A/N: 6.18.11: Eliminated unnecessary stuff.

Old: Fast update, right? I'm going to mention Nalani's weapon in this chapter, but it is not mine; the design and name are completely Seldomknown's.

Disclaimer-I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Hercules

Every little detail from the previous night had faded enough to make the entire thing seem like a horrendous nightmare. She rolled over on the soft bed and hit something reasonably hard yet, at the same time, soft. 'Must have fallen asleep with my books on my bed again,' she thought with a groan as she opened her eyes. 'Wait. I'm not in school anymore.' Lying beside her was a boy in jeans and a yellow vest. Once her eyes brought everything into focus, she realized that she was staring at Riku's sleeping form. 'Riku?' Her eyebrows furrowed together as went to sit up. She was stopped, however, by Riku seizing her wrist.

Her heart skipped a beat, but she looked back at him to realize that he was still asleep. Had he fallen asleep holding her hand? She felt her cheeks burn a little at the same time as a smile appeared on her face. Without much of an internal struggle, she returned to the safety of the bed and looked around; this wasn't even her room. 'How did I end up in here?' Panic only set in for a brief moment before recalling that Riku could easily be trusted. She focused her mind to remember what had happened to her... and the events of last night hit her. Stefa closed her eyes, rolled over, and snuggled into Riku's chest, "Stupid Marluxia."

"Good morning to you, too, sunshine." Riku's voice was a bit groggy as well as amused, and she jumped at the realization that he was awake, though she did not move away. Stefa was pleased to see that Riku had gained a sense of humor in her absence. She snuggled further into his chest, enjoying the comforting feeling as it occurred to her that she had nearly been snatched right out of her room by Marluxia. "I'm sorry." His voice was quiet and borderline disappointed.

Begrudgingly, she tore herself away from his warm body in order to get a decent look at his face. "What are you sorry about?"

"I didn't come fast enough," he muttered.

With a frown, she freed her wrist and put her hands on his face. "Riku, don't feel bad. I didn't even know if I had screamed or not from that dream, so I'm lucky that Naminé is in the room next door. I could have taken him if he hadn't appeared behind me. Little sneak." Though ehr expression had softened, her voice hardened a little in the familiar disappointment she felt. She released his face and rolled onto her back. With a sigh, she recited, "'Princess, we owe this all to you and your lack of strength.' There's something I haven't had the pleasure of remembering for two years."

Riku rolled onto his side to stare at her. "Stefa, it's not—"

"Two years down the line and nothing's changed," she remarked with a bitter smile.

"Stefa," his voice was serious. "You're fine the way you are." When her expression remained bitterly disappointed, Riku dipped his face closer to hers, his lips brushing against her cheek. A happier smile appeared as she blushed. "Are you ready to go downstairs?"

Stefa shook her head, rolled back onto her side, and snuggled into his chest. "I never want to leave this bed," she confused, cheeks burning a darker red. Riku wrapped an arm around her, holding her securely against him.

XxxxxX

"Which worlds have been unlocked so far?" Xemnas asked of his right-hand man, Saïx. The blue-haired man turned to the Superior and smirked.

"Atlantica, Larxene probably wants to take control of that one, Olympus Coliseum, and Traverse Town." Saïx reported. "However, there are a few worlds that were never sealed and even more that have yet to be explored by the Keyblade wielders. Not to mention that one of the unlocked worlds is..."

"Yes, I know." Xemnas said, nodding. "There are many more worlds to be unlocked and even more to be discovered. The possibilities never end..."

"I have members occupying the mentioned unlocked worlds, and the rest are waiting for Number XIV." Xemnas nodded once more.

"Good, good... At least most plans are going to plan..."

XxxxxX

When Stefa finally tore herself from Riku's bed in order to allow the both of them to change, she went downstairs and found only one person in the kitchen. Nalani was sipping at a mug of coffee, apparently admiring the table, and Stefa made for the cabinet. She looked through it for some sugary cereal and, delighted, she found some Count Chocula awaiting her. Her stomach gurgled in response at the memory of her night and the dream, and she reluctantly sat at the table empty handed. "Someone had quite the night," noted Nalani, though she did not immediately look up. When Stefa did not respond, she explained, "Sora told me; I guess he ran into Naminé and Roxas last night."

Stefa nodded in understanding. "Bold of Marluxia," she grumbled. "Makes me feel safe." Nalani smiled as she raised her mug. "Hey, could I get your opinion on something? A dream I had?" Nalani nodded, and Stefa promptly relayed all of the details of her dream that she could remember.

Nalani eased onto the back legs of her chair once she was finished. "That's a weird-ass dream, Stef."

"But nothing significant?" she prodded.

Nalani shook her head. "Probably not, no. The weirdest thing is that you saw one of Sora's memories. As for the other girl, the one that wasn't your Nobody, well... You've seen her in your dreams for years, right?" Stefa nodded. "Probably just a recurring element, nothing big there."

"Yeah, you're probably right," mumbled Stefa, staring at the table for a brief moment before looking back at the brunette. "Hey... Do you... have any idea as to why I would... be able to give someone a heart? No one a heart, I guess is the better word; a Nobody. Why would I be able to give Nobodies hearts?"

Smiling, Nalani shrugged her shoulders. "You're asking the wrong person. Before this whole thing, I didn't think that there was anything more to the heart beside it being an essential organ."

Stefa knew it was silly to ask anyone about her heart; not even the king understood it. The only who probably understood it the most had been killed about three years back. "Guys!" A voice called from outside of the kitchen. The two stared at one another before exiting the kitchen and finding Leon in the middle of the living room.

"What's wrong, Leon?" asked Nalani.

"Trouble in more worlds. Can the group of you go help some other worlds?"

Stefa and Nalani nodded earnestly, "Which one first?"

"It would be a good idea to go see Olympus Coliseum."

With the lungs of life, Nalani walked over to the bottom of the staircase and shouted, "Sora! Kairi! Roxas! Naminé! Riku! Elie! Get your asses down here!"

XxX

"Olympus Coliseum?" asked Kairi and Naminé.

Sora nodded, clearly eager to return to the world. "Yep! That's where Herc, Meg, Phil, and Auron live."

From the transmission screen of their ship, Riku remarked, "I think Cloud was pissed that you took Stefa back so soon, Sora."

"No, I think Elie was more pissed about being left behind," said Stefa, also from the other screen. Sora, Roxas, Naminé, and Kairi were in one Gummi Ship with Riku, Stefa, and Nalani in the other.

Smirking, Sora stated, "I think Cid was pissed the most because we needed him to fix us up another gummi ship. Now, if only I could figure out where it is... Oh, there!" Roxas glanced on the radar, quickly realizing why his other had such a hard time locating the world; a huge cloud of darkness had nearly obscured all of the Coliseum.

"Follow us, Riku," instructed Roxas as Sora made a sharp left turn.

Riku followed with a much smoother turn. "Nice job barely evading that meteor, Sora."

"Shut up, Riku."

XxX

A few moments later, the group reconvened in a very dark area. Behind them was a large, foreboding, black coliseum, which was nothing like Stefa had pictured it. Across from them was a dangerous-looking, murky river. "Where are we?"

Sora gazed around the area with disdain, "On the other side of the Underworld. Oh, crap, we'll be needing that Olympus Stone to protect ourselves from the curse," he added in afterthought. Everyone, being caught up on the Keyblade Master's journeys, groaned.

"Let's focus on first things first. How do we get across this nice little river?" Nalani asked bluntly.

"A boat. But it can't fit that many at once..."

Naminé, uncharacteristically annoyed, threw up her hands. "I've got a better idea!" She said, holding out a hand, and summoning a portal.

"...That's right." Sora muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

Nalani shook her head as she entered the portal. "This is our leader..."

Several minutes later found the group still in the Underworld but on the opposite side of the River Styx. It was about as dark as before, but there were three different paths for them to take, the most pleasing of which was a staircase with a golden light. "It's... empty. Unusually quiet, too," noted Sora.

Stefa half-shrugged, "It doesn't seem like the Underworld would be normally teeming with people, does it? Where should we go to first?" She was gazing at the staircase with a hopeful expression as goosebumps appeared on her skin. Though she had not expected the Underworld to be pleasant, she had not expected it to be quite as creepy as it was.

Fortunately, Roxas suggested, "Let's go up to Olympus Coliseum." No one disagreed as they eagerly ran to and up the staircase. Sora reached the top first, and he was instantly assaulted by memories. Like his previous journey, the Coliseum stood tall and proud in all of its golden stature; Hercules and the others had finally rebuilt. A grin appeared on his face as he remembered that he was officially a hero now.

They entered the lobby without running into anyone. "Herc! Phil! Meg!" There was no response, and Kairi shuddered involuntarily. Sora looked back at the others, "Let's take a look at the arena." A small rope with a 'closed' sign was blocking the entry to the arena, but Sora could have cared less; he unhooked it and they stepped back into the sunlight.

Eyes scanned the area to find no human in sight. There was, however, a winged white horse tied to the gate in the back. "Pegasus!" Roxas and Sora called in unison; finally, a familiar face. When they reached the horse, Sora used Ultima to break the rope with a single swipe. "Pegasus where are the-?" He cut himself short when he realized that he didn't speak horse.

"I've got a better idea." said Roxas, smirking. He turned to face Kairi, Stefa, and Nalani. "Have you guys ever wanted to fly on a winged-horse before?" The three exchanged looks of deep satisfaction.

"Pegasus, will you let these three ride you?" Sora asked the horse in a quite voice as he gestured to Kairi and the others. Pegasus neighed his approval, nodding vehemently. "It's settled, then. The three of you can squeeze onto Pegasus and he'll lead you to where everyone is. Don't worry, we'll follow. I think I already have an idea of who's up to this..."

"But what about that Olympus Stone you were talking about?" Naminé asked as Kairi, Stefa, and Nalani climbed onto the winged horse.

Sora dismissed her question, waving at Pegasus to leave. "I don't need to use drives. Even if it cuts our power in half... Well, we'll worry about it later." Pegasus neighed and kicked off of the ground, heading straight for the sky.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Stefa tightened her hold around Kairi's waist tenfold, causing the Princess of Heart to wince in pain.

"This is so cool!" Nalani exclaimed as Pegasus spiraled downward, back into the Underworld. He then flew toward the large door-like cave to the right. Heartless and Nobodies began to appear beneath them by the dozens, but, since Pegasus was so much higher than them, they couldn't attack.

Kairi sighed in relief, though she winced a little at Stefa's grip. "Finally, the Heartless and Nobodies can't attack us." Pegasus flew through the Underworld with ease, taking one entrance after the other.

When they looked at their surroundings this time, the three girls became unnerved. There were in a particularly large, open cavern, the bottom of which was lined by a lethal-looking green river. "There are things floating in that water," whined Stefa. "And if we fall..." At that point, Nalani, who was behind her, took her right hand and knocked on Stefa's head.

"Don't jinx us!"

Kairi bit down on her lip as Pegasus flew up a small staircase. "I'm not so sure that we want to go in here." Pegasus landed gracefully in the rather small room, which appeared to be somewhat reminiscent of a throne room. There were a couple of openings in the walls that appeared to have a view of other parts of the Underworld. At the front of the room was a throne, but it was not empty, and, in the corner near the throne, there was a handsome redheaded man with large muscles.

The man gasped at the arrival of his pet horse and the three fragile-looking girls, wondering why Pegasus thought it was a good idea to bring three innocent girls to Hades' throne room. The god in question rose from his seat, an amused expression on his blue face. As he drew close to them, Stefa felt her teeth chatter. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the friends of the Keyblade Brat."

Nalani, Kairi, and Stefa exchanged extremely surprised looks. They all were thinking the same thing: How did he know? "The Princess of Heart, Kairi, walks among us here in the Underworld. Who would have thought?" Hades set his purple lips into a smirk, "Youou look about as scary as you did when dear old Riku found you."

"You're wrong," argued Kairi, somehow managing not to stutter as she glared at the god of the dead.

Hades laughed. "End of the line, girls. You could have saved yourself a painful death and afterlife, but, hey, it's your funeral." A blue fireball was steadily forming between his open hands. Radiant Destiny, Shadow Heart, and Nalani's weapon, a long blue staff with a half-moon at the top and intricate shapes at the bottom, flashed into her hand.

Nalani pursed her lips. "Well, gee, I guess Sora was wrong when he didn't think we'd be fighting the God of the Underworld."

"Who's supposed to be dead!" added Stefa in a hushed voice.

Hades blue flame briefly turned orange. "What? The princesses can wield keyblades and this one can use a staff? How did they forget to warn me about this?"

Kairi exchanged looks with her two friends. Apparently, Hades had no idea that they didn't have the stone, so maybe they could play along without having to fight... "Hah! But you can't use the Olympus Stone because I have it." Hades relaxed, the orange returning to blue once more.

"I say that we fight even if it's futile," suggested Nalani.

Kairi and Stefa raised their keyblades in agreement, "Aye!"

XxX

Way to Dawn destroyed a group of Heartless in one fell swoop. "Do you think that they're okay?" The amount of Heartless and Nobodies in the Cave of the Dead was both surprising and annoying, but it definitely explained the cloud of darkness surrounding the world.

Easy going as always, Sora replied, "Yeah, of course! What's the worst thing that could happen?"

Thoughtfully, Naminé suggested, "Whoever kidnapped your friends could attack them."

"Hades attacks them," added Riku, the name coming out as a growl.

"Hades is... Actually, Sora, you realize that you guys only defeated Hades, right? Not killed him because the Underworld needs a god..." Roxas muttered, realization finally sinking in. Naminé, Roxas, Sora, and Riku stared at each other with horrified expressions.

"Shit!" Sora and Riku shouted in unison as they abandoned the useless fight against the Heartless and Nobodies and sprinted down the cave with Naminé and Roxas hot on their tail. They reached the entrance of the Valley of the Dead quite quickly, though they had to pause to catch their breath.

"What are we going to do without that stone? This was a bad, bad, bad idea," whimpered Naminé as they continued their run, carefully, up the slopes so that they did not fall into the water below.

XxX

"You know, I never much liked fire. Watera!" Nalani raised EaKaze (A/n: Obviously her staff) as a blue light emitted from the sphere within the halfmoon at its top. A large flow of highpressured water combatted the giant fireball that had been close to hitting Kairi and Stefa.

"Thanks!" called Stefa, wiping some sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. Without the stone, it was proving surprisingly difficult not to get their asses kicked.

Kairi was perhaps the boldest out of the group of them; she was standing quite close to Hades, Radiant Destiny raised. "That all you got?" demanded Hades, surprising her when he began to swipe at her with fire-engulfed arms.

It took a moment to recall her spells, but, pointing Shadow Heart at Hades' sighed, she cried, "Blizzaga!" A large shard of ice shot into the god's side, knocking him a little to the side. "The beauty of fighting three at once is that you can never keep an eye on all of us at the same time." She raised her keyblade as a large fireball flew toward her, the force of which forced her to one knee. "Screw. This."

Hercules could no longer bear to watch the girls, friends of Sora, suffer. He recognized Kairi as a girl that Sora had mentioned before, and knew that he couldn't allow any more harm come to them. He struggled against the titanium chains that had him bonded. "Run!" He finally shouted at them.

"Shut it, Herk the Jerk!" roared Hades, though he was somewhat pleased; Hercules' warning served more as a distraction for the girls, and Nalani, in her distraction, was oblivious to Hades' fireball until it sent her flying out of one of the windows.

Stefa forced herself to stand and began to run in the direction Nalani had gone. She wanted to go after her and make sure she was alright, but... she couldn't allow Kairi to fight Hades alone. Swallowing hard, she turned to Kairi. "Go make sure she's okay."

Kairi stared at her as if she were crazy. "Are you stupid? You can't take him on your-!"

Stefa shook her head and turned toward Pegasus, "Take Kairi after Nalani. Please?" Her voice was pleading. Pegasus snorted and neighed as he walked over to Kairi. She looked at Stefa before climbing on.

"Not so fast!" Hades exclaimed, but Stefa blocked his path.

A brief breeze was blown at her back as Pegasus and Kairi disappeared from the room. "Too bad so sad. You'll have to deal with me, now." Hades' calm blue head immediately turned into a fiery orange one.

"I'll take care of you, you little brat, I assure you!" When the next fireball hit her, it was evne stronger than any of his others, and she hit the wall and slid to the ground. "It doesn't matter if your friend has gone after her; Cerberus will get them both."

Hades' three-headed dog, Cerberus, she remembered. "Holy..." She had just sent Kairi into a trap.

Hades seized her by the front of her shirt. "Now you're about to find out what happens when you mess with the God of the Underworld." He hurled her across the room and sent a fireball in her wake. Relying completely on reactions, she blocked the fireball with Shadow Heart while she caught herself with her left arm. Her arm crumpled beneath her, and she swore quite loudly as she collapsed onto the ground, 'Damn it, damn it, damn it. This—' Without allowing her to get back up, Hades hurled another fireball her way, but it never hit her.

XxX

"Nalani!" Kairi leaned her head over Pegasus' neck as her eyes scanned the empty valley below, making sure to keep a tight hold. "Nalani!"

"Shh!" called a voice from not too far away. Kairi urged Pegasus forward where they found Nalani sitting perfectly atop a gargantuan black dog. Aside from a scorch mark on her arm and a few cuts to her face and arms, she was nearly untouched; surprising, considering she was perched atop the dog.

Kairi gazed at the creature. The three heads were huddled together on the floor, snoring quietly, one of them having a snot bubble. "So this is Cerberus, huh? He looks much less dangerous than Sora let on," she mumbled. Nalani carefully climbed on behind Kairi before the winged-horse gracefully flew off again. "You landed on that thing perfectly and without waking it up? Are you okay?"

Nalani nodded. "Besides the pain and the cuts, I'm great!" she replied, too loudly. They heard the giant snot bubble burst as growling began. They looked backward as an extremely pissed off Cerberus began to chase after them.

"Faster, Pegasus! Faster!" Kairi urged the horse as Cerberus began to close in. Pegasus ducked his head and flapped his wings faster until they were back inside the 'safety' of Hades' room. Standing before Stefa was Sora with Ultima held in front of him. Cerberus growled angrily as Pegasus landed in a part of the room that the dog could not reach.

"We're alive," declared Nalani as they hopped off of the winged-horse and patted Pegasus' head.

Roxas raised an eyebrow, smirking as he stared at the growlign and whining Cerberus, "Dog trouble?"

Breathless, Kairi agreed, "You could say that."

"Sora! Get out of here! Save yourself!" urged Hercules.

Hades turned toward the hero with an irked expression. "I'm warning you, Blunder Boy-!"

"Not without you, Herc," replied Sora, still facing Hades, as Riku and Roxas ran over to assist Hercules. With their keyblades pointed at the chains, they cast a fire spell powerful enough the melt the chains, at least a little. It was more than enough for Hercules to rip himself free the rest of the day. At first, Stefa thought she was seeing things, but quickly recalled that the redhead was part god.

Hades' flames became even more orange. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Naminé, the portal!" called Riku, pulling Stefa off of the ground with her left hand, to which she howled in protest. A portal promptly appeared beyond Naminé's pale hand, and everyone promptly filed in behind her, even Pegasus, before Hades could move.

Hades hurled a fireball at the floor, "Damn them!"