Kingdom Hearts II: Home Sweet Sanctuary

Chapter 25: Zack

*fangirl scream* I just had to add Zack! He is one of my favorite ff characters of all time. I know I did this before but... *Fangirl scream*

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The battle was tough as the curse of the Underworld weighed me and Sora down. But it didn't weigh us down much since we weren't fighting something that was undead. I jumped up above Cerberus and pointed my Keyblade at him.

"Prism Rain!" I shouted. 7 orbs of light, each a color of the rainbow, shot toward Cerberus and fatally injured him. Sora and Auron finished the giant beast off using a Limit move known as Bushido. Soon, Cerberus collapsed from exhaustion. Me, Sora and Auron ran to Donald and Goofy. We pushed the 2 slabs of the stone door closed. The hellhound tried to go after us, but the slabs closed shut. Auron had gone off somewhere. He'd be fine. We needed to talk to Meg and explain what happened. Suddenly, I felt something was wrong.

"Pi?" Sora asked.

"Go on ahead. Something's wrong..." I said. I went off in a different direction. I hurried down the path. That's when I heard a groaning sound. The sound of someone in pain. I looked around and found the source of the sound. A guy, probably several years older than me, was lying face-down on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. "Hey! Are you okay? Please say something!" I turned the guy over and he had multiple injuries, mainly to his chest and stomach. I took off the helmet he wore to see he had spikey black hair. He kinda reminded me of Zack. I shook my head. Now's not the time to go down memory lane. His eyes were closed. Oh no... was he... dead? I placed an ear to his chest. Thump... Thump... I let out a sigh of relief. He was alive, but barely.

"Piri!" I turned to see Sora had followed me. "Oh, man! Is he...?" Sora asked. I shook my head.

"He's alive, but we need to get him help." I said. We both put one of the guy's arms around our necks and lifted him off the ground. We hurried back to Donald and Goofy. We hurried up the illuminated stairwell. As soon as we were out of the Underworld, the pressure I had felt was gone. We started walking toward the lobby when the doors opened to reveal an exhausted Hercules.

"Sora, Piri! Donald, Goofy! When did you-Zack?!" Zack? Was this guy actually the same Zack I met years ago? "What happened to him?" Hercules asked.

"I don't know. We found him like this." I said. We hurried in the lobby where me and Sora laid Zack down. It was the same Zack. He was black spikey hair and I just knew that his eyes were the same bright blue. I placed my hands on Zack's chest. "Cure!" I focused my light into the healing spell. Doing so strengthened the spell and accelerated the healing to where he was fully healed with only a few minor scars.

"Piri, you stay with Zack in case he wakes up." Hercules said. Sora and the others went out to find Phil while Herc went to get a stone that would protect us from the Underworld's curse. I laid Zack's head in my lap. Tears started to well up in my eyes. Zack was the only friend from my past that I still had. I didn't want to lose him. The tears finally overflowed from my eyes and spilled down my face. They fell onto Zack's face. I felt so helpless. What if I hadn't found him? What if- That when I felt a hand on my cheek.

"Someone as beautiful as you shouldn't cry." a voice said. I opened my eyes to see Zack's bright blue eyes were looking up at me. My tears of sadness turned into tears of joy when I wrapped my arms around his head.

"Zack! You're alright!" I said. He sat up and seemed confused.

"Do I know you?" Zack asked. I decided to use the same line I had used on him 11 years ago.

"You're a meanie, Zack." I said. He stared at me wide-eyed.

"Man, you sound just like... Piri?!" Zack said. I stifled a laugh.

"Took you that long to recognize me?" I asked. He got over the shock and wrapped his arms around me. I returned the hug.

"Wow, you look amazing!" Zack said. I blushed. He started to get up, but I stopped him. "Piri, I'm fine. Compared to how I felt before, I'm in tip-top shape." I was still worried. "I'm fine." I knew I wasn't going to convince him otherwise, so I let it go. We went to the training yard. Phil happened to look to the side of Sora and saw us.

"Zack! Glad to see Hades hasn't gotten a hold of your soul yet." Then he looked at me with surprise. "Wow! Didn't know Aphrodite had a sister." I blushed even harder. "Well, I need to take off for a bit. See ya." Phil said. Phil went off and I saw Hercules came back.

"Zack, you're okay!" Hercules said.

"Well, I had an angel watching out for me." Zack said. My face was completely red at this point.

"Well, I'm sorry guys... but the Olympus Stone has been stolen." Hercules said. This surprised all of us.

"By who?" Goofy asked.

"We don't know yet. All we're sure of is that it was a guy in a black-hooded coat. He was being accompanied by a bunch of creatures in white." Hercules said. I looked at Sora, Donald and Goofy. They nodded to me.

"Someone you guys know?" Zack asked. I nodded.

"By the way, have any of you seen Meg?" Hercules asked. We all shook our heads. Suddenly, Hades appeared.

"What's wrong, your hero-ness? Feeling under the weather? You know, I thought staying in shape was part of the hero job description." I signaled to Sora.

"Oh, right... Hades, we gotta talk!" Sora said. Hades then had the nerve to flick Sora in the head, making him fall back.

"Hey! Don't touch my friends!" I snapped.

"Well, if it isn't the little princess herself!" Hades said.

"Watch it, Hades!" Zack snapped.

"Oh, the little mosquito seemed to survive the Underworld." Hades said.

"What!?" Zack exclaimed.

"I really came here to share some interesting news with Wonderboy: His dear, sweet little Nutmeg...went and got herself lost in the Underworld." Hades said.

"You mean you kidnapped her!" Hercules exclaimed.

"Well, maybe... But why get caught up in the details?" Hades asked. Hercules whistled and his horse, Pegasus, came into view. "You can't leave now, okay? You've got a very important match today, against, um... the bloodthirsty Hydra! I mean, if you don't stick around, who knows what kind of "accidents" might happen."

"Yeah, accidents you cause." Sora said.

"Like I said: details, who needs 'em?" Hades asked.

"Coward!" I shouted. Hades vanished. Herc was thinking about what to do.

"Can you 5 handle this?" Hercules asked.

"You got it! We're heroes!" Donald said.

"Junior heroes, Donald." Goofy corrected again. Donald glared at Goofy.

"Handle the Hydra Herc. We'll find Meg." Zack said.

"I'm counting on all of you." Hercules said.