Me: Capitulo Treinta!
Char: Wow, it kind of surprises me that you remember that far back in Spanish 1...
Me: (gives her a dry glare)
Char: (returns it) Look, just because you want .hack/Outbreak so badly and have to go swim this morning, doesn't mean you get to take it out on me.
Me: Actually, you're a PART of me!
Char: So that makes you a masochist.
Me: ...I hate you... Anyway, I was going to make this chapter longer, but A) it was already about the length of my previous ones (9-10 pages on MS Word) and B) 51 is such an ugly numberrrr )':
Char: You're review-whoring again...

Disclaimer- Not now, not ever.

"You!" Sora gasped, staring in shock at the black-hooded figure. He realized only after saying that that this could be any member of the Organization – not necessarily the guy from before. However, as the person jolted, startled, and turned to face them, Sora became certain that it was the same one. His grip tightened around his Keyblade when he saw the golden stone standing out against the black glove. That must be the Olympus stone.

"Ah! You!" the Nobody parroted back. One hand flicked up to his hood and let it fall, revealing dark blond hair and large green eyes.

Sora suddenly felt a pain in his head and put his hand up to it. He didn't know why, but this man seemed familiar to him.

"Sora, are you okay?" asked Donald, looking worriedly at him.

Sora knew he had to at least pretend to be brave for his friends, and smiled back at him. "Yeah," he answered, slowly taking his hand away from his head.

The Nobody stared at Sora intently, and then raised a finger, as if in realization. "Roxas?"

Sora blinked. "Excuse me?" That girl called me that, too, at the Land of Dragons. Is… is she in league with the Organization?
The man sighed. "Oh yeah, I forgot it's no use."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Sora demanded, readying his newest Keyblade, which he had christened Hero's Crest. "What's going on?"

Even now, a familiar situation was unfolding in his head: a blond, spiky-haired boy was standing in front of a red-clad man and what looked like an Organization member; standing in a white room with the Kingdom Key held defensively in front of him.

If anything, the Nobody ignored Sora, taking out a piece of paper. "Let's see…" he murmured, scanning the note intently. " 'Demyx – If the subject fails to respond, use aggression to liberate his true disposition'… right…" He sighed. "Did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one…"
"You're kidding, right?" Donald muttered.

At that moment, Demyx – if that indeed was the Nobody's name – held up the Olympus stone. Goofy gasped and pointed at him. "He's gotta be the thief!"

Demyx's eyes widened, offended. "Now that's just plain rude!" he complained, holding the stone up higher. A few tendrils of golden light snaked around him, glowing green as they completed their journey around the dark-clad body, as if healing him.

In a burst of bubbles, a silver-and-blue sitar had appeared in Demyx's hands. "Dance, water! Dance!" he chanted, his fingers dancing over the neck.

Sora got into his battle stance. He thought of Char, waiting up above, and felt a new surge of resolve. I have to get done here soon, he mused.

Char could only stare despondently up at the once magnificent coliseum, now in ruins in a gaunt imitation of what it used to be. The crackling of fire all around her reached her ears only dimly, and she felt a burst of nausea inside her as she caught side of all the smoking corpses of the audience. The image of Ryou at the Land of Dragons went through her mind.

And you were right inside the lobby while it all happened.

As she looked on, a surge of violet caught her eye. A long, reptilian tail was knocking one of the coliseum's golden columns to the ground – a tail that was attached to a gargantuan, many-headed body. Slitted pupils met Char's own eyes, then narrowed. The Hydra threw its main head back and roared.

She stared numbly at it, ignoring the pain that was building in her leg at standing there for so long. The pain, however, was accompanied by a flame of frustration, slowly kindling inside her until it reached a boiling point.

And the Hydra was the direction of that boiling point.

You're always too late, the voice inside her head taunted. You sat by and let it happen. Again.

One would think that, after two times of failing to protect, that one would take the hint and be in time. But apparently Char was too dense to realize that.

The Hydra roared again, but this time it was accompanied by a snarl from the injured human below. Char summoned her twin blades and charged at the Hydra, her anger at the situation eclipsing the pain.

If it truly was her fault, then it was her responsibility to take care of things.

"Well, if it isn't everyone's favorite hero washout," Hades greeted, ignoring the glares sent his way. He took a few steps back, looking out at the ominous lake. "You really blew it this time," he chuckled.

Sora crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades."

"Can it, Key-boy!" Hades snapped, whirling around.

Sora realized that Char used to call him that, and bit back the impatience to get back that was gnawing at him. He simply directed his gaze at Hades, and if looks could kill, the lord of the dead would have probably been fly fodder.

"Then let me," Hercules cut in. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades."

"Yeah, yeah," Hades muttered. "Styx and stones and all that." He looked at them like he had just remembered something. "Hey, maybe – just maybe – you should go and check on that Hydra you failed to finish off. I hear things are really falling apart up there, champ."

Hercules and Sora's eyes widened, while Donald and Goofy gasped. "Oh no," Hercules murmured, and broke into a run toward the stairs.

"Wait up!" Goofy cried, following the hero. Donald cast a few healing spells on Sora's wounds from the fight with Pete and ran after the others.

Sora glared at Hades. "What happened?"

Hades shrugged. "Let's just say your lady friend might need some help."

Sora didn't mean to, but a gasp escaped his throat of its own volition. "You didn't – don't tell me –"

In response, the lord of the dead waved a hand and vanished in a puff of smoke. "I'd love to stay and watch," Hades' disembodied voice assured, "but I've got some business to attend to."

"Business; yeah right," Sora muttered, with less conviction than he felt. He knew that the scorn in his words was a vain attempt to stave off his growing worry; a worry that kicked his heart into high gear and sent an uncomfortable feeling through him.

He raced up the stairs, nearly tripping in his ardor. When he had reached the top, his eyes widened.

If the destruction from his first fight with Cerberus had looked unfixable, Sora thought that it had been a scraped knee compared to this. The coliseum, set aflame, was in ruin.

But that wasn't what had roused him. It was the sight of the dark purple-scaled monster, many-headed and swinging its tail about, causing even more rubble to cascade down. And near it, tiny compared to the Hydra, was none other than a certain injured redhead, dodging every attack thrown at her and whipping her swords about in an intricate silver blur.

Hercules fell to his knees. "This can't be…"

Sora stared sympathetically at Hercules, then looked at Char. Apparently she was just finishing a series of attacks to the Hydra's side, because she landed unsteadily on her feet near the massive dragon. She glanced back and snarled, "About time you idiots got here!" Threatening as her words were, heavy panting punctuated them.

"How long have you been out here?" Donald asked, raising his staff to cast a Fira spell on the Hydra. It roared in anger, but kept its attention on Char.

"A while, thanks for asking," Char grunted sarcastically.

Meanwhile, Meg, Phil, and Pegasus had come over to stand beside Hercules. "Apparently she came out here, found the Hydra, and held it off," Meg explained, looking worriedly at Hercules. She sighed when he turned away. "It's not your fault! Hades would have sent the Hydra out again no matter what!"

"And you're safe," Phil added, in an obviously strained attempt to console him.

"I failed… I left everyone unprotected… Maybe Hades was right – maybe I am just a washout." Hercules shook his head.

"Aw, come on!" Sora said. "This is no time to beat yourself up!"

Inside, though, guilt nauseated him. It's just like the Land of Dragons… His fist clenched. People are still getting hurt because of me!

"A little help would be nice!" Char roared over her shoulder, blocking the Hydra's vicious fangs with her swords. She eventually pushed the dagger-like teeth away and used the momentum to roll to the side.

"Oh, right!" Sora drew the Hero's Crest, shaking his head free of the guilt, and ran over to stand beside Char, dodging the Hydra's lashing, whip-like tail.

She glanced at him, her face twisted in obvious exhaustion. "Hey, Key-boy," she muttered.

Sora winced inwardly at remembering that that was what Hades had called him. Maybe Char and the lord of the dead weren't so different after all. The brunette just smiled weakly in reply. "Sorry we couldn't get here sooner," he said. The last part turned into a grunt as he leaped just out of reach of the Hydra's onslaught. "Pete got in the way, and the cave he was keeping Meg in almost collapsed on top of us."

"Tell her later," Goofy called, narrowly avoiding one of the Hydra's heads, as it had swung its neck toward him to unbalance him. "We gotta stop this thing!"

"No crap," Char growled under her breath. She whipped to the side and, in the same movement, flung one of her blades toward an exposed, scaly neck. The Hydra roared in agony as the head flew off of its body, bringing a string of purplish-black blood with it.

"One down," Sora said, but his smile faded when another head simply grew in its place. "Oh, geez…"

"Yeah, that's the problem with this damn thing." Char's angry comment was followed by a sharp gasp as the new head swung at her, knocking her to the ground. Donald moved to cast a healing spell on her, but she was back on her feet almost at once and glaring at him. "I'm fine," she grunted, shaking one arm and causing blood to sprinkle onto the sand. "I made it this far, didn't I?"

Without waiting for a response, she rushed at the Hydra again, if not a little ungainly in her step.

"Sora!" Phil suddenly screamed.

The brunette looked briefly over his shoulder, but gasped in pain when one of the Hydra's claws scored across it, ripping the padding on his shoulder. "Phil, we don't have time for this; we're busy trying to make 'hero' as it is!" he called, slicing in a zigzag motion up and down the Hydra's exposed torso.

"I know, I know; just listen!" Phil yelled back. "If you need some help, get on the Hydra's back!"

"Right!"

Sora scrambled out of reach of the flailing tail and managed to land just behind the five heads. Sensing something amiss, the Hydra shrieked and swung its tail about even more frantically.

"So what's the plan?" Sora asked. He felt very much like a fly as the Hydra shook violently, trying to get him off its back.

"Use this!" Phil threw one of the training pots at Sora, who slashed it open with his Keyblade. As the splintering fragments pelted the Hydra's necks, three of the heads fell wriggling to the ground, where Char, Donald, and Goofy made quick work of them.

"Now this looks way easier," Char muttered.

Goofy glanced at her, even then swiping across one of the necks with the sharp part of his shield. "How long didja have to stay out here?"

Char shrugged. "A while," she muttered, glancing hatefully down at her burned leg. "Stupid Hydra ripped apart the entire coliseum while I was sitting there in the damned lobby, thinking about my stupid life!"

"We know it wasn't your fault," Donald said, glaring at her. "So stop complaining! We have a bigger issue right now anyway!"

"I'm not saying it was my fault!" Char hissed in return. "I'm saying that it could have been avoided. I'm saying that even though I was here, I did nothing!" Her frustration was clearly rising; it reminded Donald and Goofy of the little boy Ryou, and the village at the Land of Dragons.

"Uh, guys?" Sora called, leaping down from the Hydra's back. "Don't we have two more heads to take care of?"

"Oh, right!" Goofy raced toward one side. "C'mon, Donald!"

"I'm coming!" the duck grumbled, and before Char could say anything, he had cast a Cura spell on her and followed Goofy into the fray.

"Oy, duck boy! I didn't say you could do that!" Char yelled, but he just ignored her.

She sighed, but Sora could tell that she felt infinitely better than earlier. "Well, let's go kill this thing!" Without waiting for a response, she charged at the Hydra and slashed at its necks with new vigor.

Sora followed a little more sedately, still wondering about her anger from earlier. He raised his Keyblade and slashed the necks, hitting them at the same time Char's blades made contact with the Hydra.

There was a moment of tense silence; then the heads fell to the ground and Donald and Goofy mercilessly attacked them.

"Please don't grow any more; please don't grow any more," Sora prayed, crossing his fingers. Char rolled her eyes at him, but her fists tightened on the hilts of her swords, as though she agreed with his sentiment.

Suddenly, without warning, one of the heads shot up from the ground and snapped at Char's hands. She jerked them out of the way just in time, but the gaping teeth closed around her swords, and with a crunching of teeth against steel, the Hydra had bitten the old blades cleanly in half.

Char stared in shock at them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked on in shock and dread, each knowing what was coming next. After a few moments, she glared at the Hydra with blazing blue eyes. "Damn you," she snarled. "I had those since I was twelve!"

Abruptly she whipped toward Sora, snatching something from him. Sora flinched away, having the odd idea that she would hit him, but then realized that she held the shining gold Hero's Crest Keyblade.

Raising the Keyblade high above her head, Char grunted, "Ceremony be damned," before bringing the golden sword down hard upon the scaly snake of the neck. The shaft of the Keyblade cut through the flesh like a knife through hot butter, and with a spray of black blood, the head fell away.

They all waited nervously, but thankfully, the body stayed still, without spawning any more new heads. Instead, a low groaning sound came from the body, and then it collapsed to the side with an unbalancing rumble and moved no more.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Sora plopped down on the rubble next to Hercules. "Whew," he sighed, calling the Hero's Crest back to him. "That was… pretty exhausting." He looked at Char, not without a bit of anxiety at what she might do. She stared evenly back at him. "Char… thanks for holding it off," he muttered at last. For some reason, he found it hard to meet her eyes. "I mean… with your condition and all…"

"Don't worry about it," Char interrupted; but as she spoke, it sounded like she was speaking past a lump in her throat. She shrugged, staring at the ground next to her. "What was I supposed to do, sit here and let the Hydra eat me alive? It already ate my weapon anyway," she added bitterly.

"Oh, yeah…" Sora blinked. He could understand her anger a little; if she had really been using those swords since she was twelve, then that made four years she had experienced with those blades. He couldn't explain it, but it was a feeling of attachment he had always nurtured toward the Kingdom Key. "I'm sorry; we'll take care of it," he offered pathetically.

Hercules sighed, breaking into their conversation. "I failed, again. I'm just… no use."

"It's not your fault," Meg said immediately. "Even a god would be exhausted."

"She's right, you know," Donald remarked. "You need some down time."

"There won't be any games for a while, anyway," Goofy offered in a vain attempt at optimism.

Meg smiled a little dryly at them. "Don't worry about it; I'll take care of him."

Phil pointedly cleared his throat.

The brown-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Fine – we'll take care of him." She scowled slightly at the giggles the group had to suppress. "Sora, Donald, Goofy… and you too, Char… I owe you all big time."

Char looked up in puzzlement. "But… I didn't do anything."

"You fought the Hydra until Sora could take it down, even though you were hurt," Phil cut in. "I'd say that's pretty hero-worthy." At these words, Char darted her eyes away in embarrassment.

"Hey!" Donald squawked indignantly. "What about us?! We fought the Hydra, too!"

"But we weren't hurt as badly as she was," Sora reminded the duck. He looked modestly at Hercules. "Honestly, I don't want the title of 'hero.' If I can help someone, that's enough for me."

Char rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "How cheesy." Sora pouted at that.

"But hey, just let us know if the Heartless or Hades start acting up. We'll take care of it," he assured the Olympians. Suddenly he realized something. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot – the Olympus stone." He reached into his pocket and withdrew it. Hercules stood to take it, and Sora held it out. But before the hero could take it, a bright light glowed from the stone, and it lifted up into the air.

"Another gate," Sora murmured, as the Hero's Crest glowed as well. He raised it, and like the previous times, the telltale beam of light revealed the dark clouds of the area between worlds.

"We'll see you all later," Goofy told the others, grinning broadly.

"Hope that Keyblade works well for you, kid," Phil called to Sora.

"And Char?" Hercules added. "I hope you get better soon."

Char sighed, and even though her back was turned, she still repressed the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance. She hated being patted and coddled and given sympathy. "Thanks, Herc."

She glanced at Sora, feeling suddenly awkward. "Um…"

Thankfully, the Keybearer took the hint. Holding her shoulder, he guided her toward the Gummi ship.

When they were all inside, Donald sighed heavily, plopping down on the co-pilot's seat. "This world creeps me out," he grumbled. "I'm glad we're out of it."

"You and me both," Char agreed. She gently unwound Sora's arm from around her shoulders. "I can take it from here," she told him quietly. Ignoring his skeptical look, she limped over and eased herself onto a spare blanket on the floor.

"Wow, it kinda surprises me that you two're agreein' on something," Goofy remarked. Donald gave him a vicious look in reply.

"My only question is, where should we go now?" Sora wondered from the pilot's seat. He leaned his face against a propped up fist, tapping his cheek with a finger on the same hand. "I mean, we can't exactly go visit anybody else until Char gets better…"

"It's fine," Char interrupted immediately, glaring at Sora. He flinched away; she hadn't acted this openly hostile since they had first met in Twilight Town. "Just drop me off at Hollow Bastion or something, and you can continue finding more worlds."

"That's actually a good idea," Donald mused.

"But we can't do that," Sora protested fervently. "I mean…" He looked away, oddly feeling heat rise within him. "I'd feel bad if we left you behind; that's all," he mumbled.

Char blinked. "Um… thanks, Sora." She felt her cheeks starting to turn traitorously red, and ordered the blush to stop at once. It didn't help when she saw Donald and Goofy exchange glances.

"Well," she muttered, "we could still go to Hollow Bastion, I guess…"

"Yeah, that works," Sora acquiesced. "We could go wait for a little bit while you recover, and see Leon and the others, too." He glanced at Donald. "How long did you say it would be?"

"About a week, seventeen days, tops," the duck confirmed.

"Well, that's good," Sora said, but inside he felt a pang. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling like they would regret waiting. The image of Kairi went through his mind, and the feeling intensified. One of your friends is hurt, he reminded himself. It's only fair if you stay with her, right?

"Okay, is it settled?" asked Goofy. "We're goin' to Hollow Bastion?"

"Guess so," Char shrugged. She got laboriously to her feet, taking the blanket with her. "I'm gonna go to the back of the ship for a bit."

Donald sighed in relief. "I knew you wouldn't feel like piloting after that…"

Char glared pointedly at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, you're such a bad navigator that you might land us in Maleficent's castle or something…"

"Okay," Sora cut in hastily. "Let's just go, okay?"

Char grunted in response and headed to the back room.

"Sora, you're worried about her, aren't ya?" Goofy questioned, as soon as the door had swung shut.

Sora shrugged. "Well, yeah – aren't you?"

"It's just because she needs to get her strength back," Donald said defensively.

The other two stared at him. "Donald, we didn't even say anything," Goofy pointed out.

Char sighed as soon as the door had swung shut. She slid down the wall, pushing her fingers through her bangs and wincing as her leg twinged.

The others' voices reached her even though the barrier of the door. "You're worried about her, aren't ya?"

"Well, yeah – aren't you?"

The redhead stared determinedly at the wall ahead of her as she listened. Even now a lump was forming in her throat and moisture was coming to her eyes. Stop it, she scolded mentally. This is no time to cry. You have to get better for Sora.

For Sora? Since when had her mission's objective changed? She was only here to guide Sora to the path of her and DiZ's revenge.

For Riku and Master, then, she corrected, a little half-heartedly.

She gathered the blanket around herself, and before she knew it she had fallen into a deep sleep; relieving herself briefly of the anger and shame she felt.

After robotically following Hayner and the others around for a while, Anxclof's internal clock told her that sunset was getting close. She felt rather relieved at a chance to get away from the trio for a while; every move they made conjured up the question of Roxas' time in Twilight Town, not to mention their annoying attempts to include her in their conversation. It took a bit, but Olette finally got the hint from Anxclof's noncommittal responses and told Hayner and Pence to leave the Nobody alone.

In reality, Anxclof was worried. She herself didn't even know why, but she felt an unmistakable concern toward this town and the people in it.

"Hey, Anxclof!" The brunette snapped out of her reverie in time to hear Hayner's words. She gave him an expectant look. "Yeah?"

Olette gave Hayner a sharp shove in the ribs with her elbow and a hard stare. The blond ignored her, though not without wincing a little in pain at the jab. "Twilight Town's annual festival is coming up," he went on, then added dryly, "I know you don't want to be here for too long…"

Anxclof flinched despite herself. Was it that obvious?

Hayner's smug glance was her answer, and he folded his arms across his chest as he continued. "But Pence and I were kinda wondering if you wanted to be here long enough to enjoy it with us."

Anxclof blinked. She hadn't felt included in something like this since her days in the Organization, when she and Axel had been the local troublemakers. She tried to swallow and found her throat constricted with ironic emotion. Again, what she had told Char went through the Nobody's mind: We may not have hearts, but we remember what it's like.

"Hayner, she clearly doesn't want to," Pence murmured uneasily.

Anxclof directed her eyes at him. "Who said I didn't?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Hayner grinned. "All right!"

Olette only sighed.

"So," Anxclof went on, not even knowing why she was so interested, "if I'm going to be at this 'festival' thingy, what all's gonna be happening?" She lifted her gloved hands and did air-quotes with her fingers on the word "festival."

"Well, first you've got the competitive part," Hayner began. "It's kinda like a normal Struggle tournament, except there are no orbs or anything."

"Struggle tournament? Is that some kind of thing where you beat the crap out of each other for points?" Anxclof asked the question more for the benefit of the others, since all they knew was that she wasn't from Twilight Town. Roxas had actually told her about the Struggles yesterday.

She was surprised when tears didn't spring to her cheeks at thinking of her friend – partly surprised and partly relieved.

"Pretty much, yeah," the blond confirmed, grinning a little at her comparison. "So, first you've got that. It'll be a great chance to get back at Seifer and his gang!" he went on, pounding his fist into his other, open hand.

"Seifer?" Anxclof muttered to Olette, even as Hayner started on about how exactly he would defeat Seifer.

"We – that is, me, Pence, and Hayner, as well as Seifer and his friends – we've been rivals since we were really little," explained Olette in an equally low voice. "We always try to beat each other at everything. Hayner goes a little overboard with it sometimes, as you can see."

"Hey! I heard that!" Hayner barked, causing the girls to smirk slightly.

"A-anyway, after the Struggle, there's a silent auction," Pence went on, looking bemusedly at his friend's enthusiasm.

"And then there's the actual party – like, with music and dancing and stuff," Olette finished, smiling brightly.

Anxclof winced. "Ugh – dancing? Sorry, but you'll have to leave me out on that." At the others' curious looks, she continued, "Let's just say that while I don't exactly have two left feet, the two feet I do have are more suited to the battlefield."

Hayner brightened subtly as she said the last part. "So, are you going to enter the Struggle?" he asked.

She shrugged in response. "I guess so." Inside, though, the bubbles of anticipation had started to rise. The last thing she had taken down by herself had been Sora, but even then, such a worthy opponent had ironically been unprepared. Her battle muscles were aching to be exercised.

Suddenly, they all heard a grumbling noise. Hayner, Olette, and Anxclof glanced at Pence. The boy grinned, a bit sheepishly. "It's almost dinnertime?"

"Yeah, I think we're all a little hungry," Anxclof conceded. The incident reminded her of earlier today, when her hunger had given her away.

The four of them started toward a new restaurant, with Hayner in the lead. Anxclof sighed once she was out of earshot of the others, dragging along at the back like before. The feeling of worry was still there, but for some reason she could not truly call it "worry."

What was it?

No numbers throughout the chapter! Aren't you happy? :D Although one of these days, I'll just stick a (1) in there somewhere, just to say hi.
Anxclof: Way to be obnoxious.
Me: Thank you! Next chapter, Sora and co. head for Hollow Bastion, and Anxclof meets the nefarious Seifer!
Char: She's also trying to decide if she should stick Zack from Final Fantasy VII in there, but since she doesn't know much about him, she probably won't.
Me: And in my defense - AERITH is dead too, and they put HER in KH2! (sigh)