Chapter 11: Starting Over (no video this time, sorry...)

Memo: Yes! been waiting for this. Things start really getting more interesting and fun from here! :)

Nexus' PoV

I swear, if I know Sora all of my life, I will never need an alarm clock. His voice is loud and piercing enough to wake anyone up, even me. Well, anyone except Goofy...

Anyway, I remember hearing his voice, and I trembled awake, a piece of paper stuck to my face. We were already in the next world, so apparently my break had been longer than I expected, since I had written some more of my story and taken a short nap.

"Come on, Nexus!" Sora shouted for the trillionth time, pounding on the bedroom door.

"In a minute!" I snapped, pushing myself up.

Suddenly a strange feeling overwhelmed me. I felt weak. Was this journey really taking a toll on my health?

As I walked into the main room, pondering this, I could've sworn I heard a familiar giggle in the back of my mind.

.........

(Still Nexus' PoV)

"Well, this doesn't fit my first impression at all," I murmured, stepping into what was supposed to be Olympus Coliseum. It was not like I expected: not sunny, not happy, but dark and gloomy. In fact, I'd say it was the exact opposite of what I'd imagined.

"Are ya sure this is the coliseum?" Goofy asked Sora, who was looking pretty confused.

"It's that way!" Donald shouted suddenly, pointing up a set of stairs. At the top there was a blinding, radiant light that seemed much more welcoming than the gloom down there.

"Oh..." Sora murmured. "Guess we were a little off."

It can't be this easy, I thought. I wish I hadn't thought that.

Suddenly, we heard a woman scream, and we turned to see said woman being chased by dog-like Heartless. It was obvious she couldn't outrun them, but then she lowered her chances when she fell to the ground.

"Heartless!" Sora cried, running toward them. The dogs, scared by our unexpected appearance, scampered off. Sora held out a hand to the woman, but she shrugged him off.

"Thanks, but...I'm fine," she muttered, standing. She gave us a funny look. "And you're supposed to be?"

"I'm Sora, she's Nexus, he's Donald, and that's Goofy." Sora named us off quickly. "We came to see how Hercules is doing."

The woman shot us each a funny, disbelieving look.

"You know Wonderboy?" she said. She sounded bored with the world.

"Yeah, 'cause we're heroes, too!" Donald quacked proudly.

"Ya mean, junior heroes, Donald," Goofy said. Donald waved him away. I didn't have a clue what they were talking about, but this girl seemed to understand.

"Looks like we have a friend in common," she said, pleased. "Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg."

"So how's Herc?" Sora asked her.

"Wonderboy? Well, he's duking it out at the Coliseum every day," she replied. "You know, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. He's ready to drop, but he keeps on fighting. Even Wonderboy has his limits, though. These opponents are bad news--special deliveries from Hades himself..."

"Hades!?" Donald wakked. I assumed he was an enemy.

"Right. Lord of the Underworld. I was on my way to see him. Maybe I can get Hades to give Wonderboy a breather. If anything happens to that kid..."

"Gawrsh..." Goofy said. "Sounds like you're more than just friends."

Meg's face flushed crimson as she stammered, "Oh...uh, I mean..."

"We'll go have a little talk with Hades," Sora offered. Why was he always volunteering us to do things?! "I'd hate for anything to happen to you on your way to see him."

"You really want to do that?" Meg looked unsure. "Well, it looks like you know what you're doing. I guess I'll take you up on that offer. But...let's keep this whole chat-with-Hades thing our little secret, okay?"

"Our lips are sealed!" Sora grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward the entrance to the caverns of the Underworld--where we were, apparently. "C'mon!"

"Why do I have to go? I don't even know these people!" I whined, letting him have his fun...for now.

"Wasn't your order to protect me?" Sora teased. I frowned. "What if I get hurt or something?"

"Then I would laugh at you because it would probably be your own damn fault," I answered honestly.

Sora chuckled in response, releasing my arm as we headed further into the Underworld.

"The Organization!" Donald suddenly cried, pointing.

Sure enough, just ahead of us, was a cloaked member running around. Whoever it was, it didn't look like anyone I knew. He wasn't skinny enough to be Axel, but he was skinny enough to not be everyone else I knew.

"Run! Run away!" the member cried as he sprinted straight past us. I still didn't recognize his voice. Who was it?

"Okay...?" Sora mumbled, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

*~*~*

"I'm scared too, Donald," Goofy murmured as the four entered the pathway that led to Hades' chambers. Nexus sighed, shaking her head. Donald was shaking all over, and Goofy really did look afraid. Were she and Sora the only confident ones here?

"Hades, come out!" Sora shouted, his voice echoing all over the place. But Hades didn't appear.

"He must be up there," Nexus decided, pointing to a large room overlooking the area ahead of them.

"Okay, then let's go." Sora led the way, and soon they had reached the entrance to Hades' lair. But something was up.

A man in a fancy red robe, who was holding a giant sword, was trying to fight Hades. None of the four had ever seen him before. He looked like he might be in his forties, what with the small streaks of silver hair intertwining with dark black. Whoever he was, he was obviously losing the fight.

"Get up!" Sora shouted, running in to protect the man.

"What are you doing!?" Nexus hissed from the doorway. "You idiot!"

But soon Donald and Goofy had surpassed her, and she sighed.

"Like I said, it'll be because you're stupid!" she exclaimed, running in to join her companions.

Despite their bravest efforts, they couldn't land a scratch on Hades. Sora's keyblade and Nexus' bullets simply went straight through him.

"Something's wrong!" Donald yelled.

When Sora tried to nod, he suddenly felt light-headed and weak.

"I feel kinda funny..." he mumbled.

"That's right!" Hades exclaimed, amused. "See, that's the thing. In the Underworld, heroes are zeroes--comes with the territory."

Fireballs appeared in his hands, and he began to charge the group again, but the red-robed man stood in his way.

"Go now!" he shouted to Sora.

"But I've gotta talk to Hades!" Sora insisted. Hades plugged his fingers in his ears.

"What was that?" he asked sarcastically, as if he hadn't heard Sora.

Sora, gritting his teeth in anger, tried to run after Hades, but the man--along with Nexus--held him back. Donald and Goofy got the message and sprinted off. Hades shot more fireballs at them.

"We can't fight him here!" the man insisted. "We have to go--now!"

Nexus eventually yanked Sora out of the room before they got toasted. The second the three entered the bridge area again, Sora and Goofy closed the doors. Everyone stopped a moment, catching their breath.

"Is he gone?" Donald asked.

"Don't count on it," the man replied gravely.

"Huh?" Sora grunted, surprised.

As if in response, Hades popped up on their side of the door, smirking.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked.

It didn't take much for the five to think to run away. After all, hadn't the Organization member they saw earlier said the same thing? But Hades made it a bit more difficult than necessary, sending fireballs and Heartless their direction. But they were all experienced, and soon they had safely made it into the inner chambers of the Underworld.

"You're really good," Sora said to the red-robed man through panting. He was collapsed on the ground with Nexus, Donald, and Goofy. "Are you some kind of hero?"

"No, I'm no hero..." the man replied, slowly shaking his head. "I'm just an..."

"Huh?" Sora said.

"Auron." Sora and Goofy exchanged looks. "My name."

"I'm Sora," Sora said, hopping to his feet. Donald jumped on his back.

"Donald." Goofy then jumped on top.

"Goofy."

Sora plopped over, unable to hold all his friends.

"I'm the sane one, Nexus," Nexus said, smiling a little. Auron smiled back.

"It seems we were fated to meet," he said. "Maybe you need a guardian."

"Guardian? That's supposed to be her job," Sora said, jabbing his thumb at Nexus.

As the four started to walk away, heading back toward the entrance, Auron chuckled.

Nexus' PoV

"What?" Donald quacked when we got close to getting out. "It's closed!"

Sure enough, the giant door that had once been open to us was locked.

"Come on, open!" Sora groaned, trying to push the doors open again. Um, could he not see it was obviously locked?!

For once, though, Donald was useful and pointed out the giant lock to Sora, who summoned his keyblade.

"Will that open it?" Auron asked.

"Yeah," Sora replied. "I think so."

As he finally pointed his keyblade at the lock, we heard a roar coming from close behind us.

"Hurry!" Auron growled, pulling out his impressive sword.

Just as Sora unlocked the door, a large, three-headed black dog came bounding in. Auron met it head-on, lodging his sword in its teeth. Well, wouldn't you know...we booked it out of there, leaving Auron to fight for himself. But Sora hesitated.

"Uh..." Donald said, watching Sora as he deliberated between running and fighting. He finally took off after Auron. "Sora wait!"

"Shit!" I exclaimed, pacing. "If he dies, Axel's gonna kill me!" But there was no way I was going to go fight that thing. Not that I could; there was an invisible barrier blocking us from the fight. "C'mon, Sora!"

Surprisingly, the dog wasn't nearly as formidable as it looked. Between himself and Auron, Sora slayed the thing in five minutes flat.

"Come on!" Donald shouted at them while the dog was lying down, breathless. Sora and Auron hustled over to the door.

"You are DEAD!" I shouted at Sora. "Don't you EVER do that again!"

"C'mon, were you actually worried?" Sora laughed. I noticed he was just a bit taller than me now. He was really growing up fast. "I've fought Cerberus at least twice before. I'm surprised it's still around."

I frowned at him, still angry for making me worry.

"Still, that was fun," he said, grinning as we headed to the Underworld Entrance. "Whew..."

"Huh?" Donald turned around, so we did too.

"What happened to Auron?" Goofy asked. Apparently he had vanished while I was scolding the spiky-haired one.

"He can take care of himself," Sora responded nonchalantly. "Let's go find Meg. Then we can try this again."

*~*~*

"Gawrsh, this sure does bring back memories!" Goofy exclaimed as the four entered the Coliseum entrance. Nexus squinted through the daylight. This was definitely more what she was expecting.

Sora nodded, smiling, and led the way to the lobby, when suddenly a familiar face appeared.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" Herc gasped, smiling brightly. "When'd you get here? And who is she?" He asked the latter question rather politely, and Nexus was a little surprised. She determined this must be Hercules.

"Hey, Herc!" Sora said, grinning. "Oh, this is Nexus." Nexus waved once, smiling shyly.

"Hi!" Donald said.

"Howdy there!" Goofy added.

Hercules walked toward Sora, still smiling brightly.

"You on another adventure?" he asked.

"Yeah, trackin' down some friends, wipin' out some Heartless," Sora bragged, obviously trying to sound cool.

Herc seemed to sense, but grinned anyway.

"Junior heroes, always busy!" he said, locking hands with Sora, who nodded.

"You know it!"

The two of them started off toward the foyer, conversing about the past year's events and what not, while the others trailed behind, silently observing.

"So, did you find those friends of yours?" Hercules finally asked when they were all inside the Coliseum lobby area. Meg was sitting there, waiting for them. She looked concerned.

"Still working on it," Sora replied. "When we got here, we ran into Meg--meg-mega trouble, I mean!" Sora shot a sideways glance at Meg; Nexus slapped her hand to her forehead. "So we had to help somebody out. We tried to go teach Hades a thing or two...but the Underworld drains away all our strength. Don't suppose you have any ideas?"

"Well, there is a stone that guards against the Underworld's curse," Hercules suggested. "The gods on Mount Olympus use it whenever they have to go down there."

"Think we could use it?"

"Sure, why not! I'll go get it for you," the hero offered.

"Thanks!" Donald said.

"Real nice of you!" Goofy added.

"But Hades is no pushover, even if you've got the Olympus Stone. And I have a match today, so I can't go with you... Know what you need? Training! Why don't you go talk to Phil?"

Nexus wrinkled her nose. "Training"? Ick. Not what she needed.

"Hey, good idea!" Sora said enthusiastically.

.........

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Phil shouted as Nexus completed the last round in record time. "Girl, you've got guts!"

"Thanks," she said with a smirk, her keyblade disappearing and her gun returning to its holster. Sora shot her a dirty look. "What, jealous? Of me?"

"No," Sora growled, pouting.

"Listen, I gotta take off for a bit," Phil told the angry teen.

"Where to?" he asked, perking up.

"None of your beeswax."

Nexus laughed at Sora's deepening frown as Phil walked away.

"Hey, cheer up," she said, pulling Sora to his feet. "I used two weapons, remember?"

"Yeah..." He sighed through his nose. "Girls just usually don't beat me at stuff."

Nexus chuckled in her throat. She sounded a bit evil.

Suddenly Sora noticed Hercules returning. He trotted over to him.

"Sorry, guys..." Hercules said, frowning. "The Olympus Stone has been stolen."

"What!?" all but Goofy cried. He was the only one calm.

"By who?" he asked.

"We don't know who did it yet," the hero answered. "All we're sure of is that it was a guy in a black-hooded cloak. And he had accomplices--a bunch of creatures in white."

Donald and Goofy exchanged looks, nodding at Sora and Nexus, who nodded back. The same guy from earlier, it seemed, was still lurking around. Nexus still had no idea which member it was, though...

"Someone you know?" Hercules inquired after observing the silent exchange.

"I think so," Sora said with a nod. "Hey, if we can get the Olympus Stone back, can we borrow it for a while?"

"Sure. By the way, you haven't seen Meg around, have you?" They all shook their heads. Meg hadn't been spotted since before training and Herc's absense. "Oh, okay..." He sighed.

"What's wrong, your hero-ness? Feeling under the weather?"

Hades, out of the blue, appeared by Herc, a hand on his shoulder. Hercules ducked out of his grasp quickly.

"You know, I though staying in perfect shape was part of the hero job description...you know what I'm saying?" the villian added, smirking. Nexus shot a look to Sora and he gasped quietly.

"Oh, right..." Sora murmured, then straightened himself up. "Hades, we gotta talk!"

Hades turned to Sora and flicked him to the ground. Nexus, although angry about that, couldn't help but find it amusing.

"I came to share a bit of mildly-interesting news:..." Hades began as Hercules was sneaking up from behind to land a punch. "Seems your dear, sweet little Nutmeg..." Hades then teleported behind Herc. "...went and got herself lost in the Underworld."

"You mean you kidnapped her!" Hercules growled, whirling around.

"Well, maybe... But why get caught up in the details?"

Frowning angrily, Hercules whistled, and soon a bright white flying horse appeared. It neighed eagerly.

I've seen everything now, Nexus thought.

"Uh-uh-uh! You can't leave now, okay?" Hades said quickly as Herc began to mount Pegasus. "You've got a very important match today, against, um... the bloodthirsty Hydra!" Hades crossed his arms, relaxed. "I mean, if you don't stick around, who knows what kind of 'accidents' might happen."

"Yeah, accidents you cause," Sora snapped.

"Like I said: details, who needs 'em?"

"You're just a coward," Hercules declared. The horse whinnied angrily, stamping its feet. Hades shrugged, disappearing in a puff of blue smoke.

"Ah well. Can't all be heroes."

"You know," Nexus said, smirking at where the god had just been, "he's the most interesting villian yet."

"Stop appreciating his evil-ness!" Sora shouted. Nexus grinned.

"Sorry."

Hercules turned to Sora, worried.

"Can you handle this?" he asked his friend.

"You got it! We're heroes!" Donald cried.

"Junior heroes, Donald," Goofy corrected him. Donald shook his head, his feathers obviously ruffled.

"You take care of the Hydra," Sora assured him. "We'll handle the rest."

A bit relieved, Hercules placed his hands on Sora's shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.

"I'm counting on you," he said. Sora nodded, so Hercules turned to his horse and patted its back. "You gotta find Meg!" he told it, and it neighed and flew off.

Nexus' PoV

Again, here we were in the Underworld, where anything could go wrong. And our welcoming present was seeing Phil wiped out on the ground.

"Phil!" Sora cried, sprinting over to the goat-man. We followed close behind.

"Ooh, ohh..." Phil groaned as he pushed himself to his feet.

He's fine, we leave, I wanted to say. But I didn't. I would have to wait to know who the Organization member was.

"What happened?" Sora asked Phil.

"I spotted this strange guy all dressed in black," he replied. "I chased after him, but he turned on me. Next thing I know, I'm seeing stars."

"All dressed in black!?" Donald wakked.

"He's the one who stole the Olympus Stone," Sora determined.

"Where did he run off to?" Goofy asked.

"To the Underworld. He's a bad apple, all right," Phil sighed. "And all I wanted was to find a backup hero. Just in case Herc needed to take a break."

"Heroes, eh? You could've just asked!" Sora exclaimed, smirking proudly.

"You know someone!?" Phil gasped. Sora summoned his keyblade in reply, and Donald whipped out his staff. Phil looked genuinely amused. "Oh, good one..."

.........

"Man..." Sora complained, rolling his arm around. We had been fighting in horrible conditions for a while now, navigating the caverns even more. "This Underworld curse is really getting to me."

"We've got to get that Olympus Stone back fast!" Goofy agreed.

"We're about to," I said, pointing up ahead. Just up the path, the Organization member stood unmoving with his back to us. "We can jump him now if we're quiet--"

But Donald had already bounded after the man, squaking as he normally does. We followed him and arrived to see the man turning around. He jumped, gasping.

"You!" he exclaimed, pointing at--not Sora--me.

"Me?" I gasped, my eyes widening.

"Yeah! I know you!" The guy threw his hood back, revealing a dirty-blonde, well-styled, wanna-be mullet and eyes the same color as my own. "You're Nexus, right?"

"Y-yeah," I stammered, shocked. He knew me? I definitely didn't remember him... "Who are you?"

Well, the poor guy looked pretty insulted.

"You mean, you mean!!" he stuttered. "You mean, you don't remember meeting me? I remember! You pointed your gun at me and said, 'I asked you second. Answer me.' And when I told you my name, you said, 'Hah, wow. Funny name. Hi, I'm Nexus. We could be friends.'"

Sora laughed. "That does sound like something you'd say," he pointed out. I couldn't help but agree.

"You passed out right after that," the man continued. "You were with Axel. Remember?"

"Axel..."

*~*~*

"Axel..." Nexus murmured, trance-like. Just the mention of his name made her heart pound.

"Yeah!" the man exclaimed cheerfully. "Hey, Nexus, I have an idea!"

Nexus snapped her head up.

"What's your name?" she asked him. "Again."

"Demyx," Demyx responded.

"Okay, then what's your idea?"

"I could take you to see him," he told her. Her heart nearly stopped. See...Axel...? She wasn't sure if she could pass up this opportunity... "He's already hanging out at the tower. I was planning on meeting him after this anyway. You should come!"

"But, Nexus!" Sora said, putting his hands on his hips. She bit her lip, staring at the ground.

"If I leave now...Sora and the others will have to fight for a while without me..." she realized. "But they'd be okay...right? I really want to see him..."

"Nexus!" Sora shouted angrily.

"..."

Demyx waited patiently for a response.

"...Okay, Demyx, let's go," she decided finally. She couldn't give up what might be her last chance.

"Nexus!!" Sora gasped, shocked.

"Hey, since I'm leaving, you can have this," Demyx said as Nexus trotted over to him. He tossed Sora the Olympus Stone. "I don't need it anymore. Keep it or whatever."

"But Nexus, what about us?" Sora whined.

"Sorry, Sora!" Nexus said, smiling sheepishly. Demyx opened a portal for them.

"Just whose side are you on, anyway?!" he cried as Demyx walked inside the portal.

Nexus grinned.

"My own, of course!" She waved. "Bye!"

And with that, she disappeared into the portal.