Chapter 3: Forging Through

Balthazar, Velcia, Talia, and Touma found the next segment of their journey down through the winding caverns of the Underworld to be much simpler, with very few attacks by Heartless. Those few Heartless that did attack were disposed of easily, generally by Talia after her attempts to prod Balthazar into trying it proved fruitless. Velcia, for her part, was mostly content to trail quietly behind the others and listen to Talia and Touma talk, and make notes and sketches in her book as she went. It wasn't until the rocky tunnel began to open up into a much wider expanse, the floor once again sinking into a shroud of green mist, that Velcia found herself needing to intervene directly, and as soon as she realized she recognized this location she broke into a sprint, bounding forward on the balls of her feet with a surprising amount of both speed and stealth.

"Balthazar, Touma, wait!" she called out in a hushed tone. "Don't go any further!"

The two stopped, and turned towards her. Balthazar nodded as she approached, holding out his arm for her to catch onto as she lost her balance trying to stop.

Balthazar couldn't help but chuckle as she righted herself. "I guess you're thinking the same thing I was, huh?"

"If you were thinking this cave is the place Cerberus attacked us last time, then yes," Velcia said between panting breaths. "I can't imagine why else you would think I was running like that."

Touma quickly turned to look into the large cavern ahead, dimly lit in an ethereal glow by sources incomprehensible. "Somewhere out there, huh?"

Talia stepped up beside him, shivering a bit from the deathly breeze that wafted slowly past them. "I can hardly see a thing."

"We'll need to be careful. Last time we were here, Cerberus somehow managed to sneak up behind us… there's something unnatural about how that dog moves around," Balthazar said, eyes narrowed. "I've never seen a creature that big move so silently."

Touma held his hand to his chin. "We'll need a plan."

Talia smirked. "Like clockwork."

"Oh, shush, you know it's the wise thing to do," Touma chided. Talia shrugged, rolling her eyes playfully, and Touma turned towards Velcia. "So, you're the expert on Olympus, huh? How do we beat Cerberus?"

"M-me?" Velcia startled, her face blank and pale from being called on. Suddenly, a spark seemed to ignite in her eyes and she gave a quick, excited jump with her fists held in front of her. "Oh, wait, I do know! Oh, I know this!"

Balthazar couldn't help but laugh, but did his best to keep it quiet. "Well, we're all waiting!"

"Oh, well!" Velcia started, standing up straight and doing her best to take a proper posture befitting the moment. "From the legends, only a few have managed to get past Cerberus. Of course, Hercules was able to simply defeat him… but Orpheus did manage to lure Cerberus to sleep by playing a soothing song on the Lyre, and then he was able to rush past."

"Heh, Tia plays the flute," Touma said with a smirk. "How about it, sis? Think you can lull Cerberus to sleep so we can sneak past?"

"I didn't bring it with me!" Talia exclaimed, shaking her head. "And it's not like you're being serious, anyway."

Velcia held her hand to her chin, her finger curled just under her lip. "Well, none of us is as strong as Hercules. Hm. Oh, yes, you know, Cerberus does have three heads. It's said that even though they all share a body, it's as if each head is its own distinct beast. I suppose if we were able to distract them, and get them trying to go after different targets, it may help us."

"How are we supposed to do a thing like that?" Balthazar asked.

"Well, Cerberus IS still a dog… or three," Velcia said softly. "Perhaps he would have the same kinds of instincts."

Touma knelt down, slinging his backpack to the ground beside him. "That's not a bad idea at all," he said, pulling a piece of paper from the bag and slapping it down onto the rocky cavern floor. He waved away the green mist, trying to make sure the paper could be seen clearly by all. "If we can find ways to distract the beast from his peripheral vision, where only one or two heads at a time can see us, we might be able to confuse it."

"Heh, I'm starting to like this plan," Talia said, kneeling down beside him as he began to sketch out a rough outline of the cavern. "If you guys can get Cerberus good and confused, Tou and I should be able to get some good hits in."

"Balthazar," Touma said, looking up from his page, "That magic portal thing you can do… is it quick?"

"It can be… I'm kind of hesitant to use it too much, though," Balthazar said, folding his arms.

"Well, I'd say that's our best bet to confuse him. Can you send other people through them, too?"

"Again, yeah… but it's not as simple as just warping somewhere new, you know," Balthazar said. "There's sort of a tunnel on the other side."

Touma turned around and looked back out into the cavern, then back to the page where he began adding what stalagmites and outcroppings he could see. "Alright, well, I think you and I should sneak along the sides of the cavern in the darkness and keep hidden," he said, tracing along the paths with red pencil. "Hopefully, by time Cerberus shows up we'll be somewhat behind him and can take turns distracting him with flashy magic attacks."

"You and me?" Balthazar asked, glancing over towards the other two. "What do Talia and Velcia do?"

Talia's face lit up with a proud smirk. "I'll go straight down the middle. With any luck, Cerberus will think it's just little old me."

"What about me?" Velcia asked.

"You… you want to help?" Balthazar asked.

"W-well, I guess so… it does seem like it might be fun to be involved. I suppose that it's best that I stay away though, I don't want to get in the way," Velcia admitted sadly. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Oh, wait! I have a better idea!"

Touma raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What's that?"

"I'll be the distraction! I'll walk down the middle of the cavern, and when Cerberus comes I'll run away! Dogs love to chase, afterall, and I am a good runner. He'll chase me for sure," she said proudly.

"Velcia," Balthazar started, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Cerberus is huge. You can't just outrun him."

"I don't have to, if Tia can get a surprise attack on him while he chases me. Look, see that boulder out there?" she asked, pointing towards a large rock not too far off the path. "If Tia hides behind that, she can attack Cerberus as we run past. I'm sure I can get at least that far."

Talia nodded, grinning ear-to-ear. "Sounds like a plan to me. Well Tou? Balthy? What do you think?"

"I think it's crazy," Touma said, shaking his head. "But… that doesn't mean it's a bad plan. Well, Balthazar? Think you could use one of your magic spells to keep her safe if things go wrong?"

"I… yeah, I can do that. Are you sure, Velcia?"

Velcia's head bobbed in enthusiastic affirmation. "Very. I promise I'll stay out of the way once I escape, you don't have to worry about me at all!" She paused, noting Balthazar's hesitant and somewhat confused look. "I know that I wouldn't normally do something like this, but… it's not every day somebody gets the chance to pull a trick on Cerberus! It'll be just like the old legends, only with us!"

"Hard to argue with that, eh Balthy?" Talia said, bumping him playfully with her elbow.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this…" Balthazar muttered, holding his palm against his forehead. "Alright… let's give it a try."

Touma turned back to the paper on the ground. "Right then, Balthazar, you and I will take our spots here and here," he said, marking the locations. "Tia will be here, and Velcia can walk down through this area." He paused, looking back down into the cavern. "Hey, Velcia, see that crag in the ground a little further down?"

Velcia stood up on her tip-toes and squinted, she could just barely make it out through the mist. "Yes!"

"Don't go past that. If you get that far and Cerberus still hasn't shown up, we'll adjust the plan and go from there," Touma told her.

"Oh, why? What's wrong with the crag?"

Touma grabbed the paper, rolling it up and stuffing it into his backpack's side pocket. "It's too far, we won't be able to cover you there."

"O-oh…!" Velcia exclaimed, looking back out towards the crag with some hesitation now. "I hope he shows up before then."

Balthazar came up beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure about this?"

"Y-yes, I am," Velcia said, hands clasping into gently-shaking fists. "If Orpheus could do it, so can I! He was an artist like me, well, a musician, but… he wasn't a fighter. Oh, if only Cerberus could be soothed with drawings as well as music!"

Balthazar chuckled. "That would certainly be something, wouldn't it?"

Talia rested her hand on Velcia's other shoulder. "You've got this! We're all right here for you!"

"Th-thanks…" Velcia whispered with a gulp, turning fully now to face the path down into the cavern. "Let me know when I should go…"

After a nod from Touma, Balthazar made his way to the side of the cavern and both the boys slowly crept into position in the shadows behind the stalagmites. Talia herself wasted no time in dashing behind the large rock beside the path, and after quickly checking with her brother that everyone was situated gave Velcia an affirming nod.

It was at this point that Velcia's sense of self preservation managed to find foothold in her mind, and she realized she really would rather not go down and act as bait for a three-headed hound of the dead. It didn't really matter to her, suddenly, that Orpheus had been able to do it - she was not so brave as he, nor was she supernaturally skilled in her arts. It was a bit hard to tell in the dark, but she felt as though perhaps even her vision was beginning to fade.

"You're doing great!" Talia whispered to her.

And now, she realized with a gasp, that like it or not she really had been walking down that path anyway. Brave or not, she was doing it all the same. She clenched her fists tightly at her side, her next step more deliberate than those that came before. "I can do it."

Solitary but determined, Velcia continued on. The steps of her shoes echoed throughout the cavern, joined only by the rhythmic reverberation of waterdrops from the rocky ceiling above. The air was still and musty, the chill of death lingering ominously. It was not long before Velcia made it to the large gash in the stone underfoot, and once she did she stopped in place and listened for any signs of Cerberus.

Nothing.

She held her hand flat above the top of her glasses, more because it felt right to her than for a need to block any harsh light. Still, try as she might, there was nothing to be seen. Her posture softened a bit, and she glanced into the darkness at the sides of the caves, hoping for some sort of advice or indication as to what she should do.

Nothing.

She cupped her hands around her mouth, whispering as loud as she dared. "Should I go back?", but to no audible response. Velcia stood quietly, her fears once again bubbling to the surface. "No, no," she chided herself. "I must keep going on."

Another step forward, then another, and then she stopped again. Her hands swayed by her sides, and without thinking she called out. "Cerberus, you are rather late!"

A chill wind blew through the cavern, and her hair stood up on end. The ground rumbled softly, and Velcia's eyes went wide. It was, without question, time to leave. She turned around with a yelp and began to run, and after only a few bounding strides heard a howl behind her that shocked her limbs numb. Balthazar called out to her frantically from somewhere in the darkness, and her pace quickened with desperation; and it was with great despair that she realized just how far from Talia's boulder she had wandered.

Cerberus' pounding feet boomed behind her, and Velcia looked over her shoulder to see the great beast almost right on top of her. The center head of the fearsome, fanged trio was raised and looked as though it were prepared to snap her up in its jaws. Velcia squeaked, fell to the ground in a roll, then deftly bounded straight underneath Cerberus between his legs.

The bloodthirsty hound had seen many tricks over the eons, but none of the three heads were quite sure they'd seen this one. The many heads of Cerberus began to turn and look around, trying to discern where his prey had escaped to. Though the pattering sound of Velcia's scampering was soft, Cerberus had six ears with which to hear it and the ferocious canine turned around to find her not far away.

Stuck now between Cerberus and the depths of the Underworld, Velcia could only back away slowly. "Uh-!" she cried out nervously.

A fierce battle cry echoed through the cavern, and Talia burst out from behind the boulder. With a great leap, she raised her Keyblade over her head and brought it down in a crushing blow against Cerberus' backside. The fell beast let out a howl and turned to face its attacker, as Talia continued her assault in a flashing stream of magic spells from her Medals.

Cerberus lunged at Talia, and she deflected the first greedy mouth with an uppercut swing from her Keyblade before slamming it down atop the nose of the next head to come at her.

A bright flare flickered from the side of the cavern, and a wave of fireballs came streaming towards Cerberus from the stalagmites. One of Cerberus' heads caught this from the corner of his eye and began to turn to face this new attacker, but was prevented from doing so by a similar movement from the head on the opposite side; who had just managed to pull away from being hit by purple, laser-like beam of dark magic from another assailant.

The heads snapped and growled at each other, but made the decision to go after the fire flare. This course of action was soon interrupted by a renewed series of attacks from Talia, who then had attention drawn from her by a rolling flare of dark flames from Balthazar.

Cerberus rolled away from the attackers, retreating down the cavern a bit before crashing his paws to the ground with a blood curdling howl. The cavern shook, and shrieks from monsters unknown called out from deeper still in the Underworld. Two of the heads, working together, picked up a long, heavy fallen stalactite and flung it across the cavern towards Touma. This mineral missile flew with a surprising speed, crashing through and destroying the obstacles across the west end of the cavern.

Touma, thankfully, had managed to evade this attack and emerged from the rolling cloud of dust in a sprint, with shards of rock exploding out from behind him.

"You alright?" Talia called out, breathing a sigh of relief at the look of annoyance on his face.

"Yeah, I guess. Clever bastard," Touma groaned.

Balthazar, having seen what had become of Touma's hiding spot, now came dashing out from his own corner of the cave and not a moment too soon, as he himself dropped to the ground in order to avoid another flying chunk of limestone that then obliterated his own hiding spot.

"That was a close one!" he sputtered, getting back to his feet and running to rejoin the twins. "Where's Velcia gone?"

"Don't know, but she's safer than we are!" Touma said, eyes suddenly widening. "Duck!"

The trio fell to the stony earth as yet another large stalactite sailed uncomfortably close overhead.

Talia and Touma stood up, Keyblades glowing as their Medal Decks began to surge with power. Back and forth, they traded off casting spells at Cerberus, who was surprisingly skilled at evading these and returning the favor with his own broiling blasts of Dark Firaga.

From behind the twins, Balthazar worked diligently, raising his glowing-purple hands and casting protective barriers in quick succession to block the shots most likely to hit them. "I don't know how long I can keep this up!"

"We need another option," Touma shook his head, his Keyblade flashing with an ethereal glow and a crackle of magic as the Medal Deck reset. "Tia, can you get close?"

"Not like this!"

"Dammit. Balthazar, use one of those portals and get her behind him!" Touma ordered.

"I-!" Balthazar shook his head, and took a deep breath. "Alright, but we can't do this very-"

"I get it!" Touma bit, "I'm not asking you to do it a bunch, just right now!"

Balthazar nodded reluctantly. "Talia, once you go through the portal you'll need to run a short distance. It's not a teleport, it's more like… like a hallway of sorts."

"Got it!"

After the next set of fireballs slammed harmlessly against his barriers, Balthazar stepped back and swirled his hands out before him. A dark, twisting vortex appeared, sending a chill through the three of them. "That's it, just run through!" Balthazar said.

Talia bit her lip and took a deep breath, but dashed through and into the corridor of darkness.

"Balthazar, incoming!" Touma warned, hand tightening around his key as the scorching flames flickered off the hasty barrier that appeared just in the nick of time.

Touma raised his Keyblade high, a mighty typhoon of water flooding around it and shooting towards Cerberus in a powerful jetstream. As it did, the other end of the corridor appeared behind the mighty beast and Talia jumped to the ground from the portal. Flames erupted from the blade of her weapon, and with a powerful uppercut she struck Cerberus square in the soft of his belly.

Cerberus howled, his back legs giving out momentarily and dropping him to the ground. Touma and Talia renewed their assault with a fervor, pressing the advantage while he was stunned. The wounded dog struck at Talia with a swipe of his tail, and with the space afforded regained his footing. All three heads raised towards the heavens, letting out an ear-piercing howl; but then much to everyone's surprise Cerberus quickly turned and bounded away, retreating back into the murky depths of the Underworld.

The three regrouped slowly, standing at the ready as they kept an eye out for any more attacks.

"Balthazar, is he gone? Can you sense him?"

"I don't know, I can only sense creatures of Darkness… like Heartless, that is," he clarified, after getting an inquisitive look from Touma.

"I guess we won't really know then, will we?" Touma asked, his dissatisfaction clear.

Balthazar stepped forward a bit, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Velcia!" he called out, his voice echoing through the cavern.

"Over here!"

The trio turned to see Velcia walking towards them from farther down the cavern, her robes dirtied and tattered and her sketchbook in hand. Her face, too, was quite smudged; though this mess was equal parts dirt and graphite. "Is everybody safe?" she asked as she approached.

"Yes, I think so," Talia reported happily. "That was pretty tough, though, wasn't it?"

"I guess we should have expected it," Touma groaned, shaking his head.

Velcia took the worn, stained cloth that hung over her sash and carefully wiped the dirt from her hands and face. "Cerberus is certainly very strong. I don't feel so bad now, about him beating me and Balthazar on our last visit. You three did a very good job!"

Balthazar sat down on the ground, hands on his lap, and let out a sigh. "Hopefully that's the worst of it."

"Guess we'll have to see," Talia said, dropping down directly beside him. "But, you know Balthy, you're actually pretty good in a fight. I bet with some practice you'd be up there with the best of 'em!"

Belthazar winced, shaking his head. "Thanks, but… I really shouldn't…" he stopped, then turned to Velcia. "I was worried about you, you know. Cerberus looked like he was about to gobble you up earlier, what were you thinking going so far down?"

Velcia reddened, taking in a sharp breath, but she was cut off by Talia.

"She was just fine, Balthy! Did you see her go? She's like a rabbit!"

"A… rabbit?" Balthazar asked, hand to his chin.

Velcia looked at him oddly. "You don't know?" she asked, in disbelief. "They're small little fuzzy animals with long ears, and very very adorable."

Balthazar noted now the odd stares from the twins as well, and gave a shrug. "Well, I don't think I've seen any of those since I've been here in Daybreak Town. But, I don't see how that sounds like Velcia."

Talia chuckled, wrapping an arm around Balthazar's shoulders and motioning outwards with her other hand. "They're small, but you wouldn't believe how agile they are. Jumping and leaping and spinning, very tough to catch! We had loads of them in the forest near our old home, didn't we Tou?"

"Yeah, we did," Touma said, a hint of melancholy behind the impatient gruffness of his usual tone. "But hey, we shouldn't stick around here too long. Who knows when Cerberus will be back?"

The others nodded in agreement, and after standing up Balthazar held out his hand to help Talia do the same. Her face brightened, and Touma rolled his eyes at the sight of it. Talia stuck her tongue out at her brother, in return.

"So now that we've beaten Cerberus," Velcia started, "We must find a way to cross the River Styx and then find… what are you looking for, again?"

Touma crossed his arms. "I didn't say, but I guess I might as well, now. We're supposed to find some type of Witch Heartless. I'm not exactly sure where they are, but they're known to carry a sort of Underworld fruit that we need to collect."

"Underworld fruit…?" Balthazar asked. "There's a lot of different kinds of fruit, how will we know which one's the right one?"

"Pomegranates!" Velcia exclaimed happily. "I am sure that must be it."

Touma raised an eyebrow. "Pomegranates…?"

"That's not really a fruit I'd usually associate with death," Talia mused.

"Well, they are very significant in the Underworld, actually! The stories about them… why, it's said that-"

"Look, we really need to leave before Cerberus decides to come back," Touma shook his head, waving for them to follow. "If you're that sure it's Pomegranates, I'll take your word for it. Let's go."

Velcia's face fell, and after a moment of pouting she crossed her arms with an angry squeak and began to follow along reluctantly.

"Hey," Talia said, coming up beside her and resting her arm on Velcia's shoulder. "I'd love to hear aaaaall about it."

"Yeah?"

"Yup," Talia said with a nod. "We've got time anyway, we can talk while we walk. Isn't that right Balthy?"

There was no reply, and Talia stopped abruptly and turned to see Balthazar a few paces back, staring up into the darkness behind them. "Uh, Balthy? You coming along?"

Balthazar said nothing for a moment, then turned around slowly with a shake of his head. "Yeah… sorry, I'm on the way now."

"Everything okay?" Talia asked.

"Uh, yeah…" Balthazar said slowly. "Just… trying to keep an eye out for trouble."

Talia's head tilted curiously. "Hm… well, alright," she said.

Balthazar watched with a chuckle as Velcia quickly returned to Talia's side, wasting no time diving into the tales of pomegranates and Olympian gods. Still, he couldn't get past the creeping chill that crawled over him and he took one last look over his shoulder.

Up in the center of the path, so faint as to be nearly imperceptible, Balthazar could just barely see the pitch-black cloud following them; the human-shaped form of Darkness he could almost always count on to be there to observe him when he used his dark magic powers. He shivered and turned back to the path ahead, speeding up to be closer to the others.

Velcia had spent a great deal of time reading, listening, and learning anything she could about the Underworld, and felt she was familiar with as many of the stories and legends as there were to be found in this magically projected version of the world. For the past several months, a particular focus of her research was on the Underworld specifically, and the River Styx in particular was a landmark of great interest. This mysterious river flowed down from the land of the living and wound its way to the deepest depths of the Underworld, turning into and feeding several other enchanted rivers as it did. Long before any of those, however, one must enter through the solitary entrance and cross the Styx, a river so dangerous and inhospitable that no mortal creature could pass but by the permission of the boatman Charon; unless of course they had received some other form of divine assistance.

So, it was with great surprise and no small amount of indignation that Velcia found herself complaining about their ability to traverse this river with relative ease, as the group made their way across the stepping-stone path through the shallows at the edge of the earthen tunnels.

"-just makes no sense at all! Anyone can just hop across the rocks to get there!" she protested, holding Balthazar's hand tightly for balance as she stepped from one slick stone to the next.

"I know, I know," Balthazar said soothingly, though his patience was wearing thin. "But how else do you expect The Master would find for us to get down there?"

Touma, whose patience must surely have fallen into the river and floated down to spend eternity with the rest of the dead, could only barely muffle his scoff. "If these rocks weren't here, you'd never get to see it at all. Would you rather that?"

"I suppose not," Velcia admitted with a blush. "I guess I'm being very ungrateful, but still… couldn't The Master have found something more fitting?"

Balthazar stopped, gazing out across the river as he considered this. "I mean… just look at the place. What else could he have done?"

"I don't know… maybe he could have made it so Charon could give us a ride," Velcia suggested half-heartedly.

"If you want to go joy-riding on a ferry, you can ride the one by the lighthouse," Touma bit. "Besides, wouldn't something like that be an even more egregious violation of this whole impenetrable Underworld thing?"

Velcia sighed, her furrowed brow softening as she realized her defeat. "I suppose that is true. At least this way, there is still a little danger…" she said, peering down into the ghostly river as it swept past their rocks. "I bet I'd die if I fell in there, and that is just how it should be."

"Let's… can you not?," Balthazar asked.

"I don't want to fall in!" Velcia huffed. "It's just, I suppose it's just not what I expected."

Talia reached out a hand, and helped pull Velcia across the next gap. "Well, that's the fun of it, isn't it? You never know what you're going to find. At least we know that whatever we do find in these Projected Worlds is there for a reason, and that The Master and the Foretellers have made sure that it's safe enough for us Wielders to come visit."

"That's right," Balthazar agreed with a nod. "And now that you mention it, that's… that's got to be an incredible amount of work. I wonder how he does it."

Velcia's eyes brightened a bit. "Oh, I know!" she said happily. "He has a team of Wielders that go visit the Worlds first, and they find out if it's safe for the rest of us."

"How would you know a thing like that?" Balthazar asked.

"O-oh, uh… I don't want to say," Velcia stammered.

Touma turned around and watched the others slowly catch up to him. "Well, wherever she got that idea I guess it's probably close enough. Somebody has to be doing it, and when would the Foretellers find the time?"

"I suppose that makes sense," Balthazar admitted, leaping from one stone to a slightly further one than necessary.

It was not long until they reached a more solid mass of land, and not far back from the shore sat an enormous stone wall, gilded with worn metal crests and lined with golden cauldrons of blue flames along the top. In the middle of this wall were two large, black metal gates decorated with twisted, haunting embellishments. Such a gate is never a thing that is fortunate to see, however for a group intending to pass deeper into the Underworld the fact that this gate was wide open brought some relief.

Velcia broke through the sense of wonder first, and immediately sat down to begin to draw it. Balthazar couldn't help much laugh at the sight of this, and his laughter seemed to break the twins out of their own awed daze.

"You know," Touma said as he too slung off his backpack, "That's not a bad idea. This is probably a good point to start keeping track of our path."

Talia sat down beside Velcia, watching with great interest as the foreboding wall began to take shape across the page. "I guess this is a bit closer to your expectations, huh?"

"Oh, yes," Velcia said happily, holding her eraser to her chin for a moment as her eyes worked to try to understand a portion of the gate's more haunting geometries. "I'm not sure what we'll find past it… some say it is like a labyrinth."

"I wonder how long it'll take to find those Witches," Talia said.

"I hope not long," Velcia replied hesitantly. "I know I was excited to see this place, but now that I'm here…"

Talia nodded, and rubbed her hands across her arms. "Yeah, I get it. There's something… ominous about this place."

"It IS the land of the dead, Tia," Touma said, returning his bag to his back. One of his books remained in-hand, with a pencil stuck through the loop rings that kept the pages together - both at the ready for any cartography Touma felt necessary.

Velcia stood up, still putting the finishing touches on her picture. "We can go now."

"Thank goodness," Balthazar sighed, looking back out across the river. He wasn't sure if they were being followed by the Specter of Darkness, but the possibility made him uncomfortable with staying in one place for too long.

Wasting no opportunities, Talia immediately came up beside Balthazar and grabbed his hand tightly. "Come on, let's go find a new creepy place, huh?" The poor boy could make no argument or objection to either the hand or the suggestion before suddenly being pulled along behind her.

Touma rolled his eyes yet again, and with a brisk place took his spot back at the head of the group. "Do you even know where you're going, Tia?"

"Do you?" Talia retorted, shaking her head. "This whole place has been a straight shot, it's not like there- oh, wow!"

It was at this point that the cavern had opened up into an enormous, underground valley that stretched out as far as the eye could see, the cave becoming so high and so obscured by the unearthly, indigo flames that broiled above that no true roof could be seen. The valley was filled with decaying stone buildings, dimly glowing rivers of various unsettling hues, and thick flows of magma seeping out from whatever crevices it could.

Velcia's eyes widened, and her eyes glanced hopelessly between the wonder before her and her page.

"I don't think we have time, Velcia," Balthazar said softly.

"No," she shook her head slowly, "We definitely do not. I couldn't draw this properly with one hundred years."

"Heh, straight shot, huh Tia?" Touma chuckled wryly, pointing out towards the trail ahead of them. It split off into multiple paths through various crags and precarious cuts through the rocks with no clear indication as to which one would be preferable.

"Well, things change," Talia said with a dismissive shrug. "But now that we are here, how will you know where to go?"

"I-!" Touma huffed, shaking his head. "I don't know. I guess we'll just have to pick one and map our progress as we go."

Balthazar looked across the myriad pathways, then further ahead into the large valley beyond. "Will that be enough to be able to find our way back?"

Velcia jumped, hands in excited little fists. "Oh, oh! Does anyone have a rope?"

"A rope?" Touma asked curiously, grabbing his sack. "Yeah, I think I might actually. Uh, yeah, here, it's about 4 meters long."

Velcia looked at the offered rope, her lips pursed in an attempt to hide her disappointment. "Oh… that's not quite…"

"What were you thinking, Velcia?" Balthazar asked curiously.

"Oh, well, when Theseus had to travel through the labyrinth to battle the Minotaur, he had a long rope that he tied at the entrance to the maze and pulled along after him. That way, he knew he would be able to make his way back no matter what. Only, I don't think Touma's rope is long enough for that…"

"Not hardly," Touma sighed, coiling the rope up again to return it to the sack. "It's not a bad idea though."

Talia tapped her foot, hands on her hips. "Maybe we're overthinking it. Getting back here shouldn't be so bad, huh? We should find the Witches first and then worry about getting back after that."

"Oh!" Velcia exclaimed, "Balthazar, those Witches are Heartless! Can you sense them?"

"That's a good question," Balthazar said, closing his eyes and focusing on his more ethereal senses. "I can sense a few groups of Heartless, but… there's no real way for me to discern exactly what they are." He opened his eyes, and gave the others a small shrug. "I suppose we could just go after the groups one-by-one until we find them."

"Augh," Touma groaned, crossing his arms. "Alright. Balthazar, you lead the way now. We'll have to go a little slower so that I can map things properly."

Balthazar looked between the pathways for a moment, then ventured cautiously down the one that appeared to lead most directly towards the nearest group of Heartless he could sense, and one-by-one Touma, Velcia, and Talia followed behind him.

It would be a disservice to describe the next two hours in any specific detail - the journey through the maze was utterly repetitive, confusing, and discouraging. No path seemed to go where it ought to, and though their progress was indisputably taking them further away from the entrance it did not appear to be leading them much further within the depths of the great valley of the Underworld. To make matters worse, as they descended deeper into the maze they found the ground to take on a sweltering heat that was made all the more unsettling by the cold sting of the air currents flowing across the top of the sharp stone walls of the maze.

The travelers did, indeed, find several groups of Heartless as they pressed forth, but none of these were the Witches they sought; and none of these encounters provided even Talia with any joy. Touma kept digilent with his map-making, but as his map ended up crossing onto the thirteenth page he did find himself starting to wonder if there was still any benefit to it at all; as one wrong turn on the way back would render the entire thing fruitless.

Eventually, one of the pathways opened up. Balthazar stopped when he came to it, but Talia and Velcia quickly ran past him; both very excited to finally be free of the tight labyrinth corridors.

Touma walked up beside Balthazar, almost surprised to see him stopping, and looked up from his map. "Wow, about time," he sighed, lowering his notebook. "Where are we now?"

"I'm not sure," Balthazar said, looking around cautiously. "But I sense some Heartless nearby. It feels like they should be almost right in front of us."

Velcia and Talia had wandered out a ways, and found themselves at the edge of a large precipice. From here they could see the rest of the Underworld valley quite clearly, and Velcia was excitedly rattling off the landmarks she thought she could recognize. Talia, however, had still been listening to the boys and grabbed Velcia's shoulder suddenly.

Velcia looked up at her, blushing. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be annoying."

"No, didn't you hear what Balthy said?" Talia asked, eyes narrowing as she turned around. The space on the plateau between the boys and the girls appeared to be entirely empty, but for the rocks on the ground. "But… I don't see any Heartless."

Balthazar's hands clenched, and he began to walk slowly forward. "But… where could they be…?"

A shrill cackle broke out from above, and the four looked up to see a trio of Witch Heartless floating some distance up. The shrill laughter grew louder as they descended, their chaotic flight taking a sort of circling pattern as their limbs began to glow.

"They're coming in to attack!" Touma warned, and the friends scattered for cover as the Heartless began attacking with a trio of fire, ice, and lightning spells.

Talia sprung to action immediately, launching herself into the air with an Aeroga medal from her key so she could take a swing at one of the witches, and the stunned Heartless' only possible response was to shriek in surprise and endure the headache from the blow it received. The other two cackled at their injured friend, then resumed attacking their quarry below.

"Talia, stand back!" Touma called, pulling a new medal from his backpack and loading it into the Medal Deck on his Keyblade. The blade flashed to life with magic, and Touma raised the Keyblade high into the air. "Time to bring them down to our level! Magnera!"

A pulsing, purple void began to grow in the air before Touma, and the air around it began to pulse like ripples in water, but these moved in towards the greedy horizon. The Witch Heartless began to shriek and flail in surprise, as all three of them were rendered entirely helpless as they were drawn inexorably in towards the enchantment.

Beside Touma, Talia spun her Keyblade around in her hand, spurts of flame flickering to life around the blade until it suddenly erupted into an intense plume of fire. With a swing of her arm and a flick of her wrist, Talia sent the fiery Keyblade spinning the air. The Keyblade slashed right through the Witch Heartless with ease, and when the Magnera spell ended the flaming ashes and smoldering black robes of the burnt Heartless trio fell to the ground in a heap.

Touma walked up to this pile, eyeing it with disgust. "I expected them to be tougher," he said, shaking his head.

"I'll say," Talia sighed, walking up beside him with her Key resting over her shoulder. "After how much work it took to find 'em, that's kind of a let down."

Velcia poked her head out from behind the wall of the labyrinth. "Did you get the Pomegranates?"

"Oh, crap," Touma gasped, kicking at the smoldering robes with his feet. Some round, red fruits rolled out from the ash in surprisingly good condition.

Talia reached down and picked them up curiously, and both Balthazar and Velcia came to take a look as she inspected them. The fruit was perfectly ripe, and the vivid red hues were the stuff of dreams. Talia eyed these hungrily, then glanced over towards her brother. "How many of these did the Moogle want?"

"Just one, I think," Touma told her. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to take them all just in case."

"Well, there's five here. I guess there's no harm if I try it, huh?" Talia said.

Velcia reached up, snatching away one of the fruits. "No! You mustn't!"

"Why not?" Touma asked, raising an eyebrow. "They look pretty good."

Velcia handed the pomegranate to Balthazar, then proceeded to steal away two more. "They're magic! If you eat the seeds, you'll be trapped here!"

Talia looked at her two remaining pomegranates with wistful disappointment, then held them out for Velcia to confiscate. "Ugh, of course they are. Alright, I won't try them."

"Ahem," Touma grunted, holding his hand out. "We might not be eating them, but I do still need those."

Velcia looked nervously to Balthazar, who nodded his head agreeably. "They're not ours," he reminded her. Velcia gave Touma one last look of warning, then handed the fruit back.

After placing the fruit into a separate bag, Touma rubbed his hands together and turned back towards the labyrinth. "So, now we have to figure out how to leave."

"Hey, Tou?" Talia chimed in. "What about a break, huh?"

Touma thought to argue, but realized that he was feeling rather exhausted as well. "Yeah, that sounds good actually."

Velcia smiled happily at this news, and returned to the cliffside where she sat down with her legs hanging over the side. Soon enough her sketchbook was back in her lap, and she was back to drawing. Balthazar came and sat beside her and soon so did Talia.

"Are you going to draw the whole thing?" Talia asked, waving her hand out across the vastness of the Underworld.

"No, I couldn't do that," Velcia said, wiping her hand off on her cloth. "I'm just going to draw the important landmarks - the things I recognize from the stories."

Balthazar looked out into the Underworld, taking it all in. "It's a lot bigger than I expected. I guess it needs to be, if everyone who dies in Olympus comes to live here for all eternity."

"I wonder how it works on other worlds," Talia mused. "Do you think Daybreak Town has something like this? What happens when we die…?"

Balthazar shivered. "I… I don't know. I've wondered about that, myself."

"Hey, Velcia," Touma interrupted from behind them. "What's that green glow out there in the distance?"

"Hm?" Velcia paused, then stood out and squinted as she tried to look for it. "Oh, there it is!"

The location in question was just in range enough for them to see a deep, round hole with a sharp rock jutting out across the top towards the middle of it. The hole appeared to be filled with a sickly, green liquid that glowed with a dull shimmer as it spun slowly around. Velcia's eyes lit up as she processed this, then she turned to Balthazar and grabbed his sleeve tightly with both hands.

"Balthazar! I think that may be the Well of Souls!" she exclaimed. "If there is anything else in the Underworld I'd like to see, it's that!"

"Are you kidding…?" Balthazar asked, clearly taken aback. "It's so far out there…"

"Well of Souls?" Talia asked curiously. "Sounds dangerous. What is it?"

"It's where Hades banishes the souls of the dead, when they deserve punishment," Velcia told them, nodding her head. ""I didn't think it would be so easy to find."

"Well," Balthazar started, shaking his head, "It's a really long way to go and I don't know that I think it's a good idea."

Velcia's crestfallen face nodded reluctantly, and her gaze turned back towards the distant wonder. She sighed sadly, and Talia shook her head with a disappointed tut.

"Don't say it, Tia," Touma warned with a hint of a growl.

Talia turned to see him rolling his eyes with an annoyed smirk, and crossed her arms indignantly. "Don't say what?" She demanded.

"You were going to try to suggest some way to get over there," Touma told her smugly. Velcia's face lit up excitedly, and this did a fairly quick job of changing Touma's pride to a self-annoyance, as he realized that even the act of calling her out worked in his sister's favor. "No, I'm serious, did you forget how long the maze took?"

"But Velcia really wants to go, Tou!" Talia said, motioning towards her. "And if we don't take her, she'll probably just try to get down here on her own again later anyway."

"Not really our problem," Touma pointed out.

"But she'll get hurt! Look at her," Talia said, talking in an almost baby-like voice now, "She'll fall in the river and die, or get shredded up by Heartless!"

Velcia's eyes widened in offense at first but then, realizing Talia's play, she quickly gave a soft pout and nodded her head pleadingly.

"Oh my god", Touma and Balthazar said in unison.

"Look now," Touma said with a grunt, "She'll find some reason or another to come back whether or not she sees that Well today. It can't be our job to look after her."

"You really don't have to," Balthazar said, ignoring the scrunchy, annoyed scowl Velcia gave him.

"If I see that Well of Souls, I'll never need to see anything in the Underworld again," Velcia said, frowning at the looks of disbelief given to her by the boys. "No, really!" she squeaked, "I do not like being down here. The Well of Souls is where Hercules had to go to save Megara… it's such an important piece of this world. If I can see that… I promise I'll never ask to come back here again, Balthazar."

Balthazar sighed, his posture loosening as he tried to think of what to do. Touma's sharp voice interceded for him with a quick and simple "No."

"But Tou! I want to go see it too!" Talia protested.

"We don't even know how to get there, Tia."

Talia's eyes darted around quickly, then settled on Balthazar. "I, uh. Ah! Balthy can use that portal of his to get us there!"

"...Could you do that?" Touma asked curiously.

With a groan, Balthazar nodded his head reluctantly. "...I probably could, since I can see it. But look, I…"

"It's your girlfriend who got us into this mess," Touma whispered under his breath, "And now Tia won't leave it alone either."

"You're the one who pointed it out to her in the first place," Balthazar responded quietly, "And she's not my girlfriend." He turned to the girls, almost wincing as he pushed himself forward. "Look… alright, fine, if Touma's willing to go, I'll do it."

Both girls looked to Touma with sparkling eyes, hands clasped as if pleading desperately. Touma eyed them both with some annoyance, chuckling to himself at the thought of telling them 'no' again, but ultimately the prospect of dealing with his sister's inevitable teasing robbed him of that joy, and so he relented.

"Alright, fine, whatever," Touma sighed.

An excited squeal filled the air as Velcia cheered, and as she celebrated Balthazar stepped towards the cliffside and stared out towards their destination. His brow furrowed, and a purple mist began to gather around his fingers, almost cloud-like. Raising his arms, Balthazar swept them in a circular motion and as he did a crackling purple-black void appeared before him with a ghastly shriek. Surges of magic traveled from his hands into the portal as it grew, but then stopped as the dark corridor stabilized and began to sustain itself.

This was the first time Touma had been able to really pay attention to this phenomenon and, hand held to his chin, he shook his head softly as he watched.

"That's not a basic spell, is it?" Touma asked, his voice uncharacteristically unsteady.

Balthazar took a deep breath to recover. "No," he panted, "It's not."

"...Do I dare ask where you learned how to do a thing like that…?" Touma said softly.

"The Master of Masters."

"Bull," Touma interjected, eyes narrowed. "What would The Master of Masters be doing teaching Dark Magic to anybody, let alone a Wielder?"

Balthazar's eyes shifted uncomfortably, and he found he had a hard time meeting Touma's gaze. "I wasn't a Wielder yet when he taught it to me. Like I said… my road to recovery was… really complicated."

Talia walked up beside her brother, tugging at his sleeve. "We can still go, right? I don't think Balthazar's lying to us."

Touma glanced towards his sister from the corner of his eye. The playfulness in her tone, while not gone completely, was backed by what he knew to be a genuine sincerity. "...Yeah, I'm not going to go back on my word. Alright, Balthazar, how's this work?"

"You just walk through it. Once we pass the horizon, we'll be in a sort of a magic pathway. It's a bit disorienting, but it's pretty straightforward," he explained, then placed an open hand against his chest. "I understand if you're uncomfortable with it. Velcia and I will go first, and you two can follow if you'd like… We can sort things out from here on our own if we need to."

"We're going, too," Touma said.

Talia tugged at her brother's sleeve again, then leaned over and whispered something. Touma nodded, and rested his hand on top of hers. "It's alright, I told them already about that. Thanks for letting me know, though."

Velcia's head tilted to the side, but before she could ask she noticed that Balthazar had just made his way through the portal and so she dropped that inquiry and scampered in after him. The twins came up to the portal's horizon, and after a moment's hesitation both walked through together.

When they stepped through, they found themselves in a magical realm. There was but one glowing path, straight forward with swirling clouds of what seemed like both Light and Dark magic rolling around it like a protective barrier. Touma grunted and shut his eyes, one clenched hand against his chest as he exhaled deeply. His skin had taken an almost eerie glow to it, but this dissipated after a moment and only a few seconds after that he opened his eyes with a relieved sigh, nodding reassuringly to his sister.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Tia," he whispered, getting a loving pat on the back in return.

Balthazar and Velcia, too, had come over towards him and had been watching with concerned expressions.

"Are you alright…?" Balthazar asked gingerly.

"Yeah, I will be. Talia was right… whatever this place is supposed to be, it feels like it's pure magic. It's… hard to balance. Let's go."

Balthazar nodded. "Definitely. The exit is over there," he said, pointing a way towards a vertical, shimmering white pond. "If that's too far, it's not too late to go back out the way you came."

"I can make it," Touma said, pushing on past the others and beginning his stalwart march. Indeed, he now seemed to be almost entirely unphased by whatever phenomenon had stricken him on his arrival into the corridor; and the others had to put a little extra spring in their step to match his pace.

It was not long at all until they reached the end of the corridor and came out the other side, greeted immediately by an intense wave of heat and the same rolling sense of doom the Underworld's breeze brought with it. This, too, took a moment to adjust to once again; but as they did the group noticed that they had indeed arrived at their destination.

Only twenty meters ahead they could now clearly see the giant, ghastly-green vortex that was the Well of Souls. Muffled shrieks and screams echoed up from it, and on occasion the elusive specter of some ghostly hand reached up, as if to try to claw out to freedom, only to be sucked back down into the well.

"...This is what you needed to see?" Touma asked Velcia.

"I admit, it is rather more appalling from this distance," Velcia said with a shiver, pulling out her sketchbook all the same. "But, here I go…"

"Woah, woah, woah!" A voice boomed out from the aether around them, the atmosphere darkening then flashing in a bright blue explosion of flame. The waning fires shrank and came to rest in the air, and now underneath the flames they could see the deathly blue pallor of the Lord of the Underworld, Hades himself.

"Well, what have we here?" Hades asked, strolling casually between them and the Well of Souls. "A couple of those Key brats, huh?"

"Hey!" Talia blurted, hands clenching into tight fists.

"No, don't fight him!" Velcia cried out, grabbing her arm, "It's Hades!"

"You know," Hades said, leaning forward a bit, "The fact that you know who I am kinda makes this whole intrusion all the more insulting, right? You little idiots are lucky I've got a lot on my plate right now, because I ought to just kill you and be done with it all."

The four grit their teeth, and Touma and Talia stepped to the forefront as they summoned their Keyblades ready for battle.

Hades shook his head, mocking them with an insincere tutting sound. "Now, how to take care of you? I got anyone worth anything tied up alre- Ah!" he exclaimed, holding up a finger towards them. "Excuse me please, I've got a call to make." A burst of flames exploded near his shoulder, and Hades held up his hand to catch a blue rotary-style phone that had inexplicably fallen out of the explosion. He gave them a condescending, toothy grin as he spun the dial, then held the receiver to his ear.

"Yello, Lord of the Dead, yeah, got some pests here," he said, punctuation pests with purpose, "Give 'em the express to Charon, will ya?"

"Nobody's taking us anywhere!" Talia shouted, jumping at Hades with her Keyblade held high.

Hades stepped back, a wall of flame erupting from the ground and repelling her handily. "You don't really have a choice, kid. See ya when you're dead!" he said, disappearing in another indigo flare.

Before anybody could determine a next step, a chorus of squawkish-shrieks broke out from above, and the four looked up just in time to see a flock of gorgon-headed harpies descending towards them at high speed. There was no time to react - before any defense could be mounted, each of them had been grabbed around the shoulders by the bird-like talons of the monsters and hoisted into the air.

Talia struggled and growled, but they'd quickly been lifted high enough to be worrisome. "What do we do?" she demanded.

"It's the Erinyes!" Velcia said, looking up at their hissing snake hair with equal parts fear and awe. "Where are they taking us?"

"More importantly, how do we get away from them?" Touma asked.

The Erinyes were flying almost blindingly fast now, shuttling them back towards the start of the labyrinth and out into the cavern that carried the River Styx; where they abruptly dropped the four into a pile.

Balthazar, Velcia, Touma, and Talia landed in a heap with a thud, and as they came to their sense and worked to untangle themselves they slowly became aware of, in order, the wooden planks underneath them, the rocking sensation of the boat in which they were now riding, and finally the ominous, hissing growl of the Ferryman who was now rowing them back upriver.

Four sets of eyes raised up to see the skeletal face of Charon only just visible through the black-tattered hooded robe that enshrouded his visage. The air of death hung around him so heavily that, uncomfortable as they were, none dared to move too much at all except to quietly sit up and wait patiently.

Time, and life itself, seemed to flash by as the ferry made its way back to the surface. It was without much warning at all that they found themselves emerging from the dank cavern of the Underworld back into the blessed light of Helios, and even before their skin had managed to take in this dear warmth they found themselves unceremoniously launched from the ferry by magic forces unknown; and they landed on the bank of the river.

Once again the four sat up, this time covered in mud and looking between each other in disbelief. Nobody dared say anything yet, though it is admittedly hard to know what to say to follow up such a sequence of events.

Velcia, however, somehow found her words first. "Well, I'm never going down there again."

There was a moment of silence, the words echoing in everyone's mind. Then, Talia laughed heartily and was joined soon after by Balthazar.

Touma, even, was amused enough to be smirking a bit. "Good, because I'm not taking you. Hell if I'm going to go back there."

Talia bumped her shoulder into him playfully. "You will if the Moogle gives you another quest, you know it."

Touma pursed his lips. "Well, it better be a while."

Balthazar stood up, and tried wiping the mud off of his hands onto his pants; this was only mildly successful due to the large amount of mud already on said pants. "Thanks for letting us go with you guys… I'm sorry it was such an… uh, ordeal."

"I loved it," Talia said, wiping her face off with the back of her hand. "We haven't had an adventure like that one in a while, huh Tou?"

"Don't think we've ever had one like that," Touma said gruffly, looking down at his muddy clothes with disgust. "Ugh, I need a bath."

"Same here," Balthazar sighed, and the others agreed as well. He returned his attention to the twins shortly, reaching out his hand with a soft smile. "But really… thanks. It was great to meet you both, and I think Velcia and I have learned a lot from our time with you."

Talia jumped forward, wrapping her arms around Balthazar in a great big hug. "It was SO good to travel with you both, Balthy," she said, releasing him and backing away just a tad. "I wonder if we'll ever get to go on any more adventures together?"

"Not today, Tia," Touma groaned, shaking the mud off his pant legs. "We've got a lot of other missions to take care of."

"Ooh, do you two want to join us?" Talia asked, conveniently oblivious to the death glare her brother flashed her.

Velcia shook her head sadly. "I… I think we've bothered you two enough. And… we have our own things to try to figure out, don't we Balthazar?"

"Y-yeah," Balthazar said with a nod, hoping that Talia wouldn't take their refusal too harshly. "We're still trying to figure out our own party, and I have other things…"

Talia pouted a bit, but nodded. "Well, perhaps someday then."

Velcia smiled. "I hope so!"

"Well then," Talia said, looking over her shoulder to see Touma shivering uncomfortably underneath his coat of mud, "We'd better get going so we can get cleaned up. See ya later, Balthy!" she said, leaning over and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

Velcia's eyes widened a bit as Talia came over and swept her up in a big hug, as well. "And you too, Velcia, you cute little rabbit girl."

"Y-yeah," Velcia stammered, eyes wide as Talia grabbed her brother's hand and began to lead him away.

"Goodbye!" Balthazar called out, watching them go.

Velcia and Balthazar stood silently for a moment, then turned towards each other. Balthazar looked at her curiously, then tilted his head. "Something wrong?"

"She kissed you!" Velcia blurted out.

"Wha? I… yeah, that caught me off guard too," he said, noting now a sense of indignance in her expression. "Is… does that bother you?"

"Why did she give you a kiss and not me?!" Velcia cried, crossing her arms tightly, sticking her lip out in a pout as she looked back towards the twins in the horizon.

"Wait, you… what…?" Balthazar asked, running his hands through his hair. He stopped abruptly with a wince, realizing now the mistake he made as he felt the clods of mud against his scalp.

Velcia sighed, her shoulders drooping. "Nevermind," she said. "It's stupid."

"I could go ask her for you?" Balthazar offered.

She turned towards him with an angry squeal, grabbing his arms firmly. "Don't you dare!" she demanded, face flush with embarrassment as she tried to glare him into submission. Her angry gaze transformed into one of annoyance at the sight of the playful smirk on his lips, and once again she crossed her arms with a huff. "Oh, you're just making fun of me again!" she groaned.

"Sorry, sorry," Balthazar chuckled. "I'll leave you alone. How about we head back to Daybreak Town and get cleaned up, huh?"

Velcia sighed, shaking her head. "Yes, I'd like that.

Author's Note:

And so the journey to the Underworld comes to an end, and so too does our time with Touma and Talia. I hope you've all enjoyed having them here as much as I have, many thanks again to Amy for letting them come on this journey.

And thank you, as well, for reading the story so far!