As darkness consumed the Castle That Never Was, the dark mistress Maleficent found herself retreating back to her tower in Radiant Garden. Her 'lackey' Pete, was taken by the darkness, consumed by the greedy shadows that could sense his heart beating within the dark. A look of utter annoyance played over her features as she glared at the town below with her staff of power in her hands.
Her faithful raven, Diablo senses his mistress nearby and flies from his perch; resting on her shoulder to comfort her in the distressed state she was in. A tired sigh slips through her thin lips. It had been what, six or so years of planning to cover the worlds with darkness- to tip the balance of good and evil through out the many worlds about. But it seemed that just about everyone whom she worked with met the same end. Unable to hold back their selfish greed and follow through with the task at hand to unleash the darkness from the Keyholes in their respective worlds and consumed by the very Heartless that they wished to take control of. Maleficent pets her faithful familiar as she murmured softly to him.
"Finding reliable help these days seems to be nearly impossible. What a pity of it too. I was so looking forward to being known as a rightful queen of darkness." she lamented softly. "You understand, don't you?" Diablo nuzzled against her hand and croaked in delight, agreeing with his mistress. "Ah..of course you do, my darling."
A dark chuckle sounds behind her with a smile forming over the voice. "Do you always speak with that bird when something blows up in your face?" a dark male voice inquired.
Eyes narrowed, the sorceress turns around and glares about. "Who are you?! I demand you show yourself, trespasser!" she scolded.
Amused, the male pushes himself from far dark corner of the room and walks towards the brighter part of the room. His silver spiked locks reached just about to his shoulders as he sported two gunblades on his hips, with his pants being a bright white outlined with a neon blue as well as his black boots.
He gave Maleficent a dark smirk, tilting his head at her. "I think it would be safe to say that both of us are trespassers, are we not?" he mused. The silver haired male paced beside the other before leaning his form against the railing and glances at the scolding woman beside him. " My brother, Nero, and I have looked about this castle and have looked at the records of what you are trying to do. We are rather impressed, considering the fact the others in your council are no longer around and your hold on these...Heartless..has lessen, that you have managed to stay alive this long."
She continues to glare at him. "Who the hell are you?"
The silver haired male offers her a cocky grin. "Ah, where are my manners?" he taunted as he pushed himself from the railing. "I am Weiss. I came here with my younger brother, Nero...hoping to find something of interest outside our own world. But I am curious..how is it you are able to keep these Heartless at bay with so many of your allies gone? I would imagine that your power would be strained, making up for the power that is no longer there to keep the worst at bay, right?"
Her eyes stayed narrowed as she started to get curious at his words. It was indeed true that for several months she had been struggling to keep the Heartless under her rule with the dark binds on them were weakening and fewer of them wished to follow in her she made sure to cover her tracks where she could to make it seem as if there was no struggle to keep them from doing her bidding. This man before her made her all the more curious as to what he wanted with her. Slowly, she replied. "Yes...but what does that matter to you?"
Weiss gave a light laugh before he turned his head a bit. "Nero...would you show yourself?" he called.
Within seconds, a dark mist appeared beside Weiss a thin man with long unkempt black hair, red with cat-like irises, a mechanical pair of wings spread from his back, and a a gray Mako suit with straight-jacket arms that are at strips of metal cover his face, forming a sort of mask around him. Wisps of darkness surround his linear form, whispers of voices sound from his darkness as he turns his crimson eyes towards his brother. "You called, Weiss?" he inquired with a dry English accent.
Weiss looks at his brother with a grin. "Nero, this is the woman whom we read the records of."
Nero adjusted his gaze to the woman before them, inclining his head to her. "Ah...a pleasure to finally meet you, Maleficent. Your work...interests me."
Maleficent arched a curious brow at the darker male."Has it?"
Nero gives her a single nod. "Why certainly. It is not every day I read on how someone other than myself controlling darkness. But there is a difference between our powers, I have noticed. You do so by magic, which will drain you in the long run. I, on the other hand...control darkness naturally. It does not affect me, nor does it drain me when I use it. "
She continued to give him a curious glance. "How interesting. Tell me, what is it you wish from me?"
Nero looks to his brother for a moment before glancing back to her. "It is simple really. We wish to help you. That is-if you will accept it. We believe our...talents...can be of some use in your cause."
It was then that Maleficent snorted at his comment. "Ha! You wish to assist me? Prove to me that you have intentions of working with me and that you are not like any of the other fools whom I worked with before. If you read of me, then you will know that I am not one to trust easily. Shallow words mean nothing to me."
Weiss nods. "Very well. What is it you wish to have done? My brother and I can take on any task you hand us, I assure you."
Maleficent glared at him for a moment before she spoke again. "There is a task you can perform for me. A loose end of mine that I have been meaning to remedy... " she says with a slow grin, looking between the two brothers.
Nero and Weiss listen carefully at the task they are given before taking off to the town below.
Outside of the town of Radiant Garden, Rikku sat beside her cousin Yuna and her friend Paine as they remained in their pixie forms while eating Sea Salt ice cream as they sat on a wall. The young blonde Al Bhed licked her ice cream with a sigh. "Man...today is really boring, ain't it?"
The brunet of the Gullwings gave a bored nod, agreeing with her cousin. "Yeah...too bad we can't help much with the restorations of the town."
The silver haired female shrugged her shoulders as she looked over towards the other two with her calm red eyes. "Maybe it is time for us to head on back home. After all, we did what we came here to do...didn't we?"
Rikku taps her lips thoughtfully. "Hmm..well, we didn't exactly score any treasure here..But we did manage to help out a couple people from the attacks of the Heartless. "
Yuna nods with a smile, jumping excitedly on the ledge of the wall. "It's decided then! The Gullwings are headed back home!~" Both Rikku and Paine smile back to their companion as they nod in agreement.
Paine moves her gaze from the others and freezes as a dark corridor opens in front of them. "Hey...I think we've got company.."
Rikku jumps excitedly as she kicks the air in a spaztic fashion. "Ohh bring it on! I can take 'em! C'mon ya' ugly shadow and get outta your dark corner so I can kick ya' back in there!" she taunted, holding her fists up at either side of her, ready to put up a fight.
Paine and Yuna take their place beside Rikku as the darkness before them continues to swirl around, echos of haunting voices murmured within the darkness. Rikku glared at the darkness, inching herself closer towards it. But as she was inches from the darkness, a male form stepped out, staring at all three of them with an emotionless glare.
Nero, inclined his head to them as he portal of darkness behind him became absorbed within the darkness around him."Ah...so you must be the Gullwings. A trio of Sphere Hunters under the alliance of Maleficent...and marked traitors."he stated plainly.
The three girls look at each other with worry before looking back to the dark male before them. "Traitors? What do you mean by that?" Yuna asks.
His emotion never showing past his plated mask, he takes a quick glance at the town behind them and then back to the three before him. "You went against your orders. Simple as that. Now...as punishment, your lives are forfeit." Without blinking, he lowers his arms from his darkness restraints of his straight jacket, exposing his detailed tattoos from his elbows to his wrists. Darkness that once surrounded him, created a large mass of negative energy behind him.
Rikku growled under her breath as she takes out her thief blades, glaring at Nero. "Over my dead body, you meanie!" She charges forward, aiming to kick him with her blades in the air. However, her attack is made in vain as he dodges her attack, does a quick turn with his machine wings that would hit her head to stun her before moving to the side so she would land in his darkness.
Yuna and Paine watched in horrific awe as they saw Rikku devoured by the darkness and could actually hear her murmured cries for help through the dark vale. Tears start to form in Yuna's eyes as she morns for her lost cousin. "R-Rikku...Okay..that's it! No more Ms. Nice guy! You're gonna pay for that!"
Nero simply tilted his head curiously at her, confuses as to how to react to her threat towards him. Instead of retorting back, he raises his hands up at either side of him, commanding his darkness to move over him and consume the remaining two Gullwings as they screamed helplessly for assistance from the dark death that awaited them in the world beyond. All that was left of their appearance were three half eaten ice cream sticks laying on top of the wall. Nero stood before his darkness for a few moments before closing the darkness behind him and appearing before Maleficent and Weiss.
"The task has been completed.." he states plainly, holding his hand out as an orb from his darkness leaves a charm that each of the girls were wearing on their equipment as prof that he disposed of them; earning a dark grin from Maleficent and a proud look from his elder brother, Weiss.
"Well done brother..That was quicker than I thought."
"Hmph...it was child's play.."
Weiss then looks over to Maleficent. "So..what do you say? Are you willing to take our help?"
She gave them a thoughtful glance before nodding. "I think we can come to an agreement of working terms." she says smoothly. "Come..let us discuss this indoors where we may plan our next move." she states as she pushes herself away from the railing and leads both Nero and Weiss towards the conference area hidden by the massive library.
As Nero left the scene, a wondering moogle stood in the corner of the street outside the city as she witnessed the whole thing; paralyzed by fear to do anything or say anything about the danger they were in. It took a few minutes for her to shake off the shock before she quickly jumped up and down in a panic, floating back to the town as quickly as she could. "Kuuppooooo! We've got big trouble! Kupo! Kupo! KUPO! "she cried, waving her little arms desperately at either side of her small form. When she managed to get into the Town Square, she had drawn enough attention from just about everyone there, including Leon and Yuffie.
It was decided that the moogle be sent to Rikku,Yuna and Paine's world to inform their loved ones of what happened while Yuffie and Leon checked out the castle to see what Maleficent was up to. From there, they would decide what would be their course of action.