X was almost impressed with the next world he and Terra stopped in. It had architecture that X had never seen before, and it actually looked interesting. The buildings were all white and columns. X got a feeling the world was trapped in a time from long before other worlds. But it wasn't bad. In fact, if X had a heart, he might have called it beautiful.
X lost his focus when he saw a scrawny ginger boy fighting a group of Unversed. The boy was clearly strong, he was actually accomplishing something against the Unversed. But he didn't have a clue what he was doing. His fighting was sloppy and hardly worthy of being called fighting. It wasn't long until he was knocked down.
X gently nudged Terra and nodded towards the boy. Terra quickly stepped in when he saw the situation. X had expected as much. Terra was still clinging to his light after all. Light tended to make people play hero.
"Stay back." Terra ordered. The scrawny boy nodded and watched in awe as Terra took on the Unversed. X crouched beside the boy, looking him over for damage. He was a bit scratched up, but relatively unharmed. X must have underestimated his fighting ability. X murmured a healing spell, ridding the boy of his scratches.
As soon as the Unversed were gone Terra turned his attention back to X and the boy. Terra looked surprised to see X crouched beside the boy. He took a moment to look over the ginger, and looked even more surprised when he saw the injuries he once had were gone.
"You ok?" Terra asked the boy. He looked at Terra almost dazed.
"Huh? Yeah, thanks." He answered. He allowed Terra to help him up, casting a glance at X. X stood with them, watching in his usual silence. "Guess they were too much for me. I'm just gonna have to train harder. You're pretty tough-- you really handled those things. Are you here for the Games?" The boy asked. X tilted his head to the side in interest.
"What games?" Terra asked in confusion. The boy laughed as if that were a stupid question. X guessed these games were a pretty big deal in this world.
"The Games games. To see who's the strongest! One day I'm gonna win 'em all and become a true hero." The boy explained enthusiastically. X wasn't sure how winning any game would make someone a hero, but he had heard stranger things from other worlds.
"Herc, where are you? Front and center right now, or I'm tackin' on another 1,00 laps!" A voice yelled out. The boy turned toward it quickly. The voice appeared to belong to a satyr.
"Uh-oh. Gotta go. The Coliseum's just up ahead. I hope to get to see you fight there sometime!" He said before quickly running over to the small satyr. X turned his attention away from the boy back to Terra. The brunette was lost in thought.
"A competition." Terra said.
"It could be useful. Can see your true strength, and what not." X suggested with a shrug. Terra looked at X for a moment before nodding in agreement. He began walking the direction the boy had indicated. X followed shortly, looking over the town. He frowned suddenly getting a feeling. Y was in town.
X reached the Coliseum a moment after Terra. He had been looking around for his sister as they had walked through town. Luckily he hadn't seen her. He expected she would be alone at this point. Aqua had probably tried to force her to go home. But knowing Y she hadn't listened.
"This is it." Terra said calmly.
"How sad is this?" A voice asked.
"Huh?" Terra asked, turning to find the voice. X followed his gaze, quickly finding a man with blue skin wearing a black sheet as clothing. His head was literally on fire, the blue flames seeming to make up his hair.
"Pains me to see it." The man continued.
"Huh?" Terra repeated. The man wasn't really making much sense. He was looking at Terra with interest though. X suspected he was up to something that wouldn't end well. For him anyway.
"All that power going to waste." The man said.
"Who are you?" Terra asked. Sighed and leaned against a wall, waiting for the conversation to take it's course. The man approached Terra, seeming very proud.
"Name is Hades, Lord of the Dead, god of the Underworld, yadda yadda, how ya doin'." The man introduced himself. X raised an eyebrow looking over the man, well god. He didn't seem like that much. "Hey, lemme guess, you're trying to put the kibosh on the darkness inside you. Am I right? Of course I'm right. Well, anyway, bad idea." Hades continued on.
"Wait, what?" Terra asked in confusion.
"I think he says you shouldn't get rid of the darkness inside of you." X explained. It was difficult to follow Hades. He had a strange way of phrasing things. Terra glanced at X and nodded in appreciation before looking back at Hades.
"Ok, stay with me here--darkness is inside...everybody." Hades continued, hoping to elaborate himself better. "Nothing to be ashamed of. You play nice with it, and darkness will be your best friend. Your buddy with you can agree I'm sure." He said glancing over to X. X nodded calmly. "But if you go and get all self-conscious and refuse to face it, the darkness will run over you like a debutante at a toga sale. And then where are you? Nowhere. Now me, I look at you and I see potential. That's right, kid. You got the potential to conquer the darkness inside you. And I'll even give you some pointers. I mean, believe me, if anybody knows conquering, I know conquering." Hades continued on, seeming to ramble by the end. X was certain he liked listening to himself talk. There was no other reason for him to spend so long explaining simple concepts such as this.
"Well, let's hear it then. How do I conquer the darkness?" Terra asked.
"Easy. You sign up for the Games." Hades said. Terra rasied an eyebrow in disbelief. "I know, I know. "Please, Lord Hades, the Games?" But hey, you would be surprised what you can learn in the heat of battle. And don't worry. I'll be right there to guide you every step of the way. I'm kinda what you'd call an expert in the darkness. Oh, decide fast. This is a limited-time offer." Hades continued on before Terra could object. He walked a short distance away, giving Terra and X room to discuss. Terra turned to X immediately.
"What do you think X?" Terra asked. X glanced over to the God who was inspecting his nails.
"I think that guy likes the sound of his own voice." X said simply turning his attention back to Terra. The brunette frowned looking at X like a child that needed to be scolded.
"X." Terra said in warning. X put his hands up quickly, in defense.
"Ok, sorry. I don't know." X admitted. Having never been to this world he had no way of knowing anything about the god. "He might know what he's talking about, but I can't be sure. You might as well give it a try. If he's lying, we'll deal with that later." X reasoned. Terra nodded and approached the god.
"When are you going to tell me how to conquer the darkness?" Terra demanded. X sighed heavily and shook his head. Terra was really in need of some lessons in manners. Even if it was obviously someone who was up to no good.
"Hold your chariot horses," Hades said. A quill and parchment paper appeared in front of Hades. He took hold of the quill and turned to Hades. "You would not believe the bureaucracy involved with these things. Name?" Hades asked.
"Terra." The brunette replied.
"Kinda earthy, all right." Hades said as he wrote down the name. X groaned in exasperation. "Now height and weight." He said glancing to Terra. He wrote something down without waiting for Terra to reply. "What's this? Favorite god? Pfft, come on. Hades. There, ba-boom. easy peasy." Hades continued, vanishing the parchment away. He turned back to Terra with a false smile. "I sense that you're already starting to get all warm and fuzzy with that darkness inside you. It's sweet, really. And hey, by the time you win the final match here...you'll have figured out how to conquer it for good. And don't worry, anything goes wrong, I'll make it all go away. Service with a smile." He said. Terra nodded.
"I got it." He said. Shortly afterward Terra went in for his matches and Hades disappeared. The moment the god was gone X laughed and shook his head.
"He's definitely faking it. Guess it could be funny." X said to himself. He went into the audience and seated himself close to the arena.
The matches were simple enough. X was surprised to see most of the opponents Terra faced were Unversed. How they got entered into a tournament was beyond X. Especially with the bureaucracy Hades had mentioned. X suddenly had an image of Vanitas filling out a form for a bunch of Unversed. It made him almost double over in laughter.
Terra's last match was against an actual other human. A soldier of some kind. The fight was easily decided. The soldier was much weaker than Terra. It was amazing he had made it as far as he had. X thought the Unversed should have easily defeated such a weakling. X would have to inform Vanitas his minions were slacking off.
When the soldier fell to the ground he lost his helmet, revealing a mess of black hair. Terra turned away from the boy frowning as he did so. When Terra turned his back the soldier stood, a black aura surrounding him. X looked on with interest. The boy attacked Terra suddenly, Terra barely had time to respond, but he did manage.
"Stop it! The match is over!" Terra said struggling to hold back the soldiers blade. He had suddenly gained a lot of strength. X guessed it had to do with the darkness that was surrounding him. It was a weak form of darkness, probably not the boys own. But it was enough.
"Looks like he's not a pushover anymore." X muttered to himself scanning over the arena.
"It's not me." The boy said through grit teeth. That confirmed X's thoughts.
"What?" Terra asked in confusion. X stood up and began walking around, looking for Hades. Might as well pretend to be useful to Terra. X found Hades standing off to the side watching the altercation with amusement.
"Huh? So, what do ya think? You like my new super-warrior? See-- right here, this-- is the power of darkness. Coulda been yours. Still could, if you open up to it." Hades called out to Terra as X drew closer.
"Hades! You were just playing me! The darkness...will never have me!" Terra snapped. X tuned him out after that, it wasn't important. He had to focus on the god that was actually more annoying than anyone else X had met. And X had met some annoying people.
"People really need to stop going after an already taken pawn." X said in exasperation. Hades turned his attention to the Heartless. The god narrowed his eyes at the boy, with contempt.
"Oh, think you're a big shot. Just because you opened up to the darkness already. Well, kid, I'm in a good mood right now, things are going my way, so I'll let you in on something. Your darkness, is nowhere near enough to take me down." Hades said. X laughed to himself. This god really didn't know anything about the darkness. If he did, he would know X wasn't one to fight against. His darkness was far greater than many others.
"Wow, you really do like hearing yourself talk." X said, mostly to himself. The flame on Hades' head grew in size as anger contorted his features. The flames turned red as did the god's skin.
"You disrespectful little brat. I shou-" Hades began. X cut him off by blowing on his hair. The flames sputtered out, causing more rage to cross the god's face.
"Especially about things you don't even understand." X said with a laugh. Hades turned red yet again.
"Who do you think you are?! I'm the Lord of the Dead! If anyone knows darkness, I do. I'm practically the god of darkness to boot!" Hades yelled. X laughed darkly again.
"Oh you wish." X said. X looked up at Hades with narrowed eyes. The purple color slowly faded into bright yellow. A dark aura began to seep off of his skin, filling the air with a heavy feeling. Hades stepped back in fear. X rarely showed his power, what he was capable of. He had some feeling, a voice in the back of his head that always said it was a bad idea. That wasn't what his darkness was for.
Hades cowered back in fear. He recovered quickly, trying to act unafraid.
"Looks like I bet on the wrong dark horse." Hades said before vanishing into thin air. X sighed and allowed the darkness in the area to fade away. He walked back to Terra and Zack who were in the middle of the arena.
"Thanks, Terra. I'm Zack." The boy introduced himself. "Yup. Definitely. Terra, you're exactly what I pictured a hero would be. Not the way you look... There's something else about you." Zack said. X looked over Terra in interest. X didn't think heroes really existed, and if he did, he didn't know what he thought they would look like.
"Well, I'm no hero, trust me." Terra said with a laugh.
"You kidding? Listen to those cheers, man. You don't get to decide if you're a hero or not. They do. And they've already made up their mind. Whether you like it or not, you're their hero." Zack said. He tapped Terra's shoulder in a friendly way. "And mine, too. It's too bad. I really wanted to fight you fair and square." Terra laughed gently and tapped Zack's shoulder just as Zack had done to him.
"Maybe someday, Zack." Terra said. Zack laughed.
Terra and X wandered away from Zack preparing to head out.
"Where were you?" Terra asked.
"Looking for Hades, see if I could teach him a lesson." X answered casually. Terra tilted his head to the side.
"Did you find him?" Terra asked. X shook his head without a thought.
"No, he must have run when you and Zack went at it again." X explained, smoothly lying. Terra didn't need to know about the confrontation.
"Oh, what do you think of his whole speech now? Any of it true?" Terra asked, trying to make it seem like a joke.
"Not for everyone. Sometimes the darkness just isn't a good match. But bottling it up isn't good. Ever." X answered honestly. Terra nodded in understanding, a frown crossing his face. Of course. He was still so untrusting of the darkness.
X's gut instinct told him that was the right move.