," he said. "It got pretty bad. I had to use three elixirs on you." He chuckled. "You're okay now, right?" Cloud nodded. He looked back into the arena.

"Where is it now?"

"Sora and his pals are takin' care of 'em now," Phil grunted. He glared at Cloud. "Why did it go for you all the sudden, anyway?" He shrugged and looked back into the arena.

Cloud sighed and rubbed his eyes. The shadows had cleared a little, but they were still there. He stood up.

"Hey," Hercules exclaimed. "Where are you going now?" Cloud started walking out the Coliseum.

"Nowhere," he muttered monotonically. He walked outside. The sun was gleaming brightly; the only reason probably was because so many Heartless were destroyed during the tournament. Cloud subsided on the stairs at the Coliseum Gates. He sat down and let out a deep sigh. He folded his hands together and rested his elbows on his lap. What was he doing?

He was fighting, working for the devil. A monster; that was what he had become. The only thing left in his heart was the pining to be back with Aerith. Cloud sighed.

He didn't want to find her like this, but there was no turning back anymore. His soul was taken away, living the path to his heart open for the darkness inside him to flow through. He was ready to kill a boy, and he would have if it wasn't for that voice. The voice of reason, the voice of his soul, his light. He knew it was stupid to think so, but he knew that the voice was Aerith. Cloud looked up at the blue sky.

He missed her so much; he couldn't bring himself not to listen to her voice. He sighed again.

Sora came out from the Coliseum, his friends not far behind him. Cloud's gaze turned to him as Sora approached him.

"Hey," he said. "Are you alright?" Cloud looked down, a little ashamed.

"Yeah," he muttered softly. Physically, yes. Mentally and emotional, no.

"So why did you go along with him, anyway?" Sora asked. It was clear to see that he knew about Hades, so Cloud didn't have to pretend. He put his head down and rested it on his hands, closing his eyes.

"I'm looking for someone," he murmured. "Hades promised to help." He slowly stood up. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness…but it backfired." He looked up at the sky again. "I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light."

He wasn't so sure if he could find it anymore. He had fallen in so deep, and there wasn't anything to hold onto. It was like a horrible nightmare that he just couldn't wake up from. He needed his light.

Sora watched him for a moment, and then smiled.

"You'll find it," he said confidently. Cloud turned and looked over at him.

"I'm searching too," he said, patting his chest.

"For… your light?" Cloud asked. Sora nodded reassuringly.

Cloud watched him for a moment. The boy seemed so determined; maybe he really was stronger than Cloud thought.

He nodded slightly and reached into his pocket, taking out the item that would be able to teach Sora the skill of Sonic Blade. He deserves this, I guess. He walked over to him.

"Don't lose sight of it," he told him firmly, handing it to him. Cloud then turned around and headed back into the Coliseum.

"How 'bout a rematch sometime?" Sora called out from behind him. Cloud stopped. "Fair and square. No dark powers involved!" Cloud turned his head to look back at him. He flicked a hair out of his face.

"I think I'll pass…" he said simply, and without another glance, he walked away.

As soon as he stepped into the shadows, they swallowed him back into the Underworld. He landed on his back on the hard cold floor. Meg let out a surprised gasp and ran over to him.

"Cloud, are you okay?" she asked, helping him up. Cloud rubbed his eyes again; they were stinging.

"Uh… yeah, I guess," he muttered. Meg put his arm around her shoulders and led him into Hades' Lair.

"Come on," she said angrily. "We're gonna talk with Hades about that little… accident of his."

"As you wish," a woman's voice from inside said. "Fight to your heart's content." Cloud frowned slightly. He had heard that voice somewhere before, but he couldn't remember from where. When they reached Hades' room, he was alone.

Meg pushed Cloud's arm off and marched towards Hades, clearly upset.

"What was the big idea on releasing Cerberus on Cloud?!" she said hotly. Hades just grinned at her.

"Whoa. Easy there, my little nutmeg," he said, half-laughing. "I did what I said I'd do if he didn't win." He pushed Meg to the side and walked towards Cloud.

"It is so weird, you know," he said, putting an arm over Cloud's shoulders. "Because, you know, if you don't have a soul anymore, you automatically lose all your sense of compassion and every moral fiber in your body." He took Cloud by the arms and laughed. "But somehow, you weren't able to kill that little pain in the neck." He laughed again, but then it quickly turned into piping-hot rage.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU?!" he screamed, red flames blazing like crazy. He pushed Cloud onto the ground, towering over him. "YOU BLEW IT!"

"Hey!" Meg yelled from behind him. "You know why, okay?! Lay off him!"

Hades closed his eyes and took a deep breath, once again returning to his blue flame.

"Fine," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "It was probably my fault. Maybe you could have killed the kid if I didn't release the dogs on you so early, but, meh." He shrugged. "Stuff happens." He looked back down at Cloud. "Okay, fine. You're forgiven." Meg ran over and helped him up. Cloud glared at Hades.

"What's going to happen now?" he asked, the shadows once again returning to his eyes. It was as if the more he thought about getting what he wanted no matter what, the more darkness flowed into him. Meg saw this, and cast a concerned look. Hades sat down in his chair.

"Well, lucky for you," he told Cloud. "You can still compete in the Hades Cup next week with this other guy who signed up." He leaned forward, grinning evilly. "Now, if you win that, then you're definitely ready to take on Hercules by yourself." Cloud didn't hesitate, and nodded.

"I'll do it." Meg gasped in shock at his decision.

"But, Cloud," she whispered. "He saved your—"

"This time," Cloud said firmly. "I really won't let anything stand in my way."