Chapter 14
Underworld
We arrive back in the Underworld to see Hercules and Meg walking up to us.
"Hey," Hercules said, still looking very tired.
"Herc! you feeling any better?" Sora asked,
"Well... same routine, wonder buy here thinks his hero days are over. And Phil thinks it's all in his head." Meg explained, I guess he hasn't gotten a break yet even though the coliseum is in ruins.
"Gawrsh, Herc. We know you're a hero." Goofy said
"That's right... Blunder boy. How can you mope on a momentous day like today?" Hades appears, "The Underdrome's back, and you are going to fill the stands. After all, your fans won't settle for anything less than a certified hero." Hades went on, I could tell Hercules was distraught. "I mean, if you're not up to it, you could always just, I dunno, Lose?"
"I bet you'd like that!" Sora remarked,
"Excuse me? Hey, I'm not a selfish guy, I'm not like those high and mighty snobs on Olympus. I stand for the masses! And I have a massive idea! The games, ladies and gentlemen... are back! Yours truly, Hades- the one and only lord of the dead- brings you the ultimate games, to celebrate the re-opening of the ultimate coliseum! we'll finally answer the age-old question: who deserves the title Ultimate Hero?"
"Is he ever going to stop rambling?" I ask Sora, he just shrugs.
"These games are going to settle the debate once and for all! the winner reigns supreme. of what? you guessed it! The Hades cup! And I assure you that the great Hercules will be there. Otherwise..." He walks up to Meg but Hercules get's in-between. "You'll never see your girlfriend again."
"Lowlife!" Sora yelled as Hades disappears.
"You're too kind, kid." Hades said,
"I don't know if I can do this..." Hercules second guessed himself
"I've got an idea, why don't we enter together." I offered, everyone agreed with my idea. We quickly sign up and demolish the first round. after we got back to check the roster Auron shows up.
"Auron!" I said quickly running up to him, "How are you?" I asked,
"Fine..." He said, he seemed a little standoffish.
"What's wrong?" I asked,
"Nothing," He quickly jumps onto the boat and heads to the coliseum.
"I wonder what's going on?" Sora said, Auron always was a guy who kept to himself... but there was something up.
"That's odd..." Hercules said looking at the board.
"What?" Sora and I ask,
"It says Sara is in a one on one fight later on..." Hercules said pointing out that my name was alone on the board.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Hades said as he appears, "I reread the rules and there can only be four member in a team, so I randomly picked one of you out so you wouldn't be disqualified," Hades said,
"Whatever!" Sora argued,
"It's fine Sora, besides we all know I can handle myself in a fight, besides, Hercules needs your help more than I do, I'll be fine." I said, "Maybe we'll fight in the finals," I said with a smile, Sora nods.
"We gotta get to our next match." Donald said,
"Ok, see you soon Sara," Sora said as they get on the boat and head to the coliseum.
"Oh Sara, I forgot to tell you I had some information about your friend Riku." Hades said
"Wait, how do you know Riku?" I asked,
"Well..." Hades and I were interrupted by a small pink demon,
"Hades, you're needed in the coliseum." he said,
"Oh.. hey, your next fight isn't for a while would you mind waiting for me in my office, we can talk more then," He said,
"Is that the place you summoned Auron?" I asked,
"Yes," He answered, I didn't entirely trust him, but if something happened to Riku... I have to make sure.
"Alright, don't keep me waiting too long." I demanded as we both head off, along the way I decided it was time to try to bring out the Darkness again, like I did at Beasts Castle. I remember the last time it appeared I was full on anger, I try to recreate that anger, but instead of the Darkness manifesting, the sharp pain returned in mu chest. The more angry I got the worse the pain sharpened. I finally got to the room Hades told me to meet him and sat down in a large stone chair that made me look small. I decided to try again, this time trying to focus the Darkness into mu hand, In a matter of time a small orb of Darkness forms floating above my hand. I couldn't believe my eyes, Father always told me that Darkness was evil. But light and Darkness cannot exist without each other. I know there is light in my heart, so in return there must be Darkness, but how much? and why does it cause me pain? I was creating more questions than answers. I continue to try to control the Darkness until I become exhausted. it wasn't until then that I realized that more than two hours had gone by.
"What's taking him so long?" I said getting up to go find him. I get to the door... but it won't open. I push a little harder but nothing happened... please don't tell me I just fell for a trap... "Ah! why am I so stupid!" I yell, a puff of smoke is heard behind me, I quickly turn around with Keyblade in hand. There was no one there, but there was a small statue of Auron that wasn't there before, I reach for the statue when I hear a voice in the back of my head,
"We've come for you, my lady." I turn around to see a swarm of nobodies surrounding me,
"Where did you?" I said swinging my Keyblade to keep them away. My chest began to throb, I was already out of breath. I used too much energy trying to control the Darkness. The Keyblade felt heavy, before I knew it the nobodies had me pinned down... I didn't have the strength to fight back... Sorry Riku...
"Let her go!" Sora yells as the nobodies pinning me down disappeared, Donald and Goofy defeat the rest of the nobodies as Sora helps me to my feet.
"Thanks Sora, I..." Sora bonks me on the head, "Ow..."
"What were you thinking?" Sora yelled,
"Yeah... I deserve that..." I said looking down, I did the one thing Sora demanded that I never do, trust a stranger... Hades is as strange as they get.
"Why did you come here anyway?" Sora asked,
"Hades told me that Riku left me a message, and I thought, real or not it might help us." I explained,
"I see... well now that were here, grab the statue so we can save Auron and Hercules," Sora said,
"This one?" I asked picking up the statue, he explained that Hades was using me to hold Auron's free will hostage using this statue. we begin to leave when more nobodies appear.
"Hey, go away!" Donald yelled, we didn't have time for this. Every second wasted is one where Hercules could lose. I wish there was something that would keep them busy while we escaped.
"Look!" Goofy pointed out ad a bunch of heartless appear and begin fighting the nobodies.
"Not what I had in mind, but I'll take it!" Sora said
"We better skedaddle!" Goofy said as we all run back through the underworld, I look back to glance at the heartless that for some reason were no longer attacking us, Was this my doing? or are we just lucky... We were almost to the entrance of the underworld. I felt uncomfortable from the silence coming from Sora who was walking behind me.
"Hey Sara?" Sora said as I slowly turn around
"Yes?" I asked afraid of what he was going to say,
"Do you like Riku?" Sora asked, I began to blush, I didn't know how to answer this question.
"O...of course I like him, the three of us have been friends for years..." I said,
"I mean do you like him more than that?" He asked again. I forgot how blunt Sora can be at times. At this moment I wasn't surprised if my face was bright red.
"W...what gave you t...that idea?" I shuddered. we finally got back to the entrance of the coliseum.
"Just a feeling I got," Sora said as Donald and Goofy grin at me.
"Sara, your face is all red," Goofy said as I quickly run into the coliseum to see Hercules cornered at the edge of the arena trying to hold back Auron's blade.
"Auron!" I yelled as he looks over at us,
"Hey Auron, this belongs to you!" Donald yells as Sora throws the statue at him, it disappears above his and Auron pulls his sword away from Hercules. I jump down to the arena to make sure they were both ok. Hercules falls to his knees and lets out a loud sigh of relief.
"I'm glad you're ok," Auron said to me as he patted my head,
"Auron!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy cheered,
"Prisoner! what happened to our mutual agreement? I can give you a clean slate, but you gotta work with me," Hades said
"Maybe you didn't hear me. This in My story, and you're not part of it." Auron said placing his hand on my shoulder. Hades bursts into flames of anger as he appears in front of us,
"That's it! This game is over. I've played by the rules so far." Hades ranted,
"How is holding my sister hostage playing by the rules?" Sora asked,
"Okay, I confess! I was using Sara so Wonder boy would lose, but it was still a fair fight. C'mon, is that really so wrong?" Hades said,
"Really? A fair fight?" Sora said as the four of us laugh.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh all you want! Because the laughing is about to stop. Wanna know why?" Hades went on, I kind of wanted to say no. "Because now were gonna play by my rules." He snaps his fingers and a large door opens behind him, it looks like a cliff that went on forever into a dark abyss. Meg screams as she appears floating above the cliff.
"Meg!" Hercules yells,
"Hercules!" She yelled as she floated further and further away from the cliff edge.
"Hey, I warned you right from the get go. you don't compete, you lose the girl." Hades snaps his fingers again and Meg falls into the abyss.
"No!" Hercules said running over to the edge of the cliff. "Meg! Hang on!" he yelled and he dives into the abyss after her.
"Looks like wonder buy had dropped out of the standings." Hades said as we all get ready to fight.
"Well, you still got us to deal with!" Sora said.
"Oh yeah, this is going to be good." Hades said turning red, we begin fighting him but all of our hits bounced off. Hades lets out an evil laugh.
"We can't win!" Sora said,
"How come?" Donald asked,
"Because it's his underworld." Auron said, All of a sudden I could feel Hercules' light glow brighter, until it felt like it was on top of us.
"Gee, then how do we beat him?" Goofy asked
"I think a true hero should be able to help." Hercules said appearing next to me holding Meg in his arms.
"But... you..." Hades couldn't believe his eyes,
"I owe you one Hades. I didn't hesitate to give my life for meg's. And then, I remembered! A true hero is measured by the strength of his heart." Hercules explained putting Meg down. "I'll never forget that again.
"Just no more crazy stunts," Sora said
"Please," I begged, Hercules leans close to me and Sora,
"People do crazy things, when there in love." Hercules said
"Just like Sara!" Donald said,
"Hey!" I said as we all begin to laugh,
"What is to funny you imbeciles! How dare you get a happy ending! How dare you!" Hades said attacking, with there being six of us fighting, Hades didn't stand a chance. We knock him around until he's at the cliff edge. Sora swings his Keyblade and Hade's back's up.
"It's... not over... yet..." Hades said as he loses his footing and falls into the abyss, his screams echoing throughout the underworld.
"We did it!" I cheered
"And good riddance." Sora added, we high-five. everyone leaves the coliseum and end up back at the entrance on the underworld.
"What are you gonna do now?" Donald asked Auron
"I lived my life defending others. But now... there's no one left to protect. Maybe... it's time I shape my own story." Auron said.
"Yeah... you deserve it, Auron- After everything you've been through," Sora said as Auron chuckles,
"I suppose, I should thank you." he said,
"Not at all," Sora said,
"Fine," Auron said looking away, they all lower their heads.
"I mean, sure, you could thank us, a little..." Sora said as I laugh,
"You should say what you mean... I guess I could spare a few words," Auron said with a grin, "Thanks for meddling."
"Hey, what's that mean?" Sora said as Auron places his hand on my head,
"Don't try to do too much by yourself... I learned that the hard way." He said,
"Yeah, I'm beginning to understand that." I said as he smiles at me and leaves. we head back up to the Olympus coliseum to check up on Meg and Hercules, it was already night when we reached them.
"Thanks you guy's, you're the best!" Hercules said
"Excuse us for meddling..." Donald was still upset at what Auron said.
"Aw... Sounds like somebody's feathers are a little ruffled." Meg said as I giggle, "I'm kidding, thank you, Sora, Sara, Donald, Goofy."
"So where you guy's headed next?" Hercules asked,
"aw, you know... " Sora was trying to change the subject,
"Yeah, we gotta go." Donald said,
"Uh-huh, before we start meddlin'," Goofy said
"Right," Sora and I say,
"Are you turkeys trying to put me out of a job?" Phil said walking up to us. "If you keep acing every challenge, champ, who am I going to train?"
"Aw, you can't abandon me now, Phil! I gotta be at the top of my game in case Hades shows up again." Hercules said,
"Hey are we true heroes yet?" Donald jumped in
"Yeah! come on Phil, how 'bout it?" Sora said
"Lemme see now.. well you're not wise enough... not quite... seasoned enough..." Phil said
"Why do I feel he's making this stuff up?" I said,
"Look, kid, it's not my call! course if it was my call, you'd have no problem. I'd make you all heroes, in a heartbeat!"
"Really?" Sora said
"Say that again" Donald demanded,
"On second thought, if those are your hero faces, you still have a lot of work to do." Phil said walking away as Donald and Sora start fallowing him.
"Hey, what do you mean?" Donald asked
"Go away!" Phil demanded,
"Phil!" Sora yelled as him and Donald begin chasing Phil,
"Leave me alone!" He pleaded,
"See that?" Meg pointed up to the stars, there was a constellation that looked like Sora, Donald and Goofy.
"Well Whaddaya know..." Hercules said
"I knew they had it in them!" I said as they cheer, we all say our good- byes and head back to Halloween town to make sure Jack is behaving.