Olympus pt 2
Olympus pt 2
With Hercules on their team again, it was easier for Riku, Aqua, and Lea to navigate around Thebes from there. As they continued to take out more Heartless and help more civilians, they all kept an eye out for Sora, but so far there was no sign of the brunette.
“Didn’t you mention something about the mountain, earlier?” Riku asked Hercules as they stopped in the main square, joined shortly after by Meg, Phil, and Pegasus.
“Yeah. It’s pretty big with a lot of hiding places, and it reaches all the way up to the realm of the gods.”
“What’s going on?” Meg asked them, concerned by their troubled looks.
“Sora’s gone missing and they’re trying to find him,” Hercules told her.
“Sounds bad,” she said with a frown as she hugged herself, looking over the others. “Well, I can’t do much here, but I hope you manage to find him.”
“Your encouragement is more than enough,” Aqua said with a smile, but deep down she knew it wouldn’t be easy. Meg gave her a half smile until her eyes focused on something in the distance.
“Uh oh,” she groaned as she pointed towards the sky. “Looks like trouble is brewing.” They all turned to see what she meant, and saw dark twisting clouds in the sky at the top of Mount Olympus.
“It must be Hades,” Hercules declared with a frown. He looked to the others. “Hope you don’t mind a bit of hiking.”
===
A bit of hiking was an understatement.
The easiest part was reaching the mountain and getting up the bottom half. When they barely reached the halfway point, the three wielders started to get a sense of deja vu.
“Why does this feel familiar?” Lea said with a grumble as he took out the last of the most recent wave of Heartless that attacked them. On top of the blisters they would most likely be getting on their feet, the gang also had to fight various Heartless as they moved forward, their numbers increasing as they got higher up. Hercules looked to the top of the mountain with a worried expression.
“This is getting worse by the minute,” Hercules said as he looked to the others. “My family needs me.” With two fingers to his lips, he let out a long whistle which echoed across the mountain. Shortly after, they heard a flap of wings and Pegasus landed next to them, letting out a neigh as it did. “I’ll fly on ahead,” he said as he got on the back of his winged steed. “You guys have been a big help, but you can leave the rest to me.”
“But, your family is in trouble,” Aqua said with a frown. “Won’t you need our help?”
“I think I can handle it,” Hercules said with a smile. “My dad is king of the gods, after all.” And with that, Pegasus took off up the mountain.
…
“WHAT?!” the three wielders shouted in union, looking at each other in shock before looking back up the mountain again.
“Doesn’t that… technically mean Herc is a god, too?” Lea asked them as he scratched his head. This was a lot to take in.
“I think so…” Aqua said in disbelief. That at least explained why the young man was so strong. “But will he really be okay on his own?”
“Not if the Organization is involved,” Riku said with a frown. “God or human, they have no idea how the Organization functions. We need to help him however we can.” Aqua and Lea looked to each other before they nodded with smiles on their faces.
“You’re right,” Aqua said. “We should get going if we want to catch up with him.” With a goal in mind the three of them started back up the mountain.
===
However, it took them a lot longer to reach the summit of the mountain than they had hoped. Without Hercules to guide them and show them the shortcuts, they had to take the long way around, fighting swarms of Heartless along the way. They were eventually high enough that the clouds covering the summit started to pour rain on them, the sky dark with the occasional flash of lightning. Eventually, they reached a series of tunnels that got them out of the rain, and when they exited out the other side, there was a bright light which temporarily blinded them, the ground becoming softer under their feet.
“Is this…?” Aqua said curiously as she blinked several times, getting her sight back. They looked up and stared in awe at the scene before them.
The mountain had changed from rough rocky ground to clouds, and up at the top of a flight of stairs was a grand golden gate, the light that had blinded them before was coming from behind it.
“The realm of the gods,” Riku said in awe as they approached the gate. “So… Hercules’ family lives here?” When they reached the top of the stairs, the gate opened up to reveal a sprawling landscape made up of marble, gold and clouds.
“Why would Herc give this up to live on earth?” Lea asked as they entered the godly realm. Just then there were trumpets in the air, causing them to jump in shock. “What’s with the fanfare?”
“Must be for them!” Riku shouted, when nearly a dozen Satyrs spawned in front of them, helmets dropping down to prepare for an attack.
===
After taking out the first wave of Heartless, the wielders began to work their way through the realm of the gods, taking out any Heartless they came across while they tried to figure out where Hercules might be. Eventually, they reached what looked like a tall cloud spire that reached far up into the sky, and at the top there was a dense spiral of darker storm clouds. After she recharged her magic, Aqua cast multiple Aeroga spells to help launch them up the cloud spire, using the suspended debris of a destroyed building to aid them further. At the top there was another golden gate, and behind it three of the four Titans stood, with a column of dried magma between the Ice Titan and the Lava Titan, a man trapped inside it as the magma quickly consumed him.
“I’m the one giving the orders now, bolt boy,” Hades said as he relaxed on a throne made of black clouds, laughing as the man’s shouts were muffled by the magma.
“Don’t get too comfortable, Hades!”
Hades jumped in shock when Hercules called out to him, flying in on Pegasus. The god growled as Hercules circled them before jumping off Pegasus, landing near the gate.
“Hercules!” Riku shouted as they pushed past the gate, drawing Hercules’ attention to them. He seemed surprised, at first, but gave them a smile before he turned back to Hades, who had jumped up from his throne as he gestured to the Titans.
“Don’t just stand there!” Hades shouted angrily at the monstrous creatures as they looked to him. “Get rid of them!” The Titans looked to who Hades indicated, their attention focused on them as the wielders summoned their weapons and Hercules prepared for a fight.
===
Riku would later come to the conclusion that, while fighting the three dark Heartless back in Twilight Town was worse than fighting Xehanort alone, fighting four Titans- after the Rock Titan climbed its way up onto the spire- was just as bad as fighting all 12 of Xehanort’s goons single handed, at the same time. Riku and Aqua focused their attention on the Lava Titan as their Blizzard magic was strong enough to handle it, while Lea fought the Ice Titan with his Fire magic, with some aid from Hercules. Once they were defeated, they then had to fight the Rock Titan and the Tornado Titan at the same time, which was made even more difficult as the Tornado Titan kept throwing them up into the air, nearly killing them several times with the descent.
But, even after taking out the two Titans, it was enough time for the first two to recover, and they were back on their feet to fight some more.
“Are you kidding me?!” Lea shouted when they were quickly surrounded by the four massive Titans again. “We’ll never take them out at this rate!”
“I have an idea,” Hercules said with a smile as he ran past the Titans and jumped to the top of the lava mound. He tore open the top of the mound, a bright light emitting from beneath the dried lava, then a jovial laugh could be heard. Zeus, king of the gods, forced open the rest of the mound as he stretched his arms out, giving off a godly glow.
“Thank you, my boy,” Zeus said with a smile as he patted Hercules on the shoulder. The god glared at the Titans, and it almost looked like the giants had looks of fear in their eyes as the god summoned multiple lightning bolts in his hands. “Let’s show them what your old man can do!” With a huge swing of his arm, Zeus sent one of his lightning bolts at the Titans, flashing brightly in the sky, when it connected with the Titans there was a deafening crack of thunder, causing the three wielders to cover their ears. The god did this a few more times until the Rock Titan was hit in one of its faces, grabbing it in pain as it tried to run away, the other Titans following close behind. The three wielders cheered, now that they had the advantage.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Hercules shouted as he ran after the Titans. He reached the tail end of the Tornado Titan and grabbed it at its base. With a flex of his muscles, he swung the Titan around like a giant ragdoll, swallowing up the other Titans in the process. Then with a final swing and a shout, Hercules sent the Titans up into the sky where they met their demise in a massive explosion.
“Finally!” Lea shouted as he high fived Riku and Aqua, who were both laughing with glee.
“I can’t believe it!” The three wielders turned to see Hades fuming as he approached them. “I put eighteen flipping years into that plan, and you ruined it!” the god shouted.
“Just give up,” Aqua said with a smirk, the boys crossing their arms as they too smirked at him. “You’ll never be able to defeat Hercules.”
“Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of and skedaddle!” Lea said mockingly.
“And if you need help doing so,” Riku said as he stepped forward, Braveheart propped up on his shoulder. “Then we will be more than happy to help you along.” The god growled at them as he was consumed by fire.
“I did not come this far to be ridiculed by Zeusy high and mighty, his little sunspot, and a bunch of nobody nitwits!” Hades yelled. “I’ll just destroy you all myself!”
“Hades.”
The god flinched at the voice as he turned to see Hercules standing behind him, Zeus at his side with another lightning bolt in hand. “The exit is that way,” Hercules said as he pointed out the gate, stepping aside so that Hades had a clear path out. Hades growled at him for a moment longer before he deflated, flames dying down as he walked towards the gate. “Wait, I almost forgot,” Hercules said as he approached the god, and when he turned towards him Hercules punched him in the face, sending him flying into the gate with a pained shout. “That’s for trying to wreck Thebes.” Hades grumbled as he got back to his feet, massaging his face as he surrounded himself in black smoke to leave.
“You’ll pay for this,” he grumbled angrily. “I can still dunk your little Nut-Meg in a river of de--”
But he never got to finish that statement as Zeus sent a lightning bolt at him, causing Hades to shout as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
The three wielders let out sighs of relief as they collapsed to the ground, dismissing their weapons as they did.
“It’s over!” Lea said as he leaned back against Riku’s back for support, Aqua leaning on them.
“Thanks for the help, guys,” Hercules said as he approached them with a smile, Zeus right behind them. The three looked up at the two gods with smiles of their own, but you could tell that they were dead tired.
“You three need a pick-me-up!” Zeus said with a smirk as he leaned down and pulled all three of them into one big bear hug, making them all cry out in shock. Not because they were getting hugged by the king of the freaking gods himself, but that when he hugged them they felt all their energy return to them instantly. After a moment they were set back down on their feet, fully refreshed and ready for more thanks to literally be blessed by the gods.
“Thank you so much,” Aqua said with a smile.
“Anything for friends of Sora,” the god said with a bright smile that nearly overpowered his own godly light.
“You know Sora?” Riku asked him curiously.
“I never met the lad personally, but Hercules has told me a lot about him,” Zeus said as he patted his son on his shoulder. “I’ve also heard that you’re looking for him. I haven’t seen or heard of him anywhere on the mountain, but we will keep our eyes and ears open for him.”
“Thank you,” Riku said with a smile as his shoulders slouched slightly. While it was nice to know that the gods would also be on the lookout for Sora, it didn’t help that even they haven’t seen him around.
===
With Olympus saved, Hercules offered to walk the three wielders out of the realm of the gods so that they could find their ship to leave. When they got past the gate they noticed that Hercules continued to follow them.
“Are you not going to stay here?” Lea asked the young man curiously. “This is your home.” Hercules gave the fire user a smile as he looked up at the golden gate behind them.
“I can come visit my family whenever I want,” he said. “But if I stayed, I’d have to be apart from the person I love most… and that life would be empty.”
“Hercules.”
At the familiar voice, Hercules turned around and smiled when he saw Meg approaching the steps, smiling up at him. She must have been worried and followed him up there. He ran forward and pulled Meg into a loving hug. The three wielders watched the couple with smiles on their faces.
“We should leave them be,” Riku said as they started to walk past them, giving them their space. But just before they reached the tunnels to take them back down the mountain, Aqua let out a gasp.
“Wait a moment!” she said to the boys as she ran back to Hercules, Riku and Lea watching her curiously. “Sorry to interrupt,” Aqua said sheepishly as she approached Hercules who looked down at her curiously.
“What’s up, Aqua?” he asked her.
“I was just wondering,” she said with a smile. “I can’t believe he slipped my mind until now, but… What happened to Zack? I never saw him in Thebes.” At the mention of the boy who had been in training with Hercules so long ago, the god gave Aqua a sad smile.
“Sorry, I have seen him in years,” he said, making Aqua frown sadly. “He disappeared about ten years ago, shortly after you left. I don’t know where he is now.”
“Thank you, anyway,” Aqua said as she forced a smile onto her face before giving the couple a wave as she returned to Riku and Lea. The boys noticed her change in mood and watched her curiously.
“Is everything okay?” Riku asked her, drawing her attention to him.
“It’s nothing…”
===
Once in the gummiship and back in the lanes between, Riku slumped into the pilot’s seat, Aqua and Lea doing the same behind him.
“Seems like Olympus was a bust,” Lea groaned as he rested his head in his hand, leaning on the armrest of his seat.
“And I am definitely not considering the encounter with Braig a clue,” Aqua said as she crossed her arms, half tempted to sit in the chair sideways to prop her legs up. Riku looked at her in confusion at her statement. “You called him ‘Xigbar’. I knew him as Braig 10 years ago.”
“Was he as much of an asshole then as he is now?” Lea asked her curiously, causing her to give him the stink eye for his language.
As Aqua proceeded to tell Lea off for speaking in such a way, Riku turned ahead and pulled out Sora’s crown pendant from his pocket, examining it with a sad frown. Just then, an electronic tune began to play from his pocket. He quickly put the pendent away and got out his gummiphone, Aqua and Lea going quiet as they watched him answer the call.
“Hiya, Riku,” Mickey said with a smile, the mouse appearing on the screen of Riku’s phone. “How’s the search going?”
“Not that great,” Riku said with a frown, Aqua and Lea getting up from their seats to get in on the call. Mickey gave the teen a sad smile as he looked to the others.
“Gosh, sorry. But don’t get too down. I’m sure you’ll learn something soon.”
“Well, we sort of did, in Olympus,” Aqua said as she leaned forward, waving to the king. “We encountered a few familiar faces.”
“Oh, yeah!” Riku said, sitting up slightly. “We bumped into Pete and Maleficent, looking for a black box or something.”
“A black box?” Mickey repeated curiously, a gloved hand on his chin as he seemed deep in thought.
“Then we saw Xigbar,” Lea added, leaning against Riku’s chair. “He was being his usual annoying, cryptic self, but he said that the Organization is trying to find Sora. Guess they are having just as much trouble tracking him down as we are.”
“That’s good, at least!” the three of them heard the familiar voice of Goofy say. The guard captain peeked in over Mickey’s shoulder, Donald slipping in on the other side. “If even the Organization doesn’t know where he is, then they can’t use him for whatever plans Master Xehanort has!”
“But then that means there are more people looking for him,” Donald pointed out with a glare. “There are only so few places Sora could hide if Riku and the Organization are looking for him.”
“Oh, right,” Goofy said with a frown, scratching the side of his head. Riku gave them a small smile.
“Don’t worry. We know your minds and hearts are in the right place,” Riku told them, making the toons smile brightly. “And we won’t stop looking for him, even if we have to go further than you did during your search.” Aqua and Lea nodded in agreement, smiles back on their faces as well.
“Well, good luck out there!” Mickey said with a thumbs up. “I’ll talk to Master Yen Sid about that ‘black box’ you mentioned before, and we’ll do anything else we can to help in Radiant Garden.” Donald and Goofy waved goodbye as they left the screen. “Speaking of which,” Mickey said once his friends were gone. “There is some interesting information Ienzo had for ya’ll.”
“Ienzo does?” Riku asked curiously as the screen flickered, switching over to the silver haired scientist, who was holding his phone in one hand while he typed away on a computer off screen with the other.
“Yes, it is about the encrypted data we have been looking through,” he said through the phone. “Thanks to Pence in Twilight Town, we are able to sort through the data faster, but it will still take time. However, I did find something interesting in Ansem the Wise’s notes.”
The three wielders waited curiously as Ienzo pulled something up on his computer screen.
“According to these notes, Sora’s heart is not just his own.”
“Well, we kinda already knew that,” Lea said with a smirk in regards to Roxas. Ienzo nodded as he gave the redhead a small smile.
“That is true, but he made a note that there are multiple hearts,” the scientist said. “As in, more than just Roxas’ heart.”
“What, really?” Riku asked him curiously, Aqua rubbing her chin in thought. “Whose heart?”
“That information is still encrypted,” Ienzo said with a frown. “It is already quite fascinating that Sora and his Nobody are able to coexist in one body, but to have multiple hearts is unheard of. If he were here, I have a plethora of questions to—” Ienzo stopped himself, looking away from the screen with guilt in his eyes. “Sorry. I was out of line, bringing him up in such a way.”
“It’s okay, Ienzo, we know you mean well,” Riku said with a small smile. Ienzo gave the teen a smile in return, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
“We will continue to decipher the data and call you back once we have more information, ” he said as he looked over the computer screen again.
“Thanks, again,” Riku said before he ended the call.
“So, where to now?” Lea asked him as he and Aqua took their seats again.
“I’ll just follow my heart,” Riku said with a smile full of determination as he sent the ship forward through a new gate that appeared.