(A/N: I've been waiting for this chapter! Poor, personality-less Dylan will finally be getting some love here, if all goes as planned. I also consider this song his (yes, I choose a specific song for each character.) We're also introducing a new character! Yes, a lot of OCs, but to be fair, you sort of HAVE to have a lot of OCs in a fanfiction with limited series characters. I hope you guys like this chapter!)

CHAPTER IX

THE LIGHT

There's no way tonight as far as I know
That heaven will take me, so I'm staggering home.
Show me the way, oh, show me the light.
Yeah, I'm drunk, but I'm ready to kick some ass tonight.

Gang of Youths, "Magnolia"

Sheridan recognized this girl, too, but less vividly than he had recognized Silas.

It was only her face that made sense to him. She had narrow eyes, so dark brown that they were black, like holes amidst an angular face—the kind of face you would see on a model, plain and unassuming without makeup but with the potential to be striking, demure, or anything in between. Her skin was a pale brown, and she was a bit tall for a girl—about his height, if not ever-so-slightly taller. With a rather thin build, her muscle was defined enough to show that she certainly was athletic in her spare time.

It was the girl's hair that threw him off. Her hair reached just above her shoulder blades, and was of a silvery color with a gentle wave to it. It was too grey for someone so young; certainly, she was around the same age as he was, which had to be younger than twenty. Maybe she had some sort of genetic disorder?

"Do I know you?" she asked, eyes wide and confused, leaving her mouth hanging slightly ajar.

Sheridan shook his head. "No. Maybe. Who are you?" he asked.

She said, "Nissa calls me Mariko."

As if summoned by her name, Nissa appeared in the living room. Perhaps Sheridan wasn't as great of a sleeper as he thought. It's not like he knew a lot about himself, to begin with. "It's just a name I like," Nissa explained, and then waited a beat. "I found her around the same place I found you. I think she may have come from whatever world you came from."

Sheridan nodded. That would explain why she looked so familiar. "Is she a Nobody, too?"

"Yes," she answered, and Sheridan sighed. He didn't mean to make it seem like he was talking about her when she was right there in the room, but didn't feel comfortable talking to a stranger quite yet. Luckily, Nissa picked back up.

"She doesn't remember anything, either. I'm not sure if she can fight—she doesn't seem to have any sort of weapon, nor can she summon a Keyblade."

She found all this out in the time he was napping? How long had he been napping?

"So we'll have to find something for her. She's eager to learn to fight. I figured we could start training tomorrow, the two of you." She paused, her eyes scanning over the two of them. "Mariko will also be staying here with me until she can restore her heart and helping me find Araceli in exchange."

Sheridan forced himself to smile, still feeling bad about startling Nissa earlier. "So we're in the same situation."

Mariko looked at him for just long enough to be uncomfortable before she nodded twice, slowly.

"Sleep well," she told them, which made Sheridan wonder just how late at night it was. After his hour-long nap, and with the introduction of this new girl into Villain's Vale, he wasn't sure he was ready to retire for the night.

"Sheridan," said Nissa, turning around on her way up the stairs and back to her room. There was something very discomforting in her face, but she tried to smile through it. "Sorry about earlier," she said.

Sheridan shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said, but he wasn't sure what he was sorry for.

This Mariko girl, with one final glance over to Sheridan, followed Nissa up the stairs, presumably so she could show her to her new quarters. Sheridan folded his legs under him as he sat on the couch, and his eyes scanned every last detail of the wall while he tried to ignore the hundreds of thoughts swimming around in his mind.

How has it been only a day and a half since I woke up?

What exactly did Araceli do?

Who is this Mariko? Were we close? Why is she so weird?

Why was Nissa so startled by my new name?

It was almost too much to consider, he thought, letting his legs (which had almost as much of a mind of their own at this point as his keyblade) take him back up the stairs and into his dark, quiet, empty room with the single mirror against the single dresser across from the empty bed with the ruffled, white covers. Sheridan pulled a book from the small bookshelf out at random and flipped through it, not really reading.

xxx

"Recognize this place?" Araceli asked to Dylan as the Gummi Ship slowly touched down on yellowish sand in a vast expanse before a large, columned building. It was guarded by two giant, golden soldiers, crossing their swords over its entrance, and the rest of the yard was closed in by monstrously tall, similarly sandy-colored walls

Dylan blinked a couple of times, staring out the window, and then a toothy smile spread across his face. He had a very honest smile—the kind that hid none of his enthusiasm. It somehow suited him perfectly. "Good doggie," he said.

"Huh?" Silas asked, scratching just behind his own ear and thinking back to Nico's dog, Bailey, a rather stupid and frightened (but cute as all get-out) tiny Maltese who always seemed to have black marks in the white fluff beneath her eyes.

"Nothing," Araceli said.

"Inside joke," expanded Dylan as he stood from his seat and Araceli powered-down the Gummi Ship. Silas supposed the two must have been traveling together for a long time; he expected to feel a little bit left out at times, but it still felt bad. He just never got that feeling back home. His town was small, and almost everyone loved him and had special experiences with him.

His stomach lurched. This must have been how Nico felt every time he dragged him to a party. He'd have to remind himself to apologize later.

"Where are we?" asked Silas.

"Olympus Coliseum," answered Araceli. "It's a rather small world on the surface, but there's another world hidden deep in its bowels called the Underworld, which essentially acts as a hell for Olympus Coliseum, and many other worlds."

"Hell?" asked Silas. "We're going to hell?"

Araceli only nodded, leading her two companions out of the Gummi Ship.

"And we're going to hell why?"

"The keyhole is unlocked here," Araceli informed him, "and until we can solve this mystery of Sheridan and Yen Sid, he would want us to figure out why the worlds are unlocked and restore them to their former states. We don't need to be the sole reason to send dozens of worlds into the graveyard now that we have a Keyblade wielder in our ranks."

"Right, we'll just be digging our own," Silas mumbled.

"It's not that bad!" Dylan said, slapping Silas's back with an open palm. "And you can handle it. You're learning fast."

He knew the other boy was only saying that to boost his confidence; he was barely able to hold his own in battle at Disney Castle. In fact, he reminded himself for only the fourth time that day, if he had been stronger, he might have been able to prevent King Mickey's injuries. Silas couldn't believe Queen Minnie allowed him to sleep at her castle and eat her food after letting her husband fall into a coma like that.

"It's important that we get to this world first," Araceli said. "I don't want to think about the consequences of letting hell itself fall to the darkness."

"It hasn't already?" asked Silas, but nobody answered him as they emerged out onto the sand. It was quite warm on this world, which was a welcome change to the more temperate environment of Yen Sid's castle and Disney Castle; his own world was always warm, muggy, and swampy, and that was exactly how he liked it. Silas was fairly certain the only jacket he owned, a thin gray windbreaker, was hiding somewhere in the back of his closet, fitting two sizes too small and riddled with moth balls.

"No one's around," Dylan said. "Where's Hercules?"

"Probably training," Araceli mused. "We'll be fine without him."

"Celi," Dylan warned, elbowing the girl, "you always think we'll be fine, and then we end up needing help in the end."

"No, you end up needing help in the end," said Araceli, flashing one of her rare smiles. "I'm fine."

"Well… stop leaving me alone!"

Araceli allowed herself to laugh. "Try and keep up this time." She glanced around her surroundings, and Silas allowed himself to get a better look, as well. Each corner of the area was marked with a goblet of roaring fire, and opposite the columned building was a wall covered in what looked like scores—from the Coliseum games, no doubt—surrounding an entrance. The entrance didn't seem to lead to a door, but rather a portal, similar yet different from the one which Sheridan used to appear to them at Disney Castle. It seemed to be swirling black and purple, but less like the storm back home and more like pooling smoke, wandering and swirling behind the opening.

"That's the Underworld entrance," Araceli said. "Dylan and I came here many months ago to bargain with Hades. He's the ruler of that world."

Silas nearly choked on his spit. "What did you do? Ask him to release someone from hell?"

"Something like that," Araceli said. "Though we didn't do much asking. Hades isn't a man—a god—you bargain with."

He almost didn't want to know anymore, and instead, with a heavy sense of dread weighing down the front of his head, followed Araceli and Dylan into the entrance to the Underworld. After a moment of walking in scentless, untouchable mist, his vision blackened by purple, they arrived in what looked like a cavern, decidedly darker than the warm, sunny Olympus Coliseum… and colder.

Araceli and Dylan didn't seem fazed, but Silas immediately began rubbing his bare arms with his hands in the naïve hope of creating enough friction to warm him. He wanted to turn back immediately and make this Hercules person take his place. He could even have the Keyblade, if he wanted it.

Everything was blue or gray, and ultimately depressing. Silas felt as though some life had been sucked out of him simply by stepping into the place.

"I don't know where the keyhole is," Araceli admitted, "but I believe it's deeper in the Underworld."

"What makes ya think that?" asked Dylan.

"The heart of a world is rarely on the outskirts. It's usually hidden deep within. We have to move forward."

As if hearing her words and choosing to make their lives more difficult, Heartless promptly erupted from the blue ground itself. A few, Silas recognized: there were three or four Shadows in the mix. The rest, he had never seen before. There were at least ten blue and black bats with red hooks dangling from a chain beneath them, beady little yellow eyes, and that unmistakable red-crossed heart symbol on their chests. The four remaining were dogs. They looked much more insane than Bailey, if that was at all possible, with a purplish hue to them, big, similarly purple teeth, a pointed pink tongue hanging out lazily from their mouths, antennae just like the Shadows, and a big, spiked red collar.

None of these Heartless looked dangerous, but Silas knew better by now.

His Keyblade, as always, sensed the threat before he did, and appeared in his hand, the weathervane atop the key's teeth spinning rapidly.

xxx

Not six pages into the heavy hardcover book he wasn't even really reading in the first place, Sheridan heard shuffling just behind his head. Must be coming from the other room, he thought, since his back was right to the wall as he leaned against his black headboard, "reading" atop his empty white bed, which felt normal.

Nissa's room was nowhere near his, he thought, closing the book with his thumb keeping his place (a habit, he thought, he must have picked up from back when he had a heart). That left either Mariko, or an intruder. He assumed it had to be the former, as Nissa explained that Villain's Vale had been abandoned for longer than she could remember.

It sounded like she was pacing back and forth. The footsteps didn't stop. It didn't particularly bother Sheridan, but he took it as a sign that Mariko was just as restless as himself. She should be more, he thought; in mere hours, she had been scooped up by Nissa, named, and given a mission. He supposed his timeline wasn't much longer than her own.

Sheridan thought about it for a full minute, his knuckles just an inch from the wall behind him. With a deep breath, he rapped three times, gently, so she didn't think he was trying to get her to quiet down.

There was a pause, as if Mariko wasn't sure whether she imagined the sound. "Hello?" she asked.

"Mariko," said Sheridan, who then paused to chew his lower lip. "I know you, too."

Her pacing returned, but only for a moment, growing closer and slightly louder. Mariko had walked over to the wall. "How?" she asked in a slightly more clear voice, but one which he still had to listen hard for.

Sheridan shook his head, and, realizing she couldn't possibly see it, he answered, "I don't know. Our Somebodies must have known each other back home."

"Back at Cherished Acres?" she asked.

Sheridan opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, and then said, "That's not what we called it."

"No," she agreed. "We called it 'town.' They call it Cherished Acres."

Town. She was right. They did call it town. His home, farmhouses older than time itself with miles between them, separated by forests, large, country roads, and peppered sparsely with comforting suburban conveniences, like grocery stores, parks, and car lots, only with the occasional stray sheep wandering into their boundaries.

That was home. He felt it in his bones, in his heart—or the place his heart once was. Wasn't Mariko a Nobody, too? How did she remember so much more than him? Or, maybe, they only remembered different things.

"Who is they?" he asked.

"Nissa and… I assume everyone else," said Mariko, but her voice sounded noncommittal. He heard a bit of a scraping noise travel down the wall beside his bed. Sheridan assumed she slid to sit down against the wall.

Nissa had claimed to not know where he came from. Sheridan assumed that Mariko described the world to her, and she was able to recall it by name. He thought of the picture he found of Nissa and her boyfriend at a beach; she must have been fairly well-traveled. Maybe she visited Cherished Acres herself once.

"Why do they call it Cherished Acres?" asked Sheridan.

"Nissa said it was because the world was never in any danger. Never before had it stood in the way of darkness. She seemed surprised when I told her about the town." Sheridan could almost hear a deep breath from Mariko. "I remember a storm, Sheridan."

What happened, Sheridan couldn't explain. Something rolled around in his chest and stomach. It couldn't have been a heart, he knew better than that—but he'd never felt anything like this before. What was it? Admiration? No, he felt that for Nissa. Wonder? It was possible. How could he know the names for these feelings but not what they felt like? Perhaps understanding was the first step to restoring his heart. He tried to remain open-minded.

"A storm back home. But not much else."

Sheridan said, "It's more than me."

For the rest of the night, they said nothing else, but Sheridan was sure Mariko hadn't moved from the spot in which she sat on the ground, against the wall, until he had finally fallen fast asleep in the early hours of the morning.

xxx

Maybe Dylan was right, Silas thought as his Keyblade disappeared from his hands. He seemed to handle these new Heartless—which Araceli called Hook Bats and Rabid Dogs—without breaking much of a sweat. While he was still in awe with what great ease Araceli could fling away the Heartless with her superior magic skills, as well as with what fearlessness Dylan charged into battle, he was starting to understand how it all was possible, to begin with.

They traveled forth a bit into the blue caverns of the Underworld, fighting away various Heartless as they appeared in their path, before coming to a fork in the road. To the very western end of the opening was a dark, cramped entrance, and to the north was a more spacious, almost purposeful-looking opening which seemed to lead to lightness.

Araceli told them that, initially, the keyhole to the Underworld was hidden in a coliseum, but it was since torn down and the heart of the world was relocated. Silas had no idea how she knew these things, or how it was even possible to move the heart of the world, but he supposed if it was run by a god, he probably had the power to change whatever he wanted, so Silas asked no questions.

"We've never been to this end of the Underworld," Araceli explained. "We should split up."

Dylan moped, "This is why I always need someone's help!"

"You're a more efficient soldier than you're giving yourself credit for, Dylan," said Araceli, and then paused. "But Silas, you should go with Dylan for protection. I can handle myself."

The words stung a little bit, especially after what Silas truly thought was a meaningful conversation with her in the Gummi Ship, but he understood. Maybe he was strong enough to handle Hook Bats and Rabid Dogs, but who knew what else lurked in the depths of the Underworld? He hadn't seen a single dead person yet. They had to be somewhere.

"I'll take that path," said Araceli, motioning with her staff toward the lighter, wider opening in the north. "I'm willing to bet that leads to some sort of common area down here. It's too intentional. The keyhole wouldn't be there. You two take the other entrance."

Silas had almost hoped it would be the other way around (could the two of them even fit in there?), but Araceli's words made sense. He didn't want to be the little coward who kept complaining, so he nodded with resolve. "We'll meet back here after we've explored up ahead," he said.

"That's a good idea." She paused. "We'll meet back here in two hours. If I don't see you both then, I'm coming after you."

"Hey, what about if you don't show up?"

"That won't happen," said Araceli, and with that, and not another word, she headed toward her entrance.

Dylan and Silas gave each other equal looks of apology for the squeeze they would have to make to get through this cavern, and headed forth. Silas let Dylan lead, as there was no way two people could fit side-by-side in that opening.

After less than thirty seconds in the cramped corridor, neither of them could see much of anything. "Fire," he heard Dylan say and, for a moment, Silas feared they had been caught in some sort of blaze. However, he only held his gun upward, the barrels facing the ceiling, and a small flame, like a torch or a lighter, hovered above it, illuminating their path.

"Smart," said Silas. The cavern walls were all deep blues and grays, and they looked wet. He could swear he saw some Hook Bats sleeping upside-down from the ceiling, so he made a mental note to keep quiet. It would be impossible to use his Keyblade in this space; Silas was unconvinced it was even wide enough for his Keyblade to fit horizontally.

"Nico would hate it in here," he said conversationally, after three more minutes passed in the corridor without another sound. "He's claustrophobic as fuck."

Dylan chuckled. "I love small spaces," he said. "They feel safe."

"I hope there's enough air back there," Silas said, thinking of those shows he watched where spelunkers died of asphyxiation by journeying too deeply into a cave.

"We've got magic for that," Dylan assured him, but he didn't sound sure.

Following more silence, Silas felt obligated to keep the conversation going. "Does Araceli usually split up from you?"

Dylan nodded. "Yeah. She trusts me." He paused, as if wondering whether that were truly the case. "But we always find our way back to each other. Once, we split up for a whole week in Atlantica—it's this underwater world. Met up again in some underwater cave full of shit from the land, like statues and forks. It was weird."

Silas managed a laugh. "You guys seem close."

"We are," Dylan agreed. "She's like the sister I never had."

After putting his hands behind his head, Silas said, "You don't have any sisters?"

"Dunno." Dylan paused. "I had a foster family until I was about twelve, had a couple of brothers and sisters there. But we weren't close, and we weren't related."

Until he was twelve? Silas knew Dylan was homeless and orphaned from his conversation not an hour ago with Araceli, but he didn't realize it had been since he was a kid. "I have a sister," he said, trying not to make Dylan feel uncomfortable. "Her name's Sylvia."

"Sounds hot," said Dylan.

Silas scowled. "She's married," he said, but chose to avoid the words and probably dead.

"Hey, chill, 's just a joke," said Dylan. "I just like making people feel uncomfortable. I actually don't hit on a lot of people."

Silas believed that. He was a bit too much of a goofball for that; he knew the type. He was the type, back when he was much smaller, back before Nico.

"What's Sylvia like?" he asked.

"She's okay," he answered. "Like eight years older than me, so she used to help with me a lot when my parents split up. Kind of a goody two-shoes, but really considerate. She, like, always stops by the house—she doesn't even live there anymore—to check up on us and bring take-out. Her husband's a lot like her, but quiet, and really shy. His name's Jake."

"She'll be okay," Dylan assured him, as if reading his thoughts. "People with that much light in their hearts can't be snuffed out by the darkness."

"I hope you're right," said Silas.

"I'm living proof," Dylan assured him.

"You've got a lot of light in you?" Silas asked, unconsciously bringing his fingers up to the left side of his chest. He pulled them back down before they could touch the cotton of his shirt.

"Araceli says, to a fault." He paused. "Hey, if I tell you something, you won't laugh?"

Dylan said it like a question, but Silas was surprised he didn't phrase it that way, "Yeah," said Silas. "I'm a good confidante." Nico taught him that word. In fact, he had told him himself that he was a good confidante, so it had to be true.

"A couple of weeks before I met Araceli—hitched a ride on her Gummi Ship, and she found me—I was fending myself off from some Heartless and wondered, well, how bad could it be? I'd been fighting alone for years. I didn't know how much longer I could do it. So I just put my gun down and stood there. Waited for a Neoshadow to take my heart."

That must have been another kind of Heartless. Dylan didn't say anything for a moment. Silas tried to speak, but had no words.

"I can tell the future, you know," he said, looking back at Silas with a giant grin on his face. "Sometimes. Probably not really. But I get these really strong feelings, sometimes, that have a history of being right. I had a feeling there, watching that Neoshadow barreling towards me. I felt like things were going to change. Maybe it was just survival instincts; maybe my mind forced itself to think that to keep me alive. Sometimes I don't trust my feelings.

But I chose to trust it. I picked up my gun and killed the Neoshadow. Found an abandoned house and crashed there for a few days. I had a feeling my future wasn't at that world, so I found a parked Gummi Ship, picked the lock, and hid inside. Something I'd done a lot before. That's when I met Araceli. I think she might have been the change I knew was coming."

Silas shook his head. Dylan just admitted to him that he nearly committed suicide, whether or not he chose to see it that way. "Dylan," he said, "why the fuck would I laugh at that?"

So, instead, Dylan laughed. "You're a really good guy, Silas."

There it was: the light. The cavern steeply expanded to a breathable width as they emerged in another clearing, with the sun from above shining down on them. Could they truly be beneath a hole from the earth into the underworld? Silas could only see a blue sky above him and, before him, a giant keyhole carved into the rock, blue veins of agate surrounding the shape like ivy.

"There it is," said Dylan. "Hades moved it after he shut down the Coliseum. Araceli told me she came here once before when the Coliseum was still up and running. Apparently it was full of a lot of really difficult fighting challenges."

"I'll bet," Silas mumbled. His Keyblade appeared in his hand, and, without hesitation, he lifted it and pointed it toward the keyhole. Like in Disney Castle, with a small beam of light and a click, the keyhole disappeared. He sighed in relief at not having to deal with any more Hook Bats hanging from the ceilings.

"Better get back," said Dylan. "Araceli's probably already there waiting for us."

So the two of them started another long, half-hour trek through the narrow pathway. Again, Dylan led them, and Silas glanced back at the light at least every minute until it was so far away it was just a pinprick. They didn't speak much at all on the trip back, and finally, what felt like hours later, the two of them arrived at the fork in the Underworld where they had left Araceli, but she wasn't there.

Silas could sense the tension in Dylan's voice when he said, looking at his watch, "Well, she's still got thirty minutes."

Thirty minutes came and went.