Well, heres's chapter 19. I skipped some parts, but don't worry. A certain water mage will appear again soon, just be patient! ...As well as a certain pyro...

Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts characters/some of the story (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 19

All was silent as Kyrie sat on the steps that led to the Olympus coliseum. After ordering her to stay there, Sora, Donald, and Goofy continued on in search of Meg. In truth, Kyrie felt left out. She wanted to help both Meg and Hercules the best that she can, but apparently, her weakness to the darkness left her as dead weight. A nuisance. Even Hercules told her to stay behind when he finished his match and pursued them. She gave a soft, sad sigh.

"It's not fair…why does the darkness affect me so badly?" she thought as she sat there, her chin resting on her hands as she did so. Even now, some of her energy was being zapped away, but it wasn't as bad as before.

"Maybe the deeper I go in, the more I am affected by the darkness." she contemplated. But it didn't make her feel any better, instead, it made her feel a lot worse. As she sat, alone in the Underworld, her thoughts drifted. But suddenly, a voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Kyrie!" looking up, she smiled as she spotted Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules running towards her. She got to her feet and as soon as they neared.

"You guys! You're safe!" she thought and rushed forward, happy and relieved that they were safe and unharmed. But just as she reached them, the ground beneath her feet began to rumble and a roar rang out, startling the group.

"What was that?" Sora cried as he tried steadying himself. Within seconds Hercules was heading towards the coliseum, and Kyrie knew something was going on up there. Grabbing Sora's arm, she proceeded to pursue the true hero, dragging the boy along as she did so. Rushing up the stairs and running into the light, what they saw surprised and shocked them.

In the center of a destroyed coliseum was a large, purple, serpent-like creature. It had bright orange eyes, and very large teeth, as it roared and raised mayhem on the remains of the building. Hercules fell to his knees and buried his face into his hands.

"This can't be…" he moaned in disbelief. Kyrie ran forward to help him, but immediately ducked as a stone flew past her and almost landed on Sora. Kyrie shot him an apologetic look for a moment before standing in front of Hercules, summoning her keyblades as she did so. The creature roared once more and she glared at it, before spotting Phil and Meg from the corner of her eye as they ran to the kneeling man. Meg crouched next to him while Phil shook his opposite arm, the white horse landing nearby. She gave the man a sympathetic but hard look.

"Hercules, get up! We need you!" she thought as she turned her attention back to the serpent. The creature was ten times bigger than any of them, and the fact it was causing so much destruction did not help matters.

"Champ! You're safe!" Phil cried in relief, slumping a little as he did so. But the man paid no mind to this, as his gaze lingered on the destroyed remains of the coliseum.

"I failed…" he whispered. Meg placed a hand on his shoulder as she tried to console him.

"It's not your fault!" Meg protested and for once, Kyrie agreed with her. Sure, sometimes the woman could be a little mean, but she really was a nice person. Especially since she was trying all she can to help Hercules. But the man simply shook his head.

"I left everyone unprotected." Hercules spoke, before slumping further to the ground and slamming his fist into it. "Hades was right. I'm just a…a washout." He growled, punching the ground again. Kyrie shot him a distressed look, now was not the time to feel sorry or guilty. It was time to fight.

"C'mon, Hercules…don't give up! A true hero never gives up, they fight until the very end!" she thought. Donald looked at the man before looking at Sora.

"Herc needs help!" he exclaimed. Sora nodded in agreement, as did Goofy and Kyrie.

"Yeah." he agreed. Within seconds Phil was at their side, in an offensive position.

"Don't suppose you got room for one more?" he asked, doing a few punches and kicks. Kyrie gave a small smile as the white horse and Meg joined them, ready to fight.

"We're in!" and with that, the battle commenced. While Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kyrie held off the creature, Meg, Phil, and the white horse pulled Hercules safely out of harms way as they watched the fight from a distance. The serpent unleashed a volley of lightning attacks, most of which the group dodged, except for poor Goofy who kept getting shocked due to his clumsiness. Sora and Kyrie both attacked the monster head on, Sora attacking the head, Kyrie the body.

With one uppercut with the keyblade from Sora, its head came clean off, and its body fell to the ground. Kyrie smiled as she fist-pumped, keyblades still in hand.

"Yes, we did it!" she thought. But unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The ground began to rumble, and within seconds, three heads shot out from the soil, roaring at them with rage. Her eyes widened and she sighed in exasperation.

"Why the hell is this thing still alive? Sora chopped its head clean off!" she thought as she ran in, focusing on the center head as Sora, Donald, and Goofy attacked the other two heads. But even when they severed the three heads, the torso raised from the ground, a half-dozen heads adorning it this time. Kyrie growled silently as she watched a large, dark orb form in front of its body. Without a moment to lose, she was at the trio's side as they regrouped and closed her eyes, focusing.

"Light!" she thought as she pictured a familiar shield in her head. She saw a flash of light and opened her eyes, not surprised to see that her bubble-like shield was back, holding off the dark orbs as they attacked the shield. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at her gratefully.

"Thanks!" they cried in unison, but she simply shook her head. As soon as the dark orbs vanished, she lowered her shield, and spotted the white horse as it flew towards Sora. She ran over and grabbed his hand as the horse swept him off his feet and into the sky, with her dangling by his hand. He gasped.

"Kyrie, what are you-" but before he could finish, she released her hold and fell into the sea of heads. Using one keyblade, she jammed it into a mouth that shot up to devour her and used the other to slice the head clean off, retrieving her other keyblade as she slid down the remains of the neck. She could hear Sora cry out for her, but all she could focus on was slicing off the heads as she came down towards the torso, occasionally sliding down a neck as she continued chopping off heads and avoiding large, sharp teeth that would gladly have her for a snack. She could hear Sora slicing off heads as well over the many roars of the individual heads of the monster, but she simply kept going. They couldn't stop, couldn't hesitate.

"C'mon, almost there…" she thought as she ducked to avoid two heads as they collided with each other. And before long, only one head remained, as Kyrie and Sora jumped in, working together as they severed the last head and sent it flying, the torso falling to the ground in a heap while the head landed not far away, still twitching slightly. Kyrie smiled and sighed in relief, it was over.

"Finally…I thought this would never end…" she thought as she slumped a little, exhausted. She spotted Donald as he healed Sora, who seemed to have received the most damage from the battle, which wasn't really surprising. Then she spotted Hercules as he sat on some rubble, with Meg standing next to him and Phil on his other side. The man looked absolutely ashamed of himself, and she felt sorry for him. Walking over, she stood with Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they looked at the man.

"I let you down. I'm just…no use." Hercules mumbled sadly, looking sorry for himself. Meg quickly shook her head as she placed a hand over his.

"It's not your fault. Hey, even a god would be exhausted." She explained. The group nodded in agreement, none of this was the hero's fault. It was all just a big accident that couldn't have been prevented.

"She's right. Give yourself a chance to rest." Sora spoke, making Kyrie nod in agreement. Goofy nodded as he looked at the remains of the coliseum.

"There won't be any games for a while anyway." He added, but Kyrie quickly elbowed him in the side.

"Goofy, that doesn't help things!" she thought as she glared at him from the corner of her eye. Meg gave the man a quick, sad look before turning her attention on the four people in front of her.

"Don't worry about Wonderboy here. I'll look after him. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kyrie, I owe you big time." Meg spoke, giving them one of her small, rare smiles. Kyrie smiled in return, and gave a small bow.

"Hey, it's no big deal. Just let us know if Hades or the Heartless start acting up. We'll take care of it." Sora added. Donald nodded eagerly and he placed a hand against his chest.

"Yeah, that's what heroes are for!" he exclaimed. Meg looked amused as she placed a hand against her chin, staring at the duck who was dead-set about being a true hero, even if he wasn't.

"When did you three make hero?" she asked. Then she looked at Kyrie with a bemused expression.

"Or should I say four?" she teased. Kyrie giggled silently before the woman shook her head. "You don't look too interested on the whole institution, so I'll say three for now." she added. At this Kyrie nodded, she really wasn't into the whole hero thing. Titles and rank didn't matter to her. What mattered was the heart or soul inside the person, that's all she cared about. Sora laughed a little before looking at Meg.

"Let's save that for another time…we have to hit the road." He explained. The woman nodded as she crossed her arms, though not in a standoffish way.

"Okay. Don't be strangers." She spoke. Goofy walked over to Hercules and gave him a smile.

"Gawrsh, I hope you feel better soon, Hercules." he spoke sincerely. The hero gave him a small nod.

"Yeah…" he sighed. Donald looked over at Phil and raised an eyebrow.

"Phil?" he asked, snapping Phil out of his daze.

"Oh, well, take care you guys! Stay a little longer next time. We got some serious training to catch up on." He explained, wagging a finger at Sora. The boy smiled as he looked at the rest of the group.

"Well, time to go." just as he started walking away, he stopped, as if remembering something, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small stone, before turning back to Hercules.

"Oh, I almost forgot. The Olympus Stone." He spoke as he held it out toward the man. Hercules stumbled to his feet and reached out, only to have a strange light wrap around the stone. Kyrie felt her heart accelerate, and this time, instead of just her heart reacting, she began to glow as well. The others stared at both her and the stone in confusion, before a light shot out of the stone and a keyhole appeared. Within seconds, the key was unlocked, and the light faded from her body. She stared at her hands in amazement.

"Just what…was that?" she thought as she stared at her hands. In seconds, she shook it off and joined Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they bade farewell and left the coliseum.

-The Gummi Ship-

Everyone sighed and relaxed as they boarded the Gummi ship. Within seconds however, Goofy was back on his feet as he started heading towards the kitchen.

"Better start on supper. It's gettin' late." he spoke aloud as he grabbed a apron and proceeded into the kitchen. The others looked at each other and laughed, one of the three being silent as they did so.

"Ah Goofy…he really does look out for the rest of us." Kyrie thought as she joined them. But then she stopped and looked over at the two, curiosity burning in her eyes. Ever since they got back from the Underworld, something was nagging at her.

Just what exactly went on down there when they went to rescue Meg?

She quickly grabbed her notebook and started writing, before she tugged on Sora's sleeve, making the young keyblade bearer turn to her.

"Huh? What's up?" he asked. She quickly deposited the notebook into his lap, making him look down as he began to read it.

What happened in the Underworld when you went to rescue Meg?

"Oh, well, lots of stuff." but when she glared at him, he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Be more specific?" he asked her. With a simple nod, he sighed and continued.

"Well, after we saw Phil at the entrance, we ran in and when we made it to this Altar, a guy from Organization XIII was there. He turned to us and looked surprise, before calling me "Roxas"." he explained. Donald nodded as he joined in.

"We didn't know why he was calling Sora "Roxas" but then he held up the Olympus Stone and used it to restore his strength. Once he did that, we fought, and he ran off." Donald added. Kyrie nodded, her heart hammering as she inwardly sighed in relief. She already knew who the man was, because he had tried to save her not hours before.

"At least Demyx managed to get away…at least no one got killed." she thought in relief. If it were any other member besides Demyx, Xigbar, Axel, or Luxord, she couldn't care less. But those three grew on her, although whether or not Luxord liked her at all was still in the air.

"So after we got the Olympus Stone back, we ran in and found Meg sealed in some stone. I unlocked it, and a weird portal showed up. When we went through, we found Meg but Pete was there too. We managed to fight him off and protect her until Herc came, and with his help, we managed to beat Pete. And you know the rest." Sora finished. She smiled and nodded, at least now she knew what had happened in her absence.

Awhile after, Goofy came in with dinner in hand and everyone gathered at the small table, Donald setting the controls to auto-pilot as he did so. As they started digging in, Goofy looked at Donald.

"So, uh, Donald. When do ya suppose we'll get to the next world?" he asked. The duck was silent for a moment, before answering.

"I dunno, but it'll take all night. So-" but Kyrie wasn't paying much attention to the people in front of her, instead she had her mind on elsewhere.

"Why was Demyx calling Sora "Roxas"? Roxas is gone, disappeared, for good. So why…" she quickly looked out the window, and then back to her wrist where her charm bracelet hung, a single charm still adorning it. She gave a small, sad smile as a picture of Hercules and Meg flashed into her head, and the strange way that they looked at each other.

"Axel…I hope you're doing okay."

And here's the end of another chapter. I think I have gotten out of my writer's block, but I can't be too sure. Oh well.

Please read and review!