A lone, dark castle stood in a valley of darkness, and it would have been taller than anything else near it if there actually WAS anything else near it. The entire valley was devoid of any real life, save for the Heartless, so everything was quiet. In fact, the only noise was coming from inside the castle itself. However, given that the noises sounded like explosions of magic, the noise didn't sound pleasant.
A large, overweight cat-like being flew back-first into a wall and collapsed onto the stone floor with a loud thud. The being gave a groan and rolled himself over into a sitting position before looking up fearfully at the green-faced witch that had just blasted him into the wall to begin with.
Maleficent wasn't happy.
Almost instantly, the cat was on his knees and pleading. "Maleficent, I'm sorry! I thought I could get at the big Heartless before that kid could!" He pleaded.
"Pete, you fool! That doesn't mean that you failed your mission. AGAIN! That Heartless would have been an ideal servant to us, but Sora got to it first and destroyed it!" Maleficent roared as she gathered up some more magic in her staff. "You can't do anything right!"
"I'm trying my hardest! Believe me!" Pete begged. A spell promptly blasted him in the face and sent him flying into another wall.
"Silence! You have done nothing but fail me ever since I decided to let your worthless hide join my cause!" Maleficent continued as Pete scrambled to his feet. "Even while I was gone, you did nothing to further our plan!"
"I kept running into trouble! Those creeps in the black cloaks gave me nothing but trouble!" Pete insisted. "They destroyed everything I threw at them!"
"Another excuse. It's true that those Nobodies are a major problem, but they are nothing compared to the Keyblade Master!" Maleficent replied as he staff started gathering up magic again. "Pete, you have failed me too many times! I want you to give me one reason why I shouldn't turn you into a Heartless!"
The cat's eyes widened as his heartbeat quickened. Maleficent had never gone this far before. Usually, when he screwed up, she would simply berate him and yell, but move onto another plan soon enough. This was the first time Maleficent had actually considered turning Pete into one of THEM, or at least the first time Pete was aware of. Pete needed an answer and he needed it fast.
Pete backed away, stammering, as if trying to come up with a response. "Y-You still need my skills over the darkness, Maleficent!" He insisted. "I-I know that I'm not as good as you'd like, but at least I'm skilled, right?"
Maleficent paused. After a few agonizing seconds, Maleficent retracted her staff. "You are indeed correct, Pete. You have the skills to control the Heartless, even if they aren't at my level." She said. "Those skills of your have been responsible for taming some wild Heartless, but you always fail when it comes to the big targets."
The witch turned and started walking away. "Consider yourself warned, Pete." She said. "I don't want any more failures from you, because you know what will happen if you try my patience again."
"Y-Yes, Maleficent." Pete whimpered.
Maleficent walked out of the room without another room. The instant she was gone, Pete let out a sigh of relief and slid down the wall he didn't realize he had been hugging until he was sitting on the floor.
"I dunno how many more bullets I can dodge." Pete sighed. "If I wanna get things done, I have to be quick."
Pete slowly got to his feet and dusted himself off. Quickly taking a look down the hallway to make sure Maleficent was gone, Pete retreated back into the room and went over to a bookcase. Pulling at one of the corners, Pete opened up the bookcase and exposed a hidden doorway it was covering. Pete entered the uncovered entrance and pulled the bookcase back over it to shut the door.
Pete was drowned in his thoughts as he marched down the dark staircase on the other side of the hidden doorway. He hoped that he didn't have to put up with this act for much longer, but to reach his goal, he needed Maleficent's help, even if she had no idea what he was doing. Despite what people thought, Pete hated the witch and wouldn't have joined her if he didn't need her unwitting assistance.
Reaching the bottom of the stone stairs, Pete found himself in a dark, empty room. The only source of light was coming from a single lamp hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room. However, what the light exposed was what Pete was interested in. An examination table sat in the middle of the room, a strange Heartless strapped to it. The Heartless seemed calm for some reason, and wasn't even making any noises as Pete approached it.
The Heartless was tall, slender and had a very feminine body. The Heartless' horns were large and sprouted out in the form of cones, ending in points on either side of the creature's head. The Heartless was unlike anything Sora had ever fought, and Pete hoped that would never happen.
"…Peg." Pete said as he approached the table.
The Heartless turned its head towards Pete and formed a hopeful smile with its jagged teeth. Pete's short ears drooped as he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, buttercup. I haven't found it yet." Pete said as he took the Heartless' hand in his. "I know I'm getting close, though. Please stay with me until I can find it. I'm trying my hardest."
The Heartless gave a silent nod, still smiling. Pete's eyes started watering as he gave a smile in return.
Pete once lived a happy family life, and had a wife and two kids. Pete didn't want the invasion of his town to happen, but it did anyway. Many citizens became Heartless and Pete had tried his absolute best to get his family to an escape ship. Despite Pete's best efforts, his wife Peg had been attacked by a Heartless just mere feet from the safety of the ship. Pete had managed to get Peg onto the ship, but during the flight to a safe world to find refuge in, Peg had transformed into a Heartless, having lost her heart in the invasion.
Even through this, Peg's Heartless refused to attack Pete or her terrified children. It was almost as if a piece of Peg had remained inside the Heartless. Perhaps she had only lost half of her heart in the attack, but that wasn't what was on Pete's mind at the time. All Pete wanted was to find a way to reverse the condition and get his wife back.
Pete's family ended up in Hollow Bastion, where Pete instantly took up the controversial art of controlling the darkness. He knew that the answers to curing Peg lied within this practice, and that was all Pete needed to get started. It was hard keeping Peg hidden from the rest of the world, because she was still a Heartless and would naturally try to lash out at anyone that wasn't her family. Pete was forced to keep Peg's Heartless tied down at all times and kept in a secret location to avoid unwanted attention.
Unfortunately, Pete's tampering with the Heartless had attracted the attention of King Mickey, whom ordered Pete stop his practice. Pete's wife was far more-important to him than anything, so Pete refused, forcing Mickey to banish him to another dimension until he got his act together. Before departing to his banishment dimension, Pete made sure that his children, PJ and Pistol, would be in good care at Disney Castle. Those people could look after them far better than he could while he was looking after Peg.
Pete didn't have to wait long to be sprung from the other dimension, because Maleficent showed up a few weeks later and offered him a position in her ranks for his skills at controlling the Heartless. Pete may have been a bit of a bully, but he definitely wasn't evil. He would have refused Maleficent's offer, but realized that the witch was his best bet to getting his wife back.
Pete had to put on an act to get on Maleficent's good side. He needed to pretend that he was evil and that he was perfectly willing to go along with her plans. Even when Maleficent wasn't watching him, Pete made a mental note to act the bad guy, at least until he could find what he was looking for. He never knew when Maleficent would pop in unannounced. He could still remember seeing Goofy's confused look when the dog saw Pete working with the villains.
A light chuckle escaped Pete's mouth. "Good ol' Goof. He probably knows that I've got a good reason for doing what I'm doing." He said out loud. Goofy was the only one at Disney Castle that Pete didn't mind (although PJ was good friends with Goofy's own son, Max), as Goofy was always understanding that Pete always had a reason to do things. Pete could trust Goofy to keep things a secret if he ever found out the reason Pete was interested in the Heartless to begin with, and then not tell a soul about it.
But soon, this entire facade would be over. Pete knew he was close to what he was looking for, and that was usually the driving force that kept him allied with Maleficent in the first place. In his studies, Pete had found that there was actually a way to revert a Heartless back into its original form, and that was to expose the Heartless to the heart it had lost.
"Your heart has to be part of Kingdom Hearts, Peg." Pete explained. "I've been searching for your heart for so long that it can only be there."
Peg's Heartless was silent, but the gaze she was giving Pete told him what she was thinking. "No, I don't know how I'm going to get your heart once I find Kingdom Hearts, but…I'll get it. I promise." Pete assured.
Pete gave a sigh as he gently brushed two fingers against his wife's face. "Peg, thank you for being so patient with me. I just want nothing more than for us to be together again." He said. "I love you so much."
Peg's Heartless made a noise, but it was gentle as opposed to threatening like normal Heartless. Pete knew that Peg wasn't blaming him for anything and would give him as much time as he needed.
Pete's eyes watered as he gave Peg's Heartless a kiss on the cheek. "I have to go, Peg. Maleficent will probably be looking for me soon." He said.
The Heartless looked sad, but nodded with an understanding smile. Pete smiled back as he released his wife's hand and backed away, keeping his eyes on her the entire time. When Pete reached the stairs, he climbed them to go back up to the hidden doorway he had uncovered. Peg's Heartless watched him go sadly, but knew that Pete would be back soon.
Pete finally reached the bookcase and placed his hand on it. He looked down the stairs one last time. "I'll be back soon, Peg." He said, more to himself. "Hopefully by then I'll have your heart."
With that, Pete pushed open the hidden doorway and returned to Maleficent's castle. He hated acting the bad guy, but he knew the reward at the end would be worth it.
END