The hotel was silent as Sora sat beside the bed. His eyes fixed upon the unconscious Ruby with a look of sorrowful worry. She had been with him through so much of this. Even when Donald and Goofy abandoned him to follow Riku, she stayed by him. Stuck with him through everything. He'd not known anyone half as loyal and wonderful as her since Riku and Kairi. Even though they likely wouldn't see each other again after the worlds were restored...he'd forever be grateful for everything she did for him. He only hoped that she woke up in time for him to tell her that.

"Sora?"

Sora's attention was drawn from Ruby by the familiar voice behind him. A voice he would recognize as sure as the blue eyes and red hair of the girl it belonged to. "Kairi? What are you doing here?" he asked.

Kairi entered the room, closing the door behind her as she approached the bed. "I heard from Cid that you and the others came back recently. I...overheard Weiss explaining everything that happened to Winter." she said, a look of sadness touching her face. A sadness that confirmed she truly did mean 'everything'. "I'm...so sorry." she apologized as she saw the flash of sorrow in Sora's eyes.

Sora's gaze shifted back to Kairi, concerned about her unexpected apology. "Don't say that, Kairi. It's...not like it's your fault." he assured her. Kairi was just as much a victim to everything that had happened.

Seeing the sorrow in Sora's eyes, Kairi decided to not speak further about everything she mentioned, and simply turned to Ruby. "Is she going to be alright?" she asked. Given how long Sora had been in here with her, she was growing very concerned about the sweet and loyal huntress.

"Yeah. She'll wake up. Cid says she just needs time to rest." Sora said, a spark of relief working its way into his voice. He smiled weakly as he looked at her along with Kairi. "You know...Ruby was one of the first people I met after our world was lost. She's been such a wonderful friend. So honest and full of cheer and life..." he went on, his hand subconsciously closing around the lucky charm Kairi gave him. "It's thanks to her that I had somebody else to keep me going. As we found more and more of her friends, she helped me keep hope that I would find you and Riku too. And I did," His smile turned to Kairi. "It was thanks to all my friends...especially Ruby...that I found you again, Kairi."

The sight of him holding good luck charm so securely made Kairi smile and giggle heartily. "I know all that, silly. We were together, remember?" Kairi reminded him. Sora blinked as he realized she was right. Just like he saw her memories of her grandmother...Kairi likely also saw everything that happened while their hearts were together. It was...a little embarrassing now that he thought of it. "I'll have to tell her 'thank you' when she wakes up." she added cheerfully, looking back at the huntress. "You know...She kind of reminds me of you."

That last statement of Kairi's surprised Sora. "You think so?" He looked between Kairi and Ruby, wondering just what it was that reminded her of him. Something which, while not obvious to Sora, was obvious to her. And she simply giggled, deciding to let him try and figure it out himself. If only to keep looking at that adorably confused look on his face.

For now though...they chose to simply enjoy one another's company. Kairi knew Sora needed as much after what he'd been through. And it was safe to say that her presence alone was working wonders in that regard. The more he looked at her, Sora felt his heart beat a little faster. Similar to the moment Riku teased him about sharing the paopu fruit with Kairi...and the evening they shared before the night that their island was lost.

Unfortunately, the tender moment they were sharing was interrupted as the door slammed open with a frantic looking Donald and Goofy rushing in and respectively shouted, "Sora!" "Jaune flew off!"

Sora's irritation at Donald and Goofy just bursting in turned to concern as he shot to his feet. "Huh?! What do you mean he flew off!?" he asked, hoping they didn't mean what he feared.

"He took the gummi ship!"

But sure enough...Donald confirmed what he feared. Kairi and Sora's faces were filled with shock and concern at this revelation. "Why!?" Sora asked. Both Donald and Goofy only shrugged with a shake of their heads, not knowing why he would do this. But why wasn't what mattered right now. They NEEDED that ship to go find and stop Ansem once and for all. Without it, the Heartless might come back again, or...worse. They had no idea what Ansem was doing, and if left unchecked, it could make things even worse than they already were.

"Let's go talk to Cid. Maybe he can help us find where he went." Goofy suggested, earning a nod from Sora and Donald. Sora however looked back at Ruby's unconscious form, not feeling good about leaving her.

"You go and talk to Cid. I'll watch over Ruby." Kairi said, drawing Sora's gaze. Sora paused as he looked back at his precious childhood friend before giving her a nod. One she returned as she silently promised that Ruby would be okay.

Sora turned back to Donald and Goofy, exclaiming, "Alright, let's go!" before running off with Donald and Goofy. Time was of the essence more than ever.

Cid was relaxing in his shop, his feet propped up on the counter, before he was suddenly nearly was thrown off his feet from Sora, Donald, and Goofy bursting into his shop! He didn't have time to give them some curmudgeonly complaint as Sora immediately said "Cid, we've got a problem! Jaune's taken our gummi ship!"

That immediately changed what would've been a tone of annoyance as Cid's face turned to one of shock. "Huh?! You gotta be kiddin' me. Alright, just hang on. I'll trace the last known destination of the ship." he said, pulling out what looked to be a small remote with a dial.

"Wait, you can do that?!" Sora asked with surprise. This was the first he heard about this!

"'Course I can. I installed several gadgets onto that thing and I wanna keep an eye on my investment. Plus, it's how we managed to safely follow ya to Hollow Bastion." Cid explained, fiddling with the device.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other in the wake of Cid's explanation. Strange as it was, his explanation did make a bit of sense. So they simply shrugged and let him work. So long as he could find the ship, that was what mattered.

"Found em," Cid said as he finished clacking away at the keyboard. A screen of the interspace map lit up, the locations and names of worlds their ship had been to. One red dot was moving from Traverse Town with the word 'Excalibur' beneath it. The dot eventually stopped at one of those familiar worlds. "Looks like he's gone and landed at Olympus Coliseum."

"Why there?" Sora asked. They'd already beaten Hercules and become champions. What could possibly have drawn Jaune there?

"Well we know where he is now. So let's go and find him." Goofy said optimistically.

"One problem. We don't have a vessel." Donald reminded both of them. Since Jaune stole theirs, they had no way to get to him.

"One solution," Cid said with a tone of confidence mixed with playfulness as he pointed to himself with his left thumb. "I'M a pilot who makes ships for a liv'n. So I can let ya borrow one!"

Taking them to the garage within the First District, Cid opened the sliding gate and showed them a gummi ship colored in a blue and green design, a turbo engines, radars and a more sleek looking cockpit. "What's that one?" Goofy asked in amazement.

"That there is 'The Cid' model. Ain't she a beauty?" Cid said with a proud smile on his face. Like a doting father with his child.

Sora and Donald looked at Cid with expressions disbelief. "You really named a ship after yourself?" the former asked, unable to help questioning the...curious naming method of the gruff shipwright.

"Yeah, what of it?" Cid asked, irritated by what sounded dangerously close to criticism of his work. "Look, it'll get ya there fast enough you can catch up to yer friend. Do ya want it or not?"

There was no point arguing about it so Sora and Donald chose to drop the issue and simply nod in appreciation. "Thanks Cid. We'll take it." Sora said as he and Donald made their way to the ship.

"Think we should find the others?" Goofy asked as he followed the other two up to the open hatch.

"Now probably isn't the best time. Especially after everything that's happened. We'll just go find Jaune, pick him up then head back here." Donald said before looking back to Goofy. Their friends from Remnant had been through enough as it was. "Come on, Goofy. Let's go."

The worried guard captain realized Donald had a point. It was probably best they let their friends rest. They could handle everything from here on out once they got Jaune back.

They wasted no time starting up the ship and launching. They lurched a bit from just how much more intense and speedy this ship was compared to their normal one. With this, they should be able to get to Olympus Coliseum in record time, not counting their ship's warp drive. But such technical details were trifling at the moment. They had a friend to find.

As for the friend in question, Jaune was flying with all speed through the starry void, wiping the still lingering tears from his purple eyes. He couldn't believe Pyrrha was truly gone. He had so much to tell her. So much he needed to say to her. He had to get her back somehow. There had to be a way. And HE had to be the one to know such things. Jaune had to try and find him.

As he arrived at Olympus, he immediately disembarked and charged into the arena. He hadn't noticed that night had fallen as he was far too occupied with the pain and regret eating away at him and driving him toward this desperate action. Phil, who was sleeping on the job, snapped awake when he heard the rough footfalls of the distraught Jaune charging past him. "Whoa-What the-Huh?!" he sputtered as he looked around, briefly seeing his blonde student running into the arena. "Hold up...Jaune?" What was he doing back here so soon? He'd have thought the kid would need more rest after the Hercules cup. What was going on with him?

"HADES!" Jaune yelled out to the darkened sky, only to receive no answer. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, Jaune yelled out again, "I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!" The silence, broken only by Jaune's own echoes, was deafening. He couldn't stand this. He needed Hades NOW. "SHOW YOURSELF! NOW!"

Suddenly, a familiar, snarky, dry humor bearing voice rang out behind Jaune. "Yeesh, kid. Quiet down. You sound like a grieving widower." Sure enough, there was the one he sought. Hades, sitting upon the stands in a blasé manner, unceremoniously sticking a finger in his ear in the wake of Jaune's demanding calls.

From the vestibule doorway leading to the arena, Phil was around the corner with a stunned expression and almost shook in place. "Hades? Lord of the dead?" he muttered with fear creeping all over him.

Almost right after Hades emerged to see Jaune there, Sora and his two companions landed at the gates just outside the coliseum. They looked all around while running about through the area. The doors to the coliseum opened with Phil charging out. "Herc?!"

"Phil?" Sora said when turning to him and ran towards the satyr with Donald and Goofy approaching with him. "What's the matter?"

"Sora?! You guys too?!" Phil said, looking at the three junior heroes with a worried expression. "Your friend Don Jaune just arrived! For some reason he's speaking with Hades!"

Sora, Donald and Goofy's eyes widened with shock at Phil's words. "Hades?! That guy with the flaming head who tricked us into getting into the games when we first came here?!" Sora asked.

"Tricked you." Donald said in a corrective manner to Sora. It was he who took the free pass, not realizing the strings attached, after all.

As annoyed as he was at Donald's harsh but true words, Sora knew they didn't have time to argue. Jaune's life was in jeopardy! "Where is he?!" he asked Phil, who pointed to the doorway behind him.

"They're in the coliseum right now! I'm trying to find Hercules so he can-!" Phil stopped in his tracks when he saw Sora, Donald and Goofy suddenly sprint into the coliseum. Flashbacks of Cerberus immediately struck him as he realized what the junior heroes were going to do. "No, stop! What are you yahoo's thinking?! Stay away from there! You don't stand a chance against an actual god!"

His words fell on deaf ears though. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were already of one mind. Just like they protected Ruby from that man in the black coat, they were going to save Jaune from making a terrible mistake with Hades.