PrismRain13: hey guys! It's Prism here and you'll never guess what I've got for you!

Hades: *bored* a new chapter.

PrismRain13: party pooper... So in case you guys don't know; I'm coming up to exam time, so my updates are going to be slower than usual. So don't hate me if I don't update for a ridiculously long time period.

Hades: Prism owns nothing, yada, yada, yada.

Chapter 35: Trouble in the Underworld

Riku, West and Lea had no problems in finding the entrance to the Underworld. But, as for getting West down there, it was a bit more of a challenge. Both Riku and Lea had grabbed on to her arms and were literal trying to drag her down the stairs of the Underworld's entrance.

"No! Forget it! I'm not going down there! You can't make me!" West protested, resisting with all her strength against Lea and Riku's hold.

"Would you just relax already?!" Lea retorted. "We need to do this!" With one final tug all three of them comically tumbled down the steps, and finally landing in a tangled heap directly in the center of the Underworld's entrance.

"I really hate you guys right now, I hope you know that." West grumbled from underneath Lea.

"Yeah, but we all know that won't last long." Riku replied as the trio untangled themselves, winced from the small amount of pain and stood back up. Already they could feel the air around them weakening their combat strength. Looking around the Underworld, it didn't look that much different from when he saw it last. The floor and air were still stone cold the river was still filled with wayward souls and the Underdome was back to being locked up.

"I see Zeus still doesn't like the idea of death matches in the Underworld." West stated, moving to stand next to Riku, shaking a little due to her Underworld phobia.

"Wonder when he locked it back up after Sora left." Riku wondered. Sortly after they had all arrived back on the islands, Sora had told himself and Kairi everything he could about all the worlds he visited. Riku hadn't needed much explaining, considering what Sora had seen, he had seen a lot of himself.

"Uhh... Hate to break up your little moment, but don't we have a job to do?" Lea interrupted, stepping in between Riku and West. Both thief and Keyblade master lookedat each other and blushed when they realized how close they were standing together. Riku's arm had somehow managed to wrap around West's shoulders and West was leaning into his shoulder with her head nestled in the crook of his neck. They quickly separated and tried to hide their blushing faces but were hugely unsuccessful.

"Geez what's with you two?!" Lea exclaimed. "Seriously, get a room!"

"Lea, I swear if you don't shut up within the next five seconds I will kill you!" snarled Riku, summoning Way to Dawn in his hand. The look on West's face strongly suggested she wouldn't hesitate to do the same. Lea raised up his hands in defence and smiled innocently at both Riku and West, who both rolled their eyes at him.

"Can we please just use the stone, find whatever it is we're looking for and get out of here?! This place gets creepier by the minuite!" West exclaimed. Riku gave a nod of agreement before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out the golden Olympus Stone. He raised it above his head as the stone began to glow. The light from the stone surrounded himself, Lea and West as they all felt their strength return to them. It was like a giant weight was being lifted off their shoulders.

"Okay, if my memory's right, Hades's chamber should be right a the end of this hall. Let's get going." Riku explained, leading his group down a stone path with cold air. West shivered both due to her thin clothing and her fear of the scenery around her. Before the thief could stop herself, she clung on to Riku's arm. Lea couldn't help but snicker under his breath which earned him a glare from the young Keyblade master.

Surprisingly, they hadn't run into two many heartless. The few they did run into were dealt with easily. Fighting had gotten West's mind off her fear and she seemed to relax a little. Both Riku and Lea were having no problem in dealing with whatever heartless came their way.

In a short amount of time, they had found themselves at the entrance to Hades's chamber with the green river of death flowing underneath the tall canyon they were standing on. Riku stepped in front of the group and yanked open the door to the chamber and walked inside, followed by Lea and West.

It was the same as Riku remembered; a round table in the centre for battle planning, the tall, dark throne at the head of the room and an open wall leading right to the river of death.

There was one new addition to the room that caught Riku's eye. A blue, crystallized statue of a young woman with long hair tied in a side ponytail. As Riku squinted at the statue, he noticed faint tears down her cheeks. Lea's eyes widened as soon as the statue came into view and rushed in front of it.

"I know her... Serah Farron..." Lea realized. "Guys, I know who Hades hired-" But before Lea could finish, dark smoke-like chains wrapped around the three of them, binding them tightly around their wrists, arms, legs and torsos with an iron-like hold. Riku, Lea and West struggled against their bonds just as Hades appeared in front of them in a puff of smoke.

"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise." Hades smirked. "I wasn't expecting guests."

"Cut the crap, Hades!" West exclaimed, pulling at the bonds around her wrists. "You planned this, didn't you?!"

"Got that right, freckles." Replied Hades, turning to Riku. "Call it lucky that one of the key-swingers decided to tag along. So, let's cut to the chase; some buddies of mine got locked up by Zeus a couple years ago. You, Riku are going to help me bust some friends of mine out of the slammer with that key of yours."

"And why would I want to do that?" challenged Riku while Hades's smirk grew.

"Oh, I think you will." with a snap of his fingers West disappeared in a puff of dark smoke, then reappeared hovering over the river of death. The thief released a high-pitched shriek of fear once she noticed where she was and started struggling harder.

"Wait! You're just going to drop her? That's really low, man." Lea questioned fron his position on the ground, still struggling to get loose but making no progress.

"Call it payback for what spiky and Jerkules did to me last year. That's how it's going to be if Riku here doesn't cooperate." Hades replied, turning back towards Riku. "So what's it going to be kid? You going to help me out, or is freckles here going to be swimming with a new unlively crowd?"

"Riku no! Don't! You can't-" West started before she was cut off by more smoke draping over her mouth, silencing her. But the thief still released muffled screams and still kept struggling.

"Shut up!" Hades exclaimed.

"Hades, leave her alone." Riku spoke in a calm, yet dangerous tone.

"Really?! I'm just going to be ignored again?! What's with you people?! Why am I always the third wheel?!" Lea exclaimed from his position on the floor, showing little concern for his situation.

"I'm not ignoring you," Hades smirked. "You'll be joining freckles."

"...okay... That's not what I meant." Lea said awkwardly.

"You know, I still don't get why you keep her around." Hades stated, ignoring Lea. "She can't do any magic, she's clumsy, she can't even fight the easiest boss alone. In fact, if I got rid of her, I might even be helping your little team out. You can thank me later!" Hades raised his hand, about to let West fall, her eyes widening in fear. Riku felt his usual calm persona slipping away from him. He already failed West one, he couldn't loose her again. His breathing became heavier and heavier.

"STOP!" Riku exclaimed, just before Hades could snap his fingers and capturing everyone's attention. "I'll do it, I'll free them. Just don't hurt her!"

"Guess this proves my theory about your weakness." Hades smirked. He snapped his fingers again, causing West to disappear and then reappear next to Lea, breathing heavily into her smoke gag. Riku barely had time to sigh in relief before Hades grabbed his shoulder and started dragging him across the room. "Come on, kid. I haven't got all day!"

Riku gave one last look at the bound forms of West and Lea, before being shoved into a black bat-wing decorated carriage with a black winged horse at the front. Hades, Pain and Panic climbed in next to him and Hades grabbed the reins. They lifted off and flew out of Hades's Chamber at a tremendous speed through the Underworld, Riku's friends shrinking into the distance.

Finally they flew out of the Underworld and over a giant ocean. Riku remained quiet throughout the entire ride, giving up on struggling through the smoke chains holding him prisoner. He felt Hades placed a cold hand on his shoulder as Riku looked up at the god.

"Just like old times huh, kid?" Hades laughed. "Ya know, Maleficent told me that you still have a place with us. Just ditch the wannabe heroes and you'll be back in the loop."

Riku glared up a Hades for suggesting such a thing. "I'm not ditching my friends. I don't care what Maleficent offers me or what she has to say; I'm not letting the darkness take me again!"

"Whatever you say, it was just a suggestion." Hades smirked. "Guess the hostage situation is more your style. Man, you've changed."

At that moment, a beam of light rained down from the sky and into the ocean. As Riku looked up he noticed the beam was caused by five stars being perfectly aligned. The water below them was turning into a whirlpool until the bottom of the ocean was visible. Riku's eyes widened at what he saw; bars made out of lightning bolts, keeping four giant titans from escaping.

Hades snapped his fingers and the smoke chains binding Riku vanished. But, before the silver-haired boy could do anything, Hades grabbed his shoulder and whispered into his ear,

"Try anything funny and freckles and fire-boy will be the Underworld's newest residents." Hades threatened while Riku only gave a short nod before summoning Way to Dawn in his hands. Hades leaned over the edge of his carriage ad smiled a sharp toothy grin at the titans. "Brothers! Titans! Look at you in your squalid prison! Who put you down there?!" Hades demanded.

"ZEUS!" The Titans roared back. In a split second, Hades pulled Riku in front of him and pointed to the Titans, making his intentions clear. Riku gulped before pointing his Keyblade at the imprisoned Titans.

I'm sorry. Riku thought, before a beam of light shot out of the tip of Way to Dawn and hit the lock on the prison.

"And now that I set you free, what is the first thing you are going to do?!" Hades demanded with a cackle. He pulled Riku behind him now that his part was done and the smoke chains reappeared binding around his torso and wrists.

"DESTROY HIM!" The Titans replied with a roar, climbing one by one out of their prison and making their way towards Olympus.

"Good answer."

~*KHIII*~

Meanwhile, back on Olympus, Kairi, Mickey and Max were finishing up their battle with Myde. With Max and Mickey destroying his final water clones and Kairi delivering the final blow to Myde's chest with a strong blow from her Keyblade. Myde tumbled backwards, dropping the bag of Olympus stones and colliding into one of the pillars.

"We'll just take these back now." Max said, picking up the bag. Mickey stepped in front of Myde and pointed his Keyblade at his chest.

"Okay, Myde. You've got a lot of explaining to do!" Mickey exclaimed just as Zeus appeared next to him in a puff of white smoke, drawing a lightning bolt from behind his back.

"Such as, what's my brother, Hades planning?!" Snarled Zues. Myde gulped in fear as Zeus looked absolutely terrifying when he was angry, even Mickey looked scared of him. Still, Myde didn't answer, he just sat there staring at the god.

Zeus was about to speak again, before another one of the gods burst through the gates, capturing everyone's attention. He was considerably smaller and skinnier than the others with glowing sky blue skin and dark blue hair. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes and he was dressed in a white toga with golden sandals and helmet both with white wings attached to them and holding a gold staff.

Mickey recognized him as Hermes, the messenger god. And by the looks of things, he had bad news.

"Oh, we're in trouble! Oh, big trouble! I gotta-" Hermes muttered to himself before coming to a screeching halt in front of Zeus. "My Lord, the Titans have escaped! And they're practically at our gates!"

"What?! The Titans?!" Zeus exclaimed in shock. "Sound the alarm! Launch an immediate counterattack! Go! Go!"

"I'm gone!" Hermes nodded, flying off to warn the rest of the gods.

"Well, I guess that awnsers your question about Hades. Looks like my job's done." Myde said, pushing himself up to his feet. "I'm outta here; way too much fighting for my taste!" And before anyone had a chance to react, Myde disappeared through a corridor of darkness.

"So that's why he was stealing the Olympus stones and why Hades arranged that match!" Kairi realized. "To separate and distract us while he carried out his real plan!"

"But, how'd the Titans escape?" Mickey asked. "You locked them up."

"I did." Zeus replied. "I used my strongest bolts. The only things that could ever have unlocked it were my power and... a Keyblade."

"But there are only four Keyblades out there right now, and they're on our team." Max pointed out. "Kairi and the king are here, Sora's down in the Coliseum and Riku..."

"Hades must have forced him somehow; he'd never do anything like this willingly unless there was a good reason." Kairi quickly jumped in before anyone could say anything.

Zues only nodded once and whistled as Hermes came whizzing back in front of him. He took the bag of Olympus stones from Max, reached in, pulled out one of the stones and tossed it to Hermes.

"Hermes, I need you to go down to the Underworld and see what you can find; the rest of us will handle things up here."

"But-but- my Lord. The Underworld's dark... And scary... And..." Hermes stammered, shaking slightly.

"Hermes, some of our friends might be trapped down there!" Mickey argued. "We don't have time to argue!"

"Okay... I'm going..." Hermes gulped, flying out of Olympus and down to the Underworld.

"Okay then, looks like we've got some Titans to send back." Kairi said, drawing her Keyblade while Zeus picked up a handful of lightning bolts. "Who's up for this?!" Both Mickey and Max nodded on either side of her, ready to fight just as the four Titans burst through the gates. The battle for Olympus had begun.

~*KHIII*~

Back in the Underworld, West and Lea still lay in Hades's Chamber struggling against their bonds. West had been worried for Riku ever since Hades took him, but couldn't talk because she was still gagged. They had tried almost everything to escape from trying to cut the smoke chains with West's knife to Lea trying to burn them.

"We really need to get out of this." Lea stated. "Any other ideas?"

West shook her head, small tears drizzling down her cheeks. Lea sighed in defeat while West's eyes narrowed and she began to pull harder at her retrainsts. She winced and whimpered though her gag as the smoke chains painfully dug into her skin.

"Hey, easy. You're going to hurt yourself." Lea told her while West just glared at him, said something mumbed through her gag and struggled harder. This time, she released a small shriek as one of the chains cut her hand. "Look, I know you're worried about Riku. But you have to keep your head. Riku gave himself up to save you! If you end up slitting your wrist then he'll have freed Hades's buddies for nothing!"

West glanced down at the floor guiltily. Tears welled up in her eyes, but nodded her understanding. Suddenly, Hermes flew into the chamber, gasping at the sight of West and Lea.

"Oh my gods! Are you two okay?!" He demanded.

"Define 'okay'." Lea asked sarcastically.

"Right. Got it." Hermes stammered. He raised his staff and in a flash of golden light, the chains vanished from West and Lea's bodies. West wasted no time in jumping to her feet and pulling out her knife.

"What are we waiting for?!" West exclaimed. "We need to get Riku back!" She was just about to run out of the chamber when Lea grabbed her wrist and pulled her against him. Her movement was restricted as she squirmed against the ex-nobody. "Lea! Let me go! I need to help him!"

"And do what?!" Lea questioned. "We don't stand a chance with just the two of us against Hades AND whoever he made Riku free. We'll only be making it worse!" West calmed down and stopped struggling as Lea finally let go of her.

"Right now we need to get back up to the Coliseum, warn everybody and get up to Olympus." Hermes agreed. "I'll go back up there first and let the king the rest of your team know you're okay." Both West and Lea nodded as Hermes flew out of the Underworld, all the way back to Olympus.

"Do you think Riku will be okay?" West asked with concern, fiddling with one of her pigtails.

"He'll survive fine for as long as he has to. Me and him are stubborn that way." Lea scoffed while West rolled her eyes. He moved over to Serah's crystallized form before hauling her over his shoulders. "We need to show Lightning this; no doubt Hades has been playing her by telling her he can get Serah back."

"And you think this Lightning person's just going to change sides now?" Wesr asked.

"Hey, I know Lightning. Without the life of her sister holding her back, there's no way she'd be working for Hades." Lea replied. "By the way, you're going to have to do most of the fighting if we run into any heartless."

Both West and Lea nodded to each other before rushing out of the darkness of the Underworld. With a crystallized Serah with them, they made their way back up to the Coliseum.

PrismRain13: yeah, I couldn't resist adding more character development for West and little moments between her and Riku. Great job for those of you who guessed right for Lightning's reasons for helping Hades.

Hades: I'm horrible, aren't I?

PrismRain13: So, I know I'm basically using the movie did, but c'mon; how could they not have used this plot line in the games?! It would have totally worked! And yeah, there's supposed to be five Titans. But I decided to leave the Cyclopes out because he'd mess up what I have planned for this world. Maybe he could be a secret boss? Don't forget to review! T'ill next time!