Chapter 16

After getting some rest, Sora and his friends entered the underworld.

As before, it was a dark, damp cavern. Balls of mist accumulated over the unnatural rivers that ran through it. Sora, luckily, had thought ahead, bringing the Olympus Stone to ward against the curse upon this place…

The caverns were surprisingly quiet. Sora expected Heartless to assault them, but none came. He looked around.

"I don't understand. Why wouldn't there be any Heartless?" He asked, relaxing his guard.

He suddenly heard a rushing of air. It was the only warning he had before a tall man barreled headlong into him, flinging him to the ground.

The man had dark, spikey hair, and pale skin of a barely revived human. He wore the tattered remains of a black uniform of some type. Sora skidded along the ground, drawing Oathkeeper.

"Who are you?"

"…" The man rushed Sora quickly, catching him with a barrage of punches, followed by a knee to the stomach. Riku ran up, but the man pulled out a weapon, and easily parried the move. Sora and his friends gathered together, and Sora suddenly noticed the man's weapon.

"What? But that's—"

In his chamber, Hades turned to the hooded man.

"Who is that guy you brought back, anyway? Why's he got a sword like the stiff I hired?"

"He was a member of an group called SOLDIER…a First-Class, I may add…he's just called…Zack." The man chuckled. "The man knew Cloud…the similarities between their fighting will throw off Sora's abilities…"

Back in the Atrium, Sora focused again.

"Speak! Why are you carrying Cloud's old sword?"

"…" The man simply attacked once again.

The warrior's movements were jerky and soulless, but his strength and speed were undeniable. Sora was hard pressed to get in an attack. The man suddenly changed stance, and leapt through the air, knocking all four of them back.

"Damn! He's too tough…" Riku panted. Goofy suddenly brighted.

"I got an idea, fellas!" He said. The other three listened to his plan. They all nodded.

"Riku! Donald! GO!" Sora shouted, jumping at the man and being hit back by the enormous sword he carried. Riku and Donald both opened up with torrents of Fire magic. The man staggered back, but Goofy suddenly threw Save the King with all his might. Sora landed on the shield, and spinning with the weapon, was inside the man's guard in an instant.

"ARS ARCANUM!" He shouted, pummeling the man with his keyblade. As the man flew back, Riku jumped behind him, and slashed him forward into Donald, who hit him over the head with Save the Queen. The man took several discombobulated steps, and then fell to the ground.

To their surprise, he got back up, but now a healthy pallor diffused in his skin. His eyes, previously a blank white, returned to a clearer blue. He shook his head, a puzzled look on his face.

"What've I been doing? Where am I?" He said, confused. Sora walked over to him, and helped him up.

"Who are you?" He asked the man.

"My name's Zack…you?" Zack groaned, holding his head. "Ah, my achin' head…"

Donald sheepishly attempted to hide Save the Queen behind his back.

"I'm Sora. That guy is Riku, and this is Donald and Goofy. Uh…Mr. Zack…I have do ask. Do you know someone named Cloud?"

Zack looked up at the mention of Cloud, recognition in his face.

"Cloud? Yeah, I knew him. He was a friend of mine. You've met him?"

"Yes…he's doing well. I guessed that you might know him because of your sword…" Sora said. Zack stood up shakily.

"It's nice to meet ya, Sora. But…why am I here? I'm…dead…aren't I?"

"This is the Underworld. The god here, Hades, probably brought you back to life to fight us…" Sora explained.

"Huh…Then I have a few things to discuss with this guy…here, I'll help you four out. You could probably use another guy in a creepy place like this, right?"

Sora nodded, and the five set out.

In his main chamber, Hades headed for the exit.

"Where are you going, Hades?"

"I'm thinking your operation's going downhill. I'm going to work on my alibi…walking the dog the whole time and all that. Gotta go now, bye!" Hades said, vanishing. The hooded man watched the five heroes dispatching his Heartless…

"Sora…You're getting to be a real pain with our operations…" He suddenly felt someone behind him, and whirled around to see the man in red leaning in the corner, watching him.

"You really screwed this one up, didn't ya, Thoth?" The man in red asked, walking forward. There was a pair of brief yellow gleams in the shadows of his hood as he passed from the shadows into the light.

"Typhon…" Thoth said fearfully.

"Iramaul's not too happy with this, Thoth. He's turning this over to me. You can go back and get to work on your paperwork with Faust."

"…What do you intend to do?"

"Well, you screwed up any chance we have of taking this world THIS time around, so I'm just gonna have a frank exchange of ideas with Sora before I go."

Thoth began to say something, but finally growled and vanished. Typhon snickered lightly.

"Ah, Thoth. You always go to pieces when things aren't just so. You really gotta relax…" He leaned out. "C'mon, Sora. I want to see how good you really are."

Sora and the others entered another wide space. The ground suddenly began rumbling. As Sora dodged a falling rock, Cerberus burst into the room, all three heads snarling.

Hades smirked evilly and walked off.

"Walking the dog…what's that, Zeus? Your son's dead and his pals are missing? Nope, can't help you there…" He said under his breath.

Sora got ready to fight Cerberus, but Zack suddenly jumped in front of him.

"Sora! You four have to go on ahead! I'll catch up after I deal with Fido here!"

"We can beat him together!" Sora shouted, but Zack shoved him towards the door.

"GO! You've got to get at the people behind this, right?" Sora finally nodded, and they ran ahead.

"We'll be back for you, Zack! Hold on!"

However, as the doors closed, Cerberus's left head suddenly noticed something. All three heads looked frightened, and he massive black dog suddenly turned and loped off. Zack now turned to the thing he'd noticed before; a person dressed all in black, sitting atop a jet black motorbike adorned with razor sharp silver blades and spikes.

"I'm an open minded guy, but I can't stand people that watch carnage to kill the survivors." He said angrily, taking his stance. The biker simply flipped the soldier off with both hands, and gunned the engine of the bike.

"Bring it." Zack growled.

As Sora and Riku led the way into the main room, falling rocks suddenly blocked off the doors. Sora turned back just as the last frock barred Donald and Goofy from entering. Riku suddenly drew Way to the Dawn.

"Come out. I can smell you." He growled. Sora turned in time to see the man in red he'd met before drop down.

"Really? Shoot, I KNEW I'd worn too much cologne today…" He said sarcastically. Sora got ready to fight. The main raised his hands.

"Eh. Diplomacy IS dead, huh? Suits me!" A pair of metal tonfas suddenly appeared in his hands. The man threw off his red cloak. Sora saw that the man was wearing some sort of gas mask. His head was lost under a black dome, and his eyes were hidden behind gold glass. He was also wearing fairly light armor, many parts of which had tubes full of some sort of liquid connected to other sections.

"Let's light this candle!" The man shouted, pointing his tonfa at Sora and Riku. "FIRAGUN!"

Sora was blasted back by the infernal bullet the tonfa's tip fired. Riku was able to roll out of the way and charge in. His enemy dodged his keyblade with contemptuous ease, and began savagely striking Riku with his tonfas once more, finally kicking him in the face. Sora charged, but was parried and received several bone-cracking blows to his chest and legs.

The fight dragged on. Sora was beginning to realize his opponent was a lot better than him, and he fought with fire and those weapons with stunning effectiveness. Finally, Riku lunged at him, and the man dropped down low, bringing up his weapon into Riku's stomach, lifting him into the air. Riku went limp on his fist.

"One down—" The man said, turning to Sora. Sora, however, didn't wait for the man to finish.

"SONIC SLASH!" He shouted, shooting forward in a flash of purple light. He hit the man in the chest, and knocked him back. The man got up to his knees, disoriented.

"What a goddamn pain…I'd forgotten you could—"

"ARS ARCANUM!" Sora shouted, bringing his sword into the man's head and upper body again and again. His final strike was replied to with a powerful punch to the face. The man got up, and Sora saw his mask fragmenting.

"Damn kid…you've thrown all this off…" Suddenly the mask broke. As Sora began to rush forward, he suddenly got a full glimpse of his attacker's face.

"No…no, it can't be…" He gasped.

The man in front of him was Axel.

There were changes in him, but his face was unmistakable. But for some reason…Axel looked different.

Gone were the tattoos under his eyes. Now the only mark on his face was a long, thin scar that started above his left eye and finished just beneath his right. Also, his hair had been dyed black at the very roots where it connected to his head, and there were three crimson spikes in front of his face that hadn't been there before. He watched Sora intently.

It…it's not possible… Roxas said within Sora. Sora was frozen, trembling.

"A-Axel…" He said, numb with shock.

Axel looked genuinely taken aback by the uttering of his name. His shock, however, was slowly replaced by a sardonic smirk. He shrugged and shook his head.

"Sorry, kid, you've got the wrong guy." He began to fade into the shadows.

"My name's not Axel."

"Wait!" Sora shouted, but he was gone. Sora stood alone in the room.

"How is it possible?" He said quietly.

There was no answer.