Kingdom Hearts; The Dark's Keeper

Chapter XII; Under Every Hero

The next world seemed just as dark and dreary as Beast Castle had been. The rough walls were hewn from stone and an ominous green light filled the cavern. It looked like a great entryway with stone doorways leading deeper into the earth. X was almost certain he had never been here before.

"Are ya sure this is the Coliseum?" Goofy asked looking around the room. X suppressed a shudder, as a breath of cold wind passed them. He heard a faint murmuring sound coming from down some of the cavern tunnels.

"It's that way!" Donald said pointing toward a set of stairs. He ruffled his feathers up and began walking to the doors. Sora chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, guess we were a little off," he said following Donald. X followed after him still glancing around. He had a bad feeling about whatever this place was. He didn't know what this had to do with the Coliseum, but it seemed a difficult mistake to make.

The group stopped when they heard the cry of a woman. Turning quickly they saw a woman with brown hair wearing a light purple dress on the ground a group of Heartless surrounding her. Sora drew his keyblade glaring at the Heartless who were yet to notice them.

"Heartless!" Sora yelled. He led the charge as he usually did, swinging his keyblade and sending the Heartless flying across the cavern.

It didn't take long to chase the Heartless away from the woman. Sora offered a hand to her as she looked up at them, pushing her hair out of her face. She looked at him for a moment with her violet eyes taking him in.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," she said as she stood up on her own. She crossed her arms and looked down at the group. "And you're supposed to be?" She asked.

"I'm Sora, he's Donald, that's Goofy, and he's X. We came to see how Hercules is doing," Sora answered, pointing to each member of the group. X gave a salute to her before looking away in disinterest. He didn't like the idea of hanging around down here any longer than necessary.

"You know Wonderboy?" the woman said almost in disbelief. X believed the name was familiar, but he didn't think he had ever actually met anyone named Hercules while here.

"Yeah, cause we're heroes, too!" Donald said puffing out his chest as he pointed to himself.

"Ya mean junior heroes, Donald," Goofy corrected chuckling a bit. Donald glared at him but no words were exchanged on the matter. X hadn't heard of this hero ranking before, but he definitely thought the trio deserved to be heroes. They had saved the worlds from Ansem already.

"Looks like we have a friend in common," the woman said uncrossing her arms, a hand resting on her hip. "Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg."

"So how's Herc?" Sora asked.

"Wonderboy? Well, he's duking it out at the Coliseum every day. You know, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. He's ready to drop, but he keeps on fighting. Even Wonderboy has his limits, though. These opponents are bad news--special deliveries from Hades himself," Meg asnwered worry clearly showing in her voice. X frowned hearing the mention of Hades. He had only been in this world briefly, long enough for Terra to win a tournament, but he remembered the supposed God of the Underworld. And he was not impressed.

"Oh please no. Not that guy," X muttered.

"Hades!?" Donald asked jumping up. X was pleased to see he wasn't the only one who had a problem with this.

"Right. Lord of the Underworld. I was on my way to see him. Maybe I can get Hades to give Wonderboy a breather. If anything happens to that kid," Meg trailed off her eyes going to the side as her lips pressed into a thin line.